Chapter 7 Roxi #2
Fracture steals a glance at me. “I’ll go. If we’re going to send a crew, send me.”
“It’s a long trip in a small ship,” Toriszi says. “We’ll have to move the fleet there to be within Skysprinter range.”
“Then we head for Planet Lencio.” Savage studies me carefully. “Unless you object with a valid reason.”
I squirm, hating the idea of going back there. “Just stay in orbit, get patrols out, and be willing to sacrifice anyone who lands. That is what it will take if Solcrue discover our position.
“We had Titans. They fought first, died last. But I was the only one left. I had to lockdown the base. It’s coded with my blood.”
“Perhaps we should not go,” Chasm replies.
The filled crates behind him in the shielded area dig into my heart. Hundreds of Titan cores remain offline because Rogue Fleet doesn’t have what it needs to bring their brothers back. I can help them. I want to. I just hate what it’s going to take.
“There were CyberTechs there, resistance fighters, and Creators. They could repair cores, build new bodies, anything you need. But during the lockdown, the few survivors left got into hibernation pods and buried themselves. So that will be a barrier to overcome. I cannot work on Creator pods, only Titan. So I can’t wake them.
That has to be done by someone with that kind of access. And that’s not me.”
Fracture looks to Chasm with hope. “We could heal Ricochet, Nix, and the others. Maybe even bring back a Brother. We have to try.”
“It will be a step in the right direction,” Savage says. “But it doesn’t sound like a walk in and out situation.”
“They could’ve found it by now, blown it open, and raided it,” Relic Thruster says.
I doubt it. I’ve studied the security system enough times.
“We can’t expect them to have forgotten a prime target,” Relic Chaos agrees, his violet eyes flashing with communication. He adjusts a chain of what glints like hydramidium over his shoulders. “We should expect an attack.”
Savage sighs. “I want the disaggregates on offense, shield units on defense, and Paradox.” He looks up at Chasm.
Chasm takes a vote, and the plan to go is unanimous. Fracture is the first to put his hand up. But Savage denies his request for the infiltration crew.
“I’m not staying here,” Fracture defends. He withdraws his touch the moment his hackles raise. White fissures cover his body. Shards tip and rise like flared scales.
“We need you to keep an eye on Evo and Crezlith,” Savage replies.
Fracture fumes. His desire to stay with me is sweet but misplaced. He should stay and help with Crezlith. I can take other Titans.
Fracture gets worked up enough that his glassy body dims like it’s filling with smoke. “I bonded to Roxi on the last mission. She released me, but my programming is still telling me to stay. It won’t let me leave her.”
Savage visually dissects him. “What is the designation?”
I hold my breath, wondering what Fracture is going to say.
“I can’t explain it. Programming diagnosis is green. I am within operational parameters. But she returns me to a base model husk during contact, like what Ribos and others can do to Evo.”
Savage is firm. “Unless you can diagnose the issue, you’re not going.”
Fracture looks helplessly at Chasm.
Savage inhales deeply and tilts his head toward Chasm as their eyes light up. If I had my tablet open, I’d know what they’re saying, but I don't want to give myself away. It’s going to be enough of a struggle to hide it when we’re at the base.
“Oh.” Chasm smiles. “Is that why?”
Chasm turns to me and lowers his voice while the Titans and humans chat in the hangar around us. “Forgive us, Roxi. Relics can smell scent-bonds much better than us Rogues. We feel it more through contact.”
Fracture looks down at his hands. “You’re suggesting I’m emotionally compromised?”
“Are you?” Chasm, whose body sparkles like it’s made of millions of tiny black diamonds, eyes Fracture like he knows some dirty little secret about him.
“No.” Fracture looks down at me. “I don’t know. She calms other Titans too. Anilius, Turbo, and even Echo. He stopped vibrating and found stillness when she touched him. It cannot be that kind of Bond.”
“You need to decompress,” Atomizer says, walking up to us. “It will help to expand and settle yourself when you aren’t mid-battle. Just open yourself up and take your time reassembling yourself. Trust me.”
“Do that and get some nanoreceptive gear,” Chasm says.
Savage rolls his eyes in annoyance.
“What? You think only Relics’ fight strengthens when a mate is involved?” Chasm chuckles. “Savage…”
“For a mission of this caliber, we cannot afford mistakes or distractions.” Savage points at Fracture. “Zero funny business. I have been lax until now with the Terran crews because we have all been stressed, and release is useful.”
I scoff. “I’m right fucking here. You imply something based on assumptions. What if that isn’t what’s on his mind or mine?”
Chasm and Savage look at me at the same time, while Fracture hangs his head.
I cross my arms. “So you’re telling me he likes me and wants a Bond with me in the personal mating sense, but you never bothered to ask him if he wanted that information disclosed to me.”
Savage sucks on a long canine tooth and squints like he realizes his mistake.
Chasm plants his hands in his hips and nods. “You’re right. But we have to confront all possibilities, especially when it affects a supply run that will change our operational capabilities.”
Fracture sighs and disaggregates. His cloud of inky shards pulses. “I’m going to get armor.”
“How bad was the facility on Lencio when you left?” Chasm asks as Fracture drifts up above the crowd and down the hallway.
“Minimal damage to the facility. Of the fifteen techs and five Creators, I managed to save five techs and three Creators. And that’s only assuming their hibernation cells operated as designed, and there haven’t been power grid disruptions…”
“Do you trust Fracture to escort you?” Savage asks. “We need you to lead us.”
I nod. “He has saved me twice in the last day.”
“Because he…”
I scowl at Savage, and he quiets. “I don’t want to risk any of you. Maybe you should let me go alone and hang back until I’ve determined it’s safe.”
The memory of the peep-whir-crack of the coilgun going off just as Kraken reached me sends a shiver through me. He was closest, the most caring Titan, and always reliable. But the fear in his sea green eyes is burned into my mind forever. “I can’t watch another one of you die.”
“Which Titans?” Atomizer gently asks.
“Relic Kraken and Rogues: Scintill, Phase, Ion, and Axiom.”
Savage’s face is apathetic like the others, but that's how I know it hurts to hear it. They wouldn’t wear apathetic masks if they didn’t need them to hide the truth.
“I’m sorry.” I hope my backup measures are still in place. “I did what I could.”
“I want everything you can give me before we get there,” Savage says.
“Yes, sir.”
He stills. “You do not need to call me that. You are human.”
“I am not above you, Commander. We are equal but different. We balance each other. It is meant as a sign of respect for what you do that I cannot. Just don’t put words in mouths that aren’t your own.”
The way his eyes flicker and dart to mine, I think he’s figured me out. Maybe it’s a voice recognition program or some relayed information from General Krader, whom he served. I can’t say because he locks his thoughts.
“Do you consider Fracture insufficient?” I ask.
“No.”
“Then why do you hesitate to let him join?”
Atomizer is the one who answers. He is a large, dark blue Titan made of a humanoid collection of orbs that never quite behave near his shoulders.
A few drift behind him like his core aligner is damaged.
“Something happened to Fracture before Ellipsis, more than just the years in frigid fragment prison. He still does what is necessary.
“He tries to help others because he cannot help himself. I know what it is like to feel perpetually in pieces. We all have our battle trauma, but Fracture… Whatever Quris did, it made a mess of his drives. His personality used to be so big. He would tease Brothers dryly like Relics do over the telenet. He is a mere shred of his former self, stripped down to the bare essence by trauma even I can’t quite fathom. ”
“But we feel it over the net,” Chasm says.
“Feel what?” Fracture asks.
Atomizer doesn’t miss a beat. “That this is our best chance to get what we need, the supplies we’ve been looking for since the war ended.”
I do my best to smile up at Fracture in his new set of armor with his digibadge gleaming in pale blue light over his proud left pec.
He is stunning, weapons clinging to his body, his shimmering skin, and radiant eyes.
Titans like him, ones that can tear apart and reassemble themselves, the atomorphs, still amaze me.
Fracture barely steals a glance at me, and I’m afraid Savage and Chasm have made him uncomfortable around me, or at least self-conscious.
“I can pull up schematics of the base’s layout if you’d like to plan the salvage mission,” I offer.
“You have those?” Savage asks.
“It was my job.” I free my tablet from my chest pouch. “After you.”