Chapter 1: Evo
I thought I was ready.
Rogue Fleet’s Mothership,Aegis 189, shines like a beacon of hope in the Iridithatium nebula, its chrome exterior reflecting the purple, magenta, and pale indigo clouds lit up with white orbs, a perfect fortress the enemy Solcrue cannot enter because the resonance drives them mad. The portal we have left behind us has shut down, but it will only slow our adversaries as they hunt us and our human survivors until there is no one left to resist their rule.
Behind me, on Craze and Navi’s Ravenger, Relics Atox, Ranger, Armor, Chaos, and many more exchange rather violent hugs in celebration of finding the Rogues. Many cheer down the corridor, even the human females that were either rescued by Craze or tagged along with their mates when the BlazeStar sent a medical crew to us after Armor took a devastating hit during our escape.
Relic medic Rebel is highly skilled, smiles at everyone but me, and managed to save Armor with CyberTech Esthielle’s help.
Rebel has avoided me like I am a plague.
I got the message.
Rebel>>Evo: Stay out of the way.
Fracture, the only other Rogue Brother among our weary fleet, sits in one of Ravenger’s pilot’s seats beside me. We don’t even look at one another as the Relics laugh and pat each other on the back. We made it. We followedAegisMothership’s Roguebeacon and were able to find her. That’s what matters. So we move on to our next task, aligning our ships for joint operations.
Lotus>>Ravenger: Capsule will assist with incompatible docking. Please proceed.
Rogue pilot, Lotus, sends a request for the closest dock door match, one of our starboard hangar doors with one of her aft port doors. Fracture and I work over the radiant green screens in the black dash of the stolen Solcruean ship, maneuvering in for docking. The ship is highly responsive, loaded with weapons, and packed with experimental cybernetic torture labs. But the parts have been useful for repairs.
It still amazes me how humans and Solcrue can take the same materials and do such different things with them. Solcrue might be descendants of humanity, but there is little of that left in them.
Navi screeches a laugh that makes both Fracture and me look back. Craze has snatched her up. I do not understand why he buries his face in her chest and fervently rummages his nose around between her breasts, but it appears to make her happy. The cybernetics that Solcrueengineersshoved in her head light up in wild patterns.
Craze seems to enjoy it as much as she does.
I wish I understood such happiness. But of the Titans, I am the king of suffering. Love and joy are not in my future. I do not deserve to feel like smiling.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t long to be understood by someone who doesn’t judge me for my mistakes.
“Craze! I need to take over piloting this beast. Docking is a bitch.”
He kisses her and sets her feet down. “As long as you pilotmybeast and let me dock inyoulater.”
Fracture shakes his head as he transfers control to Navi.
Fracture>>Evo: I do not understand the primal nature of Relics.
Evo>>Fracture: Agreed.
But it has served Relics well in Terran battle.
My insides stir with heat as I ponder the bond between a Titan and a human and what it would be like to have a mate like so many Relics do. But Relics are far more open with their emotions now that they are free. I still feel like I am bound to serve as a Bond instead of participating in one, even though I have also broken free of my programming. But my emotional straitjacket is self-inflicted.
Concern grows that we are getting distracted from our mission. If Craze did not have Navi, he would be calmly standing on the bridge, ready for the next battle with the Solcrue. And yet, he has shared his story with us in a telepathic recording download. I know he would not be here without her.
It isn’t easy to be honest with myself about how much I envy him. The way Navi looks up at him is like he iseverythingseems impossible.
I am hollow inside because even my Brothers do not value me. At least, Rebel hates me for sure. We simply know what the others are capable of. We plan, we fight, and we regroup over and over until we are ultimately decommissioned. That is our operational cycle. Or it was until Amp took Cara, the Solcrue-human half-breed, as his mate and broke the cycle.
But I was not built to be a normal Titan. I have always felt things I have had to keep hidden. Eon knows my truth. He is the only one who understands how my mind can get wrapped around concepts and question even the most basic things that others don’t concern themselves with, like guilt, jealousy, self-disgust, and inadequacy.
A lack of identity is my biggest problem. I can become any Titan I touch.
It has been a long time since I was last among soldiers whom I trusted not to hack me and make me do horrible things. I want only to rise, united, against the Solcrue in a violent, crushing wave and stop them from doing such horrific things to any human or Titan again. And for a moment, I have a flicker of conviction and hope. Then it is gone again.
Ravenger III glides in closer toAegis. Solcrue build highly capable ships. I will give them that.
