Kronos reacted badly. He jumped from his seat, pulled out a pistol, and held it level to Astra’s forehead. It was pressing so hard against her skin that the barrel left an imprint. Astra froze where she sat. It was smart because if she had even twitched, Kronos would’ve turned her insides into her outsides.

“Get back,” he snarled over his head to the other crew. Their faces tightened in fear, and they backed away a couple paces.

When he was sure that the crew couldn’t intervene, he turned back to Astra.

“Explain yourself. Now.” There was no mercy in his tone.

‘Okay,” she said soothingly. “Remember, don’t do anything rash. We’re just trying to help you.”

“Get to the point.” He interrupted whatever she was about to say. In the process, he checked his HUD to get a bead on Zhang’s position. He wanted backup if things went south. He didn’t commit so far as to alert his partner because a part of him held a desperate hope that Astra proved to be trustworthy. He breathed an internal sigh of relied when Zhang’s beacon showed him somewhere on node seven.

“A few hundred years ago, the Empire as we knew it didn’t exist. Humanity had reached out into the stars and rushed to colonize every part of the Sol System. For the first time there was more space to expand than there were people to fill it. All types ventured forth—corporations, cults, governments, extemist groups—you name it. They all just wanted their piece of the stars.”

Kronos nudged her with his pistol. “I didn’t ask you for a history lesson, I asked you about my wife.”

“Please be patient, Kronos. It’s important you understand what happened then, so you can understand what’s happening now.”

When Kronos nodded, she continued. “One such company that wanted to strike out for their own was Triplex Corps. Essentially, they were scientists from all over Earth who wanted to advance the human species. When the company was ready, it gathered these brilliant minds together, launched from a country called Sweden, and made their way to Saturn. First they settled Titan and then they settled Enceladus. Through a combination of cloning and carefully controlled genetic pogroms, they were one of the first colonies to successfully terraform their new homes.”

Asta looked directly into Kronos eyes.

“For the first time in history they were able to carry out their science without interference from politics, dogmatic religions, and war. That was their downfall.”

The pilot looked down at her hands. “Titan was one of the first places the growing Empire attacked. They had solely focused on developing technology that was suited for war. They invented faster than light travel and quantum entanglement communications which gave them the ability to fight fast and coordinated.”

She sighed. “The rest is history. The Empire took Titan along with the rest of the solar system. However, Triplex Corp didn’t give up. They sent their most advanced experiments, a new species of human that they called Homo Titanus, in a colony ship bound for the nearest habitable exoplanet. At the time it was called Kepler-62.”

Astra trailed off and then looked back up at him.

“I believe you call it Hod.”

Kronos frowned at the implications. Pieces of his new life started making sense all of a sudden, and he couldn’t help his own curiosity.

“Why me? I haven’t done anything significant.”

Astra chuckled and Kronos couldn’t tell if she were teasing him.

“This whole time, you thought the Empire had made you superhuman. You likely thought that was why you healed so fast from every injury or why you could stay awake for days on end and instead of feeling tired, your body felt refreshed. Hell, you probably chalked up your enhanced senses to them too.”

“I’m sensing a but.” Kronos smiled wolfishly.

“But, the Empire didn’t do anything to your body. Maybe some mental stuff, but the physical abilities? That’s all you. You’re the only Homo Titanus that we know of. You truly are the first Titan. That’s why the Empire wants you so badly and that’s why we’ve come to save you.”

“Who’s we?” The titan asked.

“Othrys Tech,” the pilot answered. “On the surface, we’re a genetic company that works for the empire. We were the ones that came up with the majority of the technology used by the empire to create most of its genetic marvels. However, we’ve been searching for the lost children of titan in the hopes that they’ll lead us to our freedom from the empire.”

Kronos let the information wash over him. He pulled his pistol away from Astra and mag locked it to his thigh. He decided to ask the most important question of all.

“Where’s my family?”

“Safe,” Astra assured him. “They’re on Titan. As soon as we escape from the station, you can see them.” She gave him a brilliant smile and Kronos returned it.

“Okay, what do we need to do next?” He asked.

Astra rose to her feet and clapped her hands. “First, we need to disable your inhibitor and get you out of your armor.”

Kronos looked at her dubiously. Despite what the pilot had said about his natural abilities, he knew that the armor increased his capabilities by a significant amount. He had grown used to the speed and power that it afforded him. He loathed having to take the armor off. It had become another part of him.

Astra noticed his look. “Don’t be a big baby, cowboy. We’ve got to leave the armor behind. The Empire has more than enough tech to track that suit across the entire system.”

Kronos frowned, but initiated the protocol to shed the amor on his PCD. He felt like he was molting as armor pieces separated and shed themselves from his body. As he was doing that, Astra was giving orders.

“Nico, grab him a change of clothes.” She ordered to the woman that Kronos had never bothered to learn her name. He felt a touch of chagrin at that. These were the people that were going to help him escape and yet he had thought of them as Imperial stooges not worth his time.

“Raylee, get him a new PCD and a set of weapons.” She glanced over at Kronos. “Any preference she asked?”

“A pair of pistols,” he told Raylee before the woman went jogging off to one of the crew berthings in the side of the ship.

Without breaking stride, Astra continued. “Sean and Rhian, change over and then post security around the ship. I don’t want any of the Imps to crash our party.”

The two men looked early similar. Kronos thought they might have been brothers but he ignored them as Nico and Raylee returned. He took off his CCUs and stood their in his biosuit. He looked at Astra, and the woman didn’t even pretend to give him a measure of privacy.

“The biosuit too?” He could hear the whine in his own voice.

Astra licked her lips like a cat studying the canary. “Of course. The Imps can track everything.”

Nico proffered him what looked like a new biosuit and clothes to go over it while Raylee set the pistols on a nearby seat. Kronos took the clothing gingerly.

“Could I get some privacy?”

“Sure, cowboy.” Astra smiled. “Girls, go join the boys outside.”

Nico and Raylee hustled out of the ship leaving Astra and Kronos in the cabin. The titan sighed but decided that if Astra wanted to play games, he wasn’t going to give her the benefit of seeing him uncomfortable.

With mechanical efficiency, he stripped out of his biosuit and threw it on a chair. He didn’t bother hiding himself. He had been on plenty of raids where his clothing had been damaged beyond repair and he had needed to change in front of other women. Instead of caring about Astra’s reaction, he focused on the clothing they provided.

The first piece was another black biosuit, but it looked and felt more organic than the Imperial equivalent. When he had put it on, it sealed itself until it looked like a one-piece wetsuit. Instead of stopping at his wrists and throat, this suit covered his hands and extended until it lay just under his chin. Once it conformed to his body, he felt the suit thicken as a thin layer of aerogel manifested between his skin and the suit.

He gave Astra a quizzical look, but she just nodded. “It’s not done, yet.”

True to his words he felt the suit vibrate and shift as synthetic muscle fibers grew over the entirety of the suit. They looked and interacted just like the nibocene layer of his Frumentarii armor. Once it was finished, he brought his hand to his face and studied the fibers. Each one had tiny circuitry running its entire length. Instead of the blue glow that he normally associated with the circuitry, it had a golden glow.

“I told you that we made tech for the Imps.” Astra said playfully. “I didn’t tell you that we kept all the best stuff for ourselves. What you’re wearing is the next generation of bio-suits. It works like the under layers of your armor without all the bulk. Mission specific equipment can be attached directly to the suit without having to create an entire set of armor for the purpose.”

Kronos made a few experimental punches and kicks. He felt just as fast and strong as if he were still in his Imperial gear. While he was missing the armored plates, he still considered the suit a vast improvement to his own.

“Can I disable the advanced features in order to blend in?” He wondered.

“Of course,” Astra replied. “Put on the rest of your clothes and I’ll show you how.”

The other clothing was simply tan casual garb that anyone on the station would wear. He put on the long-sleeved tunic and pants before slipping on the brown mag boots. He tucked in his trousers to the tops of his boots and was pleased to discover that the pants had mag points on the thigh. The final touch was a new silver PCD that replaced his own.

As soon as he strapped it on, it booted up and connected with his new biosuit. After flipping through the control with his HUD, he realized he didn’t need Astra’s help to disable the suit. In a few seconds, he felt it shrink as the aerogel and the nibocene layer disappeared. He was about to dismiss his HUD when he noticed there were quite a few more features than his previous PCD.

Flipping through the settings, he saw that he could access detailed diagnostics for his own body. It was only notable because of their absence from his old PCD. He thought it was likely, that his previous one had the same functionality, but that he hadn’t been given access to it. Some of it was going to be useful information if he were hurt or incapacitated. The only reason he could think that the Empire would exclude it was so that he couldn’t find something that my hint to his own origins. Further, they were likely collecting the information to study him. The thought brought him up short.

“What is the Empire going to think when they can’t see my biodiognostics?”

Astra shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. The Observer has been recording the same data and will be submitting it through your old device. For all they know, you’ll still be sitting in the ship by the time we’ve already left.”

Kronos nodded at the new information before returning to his HUD. Everything else looked largely the same. The only real addition was that he appeared to have access to the PUBNET now. When he toggled it, nothing changed.

Right. PUBNET satellite down.

He closed his hud and then grabbed the two pistols that were waiting for him. After he locked them to the attachment points on his thighs, he declared that he was ready.

“Good, we have one last thing to do,” Astra grimly stated.

Kronos didn’t like her tone, it felt like she was about to give him some bad news.

“What is that?” He asked as the woman went to the front of this ship and dug into a locker. She didn’t answer as she fished out an auto-injector identical to the one she gave him when they first landed on the station. When she returned, she presented the injector to him.

“This is a serum that you need to take.”

“Serum?” The titan asked as he took the injector from her. “I thought this was a vaccine.”

Astra shrugged her shoulder. “That’s what I wanted you and Zhang to think. In reality, it boosts your powers and limits the chance that you’ll degenerate.”

“Degenerate?” Kronos didn’t like the sound of that.

“Yeah,” Astra said sadly. “Titans are the pinnacle of Othryrian technology, but there’s a chance that eventually your abilities will outstrip your bodies capacity to regulate them. We don’t have much information on what the means, but our archives call these beings Tyrants.”

Kronos thought about the new information. The pilot sounded like she was referring to them with a capital “T” instead of a lower case one. In Hodesian legends, god-touched had often grown insane with power. They had become selfish, arrogant beings with little regard to their fellow humans. That’s why they were feared just as much as they were venerated.

“What do you mean by Tyrants?” He wanted clarification.

“Like I said, we don’t know much,” Astra restated. “What we do know, is that the more your abilities are used, the more likely it is for you to degenerate. Not only will you become less human in every sense of the word, but you’ll start to exhibit uncontrolled mutations.”

Astra looked into his eyes, “Surely you can see the danger of someone like you with no moral compass, no rational thought, and an unparalleled ability to regenerate damage and adapt to extreme environments.”

Kronos nodded slowly as he plunged the auto injector into his forearm. He felt the familiar burning sensation that had accompanied his first injection. He watched the serum enter his body and decided to ask something else.

“Does the empire know about this?”

“No, and even if they did they wouldn’t know how to manufacture the serum. It’s one of our closest held secrets.”

Kronos felt a moment of bitterness. If he had to use this serum to keep form degenerating, than he was essentially trading one form of slavery for another. He tossed the empty auto-injector angrily.

“Kronos, I know what you’re thinking,” Astra said softly. “We didn’t tell you this, because we wanted you to come to this decision on your own. Trust me, once you return to us, we’ll be working night and day for a solution that will allow you to retain your independence. We don’t want a captive, we wan’t a willing solider.”

Kronos sat for a long moment and thought over his options. He didn’t like the idea of the serum, but he also couldn’t fault Othrys for their actions up to this point. They gave him the appearance of choice because it was important and didn’t use the serum as leverage over him. With the realities of the serum, they didn’t need to bother saving his family, but they had done so as a show of faith.

“Okay, I get it.” He finally responded.

“About time,” Astra said dryly before patting him on the shoulder. “Go on outside. I need to get changed as well.”

“What, I don’t get to watch? Fair is fair.” He cheekily noted.

Astra turned toward the crew quarters but tossed him a reply over her shoulder, “only if you want to get up close and personal with my pistol.”

Deciding that he had enough violence for one day, Kronos left the ship like the gentleman he was. The rest of the team was waiting outside that hatch and were wearing clothes similar to his own. Unlike him, they were carrying rifles of an unfamiliar design. He was about to ask about them, but Astra appeared from the hatch behind him.

“Alright, let’s go.” She ordered. “Everyone already knows what to do. Raylee, rig the ship to blow and then get to the Kytarrus. That should buy us time while they’re looking for Kronos.” She added the last bit for the titan’s benefit.

“Nico, you’ve got the central comms. Rhian, you’ve got the central power supply. Sean, I want you to get over to node eight and prep our escape. Meanwhile, Kronos and I will hit central engineering and freeze the docking clamps. Make sure you’re entering the central hub from separate even-numbered nodes. Primary threat is sitting on node seven. We need to avoid him if possible.

She looked around the group to make sure everyone understood their orders.

“If we get everything done, the station will be sitting dead in space. They won’t be able to call for help or organize a pursuit. It’ll buy us the time we need to get back home.”

“Any questions?” She finished.

Kronos had plenty of questions, but the rest of the team didn’t, so he kept them to himself. Astra’s orders had driven home the point that Othrys had clearly planned for every eventuality. He just needed to shut up, play his limited role, and let the plan go through its motions.

Seeing that there were no questions, Astra dismissed the group and they started walking toward the lifts. Once there, they ascended to the leisure deck where all of the various trams were located. When they arrived on the floor, they found it completely devoid of life. Clearly, the Guard had already cleared this part of the station and were mopping up any resistance elsewhere in the station. Kronos knew it was inevitable that they would run into the Guard, but he assumed that Astra had already given them appropriate covers that would stand up to the Empire’s screening.

From there, they split up and took separate trams to their assigned parts of the station. When Kronos and Astra were finally alone, he brought up the topic that had been bothering him.

“Shouldn’t we contact Zhang and give him the option of escaping with us?”

“No,” Astra said shortly. “The Empire doesn’t use tools that it doesn’t have complete control over. No matter how pure his intentions, the incentives are lined up for him to stop us. He’s the most heavily armed and armored individual on this station. We can’t allow ourselves to run into him.”

Kronos felt like that was an unfair characterization of his friend. “He doesn’t want to work for the Empire, he was forced to just like I was. I’ve known him almost as long as I’ve been working for the Empire.”

Astra gave him a level look. “And about how long has that been?”

The titan felt sheepish. “At least a couple of months in real time. However, in virtual we went through a lot of shit together. That lasted for ten months.”

The pilot remained silent and seemed to be thinking over his proposal. When they were almost at their stop on node six, she replied. “We can’t afford the uncertainty right now.”

Kronos was about to protest, but she stopped him with a look. “When we’re out of here, we can reach out to him through some more circumspect channels.”

She sighed heavily. “I realize that he’s important to you, cowboy. If Othrys can get him out from under whatever the Empire has over him, we’ll do so.”

Kronos thought about her proposal and nodded. He realized that he was asking a lot from her. If she had completely shut him down, he would’ve argued but probably gone along with the plan. There were too many unknowns for him to do otherwise. However, the fact that she took the time to think about it, meant that she cared about his opinion. After his experience with the Empire, it was more than enough for him to agree.

It’s strange that I’m being treated like a normal human for once. Well, a normal titan, he sardonically thought.

They stepped off on node seven and the deck was filled with Guard members resting and deactivated combat droids. A couple of them gave the newcomers cursory glances, but none of them stopped the pair. Astra acted like she belonged on the station and Kronos knew that was half of the battle. Whatever identities appeared in the Guard’s HUD was the other half.

They crossed the deck until they reached the adjoining tram station and took it toward the central part of the station. As they drew closer, Kronos couldn’t help resting his hands on the handles of his pistols and Astra noticed.

“Don’t worry, everything is going according to plan. Our task is probably the easiest. We get in, we disable the other ships, and we get out. We should be one our way to node eight by the time the others accomplish their own missions. We’ll be able to sneak out in the chaos.”

Kronos nodded his acceptance, but couldn’t help the churning in his gut. “And if someone stops us?”

Astra grinned wickedly. “Then we’ll probably have a hell of a fight on our hands.”

As their tram arrived, Kronos sincerely hoped that a fight wouldn’t come to pass. He had no reservations about killing the Guard, but he knew that Zhang would be drawn into the crossfire. He had no desire to fight his friend. It was better that he escape before the Imperials ever knew he had left.