Tales of Talon Box Set

by A A Warren

  Up ahead, a group of Dominion battleships and Coalition cruisers drifted in space. They were trapped, caught in the event horizon of the swirling crimson vortex. No canon-fire flew between them, making the blackness surrounding them seem even darker.

  The Star Claw’s hull groaned and rattled as they sped towards the floating hulks.

  “Those ships…” Talon peered out the cockpit window. “Why aren’t they attacking each other?”

  “They can’t,” Avra shouted back. “They’re using all their power to keep from getting sucked into that thing. Which is exactly what will happen to us if we get any closer. You sure you want to do this?”

  He glanced over at her. “I have to. And I can’t do it without you.”

  Avra bit her lip for a moment, then sighed. “If we do this, there’s a price, gladiator.”

  “Name it.”

  She flashed him a smile. “When this is over, you tell me your real name… the one you told the guardian, in the temple.”

  He grinned back. “Agreed.”

  Avra grit her teeth, and focused her emerald stare out the forward windows. Twisting the controls, she threw the ship into a tight spiral, narrowly missing a damaged cruiser that spun across their flight path.

  The swirling crimson vortex filled their vision. The scale of the thing was immense. Its eerie blood-red glow blotted out all other light.

  A narrow, wavy line blinked on her display. She adjusted the ship’s heading, following the erratic, serpentine course. “There’s only one path that will take us through the gravitational distortion intact,” she shouted, struggling to be heard over the roar of the ship, and the thunder of its engines. “If I divert too far off this line, the forces inside will tear us apart.”

  “Victory, or death,” Talon muttered.

  “Took the words right out of my mouth,” she replied.

  The ship lurched violently to the right. Avra’s head snapped back, as an ominous series of creaks echoed through the hull.

  “Were we hit?” Talon shouted.

  She shook her head. “No. We’re crossing the event horizon. The gravity of this thing is leaching off our speed, slowing us down. If we lose any more velocity, it will pull us off our flight path.”

  “Stay on course!” Talon shouted as he leapt out of his seat. He took a few steps towards Zobo’s command chair, swaying and stumbling across the deck as another shockwave rattled the hull.

  The ship listed to the right. He fell to the floor with a thud, and slid backward a few inches.

  “Talon,” Avra called back to him. “I need more power or we’re not going to make it!”

  Crawling forward across the deck, he pulled himself inch by inch to the command chair. Grabbing the arm of the chair, he lifted himself off the floor. His fingers darted across the controls. “Diverting power to the main engines. Everything but the shields and life-support.”

  Avra glanced at a small meter that flashed on her display. It showed the engines power supply hitting maximum levels.

  “Alright, here we go… find something to grab, and hold on tight!”

  Talon threw himself into the command chair, and pulled the harness down over his shoulders.

  The roar of the engines grew louder, escalating to a high-pitched wail. The other ships outside the windows were reduced to bright blurs of light, as the Star Claw hit its maximum sub-light speed.

  Streaking through the raging battle, the Star Claw dove into the abyss of the crimson maw.

  The view outside the windows of the Vanquisher yawned at a sickening angle, as the ship tilted through space. Alarm klaxons blared, and orange emergency lights lit the bridge with a strobing glow. The gigantic tentacles drifted around the listing ship, blotting out the light from the stars as they devoured the planet below.

  In the distance, another battleship, the DNS Bastion, buckled. The terrifying gravitational forces of the vortex spun it like a child’s toy, snapping it in two. A shockwave of energy exploded from the crippled ship, as its fusion reactors went critical.

  General Kyr gripped the railing of the command deck as the ship lurched beneath his feet. “Tactical Officer, divert power from the port shields to the Starboard—”

  A rumbling crash drowned out his order as the shockwave struck the Vanquisher. Kyr glanced down at the lower deck, and saw officers’ bodies tossed through the air like rag dolls. Sparks flew from the control consoles, and the lights flickered and dimmed.

  “Helm, what the devil is the matter with you?” Kyr bellowed, picking himself up off the floor. “I ordered you to stay out of range of the weapon’s event horizon.”

  The Helm Officer picked himself up from the shadows of the lower deck, and raced to his seat. His console blinked and flickered, as the mighty ship’s power regulators struggled to compensate for the damaged systems. “We’re trying sir, but the event horizon keeps expanding. That thing out there… it’s getting bigger!”

  Kyr’s brow furrowed. “This didn’t happen at Hadros. Communications, get me Sartarus, now!”

  The Communications Officer leaned over her console, and shook her head. “Hailing the Paladin, but there’s no response, sir!”

  Kyr clenched his jaw, and thought for a moment. The klaxons continued to wail, as various parts of the ship lost structural integrity.

  “Helm, lower the shields. Divert all power to the thrusters. Get us out of here, now!” Kyr backed away from the railing, disappearing into the shadows of the command deck.

  The Helmsman clutched his console as the ship bucked and shook again. He glanced at a series of readings blinking on the holo screen. “Impossible, sir,” he called back. “The gravitational field is too strong… we don’t have enough power reserves to break its grip. That thing is warping space-time in the entire sector. Sir, if this thing keeps growing at this rate, it’s going to fill the entire system in a matter of weeks. And after that…”

  The officer looked up at the bridge. His eyes opened wide with surprise.

  Kyr was gone… the Command Bridge was empty.

  “Shields at ten percent and falling,” the Tactical officer cried out.

  The Helmsman glanced at the other men and women on the bridge. Kyr had abandoned them. And after all the chaos, he had no idea who the ranking officer was. He didn't know who was in charge.

  He opened his mouth, but before he could call out his orders, his console exploded, throwing him back across the deck.

  The Vanquisher groaned as it spun onto its side. Outside, the blazing red glow of the vortex filled the windows as the dying ship tumbled closer and closer to oblivion.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Salena screamed. She was frozen in place, trapped by the crimson energy crackling around her. The bolts lashed at her skin, her eyes, her mouth. Her long cobalt hair danced through the air like serpents, as the residual static electricity lifted it behind her.

  She could feel the red-hot caress of his lightning inside her skull. It pierced her mind, coiling around her memories like fiery serpents… It was as if Sartarus himself clenched her soul in his cold, withered fingers. Memories flashed before her eyes, dragged from the dark recesses of her mind by the adorning tendrils of energy… their marriage on her home world, the powder-soft skin of their first born, Alaine. The soul-crushing grief, the weight of her despair, bearing her down to the darkest depths of self loathing.

  The frigid touch of Daizon… the horrid realization of what she had nearly done.

  One by one, the shattered fragments of her past tumbled before her eyes, until finally, his probing tendrils found and extracted the information he was looking for…

  New markings appeared on the rings, burning themselves into the spinning metal. As the glowing figures filled the gaps in the ancient writing, the rings spun even faster.

  The symbols! Salena thought. The same as the ones on the tablets, revealed by the dark energy in Talon’s eye.

  Talon… The dark energy bond… I still feel it, even now!

  She h
ad heard the gladiator’s voice calling to her, sharing her pain. Sartarus was so engrossed in his ritual, he did not sense their linked thoughts, did not feel the faint spark leaping between them across the vast, dark void. Even the restraints at her wrists could not suppress that bit of energy Talon had given to her.

  Above them, the crimson vortex outside had grown larger, and filled the curved windows of the domed sanctum. It bathed everything in a hellish, blood-red light. Hovering beneath the massive swirling cloud, Sartarus hung suspended in the beam of energy. He threw back his head and laughed.

  “I… I see them! I see our children…” His words were a pained gasp. His chest heaved, and he struggled to speak as the limitless power coursed through his body. “All our loved ones, Salena… they are waiting for us within the light of Daizon!”

  Salena ignored his ranting. Instead, she focused on the tiny spark of energy Talon had given her. She nurtured it, used every scrap of power she could wield to shelter it from the probing tendrils of agony. The energy grew within her. Its comforting warmth flowed through her nerves, and danced across her skin. She lifted her head… her strength was returning. She felt her muscles tighten, her fingers flex. The glow in her eyes flared brighter. The blood-red light burned away, replaced by a starburst of blue.

  Her lips curled into a smile… she could fight back at the power that held her aloft.

  Her fingers made a twirling motion… a shimmering beam of blue energy leapt from her hands, and latched on to one of the crackling red bolts that curled around her. She grit her teeth as she concentrated on the faint, slim blue thread. She contracted the energy, pulling her restrained arms up. Beads of sweat dripped down her forehead. Moving her limbs even an inch was a titanic effort. But move they did…

  She tugged at the beam, lifting her arms higher and higher. The metal restraints moved closer and closer to the red lightning cast by Sartarus.

  As they crossed the path of the crimson energy, the controls of the energy restraints sparked and blinked. A burning smell filled the air, and smoke rose from the bulky cuffs. With a loud crack, the circuits inside the energy dampener overloaded, and the restraints popped open.

  Salena cried out, as she felt a rush of energy return to her body.

  Sartarus snapped his head toward her. His mouth twisted into an angry snarl. “No! That’s impossible!”

  Salena threw up her arms and crossed them over her chest. A wall of blue energy flowed up from the floor, cutting her off from the red lightning. The bolts reflected into the beam, striking Sartarus and pinning his arms to his sides.

  Salena fell to the ground, landing in a low crouch, like a jungle cat.

  “You underestimated me, Lyko,” she hissed. “And you underestimated Talon as well.”

  Talon…

  She glanced up at the unholy vortex glowing in space above the ship. The Crimson Maw… She could feel him out there, sensed him plunging into that infinite void.

  You will see me again…

  Beneath the glowing cloud, Sartarus thrashed and struggled within the beam of energy.

  “Salena, we can get them back… our children! They can live again!”

  Her features softened. She stood up, and took a step towards him. He looked down at her, his manic eyes flooded with pain and longing.

  “I’m sorry, Lyko,” she said. “But our children already live. In here.” She touched her chest, placing her hand over her heart. “They will always be with me. And someday, when these painful memories fade… so will you.”

  She took a deep breath, and ran forward.

  “Salena!” Freeing himself from the bands of energy, Sartarus threw out his arms. More lightning shot from his fingers. The bolts struck the floor, scorching the deck plates beneath her feet.

  Dodging the blasts of energy, Salena leapt over the edge of the pool and dove into the crimson beam. Instead of rising like Sartarus, she plunged down. Her body disappeared into the dark, roiling depths of the water below.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  The acrid smell of smoke and ozone flooded Talon’s nostrils. His eyes shot open… he was slumped in Zobo’s command chair, leaning forward at a steep angle. Red light flooded through the windows, casting dark shadows across the other walls of the bridge. An ominous, echoing cry filled the air… It reminded him of recorded whale songs, from the aquatic arenas of Lemuras. The eerie sounds reverberated through his innards, rattling his bones and shaking his soul to the core.

  He looked up, and glanced at the pilot’s chair, but it was cloaked in crimson shadows.

  “Avra?” His voice was a hoarse rasp, and his throat felt raw, and dry as bone. He swallowed and called out again, louder this time. “Avra, are you alright?”

  “Oh, my head!” He heard the shifting in her chair, saw movement in the shadows of the cockpit. She sat up, and her face settled into a beam of light from outside. “Not one of my better landings.”

  “We’re alive, at least.” Talon unbuckled the harness and stood up, balancing on the steep slope of the deck. He moved toward her with slow, careful steps, as the ship creaked and groaned around them. “I doubt any other pilot could have made it through that maelstrom. You did well.”

  She too unbuckled her harness, and took his outstretched hand. He pulled her from the angled seat. Together they peered through the dirt and rocks that covered the windows.

  “We’ll see,” she said, glancing at the nose of the ship. “Looks like we came in hot. Angle was too steep.”

  She glanced down at her instruments. The holo displays were all out, and the controls showed only static and blinking emergency lights.

  “That’s not good,” she muttered. “Main fusion generator is down. That means the portal drive won’t work, even if I had the dark energy to operate it.”

  She called up the last recorded navigation data from one of the dimmed screens. Her eyes narrowed, as she squinted at the coordinates and star charts displayed on the console.

  “Talon, none of this makes any sense. These coordinates are… they’re gibberish.” She looked up at him, the crimson light reflecting in her eyes. “Where are we?”

  “Ikari called it the Crimson Maw,” Talon said as he adjusted the straps on his battle harness. “She said it was the prison of Daizon.”

  Avra lifted a single eyebrow. “She also said her body existed in a different quantum reality.”

  Talon shrugged. “Perhaps this place does as well. All I know is, Ikari told me to bring the Shard of R’Kur into the Crimson Maw. And I’m betting she wants me to take it there.”

  He pointed out the window. Avra ducked her head, peering through the dust and debris.

  In the distance, a beam of red light rose from a rocky canyon, and seemed to pierce the sky. A giant hole opened above the light, circled by the swirling clouds of the vortex they had flown through.

  Talon angled his head, and followed the beam up into the sky. Through the circling storm, he could see the black depths of space, dotted with the glowing remains of the Dominion fleet. The emerald orb of Vendaru hung beyond the drifting hulks. The massive tentacles reached out from the clouds into the blackness above, probing, grasping at the planet’s surface. Huge clouds of green gas hung still in the blackness, as the planet disintegrated beneath the touch of the monstrous tendrils.

  “Wherever we are, Vendaru and the prince don’t have much time,” he muttered.

  “Talon, we don’t know anything about this place. Gravity, atmosphere, life forms… all our sensors are down. If you go out there, it could kill you.”

  “We came here for a reason. I have to get to that beam.”

  He turned and moved towards the door. Avra grabbed his arm. “Wait. I’m coming with you.”

  He stared at her for a moment, and sighed. “Avra, this is my fight.”

  She put her hand on his chest, and looked into his eyes. “You’re wrong. Zobo… he wanted me to see this through. He put his life on the line to get us here. This is my fight too.”

 
Talon nodded. He put his hand on her shoulder. “You’re right. It will be an honor to fight with a battle sister by my side.”

  She broke eye contact, and glanced down at the deck. “I told you, I’m not a battle sister. Not anymore.”

  He slid his fingers beneath her chin, and gently lifted her face. He stared into her sparkling green eyes.

  “Today, you are.”

  She smiled and held out her hand. “Then let’s finish this. Victory, or death.”

  He clasped her fingers in his. “Victory, or death.”

  “That being said,” she muttered, as they picked their way over the railing, and towards the exit, “I’d prefer the former.”

  The landing ramp of the Star Claw hissed and belched steam as it lowered to the ground. Due to the steep angle of the crashed ship, the edge of the ramp hung several feet above the ground. Talon leapt down, and his boots crunched in the loose soil. He reached up and helped Avra off the ramp.

  She dropped next to him. They walked a few meters away from the ship, examining the rocky, shadowed landscape surrounding them. Their ship had crashed in a deep, vast gorge. Dark, ominous rock formations towered above them. The twisted and gnarled shapes stretched into the distance, dotting the far-off horizon. Several kilometers away, the crimson beam burst up from the top of a jagged plateau, high above the canyon floor.

  Talon drew his pulse pistol and checked the energy meter. Satisfied, he holstered the weapon and glanced up at the bolt of energy as it shot skyward towards the heavens.

  Avra checked her wrist display. The screen was blank, showing only static. She slapped it, and for a moment, a hologram of data flickered in the air, then quickly blinked out again.

  “I still can’t get any reading on this damn thing,” she muttered. “Not even on that beam. I can’t even tell how far away it is!”

  “It’s two point eight five kilometers away,” Talon said without thinking.

  She glanced at him in surprise. “How do you know?”