Chapter 1 Evo
I thought I was ready.
Behind me, on Craze and Navi’s Ravenger, Relics Atox, Ranger, Armor, Chaos, and many more exchange rather violent hugs in celebration of finding the Rogues.
Many cheer down the corridor, even the human females that were either rescued by Craze or tagged along with their mates when the BlazeStar sent a medical crew to us after Armor took a devastating hit during our escape.
Relic medic Rebel is highly skilled, smiles at everyone but me, and managed to save Armor with CyberTech Esthielle’s help.
Rebel has avoided me like I am a plague.
I got the message.
Rebel>>Evo: Stay out of the way.
Fracture, the only other Rogue Brother among our weary fleet, sits in one of Ravenger’s pilot’s seats beside me.
We don’t even look at one another as the Relics laugh and pat each other on the back.
We made it. We followed Aegis Mothership’s Rogue beacon and were able to find her.
That’s what matters. So we move on to our next task, aligning our ships for joint operations.
Lotus>>Ravenger: Capsule will assist with incompatible docking. Please proceed.
Rogue pilot, Lotus, sends a request for the closest dock door match, one of our starboard hangar doors with one of her aft port doors.
Fracture and I work over the radiant green screens in the black dash of the stolen Solcruean ship, maneuvering in for docking.
The ship is highly responsive, loaded with weapons, and packed with experimental cybernetic torture labs.
But the parts have been useful for repairs.
It still amazes me how humans and Solcrue can take the same materials and do such different things with them. Solcrue might be descendants of humanity, but there is little of that left in them.
Navi screeches a laugh that makes both Fracture and me look back.
Craze has snatched her up. I do not understand why he buries his face in her chest and fervently rummages his nose around between her breasts, but it appears to make her happy.
The cybernetics that Solcrue engineers shoved in her head light up in wild patterns.
Craze seems to enjoy it as much as she does.
I wish I understood such happiness. But of the Titans, I am the king of suffering. Love and joy are not in my future. I do not deserve to feel like smiling.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t long to be understood by someone who doesn’t judge me for my mistakes.
“Craze! I need to take over piloting this beast. Docking is a bitch.”
He kisses her and sets her feet down. “As long as you pilot my beast and let me dock in you later.”
Fracture shakes his head as he transfers control to Navi.
Fracture>>Evo: I do not understand the primal nature of Relics.
Evo>>Fracture: Agreed.
But it has served Relics well in Terran battle.
My insides stir with heat as I ponder the bond between a Titan and a human and what it would be like to have a mate like so many Relics do.
But Relics are far more open with their emotions now that they are free.
I still feel like I am bound to serve as a Bond instead of participating in one, even though I have also broken free of my programming.
But my emotional straitjacket is self-inflicted.
Concern grows that we are getting distracted from our mission. If Craze did not have Navi, he would be calmly standing on the bridge, ready for the next battle with the Solcrue. And yet, he has shared his story with us in a telepathic recording download. I know he would not be here without her.
It isn’t easy to be honest with myself about how much I envy him. The way Navi looks up at him is like he is everything seems impossible.
I am hollow inside because even my Brothers do not value me.
At least, Rebel hates me for sure. We simply know what the others are capable of.
We plan, we fight, and we regroup over and over until we are ultimately decommissioned.
That is our operational cycle. Or it was until Amp took Cara, the Solcrue-human half-breed, as his mate and broke the cycle.
But I was not built to be a normal Titan.
I have always felt things I have had to keep hidden.
Eon knows my truth. He is the only one who understands how my mind can get wrapped around concepts and question even the most basic things that others don’t concern themselves with, like guilt, jealousy, self-disgust, and inadequacy.
A lack of identity is my biggest problem. I can become any Titan I touch.
It has been a long time since I was last among soldiers whom I trusted not to hack me and make me do horrible things.
I want only to rise, united, against the Solcrue in a violent, crushing wave and stop them from doing such horrific things to any human or Titan again.
And for a moment, I have a flicker of conviction and hope. Then it is gone again.
Ravenger III glides in closer to Aegis. Solcrue build highly capable ships. I will give them that.
For years, I dreamt of finding just one resistance ship, one last thread that would carry us through this storm to salvation. But seeing Aegis now, in all its shining, pure glory, only reminds me of the Brothers we have lost and how much they deserve to be here instead of me.
Navi and Craze’s modified Ravenger is capable and has allowed Fracture and me to lead our joint force away from Solcruean-occupied orbit above Planet Ellipsis toward the call of our Mothership.
Relics couldn’t hear our Rogue Mother’s ping at such a distance, just like we could not hear Pilot Clover or the Relics’ BlazeStar until we were closer.
Relics and Rogues can communicate and work together. But we belong to unique stages of CyberTitan creation, and serve different purposes. Relics were built for Terran warfare. We were built for space.
Now, we must fortify defenses and build new weapons before our next confrontation with the scaly, mutated bastards.
It is difficult to believe Solcrue could evolve from humanity.
But perhaps, centuries of searching star systems for one that could support life at some point led them through a realm that tainted their minds and bodies.
Humans do not agree. They believe Solcrue have been corrupt since they left their original Sol system.
I wouldn’t know. But Solcrue have killed many thousands, enslaving more on planets and their ships.
I believe the reason they are the way they are matters, but it cannot override their heinous actions.
The next time I meet a Solcrue, I am not letting them slither free again without first severing their throat.
Savage, Commander of the BlazeStar and the Relics, takes charge of our joint fleet over the coms. Navi walks up to us and assumes control of Ravenger III from Fracture and me.
As our battle-bruised fleet, including the hundred or so human Rebel ships, huddles around our massive Rogue mothership, my sense of purpose wanes. I pushed aside my mistakes and my past to help our united force escape. That is what my Brothers and the humans needed.
They needed my skills to replicate Leah Krader’s blood and unlock and detonate the anti-Solcruean bomb.
It helped us sway the end of the battle to our favor so our makeshift fleet could escape the enemy.
I did what Savage asked of me in order to not risk his mate, General Krader’s daughter.
I will do what he commands. And I will do anything I can to protect females.
They are precious to the continued survival of the human species.
But sometimes, I find myself wondering if everyone is safer without me around.
Females are everywhere now. Relics protect the females, and the females care for them.
They are stronger this way, but distracted.
And as much as I wish I had an understanding of such devotion, I know there is no female who would ever want a Titan known for hurting them, even if my body was under the control of someone else.
I catch my reflection on a navigation screen and look away, hiding my disgust under the blank stare of programmed apathy. I switch off deep-space scanners and relinquish the remainder of my copiloting to Navi, who guides us closer to home.
A deep-rooted fear of my Rogue Brothers disowning me when we finally meet after years apart twists up my insides.
None of them know what I do, not really, or what I saw.
When Titan Brothers request a download of my recordings since our last meeting, I never share everything.
We are programmed to be transparent. My programming is rebellious, makes its own rules.
Many files are already encrypted, compressed, and stored behind partitions.
Eon understands.
Esthi spoke of how we were once human when we recently rushed to save her mate, Armor.
He took a devastating hit atop the Ravenger during our escape.
I did not see the missile in time or I would have taken it for him.
But now, he stands near the portside exit to the bridge with her, his upgraded wings glowing as he shelters his mate and his friends: Mace, Karambit, and Atox.
He looks proud. And he’s still with us because of her, Relic unit Rebel’s risky medical procedures, and Atox’s assistance.
Armor’s intelligent mate believes we are not wholly machine, but still hold some of our human characteristics in the cybernetic processors in our heads, and it’s why I continually ruminate about things, even memories I’ve long locked away.
And it’s why some units, like Relic Diesel and me, dream.
But dwelling on human things, like dreaming and mating, steals processing power from battle efforts.
We have to stay focused. Solcrue still outnumber us.
Yet I can’t get the joy in Craze’s magenta eyes out of my mind.