Page 9 of Thruster (Hunted Relics #9)

The plan is to distract the Solcrue and lead them away from the actual Titan ship. Holo's finished his thigh repair. And he and Thruster took turns on guard last night so I could sleep. I'm not sure they ever slow down.

I crouch between them in the opening of the tunnel, looking out at the abandoned Solcrue outpost. "We have to protect the ship, but you want to shoot at it?"

“It’s stuck in the mountain where it crashed during the Tetrionac era of battle,” Thruster says. He’s far less standoffish today, stays closer, and I like it. “That’s how we’re getting off this planet. But we have to free it from its rocky cage. We just want to make it look like an accident that we free it, not that we are trying to break it out. Shields are supposed to be up so no one can see it.”

“We also want them to think there are much fewer of us than there are,” Holo adds. He doesn’t seem bothered by the fact that Thruster and I had sex with him in the room last night. He’s a quiet unit, and polite.

“How many are left?” I ask.

Holo shakes his head. “Don’t know for sure.”

Thruster peers around a bush toward the complex. “Stay in the brush line.”

Holo crouches and crawls first, then motions for my pack. “I can carry it with ease. Thruster may need his engines.”

“I should carry the weight of what I want.”

Holo frowns. “I do not like females to carry a heavier load than a Titan, especially a mate of a Brother. You two are more important than us singles now.”

“I disagree,” I say.

Thruster nods. “What is with this talk, Brother?”

Holo sighs deeply through his nose, then looks between the two of us. "If I am decommissioned, the Brothers will lack my skills. If either of you goes, you take the other with you because you are bonded deeper than Brothers now. So if we lose one, we lose two. We cannot afford to have her move slowly. She must keep pace with you."

Thruster and Holo make subtle movements with their heads like they’re having a private conversation.

“Guys.”

Thruster frowns. “Let him carry your bag.”

“Why?”

“As much as I think you’re perfect the way you are,” Thruster remarks, “he is right. You are our limiting factor in speed and strength.”

My pride stings a little, but I can’t object because I know they’re right. I slide the heavy bag off and drop it to the ground.

Holo slings it over his shoulders with ease, making his point. “Stay quiet and close. I’ll hack the security system.”

Holo crawls away like a four-legged spider.

Thruster slides a hand behind my head and draws my mouth against his for a deep, sensual kiss.

He tastes of something sweet and metallic, like space, which I’m starting to miss. “Climb onto my back.”

I sling myself onto his back and hook my arms and legs around him. He crawls fast after Holo. We snake through clusters of bushes until we’ve crossed the perimeter to what looks like a back gate.

Holo’s eyes glow and shift with colors as he projects something onto a scan pad. The gate pops open, and we slip inside.

Thruster surveys the walls of the hexagon-shaped outpost and the landing pads in the middle. A handful of dusty ships sit in the yard.

Holo hides in a shadowed passageway and waits for us. When we’re regrouped inside, Thruster sets me down.

“That’s the one,” Holo points to a ship. “I can access it. Coil told me about it when he accidentally sprang in here last week after he collided with a Skysprinter. Couldn’t get inside the ship, but I can.”

A shimmer catches my eye in the corner of the facility. “What’s that?”

Thruster shifts so he can get a better look. “By the shield, that’s an old SunFlux ship. The size suggests a FeatherLite model. Can’t say unless we uncloak it.” Holo gives him an odd look. “It’s not the one Savage and Leah found. That’s a SuperLite and still hidden in another mountain.”

I’m confused. “So you’re not all underground? You have more ships?”

Thruster grins. "You don't think we lived here for as long as we have without putting together the best armada we could do you?"

“Well, it seems like you have so little in the camps,” I admit.

“Have to move lots of bodies very fast,” Holo offers. “But there are a few of us without mates that live out here, just waiting for Savage’s signal.”

I sense the loneliness in his voice and rest a hand on his arm. “Holo, you will find someone. And even if you don’t or don’t want to, I’m glad you’re here.”

Holo rests a hand over mine and closes his eyes. “Thank you, Kelta. Sometimes, we feel forgotten.”

Thruster nods like he knows the feeling.

“You’re not,” I insist. “Rebels want to believe you’re out there. You give us hope. And now I know you’re real. All they need is to know you’re not a dream. You’re a reality.

"It's time we join forces again, for real this time. Not you beneath us. Together. Equal. Maybe we can help you since you're so much more capable."

“We do not have the same creativity as humans,” Thruster remarks. “You see possibilities we don’t.”

I shrug. “I guess. But that can lead to us going a bit haywire if we don’t have logic to tie us to reality. I spent a lot of time among the asteroids in my headspace. That can cause a lot of problems.”

Thruster draws me close, kisses my temple, and whispers in my ear. “We understand this more than you know. You can talk to me about anything you want…when this is over.”

I hug him, sensing Thruster’s not joining us on the ship.

“We should move. Savage is waiting.” Holo hustles out into the yard, rifle ready as he eases up to the ramp in the belly of the ship he plans to take. The platform lowers within a few minutes, and Thruster encourages me out to where Holo waits.

I check the yard and behind us as we cross the ground, feeling like someone is watching.

“What is it?” Thruster asks me.

“I hear something.”

Thruster looks skyward. “A drone?”

“I don’t know.” The light buzzing sounds like an engine but one I’m not familiar with.

Thruster kisses me hard. “Be safe. Stay with Holo.”

“I will.”

He steps out from under the ship, lights up, and rockets into the sky. Dust and hot air stir up in Thruster’s wake.

“Come on,” Holo says.

But when I see the black dots in the sky increase in numbers and Holo swears behind me, I change my plans. I run to the shielded ship, press a hand to the warm mirage, and hope the phrase my mother used to mutter works for the SunFlux. "Liberty, give me strength."

A pulse ripples through the shield. The mirage pops like a soap bubble.

Yes!

Inside the shield is the most beautiful ship I've ever laid eyes on. It's a wicked machine of clean black chrome and glinting ailerons that swoop front to back, making it look like a raven mid-dive.

A glass scanner lowers in the belly. Setting my hand on it makes it flash blue and a set of steep steps lower.

“Kelta, what are you doing?” Holo calls to me.

“Find me on the frequencies!” I shout. “There are too many for us to limit our assault to one!”

Holo scans the sky, finds the approaching fleet of Skysprinters and climbs up into his ship.

The palm reader seals up as I climb into the small cabin of the SunFlux. I can’t believe it worked, and I’m suddenly grateful for the droning lessons of my mother and father when we were scavenging.

Holo has his ship in the air in seconds. I scan the controls to familiarize myself with where everything is as I sink into the pilot’s seat and strap in.

“Shields up.”

The SunFlux lifts its shield as I start the engines and hover up and out of the yard. Easing into the throttle, I glide away from the approaching Skysprinters, test the banking maneuvers, and know by the tightness of the turns and quick response that this is no ordinary fighter.

I turn back and sprint for Holo and Thruster's position. "Alright, girl. Show me what you've got.

Punching the throttle slings me back in my seat. An excited yell releases from me without my consent. I quickly catch up to Thruster and Holo.

As I slow and hover between them, I check the channels for one that sounds like Holo and Thruster.

“What’s she doing?” Thruster sounds stressed.

“I found another ship.” I shrug. “There’s a shit ton of snakes. We need all the help we can get.”

“Keep your shields up, please,” Thruster says.

“I’m more worried about you,” I admit. “You don’t have shields.”

Holo interrupts. “She has a point. Kelta, I’m sending you coordinates of the mountains of interest .”

The ones we have to shoot up? Got it. “Best let me do it. They won’t expect that.”

I get four clicks of confirmation.

Thruster breaks formation and targets the first Skysprinter. My stomach flips and squirms as I watch his body perforate the ship and come out the other side.

Dear stars… that’s how he’s taking them down?

Holo banks as Skysprinters fire at us.

I dive away from the incoming tracer rounds.

Holo slings strings of flaming bullets as he cuts through the group, taking out three ships in clouds of fire and smoke.

Darting underneath the mayhem, I fire up as the fleet begins to break into smaller groups. Our last squadron attack ends with two more ships succumbing to my guns. It takes about five rounds to break the shield of a Skysprinter and another five to break the ship's course. A few more will find a fuel cell or thermoregulator and do what I want. Unless I can get one round into an engine. Then they're goners.

My heart beats furiously in my chest. Every sway of the ship tugs me sharply in my seat. Flying small quick maneuvers in gravity is much different than in space. There isn't much room for spare thoughts, and there's none for error.

I listen as Thruster and Holo claim targets. I pick the ones they aren't watching. Skysprinters flood the sky. Another twenty join the first.

Three bullets greet my port shield in a moving line. Screens flash red. I check for my escape methods and find I’ve got only an ejection seat with a chute. No manual release.

Cool. If that jams, I go down with it. Lovely.

Then Thruster takes a hit. His body launches sideways with my heart.

“Thruster!”

“I’m okay,” he rasps, getting back on course.

But now I’m pissed. I monitor my ammo supply bars in my periphery and change course for his position. I target ship engines from behind, taking out every ship in my way as I aim for the one that hit him. It hides in a tight formation with two other vessels.

I sneer. Nice try.

Rotating the ship as I fly up behind them, I manage to fire between their wings and tag his engine. The ship blossoms with fire, and the other two break away.

“No one touches my Titan but me!”