Chapter 23: Armor
I have missed a rocket suit. I wore one before the Creators gave me my wing upgrade. The drone of engines that echoes inside my pressurized carapace is comforting. I hold Esthi close and aim for Craze’s ship.
He’s a long way off but serves as a decent shield against the Solcruean weapons fire the way their shields barely shimmer as they take hits.
Esthi clings to me in a desperate way that makes me all the more committed to getting her to safety. Even without my shields, she still trusts me and feels safe with me. And that means everything when I feel like my skills are limited in this condition.
A Solcruean fighter sends vibrant green bullets, cutting up the space around us.
Armor>>Esthielle: Tighter!
She hugs me like her life depends on it. And it does. Her suit is badly damaged. Her visor’s flickering, so I know she’s losing control of the rockets at her feet. I am our only chance at making it to another ship.
Esthi screeches as a missile blazes by her thigh.
I draw the rifle from my back, adjust our position with the thrusters in the suit, rotating so I can get a clear shot, and account for the change in trajectory when I fire. I target the ship and don’t wait to pull the trigger. The bullets race across space, pelting their shield and throwing them off course. As they bank away from us, I tag the side of the ship until I have a shot at the engines. But they dive away from us before I can rotate far enough to take them out.
Another ship targets us. Then another. There’s little space between bullets, but I sling my rifle onto my back, clutch Esthi, and try to fly us out of it.
All around us, Titan ships take hits. Craze’s Ravenger is hard at work combating the Solcruean fighters while enduring a barrage of weapons fire from the approaching berserker.
Esthi jolts in my arms.
Armor>>Esthielle: Are you damaged?
Her com clicks on, and she sobs out, “We’re not going to make it are we?”
Rocket tails reflect in her eyes when I look down to inspect her face. “I’m scared, too. But we’re not out of service yet. Until then, we need to focus on what we have, not what we don’t. Can you do that for me?”
She licks her lips and nods. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Esthielle. You are strong and smart. We will get through this together.”
Her gaze darts across her intermittent visor diagrams. Manual mode blinks.
Esthi reaches down, finds a button on the side of her suit, depresses it, and opens a panel.
What is she doing?
She clicks something into place. Her boots kick on. She spreads her legs to either side of mine.
“Omega and Titan Force…” a voice calls over coms. “This is Asgier Toriszi of the Astral Rebels Alliance. We are here to assist.”
Out of the darkness of space, hundreds more ships join the battle in a mass wave that merges with ours and engages Solcrue.
“Does anyone have eyes on Leah Krader?” someone asks.
Leah’s voice comes over the coms as her and Savage’s fighter banks back for another attack pass. “Halim, is that you?”
“Josarin is on guns, Miss Krader. It took us two years, but we never gave up hope you were out here,” Halim replies as a ship banks in and parallels Leah’s.
“Takes a lot more than my half-brother to take me out. Glad you’re with us! “
Hundreds of rebel ships, from single-person fighters up to larger transports and bombers, flood the stars. Many open portals below their vessels and swallow Titan ships, scooping us out of the sky like nets. They ignite with the dark ink of rebel portals, swallow Brothers, switch off, and fire at passing enemy ships. The vessels are a mismatched bunch, but it shows human resourcefulness, something I’m grateful for.
All this time, we worried there was no one left but the human servants and a few forsaken souls in Naryth on Earth Minor.
A ship rises beneath us, the torch symbol of rebels painted on the roof. The person inside closes his helmet and waves at us. He fires Gatling guns at Skysprinters and fighters as we change direction and fly to his ship.
