She hands me my father’s chiseled honeycomb-shaped memory chip. The moment it settles into my hand, the hexagonal pattern lights up blue.
“It recognizes you.” Brodin’s beard has grayed and thinned in recent months like many of the older men of our colony. “Your parents trusted us to care for you but not with whatever secret that holds. Just…don’t lose it.”
“I won’t.”
Brodin walks up to me and takes me by the shoulders. “They would be proud of you. We are.” Yet in his eyes hides fear that he cannot protect me any longer.
He draws me into a hug like his entire body aches. I know it does. Mine does too. Lack of food causes the body to enter a catabolic state, basically digesting itself to repair critical systems and keep us alive. But there comes a point where stores are not enough. It is why our numbers dwindle more every day.
“If you run out of hope,” he whispers, “Look for it in something new. Even if that means giving away your location to Solcrue. Youmustlive. But do not let them have this.”
He leans back and raps a knuckle on the armor over my sternum.
“Brodin.” Isa grabs his arm and gives his eyes a fearful study.
Water is precious. Tears are considered wasteful.
He wipes them away with a finger and licks the water from his skin. “I’m sorry.”
Isa hugs me. She is skin and bones, and I fear she will not survive the week. Brodin isn’t much better. He used to be so strong, jovial, and full of life.
The Solcrue have scavenged every supply depot, leaving us with nothing. They patrol our old routes to Earth Minor and now abandoned Rebel bases on planets and moons. We do not have the fuel to land on a planet after barely outrunning the last patrol squadron.
They will rot in hell at my first opportunity.
I sling the backpack over my shoulders and salute my captain and commander.
Captain Edensen salutes me back.
“Forgive me,” Commander Tarrant says as he sinks into a chair. “I do not have the energy. But I salute you, Aera, for what you are risking, and for the burden of lives you bear. I know it is not easy.”
I want to stay with them, but the longer I stay, the more time I waste, and the closer my people get to death.
“I will do everything I can,” I tell them.
Isa braces my cheek with a cold hand. “I will not be here when you return. My time comes. I feel it. But don’t you dare cry for me, child.”
Tears burn in my eyes, threatening to break free. “Yes, ma’am.”
“I got to see you grow up, and I got to grow old with this pain in the ass,” she adds.
Brodin laughs once, sadly, draws Isa against him, and kisses her forehead. Then he looks at me and tilts his head toward the hangars. “Go now, before more have to die.”
I glance once more at my commander and my captain and, after a nod from them, hustle out of the room, through the empty passageways, and to my small starfighter.
Charlee’s voice sounds weakly over the hangar speakers when I enter. The dark ships around me break my heart. “SunFlux, Dragon Nine, ready for launch.”
Behind her, through the glass, I see Daken, Racer, Colt, and Steele. Daken and Steele have their arms around the only other female on our team and are holding her up. She has taken a turn for the worse. But they’re giving her the honor of sending me off.
I am their last hope. We are too far out in dead space for Solcrue to hurt us, but they won’t hear our cries for help either. If I can’t reach the Titans, I have to turn to the enemy to save my people.
I must reach the Titans.
Screw Solcrue.
My ship, Dragon Nine, is fully charged and steams with heat. It feels criminal to have such things when there is nothing left for anyone else.
Looking in at my friends and their gaunt faces and dull eyes, I realize they’ve all been sacrificing more than I have. We ate and slept separately to avoid the spread of diseases. Captain Edensen told me we got the same food. That there was enough. But I see now that he lied to me.
