by A A Warren
“You are not alone, Talon.” He heard the echoing whisper of her voice inside his head, as if she were part of a dream. “I am here, but the distance between us is vast. Soon, our bond will be severed. You can no longer see me, but we can share one last vision.”
“Where am I?” he shouted.
“This is your past, Talon. Fragments of your lost memories. You shared them with me before, when we first met.”
“Enough of this sorcery! You heard Ikari… I am not the one you seek! Release me from this delusion!”
“I am not the one who has brought us here. I shared the pain of my memories with you… now you are doing the same for me.”
“Salena, I swear I—” Before he could finish his words, a woman came into view, leaning over the window of the tube. She was dressed in a white robe and silver armor, and her green eyes were damp with tears. Her fingers touched the glass, as another wave of vibrations shook the chamber. Her lips formed frantic words, but Talon could not make them out through the thick glass.
“I did not see this before,” Salena said. “Your mind locked this memory away, like a puzzle box.”
“I do not know… I don’t remember…”
“You must remember, Talon, otherwise, I could not be here now. She is calling to you. What is she saying?”
The woman looked up. She yanked her hand away, as a larger chunk of rock crashed against the viewing panel of the life pod.
“Mother,” Talon whispered. And in that instant, a flood of memories rushed though his mind, drowning his rage and anger. The years of training, the endless preparation. Destiny's heavy burden, weighing down upon his young soul.
The woman turned back, and once again pressed her splayed fingers against the clear panel. Talon reached up, and touched the panel as well, matching the position of her fingers.
“She is my mother,” he said, his voice a hoarse whisper. “She and my father trained me, prepared me. I, and others like me. We were sealed in life pods, protected from the final battle. Hidden away, so we could rise again should Daizon ever return.”
The woman kept speaking, her mouth forming silent words as the cavern shook and rattled behind her.
“She’s calling to you, Talon. What is she saying?”
Suddenly, a tremendous fragment of rock slammed into the life pod, smashing the woman to the ground. Talon's fists battered the panel, but there was nothing he could do. It refused to break, no matter how hard he pounded against it. The woman’s hand reached up, and smeared a trail of blood across the window. Then her pale fingers fell out of view, as an avalanche of rocks fell down from above.
The pod was buried beneath the falling debris. The light outside slowly faded from the window, replaced with the crushing black depths of darkness.
“What is she saying Talon? Just listen…”
He heard her voice, calling out to him from behind the curtain of shadows.
He heard, and understood.
“My name,” he said. He grit his teeth, and closed his eyes. “My mother is calling my name.”
What is your name? Can you hear me, Talon? Listen to her. What is your name? Just listen…
He opened his eyes.
“Ikari!” he shouted. “Do you hear me, Guardian? Do you know my thoughts? I see my past now. Look into my mind’s eye, and you will know my name. And know this as well… I am the last Claw of R’Kur!”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Talon stood engulfed in white light. The darkness, the feeling of helpless rage, was but a lingering memory, like a dream half-remembered upon awakening. A woman moved towards him, slowly emerging from the wall of light. Her image grew clearer, until she stood before him, solid flesh and blood.
Ikari…
She stopped a few inches away from him. “You have returned. The woman, Salena… she has awoken your mind. Who is she to you?”
“She is a friend,” Talon said. “And she needs my help.”
“And you accept your destiny?”
“I have a past. And I have a purpose. I will do what I must.”
The woman stared at him for a moment, then nodded. “Very well. You are the Claw of R’Kur. The power is yours do with as you see fit.”
“What power?” he asked. “What are you hiding here?”
Ikari stepped back. A podium of pure white light rose up between them, emerging from the formless void of energy. Hovering above the platform, a jagged crystal shard hung suspended in the air. It glinted brighter than a star, reflecting the white light around them in its sparkling facets, and pulsing with cobalt fire within.
“What has been hidden is now revealed,” Ikari said. “The shard of R’Kur… all that remains of the great one.”
Talon eyed the glowing, jagged shard. “Is this a weapon? What do I do with it?
"You must bring it to the Crimson Maw… Only there can you seal the breach.”
“Stop speaking in riddles! Without Salena, how will I power the portal drive? What good is this shiny trinket if I don’t know how—”
“Take it!” Ikari ordered, her voice crackling like thunder. “If you are who you say, R’Kur will guide you. The shard will give you all the power you need.”
“Iberon’s harem,” Talon muttered to himself as he stepped forward. Ikari tilted her head and narrowed her eyes, but said nothing. Talon took a deep breath. He reached out with both hands, and grasped the crystal firmly in his fingers. He pulled it from the air, and held it before him. Its brilliant glow grew stronger, more intense. He had to squint just to look at it.
He felt currents of heat running through his arms and legs. His heart beat faster, and his chest filled with the sensation of liquid fire.
It burned…
He tried to let go, but his fingertips had sunk into the crystal, as if it were melting in his hands. The crystal was dissolving into his flesh. Gritting his teeth, he bellowed a roar of pain as the white-hot light in his hands filled his vision.
Talon’s eyes snapped open.
Ikari was nowhere to be seen. There was no white light, no shard of R’Kur.
There was only darkness and pain.
He coughed, and heard a tiny trickle of rocks and pebbles shifting around him. He remembered where he was… the hidden chamber, the falling rocks.
Sartarus…
He felt pressure on his chest and legs… He was half buried under a pile of rubble. Gritting his teeth, he flexed the muscles in his arms, driving his clenched fingers up through the rocks and dust. With an angry cry, he punched through the rocks, freeing his right arm. Using the freed limb, he cleared away the rest of the debris.
He coughed and gasped for breath as he sat up and examined his surroundings. It was dim in the pit, but stray beams of light pierced through the cracks in the stone that sealed the chamber. He heard more rocks, shifting and moving across the chamber. Staggering to his feet, he hurried towards the sound.
“Avra, is that you?” He spotted a pile of shifting debris. He knelt on the ground, and shoved aside the mound of rocks.
The red-haired woman’s face came into view, covered in dust and soot. She spit out a mouthful of dirt, and grabbed Talon’s hand. He pulled her to her feet.
“Talon, thank the gods you made it,” she gasped. “I could hear you, even through the rocks. You were screaming, shouting something. It sounded like a name, or—”
“Never mind that,” Talon said, glancing around the darkened pit. “We have to get out of here. Salena spoke to me, in a vision. We have little time before Sartarus unleashes this weapon of his. Where’s Zobo?”
A look of concern clouded Avra’s features. Her eyes darted around the dust-filled chamber. “I don’t know, I lost track in the fall, I—”
A weak cough sputtered from under a pile of rocks in the center of the pit. They both fell to their knees and dug through the rubble. Within a few minutes, their digging exposed a furry, blood-stained paw.
“Zobo!” Avra cried. She wrapped the paw in her fingers, as Talon heaved l
arger chunks of rock over his shoulder.
“Hang in there, old man. We almost have you—”
The words caught in his throat, as more rocks shifted. The falling debris exposed the trapped alien’s head and torso to the dim light. A dagger-like shard of rock pierced Zobo’s chest. Blood pooled around the wound, and his breath was a jagged, rattling wheeze.
The wolfish alien winced in pain, as he struggled to sit up. “About bloody time,” he snarled. “And watch it with the ‘old man’, Fledge!” A fit of coughing exploded from his lungs.
Avra laid her hand on his chest. “Take is easy, Zobo. You’re hurt.”
“Hurt? What do you mean, I feel—” He coughed again, and a fine mist of blood sprayed onto his fur. He glanced down at his own heaving chest. His eyes opened wide as he spotted the fragment of rock, jutting from the crimson gash in his flesh.
“Oh… I see what you mean.”
He slumped back to the ground.
Talon finished clearing away the rocks from Zobo’s body. He leaned over and examined the wound. “I’ve seen wounds like this in the arena,” he muttered.
“Can you treat it?” Avra asked.
Talon shook his head. “I don’t know. Zobo, is your heart in the same place as a human’s?”
Zobo chuckled. The laughter became a hiss of pain. “I'm not sure, human. Is your heart about where that blasted rock is?”
Talon nodded. “It is.”
Zobo sighed. “Well that’s… not great.” He turned his head, and focused his yellow stare on Avra. “Avra, child… You two have to go. You don’t have time to fuss over me.”
The woman shook her head. Talon saw tears welling in the corner of her eyes. He looked away.
“What are you talking about?” she muttered, brushing dust off Zobo’s torn, bloodied sleeve. “We’re not leaving you.”
“Avra, if Sartarus unleashes this… thing, millions could die.”
“Zobo, we’re mercenaries, not crusaders. I don’t care—”
Zobo reached up and grabbed her arm. “No, Avra. You’re better than that. Better than me, better than the Sorari sisterhood. You have to be. Raising you was the best thing… the only thing… I ever did that meant anything. And if all those people die, because of me? Don’t force me to take that to the grave, child.”
The alien turned his snout to Talon. He lifted his other hand. Talon clenched his paw in both fists. "What was that toast we made? Victory or death?”
“I thought you said your people don’t make toasts?”
Zobo’s chest heaved with another fit of coughing. “We d-don’t,” he finally sputtered. “Why waste time talking when there’s food and drink on the table? Still, it was good fighting with you, Fledge.”
Talon forced himself to smile. “You keep forgetting, old man. I’m not a fledge anymore.”
Zobo’s pained chuckle echoed through the pit. “Oh? One battle and you think you’re a veteran, eh? Tell you what…” His eyes darted to Avra, then back to Talon. “You get her out of here, then you won’t be a fledge anymore.”
“And what will you call me then?” Talon asked.
Zobo grinned. “Fledge, first class.” He lay back down. His chest heaved faster.
Avra made no effort to hide her tears. They flowed down her cheeks as she cradled his head in her arms. “Zobo, I never… I never got the chance to thank you for—”
The alien smiled. “Don’t worry, child. You did. You did thank me. Every day, you made my stars… just a little brighter. Wish… Wish I could show you more.”
His eyes closed. His breathing slowed. Then stopped. He went limp in her arms.
Talon rested a hand on the alien’s chest. “May the Golden Stars receive you.”
Avra choked back a sob, and looked up at Talon. “Salena told me you don't pray to the gods?”
Talon stood up. “I don’t. It’s something my battle trainer used to say. He believed when we die, we travel to another place… a paradise. A galaxy of Golden Stars, each surrounded by planets filled with crystal streams, emerald fields and mist-covered hills.”
She nodded. “It sounds beautiful. Is that what you believe?”
Talon said nothing. He held out his hand. Avra took it, and he pulled her up. He stared into her eyes.
“I believe we have a score to settle,” he said.
“Sartarus,” she whispered.
He nodded. “But first we have to find a way out of this pit.”
They split up, and checked the walls, searching for cracks or concealed exits. Anything that might help them escape. As Talon made his way around the edge of the circular chamber, a dim glow caught his eye.
“Avra, do you see that? The light, coming from the wall.”
She turned and shook her head. “No, what are you talking about?”
He touched the wall, and the light glowed brighter. A symbol glowed in the metal walls, pulsing with crimson light. An electricity field crackled through the air, growing stronger as he stepped towards it.
The symbol was the Eye of R’Kur.
“It’s there, right in front of me! Ikari told me R’Kur would show me the way… ”
Avra stood next to him, and grabbed his arm. “Talon, I swear there's nothing there."
He reached out, and touched the luminous symbol. The entire metal wall began to pulse and glow. Beyond the barrier, a vortex of light swirled around the eye, forming a tunnel that led through the walls of the temple. Outside, they could see the dense green jungle. Bright sunlight gleamed off the statues in the clearing around the ziggurat.
Avra took a step back. “Okay, yeah, I see that. What in blazes is going on?”
Talon pushed his arm forward… his fingers sank into the energy barrier, sending ripples across the surface. His eyes opened wide in surprise. “A portal! The shard... it’s inside me somehow, I can feel it. It opened a star-path through the wall!”
“So you can open star-paths now?" Avra asked, eying the glowing wall of energy. "Does that mean you can power the ship’s portal drive?”
“There’s only one way to find out.” Talon grabbed her hand. She looked up into his eyes, and bit her lip. Then she nodded.
They stepped forward, and passed through the glowing barrier.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
PLANET VENDARU
Frontier Space
A few days later…
High General Kyr marched across the command deck of the DNS Vanquisher. Outside the ship's windows, a battle raged above the glowing green planet of Vendaru. Bursts of light flared in the black void… starships, exploding into clouds of burning plasma. Energy bolts flashed across the Vanquisher's bow. The Dominion fleet pummeled Prince Lucian’s Coalition with every iota of firepower it possessed.
Kyr rested his thick, pudgy fingers on the railing as he peered out over the lower deck. He glanced at a glowing display to his right.
“Tactical report,” he bellowed. ‘Why is this taking so long?”
The Tactical Officer leapt from his console and stood at attention, looking up at Kyr as he delivered his report.
“Sir, we outnumber the Coalition forces, but reinforcements keep jumping into the system. Our own losses are minimal. Given time we—”
“Time? I don’t want to give them time!” The general pounded his fist on the railing. “If that precocious brat’s technicians repair the launch tube, the prince will fly away with his tail between his legs, just like he did at Hadros. All of this will have been for nothing!”
The officer blinked. “Sir,” he said, a nervous quaver in his voice. “We were ordered to hold this system until the weapon could be deployed.”
Kyr gripped the railing tighter. “I’m aware of my orders, lieutenant. What of it?”
“We’ve exceeded our operational mandate, sir. We’ve already held the Coalition forces in check far longer than we did at Hadros. With all due respect… if you’re going to use the weapon, now is the time.”
The short, stocky general glared down at
the officer from above. His angry glare broke into a smile. “An excellent point, lieutenant. I’ll take it under advisement.”
Kyr’s hand dropped to the pistol at his belt. He drew and fired in a single, brutally fast motion. The glowing pulse bolt struck the officer in the chest. The man gasped and stumbled backwards, crashing into the tactical console. His eyes glazed over, as his smoking corpse rolled to the ground.
Kyr holstered his weapon and snorted.
“Guards, get this filth off my bridge. Ensign Rabbanal?”
A slim, younger man stood up from another console and saluted. His face was pale, and beads of sweat dripped down his forehead. “Sir!”
“I'm promoting you to Tactical Officer. Any questions?”
The ensign glanced at the smoking body of his superior while a pair of guards dragged the sprawled corpse away. “No sir!”
“Then get to it.” Kyr’s head snapped to another bank of consoles on the opposite side of the bridge. “Communications, send a hyper transmission to the Paladin. Tell Sartarus if he doesn’t rejoin the fleet before—”
“Sir!” Tactical Officer Rabbanal shouted from his new seat. “We have new incoming. Star-path opening on rear starboard side. Sending IDENT code…”
There was a pause as the ensign’s fingers tapped across his glowing controls. He looked up over his shoulder. “It’s Sartarus, sir. The DNS Paladin just entered Vendaru space.”
Kyr clenched his right hand into a fist and glanced at his holo display. “About bloody time. Communications, open a channel to the Paladin. Patch me directly to Sartarus.”
“Yes sir!”
Orange fire blazed through the bridge’s windows, lighting Kyr’s face. He glanced up, and his lips curled in a smile as a Coalition cruiser disintegrated under a barrage of canon-fire.
“Tactical,” he snarled. “Deploy stage one of the weapon. This farce ends now.”
