The Colossus Collection

by Nicole Grotepas

  “Old habit,” she said, looking away from him.

  “You’re not giving up. Are you?” He put the empty glass on his desk and resumed his position at the window, hooking one of his fingers under a suspender.

  Her hackles were settling down. “No. I’m just frustrated.”

  “Good. Now then, what do you need from me?” He glanced at her, then back out the window. Across the way they could see people moving behind the windows, though what they did was imperceptible. The tower was full of offices.

  “We’re working on a way to get all the children. But when we get them . . . if we get them . . .”

  He held up a finger. “When you get them. I’ve no doubt you will, HD.”

  “Fine. When we get them. I suspect that some of them haven’t got parents. And otherwise, we’ll need a place to hold them, a house, or something to keep them in. Something nice, while we sort out the details. Figure out what moon they live on. If they have living relatives. But I want it to be better than the place we’re taking them from.”

  “And you want me to secure something?”

  She nodded. “With your money. With your clout. If you can. My crew and I, we’re juggling about forty other things. The logistics, ships, orbital patterns. I have no sway in this city. My money would be able to pay for a condo for a month, maybe less. But one condo isn’t enough. I’ll need more than that.”

  He nodded and rubbed his chin, then ran a hand through his hair. “I can take care of that, Drake. You need any other assets? Money? I can give you an advance if you need more.”

  His offer to give her more touched a tender spot beneath the grouchy shield she’d put up. With a sigh she shrugged and ran her hand across her hair, then adjusted her ponytail. She’d been irritated at him, but he was decent. She wasn’t alone at the top. Sure, her crew surrounded her and cared for her. But she was the leader. She was calling the shots, though she tried to keep it as democratic as possible as often as she could. There were times the burden crushed her. Having Dave offer help as an equal or a superior, it hit her for a moment. She inhaled and forced herself to laugh.

  “At the moment, I don’t really know. It’s possible. We’ve got a solution for fueling the ship, which is incredibly costly. But I think we can manage. This issue about where to keep the children as we sort out who they belong to is the one I can’t do without you.”

  He gave her an awkward slug in the arm. “Got it. I’ll get Xadrian on it.”

  “And if you hear anything on the movements of the SC or the Hands or the Heart . . .”

  “Yes?”

  “Let me know. Please. I know this isn’t going to go the way I plan, and they’ll be the reason why.”

  5

  An aether core drive dangled from a hoist above the engine of the SC Olavia Apollo. A Centau mechanic directed the human assistants as they guided the drive down into the exposed innards of the ship.

  Odeon stood beside Holly, his hands gripped loosely around his Ousaba staff as the two of them watched what was happening. Trip oversaw the process. She was definitely a Centau with the controlling tendencies that seemed to run through all Centau. She didn’t trust who she’d charged with taking care of her ship. So she insisted on being present for the work. Centau appreciated order, but didn’t always enforce it with the vigor one might expect from people given to a fondness for structure and organization.

  “Will it be faster once the engine is updated?” Odeon asked.

  “I don’t know. Trip hasn’t told me yet. Maybe it’s a routine thing.” Holly scanned the room. It was a vast hangar on the south end of the Sliver, just outside the City of Jade Spires. Beneath the brilliant lights there seemed to be an entire fleet of mid-size space cruisers being worked on in one form or another. Grunt workers dressed in yellow coveralls rolled ship parts to and fro and handed tools to master mechanics dressed in bright blue coveralls with yellow and orange piping. There were landing pads and strips for ships of the smaller variety like the Olavia Apollo surrounding the central area where the hangar was located. The procedure had been scheduled for a while, which was one of the primary reasons that the crew had attempted to snag the fuel canisters before they’d even secured the big ship. The work on the Olavia Apollo would keep it out of commission for ten more days but the job needed to be done and scheduling everything to work seamlessly meant that the fuel couldn’t hold them back.

  Trip shouted something at the mechanic and Holly snapped her gaze back to the Centau pilot, who wore her goggles up on the front of her head. White stubble covered her light brown skull and her bright eyes flashed as she barked at the mechanic.

  “What’s happening?” Holly asked.

  Odeon craned his neck to see what was going on beneath the ship. “I don’t know. I can’t tell. Watching whatever they’re doing is like trying to decipher Centau calculus. I would not be able to decipher Yasoan calculus either, Holly.”

  She laughed. “That makes two of us.”

  Trip exchanged a few more heated words with the head mechanic, who matched her for volume and vehement gestures, drifting into the Centau language, and then he marched off. Trip shook her head and then approached Holly and Odeon where they watched from the perimeter, near the bay of controls for the hoists and other mechanical devices.

  Holly exchanged a quick look with Odeon. Would Trip yell at them as well?

  “This is infuriating. Trusting them with my life,” Trip said. “What do you need, Holly Drake and Odeon Starlight? It’s a bad time. Their negligence destroyed a core modulator. We were arguing over who would pay to replace it. They should pay for it. Not me.”

  “Hard to argue with that,” Holly said and smiled. “So look, Trip, we thought it was time that you come to the crew HQ. But if you’re busy, we can do it another time.”

  “Ah, so I am going to be allowed to be in on the crew’s darkest secrets? And shown the secret hideout?”

  Holly blushed. “It’s not a hideout. But yes. We feel that you’ve proven yourself worthy of this.”

  “The crew voted, Trip Taurus. It’s a good position to be in. Will you come with or should we do it another time?” Odeon gestured toward the massive doors that lead out to the landing strips. Beyond them there was an exit to the city that existed to support the goings on at the earth-side space port. There was a train station there that would take them back to the City of Jade Spires.

  “There are other things we want to talk to you about, Trip,” Holly said. “Rescheduling the mission is one of them.”

  “Yes, let’s go now. I need to be back in a few hours to make sure they fix the modulator,” Trip said.

  Odeon turned and led the way out. They passed by cruisers larger than Trip’s. The sensation of being under the mammoth ships was sublime. Shadows fell across the small group as they strode across the hangar heading for the giant doors on the side closest to the city. Workers shouted and minicarts sped by carrying pilots. High-pitched clangs rang out across the vast area. Odors of grease and machine lubricants wafted across their path.

  “This place. It has always been so comforting to me,” Trip observed. “But today, frustration consumes me.”

  Odeon glanced to his side at the Centau. “Are you worried they won’t fix the Olavia Apollo?”

  “It is silly of me. But yes. I worry every time they open her up. Today it is worse than normal.”

  Holly took a breath in awe at the giant ship that was being towed into the hangar. It was black and red with a blunt hull and reflective, silvery windows on the front. The carts towing the ship pulled against chains attached to the wheeled platform that held the cruiser.

  “A new model,” Trip said. “I didn’t expect to see one so soon.”

  A minicart pulled up beside them. “Well if it isn’t Trip Taurus, the best pilot in the galaxy. Walking through the hangar like a blasted, goddamn commoner.”

  Trip turned to the driver, a wide smile spreading slowly across her face. “You meant universe.”

  �
��You’re right. I was being too generous. A smaller region is more accurate. I meant 6-moon region. No wait, just Kota.” The driver laughed. A female human, dressed in a master mechanic jumpsuit. She nodded her head at the empty seats on the cart. “Let me give you a lift. Where you guys headed?”

  Trip answered, then introduced Holly and Odeon. “And this is Saanvi Chadda, who I wish was working on the Olavia Apollo. But instead, she is zipping around the hangar wasting her talents on being a shuttle driver.”

  Saanvi laughed. “You were too late to get me, Trip. That beast there,” she glanced at the ship being towed into the hangar. “That’s my appointment for today.”

  “Of course you have been chosen for that job. My core modulator would be intact if Saanvi was working it.”

  “You can’t always have what you want, Trip. Now, get on before I can’t give you the lift I promised.”

  They climbed aboard and Saanvi sped out of the hangar. Holly grabbed the edge of her seat, being tossed backwards slightly, and flexed her stomach against the force of the motion.

  “The train station?” Saanvi shouted.

  “Yes,” Trip answered from her seat beside the mechanic.

  “Sorry I was booked and couldn’t take the Olavia,” Saanvi said. “You know I would have if I’d been free.”

  “I do know that. As long as the issue gets fixed, everything will be fine.”

  “If they don’t fix it, Trip, let me know. I’d be happy to check their work for you when it’s done.”

  Saanvi took them along a designated path that skirted the landing areas. Evening had set in and the lights flickered along the runways where ships launched and around the circular pads where they landed. A breeze kicked against the side of Holly’s face and she leaned against Odeon where they sat behind Trip and Saanvi. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. A hundred yards away a ship was lowering to a landing pad, its thrusters firing in a staccato pattern as it touched down.

  Soon they’d reached the perimeter of the yard and Saanvi pulled the minicart around and stopped parallel to the gates that led out of the moon-side space-dock.

  “There you go,” Saanvi said.

  “Thanks,” Holly said, jumping of the cart, with Odeon and Trip joining her.

  Saanvi and Trip exchanged some banter and then said goodbye. The minicar zoomed away and the three of them left through the small opening in the fence next to the larger gate. They walked the five hundred yards to the train platform and waited, each of them absorbed in their own thoughts. The City of Jade Spires was visible as just a cluster of spire tops on the distant horizon. Ixion glowed down at them, bathing everything in an orange-yellow hue. Surrounding the train platform were other shops and four-story housing units meant to support the personnel that ran the hangar operations.

  A train ride later and they switched to the Spireway, riding into the central area of the city. Soon they were pushing through the front doors of the Surge Club.

  “I thought we were going to the headquarters?” Trip asked.

  “This is the headquarters, Trip,” Odeon answered, holding the door until she’d entered, and then letting it go. “Follow Holly.”

  Holly glanced over her shoulder. She hadn’t brought someone else to the Bird’s Nest since the first time she’d rounded up her crew. She wasn’t sure what to expect with Trip—plus, well, Trip was a Centau. Was she going to really disrupt the dynamic the team had? Trip was already friends with Darius. She’d worked with Shiro and Charly both. Basically the only one Trip didn’t know was Torden, who wasn’t officially part of the crew. But he did enough for them, they might as well begin to call him a crew member.

  “Torden, this is the infamous pilot, Trip Taurus,” Holly said, walking up to the bar and slapping it in front of the Druiviin bartender.

  Torden straightened from bending over and fiddling with something beneath the bar. He held a light blue cloth in his hands, which he ran across the bar. His bright eyes searched the Centau’s face, and then he smiled hesitantly. “Welcome, Trip. Normally drinks aren’t on the house, but today is a special occasion. What can I get for you?”

  Trip approached the bar slowly, holding herself tall. She studied Torden and then, after a pause, gave him a slow grin. “Thank you, Torden. Just a three-fluted glass of Centau wine, if you have one.”

  “Of course. Don’t let the others give you any shit. Even though Charly owns the place, I call the shots.”

  “What the hell?” Charly said from the stairway leading up to the Bird’s Nest. “I leave you for five minutes, Tord, and you start spreading lies.”

  Torden glanced over at her, and laughed. “You know it’s true, Charly.”

  “Get upstairs, guys. We have a meeting to get through before the nightly guests start tramping in and I have to come out to babysit them because that’s what you have to do with guests that get plastered,” Charly said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder.

  “Such a terrible job, Charly. You have my sympathy, dear friend.” Holly clapped Charly on the shoulder. She hesitated at the stairwell to the Bird’s Nest and looked back at Charly. “Shiro and Darius here already?”

  “They’ve been upstairs for a while. Last I noticed they were trying to outsmart each other in a game of dice. As though it requires intellect.”

  “That sounds like Darius. Not Shiro much. Get your drink and then come on up, Trip.” Holly hurried up the stairs with Odeon right behind her.

  When she entered the Bird’s Nest, Darius and Shiro had their heads close together over the coffee table, which they’d pulled close to the armchairs. There was a pile of novas on the table. Darius was in the process of rolling when Holly walked in.

  “Hey!” Holly said, startling Darius, and he dropped the dice and cussed.

  Odeon chuckled quietly and went to sit down in his usual spot. He gently placed his Ousaba club on the rug at the base of the couch and tucked it under the piece of furniture a bit to get it out of the way. Then he reclined and watched the dice fall.

  Both Darius and Shiro seemed to hold their breath as the dice settled. When they stopped, Shiro let out a loud laugh. Darius sat back and turned to glare at Holly.

  Shiro finished laughing, whistled, and then began gathering up the pile of novas. “Well played, well played, Darius.”

  “That was Drake’s fault.”

  “Why would it matter? It’s a game of chance. Unless . . . Oh, Darius, are you cheating?” Holly sat on the long sofa opposite from where the two gamblers sat.

  “He was, Ms. Drake. But as you can see, it didn’t work out for him.”

  “Because Drake interrupted.” Darius stood up and took off his blazer. He moved to his desk and put it over the back of the chair, then returned to his spot on the couch.

  “I feel so bad. Interrupting a cheater.” Holly leaned back. “You guys remember that Trip is coming by today?”

  “I did remember that, Ms. Drake. When shall we expect her?” Shiro smoothed the nova notes into a stack.

  “She’s here now. Still downstairs. Torden is making her a drink.”

  “A drink would be perfect. Is Torden taking orders?” Shiro asked.

  “He may be.”

  Shiro finished smoothing out the notes, folded them over, and placed the stack in his blazer pocket. He rose and grabbed his lion head cane off the table and headed downstairs.

  “Hey, Shiro, snag me a cocktail while you’re at it? You owe me,” Darius said.

  “Will do, chap,” Shiro called from the stairwell.

  “Drake, I’ve been thinking,” Darius said, leaning back and crossing his legs. “Shiro got caught because he tried to trick the guards. Maybe we just need to have him deliver a shot with a sleeping draught or the like? Shiro distracts them, the guard turns away, Shiro jabs them in the neck with a tranquilizer. Then he loops the security footage. And the others steal the fuel canisters.”

  “That could work,” Holly agreed, biting her lip. She’d been thinking of how to do the mission agai
n if they went the same route. The problem was, security at that space-depot would be expecting them, or at least, know of them. How likely would it be for the crew to hop over to the same one and pull off the same trick? “We need to go to a different depot.”

  “Guaranteed we’d need to,” Darius said.

  Trip appeared at the entrance to the room, carrying a glass of wine. She paused and waited for Darius to notice her. He leaned forward and turned to see who Holly was looking at in the doorway. “Old friend,” he said, a grin stretching across his face. He rose and went to the Centau pilot and gave her a warm embrace and four besos.

  “Darius,” Trip said, holding her wine glass away so that Darius didn’t bump it. “I’m finally worthy to come to the secret lair.”

  Darius laughed. Holly shook her head and laughed softly. It was good to see a sense of humor in a Centau, even if it she didn’t make Holly laugh.

  “Yeah, because you’ve saved our asses so many times now,” Darius said and gestured at the room. “This is it. Nothing special, but home for the team. The Bird’s Nest.”

  “It’s very nest-like,” Trip said, nodding. Darius led her to the sofa and she sat down. He pushed the coffee table back to its normal spot in the center of the seating configuration and Trip put her glass down upon it. “Is this alright?”

  “That’s what it’s for,” Darius said.

  Shiro and Charly both appeared in the doorway. They laughed and conspired as they entered the room and sat down next to each other on the long couch. Shiro handed off a cocktail to Darius as he passed by. Holly exchanged a look with Odeon, and he grinned and nodded, while also flashing a quick look at Trip. He liked that they’d invited the Centau to the Nest.

  Soon the team had hammered out more details about the potential next attempt to steal aether for powering the ship that they would use to rescue the children.

  “The Olavia Apollo should be ready to fly again in a few days. If the shoddy mechanic I got stuck with doesn’t screw everything up,” Trip said. “My first choice, Saanvi, was booked with some new cruiser.”