by A A Warren
Waylan shook his head, then swallowed his drink. He coughed, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “By the gods, if you’d asked me yesterday, I would have sworn they didn’t even exist. Then, this hyper-transmission comes in.”
“The alien in that holo-vid looked real enough to me,” Talon said.
Waylan nodded. “His gang blew up a Merchant Guild transport. Slaughtered the entire crew, including a pod full of refugees. Women, children… And whoever’s head that was, apparently. It was a massacre. Looks like the Eternal Shadow is real after all. A representative from the Guild put a price on their leader’s head. He’s worth ten times the bounty for Sukal.”
Talon stared back at the man. “Then a marshal should bring him in.”
The old man wagged a finger at Talon. “Look here, son. I’m over a hundred years old. Half my bones are dura-plus implants now, and I’ve had my knee joints replaced five times. The Gyre may not be rich, like the Consortium. And we don’t have a benevolent emperor like the great Tygon Dominion. We’re just the scraps, the shattered kingdoms no one bothered to claim. But the people here… they donated whatever they could afford to contract law enforcement from the Order of the Blue Star.”
Marshal Waylan shook his head and sighed. “And what they got was me. I may not be much… but I’ve been upholding the law for longer than you’ve been alive. And I know a repeat offender when I see one. This guy…” The marshal stabbed a finger at the glowing image. “Mark my words, he’ll kill again. Unless someone like you stops him.”
Talon glared at the marshal for a moment, then lowered his eyes.
“I’m sorry. But I made a promise to an old friend. I must return to the Dominion to see… to see if he still lives. I can stay here no longer.”
Talon clipped the transponder to his belt. “This murderer, whoever he is… Someone else will have to collect the bounty on him.”
“Orvane.” Waylan spat out the name, as if it tasted of sour wine. “You saw the vid. His name is Orvane Raygor.”
“Whatever his name is, he’s your problem now.” Talon walked through the glowing hologram and exited the tiny hut. The door to the marshal’s office slid closed behind him.
Outside, Talon pushed his way past the merchant stalls and colorful tents hawking dried meats and off world delicacies. Within moments, he disappeared into the shadows of the dusty streets, as the wind howled above.
Chapter Five
PLANET VERADO
The Gyre, Wild Space
High Orbit
The porter knocked on the door of the communications chamber a second time. The paint on the metal panel was scuffed and faded… the interplanetary transport was an older model that had seen better days. As the alien stood waiting, he glanced out a row of portholes that ran along the hull. Outside, the distant pinpoints of light seemed to stand still, as if the ship was not even moving.
The transport was only designed for travel within a solar system. It did not have a portal drive, or star-path capability, relying on stable jump-gates for long distance travel. Known as a gate-liner, the bulky, outdated vessel’s range and speed were woefully slow compared to newer starships.
The squat alien porter ran a hand over his threadbare uniform, smoothing out the wrinkles in his faded green tunic. He was shorter than most of the passengers on board, standing barely a meter and a half tall. A mane of bristly red fur swept back from his leathery face and dark, bulbous eyes. His tiny mouth pursed in frustration, as he watched the nearby passengers shift in their seats, and whisper among themselves. Puffing out his chest, he drew himself up to his full height and knocked a third time.
“Errr, excuse me. You have exceeded your time allowance. Other passengers require use of our hyper-transmission facilities.”
There was no response. He glanced back at the crowd of annoyed passengers, then pounded on the door harder.
“I’m sorry, but this is quite unacceptable. I must ask you to exit at once. If you refuse, I will have no choice but to file a complaint, which could result in a fine or suspension of—”
Suddenly, the door hissed open. A massive figure emerged from the shadows. Each step it took made a thundering clank against the deck plates. The sound echoed over the dull rumble of the gate-liner’s ion engines.
The porter looked up, and found himself staring into the glowing lenses of an armored helmet. Whoever had exited the chamber, they were wearing heavy thruster suits, and stood well over two meters tall. The porter scurried backwards, as the towering figure ducked under the doorframe and entered the corridor.
“Relax. We were leaving anyway.” The speakers in the helmet gave the voice a mechanical, inhuman quality. But from the tone of the voice, and the design of the armor, the porter could tell it was a woman inside the mechanical suit.
As she stomped towards the rear of the passenger compartment, a second armored figure emerged, and followed her. The other passengers gasped, as the pair opened the rear compartment door, and continued into the vessel’s cargo bay.
The porter scurried after them, tapping the display of his wrist unit.
“I beg your pardon! Power armor and military grade hardware are not permitted on this transport! I must insist—”
The lead armored figure turned to face him. Servo-motors in her armor hissed and clicked, as her helmet tilted down to look at him. “Would you give it a rest? I told you, we’re leaving.”
The second armored woman clanked up behind them. Her metal gauntlet gave the porter a light shove, pushing him aside. The leader stomped over to the nearest airlock, and began tapping the controls.
“Leaving? What do you mean leaving?” the porter asked, glancing up in annoyance as the second woman marched past him. “This ship is still days away from our final destination on Fiona 7.”
“Sorry.” The helmet’s speakers turned the woman’s voice into a mechanical growl. “We’re not going to Fiona 7. We have to get to Verado.”
The airlock doors slid open, and the leader stomped inside. The second woman followed. They turned to face the porter. Behind them, he could see the pale blue disc of light that was Verado… an outlaw planet, whose local government was in a near constant state of rebellion and turmoil. The planet’s cloud-streaked atmosphere filled the windows as the gate-liner rumbled past.
The porter ran a three-fingered hand through his bristling fur. “Beg your pardon, but there’s been a mistake. While this ship does indeed pass above Verado, as you can see out the windows, we do not stop there. Perhaps you could book a private transport, once we land on—”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna work for us. If I were you, I'd step away from the door now.” The leader tapped the controls inside the airlock. The porter leapt back, as the doors hissed shut.
“What are you doing? It’s against regulations to use an airlock without first activating the emergency—”
A siren whooped to life, cutting off the alien’s protests. The sweeping red glow of emergency lights flooded the cargo bay. Muted screams echoed beyond the door to the passenger compartment. The alert had activated the ship’s emergency restraints and clamped the passengers in their seats, preventing an explosive decompression from sucking them into space.
Grabbing a crate of rations, the porter slid it in front of the airlock door, and climbed on top of it. He peered through the window, as the two armored women faced the outer doors that overlooked the planet.
“Please, this is incredibly dangerous! I beg you, come out of there at once!” He pounded on the glass with a tiny little fist.
Suddenly, the outer doors slid open. The ship trembled, as a small amount of atmosphere vented into space. The two armored women were sucked from the compartment.
The porter squinted through the window. The twin figures tumbled in the black void, drifting away from the gate-liner. Bright plumes of light burst from their suits… Tiny thruster jets propelled the women towards the shimmering planet below. Their suits kicked up fiery orange plumes of heat, as they pie
rced Verado’s atmosphere at high speed.
The porter watched as their armored suits began to glow bright red. In a few seconds, they were nothing but two tiny bright dots, lost on the planet’s horizon.
The squat alien climbed down from the box and shook his head. “Krasangy fare-jumpers,” he muttered to himself. He opened the cargo bay door, and marched back into the main cabin. The terrified cries of the passengers assaulted his ears. He sighed as the doors hissed shut behind him, and the ship continued on its slow, plodding route through space.
A sonic boom cracked through the upper atmosphere of Verado. The two armored women plunged towards the surface at more than a 1000 kilometers per hour.
“Sub-orbital trajectory locked in,” one of the women shouted, her voice crackling over the suits’ comm systems. They continued falling through the clouds. “Heat shielding at seventy-five percent. We should reach our target in 100 klicks!”
“Copy that, Suphara.” the leader replied back. She spread her arms and legs, slowing her descent as a plume of glowing, super-heated air engulfed her body. The fiery trail of sparks shot behind them both as they plummeted towards the surface, like the plasma exhaust of a thruster. It was impossible to see the continent below through the haze and burning air.
“Atmospheric density increasing. Cut thrusters now!” the woman named Suphara said. She tapped a glowing panel on her armored gauntlet, and her thruster jets sputtered out. The other woman did likewise. The fiery heat subsided as their speed decreased. The only sound was the roar of rushing wind, buffeting their bodies as they descended lower into the atmosphere.
“Halfway there,” the leader shouted. “Jettison heat shielding.”
With a loud clank, several bulky metal plates detached and flew away from their suits. The armored sheaths underneath were more streamlined and compact. The leader tucked her arms behind her and leaned into the dive, cutting faster through the thin air.
Beneath them, a craggy mountain range came into view. Ice and snow covered the peaks of the jagged rock formations. The women fell past them, rushing closer and closer to the distant ground.
“Approaching target. Landing configuration in T-minus thirty seconds,” Suphara said, her voice tinged with excitement.
“Stay focused,” the leader snapped, as tiny buildings and structures became visible through the clouds. “Relax your body when the lifter field kicks in,” she ordered. “Otherwise the whiplash could shatter your kneecaps.”
“This is my third orbital drop, sister,” Suphara replied in a calm voice. “I assure, you, I know what I—”
“Wow, three whole drops? This must be my lucky day, getting assigned a veteran like you.”
“Forgive me, sister,” Suphara replied as the buildings rushed closer. “I did not mean to—”
“Landing configuration in T-minus fifteen seconds. Activating final countdown.”
A series of beeps filled their ears, as the details of the buildings came into view. Gilded roofs and shimmering crystal domes reflected the sunlight in a dazzling display of brilliance. Towering statues of ancient gods and armored warriors lined the streets that curled through the mountains, heading towards the palatial buildings.
Despite the violence and incessant power struggles of the local government, Verado was famous for two things. The first were its pleasure palaces, where people came from all over the Gyre to win, or more likely lose, a fortune in chips.
The second was the Lokaba… The criminal organization that controlled the remote world. The Lokaba ensured that the planet’s vice dens remained profitable, despite the frequent regime changes.
The beeps continued, signaling the final moments of their descent. The women adjusted their flight path, swooping towards one of the larger buildings perched on the edge of an icy peak. Its sparkling glass dome rushed closer and closer.
10… 9… 8… 7…
“Detach secondary shielding,” the leader shouted. She pivoted her body in the air as another series of bulky panels ejected from her suit. “Prepare for impact!”
4…3… 2…
“Initiate landing sequence!”
Suphara grunted as a lifter field hummed to life beneath her feet. A crack of thunder echoed around them. Inertia compensator modules in both their suits sparked and whined. The thruster suits instantly slowed their descent to a safe falling speed. But even with all the safety systems engaged, the strain on their bodies was tremendous.
A second later, both women’s training kicked in. Ignoring the pain, they locked their bodies into position. Their feet pointed down, and glowing energy shields erupted from their gauntlets.
CRASH!
The dome shattered beneath them as they smashed through. Glass shards rained down around them as their heavy boots slammed into a large, leather covered table. It exploded into wood fragments beneath them. They landed in a crouch on the floor. A confetti of playing cards and crystal chips flew up into the air… they had touched down in one of the planet’s many dens of vice.
Suphara made a swirling gesture in the air with her arms. Glowing blue symbols flickered to life around her hands, spinning around her as she waved and gestured in the air.
The startled casino patrons fled towards the exit. A trio of armored security guards rushed to the edge of a balcony overlooking the gaming floor. The men took cover behind a row of columns, aiming their pulse rifles at the two women below.
The armored leader ignored the guards. The glowing red lenses of her helmet scanned the crowd of panicked gamblers rushing for the exit.
A tall, gangly alien with pale lumpy skin and twitching antenna fled towards the bar. The leader zeroed in on him and exploded into motion. Charging towards him, she shoving a fleeing patron out of her way. “Target sighted… cover me!”
A man in a black cloak darted in her path, blocking her from the fleeing alien. A triangular pendant swung across his chest, hanging from a thick metal chain.
It was the symbol of a Lokaba enforcer. He reached into his flowing robe and drew a pistol.
The armored woman leapt into the air, scattering more chips and cards as she slid over another gaming table. Her armored boot kicked into his gut before he could fire. She tapped her wrist unit, triggering a burst from the thruster jets in her boots. A plume of jet fire erupted from her feet, knocking the enforcer backwards. He howled in pain as they both tumbled to the floor.
Pulse-fire from the balcony strafed across the casino. Suphara danced around the beams, ducking and leaping through the field of fire. Then she pivoted towards the guards and held out her hand. A glowing blue wall of energy surrounded her. The guards fired again but their shots impacted on the shimmering barrier, rippling away with no effect.
Across the room, the armored leader twisted the enforcer’s arm, as they rolled across the ground. She tore the pistol from his grasp and opened fire on the balcony. The gun spat a barrage of pulse-bolts from its muzzle. The three guards collapsed, glowing holes melted into their helmets. One of the men fell over the railing and crashed into the bar counter below.
On the ground floor, the main doors burst open and a pair of guards wielding heavy pulse rifles stormed into the room. Suphara swung her arms again, sending tendrils of blue energy cascading over the debris and rubble on the floor. The glowing blue tentacles flung chunks of the rubble through the air. The hurtling fragments slammed into the guards, tossing them back out the way they came. With a satisfied nod, Suphara clapped her hands. The massive doors slammed shut, locking the men out.
The pale alien uttered a warbling scream as he vaulted over the bar next to the fallen guard’s corpse. He yanked a beaded curtain aside, revealing a security door in the wall, next to a glowing access terminal.
As the alien tapped on the control panel, the armored woman leapt to her feet and reached behind her. She drew a curved knife from her weapons belt. With a flick of her wrist, the weapon snapped open into an S-shaped blade. In a single fluid motion, she hurled the weapon through the air.
The two women marched towards the howling alien. He clenched his teeth, and his antenna twitched in pain. The leader swept the dead guard off the bar as if he weighed nothing. She slammed her metal fist down on the counter. The marble slab cracked, and fell apart into rubble. She waded through the debris, her armored boots stomping it to dust.
“Please,” he cried out. “Whoever you are just tell me what you want! I have done nothing wrong. I have paid all my debts. Whatever family you serve, I’m sure we can—”
“I don’t serve any of your inbred thugs or corrupt politicians,” the lead woman snarled. “I’m looking for someone. An old associate of yours.”
“Wh…who? Who are you looking for?”
“Orvane Raygor,” she shouted. Her helmet amplified her voice into a terrifying howl of rage.
The woman’s visor retracted into her helmet, revealing a human face. A pair of brilliant green eyes glared at the alien, as she drew another blade from her belt.
“Orvane?” the alien whimpered. “I haven’t worked with him in years! What do you want with him?”
“I want to know where he is. And you’re going to tell me.”
She snapped the knife open and stabbed forward. The blade made a twanging sound as she drove it into the wall between his legs. “Start talking. I’ve got plenty more blades where that came from. And trust me… you won’t like where the next one goes.”
