Shadow of the Colossus

by Nicole Grotepas

  “How much longer?” Holly asked Trip. From a seat behind her, she heard the sound of Shiro snoring. She envied his ability to fall asleep during space flight without intervention.

  Trip spoke to the ship and a holographic image of their flight trajectory appeared above the console.

  “There. A few hours, Holly,” Trip said. “Try to sleep, like Shiro. The beds are available as well.”

  “I can’t sleep.” Her head hurt. She inhaled and rolled her shoulders, attempting to relax them.

  “Odeon could help,” Trip observed.

  “He’s not a slave, Trip,” Holly grumbled.

  “He’s a friend who wants to help,” Odeon called from his seat.

  “For someone who hates space flight, you seem to find a lot of excuses to do it,” Scotch said with a raspy laugh.

  Iain Grant, or “Scotch” as he was also known, had parked the tanker out in a stable point between Itzcap and Ixion. And there it had stayed after they’d escaped from the Ixion base and delivered the children to Kota. His crew had stayed aboard, holding it indefinitely and now he was returning to finish his command of the tanker by getting the hydrantium to Xadrian and the crew manning her back to Kota. Holly glanced back at him where he was positioned next to Shiro along the side of the bridge.

  Xadrian caught Holly’s gaze and flashed an impish grin at her. “HD enjoys pushing her limits—it’s one reason my client hired her.”

  Holly laughed, trying to ignore the swirling anxiety in her gut. “Your client? He’s more of an employer, XT. You make it sound like you could turn down his work if you wanted.”

  “We both know I could. He doesn’t own me.”

  Holly shrugged and turned back to watch the holograph on the console. “Debatable.”

  “How long will it take to get the tanker to my holding base on Po?” Xadrian asked.

  It wasn’t the first time the plan had been discussed. Xadrian was exhibiting an air of nervousness about the process and kept bringing it up. Holly turned and caught him wringing his hands. His head was cocked to one side and he watched the view-screen where, outside the ship, a thin fragment of yellow-orange Ixion glowed.

  Holly’s gaze flicked back to Trip. “Any ideas? If you could answer the man, Trip, that would be ever so lovely.”

  Trip laughed. “I only know how much longer it will take to get to the tanker. After that, time-tables are in Iain’s hands.”

  “Iain?” Holly looked to Grant.

  “Depends. I’d need my pilots to calculate distances. The moons don’t stay in one place. You know that, don’t you, Xadrian?”

  “I resent the implication that I don’t,” Xadrian huffed.

  Holly twisted back around in her seat and took deep breaths. She closed her eyes and listened to the hum of the ship, avoiding thoughts that tugged at her memory.

  Grant’s laugh was a distant low-pitched sound. “Resent all you like. There are things a commander doesn’t just pull out of thin air. And flight plans are one of them.”

  “Just how far is Po from where the tanker is based?” Xadrian’s tone sounded on the brink of shattering.

  “You in a hurry, then?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “Xadrian, perhaps you could use some of my calm-songs.” Odeon laughed softly. Holly heard it distantly and latched to it. Though she refused to let him coddle her this trip, there was a comfort in Odeon. After all that they’d been through, she considered him an old friend. Outside of Charly and Elan, perhaps her oldest friend. Solid.

  “I don’t need the witchery of any Druiviin. I’m just fine, thank you. Though I do wish there was an open bar available.”

  “This is a cruiser, not a pleasure vessel,” Trip said, only the faintest hint of irritation entering her voice.

  “No one’s perfect, I suppose, right HD?” Xadrian laughed mirthlessly.

  Shiro snorted loudly and then seemed to settle back into his dozing. Holly leaned back and closed her eyes. It would be a few hours before they arrived.

  * * *

  Holly jerked awake as someone squeezed her arm.

  She tried to leap out of her seat, but the harness held her in.

  “Transfer time,” Trip was saying, a look of laughter in her normally serious eyes. She ran a hand across the stubble of her skull. “We’re there. You’re going with Grant now.”

  Holly scrubbed her eyes and unlatched the harness. She twisted in the seat. Everyone else was gone.

  “I let you sleep longer, Drake. It makes no sense to make you more nervous. Now everyone is waiting. Go and I will head back to Kota.” Trip stood up and waited for Holly.

  She was still disoriented as she rose and followed Trip through the cramped area of the bridge and the narrow corridor to the hatch. Distant clanking sounds reverberated through the Olavia Apollo from the tanker as a skeleton crew serviced the cruiser.

  Trip clattered down the open hatch gangway and waited for Holly on the flight deck of the tanker. Odeon now waited beside her.

  “I thought you were with the rest of the crew,” Holly said, her voice thick with sleep.

  “For a moment I was, but I came back for you.”

  “Being on the tanker is less anxiety-inducing, Odeon.”

  “This exposure therapy is also helping, isn’t it?” He put an arm around her shoulder. Holly paused and looked back at Trip, who waited by her ship. One of Grant’s crew was speaking with the Centau pilot. Another crew member was back at the fueler disconnecting the fueling lines.

  “You heading back now?” Holly asked once Trip was done and the crew member walked off.

  Trip nodded. “Your little jaunts only keep me slightly above water,” Trip said using an Earth idiom. “Did I use that one correctly? Someone else chartered my vessel. Just came through. Otherwise I would stay here for a bit. Have a party with you.”

  “It’s always a party with us, Trip. You miss this one, there’ll be another.” Holly laughed.

  They said goodbye and Trip disappeared back up the gangway into the Olavia Apollo. One of the crew members from Grant’s team emerged from behind the ship and followed Holly and Odeon toward the narrow hatch that led into corridors of the tanker. The shipment of hydrantium was stored in large compartments beneath their feet.

  “You’ve been getting better, Holly,” Odeon said, removing his arm. They walked single file through the corridors, and soon they heard voices ahead.

  “Could be. I’m not sure, still.”

  “If that’s because inside, you feel nervous, that’s OK. The Yasoan teacher Raswai Se spoke of the tenderness inside the bones. That is where everything is softest.”

  Holly furrowed her brow. “But that’s not even true.”

  “It is in one way. Marrow. Blood. One of the most important parts of physiology.”

  She nearly scoffed, but could see that her friend was serious. And they had arrived in the bridge of the tanker, so it wasn’t a good time to continue the philosophical conversation. Grant had taken a post at a center console where a holographic, interactive display hung in the air above it. Around the bridge there were screen displays lit with the solar system outside the tanker. Grant stood, back straight, his arms crossed behind him in the small of his back, his face serious like a military commander. For a moment the strength in his demeanor struck her and she felt drawn to him, and then it passed as Grant began delivering orders to his crew.

  Shiro and Xadrian were relaxing in benches built into the edge of the bridge. As Holly and Odeon approached them, their feet clanking against the metal flooring, Xadrian began to rub his hands together as though he were nervous.

  One of the crew members spoke, informing Grant that Trip had left their proximity and they could begin their own course toward Po. Grant asked his pilot if he had their course plotted. The pilot delivered an affirmative, mentioning travel times, and then Grant gave him the go-ahead to engage the ship’s aether drive engines.

  Moving on the large tanker felt nothing like flying on a
zeppelin, or like the Olavia Apollo. It felt more like being on the base around Ixion—so large, it hardly seemed like a ship.

  But her mind knew. And a lick of anxiety fluttered up from her guts.

  Shiro exchanged a look with Odeon and Holly as they approached. Xadrian muttered something and Holly cocked her head to hear it, but only caught cussing. Shiro appeared annoyed as he nodded a curt greeting at Odeon.

  “I see you’ve awoken, Ms. Drake,” Shiro said, pressing his lips together. “I’m glad Odeon was there to escort you to the bridge.”

  She smiled. “I don’t need escorts, Shiro. But I didn’t mind the company.”

  This appeared to bother Shiro even more. “He’s not bad company.”

  Odeon caught Holly’s eye. “He’s annoyed. I insisted he escort this one to the bridge to make sure he didn’t get into trouble.” One end of the Ousaba touched Xadrian’s shoulder.

  “Excuse me. I don’t appreciate the liberties you’re taking with my personal space.” Xadrian pushed the Ousaba club away with one finger. “Thank you.”

  “No sense of humor,” Odeon said shaking his head.

  “Says a Druiviin,” Xadrian said, distracted, watching Grant deliver commands. “The most humorless race in the Yol system.”

  “I think that title belongs to Constellations,” Shiro pointed out.

  “Or Centau,” Odeon agreed, noting that his crew-mate was taking his side.

  “Or them, yes,” Shiro agreed.

  “What’s happening?” Xadrian whispered, urgently.

  Holly turned her attention to Grant immediately, expecting to see him calm and standing beside the holographic display. He was still beside it, but his shoulders were tense and he gripped the edge of the console, bent in a posture of worry.

  THREE

  “This tanker isn’t equipped for battle,” Grant said. “An oversight, perhaps, but one we’ll have to live with. What are our options?”

  The crew began announcing damage reports.

  “No,” Xadrian roared.

  “We’re being attacked? You know why this is happening?” Holly asked Xadrian.

  “Not really, no,” Xadrian said quickly.

  “I think the old boy is lying,” Shiro said.

  She didn’t have time to get to the bottom of why Xadrian seemed to have an inkling of what was going on. He knew. That much she could tell. “Odeon, do you have your earpiece? Shiro?” Holly asked. “We need a way out of this.”

  “I have mine in, yes.”

  “As do I, Ms. Drake,” Shiro said.

  “Good.” Holly tapped her ear. “Darius, you there?”

  “Drake, what is it?” Darius asked in her ear. She relaxed slightly.

  “We’re on the tanker, but it’s suddenly come under attack. I need to ask Trip to change her course.

  “Uh oh,” Darius said.

  “Is she online?”

  “Trip? Let me check.” Darius was silent for a moment. “Yeah, she’s switching on.”

  “Holly Drake, what’s happening?” Trip’s calm voice was suddenly the best sound Holly had heard in a long time.

  “The tanker is under attack.”

  “That’s not great.”

  “It’s terrible.” Holly took a breath, feeling the flashbacks begin. “Can you put your next client on hold? I’ll pay you more than whatever they’re paying you. This attack doesn’t look good. The tanker isn’t built for warfare.”

  The crew reported more damaged to Grant, who ordered the crew to take evasive action, using various thrust maneuvers.

  “Mr. Xadrian Tyanne and myself will be having a discussion later, won’t we, Mr. Tyanne?” Shiro used his lionhead cane to point at Xadrian.

  Xadrian cocked his head to one side and sneered slightly at Shiro. “I’m just waiting to hear the challenge, Shiro. Will there be a duel? With swords? At sunset?”

  “Too easy, chap. I’ll sneak into your bedroom and draw mustaches all over your face.”

  Odeon laughed, and Holly caught herself chuckling as well. Laughter was just what she needed to fend off the flashbacks. Sparks of memory of her zeppelin being overtaken and boarded by space pirates.

  Xadrian frowned and laughed bitterly. “I don’t think they’re going to leave us alone until the ship is too damaged to fly or they have boarded it and taken the hydrantium for themselves.”

  “Who is it?” Holly asked.

  “Who do you think, HD?”

  “The Shadow Coalition?”

  “I’m on my way back, Holly,” Trip said in her ear.

  “Thanks Trip.”

  The damage reports were coming closer together now. They couldn’t feel the damage yet, but soon enough there would be breaches near the bridge. Grant was shouting for hatches to be sealed where damage had occurred.

  Xadrian rose, and hurried to explain. “They won’t destroy the ship entirely. They want the hydrantium. If we can outrun them, we can save it.”

  “This hydrantium is lost, Xadrian,” Holly told him. “There’s no way this is worth any of us dying for.”

  “I agree with you there, Ms. Drake.” Shiro looked around.

  “No,” Xadrian shouted again, stomping his foot. “This is my chance. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this for ages.”

  “You can go down with the ship if you like,” Holly said. “We did our part. No one expected a battle.”

  Holly crossed into the center of the bridge where Grant had begun discussing evacuation plans with his pilot. “Grant, what’s the status?”

  “This ship isn’t built to withstand firepower like this,” he said. “I’m sorry, Drake, but there’s no way to fight these small battle rigs off. The shields are losing power quickly. And no one wants to be on a tanker with that much fuel—even if it is in an unrefined state—as it comes under direct fire.”

  “Trip’s on her way back with the Olavia Apollo. She’s got some aether blasters mounted on her ship and can fire her way into the landing bay. The lot of us can get aboard and get out of here. The idiots can have the tanker.”

  Grant rubbed his chin. “Decent plan, and thank Ixion for Trip. As long as the shields hold long enough. We might need to escape before then.”

  “They won’t destroy the tanker. They want it,” Holly said.

  “Are you sure about that?” Grant gave her a measuring look.

  “I think they want it. I’m not sure, no.” She glanced back at Xadrian, who was pacing and anxiously running his hands through his hair.

  “Trip, you got an ETA?” Holly asked, pressing her finger against her ear and leaning away from Grant.

  “Any second now, Drake. Have them open the bay—I will be deploying some projectiles to get your pursuers to back off.”

  “Iain, Trip will be landing soon. She’ll fire at the ships to get them to back off, so be aware of that.”

  Grant ordered a crew-member to the landing bay. “And get the girl ready to drift on auto while we evacuate. Holly—take the others and get them ready to board the Olavia Apollo. The rest of us will be right behind you.”

  Holly did as he commanded, thinking about the time lost as their ship had moved in the opposite direction of the Olavia Apollo, not that that would have prevented the attack or made it any easier to manage it at this point. They rounded the corner in the corridor and opened the hatch into the landing bay. Iain’s crew member hurried to the landing bay control room and waited for Holly and the others before opening the bay doors.

  “I don’t know about the rest of you, but this little charade is putting me off space travel. I may never enjoy another Zeppelin ride after this,” Shiro said, taking a post at the edge of the thick layers of paneled glass. He balanced his cane in front of him with both hands resting on the top.

  “I’ve never liked it,” Holly muttered.

  “Well, you’re the exception, Ms. Drake, I knew that about you.” He laughed. “I finally understand.”

  “Someday I’ll tell you why,” she said, distracted as the bay
doors opened. Her stomach dropped as the black of space filled the far end of the area. She should have stayed with Grant on the bridge. If she’d been thinking, she would have.

  “I suppose that’s true—we’ve never really known why you hate it so much. Well, at least I haven’t. Something tells me our chap Odeon has always known.”

  “But I haven’t,” Odeon admitted.

  “It’s not a secret, Shiro. I just don’t want to think about it. Ever.”

  “And yet you do, every time you travel in space.”

  “Yes.”

  “Here comes the Olavia Apollo,” Grant’s crewmember said, a note of relief in his voice.

  “And just like that, we are saved,” Shiro said, laughing. “I must say, it was getting rather close there. I was sure the bastard Shadow Coalition were going to turn us into a pile of rubble.”

  “We’re not in the clear yet,” Holly said, as much to distract herself from the rising anxiety in her stomach as anything.

  “Save our celebration for when we’re on the ship and far away from these SC destroyers,” Odeon said.

  “None of you should celebrate, as far as I’m concerned,” Xadrian said. “This mission is a failure.”

  “Can’t blame us, though, can you old boy,” Shiro said. “We tried.”

  They fell silent as the Olavia Apollo was snagged by cables and pulled into the bay, where its landing gear touched down. The bay doors closed and the room was pressurized.

  They made their way to the ship as the gangplank descended.

  Trip met them on the gangplank. “Trouble follows you everywhere, Holly Drake.”

  “Can’t help it. Thanks for coming back, Trip.”

  “While I want to say that it was purely from the goodness of my heart, it was the money, Drake.” They made their way through cruiser to the bridge. “Who can we blame for this turn of events?”