Page 7 of Thruster (Hunted Relics #9)

Thruster lifts off and guides us down the slope to the access point in the ground near my ship. It’s a strange sensation to fly in so many directional planes with such ease. Maneuvering a starship is much slower and stiffer than Thruster’s moves. He is cautious, head on a swivel, as he hovers us, feet first over the tunnel.

“Deep breath.” His voice rumbles like his engines, warped by the heat rippling up from his body.

I inhale and tighten my grip around him, then look down at the dark hole in the desert floor. His boots roar and glow with the thrust of his engines—the world around us a mirage. His body is hot, smooth, and stacked with hard muscle as it presses against me. Engines in his arms and palms blaze as he fine-tunes our position.

“I trust you.” It’s a promise and a prayer.

He shuts off his engines. They seal up inside his body, and we drop.

My stomach greets my throat, strangling my cry of disorientation. I’m still not used to gravity. Sand rushes past us, coating my sweaty skin. Darkness replaces the light as I wrench my eyes shut.

Thruster’s body slows and bobs like he’s taking large steps. The sand pours away from our bodies, and he stops. “Okay. Hurry.”

I open my eyes to a narrow tunnel and the sound of my rap-trance music blasting from the ship.

Well, something is still working.

Unfolding myself from Thruster's body, I turn to see my ship, half-buried in the sand and rock, a few glimmers of sunlight peeking in from the desert's surface. Sand has encased my ship. There's no salvaging the vessel itself, as much as I had hoped there would be. The front is completely caved in. If I hadn't freed my seat manually, I would've been a meat sandwich.

Thruster shakes his whole body, freeing it of sand, then opens his engine hatches, venting so much heat that it looks like he's swimming in that beautiful creek.

The rear docking hatch of VAL is accessible, and I stumble through the soft, loose piles of sand to the door. The latch is heavy and groans when I try to open it. Main power is down. The speakers are working, which tells me at least one of my power stacks isn't damaged. Unfortunately, it doesn't help the rear access. I fight the pressure-sensitive mechanical backup, trying to pull it open.

Thruster cautiously reaches an arm around me and turns the lever with ease.

“Show off.”

His nose grazes my ear. “Just ask for help next time.”

I look up at him, at the sincerity on his face, and for a moment, I want to kiss him. But I know that this life, in this universe, isn't kind to love if my parents and my fleet are any indication. I'm unsure if I want to feel too connected to anyone again. I've lost enough people that I'm tired of it.

But that hot body of his… I’d be lying if I said I never wanted to be close to him again.

“We should get going.” Thruster nods into my ship.

I step inside and slide down the sloped platform toward my cockpit. Breaking free my communication and data drives covered with scorch marks, I pack them away in my bag. We can at least try to get something off of them.

Thruster surveys the interior. “You built this?”

“Yep. That’s why it’s so small. I like quality, not size.”

“Is this your music?”

“Old tunes downloaded from the Sol system.” I climb back to my weapons storage and armor compartments. “They had so much back then. Sometimes, I wonder if they could’ve seen the future, this future, if maybe they would’ve been better to each other.”

“The only thing we can do now is try not to repeat the same mistakes,” he replies, running a finger over VAL’s name badge. It glows in the walkway near her core. “VAL?”

“Vengeance Assault Lightjet. I wish she had AI, but I couldn’t seem to get the programming right. She’s got some Solcrue parts. I don’t think they got along well with the others.”

I direct him to a nearby cabinet. "Dig through that. Grab anything you want or that we can use. I'm going to pack up what I can of my things."

I slip past Thruster into my old bedroom, wishing I could take everything. But I must carry what I take. So I can only take what I can carry.

Thruster peeks into my sleeping quarters on his way to the weapons cabinet as I pull out my armored spacesuit and body harness for everything from guns to tools and tethers. I pass the blankets, pillows, and fancy red high heels I found two salvages ago. I leave the sentimental gifts from my siblings for the useful handguns from my younger brother, the special thermal shirt and pants my older brother gave me, and the tablet from my father, the one with pictures of our family, our private conversations, and records from the fleet among other useful tidbits of information I think Thruster and the Titan rebels will want to look at.

"Grab the power stack while you're at it?" I call out to him.

My music switches off.

"What is that?" Thruster now stands with the remainder of my weapons on his person: a large knife, my long-range rifle, and a rack of power cells. He points to the cabinet by the bed.

Embarrassed by the rubber tip poking out of the broken drawer, I rush over and cram it back inside, then collect my toothbrush from another cabinet. “Nothing.”

Thruster squints at me.

Heat flushes the surface of my skin. “What else is a woman supposed to do when she lives alone on a ship with no one to talk to or be close to? It’s not like there are stores in space. I fabricated everything I needed.”

His gold eyes circle my face, then widen in surprise. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to intrude on your privacy.”

“Do Titans not masturbate?”

He shakes his head. “Except for a few of the younger units. They are more human, like Rogues. Anyway, are you—uh—ready?”

I glance at my bed and consider taking Thruster for his own ride. How many nights did I lay in here, wishing for someone to make the darkness bearable?

Walking up to him, I stop in the doorway and slip a finger beneath the webbed fabric of his armor, wondering what he looks like beneath his tactical gear. The material is stiff and resists letting me inside like he does.

Thruster's gaze burns into me when I meet his eyes. My heart beats faster, stronger than I expect it to. My body trembles and heats like I'm flooded with adrenaline. I slump back against the wall.

“Kelta?”

I frantically dig out the vial of crystals Rebel told me to take. Popping one in my mouth, I crunch down on it and get a rush from the sweet and chemical tang. It instantly soothes my heart.

Thruster grazes a thumb down my chin. “Are you going to be okay?”

He isn’t sure.

Neither am I. All I can focus on is the tingling in my body and the way his hot breath falls over my mouth.

I sweep my nose over his and find it as smooth and warm as the rest of him. Synthflesh is strange. It is tough but soft and reminds me a lot of the clothes my older brother gifted me.

Thruster’s irises slowly dilate the longer he looks down at me.

“I’m almost ready,” I say with a sultry voice. I want to tease him because when all of this is done, I want him to remember me. I’d like to see where things go. He’s carrying a nice piece , something I’d like to get my hands on.

I set my things down, remove my backpack, and strip out of the clothes I’m in.

Thruster breathes out and turns away. “Why didn’t you warn me?”

“What for?”

He lowers his head and rubs a hand over his chest. “So I could respect you.”

It’s a kind notion that touches me deeply. Respect feels like a foreign concept these days.

“You probably saw Rebel take my shirt off, yeah?” I put on a clean bra from a drawer and grab all of my spare undergarments and clothes I can stuff in the pack. They might fit some of the other girls who looked like they had much less in the caverns.

Thruster shrugs like he’s uncomfortable. “Sure, but I wasn’t really looking. I was worried you were going to die.”

“Not really ? But you still looked.” I put on the armored top and bottoms from my brother, climb into my form-fit spacesuit, put the vest on that Leah gave me, the boots Poppy found, and clip my harness over everything.

He releases a short, nervous laugh. “You are beautiful, in every way, Kelta.”

"You're a shy one." I load up the set of handguns, pack every spare magazine I have into the pouches, and grab my toolkit bags from the bin in my closet. I hoist the backpack onto my shoulders again and the duffel on top. "Seems like you'd be the cocky pretty boy since you're so shiny and bright when you're lit up."

Thruster smiles a little. “Hell no. That’s all Craze. Rogues are more flamboyant with their personalities. We’re older models, the Wrecktanks of CyberTitan models. Staying humble is what it takes to stay alive.”

“Craze, huh?”

He nods. “We lost him during the jailbreak. Fell back to Hyperion’s surface.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“You sure you can carry all that gear?” Thruster asks.

“I’ll offload a lot when we’re with the camp again. I just have to manage it until then.” Collecting the gear net from beside my toolbox, I hand it to him. “Net me?”

Thruster takes the webbing with a frown, holds it for a second, and then stretches it around my packs to help hold everything in place. “Why do you have this? This is a StarJumper’s net for military bags.”

I motion for him to lead the way out of my ship. When Thruster is outside and I step into the rear ramp’s exit, I look back at the crushed inside of my ship and choke up. “I am so sorry, girl. I never wanted to leave you like this.”

It’s not easy to leave behind something I spent years building and more improving. VAL saved my ass more than once.

Staggering down the sandy mounds into the desert tunnel, I know the weight of my pack is going to make the journey from here a lot more difficult. I’m going to have to be reserved in my pace to carry everything I’ve collected.

“My father was a StarJumper. My older brother was enlisted as well. My younger brother and I planned to join, but there wasn’t a chance to before the shit hit. My father started our rebel fleet when I was very young. We avoided servitude, but isolation has its downsides, too. So we formed the Astral Rebels Alliance. Our fleets met up in rotations to exchange goods and meet others. It’s how my brother found his wife, Eira.”

Thruster tilts his head, glances over a shoulder down the tunnel, then collects me. “Grab on!”

I hook my arms over his neck and my legs around his waist, and feel his body tug upward on mine. Thruster’s engines blare with horrendous droning power. We punch through the cavern’s ceiling and into the sunny sky.

I look down as sand rains from our bodies. Several sets of clawed hands and snapping teeth rake at the opening.

Thruster hovers us as he scans the sky. “That was close. But I’m going to have to get back to hunting. Ships on approach.”

He rushes me to the forest’s edge and sets me down. “I can’t stay, Kelta. I’m sorry.”

I don't like the idea of being left alone on the planet, but I understand. "The camp is more important. The ship, too. Poppy told me about the BlazeStar. Let me take the power cell."

Thruster packs it under the net. He quickly straps the blade to my waist and hangs my rifle over my shoulders. He frees the knife and places it in my left hand. Then he motions to the gun on my right hip. I draw it.

“Always both here. Gun steadied in your right, blade in your left. Rest your right wrist over your left wrist to steady your gun. I know it’s tiring, but that extra two seconds you don’t have to draw either can save your life.”

“Understood.”

“I’ll check on you now and then from the sky.” Thruster steps back and lights his engines. “Watch your back. The nearest camp entrance is five clicks south. A dead tree with two rocks marks nearest access."

“It’s marked with nature’s dick?” I chuckle.

He sways. “What is it with you?”

“I’ve lived in space a long time without quality release,” I reply. “I’m burning up with needs.”

“Focus on getting to the camp in one piece. Worry about those later.” Thruster swivels at a faint drone, looking worried.

I check around us to make sure no one’s going to snipe Thruster out of the sky. But the trees are quiet.

Thruster levitates. “Change of plans. Savage wants you to stay with me. Holo’s down. We have to get to him. And they’re closing all accesses to the camps. Welvirs have flooded the tunnels. They think the Solcrue are trying to flush us out.”

A glint of metal flashes at the other end of the desert, dropping in from the stars. “Thruster?”

He looks where I point. “I’ve got them on scanners. I want you to parallel me in the trees. Holo’s eight clicks northeast, toward the facility we’re going to break into.”

“Roger. Be careful.”

He beams down at me. “You too, beautiful.”

I watch Thruster rocket across the desert. It won’t take him but a few seconds to intercept the fighters. And suddenly I’m alone, listening to the light wind rustle the low bushes and sway the trees with swishing sounds further up the hill.

Keeping my weapons low but ready, I hike quietly up to the tree line and scan for mutant wolves, CSP, and scaly Solcrue. I’m glad Thruster found me, even if the burns on my body sting. I’d have died because I had no purpose, no direction, and no plan. If my heart or my crash didn’t kill me first.

I check on Thruster’s gold orb as he zigzags across the sky, praying he doesn’t start smoking and fall to the desert. I don’t think I’ll be able to get to him before the Solcrue do.

But I know that if they do take him, I will have just another reason to turn them into void dust.