Kronos backed up a few paces to give himself some space. The titan knew that he didn’t have the same defenses as the Frumentarii armor, but he was likely ahead in terms of strength and speed. Unfortunately, those characteristics meant nothing in comparison to Zhang’s shield.

Maybe I can buy some time, he thought.

“I’m sorry I didn’t warn you, Zhang. I didn’t want to put you in this position.”

“What position?” Zhang said cheerfully.

Kronos felt awkward. “Well, having to pick between duty and whatever the Empire has over you and me. I wanted to reach out after we got away so that we could save your friends and get you back where you belong.”

Zhang’s armored head tilted to the side. “What are you tal—Oh!” He suddenly exclaimed. “You still think I’m a rebel like your friends.”

He started laughing as he reached up to take off his helmet. When the helmet was removed, his long black hair tumbled to his shoulders. Before Kronos could ask what his friend was doing, a transformation occurred on Zhang’s face.

The hair began to recede into Zhang’s face like it was growing in reverse. When he was completely bald, Zhang closed his eyes, and his face started twisting like it was melting and reforming. Kronos could hear the cracking of cartilage as the man’s nose shifted and changed shape. After that, the jaw and cheekbones became less pronounced and the skin lightened until it was the color of milk. Finally, Zhang opened his eyes and piercing green eyes looked out from an unfamiliar face.

Zhang cracked his head from side to side and sighed. “It’s always annoying to visit the face sculptors.” He noted wryly.

“My name is Themis Caecus. His voice was refined and polished. It was a stark contrast to how he had spoken previously. He put his helmet down on the ground and retrieved the rifle mag-locked to his back.

“Give up now, Kronos and nothing bad has to happen. I’ll kill the rebels and we can forget this entire thing happened. You still need to complete your training.”

“Themis,” Kronos started rolling the unfamiliar name across his tongue. “We’ve been though hell together, if you don’t want to join us, then please just let us go. It doesn’t have to be this way.”

The other man frowned. “I’m sorry Kronos, but this is the way it has to be. The Empire had offered you everything. You have opportunities that the average citizen wouldn’t hope to dream of. I can’t let you throw that away. I’ve given my life to the Empire, and if you want your family to be safe, then you need to do the same.”

He was about to say more, but Kronos didn’t have time for a monologue. He realized that Themis was a true believer and that he would do anything to stop Kronos. With that in mind, the titan pulled out one of the battery grenades and primed it with his HUD.

The operative noticed the action and frowned. He raised his weapon and pointed it at Kronos’ chest.

“What are you going to do with that, Kronos? You can’t break through my shield.” Themis looked amused and that infuriated Kronos even more.

“It’s not for you, friend” he sadly said as he engaged the mag-lock on his boots. When the grenade was about to explode, he tossed it sideways at the bulkhead to the station. Before the intelligence operative could react, it had blown a whole in the station and the atmosphere was being forcefully ejected into space. Themis tumbled head over feet as he was blown out of the station. At the same time, Kronos was rocked as Astra was thrown violently into him.

He scrambled to catch hold of her as alarms screamed throughout the station. He heard the doors on either side of the long corridor sealed themselves shut but he was focused on the pilot. When he finally got a good hold of her, he strained against the force of the ejection and planted her feet on the ground. He felt, more than heard, her boots lock to the deck. He wanted to ask her if she was alright, but comms were down and there was no air for his words to pass through.

He started traveling toward the end of the corridor in the careful gait of someone using mag-boots. He noted that the pressure was already lessening due to the emergency protocols of the station. Repair droids would already be scuttling toward the breach and sealing it with a portable shield. Once that was done, they would start sealing the hole and restoring atmosphere to this part of the station.

By the time he reached the end of the corridor, artificial gravity had already returned to the section and limited power was restored. The atmosphere was still being pumped in so the doors at the end of the hallway were still sealed.

As he studied them, he turned to Astra. “Do you want to handle this, or should I?”

Astra laughed. “If we weren’t running for our lives, it would be good practice for you. Since we are and Caecus could be back in any minute, I’ll go ahead and do it.”

The pilot pressed her PCD against the door and her omni-tool started cracking the stations encryption. Since atmospheric breaches were an entirely different level of security, the titan figured it would take a little bit longer than normal.

“Do you really think Themis will be back?” He wondered out loud. He really didn’t like the idea of killing the man. Zhang, or Themis now, had been his constant companion since everything started. He still held out hope that he could turn the man to his side. He didn’t think all the times they had covered each other’s back or cracked jokes at the others expense could be so easily forgotten.

“Of course,” Astra answered as she studied the small display on her PCD. “It likely isn’t the first time that an operative like him has found himself pushed out of an airlock. He’s probably floundering in space, but it’s only a matter of time before he secures a source of air and finds a way back into the station.”

Kronos felt a strange mix of relief and fear at the thought of Themis’ fate. He noticed as Astra straightened and the indicator lights surrounding the hatch shifted from red to green. He raised his pistols and covered her as she moved to the side of the opening doors.

It was a good thing because blaster fire from the node beyond started pouring into the corridor. There were so many shots that it looked like a torrent of red energy streaming pass. Kronos quickly move to the side of the door before more than a couple of errant shots pinged him.

Astra looked over at him and pulled out one of her battery grenades before priming it. Kronos secured a pistol and then did the same. As one, they tossed the grenades through the door and waited for three seconds. When the dual explosions went off, they both stormed into the room with their weapons firing.

One the other side of the door about a dozen guards were waiting with twice their number in light combat droids. The titan noticed that their grenades had already done a significant damage and reduced their enemy by at least half. Bloody and broken bodies mixed with machine parts were scattered across the deck. Those that remained were either damaged or suffering incapacitating wounds.

Luckily, the grenades hadn’t done any damage to the structure of the station itself. Kronos saw a large crater in the floor, but that led to a lower deck instead of the bleakness of space. As the pair were laying down suppressing fire on the guards, Kronos drew closer to Astra as they made their way to a nearby cart. It wasn’t much defense from the incoming fire, but it would keep their vital parts safe.

As they crouched behind it and shot back at the Guard, Kronos came up with a plan. “They’re keeping us from getting to the lift,” he noted. “If we stay on this floor, we’re exposed to reinforcements from the rest of the station.”

“What do you suggest?” Astra asked.

“I say we hop down a floor through the hole in the deck we made and then we get to the lift from there.”

“Okay,” Astra said as she fired over the top of the cart. “What makes you think there aren’t more enemies on the lower deck?”

“I don’t,” Kronos shrugged. “But at least we won’t be open to multiple vectors of attack. They’ll have to come through the lift, or jump down the hole themselves.”

Astra just nodded her agreement before Kronos gave final instructions. “Make sure I’m in-between you and the Guard’s fire. I can absorb a few of the shots and heal from them fairly quickly. You don’t have that luxury.”

Astra just grinned. “Only you would think it was a luxury to be shot by a blaster.”

Kronos returned her grin before shouting “let’s go!”

They darted from their cover, and immediately Kronos caught a shot to the chest. It made him stop short, but he was relieved to note that his biosuit had absorbed most of the damage and he just had a slight burn from its impact. Had Astra been in front of his, she would’ve likely been more injured. Despite the limited injury, it was stacked against all the other injuries he had sustained over the course of their flight. He could already feel his stomach gnawing on itself as his body rapidly tried to repair the damage.

They sprinted toward the large hole in the deck, firing as they went. When Kronos got closed, he slid into the hole and fell through the air. As he passed through the deck, he already noticed that there were a fire team of enemies waiting for them at the bottom.

With Astra only a half second behind him, he knew that he needed to act fast. The four Guards were were surprised at the titan’s arrival and it was all the time he needed. As he fell he threw a pistol at one of his enemies. It flipped end over end before impacting so powerfully that it punched through the Guard’s armored helmet and lodged itself in his face. The other two didn’t have time to scream before Kronos had landed lithely on his feet and shot them them in their throats.

A half second later and Astra crashed to the ground far less acrobatically than the titan. He heard her cursing as he went to the first down guard and retrieved his pistol. Kronos pulled it from the shattered remains of the dead man’s skull with a disturbing slurping sound. As Astra rose to hey feet and limped away from her landing zone, more blaster fire started pelting at them from above.

Kronos stowed his pistols and the scooped up Astra in his arms. They didn’t have time for her slow progress and they needed to get out of the Guard’s range. He carried her down the central path of the habitation deck until they reached the lift at the end. He used his PCD to call the lift and then set Astra down.

“As much as I enjoyed the ride, cowboy, you know that there are going to be Guard on that lift.”

“I know,” Kronos replied as he drew his pistols.

As the door opened on the lift, Kronos unloaded his pistols on the interior. Four of the Guard were slain, but not before Kronos took a couple hits of his own. He winced when the sound of weapon fire ceased and looked down at his chest. Both shot had landed in close proximity on one of his ribs and his biosuit had been completely shredded. He saw hints of his own white bones underneath the bloody carnage of his torn flesh. Astra came alongside of his and they both watches as the blood slowed to a trickle, his muscles knit themselves back together, and fresh skin grew over the wound. The only sigh that he had been injured was a large bruise but even that faded away after a few more seconds.

“That’s new,” he commented.

“I told you the serum increased your powers,” she said before rifling through the slain enemies. She found what she was looking for and tossed him a a ration stick.

“Here,” she said. “Eat this, you’ll need to keep your strength up. Too many of those kinds of hits and it could become dangerous to you.”

Kronos joined Astra on the lift and opened the wrapper to the ration. He started wolfing it down despite himself. He felt like his stomach was trying to claw itself from his body. Astra signaled for the lift to descend when he finished the first bar. After that, Kronos started looting the dead Guards for more food. He only managed to find and consume another three of the ration sticks before they made it to the lowest level of the node.

When the door opened, the port was blessedly empty. On one hand, it was a depressing thing. No people meant that the citizens on the station had largely been wiped out. On the other, at least there weren’t any more enemies to shoot.

Kronos led the way to where the ship was docked while Astra limped behind him. When they arrived at the dock, they found Raylee and Sean already waiting for them. Kronos saw tension in their faces and it didn’t seem to be because of Astra’s injuries.

They rushed over to Astra and put her arms around each other shoulder. Astra complained that she didn’t need their help but they ignored her protests. With the practiced efficiency of their movements, Kronos had the impression that they’d done this sort of thing many times. He looked over his should and saw nothing but the dilapidated corridors that plagued much of system. Paranoia resolved, he followed the trio into the ship.

The interior of the ship was a far cry from what he had been expecting. Imperial ships all had the same sort of angular, blocky design. The exteriors were all hard angles and sharp corners while their interiors were filled with thick furniture and a plethora of holoscreens. The Kytarrus was an entirely different breed of animal.

The bulkheads of the main cabin were curved and had an almost organic aesthetic. Lines of circuitry ran through the hull like an electronic circulatory system. A huge panoramic view of the ships surroundings covered the upper half of the cabin. When Kronos peered closer, he realized that there weren’t actual windows or holoscreenes, but images that were displayed by the hull material itself. Kronos assumed that there were tiny cameras all over the ship that presented a live feed to the interior displays.

It was jarring to see the ship docked while the massive expanse of node eight stretched above them. He imagined that the view wasn’t purely for aesthetic reasons. Instead he could see the tactical reasons for wanting to see outside the ship. The decor of the cabin was just as well-crafted.

Instead of bulky terminals and troop seats, it held accommodations for the crew. Sinuous couches wound their way around circular tables and arching counter space lined the walls and the backs of the couches. He noticed embedded holoemitters that could play a variety of entertainment and a line of transparent lockers that held an assortment of fresh food.

He didn’t get the chance to see more, because Raylee and Sean were already leading them beyond that cabin and into a short corridor. Once there, Kronos noticed a line of doors that led into more rooms. The two rebels walked to the closest door and it slid open as they neared.

Beyond, Kronos recognized a fully equipped medbay. There were two raised seats that looked like they extended into a full operating table. Above each one, a dozen robotic arms attached to the ceiling. Each one held a different surgical implement. If they weren’t in a medbay, Kronos would think it was some sort of torture device. Along the walls, there were force field covered shelves that held a variety of medicines. In the corner, there was even a sleeping medical droid hanging in its charging rack.

Raylee & Sean helped Astra onto one of the tables and then backed away. Sensors in the ceiling started painting Astra in red and green light as they started to assess her condition. After a few seconds, one of the robotic arms descended from the ceiling and starting spraying the blaster wounds on her ribs with an antiseptic spray. Once the site was clean, it started applying synthetic flesh over her grievous burns. Astra winced at the treatment but other wise didn’t make a sound.

Once her wounds were fully covered, the first arm returned to its former position and a second one extended with an attached auto injector. Kronos watched as the injector was filled with fluid and then plunged into Astra’s shoulder. He expected her to cry out in pain, but instead she sighed.

“Thank you, painkillers,” she commented ruefully.

Sean looked over a nearby diagnostic panel before pronouncing her fit for duty.

“Looks like you took a nasty shot to the ribs,” he noted.

“Yeah,” Astra shrugged. “Cowboy here was supposed to be my blaster sponge, but like everything else, he half-assed it.”

Kronos laughed, “If I hadn’t taken as many hits as I dead, you would look minced meat instead of just lightly toasted.”

“You call this lightly toasted?” She huffed.

“Better than dead,” Kronos shrugged.

“True,” she agreed before turning to her fellow rebels.

“Where’s Nico and Rhian?”

“They haven’t arrived yet,” Raylee informed her.

“ There was a atmosphere breach on the station. We don’t know what caused it, but the rest of the station sealed itself as tight as a tax collectors pocketbook,” Sean added.

Kronos raised his hand weakly. “That was me.”

Sean shot him a dirty look, “Well that answers that.” He turned to look at Astra.

“They’re both stuck on node six. They were able to sneak around the Guard and make it down to the docking level. I figured we could detach from here and meet up with them.”

Kronos frowned at the new information. “That won’t work. If their mission was successful, then we won’t be able to dock with the station at six. All of the clamps have been disabled.”

Sean shrugged, “We’ll probably have to do a soft dock then.”

The titan looked over at Astra and noticed that she was deep in thought.

“If we do that, we’ll be exposing ourselves to the Guard and to Caecus.” She said slowly. “He’s probably already back on the station and ready to go. If we soft dock, we won’t be able to disengage without opening up the cabin to space.”

“Okay, so we soft dock. I go ahead and provide security while they fall back behind me.” Kronos thought his proposal was a good one but clearly Astra didn’t agree.

“No, you can’t fight Caecus the way you are. You might be able to match him in speed, but you don’t have the firepower necessary to prevent him from damaging the ship and preventing our escape.”

Kronos realized that she was right. “Don’t you have some sort of armor I can use then?”

All three of the rebels shared a look that held an entire conversation. Kronos didn’t like being left out of the loop.

“What?” He demanded. “Do we have something I can fight Zhang with, or not?”

Astra sighed, “We do, but it hasn’t been used in over two hundred years.”