by A A Warren
“Listen you floating heap of scrap,” Talon growled. “Call me property again, and I swear, I’ll—”
Salena rested her hand on Talon’s shoulder. She pulled him back, and stepped up to the sphere.
“My apologies,” she said, her voice taking on the haughty tone of a nobleman woman. “There’s a been some kind of mistake. I purchased this slave several weeks ago. The transfer of ownership must be held up at central processing. Here, look at my records.”
Her wrist unit projected a series of letters and numbers in the air. The red beams scanned the new information.
The security mech was silent for a moment, then the voice squawked back to life. “TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP ACKNOWLEDGED. TRAVEL AUTHORIZED.”
The mech drifted away. The crowd around them murmured a collective sigh of relieve, as they resumed their frantic pushing and shoving.
Talon glared down Salena. “How did you get ownership records with my name on them?”
She flashed him a smile, and her eyes sparkled. “Forgery, of course. Much easier than erasing your blood scan data. You’ll still need the prince’s help to do that.”
Avra stared at the mech as it disappeared into sky. “Won’t that thing log Talon’s travel? Alert Sartarus to our presence here?”
Zobo growled. “By the time the report makes its way through Bakala’s network, we’ll be long gone. This may be a Dominion colony, but the crime syndicates control everything here. The last thing they want is a Dominion lord poking his nose into their business.”
Salena reached up and grabbed the hood of Talon’s cloak, adjusting it to hide his face. “That being said,” she murmured, “there’s no point in attracting unnecessary attention. We must keep a low profile. Try to keep your face hidden.”
There was a loud hum as the lifter fields kicked in, and the platform rose up towards the station.
Chapter Twelve
Salena purchased them transport passes, they shoved their way on to the waiting train. Within minutes, she and Talon were seated in the last narrow car of the serpentine hover train.
The car was nearly full, so Avra and Zobo moved forward to the next one. A warbling siren announced their departure. The train slid above the guide rail and pulled out of the station. Soon, they were racing through the eternal night of Bakala’s shielded skies.
Lights and buildings rushed by outside, a blur of color and motion. Glow tubes ran along the ceiling of the train car, bathing the crowd of passengers in a sickly green light. Peering through the grimy windows, Talon could still make out the cloud of rocks and wreckage, drifting in the dark void above the colony.
“What caused all this debris?” he asked. “Was a great battle fought here?”
Salena shook her head. “Not exactly. In the days of the Star Cross Throne, Bakala was a planet. There was a mining colony there, digging up cryocite crystals for weapons. Dozens of pleasure stations like this one orbited the colony, to keep the miners happy.”
“I’ve seen weapon-smiths work with raw cryocite,” Talon said, eying one of the floating hulks in the distance. It was just a tiny black spec, but he knew in reality the wreckage would be enormous. “The crystals are unstable until they’ve been processed.”
She gave him a sad smile. “They certainly are. After the throne fell, the galaxy descended into war. Weapon production increased, people got careless. There was an accident, deep within the mine… an explosion. It set off a chain reaction that destroyed the planet’s core. The remains of Bakala formed the asteroid belt you see now. All the other stations were destroyed. Only this one survived, and it took on the name of the old planet.”
Her shimmering blue eyes looked up, watching the debris drifting above them. “Millions of lives, snuffed out in an instant. No battle. No glory. But casualties of war, nonetheless.”
Talon looked down at her. “You speak as if you were there. But the throne fell ages ago, long before the rise of the Dominion. There have been many wars since then.”
She ignored his words, and continued staring out the window in silence.
The view outside changed. Crumbling, older structure replaced the neon signs and shimmering tower. Row after row of pre-fabricated dwellings stacked upon each other, forming a sloping canyon of shops, businesses, and homes. The buildings were constructed from cheap artificial concrete. Their pitted, crumbling walls showed obvious signs of age and decay.
“We’re leaving District A,” Salena whispered, as she glanced at the hovels outside the window. “Aroyas is staying in District G, on the other side of the colony.”
“Good,” Talon replied, glancing towards the back of the train. “I’ve been thinking. If Aroyas knows the history of these symbols, perhaps he can tell me who put this mark on my skin. Or the crystal in my eye. Maybe he knows who wiped my memory as well. I swear, if I find—”
He paused, squinting at some men moving up from the rear of the car towards them. He couldn't see them clearly through the crowd, but their movements seemed familiar somehow. They slid through the other passengers like predatory reptiles stalking through clumps of reeds.
Talon had survived countless battles and blood matches in arenas across the galaxy. He had been trained to read the movements of his enemies, to anticipate their attacks. Seeing the way these men moved now, he was certain of one thing…
They were prepared for violence.
Talon rose to his feet, and pretended to stretch. He grabbed Salena’s arm, and yanked her up off her seat. “Move to the next car, quickly,” he whispered.
“What? What are you—”
Before she could finish her sentence, her eyes squeezed shut, and her face contorted in pain. She screamed and clutched her temples. The crowed murmured and shot them nervous glances as they shifted out of the way. Talon dragged her limp body towards the front of the train.
“Salena, what is it?”
The glow in her eye blinked and fluttered. She gasped for breath. Circling her arm around his broad shoulders, she pulled herself back to her feet. They limped towards the front of the car.
“Dark energy… I sense large amounts of it nearby. Here, on the train!”
Talon shot one more glance towards the rear of the train car. One of the men removed his hood, revealing pale skin and short, cropped hair… One of the men he had seen at the food stall, back in the streets. They had been followed.
Talon muttered a silent curse, furious at himself for failing to notice them sooner.
The man slid a blade from under his cloak. Talon narrowed his eyes… He spotted a thin line of cryocite crystal along the edge, glittering in the train car’s green light.
The crowd screamed. They began pushing and shoving past Talon and the men, moving to the exit at the front of the car. Those who could not escape huddled along the sides, taking cover between the seats.
Shoving Salena behind him, Talon whirled around to face his enemies. He tore his cloak from his body. Clutching the loose fabric in his fist, he used his free hand to draw his axe from his harness. With a click of a button, the plasma blade flamed to life, its angry hum echoing in the narrow confines of the car.
The lead man raised his sword. “In Daizon’s name!” he bellowed. As he lunged forward, Talon spotted one of the man’s comrades from the corner of his eye. He raised the barrel of a heavy pulse pistol from under his poncho.
Moving without thought, Talon dipped low and tossed his cloak into the air. The sudden motion threw off the man’s aim. He fired, but the bolt of energy flew wide, piercing the fluttering cloak, and shattering the window on Talon’s left side.
Without stopping, Talon threw up his axe, blocking the leader’s sword strike. The razor-sharp cryocite in the blade could cut through almost anything. But the magnetic containment field of the plasma axe repelled the metal blade behind the deadly crystal. The attacker was thrown off balance, as Talon shunted his blow aside.
Talon grasped the hilt of the axe with both hands, and swung it down. His opponent rolled backward
s, just as the fiery blade tore into the floor of the car. Sparks and molten metal sprayed from the gash in the deck plates of the speeding train.
As he wrenched the weapon from the tangle of metal and wires, Talon glanced at the other attacker. He was aiming his pistol for a second shot. Talon raised the axe, trying to guard his head with the glowing energy blade.
Too slow, Talon thought. He’s got me in his sights!
The man fired… Talon heard the whine of the energy bolt slicing through the air. But instead of piecing his skull, it deflected off a glowing barrier. It ricocheted and sparked against the metal walls of the train car… A shimmering blue shield hovered in the air, just in front of Talon's face.
Salena stood behind him, her eyes blazing in the dim train car. Crackling blue symbols, glowing forms of pure energy, circled around her hands. She stabbed with her fists, and screamed words in a language Talon had never heard. The energy field rushed forward, striking the gunman in the face. As the man stumbled back, the glowing blue light wrapped around his head, smothering him in an unbreakable grip. He dropped the gun, and clawed at the energy field that engulfed his face.
Salena threw her arms to the side. The crackling blue energy dragged the man through the air. He crashed into the side of the car with a dull thud. Then he slumped to the ground, and ceased his struggling.
Bolts of energy crackled around Salena's hands and eyes. As the glow faded, she staggered backwards. She grabbed a railing on the side of the car, weakened from her attack.
Talon yanked his eyes back to the leader. His lips curled into a grim smile. He spun the axe from side to side, whirling the blade until it became an orange blur. With a fierce war cry, he charged forward, swinging the weapon in a series of powerful strikes.
The leader blocked each attack with his sword, but Talon’s strength was too much for him. Each blow sent him staggering backwards. The axe’s energy field hummed and whined as it sparked against the crystal of the leader’s sword.
Finally, the man recovered, and pressed his attack. He deflected one of Talon’s mighty blows, then swung his sword in a wide arc before him. Moving with the instincts born from uncountable victories in the arena, Talon dropped to his knees. The blade whistled above him, missing his head by millimeters. It sliced through a metal pole in the center of the car, sending a shower of sparks into the air.
The momentum of the attack drove the crystal-edged blade into the wall of the train car. More sparks erupted as the sword gouged into a flickering vid screen. The man’s eyes opened wide with fear… He yanked at the blade, but he couldn’t dislodge it from the crumpled metal and tangled wires.
Talon leapt back to his feet, and swung his axe overhead. His opponent screamed as the fiery blade sliced through his limb, severing his arm clean off. A brief jet of crimson sprayed across the metal floor. A split second later, the sizzle of burning flesh filled the air of the train car. The intense heat of the plasma blade had cauterized the wound.
The man stumbled back, cradling his severed arm. Smoke and steam rose from the charred flesh of the stump. He fell to the ground next to the third attacker, the man who had remained in the rear.
Talon stepped forward. He watched as the final attacker knelt on the floor, pulling a metal object from his backpack. It was a thick, circular disk, about the size of a dinner plate. He slammed it onto the floor, and a ring of red lights glowed life around the object’s perimeter.
“Talon, get back!” Salena shouted.
Talon raised his axe. “If you’re so eager for death, face it like a man,” he growled. “Take up your friend’s blade, and meet me in combat.”
The man looked up at Talon and smiled. His eyes were wide and manic… they held the twitching glint of madness, but no sign of fear.
“Death is an illusion,” he shouted, his voice quavering with excitement. “In Daizon, we are eternal.”
Before Talon could even move, a slim, curved dagger appeared in the man’s hand. The smile never left his lips, as he dragged the blade across his neck.
The disk hummed louder, as his blood showered the metal surface. The attacker gasped a final death rattle, and slumped to the floor. A small dome on the surface of the disk slid open, revealing a spinning eye of red light.
Talon turned to the few passengers left huddling in the train car. “Move, you fools! There’s a bomb on the train!”
With a chorus of screams and shouts, the survivors shoved their way through the door at the front of the train.
Salena grabbed his arm. “Talon, wait,” she hissed. “Its not a bomb! It’s—”
Before she could finish her sentence, a deafening whine screamed from the disk. A spider web of cracks rippled through the windows in the car. Then they exploded, showering them both in fragments of glass. Talon winced in pain, but he raised his axe and stood his ground. Salena covered her ears, and fell to her knees as the wind whipped through her long blue hair.
A cone of blood-red light burst from the disk, striking the roof of the train car.
“Orion’s blazing bow!” Talon gasped.
As Salena pulled him towards the door at the front of the car, an explosion of flesh oozed from the crimson light. In the blinking glow tubes of the train, Talon saw a quivering blob, covered in moist scales and tufts of mangy fur. It seemed to pour out from the red light, filling the narrow confines of the train car. It crushed the bodies of their attackers under its heaving bulk. Several passengers screamed as they were engulfed by the hideous blob. The metal walls of the car bulged and groaned, as they struggled to contain the creature’s mass.
The door behind Talon hissed open. He turned and saw Zobo and Avra charge into the car.
Zobo held his pulse pistol at the ready. His furry snout curled up above a toothy snarl.
“What the hell is going on here?” he growled. “There's a mob—"
The sight of the hellish creature stopped the pair in their tracks.
“Oh,” Zobo said, raising his pistol. “Never mind.”
He pulled the trigger and fired.
A barrage of energy bolts leapt from the barrel of the gun. The shots struck the quivering blob dead center. Glowing burn marks sizzled on the creature’s flesh.
In response, nine thick tentacles exploded from the undulating beast. They snaked through the air, whipping towards Talon and the others. A wet, pink crack appeared in the rotund flesh of the creature. The gash split apart, and blinked. A massive, bloodshot eye peered out at them from within the slimy flesh. Then the eye itself split open, revealing a gaping maw filled with dripping, needle-like fangs.
A shriek emitted from the horrific creature’s mouth. The ear-piercing wail grew louder, and louder still, drowning out the rushing wind around them.
Chapter Thirteen
Zobo ducked beneath one of the tentacles as it whipped through the air above him. He fired again, but the searing energy bolts only seemed to enrage the beast further. It roared again, then sprouted more tentacles and sent them hurtling forward.
A slime-covered eyeball, about the size of a man’s fist, tipped each appendage. As they flew closer, the quivering orbs parted like mouths. Barbed stingers, glistening with thick coats of venom, emerged from the new orifices.
Talon sidestepped one of the deadly appendages as it snaked past him. He swung his axe, severing the tentacle in a single blow. The lump of flesh slapped against the floor of the train, writhing in a pool of its own black blood.
Avra herded the few remaining passengers out the door behind them. Then she turned, and drew a pair of curved blades from her belt. With a flick of her wrists, the weapons unfolded into double-bladed knives, a foot long on either side. She spun her arms through the air, severing one of the tentacles as it curled around them. Before she could strike again, a third tentacle streaked towards her. Its venomous stinger aimed right between her eyes.
With an angry roar, Zobo leapt in front of her. He took aim and fired. His gun spat bright bolts of energy towards the rushing trail of
flesh. The tentacle tried to dart backwards, but it was too late… It erupted in an explosion of blood and slime. The black goo spattered the walls, and struck Zobo in the face. He growled as it dripped from his ears and clung to his fur.
"Well that smells lovely," he muttered.
With a sudden metallic shriek, the train shifted violently on the guide rail. Avra and Zobo tumbled to the left side of the tilting car. Salena cried out, as she lost her grip of the pole she was using to steady herself.
Talon grabbed her with his free arm as she tumbled past him. A pair of tentacles streaked towards them as she caught her footing. Whirling his plasma axe with one hand, he lopped them off in mid air.
A loud clanking rose up from the guide rail beneath the train. Avra stumbled to the front of the car and braced herself in the doorway.
“Whatever the hell this thing is, its weight is throwing the train off of balance!" she shouted over the noise. "The inertia guides can’t compensate!”
Zobo fired again. His pistol bolts had little affect on the main body of the creature as it lurched towards them. The beast’s strange mouth gaped open again. Another ear-splitting wail echoed through the swaying car.
Talon stepped back, dragging Salena with him. “Everybody, into the next car,” he shouted.
Zobo adjusted his aim, blasting another tentacle out of the air. “Go, I’ll cover you!”
Talon turned and leapt across the gap between the hurtling cars. The crowd of passengers had fled farther down the train, and the next car was empty. Lights flickered on and off as they raced through the darkness outside. Talon gently deposited Salena into a chair. “Are you alright?” he asked.
She nodded. “Affecting the physical world drains much of my energy… I need a few minutes to rest.”
Talon placed a hand on her shoulder and turned to the rear of the train. Avra and Zobo leapt over the gap after them. Zobo fired a blast through the doorway, covering their escape. Then the red-haired woman slammed her fist down on the control panel. The thin metal door slid shut.
