Daken hangs his head like he’s ashamed. Steel swears under his breath.
“Do not be upset,” I tell them. “You will be needed when Titans and Rebels need a break. We will rotate crews. I will keep Aera safe now. You can when I need rest.”
Brodin cocks his jaw to one side like he wants to argue but doesn’t. When he nods, the remainder of the team seems to be at peace with the decision.
Chasm excuses the gathered forces so he can coordinate the mission. But he contacts me and several others to remain behind. I see the request list over our telenet. So I keep Aera and her team in the room.
“Mother, isolate us, please,” Chasm says.
The doors close around us, and a sealscreen hums over the doors. Savage’s Relic team, with their mates, minus Rebel and Amp, remain with us. Chasm and his team, CyberPilots Poppy and Clover, my twin and Raven, and Aera and Brodin’s team fill the other side of the room. Rebel leader Toriszi stays, too. It’s the way he tugs his sleeves down like he’s uncomfortable that makes me study him a little closer.
The older man is as Titan as a human can look with his blank expression, shaved face, battle-weary lines creasing his brow, and his tall frame. He is covered in tech, but doesn’t have much, if anything, embedded that I can see.
He notices me looking and crosses his arms, but shows no emotional indication of whether or not he approves of what’s going on. He is simply here, watching, internalizing, like Titans do.
Chasm motions for Poppy to take over. She walks to the holographic display and closes the running programs. Then shetaps on the screen with radiant fingers, building an object from the bottom up, slowly, like thousands of grains of sand pouring into an invisible form. When she’s done, she steps aside for Clover, who ambles up uneasily on a fresh set of legs.
“Thanks.” Clover works on the image and fills in a new layer of details. “Lotus, ready for your data pack.”
The hovering ship looks like a spiked, upside-down raindrop. It flares open with an array of tines, unfolding into the shape of a sun. Lights circle around the vessel. Weapons systems drop down in a long list.
“That’s the extent of my knowledge,” Lotus,Aegis’pilot, says through the table. “I would be there, but I’m a bit preoccupied working on the ship after the storm.”
“What is the meaning of this?” Brodin challenges.
Poppy sighs. “When I heard Aera was the one Evo recovered, I knew it was time we discussed this last resort before we lose it forever. The three of us—Clover, Lotus, and I—flew humans to this system from the Sol system. Each of us was given a fragment of this information, but not all of it. Xiphos is something the three of us have been talking about because it’s time we start looking at all options. And…making sure it’s the one thing Solcrue don’t find first, along with a few very important humans in this room.”
Poppy walks to Sefina, Esthi, and Leah. “You three have to know something is different about you. Your fight is a special kind. Generations of resistance run in your blood. I remember your ancestors well. Someday, I will tell you all about them.”
I’m not sure if Aera knows it, but she leans into me just a little when Poppy turns to her. “And the most important person in this entire room...the only one who can control Xiphos.”
Poppy glances at Brodin, who watches her closely. “I knew who you were the moment I saw you, Sergeant Brodin Callaway. Famous for surviving the battle for Saturn III despite the lossof your entire squadron. Still managed to leave the Solcrue with one last surprisebang. You’ve got balls. I respect that.”
His eyes shine with pain. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“And I am sorry for your loss.”
He hangs his head. “Not many pieces of my heart left, save for one.”
“Aera, yes.” Poppy inhales deeply. “Evo, you have to keep her safe, whatever it takes. Or we may never access the best defense system we will ever have.”
“Where is this weapon?” Chasm asks.
Poppy rotates the schematic with radiant tracework laced fingers. “In the Deep Black. Hidden.”
“Like the CyberGuard Star Base?” Savage asks.
“Yes,” Poppy replies. “If there are any Creators left, they are on CGSB. Creators built Xiphos and launched it during our trip. Every ship ejected pieces that found one another and merged in space via a preprogrammed sequence.
“They may be close to one another. But I can’t say for sure. Xiphos was designed to remain at a distance until there was no other option.”
“How does it work?” Chasm asks.
Clover blinks her green eyes slowly. “It was never explained to me. Poppy?”
Poppy shrugs. “Creators did not give us that information. But I determined it was time to put it in our sights, now that we have some semblance of a force that might be able to find it. But we must also consider recovering our CyberGuard Brothers on Plutoas and Nulzo. One threat I do see is CSP. They have stayed one step ahead of us since near the end of the war. We cannot let them recover the CyberGuards or Xiphos before we do.”
Sefina steps around Relic Menace. “We have humans on Earth Minor who are confined to a small, broken city, and manymore working in the mines and fields to feed the enemy. We can’t forget about them.”
