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

by Nicole Grotepas

  “Of course I did, Ms. Drake. Aside from the tranquilizers, a few other choice options. But a gentleman never confesses all his weapons. As far as you know, lass,” he said, winking at her, “I don’t even carry a weapon.”

  The lift doors opened and they exited into a corridor that clearly saw very little foot-traffic.

  “Any reason you picked this floor?”

  “No. The number sounded good and I know it’s near the storage floors. I’m going with my gut on things at the moment.”

  “It is a storage floor, according to the schematics. And the floor just above is partitioned as a refinery,” Darius said over the comm.

  “Well, at least you didn’t pick the housing level.”

  “Sometimes I’m smarter than I look,” Holly returned, double checking the Equalizer as she deliberated about which direction to move through the floor.

  She chose and headed off, expecting Shiro to follow her. Which he did. Smart man.

  The corridor curved around the cylindrical base. Doors and hallways flared off like spokes on a wheel, while the central area of the level was largest. They took turns opening doors that weren’t locked and glancing inside.

  “Is this really wise, Ms. Drake?” Shiro asked after they’d opened their fifth door.

  “No, but we don’t have time for anything else.”

  “Seems erratic and dangerous.”

  “It is. But, well, if they start shooting at us, shoot back.” She backed away from a door that didn’t open and started toward the next.

  “I’ll remind you that I haven’t a gun, lass.”

  “Maybe we need to get you one,” she answered, trying another door. “I’m going to guess that they wouldn’t be behind the locked doors anyway.”

  “Ms. Drake, I’d never use a gun. Too permanent.”

  “Mortally stabbing someone is less permanent?”

  “Hate to cut into the delightful banter, but I just intercepted a communication that could be about our boy,” Darius’s voice informed them.

  “Go ahead.” Holly said, not pausing in her search. She did hope that she’d spot one of Magna’s thugs, and that they’d fire on her, so she had an excuse to fire back. She was sure that they’d either already hurt Odeon or that they would, if they felt it prudent. There would be no remorse over hurting them.

  “Looks like it’s coming from the 50th floor. Check that. So far it’s all we’ve got,” Darius said.

  “You’ve been gone thirty minutes but it feels like it’s been days. I’m putting on the booster rockets, Drake. I can’t stand this waiting.”

  “Are you telling me you were working slow?” A hatchway to a stairwell opened and she raced up the stairs, hearing Shiro behind her.

  “Never. But I can work faster.”

  “I’ve wanted you to work the fastest you can this entire time. If you’re holding back on me, don’t.”

  “Worry not, Holly. I’m here pushing him. I’m scouring each camera feed. Soon we will find Odeon, if he’s here.”

  Holly could feel Odeon. She knew he was somewhere on the base. The last time she recalled this sense of feeling him nearby was when they’d come for the trade that never happened.

  I feel you here, Odeon, she told him, mentally, though knowing he couldn’t hear her. I’m coming for you.

  She pushed down the guilt and self-recrimination for having not saved him sooner, for having failed. That would be dealt with later. For now she was action. Movement. Speed and justice.

  Shiro kept close behind her as they left the stairway. The hatchway closed and they raced over the metal flooring of the refinery.

  “Hold fire in here,” Holly muttered. Shiro didn’t have a gun, but saying it was instinctive. She lowered the barrel of the Equalizer and stalked through the area. The majority of the operation seemed to be handled by AI. When they heard voices, they ducked for cover and waited for the owners of the voices to pass them by, then continued on when the coast was clear again.

  The two of them searched, passing through clouds of steam and past vats of liquid. The smell was horrible. Holly choked back bile and exchanged a look with Shiro. She shook her head.

  “Let’s get off this floor. I doubt he’s here.”

  In the central corridor, they boarded the first lift that arrived.

  “We’re running out of time, Darius and Trip. Any leads?” She took deep breaths, keeping herself calm.

  “Sorry Drake. Not yet. Running out of time? Hope you just mean you’re anxious and not that you know something you’ve not shared with the team.”

  Shiro touched her arm and she looked at him. Maybe he could see the fires boiling over in her eyes. The universe couldn’t keep Odeon from her forever. It couldn’t give him to her and then just take him whenever It wanted. She’d find him or…she didn’t know or what, but it wouldn’t be good.

  “Pick a floor, Shiro. It’s your turn.”

  31

  She hated to admit it, but Holly had believed that the search would go much faster and be much easier.

  Maybe that had been wishful thinking.

  They’d combed five floors of the base. Holly holstered the Equalizer at least ten times as they’d passed groups of workers and security details, attempting to look nonchalant.

  Every time security appeared, Holly balanced on the edge of asking Darius to pull off his distraction.

  Biting her tongue, waiting it out, and smiling sweetly at them worked each time, with only a few occasions of needing to turn sharply and fall into Shiro’s embrace to pretend they were lovers looking for a private hatchway in the bowels of the mining base.

  Under different circumstances, that might have been fun. But her heart felt so cold and bereft over fears of having lost her chance to save Odeon, that even the warmth of Shiro’s hands closing around her waist wasn’t enough to thaw her. It was just a touch. Nothing more. Hardly grazed the surface.

  As they worked through yet another storage floor filled with locked hatches and food supply, Holly’s spirits began to lag.

  “Just intercepted a new message, Drake,” Darius broke through the mental noise of her eroding hope. “Strikes me as being about nothing good.”

  Holly’s heart leapt. This could be it. She paused and leaned against the bulkhead in the corridor, letting out a sigh of relief. “Listening.”

  Shiro paused beside her, his eyebrows furrowing in concern.

  “So the message was, ‘it’s ready, M. Twenty minutes to get off.’”

  “Have you located the source?”

  “Looks like it’s coming from the floor above you.”

  “Heading there now.”

  “Do you know what it means?” Darius asked. There was something in his voice—suspicion like he was aware he’d been left in the dark based on her response to the message.

  “No, I’d guess that it means that we don’t have long. Not sure. But I don’t want to still be on the base twenty-one minutes from now.”

  “Give me something, Drake. M? That’s got to be Magna, right? I need more to go on,” he said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Guys, come in!” Charly’s voice suddenly crackled over the comms. “Can you hear me?”

  Holly ears rang. She hissed and touched one, removing the Equalizer from its holster yet again.

  “Not sure if I’ll be able to hear after that, Charly,” she said. Shiro was doubled over beside her, walking off the startling, painful sound.

  “Sorry, guys. Been trying to reach you for a few minutes. I have some news.”

  “Guess we finally came into range,” Darius said.

  “The soiree is about to begin. Guess who’s here?”

  A tremor shook through Holly’s hopes, threatening to crumble it at those words. The only reason Charly would care to share that with them was because it was someone who could impact what they’d shown up to the mining base for.

  “Magna?” Holly ventured.

  “Close. Aimee Voss.”

  “T
hat’s bold of her, isn’t it? A woman like that showing up to our headquarters to mingle with the elites,” Shiro said. “But then, she’s always been a touch insane.”

  There was a note of admiration in his voice that made Holly study his face to see if it was in his eyes, as well. “Why is she there?” Holly asked, not really expecting an answer.

  “She’s a guest. Of yet another one of our lofty Centau friends.”

  Holly stared, trying to piece things together. “Is she teaming up with someone?”

  “Yes, looks like it. Wild guess—it’s probably this Centau she arrived with.”

  “I need to think about this,” Holly said, “but we’re running out of time to find Odeon. Learn everything you can about the Centau she’s there with, Charly, please.”

  “Of course, of course. No problem. I just wanted you to know that Voss isn’t on the base.”

  “That’s helpful. Unfortunate, as it is. But I hope Magna is. And since it’s not Voss, I think that means she is.”

  “Bad news, crew,” Darius broke in. “This isn’t good. Been poring over security feeds and I found something that looks a lot like a bomb. On a fuel storage deck.”

  Charly cursed. “A bomb? Shit. Be careful, dudes. Don’t make me worry about you. Too late, but… well, come back in one piece. Please. I’m signing off. Just make sure you all come back to me.”

  Holly could barely hear Charly’s goodbye over the pounding of her heart.

  “A bomb. Are you sure?”

  “No. I said it looks a lot like one,” Darius said. “Has a timer. Some wires. The timer is counting down. Nineteen minutes left. So together with that cryptic message I intercepted, seems fair to go with ‘it’s real.’”

  Shiro’s eyes were beginning to reflect panic. “We already knew that we needed to be off the base in twenty minutes.”

  “Or we need to disarm it,” Holly said.

  “Agreed. That would be the imminent task. And yet, our team doesn’t have a specialist in bombs. So maybe getting off the base is our best bet,” Shiro said.

  Holly stopped. Pacing wasn’t enough. She needed to be doing something—heading somewhere, saving them. Saving Odeon.

  “We’re just going to leave a bomb on the mining base and let everyone else fend for themselves?” Holly shot at him. His eyes flinched and she regretted the sharp tone instantly. “Sorry, Shiro. The stress.”

  He nodded. “I’m feeling it as well.” He touched her arm.

  “Darius, tell me where to go,” Holly said. She took a deep breath to clear her mind. “Maybe Odeon is near the bomb.”

  “Could be. Looks like it’s on a storage level.”

  “So the bomb is going to take out some of the floors with storage and aether refineries?” Shiro asked before Holly could answer. “Is it a huge mistake to head toward the bomb and not away from it?”

  “We can make that decision soon,” Trip said, in a calm voice. “For now, the base was designed for just such disasters. Emergency mechanisms will trigger, but you have time, still, my friends.”

  “Listen to Trip, guys.” Darius sounded confident.

  Holly wasn’t so sure, but what choice did she have? No one else would disarm the device. They had to head toward disaster to avert it. And what if Odeon was near it?

  The decision made itself. Her best friend needed her. The ache in her heart for having failed him so many times already compelled her.

  Holly holstered the Equalizer and ran both hands over her face. “Is it big? Can you tell how much damage it’ll do?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know enough about bombs. I’m searching for information.”

  “OK, look. This is getting us nowhere. I need to know where Odeon is. Let’s find him. But, I’m taking a wild guess and predicting that he’s on the floor with the bomb. So, take me there.”

  “Trip? Guide them. The bomb is on level 47. I’m gonna keep trying to place Odeon’s location, and find disarming info on the net.” He let out a hiss. “Got to make this quick. We’re down to sixteen minutes on the timer.”

  Holly grabbed Shiro’s hand, and took off, following Trip’s directions. They raced through corridors, through hatchways, and down stairs according to the pilot’s guidance.

  “Any sign of Magna?” Holly could barely catch her breath.

  They finally arrived at the elevators in the central corridor.

  “Take the comms, Shiro,” Holly said, fumbling with her communicator as she ran. “I’ve got to do something else.”

  He eyed her, but Trip continued to talk, which required answers. Holly pulled another communicator out of her pocket and flicked it on, then flicked off the mic on the crew comms.

  She had to take care of this.

  32

  Shiro’s eyes were on her, but she wasn’t about to explain what was going on, or why she was whispering to herself.

  They were finally on the 47h floor after their carriage had taken a crap-ton of stops to pick up other passengers.

  Shiro continued to field Trip and Darius’s comments and questions while Holly muttered into what Shiro seemed to have grasped was a secondary comm.

  He’d understand soon enough.

  The elevator doors opened and Holly jumped off the carriage and into the corridor, ready to bolt in whatever direction Trip them told to go.

  “Where now, Trip?” Shiro asked.

  The moment he’d finished speaking, a group of Shadow Coalition thugs appeared in the corridor ahead of them, stopping in surprise. Holly recognized some of them as having been with Magna when they’d tried to trade the orrery replica for Odeon.

  “Nevermind,” Shiro said, pulling his sword out of his cane sheath.

  “Time to clean up the trash,” one of the thugs said, drawing a sword.

  Holly bit her lip to hold back her irritation. Something about the smirk and sarcastic comment of the leader of the gang prompted her to realize that she could no longer let her emotions control her. Odeon had been right, that day on the train ride to Rochers Deshiketes when he’d had the courage to tell her that he was worried about her. She hadn’t wanted to admit it, but his insight had been like holding up a mirror. It let her see into her own soul.

  The work to stop the destructive forces in the world, her fears, all the darkness she’d seen, those had been hardening her soul. It was bitterness and exhaustion—the fighting for ground but always losing ground.

  In the eye of the storm within her, she recovered the fragments of Holly Drake that still carried pieces of the woman who’d never been broken by Graf or by the pain of her father’s betrayal. They coalesced back into one form. That form watched from within. It guided her and led her, rightly, into the battle with the fools standing in front of her. What were their values? What guided them?

  It didn’t matter.

  She pulled out the Equalizer.

  The thugs fanned out.

  Shooting to kill needed to be tabled, for now. That was a power she would only unleash when absolutely necessary, despite everything.

  “Took the words right out of my mouth,” Holly said, aiming and pulling the trigger before dodging into a hatchway alcove.

  Shiro jumped into another as the aetheric energy bloomed and sailed down the corridor. It connected with the knees of the front thug—a male Constie—who fell with an ear-piercing screech.

  “Bitch!” The Constie screamed.

  “Knees are my specialty. And I’ll take that as a compliment,” Holly said to Shiro across the corridor.

  “As you should,” Shiro said. “Now take out the other three. We haven’t time for drawn out battles, lass.” His brown eyes lit up as they stared at each other. She recognized something in that look, like he sensed the change in her energy.

  She peeked around the corner in the doorway. One goon grabbed the arm of the one who’d fallen and was pulling him to safety. Holly bit her lip.

  “The corridors circle the base. They’re busy with the one I shot.”

  Shiro glanced down th
e corridor and nodded. “What are you suggesting?”

  “Run the other way.”

  “They’ll chase us.”

  “Only two of them. If it gets bad enough, we stop and fight. But like you said. We don’t have time for a battle. The timer’s still going.”

  “I’ll follow you,” he said, with a nod.

  “No, I’ve got the gun. You lead.”

  “I hate to say it, but that’s fair.”

  “I know.”

  He tipped his bowler and took off at a sprint back the way they’d come, toward the elevators.

  Holly chased after him, hearing the babble of rage and confusion of the SC goons behind her as they put distance between them.

  “Shiro is Trip still giving you directions?” She called as they raced over the metal flooring. Everything was utilitarian on the base, but on the storage levels, it was even more so. An odor of stale air permeated the atmosphere, indicating that the area saw less use than most areas of the base. Holly’s lungs were on fire as they followed the circular design of the corridor.

  “Yes, and Darius says he’s found a schematic on the type of bomb.”

  “Good. How far away are we?”

  Despite racing as fast as they could, she could hear someone breathing fast behind her. But it was too risky to look behind her.

  Shiro suddenly veered off course, heading down a satellite corridor. Holly skidded into a turn just in time, but rammed into the wall, bruising her side.

  “How much farther? Ask her, Shiro,” Holly said.

  “She says she’s gotten us lost,” Shiro said, then let out a noise of frustration.

  Holly cursed.

  “She says she’s sorry—that it’s difficult to tell what’s happening with so many options and different screens, and then we started running and that made it harder for her to tell what’s going on.” Shiro swore. “Well, we didn’t have time for a big battle.”

  “But now we’re lost?”

  Holly turned on the communicator.

  Thank Ixion she had a contingency plan.

  “Trip, or Darius, just tell me where Odeon is. Exact level. Exact sector of the base. I need that. Shiro, just keep leading us away from the people chasing us. Maybe, I don’t know, where’s the bomb? Can we still make it before it goes off?”