Tales of Talon Box Set

by A A Warren

  “Who are you?” Katara hissed, her lips almost kissing the clear tube.

  “You know who I am. My name is Vaki, I—”

  Katara drummed her nails across the clear tube, cutting Vaki off mid sentence. “I am no fool, child. I have survived as a Clan wife for decades. I have seen dynasties rise and fall. By my command, consorts have risen to royal station, and lesser lords have taken their last breath. You think your petty lies and childish games are enough to fool me?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I—”

  Katara unwound a length of silvery wire from her wrist. She held it in front of Vaki’s face, admiring the gleam it held in the light.

  “This is nano-optic cable. You used it to re-wire the holo-vid cameras in your room. The metal coating negates sensor technology. That’s how you smuggled it past our scans, along with your other weapons and toys. The micro-burst grenades you used to take out the guards, the flex-conduit you used to override the security doors. And of course, the decryption algorithms in your wrist display.”

  Vaki glanced down at her hand. Someone had removed her wrist unit. She rubbed the bare flesh of her arm.

  Katara twisted the wire around her finger, glancing down at it with an absent-minded detachment. “You’re a very resourceful girl, Vaki. Such tools require money and connections to acquire.”

  Vaki shrugged. “It’s a rough galaxy out there. A girl can’t be too careful.”

  Katara’s kohl-lined eyes gazed back at her. “Oh, I agree. I learned that lesson a long time ago. Like you, I am not who I appear to be.”

  “Really?” Vaki cocked her head. “I’ve met women like you before. Beautiful. Powerful. Entitled. But behind the pretty face…” She shook her head. “There’s nothing left. Only greed and ambition. And you’ll do anything to fill that cold, empty hole inside you.”

  Katara stared back at her. A frigid mask seemed to settle across her features, hiding all traces of emotion. She said nothing.

  Vaki met her cold gaze with unblinking eyes. “That’s what I thought. I pity you, Katara. Your husband despises you. Your workers fear you. And as beautiful as you are, Talon wishes he never touched you. Whatever you're planning to do with the worms and the black jade, it won’t be enough. It won’t fill that emptiness. You will never be a true queen.”

  Katara exploded into motion, pounding her fists down on the tube. Vaki sucked in her breath, as a thin, hairline crack ran through the transparent panel above her face.

  “You insolent peasant!” Katara’s voice roared through the speakers. “What do you know of the sacrifices I've made? You think I’ve never loved, never felt warmth in a man’s touch? A man who saw me as more than a mere treasure to possess?”

  Vaki flinched as Katara loomed closer. The woman’s face hovered a few centimeters away from hers, separated only by the clear, curved wall of the cylinder. Her eyes burned with rage, and spittle flew from her rouged lips.

  “I took a lover once. A handsome young duke, from Xianar. His family held few shares. He had no great estate, no prospects of ascending to the throne. But he loved me. He saw beneath the beautiful gowns and the make up, and the bio-mancers’ alterations to my flesh. He gave me everything… everything I was missing in my life. When I was with him, I felt whole.”

  Her hand pressed against her heart, and she clenched it into a fist. “My family did not approve. I was engaged to the Crown Prince since birth, and they feared a scandal. A threat to my marriage could jeopardize my claim to the throne, and the corporate shares that came with it. When I refused to listen, their spies recorded us in my private bedchambers. They sent the images to him… my fiancé.”

  A bitter chuckle hissed from her lips. “His ego was… bruised. The Crown Prince is not a forgiving man. My duke suffered unimaginable pain at the hands of his torturers. And the prince… he made me watch, day after day. I begged him to stop. I promised I would end the affair, I would do anything he wished. But he just laughed in my face. He told me if I loved this duke so much, he would see that we were joined forever. Then he put us in the bio harvester. The same machines that kept me young and beautiful, the technology that cured his Chi’rox disease, and extended our lives… he used it to tear the man I loved apart. One moment he was there. The next… Gone. All that remains of him lives on in me. In my flesh.”

  Katara's voice trailed away.

  Vaki stared back at her in horror. “That… that’s inhuman.”

  Katara smiled. “The Crown Prince took everything from me. Then he discarded me on a whim and exiled me here. My family's greed, my sacrifice, my beloved's pain… it was all for nothing. I was powerless to stop him.” She clenched her hand into a tight fist. Her lips curled into a snarl. “But I vowed I would never feel powerless again. I would ascend to the throne, without my husband. I would become queen of my own empire. And here, on this dead, frozen world, I found the means to do it.”

  “The larva,” Vaki said in a low whisper. “You found them in the black jade. Used them to raise an army of the dead.”

  “In their natural state, the larva control the nervous systems of dead creatures. I had corpses and laborers brought here, scum and refuse from other clan-owned worlds. Those with the genetic potential to renew my flesh were placed in bio-harvesters like this one. I used the others to mine more black jade. And to serve as subjects for my experiments.”

  “What experiments? You have your army, what are you doing to the larva?”

  Katara smiled again. “I have an army, yes. An army of slaves. But what I need is one man… one man under my thrall, who will do as I command, and take me as his bride. A man who will make me his queen.”

  “The Jotoru Emperor!” Vaki gasped. “But if the larva can only control the dead…”

  Katara rolled her head, stretching the muscles in her neck. “As you said, I have altered the larva. Improved them. Now they control the living as well. I used the bio-harvester to implant them in key personnel here. B’Turo, Gajoro, Makor. But the results were… imperfect. A strong enough will could still resist. So I created a new strain, in a secret lab on the outskirts of the colony. These new specimens were my masterpiece… my prodigal children. But then the Zigra Clan attacked. They stole the black jade where the new larva were gestating.”

  Vaki pressed her hands against the cracked wall of the tube. "That’s why you sent Talon. The dorokuma worms control anyone infected by the larva. If you sent Makor or the others, they would fall under their influence."

  Katara's silvery hair flowed across the transparent coffin. “Yes. A true queen knows she must brook no rivals, lest she lose her power over her thralls. When you and Talon fell into my lap, it was an omen. Aumi ar betariki… The work of the gods. The crystal in his eye could detect the dark energy within the black jade. And his mind is not susceptible to the call of the other queens. When he returns my children, I will infect the Crown Prince and the Jotoru emperor with the new strain. They will be mine to control.”

  She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "I will seize the throne. And with an unstoppable army of the dead at my side, I will finally crush our rivals in the Dominion. I shall be revered for bringing honor and glory to the Consortium!”

  Vaki stared at the woman in shock. “You’re insane, Katara! Only the worms can control the larva. What good are they to you? Even if you could infect the emperor, how could you make him—”

  Katara’s eyes snapped open. They were cloudy and white, covered by a pale, hazy membrane. A chorus of deep voices emerged from her throat. “Not all worms command the larva. Only those like me. Only the queens…”

  Katara’s mouth gaped open, and her eyes began to glow. A pair of dark blue tentacles snaked out of her mouth and darted through the air. The undulating appendages caressed the glass, leaving trails of bubbling saliva in their wake. Vaki winced, as the suckers and fangs on the tip of each tongue tapped against the glass, inches from her face.

  “You merged with the dorokuma queens,” she exclai
med. “You used the bio-harvester to splice their DNA to yours!”

  “No more questions. No more distractions.” Katara’s strange, echoing voice flooded through the speakers in the tube, overwhelming Vaki in a wall of sound. “Soon, you too will be a part of me. You will merge with my flesh. And when Makor slays Talon and returns with my prize, you will be spared the fate of the others on this planet. You will be carried aloft, borne into space by my greatness.”

  Ridges of shimmering white scales erupted from Katara’s cheeks. Her body writhed, as more armored plates rippled down her neck and chest.

  “Katara, wait,” Vaki shouted, as the woman stepped away from the tube. She lay back, floating in the air. A shimmering blue ring appeared at the top of the bio-harvester. Vaki pounded with her fists, but despite the fracture running across its surface, she could not shatter the barrier. The air filled with crackling energy. Her eyes opened wide with panic as her hair stood on end.

  Suddenly, a tremor rumbled through the chamber. The metal walls of the cylinder rattled and vibrated. Vaki screamed as the entire mechanism swayed. The view through the transparent cylinder yawned to the right, and the metal clamps holding it bent and twisted.

  The lights flickered and went dark. Katara screamed as she fell from the air, striking the platform with a thud. The entire platform shifted. The lifter fields that held it aloft groaned as they strained to compensate for the loss in power.

  Katara lifted herself from the floor and tossed her silvery hair from her face. Her skin rippled and returned to normal. The ridges sank back into her face, and the twin tongues snaked down her throat. Her eyes and hair reflected the spinning red emergency lights above. The walls continued to tremble. The circular window shattered, sending an explosion of glittering shards across the floor.

  Finally, the tremors subsided. Vaki glanced up… the glowing ring was gone. The burning energy in the tube subsided.

  “Control,” Katara bellowed. “What happened?”

  A voice answered back over the speakers. “My Queen, you had best see for yourself. Planetary core readings are off the charts. I don’t know how much longer we—”

  “Silence!” Katara stood up. “Where is Makor?”

  “He intercepted the outlander thirty minutes ago, my Queen. We lost contact with him after that.”

  Katara tightened her robe, belting it across her waist. She shot a withering look at Vaki and the others in the tubes. “How soon till we can restore power to the bio-harvester network?”

  “My Queen, we're routing all power to the primary shields, and life support. We must evacuate before—”

  “Negative! You will issue no such orders, do you understand? Seal the workers’ quarters. No one leaves this planet without my permission.”

  The speakers crackled. “Yes, my Queen.”

  Katara rested a hand on Vaki’s tube, and gazed down at her. "There will be no survivors. No one to reveal what I have done here. But do not worry. When I escape this planet and claim my destiny... a part of you will be with me."

  Katara’s fingers fluttered across the glass. Then she turned, and marched away, disappearing into the shadows of the darkened chamber.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Talon gripped the railing before him as the bridge of the massive ore-slicer shook and rumbled. The industrial vehicle had no windows or view ports, but a panel of holo-displays curved around the central navigation chair. The glowing screens showed several views of the icy wasteland surrounding the speeding vehicle. B’Turo sat in the squat, low-slung seat, his eyes pressed up against a view port that lowered from the roof of the cramped chamber.

  A web of cables, scavenged components and relay circuits surrounded him. As the old man raised the viewing port, a manic grin stretched across his dry, chapped lips. His eyes crinkled as he chuckled and grabbed a handful of loose cables. One by one, he plugged them into a patch panel he had strapped to the side of his chair.

  “What in blazes are you up to, old man?” Talon shouted. A series of crashing sounds echoed through the hull. “This contraption sounds like it's falling apart!”

  B’Turo flipped a row of switches on the patch panel, and a set of diagnostic readings flashed on one of the holo-displays. “I’ll tell you what I’m doing, kid! I’m trying to get the main beam projector back online. I’m also trying to stabilize a damaged reactor, maintain surface speed with twelve inactive thruster rings, and confirm hull integrity for the rear three sections of this beast.”

  Talon shook his head and grinned. “Oh, is that all?”

  B’Turo raised the viewing display and glared up at him. “You know, these things usually carry a six man command crew. Not to mention engineers, mechanics, geologists. You wouldn’t happen to be a geologist would you?”

  Another explosive crash vibrated through the deck plates. Talon glanced around the tiny chamber with a wary look in his eyes. “No. I’m not an engineer either, but I believe these things are meant to travel underground. Why are we still on the surface?”

  B’Turo muttered a curse as he switched around several wires, then threw a series of control levers mounted to the chair. The grinding sound of the vehicle’s spinning rings grew louder.

  “I can’t plow through tons of solid rock and ice with the main beam projector down. And even if I could, you’re talking about the pressure of an entire planet bearing down on every joint and seal in this thing. If hull integrity is less than a hundred percent, that force will crush us like a ration can in a trash compactor.”

  “Enough jabbering. Is the hull secure or not?”

  B’Turo glanced at the readouts streaming down one of the holo-displays. “Yeah, looks like—”

  Suddenly, a red light flashed on the screen. B’Turo tapped on the controls, calling up a schematic of the entire vehicle. A glowing blue wireframe cylinder hovered in the air before them. It spun around, and zoomed in on a towering hydraulic assembly in the center of the hull. The component was flashing red. A series of numbers and letters blinked to life, displaying the device's status, operation power, and other technical information.

  B’Turo squinted at the hologram. “Hmmm… That’s not good.”

  Talon tensed. He braced his arm against the low ceiling as the vehicle shuddered again. “What is it?”

  The old man adjusted the view on the screen, zooming in on the vehicle's center. “Look, these ore-slicers are huge, almost half a kilometer long. But it’s not just one big tube, see? The hull's got multiple sections, held together by hydraulic locks, magnetic couplings, and structural integrity fields.”

  “Well? What of it?” Talon snapped.

  “Integrity fields went down a few minutes ago. I figured it was a power flux. Thought they would come back when I synchronized the reactor.”

  “And have they?”

  The old man shook his head. “No. But that’s not all. Diagnostic systems just registered a lock and coupling release on deck twelve. We can’t tunnel under the surface until everything is sealed tight.”

  Talon studied the schematics. “Deck twelve? Very well. Keep working on the beam. I’ll take care of the coupling.”

  B’Turo gave him an incredulous stare. “Do you know anything about hydraulic line repair, or—”

  A burst of sparks erupted from his panel, cutting him off. An alarm buzzer sounded through the command deck. Talon grabbed a tool pack from a pile of scattered equipment that lay on the floor. “I’m sure I can figure it out. I’ll call if I have any problems. We’re running out of time. And Vaki…” Talon’s voice trailed off.

  B’Turo looked up, and met Talon’s dark, pensive stare. “You’re worried about her, eh? What’s the story between you two?”

  Talon shrugged. “In truth, I don’t know her any better than I know you. But we made it this far together. And I don’t—”

  B’Turo nodded. “Yeah, yeah, you don’t leave allies behind. You gave me the speech already. Well, don't worry. You get that coupling sealed, and I’ll fire up the beam proj
ector. I don't care if I have to toshi on the power relays.”

  Talon clapped his hand on the man’s shoulder. “I have no idea what that means… but you have my thanks.”

  He shouldered the pack of tools and exited the command deck.

  The interior of the ore-slicer was a labyrinth of catwalks, crisscrossing through the dark, grimy innards of the gargantuan machine. As Talon paced along the edge of the hull, he heard the grinding of the outer rings. Spinning rows of beam projectors, thruster ports, and intake manifolds moved around the slicer’s armored shell. But deeper into the vehicle, the sounds became distant and muted. A faint symphony of mechanical clanks and groans, echoing through the musty air of the battered industrial vehicle.

  A service door hissed open, and Talon stepped into a lift chamber. The tiny cylinder normally traveled up and down the ore-slicer, speeding passengers between decks. But with B’Turo struggling to maintain the vehicle’s power distribution by himself, all non-essential systems were deactivated, including the lifts.

  Kneeling down, Talon removed a torque lever he had attached to his harness. Using the flat end, he pried up a square metal panel from the lift's floor. Underneath, he saw a circular maintenance hatch, covered with bright yellow warning symbols. A large security bolt protruded from the center of the hatch.

  Talon flipped the tool around and fit the torque socket over the bolt. He pressed a button on the handle. A series of tiny blue lights lit up around the head of the tool, as the force field inside spun the heavy bolt.

  A hiss of steam belched from the hatch as the pressure locks released. Talon clipped the tool to his harness, then reached down and tugged the hatch open. The domed cover squeaked and groaned as it flew up. Peering into the darkness below, he could just make out the top rungs of the service ladder that ran down the side of the shaft.