Chapter 11: Armor
Her body calms inside mine. The heartbeat I detect in her neck eases, and I know I bring her comfort. She trusts me, and it brings back a shred of the pride I once felt as the guardian of my Brothers.
Sathrin falls to his knees.
“We will win. Your doubt and your desire to be anything like the enemy make you a threat to the empire. Sorry, brother. Lieutenant Groll expects loyalty and perfection. You doubt your people. How you made it this far without execution, I don’t know.” Celathious holsters his gun and walks back into the trees.
Several minutes pass after he’s gone that I just hold Esthi and drink in her scent while I wait for her to steady herself. Finally, she twists around and looks up at me. Esthi rests her cheek to mine in a tender moment I wish could last. It is a foreign stimulation. Only Mother Besha on Titan ever showed us such compassion.
“We have to go to him,” she says sadly.
“What?” I watch as Esthi walks back into the creek. It takes a second for me to process what she’s doing. But I follow her in case Celathious finds us.
She hikes the bank on the other side and walks down the river to where Sathrin lies, bleeding out. Olive iridescent fluid runs from his body down the rocks and into the water.
He gasps from a hole in his chest as she kneels to him. “Hello, Sathrin.”
Every muscle piston in my body tenses, waiting for a move from him that I don’t like.
The Solcrue squints at her and shakes his head once. “Human...”
“Yes.” Esthi digs through her bag, grabs an injector, and peels it from the plastic. “Don’t you know your species prefers natural selection?”
His breaths rattle.
“He’s bleeding internally,” I tell her. Diagnostics scans fill my vision. “He’s not going to live.”
She looks up at me. “That’s what the Solcrue want, isn’t it? For all of us that they deem less valuable than their elites to suffer until we ultimately die, and they can have their unburdened utopia in the stars?”
Esthi jams the injector with vehemence into the hole in Sathrin’s chest. “Your people took my sister. Where is she?”
Sathrin’s face screws up in agony. “I don’t know where every slave is stationed!”
The muscles in Esthi’s jaw flex. “The special units trained to fly your ships. She’s in cybernetic armor.”
“Commanders Ahronis and Kravith have control of the VoidDiver program.”
“He’s lying, has to be,” I say.
Esthi smirks. “No. It’s built into Solcruean medicines to tell the truth as they’re healed, so reports can be filed with accuracy. Isn’t that right, Sathrin?”
The hexagonal cells of his face darken in waves as he coughs and splutters. He musters a nod.
“What is the plan during takeoff?” she presses.
His gaze darts around like he doesn’t want to say it.
“Sathrin.” Esthi twists the injector.
“Oh! Okay, fuck!” He grunts and curls a lip. “Venom Squadron is set to attack the mountain.”
This is new to me. “What is Venom Squadron?”
“We have acidic weapons that eat into soiridium and most Titan metals. Everything but hydramidium.”
“How do we stop them?” I ask.
“You can’t. Ghost cloaks are like nothing I’ve ever seen.” Sathrin chokes and starts convulsing.
