Savage nods. “First, supplies. Second, we recover everyone we can, and build this fleet.”
Chasm exchanges a glance with Savage, and I’m certain they’re privately conversing when their eyes flash, but I hear nothing. “Xiphos should be a goal, but not our primary concern. We must have the forces necessary to ensure we can protect it from our enemies.”
“It will evade us until it finds a safe opportunity to connect with its commander.” Poppy looks at Aera.
Toriszi sighs deeply but silently, catching my attention. I think he’s relieved, though I’m not sure what it’s about.
Movement against my side makes me look down. Aera shifts closer, hugging herself.
“What is it?” I quietly ask.
She looks up at me. “Days ago, I was just an Omega Force Soldier. Now, I realize my entire life has been a lie, and I’m supposed to do some amazing thing that I can’t even comprehend because there’s something in my blood that I’ve never known was there. I don’t like it.”
I wrap an arm around her side, understanding how she feels. “I’m with you. Your team is here. And Titans keep at it until we figure things out. We’re going to get through this together.”
Chapter 11: Aera
A glittery unit like Chasm walks up to Evo as we listen to Clover talk about the last sighting of Xiphos. His digibadge reads Fracture. Their heads tilt toward one another like they’re having a conversation.
Poppy introduces Commander Toriszi, who watches everything. He listens and never speaks. A woman stands beside him with a Titan in black webbing, covered in thrusters like he is a humanoid starship. Most of the Titans in the room stand beside women. But as Poppy and Clover talk about the original trip to the Solcrue Galaxy from Sol, how they secretly met with resistance crews and regularly updated backup plans, slowly building the concepts of Titans, I come to understand that the males are not simply protecting the human women. They are all mates. Savage and Leah are like Eon and Raven. Diesel and Rhee. Menace and Sefina. Armor and Esthi.
And me, with three human men and a Titan.I feel like it’s too much. But I’m still grateful for Evo choosing to stay by my side.
When Poppy is done, Chasm speaks. “Alright, now that Xiphos is in our sights, let’s refocus on our priorities. Pull together the resources you can for this supply mission. Trajectory suggests the Solcrue cruiser will pass closer to us tomorrow with the other vessel headed away on a different patrol, so we’ll want to slip in and disconnect all outgoing signal systems, make them disappear quietly, take the Solcrue out as we board.”
“Why not just use the bomb to wipe them all out?” I ask.
Savage casually leans back against the wall. “We could. And we probably will. But it is a one-time deal until we can recharge it, so it is saved for last resorts, used to escape when we are overrun. If we use it too early and need it again, we will die.”
“We often have these backup systems,” Chasm offers. “But because materials are hard to come by out here without longer-term mining operations like the Solcrue have, we cannot simply make more of these critical weapons systems. So we fight the old-fashioned way first.”
“Which, as it turns out, works pretty well,” Menace says with a grin that exposes pointed teeth like a wolf. “Solcrue have forgotten a lot of the old ways. They are not strong with Terran battle or even Terran life.”
“So grounding enemy forces…” Steele says in thought. “Would be helpful.”
“It is in our future plans,” Savage admits. “Just not right now. Rogues need to take the lead because this is their territory.”
Chasm continues. “Mother, run simulations.”
Attack patterns flash across the screen, many resulting in decommissioning and death. Flashbomb notices an opening. “Re-run simulation with a team infiltrating from this propulsion maintenance hatch.”
We get our first hint at a possible successful mission.
“Evo,” Chasm calls to him. “You have spent the most time on Solcrue ships. Please weigh in.”
Evo studies the screen for several long moments like he’s assessing and trying to decide what he wants to say. “If Solcrue believe that the attack is just humans coming for them, but a bunch of Titans unloads, it will be quite the wakeup call. I would use the cover of Rebel ships.”
He steps around me and taps a variety of access points on the holo, illuminating them green. “These are the least active during routine operation. Solcrue do not consider human Rebel shipsmuch of a threat, though they may upgrade that threat condition now that Toriszi’s fleet has helped us escape Ellipsis.
“If I were to take over a ship like this again, I would avoid these hot zones...” Evo selects several areas onscreen, illuminating them red.
He looks entirely too comfortable with Solcrue vessels, like he’s spent more time on them than I previously sensed.
“Unless I’m carrying grenades or at least flash bangs,” Evo adds. “Crew quarters need to be locked down until we can tackle those mass numbers. Hundreds will fill these rooms. You can safely estimate that about two hundred will be working, and another two will be resting on a battle cruiser of this size. That may not seem like enough when we have over a thousand civilians with us now and even more Rebels. But these ships can go out with several months' worth of supplies onboard. I would say, there is a good chance of securing enough goods for a few more weeks. Solcrue do not like to deplete their stores below a month.”
Savage walks up to the schematic, the blue light glazing his dull gray synthflesh. He sucks a pointed tooth, and I realize he and Menace share common traits. “Do you know of some way we can tackle this many Solcrue when we have far less that will be unloading?”
Evo motions to Leah. “RID shots will work like flash bangs. I did not have those. I took down 217 Solcrue onVessnabefore I was encapsulated by CSP anti-cyborg gel.”
