Rebellion (A Titan Romance Book 1)

by Rowan Bishop

  But he was disconnected now from anyone who could answer such questions. Several times in the past, he asked his mentor, Bin Ar-Drezar, who lightly entertained such question at first, then brushing them off with answers that grew increasingly cruel, always pointing out that Raemus was not human, not even close.

  In the Titan meeting that night, Raemus replied to Tomohiko and every other Titan in the room, “We are fighting for humans, Tomo. We always have. We always will. What’s in the Bio-Teck cubes doesn’t change that. What’s in here,” he pointed his heart, “doesn’t change that.”

  However, Akino’s words continued eating at him as he charged over the invisible contours of Pergamon’s erratic mountains.

  …our plans will turn out badly.

  Akino was extremely smart. That's one of the reasons why Raemus kept him so close. He needed Titans like Akino, brave enough to push back, to keep him on track, to dish out the truth.

  Then again, sometimes the truth was too difficult to take, and he wanted to make Akino shut up.

  The political climate was changing rapidly, and even with his augmented intuition, Raemus was finding it difficult to keep track of things.

  Titans were good at battle tactics, not political strategy.

  Political strategy was best left to the devious, back-stabbing humans. Unfortunately, Raemus needed answers. He needed a human on his side.

  But Akyra isn’t devious. She’s not back-stabbing. She’s the opposite. Like some relic of humanity’s golden past, somehow transported to the present day when humans thrive on oppression, lies, and cruelty—all in the name of The Almighty.

  Another stand of trees met its end within a huge plume of exploding blue fire.

  His Raptor buzzed the fiery column, the only light as far as he could see, curls of blue flame twisting in the violent wake of its wings.

  He would go back the abbey, he decided. He would tell Akyra the whole truth about the Bio-Teck cube. It’s the last piece of the lie, he finally admitted, keeping them apart.

  If I’d been honest with her from the beginning, maybe there wouldn’t have been this agonizing gap growing between us since our Shu’ri.

  “Akyra, we need to talk.”

  Raemus had finally set his Raptor down in the wee hours of the night. He knew full well that he’d be waking up every soul in the abbey, but he didn’t care. He was focused. He was going to do the right thing for the woman he loved.

  For the perfect, purebred human I love!

  Akyra was probably the only one in the abbey who wasn’t asleep when Raemus’ Raptor thundered down on its skids, rattling the windows of the small office she’d commandeered for her HQ, where she sat up, drinking blue phenia tea, praying Raemus would return safely.

  She’d heard about the confrontations between Raemus and his leadership team from Rayeley and Emilia. Consequently, she paced and fidgeted for hours in the near dark, imagining all sorts of bad outcomes.

  Raemus burst through the door, wasting no time getting to the point.

  When Akyra heard his words, she reached for the back of her neck. Her shoulders suddenly felt fatigued. “I know.”

  “You do?” He threw his helmet and gloves to one of the long, ancient wooden tables littered with Banshee computer equipment.

  “Raemus, I’ve been thinking, too.” Despite her strong words, her head was slightly moving back and forth in doubt. I can’t believe this is happening, she thought.

  Raemus was about to throw his arms around her, but when he noticed her closed off posture, her tired, saddened face, he halted before her. “Akyra, there’s something important you’ve needed to know about our mission.”

  That got Akyra’s attention. Her chin twitched just as she froze.

  Raemus took a deep breath. “The new generation of soldier, the genetic material in the Bio-Teck cube, they’re not going to be our partners.”

  Akyra’s eyelids narrowed. “What? Wait, what are we talking about?”

  “The Titans are being replaced, Akyra. Church guardians are going to exterminate the Titans. All of us. Everywhere. They’re going to kill us off.”

  Akyra let her weight drop on the desk she was leaning against. She’d been steeled for a breakup. Not this. “Are you kidding me?”

  “Not much of a joke.”

  “Raemus, I’m sorry. I… should’ve figured that out. What are you… what are we going to do?”

  “Stay the fuck away from Zebra for starters.”

  Akyra began biting her thumbnail. “Yeah, that move makes a helluva lot of sense now. Why don’t you just get a hold of the Bio-Teck cube and destroy it?”

  “Well… that’s just it.” For the first time since Raemus’ boyhood primary indoctrination, he looked away from someone’s stare. “We’ve had the Bio-Teck cube.”

  Akyra’s eyebrows shot up.

  Raemus added, “The entire time.”

  Akyra suddenly couldn’t swallow. “You fucker.”

  “Yeah… I kinda thought you’d say that. I’m… very sorry I kept that fact from you.”

  “Wait. I’ve been risking the lives of everyone I care about, everyday, to get it back, and you had it? We’ve been following you around this planet for almost two weeks like stray animals, and you’ve been stringing us along?”

  “Well… that wasn’t exactly the plan.”

  Akyra lurched forward and punched Raemus as hard as she could in the chest. It was like punching a wall.

  And her form was terrible.

  A searing pain ignited in her wrist. She tried shaking it off, but couldn’t do it without letting him know how badly it hurt. “I thought we were both planning on breaking off our relationship tonight. I mean, I know, what relationship?”

  “No, I wasn’t planning on that. I just needed to tell you the truth, if we were going to keep our relationship going.”

  “Well, you may not have been planning on breaking it off, but guess what?” Akyra side-stepped away from him. The office was suddenly way too small.

  Raemus continued, “The Church is going to systematically kill off every Titan in the galaxy, Akyra. I found out about it. I decided to put a stop to it.”

  Akyra raised her head to look sideways at him.

  “Bin Ar-Drezar knew we were drifting from the fold,” Raemus continued. “He’s no dummy. He’s actually one of the smartest humans I’ve ever known, and he probably knew that we knew. That’s why he contacted Xerxus. That’s why he convinced Xerxus to ambush you the day you landed. Because he guessed I was going to get to you first. To ambush you. Which…” Raemus scratched the side of his head. “…we were going to do.”

  “You were going to ambush me?”

  “Yeah… We got beat to the punch. Like I said, Bin Ar-Drezar is a smart little human. When he’s not high on Ghula.”

  “You would have killed me to get the Bio-Teck cube?”

  “Yeah… probably. I didn’t really know you yet, you know?”

  “Don’t be funny. It’s not your style.” She wanted to punch him again with her good hand. She perked up instead. “Wait, so who assaulted the base? Who sent in the spiderdrones?”

  Raemus waited a moment. Then raised his hand.

  “You fucker. You put two of my girls in the hospital. You almost killed my girls!” The office was dead silent, but the blood in Akyra’s brain was sizzling in her ears. “You kissed me when the assault began, Raemus. You kissed me. I mean, it was was a really, really good kiss!”

  “Well.. I wasn’t going to kill you at that point, Akyra. No one was going to die. A few broken bones? Sure. I didn’t know if I could trust you, Akyra. I had a job to do. You need to understand, I didn’t know you yet.” He moved to her, holding out his open palm. “How’s your wrist.”

  “It’s stupid. It hurts.” Reluctantly, she gave him her hand, the sprain searing. “How’s your chest?”

  “The pain is agonizing. I can barely stand up.” He held her injured wrist in both of his hands. “Akyra, I’m sorry I lied to you. My missio
n has been to help the people of Minora, and it’s far greater than me. It’s been my goal for a long time. I even have ideas that, maybe just maybe, Titans could help people throughout the galaxy, not just here on Minora.” He lifted her hand gently, kissing it twice. “News of the new generation soldier, the arrival of the Bio-Teck cube, your arrival, all of this pushed up my timetable. And you know military operations, nothing’s gone as planned. In the last two weeks, I’ve discovered that if we don’t set things right, at least on this one little planet, then all my brothers will die.”

  Akyra took her hand back and tucked into her armpit, frowning. “How does intercepting one parcel cube stop anything, Raemus? Bio-Teck will have another one at Zebra in, what, two weeks? And there must’ve been more than a dozen sent out across the galaxy. In fact, I know some of the Sec-Ops commanders who received those contracts.”

  “That’s not the point.”

  “Then what’s point, Raemus?”

  “That they can’t control us.”

  “Who?”

  “The Church.”

  Akyra narrowed her eyes. “You told me just a week ago that God directs your destiny. You told me that you fully believe that.”

  “I still do,” Raemus replied. “But don’t you get the feeling sometimes the two—The Church and The Almighty—aren’t as connected as we’re told?” He tapped her pendant with a single finger.

  Akyra took a deep breath. Instinctively, she looked around the room and brought her voice to a whisper. “You’re not going to survive making that point, you know that right?” Akyra tried to laugh at her own joke. But her heart sank into her stomach at the reality of it. A wave of nausea hit, and she felt like she was about to lose control of her legs.

  But Raemus pulled her closer, lowering his eyes to her upturned face, replying with a stone, emotionless expression. “I never intended to survive, Akyra.” He brushed a stray lock of hair from her cheek. “I only intended to give everything I have… to something I believe in.” He stared down into her searching eyes. “It’s the only way to show myself—and everyone else—that somewhere in here,” he touched his chest, “I get to be human. Like you.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  They had no idea how politically fertile their love affair was. They had no idea what was at stake. What they felt in their hearts during their Shu’ri, as well as in the the weeks that followed, was merely a symbolic seed—but a seed that grew into epic upheaval throughout the galaxy.

  How I Knew Them, by Colonel Polliana Paxton, Master of Planetary Bombardment, Craessus Fleet

  Akyra was in the orphanage’s small medical rooms when the next round of bad news arrived from Raemus’ intelligence network.

  Two children sat on a single bed, a boy and a girl both with shaven heads, while Akyra sat on the end, legs crossed, showing them a game she used to entertain sick youngsters back at Wahiri Academy ten years before.

  They laughed at her slight of hand, looked at her with wonder when she offered to teach them the trick.

  Why not reveal the tricks? she thought. There wasn’t going to be anyone left alive to do the trick for them ever again. Akyra forced herself to smile for the sake of the two infirm children, who coughed forlornly when they laughed too much. I’m completely out of tricks. I’ve failed my mission. And I’m helpless to save my girls who followed me blindly into this mess.

  It was Levi who stepped in the doorway to alert Akyra about the news.

  Not Raemus. Of course. Two nights ago, he told me he’d been lying the whole time. No surprise that we’ve found every reason to avoid each other.

  “Captain Roux?” Levi said apologetically.

  Akyra made him wait until she finished the last trick for the two orphans. She made them promise to never share how she did it, but deep down she found solace that they would tell everyone they knew. And perhaps gain a small glimmer of joy in it, long after she’d met her fate on the coming battlefield.

  “Yes, Sergeant Levi Petrus?”

  He would send Levi, of course. The youngest, most congenial Titan in the unit. Even then, he has a lot to learn about humans. Unfortunately, like the rest of us hiding like undesirables in this faraway hamlet, he won’t live to get that lesson.

  “Sorry to interrupt. Captain Raemus and Sergeant Akino would like to share an update on the…” He looked to the two children sitting on the bed with Akyra and fumbled for words. “…the approaching parties.”

  Akyra narrowed her eyes at the children, in turn placing her palm on the cheek of each, smiling. “Be good. Especially, to each other. Okay?”

  They answered in unison, “Yes, ma’am.”

  Akyra couldn’t take her eyes from them. Such sweet, kind innocence. Perhaps I could have helped more if… if…

  Levi spoke up again from the doorway, “Captain Roux?”

  “Tell them I’m coming. I don’t need an escort from you or anyone else, Sergeant Levi. Is that clear?”

  When Akyra arrived at the office Thunder Company used whenever they were at Ishkari—which was more often than she’d originally suspected—she found Raemus, Akino, and Tomohiko standing around a hologram table. The table projected mountainous terrain, probably the area of Pergamon surrounding the abbey.

  Akyra had grabbed Valarae on her way, and it had been an awkward two minute walk. Valarae made no secret that she was angry at Akyra, every Titan, and the whole doomed situation they were in. However, she was still second-in-command, and Akyra needed her to witness every exchange she conducted with Thunder Company’s leadership from here on out. There could be no more secrets.

  “What’s up, Raemus?” Akyra said abruptly when they entered the office.

  “The three-day countdown just began. Colonel Weir and his Sec-Ops brigade are planetside, and they’re on the move. Bin Ar-Drezar has mobilized a handful of Zebra’s assets, and they’re on the move.”

  Akyra lowered her head, sucking some deep breaths. When she looked up at Valarae, she saw her first sergeant’s expression hadn’t changed. Val couldn’t get more pissed even at this news, which they all knew was coming.

  “Okay,” Akyra said. There wasn’t much more for her to say. Until…

  “There’s something else,” Raemus said, moving around the hologram table. He stood directly in front of Akyra and Valarae. “Xerxus has an army.”

  Akino and Tomohiko began scrolling the mountains on the hologram table, as if they needed something to fiddle with while they eavesdropped.

  “So?” Valarae said. “We knew that.”

  Raemus shook his head. “It’s bigger than we could have imagined.”

  “How big?” Akyra asked.

  “Forty thousand troops. Artillery. Rovers and skimmers. He’s been doing quite a job keeping it a secret.”

  “You said he wasn’t a threat.”

  Raemus didn’t reply.

  Akyra studied Raemus’ handsome, strong face. She loved him. She wanted to trust that everything was going to be alright if only she believed in him. If only she believed in herself.

  But she couldn’t believe in anything. Not anymore.

  “What’s the point?” Valarae snapped. “We’ve got hostiles coming from the south. Now we’ve got hostiles coming from the north. Outcome stays the same.”

  Raemus leaned forward slightly, not answering Valarae but staring in Akyra’s eyes instead. “Xerxus just might be our lifeline.”

  Valarae stuck her chest out. “What are you talking about, Captain Raemus? Xerxus has been trying to kill us since the day we landed on this shithole you seem to love so much.”

  Akino cut in. “Xerxus has been working with Bin Ar-Drezar. And only to get his hands on the Bio-Teck cube. Which makes sense. Think of what a planetary insurgency could do with the newest, baddest soldiers in the galaxy. That’s his motive.”

  Raemus added, “We think.”

  Valarae stepped up to Raemus, almost to his chest. “You think scumbags will all of sudden start helping each other?” It was plain that Valarae was
really referring everyone in the room as ‘scumbag.’ “Because I don’t think it works that way.”

  Akino slid to Valarae, who was making no mere show at being hostile toward Raemus. His eyes began to blacken with the growing tension in the room. “We have the Bio-Teck cube. We have exactly what he wants.”

  In the past, Akyra would have put a calming hand on Valarae’s shoulder, but that part of their relationship was gone now. If she’d done that, she sensed Val would turn on her with a closed fist.

  Instead, Akyra asked Akino, “How do we know Xerxus will come to our aid after everything?”

  Raemus didn’t let Akino answer. “We don’t. I’ve got messages out to him, but he’s not answering. If he’s made up his mind, he’s not sharing. Not yet.”

  Akyra crossed her arms. “Then what do we do?”

  Raemus made sure Akyra was looking him in the eye before he answered. “We pray to The Almighty for victory and new friends. Then we get ready to fight. Just like we’ve been planning.”

  Valarae added, visibly shaking with anger, “And if Xerxus is still working for Ar-Drezar?”

  Raemus turned to her slowly. “Then we die.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Had I known how politicized our Shu’ri would become in the following months, I might have refrained from the ceremony. It was beautiful, indeed. But the occasion wasn’t about us, myself and Akyra. It was about a Titan captain and a human captain—breaking the old laws to create new ones.

  Not until we joined our bodies again at Ishkari, privately and intimately, would I say we actually made love to each other, without our ranks, without our walls and fears between us.

  Stories Of My Beloved, by His Eminence Raemus Kolach Petrus

  Raemus was in a foul mood. Like Akyra, he didn’t like having his authority challenged at the rate it was happening here at Ishkari. But the unfortunate situation they were in caused an unusual amount of agitation within his Titan team.