Chapter 26 Evo
Demon and Icarus needed help disabling Aidathrin’s thrusters. Turning into Relic Fury is not my favorite, but I was able to overheat the thermocouple and get an engine to shut down with my Rogue Brothers.
But when our other Brothers are overwhelmed by Solcrue squads, we abandon the mission and run to where they are locked in a fiery hailstorm toward the forward section of the ship.
Wraith is a smoky blur as he ricochets his way through soldiers. But they pour out of hatches in never-ending streams. Eon is closest to me. Icarus is almost to Psycho. Demon has made it to Omen, and they’ve teamed up on the port side of the warship when I hear Aera’s warning.
Proximity Alert.
I barely have time to glance back and see the green wave of the detonating weapons system. Eon and I are closest to the blast.
Evo>>Eon: Take my hand!
Eon turns around and sees me as the green light glazes his armor. He extends a hand as I jump for his position. Wraith ducks behind the shield of a space docking mount. Everyone else has time. Eon does not.
His fingers slide into mine as the green heat wave ripples over us. I squeeze hard and don’t let go. But the energy wave knocks me somewhere else, somewhere far away in the Deep Black.
A blue orb shines in the otherwise empty sky. Blue light pours from me as I stumble through the darkness. I look down and see bright spots in my body, two, where I’ve hidden the chips.
As I rotate through space, I catch a glint of light off metal. A monstrosity of a machine looms in the darkness. The void out here is not empty. It hums with a deep, powerful energy that shudders through me. And it has a message for me, which it sends, like a Brother sends me a memory download.
It knows what I am.
“Evo!” My brother shakes me back to reality. I open my eyes to the battle atop Aidathrin. Eon runs a hand through his hair and looks around at the Rogues.
I don’t know why he looks so scared. We always phase when we collide. And then I realize he’s broken his hold on me, and we’re still translucent.
Eon>>Evo: What the fuck? Are we dead? Is this the Black Death? Do our lost Brothers wander among us like this?”
He swipes his hand through a hatch handle in the hull. It phases without contact.
Evo>>Eon: Oh, shit.
I reach for it and have the same problem.
What are we supposed to do? Eon wonders.
I offer him a hand. He hesitantly takes it.
We phase back into the battle.
Eon ducks under a passing bullet. He gives me a wild look, breaks contact, then takes my hand again, and we phase back to translucent beings.
We could do a lot with this, I say with a waggle of my brows.
Eon looks down at the hatch. Then we do it.
I fist bump him, phase back to reality, rip the hatch open, and let him jump down. I close the hatch behind me as I follow him inside Aidathrin.
We drop into a room filled with Solcrue.
Eon bashes into two, steals a gun, and begins firing.
I throw a shoulder into the closest soldier and launch him against a wall.
Two charge at me from a corner of the gunners’ seats.
I run toward them, jump, and bring my feet up, kicking them back the way they came.
I land hard, look up, and see an entire squadron filter in through the doorways to the long stretch of gunners’ seats. They’re going to see us.
Snatching up a grenade from one of the soldiers I’ve taken down, I throw it, then I dive for Eon’s hand. He catches me, and we phase out as the blast takes out twenty.
Eon pats my hand and phases us back in. He picks up the rifle he’s dropped and lays down cover fire as we back out of the room. I steal another grenade, fling it down the hallway, and chase him out of the munitions rail. It blooms in a cascading boom-boom-boom.
We phase out as we enter the main levels until we get a sense of the room and combatants, then we tap in, lay down our assaults, then tap out again. Climb stairs. Repeat.
The ship takes hits. As we phase back in on the upper deck, we hear Raven, Esthi, Kelta, and Aera talking over the network, coordinating the escape.
Eon phases us out. “We’re going to be left behind.”
“I know.” I direct his attention to a prison at the far end of the security deck. “But they will be safe. And we can do this. You must hear the ping.”
He nods. “It’s going to be hellfire to get to him.”
“But we have to. Then we evacuate this ship,” I tell him. “And we take it.”
Eon studies me like he isn’t sure if I’m serious. Then a sly grin curls on his face. “If you think you can do that.”
“I can take control.”
Eon lifts a hand, hesitates, then taps us in. We pick up rifles from the bodies around us and fire at the security crews forming up for battle. We catch them with their pants down. Many return fire. And the hall becomes a radiant storm of gunfire.
The crews aren’t ready for our kind of assault, and this has been a long time coming. My speed picks up as I find combatants, take them out with single shots, and move on to the next.
Any time Eon or I are in danger of getting shot, we tap out. Our rifles fall. We move through the space to a secure location, phase back in, collect new weapons from downed soldiers, and keep moving, clearing the way to the prison at the back.
Aidathrin is in bad shape. But it has a few engines and a lot of supplies still inside. The majority of the ship has been freed of Solcrue. But a few soldiers will still cause trouble.
When we make it to the door to the prison, I guard while Eon smashes the control panel and rewires it, unlocking the door.
He knows if I dive into a computer system or another life form, that we can’t phase because I become what I touch.
As it swings open, I tap us out. We peer inside at the only occupied cell at the back.
A squad of guards, confused by the mayhem, walks through us and into the room with downed soldiers, then continues deeper into the ship.
Eon chuckles and studies his translucent hand. Man, I love this.
A single Titan sits on a metal bench behind multiple layers of glass. Bands bind his body, arms, legs, and neck in a metal cast so that only his head is somewhat mobile.
Eon finds the control center. “Can you merge with this?”
I look it over and hover my hand above the controls. “You’ll have to guard.”
“Do it.” Eon fist-bumps me, phases us back into the fight, picks up a rifle, steadies it against his shoulder, and places himself between the door and me.
Resting my hand on the touch screen, I pull up the programs, find the security system for the Titan’s cell, and try to unlock the doors, but it gives me a warning.
“It’s DNA-coded. I can’t.” I break my contact and walk around to the glass doors.
“What are you doing?”
“What I did to free Aera. I hope.” I set my hands on the glass and focus on the tearing feeling that is Rogue Brother Chasm. I blend it with the shattering feeling of Fracture, then I push the feeling away from me. Glass cracks.
Eon fires behind me. “Evo!”
“I’m trying!”
“Pretend he’s Aera and a Solcrue has a knife to her throat,” Eon calls back. “That’s what I do with Raven.”
I don’t have to pretend.
Crezlith’s bite marks on my mate are enough to find the anger and utilize its power to break the glass wide open. The force shatters the layers one at a time, filling the room with glass.
The Titan slowly lifts his head. His irises flash through an array of colors as they focus on my position.
“Brother, are you corrupt?” I ask.
“They tried.” He fights the bands. “A little help?”
I walk up to him and pull up Magma’s skills, heat my hands and run them down the bands, melting them until they are soft enough for him to break free.
The Titan tears himself out. As I step back, he gets to his feet. His body is seamless with glints of hydramidium, and bears the digibadge G.Paradox.
“If you don’t mind,” Paradox says with a cool, deep fury in his voice. “I would like a chance to cleanse this ship of what remains. It has been too long since I was in battle.”
Eon glances back at us, gapes at Paradox, then offers him his rifle. “Have at it.”
Paradox stands almost a head taller than both of us. He takes the rifle, stalks past us, and enters the security officers’ quarters, firing with surprising speed. Bullets glance off of him, sending fiery wisps dancing away from his body in a radiant silhouette.
“Shall we take the bridge?” Eon asks with a laugh. “I think Paradox has this covered.”
I lift a fist, and he bumps it. We phase out and run past Paradox, who clears every Solcrue that comes within range. He is the best of us. I have no concerns about him successfully cleansing the ship.
Eon and I ascend the stairs to the bridge. There are only two guards outside the doors. We walk right up to them, fist-bump, phase in, and grin at the Solcrue as we punch them in their smug faces, steal their rifles, and shoot them down.
I set my hand on the coded pad, run the programs in my mind, and unlock the door. Eon steadies his rifle in his hands, keeping the igniter hot.
Eon>>Evo: You go left. I go right.
I click back twice, and we enter the bridge.
Solcrue shout. Some get up and run for escape pods. Eon doesn’t let them get away, and neither do I. They have come to destroy us. I am done letting them control our future. I finally have a reason I want to operate to see it...to see beautiful Aera again.
She is the one thing in this universe that has the power to pull my broken pieces together. I want it to be safe for her so she can live in the peaceful galaxy that she deserves.