Rebel turns to me. “Arius needs medical attention. Are we helping him or leaving him?”
I motion for him to help Arius. “He’s from my camp. Here under false pretenses.”
Arius enters the main cabin, tears the badge from his chest, throws it down, and crushes it under the heel of his good foot.
“Status of the Cerebus drop?” Savage asks.
Menace points out the window at a falling ship, and we all look. “Marstis going to eat shit in ten…nine…”
As Marst plummets to Ellipsis, Fury reports, “Vessnais powering down in the Iridithatium belt!”
Menace grins, wipes blood from his face, and says, “Two out of three ain’t bad. I didn’t send my pack to Corenge because I didn’t think they’d win. ButVessnashould succumb to Ellipsis’ gravity soon and give any survivors a chance on Ellipsis the way we had. Then we’ll just have Corenge’s ship to deal with during lift-off.”
“We better get Mother free soon,” Fury calls back with urgency. “Another Solcruean mothership just dropped into orbit. It’s circling toward us now.”
Savage swears and paces. “They’re early. Okay, I want everyone on guard for the BlazeStar. Nothing gets through our shield. Pull in the females on pilot duty. We need to tighten the perimeter and protect our most important asses.”
“Asses, sir?” Mace asks.
Savage waves a dismissive hand. “Assets!Assets. Sorry. Leah…”
The mated Titans all look similarly stressed, a level above Shifter, Turbo, Mace, and Karambit.
I close up my zembi and attach it to my belt. “I think I have an idea of how to get the BlazeStar out of here in one piece. I need whoever is best with portal tech to come with me.”
