No Shelter Among the Stars

Chapter 15 - The Dark Colossus

Sander crouched in a long maintenance hallway that ran beneath the major communications arrays. When the ship had still been a Syndicate vessel, this hallway would have been used for maintaining most of the ship's major functions, including the core and the BRAIN itself. The extensive, hack and slash, modifications they had used to steal the ship now made reaching the core and the connections beneath the BRAIN impossible.

Captain Ixion was adjusting a backdoor intercom system and vidscreen projector to give himself access to the data streams once they entered a hyperspace lane. He wore an old grease-stained uniform Ilias had found somewhere. Sander watched him, his pistol out and pointed at the floor. Noises were coming from the makeshift sound system, but they sounded like little more than random static.

The Captain slowly stopped working and cocked his head, listening.

On edge, Sander backed up slightly and lifted his weapon.

The Captain turned to look at him, a cruel light flickering in his dark eyes.

Alarms began sounding across the ship. Warnings blared across the main intercom. Sander looked at his Captain for a moment, as though accusing him of setting off the external alarms somehow.

"Spiro," he called, still staring at the Captain.

"Sander," came the response from above, cutting through the alarms.

"Tell Tasla to get into the main maintenance hall and watch the Captain," said Sander. Then, holstering his weapon, he stepped outside the door and hit a palm against the side, locking it. Taking a deep breath, he sprinted across the ship and up a short ladder to the cockpit.

He stepped inside the control bay to find that Ilias was already there, staring up at the alarms. Vid screens and monitors blasted the code for an incoming hail.

Ilias looked at Sander. "Well now, what ship in this sector could possibly be hailing us, do you think?" he asked with pointed sarcasm.

Sander forced his face into a small, crooked smile. "Be optimistic, my friend. We don't know that it's the Dark Colossus looking for our new pilot, until we know, right?"

"We need to hand her over, right now," said Ilias.

Sander said nothing and flipped a nearby switch, opening a communication link. A transmission pounded into the control bay.

"Crew of the ship, Harlequin, this is the Dark Colossus," rasped a voice. "You are harboring a woman named Gypsy, you are to turn her over to us immediately."

Ilias looked at Sander, folding his arms.

"There is also a member of your crew who murdered several of our people..."

Sander's eyes widened.

" We want them. Him and the girl, we want them both. Turn them over now and the rest of you get to live."

"Tasla, you dumb feka," muttered Ilias, closing his eyes.

"It's a bluff," said Sander. "They can't come after us while we are sitting in Black Mary's dockyard."

"I am not bluffing," said the voice, as though responding. "Hand over the fugitives. We have no problem slagging a docked ship."

Sander pressed the responder icon on one of the screens. "Save your threats, the Lieutenant Marshal restricts attacks on docked vessels," he said. "If you want to negotiate, we can do so in person. The Harlequin will front the cost for mediation by Lieutenant Marshal Zero."

"His rules are the only reason we are giving you this generous opportunity," rasped the voice. "Four men, four of my men, are dead. This is not a negotiation, hand over the fugitives and you will avoid further punishment and walk away with your miserable lives. We both know it's better than you deserve."

Both Sander and Ilias were quiet, staring at the intercom.

"You have thirty seconds to state your compliance and receive instruction," said the voice.

Sander looked at Ilias. "Get her," he said.

Ilias ran down the hallway, down to Spiro's lair. Old symbols and elaborate geometric patterns flew by him on the walls, floor, and ceiling. Noises like rhythmic hammers beating iron sounded faintly and then erupted in volume when he hit the panel and the door slid open. Spiro and Gypsy both looked up at him. Gypsy was on the floor, clutching her arms. Little spots of blood covered her fingertips. Ilias looked down at her.

"Did it take?" he asked.

Spiro was staring at the data sliding down one of his monitors. "Well, I'm running a thorough diagnostic scan..." he began.

"That alarm was the Dark Colossus, wasn't it?" interrupted Gypsy, glistening, uncried tears in her eyes. She struggled to her feet.

Ilias nodded.

"What are you going to do with me?" she asked, wiping her eyes and leaving a thin blood streak across her the side of her face.

"Can you fly?" asked Ilias.

"Yes," said Gypsy.

Spiro nodded, still staring at the monitor. 

"Let's go then," said Ilias. Waving for her to follow, he ran back out. She staggered behind him, nearly tripping into the cockpit. Sander was waiting. He looked over Ilias's shoulder at her.

"You have a few more seconds before they fire," he said.

Gypsy straightened and slid around the two men, staring up at the screens above the control panel. Lifting her hand, she made a complicated gesture and a pairing icon lit up across all six screens. She winced as flickers of a mild electric charge slid down the the tattoos on her arms.

As she moved her fingers, the view on the screens in front of her changed. One showed the area just outside the port where the Dark Colossus waited, blotting out the stars.

"I hope you're good at this," murmured Ilias

"We just need to get into a hyperspace lane," said Sander, stepping out into the hallway.

"Time's up, Harlequin," crackled the voice of the Dark Colossus.

Gypsy rolled her hands and fingers in one smooth motion and the engines came alive. Then they burned hot. The air hummed, vibrating and prickling the skin like an insectoid swarm.