The Colossus Collection : A Space Opera Adventure (Books 1-7 + Bonus Material)

by Nicole Grotepas

  Trip gave her the location of Odeon and Holly repeated it loudly, hoping the people chasing—however many of them it was—didn’t hear what she said.

  “I’m not sure, Holly. I can keep leading you, though I’ve got to sort this out. Darius has found a schematic for the bomb. He’s comparing it still and figuring out how to direct you to disarm it.”

  “Climb these stairs,” Shiro said, slowing his run and going up the metal, spiral stairs two at a time.

  Holly followed, sneaking a look back at their pursuers. As they came into view below her, she fired the Equalizer at the floor in front of them. The aether ate through the metal, exposing wiring and pipes that ran beneath the floor planks. Both of the thugs stumbled and tripped, their boots slipping into the hole.

  “We got a better lead, now, Shiro,” Holly called.

  “Good, because I’m not quite sure where we’re going,” Shiro called back to her.

  She reached the next level and raced toward him. He was standing in the hatchway. Bright lights spilled around him, forming him into a dark silhouette wearing a bowler and a performance suit.

  As Holly joined him, she took in the scene in front of him.

  “Does anyone else know what’s going on, or where we’re going?” Holly asked, sighing. She could hear the echo of the approaching footsteps of the Shadow Coalition goons as they came toward her. She glanced back at them and pointed the Equalizer at them like she’d shoot.

  The lackeys stumbled back as they tried to recover and point their own aether guns at Holly.

  At least they stopped. That bought her some time. A minute, at least. But that was better than nothing.

  33

  “Is the bomb here, Trip?” Holly asked, blinking into the bright lights and scanning the cavernous room.

  Trip made a long sound instead of answering.

  “I think that’s a no, Ms. Drake,” Shiro said from beside her. “But I wasn’t expecting this.”

  Holly crept deeper into the vast space, putting distance between herself and Shiro and the lackeys behind them. She found a spot next to a stack of crates and portable diagnostic consoles and crouched down beside it, hiding from their pursuers before they came in through the hatchway. Shiro ducked down beside her, using his lionhead cane to balance himself.

  It was a ship bay, teeming with Shadow Coalition members, including Magna and Yohab. Holly spotted them standing next to a ship. Others scurried around them, loading materials into the ship’s cargo hold. There were only two other ships on landing pads, but compared to the Shadow Coalition ship, the others were totally devoid of signs of life.

  Holly flicked her gaze back to the Shadow Coalition cruiser. Yohab was gesturing wildly, angrily. An aether gun hung from the fingers of one hand.

  “Ship bay. I recognize that one,” Trip said over the comms, finally. “But, no, I’m sorry. Between the many screens and camera views in front of me, I was confused. You’re in ship bay 9. I’m not sure where the bomb is, and apparently Darius isn’t either.”

  “I’m not,” Darius said, tacking a string of curses onto his admission. “We’re botching this mission, Drake. And now we don’t have Odeon. He’s not near the bomb, though. That much I know. I don’t understand the point of the bomb. Maybe it’s to destroy evidence or something.”

  “How much time do we have left?” Holly asked. Could she trust Darius and Trip that she wasn’t near the bomb? All their confusion about where they were on the base worried her. Were any of them in a safe spot if the bomb went off, now?

  “Seven minutes,” Darius said.

  Holly didn’t answer, but her pulse responded to the information by speeding up.

  She watched the interchange between Yohab and Magna, rapt, as it escalated. Yohab got closer to her face until he was inches from her, screaming. Magna held up a hand, as though to push him away, but she didn’t.

  “What do you think it’s about?” Shiro asked.

  Before Holly could answer, shouts rose from the Shadow Coalition members surrounding Magna and Yohab, and several of them came charging at Holly and Shiro.

  “Damn. They spotted us.” The question was, what weapon did she use now?

  “I don’t like this one bit. Everything’s been too messy. Disorganized. And now, what of Odeon, Ms. Drake? Will we ever get him?” Shiro asked, standing up, drawing his sword, and preparing for a battle.

  An assortment of humans and Consties carried guns, while several who wielded swords, charged to engage Shiro.

  This would be an uneven fight. But their choices were: run or fight. And she wasn’t giving up, this close to her goals.

  “We’ll get to him, Shiro, if it’s the last thing I do,” she promised.

  “Let’s both promise it’s not the last thing we do,” he answered, beginning to fend off drawn swords with his lionhead sword.

  She wasn’t in the mood for a long battle, but she’d made a promise to herself that she wouldn’t merely dole out wholesale slaughter, though she’d had experience with Magna’s followers and knew that give their druthers, they would.

  Holly didn’t wait for the thugs to start shooting. She opened fire, opting to use the trick she’d learned in the corridors of creating aetheric blasted holes in the metal planks of the bay floors.

  It worked to topple a few of the charging fools. Holly paused to assess the situation now, keeping the Equalizer aimed at the approaching goons.

  Closer now, she heard every other word coming from Yohab, who was bellowing at the top of his lungs. Words like Voss, coup, and traitor. The Constellation male bore down on the woman, shouting like someone gone berserk. Holly had no love for Magna anywhere in her body, but the sight of her being bullied into submission by Yohab aroused feelings of indignation in her on Magna’s behalf.

  But her attention came back to the current skirmish on her own front porch. She began to aim for knees and dodge shots taken at her. There were only a few options for cover on the landing pad and when the chance arose, Holly ducked behind a stack of crates next to another portable console for ship diagnostic work.

  Behind the cover, Holly inhaled. They were so outnumbered. Even if she took out the thugs approaching her now—the bay was crawling with them. All it would take was a few more to stop loading crates onto their ship and pay attention to her and Shiro, and Holly’s foes would be replenished.

  Cross that bridge when I get there. Good thinking, self.

  Most important, she needed to keep the idiots with guns engaged so they didn’t get the bright idea of simply shooting Shiro as he fought with the swordsmen. Holly assessed his current state and saw that he’d already downed two of his opponents.

  “Nice, Shiro. I’m going to keep these idiots locked on me. If you see one of them sizing you up and aiming, let me know. I’ll get their damn knees.”

  “Always the knees, Ms. Drake!”

  “My specialty. Apparently.”

  “It works! Usually not a mortal wound. Usually.”

  “I can’t help it that these idiots chose a violent profession. They could rethink their career choices,” Holly said.

  “Yes, I agree,” he said, grunting. “Their fault, correct?”

  “Very much so,” Holly said, popping back around the crates to pull the trigger and take out a thug. It got him in the knee and he fell with an ear-piercing shriek.

  “Well done,” Shiro remarked.

  “Just need to do it five more times,” Holly said, ducking and crouching, putting her back to the crates. The sound of aether guns firing made her flinch. She winced at the jolt of the crates taking the impact and jostling into her back.

  “How’s it going?” She asked.

  Shiro answered her, but her attention was elsewhere.

  Without warning, an almost inhuman roar erupted from the quarrel happening between Magna and Yohab.

  Silence followed.

  Holly leaned around the crate and surveyed the room.

  The roar had come from Magna, though Holly’s initi
al guess was that it belonged to Yohab. They were locked in hand-to-hand-combat, like two animals. There was a feral madness between the two of them.

  Neither of them was innocent, but Holly realized as she watched how her views had changed over who was the shittiest between the two of them. First, she’d thought Magna. Then Yohab, and now… both of them?

  The goons that had been coming for her suddenly disengaged and ran toward Yohab and Magna, almost like they’d been summoned.

  Yohab seemed to notice this. He let go of Magna, drew the gun that he’d holstered at some point during their conflict, and shot her, point blank in the shoulder.

  Another blood-curdling cry escaped from Magna.

  “I’ve never heard a worse sound,” Shiro’s voice said in Holly’s ear.

  “Is she dead?”

  “Not yet, it seems,” Shiro said. He appeared beside her and Holly made room for him behind the crates, shifting and spinning to sit in a crouch while leaning her side against the stack so she could observe the fracas as it proceeded.

  “He’s going for the depressurization console,” Trip said in Holly’s ear. The pilot had been watching the events unfold via the camera feed on their comms.

  “What? Really?”

  “Get ready. You’ll have ten minutes to get out of there when that happens. Stay away from the opening.”

  “Don’t need to tell us that, twice. Darius, how’s it coming with the bomb? Less than ten minutes right? How many timers can we be on for total annihilation?”

  “Obviously the bomb’s a lost cause, Drake. We have five minutes left.”

  Panic stirred in her guts. Holly pushed it away, separating herself from the emotions and becoming an observer of herself, rather than living inside that storm of emotion and surge of hormones.

  “Is it near us? Could you at least tell me that?”

  “I’m ninety-nine percent certain that it’s on the level I told you earlier.”

  “Great,” Holly said, but she heard the total lack of faith in his answer in her own tone. He probably heard it too.

  Yohab marched to a control panel at the back of the bay, near the main hatch that opened into access corridors, and punched it, then jogged back to the ship and boarded, shooting at Shadow Coalition lackeys as he did, fending them off with a surprise coldness.

  Magna stirred, trying to rise into a sitting position. The wound on her shoulder sparked and fizzed with the purple energy of the aether charge that had hit her.

  Holly felt the air move, like a wind on the front of a storm, pushing and pulling her body toward the opening into space. SC henchies clamored to board the ship that Yohab now controlled, but the ramp immediately began to close and the ship powered up, lifting away from the floor as the engines carried it toward the bay opening. Outside that opening, Ixion was just coming into view as the mining base rotated.

  The strength of the wind intensified and Holly realized they had just one choice—run for the hatchway into the central corridor of the base.

  It was that or be pulled into space.

  Shadow Coalition members were already being dragged across the floor of the bay. The sight of it sickened Holly. Their shrieks stung her as they cried out for Magna to repressurize the bay. The woman rose slowly, and moved toward the corridor, ignoring the cries of her charges.

  “Come on.” Holly scrambled to her feet. She holstered the Equalizer and grabbed Shiro by the hand and pulled him along with her.

  34

  Running against the pull of the depressurizing bay was easy at first, but the intensity of the wind seemed to strengthen as Holly raced for safety.

  Why Magna didn’t hit the pressure controls was anyone’s guess, but Holly suspected it was because she was kind of a dick.

  “Number 8!” Magna screamed as she neared the hatch.

  The sound was muffled as air left the ship bay, leaving no way for noise to travel.

  Holly glanced over her shoulder. The ship that Yohab escaped on was pelted with flying debris. A few bodies soared out the opening, scattered among the whirlwind of loose objects. The ship fired its engines and disappeared.

  The bile rose in Holly’s throat.

  I’m gonna make it, she thought.

  The question was, did she stop at the console and try to repressurize the bay?

  “Holly, can you hear me?” Trip’s voice was a lifeline in the strange storm that surrounded her.

  “Yes,” Holly breathed.

  She gasped against the lack of air. How long could she go on like this? =

  “Get through the hatch, quick.” The Centau’s voice was steel, direct, and it expected to be obeyed. Trip would not accept debate or failure.

  At the moment, that was exactly what Holly needed. Otherwise, she would go to the console and risk her life to save the few people still fighting to make it to safety.

  “You will go through the hatch before the emergency protocols shut it off entirely. On the other side of that hatch, there’s another set of controls. You can restore pressure to the bay. Quick, now! As fast as you can, Holly.”

  “Drake, you got this,” Darius said, his voice another faint sound in her ear.

  She still held onto Shiro’s hand. She would never let go, now, and she felt a flash of gratitude for having the foresight to take hold of him in the first place.

  Why had she done that, anyway?

  Strange thoughts—out of place thoughts—glanced across her mind like they belonged to someone else. Why had she grabbed Shiro? Why had she failed Odeon, so many times? Where was Iain? How was he faring?

  “Good news, Drake,” Darius said. “I have good news for you, once you get to safety. Now pick up the speed, woman! No excuses. Run faster. Try harder.”

  Oh, she wanted to punch Darius for that.

  But it worked.

  Magna was just ahead, fighting her thugs to get to the hatch. She pushed against them and pulled others back. It was then that Holly recognized faces and emblems on clothing she didn’t expect to see here. There were Cocks fighting alongside Magna to stop Shadow Coalition members from getting to the hatch.

  Finally, Holly was there, with Shiro beside her, and Magna in front of her. She expected a fight, and she would fight, if it came to that.

  Someone else activated the hatch and it opened. A surge of bodies vying to get through pushed Holly and Shiro into the corridor. A chorus of loud gasps filled the room as air equalized and people filled their lungs.

  Several security personnel rounded the corner and stopped, taking in the scene as Holly and the others jostled and crashed against each other, straining to fill the corridor with bodies struggling for air.

  “Once the hatch is closed again, Holly, you should be able to control the console and restore pressure.” Trip’s voice was soothing.

  The hatch closed and Holly inhaled, her breath flowing into her in a way she’d never noticed before. Oxygen was life. Before she collapsed in relief, she searched the corridor, seeking the control panel, peeking between bodies.

  She found it and motioned to Shiro. They carved their way through the ranks and she fell against the button to restore pressure in the bay.

  Security personnel began shouting for people to disperse and move out of their way. They demanded to know what happened, but Holly’s attention was on Magna and the random Cocks that had shown up at the last minute.

  She spun, looking for Magna as the crowd thinned.

  “Where did she go?” Holly asked quietly, trusting the comm to pick it up for Shiro and Trip’s benefit.

  Something smashed into her head and she fell forward, crashing into Shiro, who caught her and held her upright.

  As the stars filling her vision cleared, the images swimming in her eyes resolved into a figure.

  “Hold her, Number 8, while I take care of this. Actually, no, bring her with. And follow me.” The voice belonged to Magna.

  Before Holly could fight back, she felt hands and arms surround her and then she was being dragged th
rough the corridor amidst the confusion of the survivors of what had happened in the bay. She dug her heels in, resisting as much as possible.

  Shiro was in front of her, with a gun in his back. Magna’s gun.

  “Keep moving,” Magna said. Others followed.

  There was too much noise and too many bodies for security to see what was happening as the group moved through the corridor, away from the crowd.

  They came to an area in the corridor that widened into a sort of foyer, where mechanics and bay-workers stored personal gear. Magna turned, forcing Shiro to turn. Holly exchanged a look with Shiro that tore at her heart. The rest of her lackeys fanned out. Number 8, it seemed, had donned the apparel of The Cocks. Was that what her argument with Yohab had been about? Magna switching allegiances?

  By now Holly had surmised that Magna had dark plans for Shiro. She’d blatantly admitted many times that she wanted to kill Holly and her crew, but so far hadn’t succeeded.

  The woman’s shoulder wound had worsened—the fabric of her clothing around it was soaked and curled into where the flesh had been seared.

  “Better take care of that soon,” Holly said. “I hear aether wounds are worse than burns.”

  “Shut up, whore,” Magna said. “But first, say goodbye to your friend. You’re next. I’m afraid this doesn’t end pretty for either of you. But at least it’s an end.”

  “I thought I saw a gun! Stop right there!” A male voice said from behind Holly, the sound approaching her along with its owner.

  Then a female voice. “What the hell is going on here! What is this? Drop your weapons!”

  The thunder of approaching footsteps galloping over the metal flooring brought with it a confusing commotion that unfolded around Holly as security personnel swarmed their group.

  “Duck!” Holly exploded into action, catching Shiro’s eye just as Magna attempted to finish him off by firing a round from her aether gun.