“You wouldn’t.”
“You’re the one that came up with the name,” he accused. “I’m just using it as nature intended.”
“I bet that’s what you say every time.”
“Every time what?” he asked, feigning ignorance.
She rolled her eyes. “So, what, they’re here to get us?”
“Looks that way. But we’ll see as soon as we’re going again.”
15
Darius was forced to open up the Mirage earlier than he’d wanted to. Holly put on her seatbelt as he skidded around a corner and began heading east.
“South, south, we need to go south,” she urged.
“I know! But that was before we had The Cocks on our tails.”
“That sounds like something you’ve probably said a lot.” Holly grabbed for the door handle to keep herself from tumbling into Darius.
“Hate to say it, but that’s probably true for you too, Drake.”
“Why would you hate to say it?”
“I guess that depends on what you like,” he admitted, spinning the wheel as they rounded another corner, now heading south like they wanted to.
The Cocks were in standard aether automobiles, able to more smoothly weave between traffic, while the only benefit the Mirage possessed was being big and fast. The size meant that other autos moved out if its way as they saw it bearing down on them, but the standard city vehicles were more maneuverable, able to squeeze between other autos. And they did, bypassing traffic that Darius had managed to put between them and The Cocks.
“Try not to hit anyone! And not that it’s any concern of yours, by the way, but the word tail when applied to a female can mean more than just the ass.”
“Can it? I guess that’s what being into men keeps me naive about that whole female business down there.” He took his hand off the steering wheel to gesture at her legs vaguely.
She slapped his hand. “Hands on the wheel.”
“Why are they after us, Drake? What did you do to piss them off?”
“Well, a few things, actually. Remember? I insulted their attire, their name, escaped from them with the storage device for Dave, and they seem to think I have a map that will lead them to my father.” She looked behind them using her side mirror. “They’re gaining on us.”
Darius didn’t say anything for a minute. He slowed suddenly, and without warning, turned down a narrow alley running between two massive Ice Jade spires. The entrance was still shrouded in the faint shadows of dawn.
A figure materialized from those shadows. Darius slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting the pedestrian crossing in front of them. The male Yasoan froze in his tracks, and stared through the windshield at them. There was terror in his light-colored eyes.
“Sorry,” Darius yelled, rolling down his window a few inches. He rolled it back up as the Yasoan ran out of their path. “Shit. Here they come.” He slammed on the pedal, and the auto jerked forward. The force pressed Holly into her seat. “And do you?” Darius asked.
“Do I what?” Her thoughts had drained like water through a sieve when they’d almost hit the Yasoan.
“Do you have a map to your father?”
“You’d know if I did,” she snapped. “But no, I do not.”
“Just a question, Drake, no need to bite my head off.”
“It’s a bit tense here, Darius. I think biting your head off might be best for now.”
“Should I give you the wheel?”
“I’d say yes, but then I’d be the one taking the blame when we hit a pedestrian. Just don’t hit a pedestrian!”
He maneuvered them through the alley, dodging the Mirage around stacks of crates and large storage barrels. Soon they emerged out the other end of the alley, and Darius spun the wheel as they careened over a curb. They leaned into the turn, and he straightened the Mirage out of its fishtail.
When they were finally positioned straight on the road, Darius cried out, “Hold onto your tits!” and they roared up the street.
Again, Holly was thrown against her seat, but she managed to flash Darius a glare.
“What?” he asked with a smile, keeping his eyes on the road. They wove around the autos, while others parted to allow them through.
“ ‘Hold onto your tits’?”
“That’s how I talk,” Darius said. “What? Did it offend you?”
“No, but I guess that’s how we’re going to talk now. Dicks, cocks, tits. You name it.”
“I will name them. And remember, you named The Cocks. And as is the case, they are there. For the taking. Hard to avoid.”
“Just do me a favor and don’t talk like that around Shiro and Odeon if I’m there? This is Darius and Holly talk.”
“Good with me. You’ve always wanted a man in your life who didn’t want to rip his clothes off for you. And your clothes off for you. Which would also be for him. I mean, it’s debatable who really benefits in that scenario.”
He took the Mirage around another corner, and sped down the straightaway, heading in the wrong direction once more. Holly resigned herself to the fact that they would be taking a circuitous route to the Southern Grey.
She cocked her head. “You say that, but is it really true?”
“Oh yeah. Yeah it is. Men always benefit, even when it looks like women are benefitting at first glance. Always works in their favor, somehow.”
“I’m not taking that bait. No, I mean that you’re not interested even remotely in women.”
“Are you interested in women?”
“Not like that.”
“Same for me. Believe me. Not even remotely interested. Wish I was. But no. Your wiles are lost on me, Drake.”
“Kind of a relief, actually.”
“I bet it is.”
“Takes a lot of pressure off.”
“For real. Damn,” Darius said suddenly. He jerked the wheel, and they careened around another corner.
“Taking us west?”
“Had to do it.” He jerked his chin toward her window.
She turned and saw an auto full of The Cocks. “Shit.”
They motioned for her to roll her window down.
“What do they want?” Darius asked, keeping his eye on their path.
“Looks like they want us to roll the window down.”
“Oh, hell no.”
“Why not?”
“So they can shoot us?”
“Wouldn’t they just shoot regardless of the window being up or down?”
He was silent for a minute. “I’m trying to lose them, you know? But yeah, OK, yeah. Roll the window down. See what they want.”
Holly bit her lip and rolled the window down. When she leaned her head out the opening, cold air blasted her face. She squinted. “What? Stop following us, you asses! Hey, guess what? We renamed your group for you. We’re calling you The Cocks now. Like it?”
Darius scoffed behind her. “Drake, don’t—”
A passenger in the backseat of The Cocks’ vehicle threw something at Holly.
Darius cussed again and pulled away from them. As he did, Holly heard The Cocks laughing. Whatever they’d thrown into the Mirage began to smoke.
“Roll up the window, roll up the window!” Darius shouted.
“It’s smoking!”
“Throw it out the window, then roll up the window!”
Holly reached for the object, but it rolled under the seat. “Damn.”
“Shit, Drake! Get that thing out of here!”
“I’m trying! In the meantime, roll all the windows down! The smoking thing went under the seat!”
Darius pounded on the control panel of his door. The windows began to go down, and the smoke responded by whipping around the interior of the Mirage like it was caught in a vortex.
Holly undid her seatbelt and slipped down onto the floor so she could reach under the seat. Her fingers searched blindly for the smoke bomb until at last, she found it.
She returned to her seat, slamming her back, then her
knees, on the dashboard as Darius turned another corner. She tossed the smoke grenade out of the Mirage, aiming for The Cocks’ auto.
“Roll ‘em up!” she told Darius.
She heard wild shrieking noises coming from The Cocks’ vehicle.
“What? That can’t have—Wow, I’m a better shot than I thought!” She laughed, not intending it to sound as maniacal as it did.
“Is it out?”
“Yes.”
Darius pounded the aether pedal hard, and the Mirage carried them away from The Cocks.
16
“Saanvi called it the spaceport annex.” Darius parked the Mirage along a sidewalk that butted up against a fence that enclosed a property of large, squat buildings that looked like an area meant for industrial storage. They got out and slammed the doors shut.
“A hangar. Our very own hangar?”
Holly began envisioning all the things they could do with a massive hangar. Maybe store a ship bigger than Trip’s Olavia Apollo. Probably two ships like that. She could almost get a fleet. A fleet might be just what they needed to overtake The Cocks and Voss’s Shadow Coalition remainders.
At the very fringe of her mind was the possibility that George was out there somewhere, bringing in bigger guns—his own fleet of strange aliens that could destroy the 6 Moons.
He wouldn’t do that. Would he?
“I don’t know if it’s strictly ours, but I’m sure we can use whatever it is she wants to show us.”
Darius walked onto the property, leading Holly through a gap in the fence. He followed some guideposts that took them to a shuttle. A human bundled up in winter clothes leaned against a covered podium, studying a v-screen. When he looked up and saw his visitors, he put the v-screen away.
“Where you headed?” he asked.
Darius gave him the directions from Saanvi.
“Hop in.” The human stepped away from the covered area and got into an open-air cart. Holly climbed into the rear passenger seat. Darius sat next to her.
“Hang onto your hats,” the driver said.
“That was the expression you were looking for earlier,” Holly told Darius as the cart took off at a pace that surprised her.
“Oh, I know,” he said, grabbing hold of his driver cap and pressing it down onto his skull. “I adapted it to fit my needs.” He wore a puffy parka with a faux-fur-lined hood, but the hood fell as soon as the cart moved.
Holly shook her head and snuggled deeper into her own thick coat.
The property featured large warehouses interspersed with vast landing pads. Wide aisles separated the warehouses. Massive doors that split in the middle reached from ground to rooftop. Vehicles moved along designated paths, while some of the more utilitarian kind pushed snow into towering mountains stationed in out-of-the-way spots.
Just like the hangar and port where Saanvi normally worked, the location hummed with activity. Workers in yellow coveralls rolled along in carts, tugging trailers laden with ship parts and storage containers. She saw a few cruiser-class ships being worked on in the distance as they sped past an aisle between a row of warehouse hangars.
They trundled along, soaking up the sights of industry. Ahead of them, a small tractor appeared in an aisle they were approaching. Then another. And another. Taut tow ropes were stretched behind them, straining against the weight of something Holly couldn’t see. The driver stopped their cart to wait.
Holly gasped when the nose of a giant ship appeared behind the tow-vehicles. It was so large that its presence on the moon seemed out of place, like a primitive sea creature on land—it didn’t belong there. The body was smooth and impressive, covered in shiny, metallic panels. Windows for crew and passengers dotted it in rows.
She had only ever seen ships that large in space. But big things fit in space.
“That’s a beast,” Darius said.
“We should get one that big.”
“I somehow don’t think our tiny incomes can afford it,” he pointed out.
“Really? What do you think one like that costs?”
“I’m guessing a number unlike anything we can even imagine.”
The driver cleared his throat and leaned back. “Ship like that will run you the yearly gross income of the economy of a small moon like Paradise.”
Holly and Darius exchanged a look. “So a number of novas that’s outside the average person’s income.”
“Something astronomical like that.”
Still, Holly thought there might be a way. “What about a used version? An old model?”
The driver laughed. “Still pricey. And you’d have to find a seller. Good luck with that.”
The tail end of the enormous ship finally passed them, and the driver took off again.
Holly frowned. Challenge accepted. It didn’t matter what the driver said anyway—what she needed to do was coelesce her outline of a plan.
“Here you go. Warehouse 23A.”
She’d gotten lost in thought, hardly noticing that they’d arrived at the hangar doors of—she turned and sighed—possibly the smallest warehouse they’d seen so far. “That’s it?”
“If the coordinates you gave me are right, then yes.”
“It’s tiny.”
The driver shrugged and waited for them to get off the cart. “Yeah, some of them are. But you know, size doesn’t matter.”
“Yeah, it does. Size almost always matters,” she retorted. She amended her estimate of how many ships she could fit in there. Maybe just one.
“Cool it, Drake. Saanvi will have an explanation.”
As if on cue, the hangar doors began to open. Holly and Darius got off the cart, and the driver sped away as Saanvi appeared in the crack forming between the doors.
She wore the bright blue coveralls with yellow and orange piping that denoted her as master mechanic. She rubbed her arms as though they were cold, and gestured for Holly and Darius to hurry and follow her inside.
Holly jogged to reach the mechanic. Saanvi led them inside the warehouse and into a booth to the right of the door, where an aether heater hummed, filling the space with warmth.
“It’s a bit small,” Holly said immediately. Then she remembered her manners. She smiled and gave Saanvi a quick beso on the cheek. “Saanvi, so good to see you.”
“Yes, Holly, it’s been a while, hasn’t it!”
“Thanks for meeting us here,” Darius said. “OK, Drake, I’m going to say it’s fine. The size is fine. Unless you know what you want to store in it? But if you don’t know, we shouldn’t get a bigger one just because you like big things.” He gave her a look, and Holly grinned, refusing to take his bait.
“I’m just thinking about what I can’t fit in here,” she said, looking out the windows at the cavernous space.
Metal, arching ribs gave the warehouse its shape. Lights hanging from rafters shone down on the concrete floors, illuminating the area, which was actually quite a bit bigger, now that she was inside.
“Try thinking about what you can fit in here.” Darius leaned against a table and undid his parka.
“Two cruiser-class ships and a lot of other stuff,” Saanvi said helpfully. “I’m not sure what you were looking to store, but when I talked to Darius, I remembered this spot. A client of mine uses the warehouse two down from yours. Sometimes I work on their ship at this annex, even though it’s a bit out of the way from the main spaceport.”
“Two?” Holly repeated, turning to look at Saanvi. She’d gotten caught up in her imagination.
Saanvi came to stand beside her. “Yes. Stored side by side with their noses angled this way.” She demonstrated what she meant. “It’s a tighter squeeze than the bigger hangars, but this one would still fit two. And then, along this edge, you can fit a lot of storage, and same with this edge,” Saanvi pantomimed the space she meant.
“Looks good to me,” Darius said. “If you decide you need more space, we can get it. For now, rent on this one for a year is within our price range.”
“What a
re you doing with it, Holly?” Saanvi asked. “I know better than to ask, but, well, I’m curious.”
“I want to make my own fleet,” she answered.
It was a gamble, but she’d already trusted Saanvi with other information, so not disclosing it would only make the information seem more tantalizing—possibly something that could be used against her. Besides, had she decided to be secretive or open? She still didn’t know. If she was secretive, that meant every time she told someone to keep their eye open for people to help her, she needed to also mention that they keep it on the downlow. Which meant that the information looked like something that could be bartered, which would mean that undesirables would potentially spread it more.
So being secretive about it was a problem. For now, she opted to just tell those who asked.
“A fleet, huh?” Saanvi rocked back on her heels, her face brightening in excitement.
“Yes, want to help?” Holly exchanged a glance with Darius. He nodded in agreement.
“Darius already mentioned something similar, and of course I know people. What do you need exactly?”
“That depends. What do you have?”
“Oh, I could get almost anything you might need.”
“What if we need expensive ships?” Holly raised an eyebrow and bit her lip.
“What’s the goal of these ships or theoretical fleet?”
“Still not sure. I just want to be ready if the Shadow Coalition has one. And another faction that’s shown up. They’re calling themselves the Shadow’s Shadow.”
“The Shadow’s Shadow?” Saanvi repeated, pressing her fingers together and touching her lips. “Funny name.”
“It’s terrible. We’ve got a new nickname for them. Something shorter. Easier to say, and more fitting,” Holly said.
“Shorter is the truth,” Darius said.
“What’s the nickname?”
“The Cocks.”
Saanvi chuckled. “Not The Asses?”
“Not for me, no, but you can call them that if you want.”
“I like either,” Darius said.
Holly shot him a look.
The Colossus Collection : A Space Opera Adventure (Books 1-7 + Bonus Material) Page 112
