Page 18 of Thruster (Hunted Relics #9)

The floor of a large ship passes beneath me. Feet unfold beneath Poison Arrow and a sealscreen pops to life between us and space. A heavy clunk at my back disengages the magnets, and I drop to the floor.

I land on my feet only to be greeted by more shock nets, one from the front, another from the back.

Electric pulses rattle my body. But I’ve already learned to open my charging ports and absorb any power I can. Instead of killing me, they’re slowly powering me up. Nevertheless, my muscle pistons still shake from the chaotic stimulation.

On the outside, I am weak. But inside, I am hanging on. Just to be sure I don't become a threat to the brothers, I lock my mind and block all frequencies. They won’t get anything from me, nor will they corrupt me like Evo.

A metal hand picks me up and drags me down a hallway, leaving the hangar behind. The boots of my captor are familiar. The cyborg Kelta called KillStar.

She’s damn good. Has a perfect ship for catching us. What I don’t understand is her motivation. Is she corrupted by a virus? Are they holding her family hostage? Maybe she doesn't remember anything else and doesn't understand what it is to be human, anymore?

There must be a reason she sides with the enemy. If I can figure out what it is, maybe I can break it and stop her.

My muscles quiver as she lugs me up a set of steps, around a hallway, to another flight. The bumps and jarring motions are likely meant to hurt me, but I am numb now, fried on the surface from the nets, miserable inside because I’ve been taken from my mate, from the one thing that made this existence make sense.

“Good, we have him again.”

KillStar slings me into a room. I slide across the metal floor and slam into a wall. Cage bars clang shut, and a crackle of electricity sparks near the latch. "Touch it and die."

A captain in a different uniform than his cohort on Ellipsis, walks close but just out of reach beyond the bars. He crosses his arms and paces as he looks me over.

I glare at him, hoping he can see that I won't help him. But I'm torn between surviving to get back to Kelta and taking out the berserker.

I know his rank. I’m on his ship. We're not on a mothership, or I would have seen servants, low-class workers. This is full of soldier-types. That means I'm in a cell in the core of a berserker. My detonation would be enough.

A probe launches out from the back wall, jabs into my side, and electrocutes me until my nanosolution feels like it's on fire.

The captain saunters closer as I slump to my knees. “You will tell me what you and your brothers are planning, or I will unleash hellfire all over Ellipsis until every tunnel is collapsed.”

I squint at him. Not telling you shit.

“No point in resisting. Your female is dead. Your brother with the sparkly eyes—” The captain wiggles his fingers near his face. “He’s shredded. Didn’t hold up to the inbound fleet. But they’re at peace now.”

Panic rises in me. That can’t be true. Please don’t let it be true.

“And we have plenty more ships. What you’re doing is pointless. We know you want this to be over. We can make sure it ends quickly.”

I’m not sure if I believe him on anything. But Solcrue have been known to tell us the truth if they think it will mess with our heads. The images he cycles through on his projecting wristband make me choke up. Kelta and Holo look destroyed.

Another probe launches out of the wall, tags me in the back, and makes me curl forward onto my elbows as my whole body seizes.

KillStar’s boots shift. Something about it sticks with me.

“We know you found your ship.”

I scan the floor, listening to his voice as my programs run. They believe he’s telling me the truth, but I don’t know. I think it’s why I’m here. They’re worried we have found a ship, but they don’t know where it is. Maybe KillStar was related to Rochester’s findings and projects. Maybe she knows, but I wager they don’t have enough evidence to say for sure.

Maybe they don’t trust her. Or she doesn’t remember.

I can’t take another electric jolt. So when I hear the soft click of the probe launcher, I swipe an arm back. I catch the tail and rip it out of the wall before it can plant in my body, then throw it aside and get to my feet.

KillStar looks up at me blankly but doesn't back away, unlike the captain. I recognize him now that I can see his face clearly.

“You torture me for fun. You say you know everything, but I know you don’t or I would’ve been decommissioned already. You destroy what I love and tell me it’s best for all of us. You think I don’t remember you, but I do.”

The captain laughs nervously.

"You sacrificed your entire fleet just to take out a single vessel that had General Emerzon onboard. You obliterated one fighter with my leader, then you took control of Captain Gleta's forces by mutinous actions and wiped out my entire batch of Brothers! Every Terran, Void, Star, and Cosmic…you detonated her ship, sacrificing her soldiers to take out my entire family.”

He shrugs and sways. “It was war. I did what I had to in order to win.”

“You’re disgusting.”

One of KillStar’s eyes twitches while she watches me.

“Gleta escaped,” he replies.

I grin. “No, she didn’t.” Menace caught and killed her. “You don’t remember me, do you? That’s all we are is chips on a war board, isn’t it?”

“Why should I have to remember you? I need my numbers, the forces—”

I cut him off. “The why always matters. But I guess you've never lost anything you cared about, probably because you're like every other Solcrue, manipulative and narcissistic. Space has made you forget all the beautiful emotions between hatred and lust.”

He’s getting irritated, which I like. Just like he wants to mess with my head, I have to mess with his if I want to get through this without giving him what he wants. My end will come faster, but that’s okay with me, as long as he doesn’t get what he wants.

Captain Oreveu waves a nonchalant hand toward me. “Waste him and get me his core.”

A guard steps up to the bars and ignites a coilgun.

My ultro races. KillStar steps back like she’s never seen the weapon before.

I move closer to him. “Make it fast.”

“Sure.” The guard grins and aims through the bars at my ultromotor as the captain turns to walk away.

This is my end. No matter where I am in this cell, his gun will find a way to my ultromotor. Unless the gun isn’t pointed at me.

The moment the barrel begins to glow, I grab the gun and pull. It fires as it passes my body and punches a hole in the probe launcher built into the wall. I tug the guard into the electrified bars. He seizes. The residual electricity slows me but isn't enough to freeze my muscle pistons.

Prying the gun from his hand, I aim through the bars and fire.

KillStar’s eyes widen.

Guards rush toward us, pass her, and cluster around ruthless Captain Oreveu.

KillStar runs a hand over her middle, frowns, and looks back at the downed captain, then at me.

I should decommission her. But the gun is out of rounds. And of the two of them, the captain deserved to die far more than KillStar. As far as I can tell, she is only a pilot and a guard—a belly scale on the snake. I just cut off its head.

She turns and walks off.

“Where is she going?” one of the guards asks.

“Let the metal head go. She probably doesn’t understand death. She’s just programs and gears.”

She turns near the entrance of the prison and lifts a gun at my cell.

A guard rushes toward her. “You’ll destroy his core!”

“He’s going to destroy this ship!”

KillStar fires. A blast curls through the bars and slams me against the back wall. I fall to the floor and strain for a breath. But I don’t need air. I don’t need heat or comfort to operate. So I close my ports and make it look like I have been decommissioned.

She should’ve dialed up the blast if she wanted to kill me.

My threat level to them is neutralized for now. They have the captain to deal with. I will be left alone. As I lay still, I scan my cell, looking for a way out. It's well fortified and shows no signs of weaknesses I can exploit in my reduced operational state. I fear my only option for freedom, to ensure they don't get any information, is self-detonation.

I have enough stored power to spool up every engine, redline them, and let them run away until I overheat and combust. It sounds painful and looked like it when other Brothers did it. But to save my mate and my Brothers, if they're still out there… even if they aren’t… this seems like my best option. I can’t expect anyone to help me. We aren’t prepared for that kind of rescue mission with the BlazeStar taking everyone’s focus. And detonating will get me revenge for my batch brothers.

I'm just not ready to let go of Kelta. So I lay on the floor, pulling up recordings of her and savor her love one last time.