Chapter 9 Aera
I get up and follow Brodin, wondering what’s got him so up in arms. Steele stays right behind me. Eon looks back as we move through the row to the aisle.
Evo is at my side in seconds. “Where are you going?”
Brodin leads us into the residential quarters, toward his and Isa’s room. Poppy calls out another countdown with a warning for extra turbulence.
Evo grabs all three of us, pushes us against the wall, then plants his hands on the metal.
His body becomes a rigid arch, securing us in place.
I’m squished in the middle, looking up at him, held in place by his armored body.
The metal sheen of the walls of our ship consumes his face in a watery ripple.
Centurion jerks and sways violently. She isn’t used to this kind of space travel, and I find myself praying she holds together.
To either side of me, Steele and Brodin swear as the ship rises and drops abruptly.
I don’t feel it like I should, not with the rapid pace of my heart and the heat of Evo’s chest and thighs against mine.
Evo keeps his head turned away from me, even though he’s close enough I can catch the scent of rifle igniter dust on his skin. Instinct makes me grab onto him as the rough ride through space continues.
“Apologies,” Poppy calls over the ship-wide coms. “We dropped into an unexpected asteroid field. We will be clear in just a moment.”
Another abrupt jolt makes me cling harder to Evo’s body and curse. He feels stable despite the frenzied movements of the ship. I focus on breathing through the shuddering motions of the walls, the floor beneath my boots, and my heart.
Evo’s attention jerks back to me. His heated breath descends over my face. My grasp on reality is shaken up in my pounding head. Through it all, he’s the one thing I can clearly sense.
When the ship smoothes out again, he closes his eyes and releases his hands from the walls. While Brodin and Steele head for the room, Evo steadies me by my armored shoulders and gives me a close inspection. He says so much without words. Are you alright? Was that too much? I’m concerned.
After a couple of deep breaths, my vision steadies, and the pressure in my head eases. “I’m okay.”
“Aera,” Brodin calls to me, then throws Evo a glance.
I let go of Evo. We follow them to the doorway.
“Of course he can do that,” Steele mutters, rubbing a hand over his shirt, repositioning it. “Talk about making a man feel insecure. Just shove a Titan in with Omega Force. He can make all of us feel inadequate in one protective move.”
“Steele. He is a man inside,” I whisper back. “Evo and every other soldier went through a lot of agony to become the guardians they are.” I playfully swat Steele in the side. “So shut up. Stop comparing dick sizes.”
He groans. “You’re only making it worse.”
I slap a hand to my forehead and laugh. “Stars, you’re ridiculous.”
Evo watches me enter the room with unusual focus.
I smile up at him, wishing I could know what a Titan smile looks like.
They must be capable.
I hate that they were put through so much hell only to live there forever. If anyone deserves to be happy, it’s the ones who have risked everything to keep us alive and safe.
Brodin reaches into his closet beyond the bed and scans his forearm. A neon tattoo lights up in the dark, and a deeper door unlocks. He opens the chamber and pulls out a large black case, which he lays on the bed. “Steele, get the other case, please.”
Steele reaches in and stops when the same honeycomb tattoo lights up on his forearm. “What the fuck, Brodin? How did I not know I had this?”
“Gen-etech was developed originally on Earth as we learned to save our planet with the destructive breed of humans gone.” Brodin opens the case, exposing a suit of armor, an old book, a tablet, and various pieces of technology unfamiliar to me.
“Everything revolves around them. Still does. Steele, you were given that identifier when you were born, just like Aera was given the code that lives in her blood.”
I exchange a look of utter confusion with Steele. “Uh, what?”
Brodin gives me a hesitant glance. “I am sworn to secrecy by the core of the resistance. It doesn’t have a name.
Label something, and it becomes easy to classify, track, and manipulate.
So the unnamed remains something that is not controlled by any single person or Solcrue but by the very essence of our ancestors.
It listens in my blood, like it listens to Steele, and to you. ..and to Daken. But he already knows.”
Evo wraps an arm around me and grabs onto the door frame as we jump again. Steele and Brodin stagger but catch themselves. “Clarify.”
I look up at Evo as the ship steadies. His pale eyes trace my face with interest. I’m starting to like the way he’s so eager to touch me. He gives me a sense of safety I haven’t had since my family was whole, and we still had a little house on Earth Minor.
Brodin straightens. “Before we left Earth, those of us who did not believe the Solcrue Empire’s stories of this galaxy being our salvation coded all Creators and guards with respective threads of Gen-etech nanos so that if Solcrue turned on us, we could activate our backup weapons defense system and have a chance of escape.
No one could take our power away. And no one could hack our system.
But Xiphos is lost in the Deep Black with CyberGuard Star Base, sacrificed to a hiding place to protect it. ”
Brodin lifts a hand toward Steele. “Descended of CyberTechs and Sentinels and Grays who all served or protected Creators and our people. That’s what I am, too.”
Steele sets the case on the bed. It contains similar items. A book, a tablet, a suit of armor, and pieces of other unfamiliar tech. “Why did you tell Daken?”
“He found this stuff.” Brodin rubs the spot between his brows like he has a headache.
“We kept it from you because you were already doing so much. Isa and I were concerned that telling you that you were basically carrying the weight of your ancestors and your people was going to be more pressure than you needed.”
Steele runs a hand through his hair. “I’m guessing we can’t tell anyone.”
“No. When you’re in, you find out who is left.”
Brodin switches on a tablet and offers it to me.
“Gen-etech knows when people die. Don’t ask me how it works.
Creators from Earth built it. But because the list is still updating, I know Xiphos is still operating out there in space.
..somewhere. But it was designed to not be found.
Except by a Creator’s descendant who held that chip. ”
I look through the list. Isa is already listed as deceased.
Evo moves closer. I can feel his body heat against my back, and it’s wonderful in the chilled ship. We might be back online, but it takes time to heat up such a massive hunk of metal in space.
“I know these people.” Evo points to the screen. “Leah Krader is Savage’s mate.”
Brodin climbs into his suit of armor. “Did you say, mate?”
“Yes, sir,” Evo replies. “Most Titans are free because of Leah or Raven Shalvois, my twin’s mate. She is also on this list.”
Brodin slumps like he’s relieved and yet perplexed. “Never thought you were such animals.”
“Sefina, Esthielle... They are alive and mated to Titans as well.” Evo looks over at him. “We are machines. Many consider us monsters. We like to think, to the Solcrue, we are. I may not like the term, but it is accurate.”
Brodin waggles his head. “Well, they are monsters. So I guess we have to become like them to beat them. It’s just a...primal term.”
“So this is why Leah’s blood activates the anti-Solcrue weapon? Because she is descended from original resistance fighters?” Evo asks.
Brodin nods. “But Aera is the last descendant of original resistance Creators. We have had many join the program after we left Earth and the Sol system. But she carries the blood of Earthen resistance. She is the only one left who can control Xiphos.”
“According to this tablet,” I say, not wanting to believe I’m the last. “Couldn’t it be wrong?”
Brodin sways between his feet. “It’s possible, but I doubt it.”
I pull the chip out of my pocket and study the light that brightens inside its cells. Evo wraps me in his arms and steadies me as we jump again. I’m getting used to it, the jump and his eagerness to touch me. “Then why does this light up with him?”
When the ship steadies again, I extend it to Evo.
Evo takes the chip and looks it over. His face ripples with the glowing honeycomb pattern.
Steele gasps. “Wow... That is wild.”
His comment clearly makes Evo self-conscious.
Evo promptly hands the device to me and slides back a step.
I don’t think he likes changing in front of others, or at least he doesn’t want to make others uncomfortable.
Insecurity is not a characteristic I remember being built into Titans.
But if Evo can feel self-doubt, then he’s far more human than most likely think.
He could feel like an outcast. His behavior definitely hints at it.
I glare at Steele and bare my teeth.
He grimaces and silently mouths, “Sorry.”
Brodin takes the tablet back, packs it in his armor along with several other things, then motions to Steele. “Get dressed. If the Solcrue know she’s alive, they’re going to come for her.”
Steele looks over the things and begins dressing in his armor. “Because she’s a key to a really big weapon?”
Brodin rips a device out of his case and closes it. Then he walks up to Evo and hovers it over his hand. The scanner beeps. “Inconclusive. Too much nano interference. But there are residual threads in there. Perhaps as a human, you were one of us. Now, you are if you choose to be.”
“I will protect Aera until I am decommissioned.” Evo is firm. “I do not care what you call me as long as my loyalty is clear.”
The door slides open, exposing Daken in armor like Steele and Brodin. His eyes dart to me. “Poppy would like to speak with us, but we must meet her on Aegis, where others gather for a meeting.”
I walk up to Daken and squint up at him, trying not to smile. “I should punch you for not telling me and for carrying this burden alone.”
“Yeah, man. What the fuck?” Steele snorts.
Daken chews a cheek, then glances between us. “I wasn’t supposed to know.”
“Did you find out before or after we were a thing?” I quietly ask him.
Daken adjusts his grip on his rifle. “After.”
“So was any of it real or just a feeling that you had to stay close?” I ask.
He shrugs and looks away. “I don’t know, Aera. But I will always care. And I will always be here.”
“Same goes for you.”
He gives me a terse nod, then looks up at Evo like he sees something familiar in him. “I’m new to this, too. And it’s just a guess, but what if the Titans were how they preserved the resistance?”
I look back at Brodin.
He scratches his gray beard. “It’s possible. But I didn’t work deep in the labs. I don’t know how they chose soldiers.” But when he looks at Evo, he nods. “I could see that being the reason some Creators like your mother pushed for production of models the other Creators objected to.”
“They objected to me?” Evo asks with such emptiness in his voice that it makes us all look at him.
Brodin purses his lips like he didn’t expect such a reaction.
Evo’s eyes fall on a distant place.
“Final jump,” Poppy’s voice announces.
Evo doesn’t look at me. He just secures me to him with an arm and grabs the doorframe like protecting me is second nature. A jarring bump tears through the ship.
“Sorry about that, everyone. There’s a little extra turbulence in the tail end of the solar storm, still leaving the area. Please make sure to check all systems for cracked seals or shifted items. We will be in the nebula in five minutes.”
As our flight smoothes out again, I expect Evo to let go of me, but he doesn’t. And I’m starting to like it more every time.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I tell Evo. “The resistance would’ve lost me and maybe Xiphos forever if you hadn’t saved my life. Now, we just have to find it.”
Evo peers down at me.
“So my mother was right to fight for you. And she had no idea you would return the favor one day. But we have to stay focused. The last thing I want is to bring more Solcrue attention onto us.”
Brodin meets us by the door, Steele right behind him. “It may be time we leave the colony and find Xiphos.”
“Why wait until now?” Evo asks. “My Brothers, all the humans...so many have died.”
Brodin licks a lip, bites it, and bobs his head, like he knew someday someone would ask.
“Because it is the best weapon we have. If we don’t reduce Solcrue numbers as much as possible before we initiate it, then we are done for.
That is it. Xiphos is the backup, the last resort. If it fails, we fail.
“We got annihilated in the war and have been so scattered across the galaxy in small groups of survivors that coordinating this has been a struggle. Titans are much smaller than Xiphos and easier to conceal. You were how we kept numbers up. Trust me, if I could’ve opted for the Titan program, I would’ve volunteered.
But I was assigned to guard Aera’s father, Isa to Aera’s mother. ”
The ship shudders.
“Docking with Aegis complete,” Poppy reports. “Please wait for a Titan to escort you inside as Mother is very picky about who she permits to walk her hallways.”
Evo puts his gloves on and hands each of us another bottle of water and a bar of dried fruits and grains. “From Ellipsis. Cara, the half-breed, makes decent food. Her grandfather helped terraform that world for Solcrue. Please fuel up.” Evo gives me an extra item. “Especially you.”
He packs his bag, slings it across his chest, adjusts his rifle, and leads the way into the hallway. “Stay with me. I will escort all of you to the meeting.”