Chapter 22 Roxi
Lenarro opens a panel in his arm and points ahead.
We follow the beacon for Joey’s blood tracker.
Lenarro leads me into the trees. Skysprinters and CSP Whips cut across the sky.
We move as fast as we can and find we’re heading out to a meadow where CSP soldiers guard an array of green phase-shifters that hold a cloud of glass particulates in a force field above the ground.
It’s a prison cell, capable of containing CyberGuards.
I start toward them when Lenarro tugs me to the ground. We scramble through the grass as bullets cut through our recent position. But as we hunker down behind a boulder to catch our breath, a familiar ship blasts its way toward us.
Scythe pierces the sky, loaded to the brim with Titans, armed with rotary guns, pulse rifles, and cannons that fire in rapid succession. They thunder over us with roaring engines. Menace leaps from the open doorway, followed by Savage, Fury, Craze, Redline, and a host of other Relics.
They drop into the field before us and move with swift vengeance against the CSP soldiers who have taken one of their own.
I have seen Kraken and our team fight. But watching Rogues racing in ships across the sky, shooting down Solcruean Skysprinters and whips while dropping off Relics for Terran confrontations never gets old.
Their rapid communication fills my mind with a cacophony of commands, information, and inquiries. Fracture said their telenet was critical to their success. Seeing it in action now makes me feel like maybe I did do something right.
Karambit tackles a Solcrue and has him sliced to pieces before he leaps on the next. Mace smashes through a CSP soldier, Spiking Out. Javelin launches through an entire squad, piercing them open in one move. Relics crash through ground forces with ruthless force.
Overhead, a golden rocket roars across the sky, punching holes in Skysprinters. A molten unit hops from ship to ship like another with a springing jump that thrusts him through hulls.
Rogue Siphon lands beside Lenarro and me, Vandal dropping in beside him with a torch. Vandal grins as he holds the flame toward Siphon, who lifts a hand and launches fuel from his palm that melts the closest phase-shifter holding Fracture hostage.
Joey, who’s at the other end, snatches up a rifle with two other CSP soldiers and flees the site.
Redline rushes up to us as Menace rips out the throat of a Solcrue with his teeth, then bounds off on all fours after another. “I’ll catch Joey. You take care of Fracture. Demon, Psycho, on me!”
In a blur of red light, Redline surges after Joey. Psycho and Demon sprint after him.
Vandal and Siphon move to the next pillar, so I head in the other direction, Lenarro staying close as he salvaged bodies for weapons he can use. When I get to the next phase-generator, there isn’t an access panel I can open. “Fuck!”
A flare of heat knocks back a crew of Solcrue. Fury stalks over, looks at the pillar, ignites and torches it. Icarus, a Rogue version of Fury, lands close by and takes out another generator on the other side, leaving one still keeping Fracture in a cloud of parts.
“Hang on, Fracture, we’re working on it!” I call to him.
A scaly hand reaches out and grabs me from behind a massive transformer as Icarus and Fury rush toward the last phase beam.
I knock the Solcrue’s arm aside. He reaches in with his other hand and hisses at me.
But I catch it, twist his wrist, and pick up a foot.
I shove my boot into his core with as much force as I can muster.
As he launches backward, a bullet smashes into him from the side.
I look over and see Lenarro shrug. He looks down at the CSP weapon. “Guess my hacking augments still work. Damn CSP DNA locks take for fucking ever to clear.”
A Solcrue ship blazes a trail of fire toward us.
“Roxi!” Lenarro shouts at me.
A flickering gold Titan smashes through the fighter, knocking the missiles off course. The ground beside me bursts upward. Dirt and rocks rain around us. The ship careens wildly in a spray of parts.
Hovering down beside us, Relic Thruster walks up to the last phase unit, extends a hand toward it, and motions me back. Ports open on his back, creating counter-thrust as he launches a blast at the controller. It bursts into parts and shuts down.
“Motherfucker… Joey!” Lenarro charges away from us and then shouts up at a stealth Titan who jumps down from a passing ship. The pitchy Titan has blazing red eyes like Menace, and immediately joins Lenarro in sprinting into the trees.
I guess we’ll meet up later, but part of me fears for Lenarro. I have come to expect the worst. I don't want to lose any more friends. But Fracture needs my attention now.
These free Titans have accomplished more than most of us ever imagined and far more than they ever did when they had active punishment protocols.
They give me hope. Because they fight for each other now, unrestrained.
And they do things like free Fracture, instead of accepting his fate as part of the mission.
Fracture’s pieces hover lower. I reach out and touch one, but he doesn’t pull himself together like he used to. “His core aligner is broken.”
Thruster>>Local: We need Evo, asap.
A short minute later, Evo jumps out of a ship and lands heavily beside Thruster.
We are a strangely quiet bubble in the storm of fighting Skysprinters and Whips, cruisers, and other troop transports.
The sky is a mess of Rogue Fleet’s salvaged armada, Rebels, CSP, and Solcrue.
And yet all I am worried about is the Titan who saved me a third time.
Evo studies Fracture’s cloud and speaks calmly despite the battle around us. “Hello, Brother.”
The pieces of Obsidian rotate as if they hear him.
“I know this place,” Evo says. “I don’t want you to stay. I want you to listen to Roxi’s touch, follow her energy. She is not hurt. She is here. But we must go.”
I grab a piece and pull it closer. Fracture’s mass drifts toward me. He slowly forms up but doesn’t quite settle his pieces into place. Fracture slumps like he’s exhausted.
Evo walks up to us and settles a hand on his arm. His touch has the same effect as mine.
“Evolution...” I say.
“Hello, Creator.” Evo looks me over with vibrant blue eyes. “I will carry my brother. I can impose my will on his nanosolution. But you are correct; his core aligner is broken. Thruster told me what you said.
“Fracture needs critical repair. But first, it would be fantastic if you could unlock a few CSP ships for waiting Rogues.”
Evo slides under Fracture’s arm, steadies him around the waist, and walks up the ramp of a landing BoltBurner.
Vandal rushes up to me and produces a tablet, then winks at me. “Have fun, Creator.”
I open the tablet and find a list of all the ships on Gibarin.
“How did you get this?” I stammer.
Vandal grins and waggles his brows. “A good thief never tells.”
A large Titan flies in and lands beside me, folding up his wings.
“Hello, Creator Roxi. I’m glad you’re back.
“Armor.”
“I’m going to fly you over the shipyard. Please pick good ones.”
“How many Titans are ready to fly?”
He grins. “All of them.”