Darius stepped back from the control panel as the announcer moved on to Titan Nine. “We’d better clear the bays.” Still holding my hand, he tugged me along behind him. “Come. They’ll have food and drink on the shuttle for us.”
I walked beside him, and we fell in line with the other Elite Starfighter Titan teams boarding the passenger door of the large shuttle. The seats inside were comfortable but not fancy, and I buckled in next to Darius with my back to the shuttle wall. The space reminded me of the inside of military airplanes I’d seen in the movies where the soldiers sat in lines along the outside and the center was kept clear for ease of movement. The Titans were visible through a large window that separated the Starfighters from the back end of the transport shuttle, hung from long rails on the roof of the shuttle so they could roll out and launch more easily than if they were standing. And if the shuttle had to roll? Or was hit? They weren’t going anywhere.
“Why Athena?” Darius’s question made me blink.
“What?
“Why did you name your Titan Athena?”
“She’s the Greek goddess of war.”
Darius nodded as if that made perfect sense.
“And Tycho?” I asked. “Where did that name come from?”
He turned away from me. “It’s a family name.”
Okay. Apparently he didn’t want to talk about it. Which was fine. For now. I had my own issues when it came to family, and I had no intention of discussing them in a shuttle full of Velerion Starfighters on their way to battle.
Two assistants came to each of us with food and drink offerings. I chose a bit of everything so I could taste it. There were both sweet and sour fruits. I preferred sweet. The meats reminded me of pepperoni and salami, and I assumed they were space food and were probably so processed and preserved they would outlive all of us. Didn’t know if that was true or not, but I ate them on thick, dense bread that could have passed for naan back on Earth. The water was cold and crisp with a hint of something that reminded me of mineral water.
I was too nervous to eat much, but Darius helped himself to heaping loads of food, as did most of the others.
If I ate that much, it was coming back up. No question.
Hours may have passed—I wasn’t sure—but as far as I was concerned, the trip was over too quickly. The sirens alerting us to move to the back and climb into our Titans made the hair on my arms stand at attention.
“You ready?”
“Ready.” I unbuckled and followed Darius and the others through the sliding door that had opened into the Titan holding area. Ladders had dropped down from the railing system. I knew what to do. I’d seen this in the cut scenes of the video game as well.
Climbing onto the lowest rung, I held on as the railing system lifted me to the heart of the Titan. I stepped inside and took my place, my backside pressed to a cushioned support while my arms and legs slid within a suit that covered me from neck to toes like a second skin. The suit would read the nerve impulses as they traveled through my body. A twitch of my finger could fire a missile or shoot flames. Once activated, the heads-up display inside my Starfighter helmet would give me all the data I needed about my Titan. Location. System status. Weapons. Temperature. I could change direction with a flicker of my gaze on the map. Operating the Titan was as easy as breathing, the massive body felt like an extension of myself.
The canopy lowered to seal me inside, and I fought to keep my breathing slow and even. Next would be the chest plates and external shielding closing over the canopy. I would be blind to the outside world except for what I could see through my helmet display. The air I was breathing would be purified and recirculated, pressurized so I could fight in any environment, on any planet or in outer space. I was a walking spaceship; the jet packs attached to the Titan would allow me to fly short distances, if necessary. I couldn’t go far, but I could go far enough to get away from an enemy…or follow one.
The comm system activated in my ear, and a now-familiar voice filled what I thought of as my vampire coffin. Like Dracula, I was alive in here. Sealed inside. Deadly. But still alive.
“Titan teams, this is General Romulus on Battleship Resolution. Mission details and coordinates have been programmed into your Titans, as well as known locations of ground defense systems. Deployment in ten minutes. You will have limited support from the air until you eliminate the ground defense systems. Good hunting.”
The comm went dead, and my Titan fired up, every system going through the automatic launch sequence.
“Lily, can you hear me?” Darius’s voice was calm, and I allowed the sound of his voice to sink into my bones.
“Yes. This is Lily. Go ahead.”
“You’re fourteen, Lily.”
Fourteen? Right, Titan Fourteen. Last on. First off. Shit. I was going to be the very first one of us to hit the ground.
“Fucking brilliant.”
“I’ll be seconds behind you. Wait for me.”
“Copy that.” I was in no hurry to charge onto a foreign planet in a new machine I’d never operated.
Except that was a lie. Every single control, light, and sound was familiar. I knew the layout of this Titan better than I knew the car I drove every day to work at the library. The controls responded to my movements and commands exactly as they had in the ga— training simulation. This Titan might not be digital, but the display in my helmet was identical to the headset I wore on Earth. The hand controls, the system monitors. Heat. Weapon counts. Energy readings. Oxygen levels. Pressure sensors. The map. I recognized it all. I felt like I was trapped in the biggest déjà vu moment ever.
I was a six-meter-tall giant with a nearly indestructible exoskeleton, claws, and enough weaponry to blow up the entire city of London.