Children of Titan Series: Books 1-4: (A Space Opera Thriller Box Set)

by Rhett C. Bruno

  “What if she isn’t lying, Rin?” I said.

  “Then she would have told us from the start,” Rin said.

  “Even if her father really was out of the game?”

  “You saw that man. Did he look retired, charging in with a handful of Cogents? Nobody but Venta and Red Wing were supposed to know which hangar we were in. Face it, Kale, there’s too much about her past we don’t know not to be careful.”

  “And how much do I know about your past?”

  “That’s not—Look, I know you care about her, and I know now what she’s carrying in her belly. But she accomplished what we needed her to in getting that meeting with the Assembly. I’m not saying we need to kill her, but she can’t be around us anymore. It’s too risky.”

  My fists clenched as I thought back to the last night Aria and I spent together on Mars. The way she looked at me after we were finished in bed, like in that moment, nothing else in the world mattered. I wasn’t sure how anybody could fake something like that, and then I remembered that I was doing it. Faking a smile right back at her.

  “I’ll decide what to do with Aria,” I said. “You worry about getting Malcolm to help us. Gareth deserves for us to pull this off.”

  “Now that’s something we both agree on.” Rin turned and approached Malcolm’s sleep pod. “All right, start waking him.” My men did as she asked, and the lid popped open with a snap hiss.

  Rin turned back to me. “I’m just worried he’s too unpredictable,” she said. “He could try to run or warn someone once he’s alone.”

  “He won’t,” I replied.

  “You don’t know that, Kale.”

  “Yes, I do. Malcolm won’t risk what might happen to Aria if he doesn’t obey your every command.”

  “Or he’s a good liar, like his daughter, and doesn’t give a shit about her. He’s an Earther, after all.”

  “He could’ve killed me, Rin. After Gareth died, he could have ended all of this. He stayed because he thinks Aria needs saving from me.”

  “What is it about this woman?” Rin rolled her eyes and hunched over Malcolm’s sleep pod as stimulating chems raced through the tubes connected to him. “Fine, but let me handle the threats. If we’re going to get him nervous, it’s going to have to look real.”

  I moved to my aunt’s side, then peered over at Aria, the woman who, apparently, I barely knew. The woman carrying my child, who’d been a shoulder to lie on during this war when my entire world felt like it was caving in.

  “Just don’t actually hurt her,” I said.

  “I won’t,” Rin answered.

  Malcolm’s eyes snapped open. He gasped for air just before Rin tore him out of his sleep pod without bothering to carefully remove any intravenous feeder tubes first. We wore our full suits of powered armor since the mag-boots made traversing the Cora simpler while under zero-g. Rin lifted Malcolm’s weightless body. He coughed and hacked as he came to his senses.

  Rin slammed him against a blank wall, where two of our men restrained his arms and legs so he wouldn’t float away. I could see his lips twitch as he attempted to speak, but now I knew what it was like to wake up after so long. The disorientation lasted longer than the sickness.

  His cheeks went green, and before we could do anything, he vomited. To his credit, he must have fought back most of the bile, as only a bit snuck out. Rin quickly removed a sanitary mask from her belt, wrenched his head back, and strapped it to his face tighter than necessary. Only then did she take a step back.

  We watched as he searched from side to side like a newborn finding the world again. His bleary eyes blinked a few times, and it took around a minute for them to focus on me. A chill ran through me. It’d felt like only an hour since what he said to me before we went under, blaming me for Cora’s fate and so much more. I knew he was just trying to get under my skin, but hearing another Earther talk about her like she was merely a name made me want to scream.

  “There you are,” Rin said. She planted a finger in the center of Malcolm’s forehead and pushed. “I never thought you’d wake up. How does it feel to be the one wearing the mask now?”

  Malcolm licked his lips then spat. “Tastes like shit,” he rasped. “Any chance of getting a new one of these?”

  “You’re lucky we don’t let you drown in your own filth, Earther.”

  “I can see why you all hated them.”

  “You don’t see anything,” I said, stepping forward. I was supposed to let Rin handle him, but I couldn’t help myself. The chems from being under had drained entirely out of my system by now, and all I could feel was my rage toward him.

  “Ah, the boy king decides to speak for himself,” Malcolm said.

  “He speaks for all of us!” Rin snapped. The back of her hand smacked Malcolm across the face, hopefully hard enough to wipe away the indignant grin I knew he was wearing under his mask.

  “But he lets a woman strike for him?” Malcolm said.

  “We aren’t as backward as your kind.”

  “Oh yeah? Which one of these pods do you have my daughter stuffed into, huh?” Hearing him bring her up caused me to look at her pod, and his gaze followed mine. “This is your last chance, kid,” he said. “Let us out of here. Don’t put another death on your conscience like Cora’s.”

  Rin peered back at me upon learning for the first time that this collector had been there during Cora’s interrogation. If she didn’t think I could handle a snake like him before, now she’d be sure of it. Collectors were infamous for being able to work their prey. They found weaknesses, used their gut, and exploited them, whereas Cogents saw lies and extrapolated information to form high-stakes percentages which informed their actions.

  “Your daughter is safe. For now,” I replied, desperate to show Rin I could handle myself. “That all depends on you.”

  “If you hurt her,” Malcolm snarled. “Boy, you don’t even know pain.”

  “Relax. Aria is of no use to us dead. You, on the other hand… that’s an entirely different story.”

  “Let me go, and you’ll see how useful I can be.”

  “I plan on it. You’re going to help us with an issue. We took someone on Mars, but without his research, he’s of no use to me either.”

  Malcolm chuckled then coughed a few times. “Yeah, I know. Basaam Venta. If you really think I’m going to help you, you’re crazier than I thought.”

  “I told you, you’re my collector now. It’s not up to you.”

  “And it’s like Aria told you: I’m retired. You may as well put me down now.”

  “Don’t tempt us,” Rin snarled.

  “Believe me, we thought about it, but you’re different than the other Earthers,” I said. “You chose family—real, blood family—over your mission.”

  “Is that why you think I let you live? I just didn’t feel like dying along with you and missing out on enjoying retirement.”

  I took a step toward Aria’s sleep pod. He didn’t allow his expression to reveal anything, but his gaze momentarily flitted her way. “I don’t believe you,” I said.

  “You people never do.”

  Rin’s hand shot forward and wrapped around his throat. “We want to end this war sooner than later, Collector, and you can help us do it. Everyone wins.”

  “You expect me to believe that?” he asked.

  “I expect nothing from you besides your obedience.”

  “Pervenio expected the same, but at least they paid.”

  “You want credits?” I said. “Fine. We have no use for them, and I know an Earther won’t get out of bed without them. Is one hundred thousand enough?”

  His eyebrow lifted at hearing the number. He wouldn’t be able to use them for much, locked away on Titan or dead, but Earthers had a hard time seeing past their wallets. A few seconds of silence passed between us, and I thought he might actually make things easier.

  “Generous offer, but you forget the retired part,” he said. “I’m sure you’ll find someone else, kid.”

>   Rin smacked him again. “That’s Lord Trass to you,” she said.

  Malcolm spit under his mask and a bead of red dribbled from the bottom. “Not on your life.”

  “Enough,” I said. “You’re going to help Rin break into Basaam’s laboratory on Martelle Station and accept our payment, or you won’t ever see your daughter again.”

  “Being a murderer doesn’t make you a good liar,” he said. “I saw the way you look at her. Hell, I saw the way she looked back. She always did like rebels, probably thanks to me. You care about her too much to hurt her, especially after what you let happen to Cora.” Rin’s grip on his throat tightened, but he didn’t stop.

  “That’s the thing with humans,” he rasped. “We all have weaknesses. Leaders, pawns; it doesn’t matter. Luxarn Pervenio has his greed and his pride, and you, Lord Trass… you care too much. The Children of Titan may be trying to mold you into what they need, but they can’t change who you are deep down.”

  Rin was about to respond with violence, but I pulled her away and brought myself directly before the collector. I’d let him fill my head with doubts earlier, but now, hearing him speak, I could tell that he was the same as any self-entitled Earther who thought they could look down on us.

  “I cared about Cora,” I said sternly. “Aria died to me the moment I found out she was lying about who she is. Your daughter is a tool now. Nothing more. Someone who understands their language.”

  “You’re fooling yourself if you believe that.”

  “It’s simple, Collector,” Rin said. “Start helping us, or I’ll tell my men to strip Aria down and drag her out into the Uppers to be alone among my people. An outsider like her? Who knows what they’ll do without us around to protect her.”

  Malcolm glared at her. I could see his fists start to tighten, but he kept his composure. “What is it with you two? Are you jealous that Aria got blessed by ‘the king,’ and you got tossed to the curb like a stray?”

  He was good. Getting under Rin’s skin was tough enough without staring straight at her gruesome, terrifying face. I could see her muscles tensing and tugged again on her shoulder before she beat the collector to death. We didn’t exchange a word, just a nod.

  “You’ve left us no choice,” I said to Malcolm. I strode toward the command deck without even a glance back.

  “We’re not done here, Drayton!” Malcolm yelled. I heard him pull on his restraints and shout in defiance and couldn’t help the self-satisfied smirk pulling at the corners of my lips. I’d now found my way under his skin. He was right, everyone has their weaknesses, and his, more than credits or anything else, was the need to be in control.

  “Yes you are,” Rin said. “So what'll it be? Help us or watch your daughter be ravaged?”

  “How about neither?” Malcolm replied. “I know a bluff when I see one. Your king’s got goo-goo eyes. Think this is the first time I’ve seen a man fall head over heels for my daughter? And why wouldn’t he? She’s got half of me in her.”

  “Untie him.”

  I stopped in the shadows of the hall and turned to watch. Two of my men strode forward and did as she asked. One slung Malcolm over his armored shoulder as if he were no more than a sack of dirty laundry.

  They carried him kicking and thrashing across the room, then threw him against Aria’s sleep pod. Rin had warned me about this part when we came up with the plan to strongarm Malcolm into helping us. It was why she’d instructed me to leave, but I watched around the corner.

  Malcolm cursed as Rin grabbed his head and shoved it against the glass. Aria slept soundly within, no idea what was happening. It was easy to say I wanted nothing to do with her, but even seeing just a sliver, mad as I was at her, I had to believe she could explain herself.

  I hated that the collector was right. I still cared about her more than I knew I should. And it wasn’t only the child she carried. The way freckles lightly dappled her cheeks and slightly upturned nose, her narrow face and full lips—whatever half of Malcolm she’d gotten, it didn’t show.

  “You Earthers think we’re all monsters,” Rin said. “I don’t want to kill your daughter, Collector. Neither does Lord Trass. But we will do what we have to.”

  Rin tapped on the sleep pod’s control panel. Malcolm craned his neck to try and see what she was up to, but my men held him down.

  “Nobody knows the value of oxygen like us,” Rin said. “The planet we come from doesn’t have enough to breathe, you see. But like anything valuable, too much is a curse.” She keyed a command, and both Malcolm and I stared through the glass. Aria remained still for a short while, then her eyelids twitched.

  “What are you doing?” Malcolm asked.

  “You gluttonous Earthers hoard and collect, but this is what happens when you take more than your share,” Rin said. “Don’t worry. The Venta whore served our needs well, so she won’t feel a thing as too much oxygen poisons her.”

  Every part of Aria started to shake, the tremors growing in intensity with each passing moment. I could hardly watch. When Rin said she’d get Malcolm to help, I left it to her. She’d never said precisely how. I hoped Rin knew not to push far enough to injure Aria or the baby, but then I remembered how much she hated anyone who wasn’t Titanborn. How far she could go with violence just to send a message, like spacing every Earther aboard the Piccolo.

  My fingers instinctually clutched the door frame and squeezed, mostly to keep myself from running out and stopping her. This was a game of chance. Earthers like Malcolm tended to say whatever it took to get out of jams. There was still the possibility that he didn’t give a damn about his daughter and only about himself. He wouldn’t be the first Earther.

  I was about to run out and scream for Rin to stop, when Malcolm did it instead.

  “Just stop!” he roared.

  He thrashed and broke free. His foot caught one of my men in the hip with enough force to send him flying, denting his powered armor. He got a right hook across Rin’s face, but with all the dead nerve endings on that side of her cheek, it didn’t do as much damage as he’d probably hoped.

  The other Titanborn wrestled him into the air, and without mag-boots, Malcolm couldn’t get any leverage. Rin rose to her impressive height and drove her fist three times in quick succession into Malcolm’s face until his head slumped to the side.

  “Are you ready to do what we ask?” Rin asked.

  Malcolm spat more blood out from beneath his mask then nodded. “I’ll do whatever you bastards need; just leave her out of it.”

  Rin set Aria’s sleep pod to return to normal conditions. I fell back against the wall behind the corner and clutched my chest. My heart raced. Everything had happened so fast, and it was only after the fight that I realized my body had frozen rather than trying to help. I’d only seen it out of the corner of my eye because my sight had remained fixed on Aria’s shaking body.

  It’d been a long time since my chest felt like that, since nerves had my heart ready to burst through my rib cage, and my throat ready to collapse in. I drew slow, steadying breaths through my nostrils. Maybe she deserved to suffer for lying to us, but I wasn’t prepared to lose Aria yet. She was the only person left in the world who didn’t look at me like she was expecting something.

  Two

  Malcolm Graves

  For the first time, the thought popped into my head that things might have been better if I’d never shot Zhaff to protect my daughter from Pervenio. And it wasn’t the rebellion. That would have happened with or without me. I knew that now. Shooting Zhaff and provoking Luxarn was the powder keg that set it off, but it would’ve happened some other way. The moment Kale found out Cora was murdered, he would have made sure it happened.

  But at least Aria would have been in a cell where she was safe. Pervenio didn’t space people for no good reason, well… at least, anyone but Cora and the crew of the Piccolo. But they didn’t space the daughters of career collectors. Maybe Aria deserved to be in a cell anyway for all that she’d done to help the Rin
gers. Perhaps I did too for hiding her from my employer. After all, she was part of a bombing on Earth I got stuck cleaning up, whether she intended to have casualties or not.

  That was the thing about any line of work where bombs and guns were necessary—there was always collateral damage. The best intentions corrupt even the best of us when the cards are on the table.

  Kale Trass personified that more than anybody. I watched him from across the Cora’s cargo hold, discussing their plan with Rin and a few other Titanborn. They wanted freedom, but after everything they’d done and would do, they’d never have it. All the death and horror would weigh on them, break them. Even from around the corner, I could see it in Kale’s eyes while Rin tortured my daughter in her sleep. He was unraveling, lying to himself about who or what he cared for while the real monsters fought.

  I still clung to my hunch that he cared for Aria too much to carry out his threat, but his people didn’t. Rin didn’t. And if anything was clear to me now, it was that she was the one pulling strings. She’d convince him to kill Aria, or maybe she already had, and by the time he knew he didn’t want it, it’d be too late.

  “From ice to ashes, Lord Trass,” she whispered to Kale as they embraced and touched their foreheads together. He said the same then headed for the exit. I caught him staring at me on his way out, and he quickly averted his gaze.

  Yep, I was still in his head. Rin knew it too because she stepped between us. It was no wonder she led from behind closed doors. I hadn’t yet had a calm moment to really take a good hard look at her. It wasn’t only her wounds making her such a grisly creature, but the way she carried herself. It was like she wanted the whole world to feel what she had. Everyone. The good and the bad.

  “So what’s the plan?” I asked. “We fly down there in your shiny white armor and get what we need?”