Tales of Talon Box Set

by A A Warren

  “I told you not to disturb me. What do you—”

  “You said to alert you if any anything approached the Soul Vault.”

  Volonte nodded. “Yes… what of it?”

  “The Serpentar’s long range sensors picked up a starship, exiting a star-path not far from here. It’s an old ship, Captain. Sidegunner class. They wouldn’t be flying this close to the fountain unless—”

  “Unless they knew we were here,” he snarled, cutting her off. He turned back to Dulkar. “We are so close! We cannot let this interference delay our plans.”

  Dulkar reached into the column of light. His armed fingers tapped the floating symbols. As he touched each one, they pulsed with light, and emitted a deep, resonant tone. His fingers danced across them, and their sounds echoed though the vast, open chamber, like a song from an ancient musical instrument.

  “Do not fear. The Soul Vault is a military installation, after all. Your people did not fail to grant it certain… defensive measures.”

  In the space beyond the platform, ancient, long dormant machinery groaned to life. The other men looked up, as a massive clanking sound filled the air. Tiny lights flittered in the infinite darkness. Volonte stared at them, his mechanical vision zooming in for a closer look.

  He centered the distorted circle of his magnified vision on one of the flying objects. He tracked its movements as it tore through the air. It looked like a mechanical reptile of some kind… an avian predator, like the winged tabeki statues.

  The distant specks streaked towards the eyeballs of the towering head. The lids parted slightly, allowing the swarm to exit the vault through a shimmering force-shield.

  “What are they?” Volonte asked. “Drones?”

  “Of a sort,” Dulkar replied. “A drone is an unmanned craft. These defenses are somewhat more… biological. They will keep the intruders at bay as we make our preparations.”

  The sorcerer glanced up at the mech, and gestured with his arm. “Now… bring me the woman. It is time to finish what we have started.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Alarms wailed on the bridge of the Star Claw, as the ship streaked closer to the burning spray of the cosmic fountain. The glowing inferno of stellar gas was massive at close range. It blotted out the dark void beyond with a seemingly infinite expanse of swirling color.

  "Talon… Sending tactical feed to your display,” Avra said, as she spun her command chair to face forward. Her fingers tapped the controls mounted to her armrest. “Looks like we’ve got incoming!”

  Talon glanced at the hologram hovering above his console. “That’s an understatement,” he replied. “Whatever they are, there are hundreds of them.”

  Utu’s glowing eye stalks spun in their sockets. He was hovering over the navigation chair. One of his tendrils snaked into the control’s data-port.

  “This unit counts three hundred and ninety-eight targets at present. There are more hostiles currently exiting the structure. Would you like an updated total?”

  “I don’t care how many there are, mech,” Talon snapped. “So long as we can carve a path through them. Volonte must be aboard that… thing.”

  “By 'thing', I assume you’re referring to the giant floating head off the port bow?” Avra snapped. “If he's in there, then so is Suphara.” She bit her lip. “Assuming she’s still alive,” she added in a quiet voice.

  Talon glanced back at her over his shoulder. “We fight as through she’s alive. And if not, we deliver her enemies to the Haunted Stars.”

  Avra nodded. “Agreed. Diverting power to the forward shields and weapon systems. Talon, you have the pulse gun turret. I’m routing main canon controls to my station.”

  “Aye,” he replied. He narrowed his eyes as he peered out the front window. The swarm of tiny dots streaked closer. He could just barely make them out in the distance. They were swooping, diving, spiraling through space. He caught a glint of reflected light off what looked like a pair of wings, flapping in the airless void.

  “Those things don’t move like star-fighters,” he said. “They almost look alive.”

  “Helicet xum phalek sanguis phedera,” Avra whispered. Talon looked back at her over his shoulder. “What does that mean?”

  “It’s an old Sorari saying,” she replied. “It means, ‘May the blood of our enemies burn upon the stars.’” Her command chair hummed as it tilted back into combat position. “In other words… let’s blow these hundskakkers to pieces, Fledge!”

  Talon grinned at the sound of his old nick name. The term was short for fledgling… Someone new to space combat. It was something the Star Claw’s old captain, an alien named Zobo, used to call him. It hardly applied any more, but he did not bother to correct her. Instead, his lips curled into a wolfish grin. “Aye… hold tight. Evasive maneuvers… now!”

  He twisted the controls, plunging the ship into a diving corkscrew. The horde of metal things outside followed, streaming after them like a mechanical swarm. They closed the gap and entered visual range. There was no longer any doubt… the things outside were not ships. They were huge mechs, shaped like predatory reptiles.

  “Tabeki,” Talon shouted, as one of the things skimmed over the cockpit window. “Those things look like the tabeki statues!”

  A tremor ran through the ship. Bursts of energy rippled across the outer shields as pulse bolts leapt from the creature’s mouth. The pulse-fire staffed across the Star Claw’s bow, sending more vibrations rattling through the hull.

  “So that’s what a tabeki is? A giant winged serpent with a pulse cannon jammed down its throat?” Avra tapped the controls on her console. “Well, guess I’ve seen everything now. Powering up main canon!”

  Talon grit his teeth and pulled into a sharp climb. Then flipped the ship upside down and dove again. The inertial compensators screamed in protest, as the hi-speed maneuvers pressed him back into his seat with crushing force.

  A shadow crossed over his face. Glancing up, he saw one of the serpentine creatures swoop towards the vessel from the starboard side. Moving on pure instinct, Talon darted left, and activated the secondary guns' auto-targeting system. A burst of pulse fire strafed across the diving enemy. The glowing energy beams tore through the creature's metal carapace, sending it glowing corpse careening through space.

  Talon spiraled the ship around as the guns tracked the flock of pursuers. A barrage of glowing pulse bolts tore across the black void. Tiny explosions erupted from their targets, as dozens of the armored creatures fell before the onslaught. But for every creature the guns blasted, two more took their place.

  Suddenly, the guns ceased firing. Talon glanced at his console. A warning flashed next to the weapon’s firing controls. The guns had overheated. For the first time, he noticed beads of sweat dripping down his face. His skin felt flushed, and a hellish orange glow filled the windows.

  “Utu,” he grunted. “Why in Nitara’s name is it so hot in here?”

  The mech bobbed above the navigation station, its metal tendrils wrapped around the seat’s arm rests to hold it in place.

  “This region of space lies within the radioactive fallout of the cosmic fountain. The energy emitted by the stellar clouds is causing a heat surge in the—”

  THUMP!

  The Star Claw dipped as one of the creatures slammed into their dorsal side. Talon glanced up as the shriek of tearing metal echoed through the hull. Another impact sounded from the port side… then another.

  “They’re latching on to the ship,” Avra shouted. “You’ve got to shake—”

  Before she could finish her sentence, sparks erupted from the ceiling. A glowing beam of energy knifed across the bridge, cutting a smoking gash though the deck plates. The pulse beam passed within a meter of Avra’s command chair, then blinked out. The bridge lights flickered, as smoke and sparks filled the air.

  “Those cursed beasts are tearing us apart,” Talon shouted back.

  THUMP! THUMP! Two more of the serpentine bodies latched onto the hull, j
ust above the bridge. Their armored beaks slashed at the transparent window panels, battering them over and over again.

  Talon glared into the creatures’ eyes as they pummeled the forward shields. Their glowing red orbs were huge, each the size of a man’s fist. They appeared to be synthetic, peering out from metal sockets. But he could make out folds of desiccated skin, rippling between their armor-plated skulls… a long, sinewy body undated within the creature's metal shell.

  “Utu… are these things mechs, or flesh and blood?” he shouted.

  “Scanning…” Utu responded.

  Talon threw the ship into a banked turn, carving away from the flock. He rolled the wings up and down, struggling to dislodge the savage creatures. But it was no use… Their claws grasped the hull in a death grip.

  Another explosion erupted from the sidewall. Avra ducked as a pulse beam pierced the hull, and tore through her chair. The beam slashed off her headrest, then cut through a bank of power relays on the far wall. A shower of sparks cascaded to the deck.

  “Utu,” Talon snapped. “I need an answer, now!”

  “They appear to be cybernetic organisms… predatory animals implanted with armor, weapons, and life support systems.”

  Talon narrowed his eyes. He swung the ship around, veering closer to the glowing cosmic inferno on the horizon.

  “Very well, mech. If these tabeki wish to make a meal of us, let’s see how badly they wish to feast!”

  As the ship sped closer to the cosmic fountain, the temperature on the bridge grew hotter. An orange glow lit up the smoke and haze that filled the cabin. Alarms wailed, as various systems began to overheat through the vessel.

  “Talon, you're taking us too close,” Avra shouted, picking herself up off the floor. “The radiation from the fountain will burn us to a crisp!”

  “I know,” Talon said, glancing up. The armored creatures continued to batter the ship, and the cracks in the window grew larger. “But it will burn flesh and blood faster than metal.”

  The vessel shuddered as the creatures behind them opened fire again. A few stray shots flew past the windows, while the rest impacted on the rear shields.

  “Shield power is at 40 percent and falling,” Utu droned in his monotone voice. “Heat sinks are at maximum capacity. Interior temperature reaching critical levels. This vessel will not survive prolonged exposure to the stellar radiation at this range.”

  “We don’t have to, mech,” Talon grunted. “We just have to survive longer than them.”

  The hammering on the windows ceased. Talon increased power to the thrusters, speeding even faster towards the fiery column of gas that filled the void. Glancing up, he saw the creatures had not ceased their assault on the ship. But their movements were now sluggish and erratic. They flailed in slow motion, thudding against the windows with weak, ineffective blows.

  A dim glow radiated from the beasts’ exposed flesh, as if they were lit from within by an intense fire. They began to writhe and thrash about, but they refused to release their hold on the ship.

  “It’s working!” Avra shouted. “The radiation is burning them alive! They’re cooking from the inside out!”

  One of the mechanical creatures reared back, as it wailed a silent scream into the void. Then its body exploded into a cloud of glowing particles. The tiny dots of light scattered and flew away from the ship.

  Talon wiped his dripping hair from his face. His crystal eye reflected the glow from outside as his lips curled into a savage grin. “Just a little farther,” he whispered.

  The second creature collapsed against the hull. Its wings drooped and melted, as black char ate away at its glowing flesh. Then it, too, dissolved into specs of fiery plasma. The glowing dots trailed behind the speeding ship, as it continued to plunge deeper into the maelstrom.

  On the holo-display, the cluster of blinking dots chasing after them dispersed and faded away. Talon bellowed a triumphant cry, as he watched the energy targets disappear, one by one. But his victory was short lived…

  “Engine room to bridge!” Orvane’s voice crackled over the comm system. “Fusion reactor overheating! Temperature levels critical! Any hotter, and the core will meltdown!”

  Talon muttered a silent curse. “Very well, Orvane. Just keep her together for a few more seconds.” He threw the ship into a steep climb, sending long trails of burning gas streaking behind them. Spinning the vessel around, he turned back to face what remained of the cybernetic horde.

  Avra adjusted her controls. “I’m diverting coolant to the main canon. I’ll try to clear us a path.”

  Talon dodged left and right, piloting the ship through a series of evasive maunders as they sped back towards what remained of the creatures. Glowing pulse bolts erupted from their canons, streaking around the ship, and rippling across the bow shields.

  “Temperature levels are falling,” Utu noted as they put some distance between the ship and the fiery cosmic fountain. “Weapon systems back online.”

  A low hum vibrated through the hull. Talon remembered the sound well… The Star Claw was an old sidegunner class vessel, named for the massive cannon that ran along the starboard wing. The weapon was powering up, drawing energy from various subsystems throughout the ship. It was preparing to fire.

  “This is for trying to eat my ship,” Avra hissed. She settled her targeting crosshairs on the center of the horde and triggered the weapon.

  A massive beam exploded from the main canon. The powerful energy bolt punched a hole through the tight formation of their attackers, vaporizing several of the flying beasts. The others veered away, diving past the Star Claw and into the intense radioactive heat of the fountain.

  As the ship flew back towards the Soul Vault, the towering metal head once again loomed in the windows. Another flock of creatures flew around the fortress, guarding it from attack.

  “More of those damn beasts,” Talon muttered. “There must be thousands of them!”

  Avra tilted her seat up and gazed at her holo display. Her emerald green eyes were wide with concern. “The ship won’t survive another trip through that radiation,” she said.

  Talon activated the ships comms. “Orvane, is the dark energy cell still functional?”

  There was silence for a moment. Then the alien’s voice cracked through the speakers. “Dark energy levels at less than ten percent. Power couplings blown out, core still too hot… human engineering no good, cheap parts! How you expect to—”

  “Orvane,” Talon shouted, interrupting the alien’s tirade. “Can we open a portal or not?”

  “Maybe one more portal… then cell is fried.”

  “One is all I need. Best find something to hold on to, my friend.”

  “Are you crazy?” Avra snapped. “Even at this distance, the stellar radiation is interfering with our sensors. How can you open a portal with navigation sensors off-line?”

  “I don’t need sensors to know where we need to go.” He pointed out the window. “Suphara is there. I… I can sense her.”

  Avra arched an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me… you have a bond with her too?”

  Talon grinned and turned back to his console. His fingers moved across the glowing controls. “I doubt she’d agree with that. But this eye of mine can detect dark energy. And her body is full of it. I’m using her position to plot a course inside that thing. Utu, sending you coordinates now.”

  “Talon, you have no idea what’s inside… what if she’s buried under a hundred miles of solid rock, or—”

  “This unit detects multiple hostile signatures converging on our position.” Utu said. Avra turned and glanced at the holo-display. A new swarm of red dots rushed from the vault, streaking towards the Star Claw. It was twice the size of the horde that had attacked them before.

  Talon met her gaze. “You’re right, we don’t know what we face inside. But we know what is out here.”

  Avra sighed. “What’s that saying of yours?”

  Talon grinned. “Victory or death.”


  “Yeah,” she said, giving him a nod. “That’s the one.”

  Talon spun around in his chair and pushed up on the throttle lever. The ship leapt forward, charging towards the metal horde. “Utu…”

  “Powering up portal drive,” the mech replied. “Opening star-path now.” Glowing blue symbols appeared before them, rippling across the black velvet curtain of space. A swirling circle of light pierced the darkness, floating between them and the charging horde.

  Talon guided the Star Claw into the glowing vortex. The circle of light shrank to a brilliant pinpoint, as the ship disappeared from view.

  The swarm of creatures broke apart, their flight path erratic and confused as they streaked through the empty space the ship had previously occupied. Their glowing red eyes burned with rage, and their fanged maws gnashed in the dark vacuum. They whirled around and streaked back towards the towering face in the distance.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Dulkar swiped at the symbols floating in the column of light. As he touched each one they rearranged their order, sliding into place with the sound of rushing wind. When the final symbol dropped into position, a deep hum arose from the stone dais. Rows of lights blinked in the distance, illuminating the crystal pods in the rocks above the platform. The tubes were stacked vertically, angling up the dark, craggy walls of the enormous structure.

  The lighting above each row of crystals alternated between blue and green. The blue crystals held armored golemech bodies, each one identical to Volonte in shape and form. Within each green chamber, an alien body lay in deep hibernation. The beings were humanoid, but a fine mesh of reptilian scales covered the rippling musculature of their torsos. Their facial features were similar to the metal face that adorned the outer shell of the floating fortress.

  They were Zedrakon.

  Volonte looked up, his mechanical eyes clicking and buzzing as his optical sensors zoomed in on the crystal tubes. “By the gods,” he whispered. "There are so many. So many lost souls.”

  “Soon there will be one less,” Dulkar hissed. “We are ready to begin.”