Tales of Talon Box Set

by A A Warren

  Damage control alarms wailed and buzzed, and sparks lit up the bridge, as banks of power relays in the walls overloaded from the strain.

  “Shields at twenty percent,” Avra snapped as she studied the holo-display floating above her command chair. “Weapon systems offline, thrusters over-heating, and about half the power relays across the ship are fried.” She tapped a glowing panel on the arm of her chair, activating the ship's comm system. “Orvane, what’s the status on that dark energy cell?”

  She winced as a caustic burst of static flooded the bridge. Then Orvane’s distorted voice crackled through the speakers. “Energy cell dead. Not work, no more jumps! Engines need coolant, damage control systems over—”

  “Just do what you can,” Avra barked, cutting him off. “We’ll have to jump out of here as soon as we get Suphara onboard!” She turned off the intercom, and glanced out the forward windows. “Assuming we make it that far,” she added in a quiet voice.

  “We’re still alive,” Talon grunted. “I’d call that a victory.”

  Avra shook her head. “Really? I’d call ‘dumb luck’. Another second of battle with those—”

  Suddenly her eyes went wide, as she peered out the forward windows. “Uh, Talon…”

  He turned, following her gaze. “Orion’s blazing bow,” he gasped.

  The clouds of dust swirled and parted. The ship drifted through a massive entry hall, carved into solid rock. The size of the chamber was mind-boggling. Gargantuan rows of statues and columns flanked them on either side, towering over the ship. Each carved figure stood hundreds of kilometers tall, their smooth, precise lines untouched by time or the elements.

  Ahead of them, a vast wall of interlocking metal panels stretched as far as the eye could see. Ornate alien symbols and glyphs were carved into the monstrous metal slabs. The writing stretched off into the distance, vanishing in the shadowy depths beyond their vision.

  Avra tucked a strand of her fiery hair behind her ear as the ship floated past another towering statue. “By the gods! I’ve never seen anything like it. The size of this place… who could have built this?”

  Talon narrowed his eyes, as he starred ahead. “The Zedrakon,” he hissed. “And they built more than just this chamber,” he pointed out the forward windows. “Those metal plates… they’re moving. Like some kind of doorway.”

  Four slabs of metal, each one larger than a battleship, began to slide apart. A gaping chasm opened between them, revealing a shimmering blue energy barrier that lay beyond. The glowing wall of light rippled and moved, like waves upon a sparkling blue sea.

  “A doorway to where?” Avra asked in a hushed voice.

  “The vault seems to employ a quantum gate,” Utu said. The mech's glowing eye stalks analyzed the data on his holo-display. “Sensor readings indicate the chamber beyond occupies a secondary dimensional space. It contains more matter than a structure this size is capable of—”

  “Iberon’s harem, mech!” Talon snapped. “Speak plainly, before we crash into that thing bow-first!”

  “The chamber beyond the gate is larger than the confines of the vault itself. Due to the quantum gate, its precise location is impossible to pinpoint. It could literally be anywhere in the universe.”

  Avra leaned forward as the ship drifted closer to the rippling curtain of energy. “A quantum gate… is that like a star-path?”

  “Negative,” the mech replied. “A star-path is a dark energy construct… a hyper-dimensional tunnel that reduces travel time between two points in space. Travel though a quantum gate is instantaneous. An object exits one point of space, and emerges in another, regardless of the distance between them.”

  Avra eyed the shimmering blue barrier as they drifted closer. “Can we… I mean, is it safe to go through?”

  “The gate itself appears stable,” Utu replied. A pair of the mech’s eyes pivoted backwards and focused on the red-haired woman. Their mechanical irises blinked. “However, this unit has never encountered such technology before. It is purely theoretical.”

  Avra glanced at Talon. The warrior returned her gaze and shrugged. “We’ve come this far,” he grunted. “We’re not turning back now.”

  “All right. Let’s see where we end up.” Avra sat ramrod straight in her chair. She grasped the armrests, and her voice took on a commanding tone. “Increase thrusters to twenty five percent. Maintain current heading.”

  Talon grinned. “Aye.”

  As the engines rumbled to life, Avra triggered the ship’s comms. “Orvane, did you get all that?”

  “Did someone say quantum gate?” the alien’s nervous voice crackled back. “We not going through, are we?”

  She chuckled. “Just find a crash seat and strap yourself in. Brace for impact.”

  Talon nudged the ship forward, moving closer to the glowing barrier. The windows filled with shimmering light, casting long shadows across the bridge. He squinted, as the hull rattled and vibrated around them.

  The Star Claw's bow plunged into the wall of energy. A low hum echoed through the ship. Every system on the bridge flickered, then went dim. For a brief moment, the only light in the cockpit was the glowing barrier. The hull began to shake and rattle.

  Avra glanced up, as more sparks leapt from the power relays above her chair. “Talon?”

  “Stand by,” he grunted, gripping the control sticks as the ship rumbled ahead. “We’re almost through!” The glow out the windows grew even brighter.

  Suddenly, the holo-displays and controls blinked back to life. The vibration quieted, then ceased all together. The only sound was the soft beeping of the ship’s electronics, and the low growl of the thrusters.

  They were inside the massive floating structure of the Soul Vault. Avra gasped. “It’s… it’s beautiful!”

  It was like being inside a crystalline geode… one the size of an entire planet. A glittering horizon, pulsing with iridescent purple light, curved around them. The shimmering walls stretched in every direction and massive shards of crystal crisscrossed through the void surrounding them.

  As they drifted forward, Talon squinted out the windows. His crimson eye peered into the shimmering depth of the Soul Vault.

  A series of platforms floated in the glowing space ahead of them. They appeared to be carved from dark gray stone, and more colossal statues circled around each of their bases. The arms of the mighty figures gripped the edges of the platforms, as though they were supporting the floating structures upon their massive shoulders.

  As the Star Claw drifted over one of the platforms, Talon and Avra marveled at the view beneath the ship. The circular stone floor was thousands of meters across, and covered with interlocking circles of ancient symbols. The runes pulsed with a faint light, so dim that Talon could barely see them through the hazy atmosphere.

  A jagged wall of rock hugged the edge of the platform, wrapping halfway around the carved stone disk. The rock walls reached hundreds of kilometers up into the void, and the ship’s hull nearly scrapped the jagged spires as they drifted above it. Tiny dots of light pulsed and glowed within the rocks, like a galaxy of miniature stars, shining out over each platform.

  “This unit wishes to direct your attention to the tactical display,” Utu droned.

  Talon tore his gaze away from the platform, and glanced at his holo-display. A large red dot drifted ahead of the ship, followed by a cluster of smaller signals.

  “Enemy vessels ahead,” he called out.

  “I see them,” Avra replied. She zeroed in on the largest reading. A glowing wireframe diagram of a starship hovered over her command chair.

  She squinted as she examined a series of technical readings. “The smaller bogeys are typical scavenger riff-raff… old cruisers, salvaged cargo haulers, that kind of junk. But this warship is huge. The ship’s archive has no record of this design. It must be ancient.”

  “Volonte’s ship,” Talon growled. He peered at the glowing dots on his holo-display. “We’re close enough to be within their sensor
range… why haven’t they moved to intercept us?”

  “I engaged the cloak just before we jumped through the portal,” Avra said. She gave a short, bitter laugh. “It’s about the only system still working after that stunt you pulled.”

  Talon eyed the glowing dots on the display as they drifted closer. “They’ve taken up position around one of those platforms,” he said, pointing at one of the floating stone platforms on the horizon.

  “Let me guess,” Avra asked, as she tilted her chair to a sitting position. “That’s where you sense Suphara?”

  Talon glanced back at her. His crystal eye sparkled with an inner fire. The glowing gem pulsed brighter, as they floated closer to the circle of rocks. “I can’t be sure but… I know she is close.”

  Avra returned his stare in silence, and bit her lip. Then she turned to Utu. “What kind of atmosphere readings are you getting out there?”

  “This unit detects breathable atmosphere within the confines of the vault.”

  She nodded. “So we can survive without suits.” She turned back to Talon and gestured towards the mech with her thumb. “Is this scrapheap qualified to pilot a side-gunner class vessel?”

  Talon tilted his head, “You mean the Star Claw? I’m sure he could figure it out. Why?”

  The fiery-haired woman grinned and began tapping the controls on the tactical display. “Someone has to come up with a plan that doesn’t get us all killed. Bring us closer to that platform. I’ve got an idea.”

  Talon returned her smile and grabbed the control sticks. The Star Claw’s engines rumbled as he increased thruster power, guiding them closer to the floating platform, and the cluster of warships in the distance.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Volonte’s body tensed as bolts of red energy crackled across his armored frame. His vocal synthesizers screamed… two voices cried out, shifting and warping together as one. He raised his arms and felt them slam into something solid… a cold, hard barrier hovered just above his armored body.

  He opened his eyes… Beyond the translucent barrier, he saw a prism of images and colors. The blurry mosaic of shadows looked like the eye of a gigantic insect, staring back at him.

  The crystalline shards, he thought. I’m inside one of those pods, in the rocks!

  Volonte’s eyes pulsed with a crimson fire. Uttering one final cry of rage, the mech’s arms shot out, shattering the crystal chamber that surrounded him. With a tremendous crash, his body fell to the ground.

  Balancing on his hands and knees, he looked up and observed his surroundings… he was not among the rocks below. Instead, he found himself in a smaller chamber, surrounded by shards of crystal. The shimmering, jagged structures pulsed with energy. White mist obscured the cold, hard ground beneath him, and a soft hum buzzed through the air, like the beating of a massive insect’s wings.

  The Cortex! I must be within the sphere…

  Volonte’s metal chest rose and fell, even though he did not breathe air like a man. His servos clicked and whirred as he picked himself up from the ground. He turned to face Dulkar. The sorcerer’s containment suit hovered in the air, floating within a purple sphere of light. A beam of energy streamed from his visor, and struck the halo surrounding the crystalline woman.

  She too hovered in the air, several meters away. She was still unconscious, and her glittering body hung suspended over a swirling red pool, a massive energy portal that roiled beneath her feet. The facets of her body refracted the sorcerer’s energy wave, splitting it into hundreds of smaller beams. They bounced through the crystal chamber, criss-crossing in the air like a glowing spider’s web.

  The armored golemech stalked towards Dulkar, his eyes burning with crimson fury. “You,” he hissed. “You lied to me… tricked me. You seduced me with me a past that never was. A life I never lived!”

  With a loud clank, his sword slid from his forearm. Snarling with rage, Volonte swung the blade through the air. Metal fibers and servo motors bulged in the golemech’s shoulders, as he threw all his weight into the attack.

  The mighty blow pierced the energy field surrounding Dulkar, and stuck his containment suit at the waist. Tearing through mesh and armor plating, the razor-sharp weapon ripped the suit open. A stream of glowing mist shot out of the gash… Dulkar’s essence, pure, living energy, erupted from the torn suit with an angry hiss.

  A scream of pain emerged from his glowing visor. The remnants of the shattered energy field faded away, and the purple beam died out. The sorcerer’s limp body collapsed to the ground.

  Dulkar raised his arm, frantically summoning a swirl of dark energy. But before he could complete his ritual, Volonte swung his blade again, lopping off the sorcerer’s outstretched hand.

  More glowing mist jetted from the tear in Dulkar’s suit. It crawled across the fog-shrouded ground, struggling to congeal into some semblance of a humanoid figure.

  Volonte took a step back as the luminous wraith staggered towards him.

  “You are too late, Volonte.” The voice was a furious howl, like the wind of a powerful storm. It seemed to rise and fall in volume… one moment a bellowing roar, the next, a whisper in his ear. “I am more than mere flesh. You cannot slay me so easily.”

  The golemech growled as he swung his blade through the air. The glowing specter collapsed at the weapon's touch, as the blade passed through its translucent body. Dular’s energy field lost cohesion. The trails of mist that remained drifted down to the ground, and disappeared within the fog.

  “Without your containment suit, you are nothing,” Volonte roared.

  “You are wrong,” the voice called back, a faint echo rising from the churning mists. “For now, I am not one. I… am… MANY!”

  As the last traces of the phosphorescent cloud seeped through the cracks in the crystalline floor, a rumbling echo shook the chamber’s walls, like thunder on the distant horizon.

  Volonte peered into the crystals above. His glowing eyes grew wider, letting in more light. Dim, flickering lights pulsed through the shimmering walls of the Cortex. He saw images, reflected in the jagged shards surrounding him.

  The crystal pods in the rocks below were opening. The golemech bodies inside began to stir.

  “No,” Volonte whispered. “It cannot be…”

  He eyed the floating alien woman for a moment… her body still hung lifeless and still, suspended by an unseen force over the swirling red portal. Raising his weapon, he stepped into the circular pool of light. As he sank into the beam, a scream emerged from his voice synthesizer.

  He felt his body plunge down, tumbling and falling through infinity.

  Aviarux starred up at the dark, craggy rock walls… a distant series of clanks echoed from the shadows, and the jet of pressurized gas hissed through the air. Narrowing her pale blue eyes, she peered at the craggy rock walls surrounding the floating platform. She could see movement in the distance…

  Suddenly, the roar of engines rushed overhead. Aviarux spun around, as bright lights beamed down from above. Thruster jet exhaust blasted through her hair. Shielding her eyes, she squinted as the blazing glow bathed her in a pool of light.

  A starship hovered overhead… Somehow, a new vessel had entered the vault.

  Crackling bolts of energy rippled across its hull, as the ship de-cloaked only a few meters above them. The translucent, shimmering mirage solidified, and the long, sloped wing of a sidegunner class vessel was revealed…

  It was the Star Claw!

  “All men, return to your ships!” Aviarux shouted as she furiously tapped the screen of her wrist unit. “Aviarux to Serpentar bridge,” she shouted into the comm system. “Open fire on—”

  Before she could finish her orders, the Star Claw’s engines blazed to life. It swooped up, darting over the rock walls of the platform. The outlaw drew her pulse pistol and opened fire, but her glowing energy bolts dissipated on the rocks as the vessel crested the ridge, and sped away into the crystal horizons of the vault. She could hear the growl of the Serpen
tar’s engines firing, as the massive ship turned and pursued the intruder.

  Pointing her pistol straight up, Aviarux fired several bolts into the air. “Man your vessels!” she shouted to the confused men standing around her. “Chase these dogs down before—”

  A series of clanking metal footsteps echoed from the shadows near the platform’s mangled entrance. The woman lowered her weapon and took a tentative step towards the bent metal doors. The other men fell in behind her.

  “What in Nitara’s name was that?” one of them whispered.

  The polished chrome body of a golemech emerged from the darkness and stalked towards the crew. One of the men shoved Aviarux aside and stood before the mechanical being.

  “Captain Volonte? Is that you?”

  “Volonte… is… no more,” the metal thing answered back. Its speech was a distorted, digital reproduction of Dulkar’s voice. “He is like you now. Flesh and blood. Weak. Pathetic.”

  Raising his weapon, the golemech fired, sending a pulse bolt into the outlaw’s chest. As the man fell twitching the ground, two more mechanical bodies marched behind it. More shadows crawled above… more footsteps echoed in the darkness. Avriarux and the others stepped away from the smoking corpse.

  “Your time has come to an end,” the golemechs chanted in unison. “We shall purge your kind from the galaxy. All flesh must burn!”

  “Open fire!” Aviarux shouted. Fanning out, the crew unleashed a barrage of pulse-fire. Sparks showered from the golemech’s chest. But even as it struck the ground, a dozen more took its place, climbing down from the rocks above.

  Suddenly, a high-pitched scream pierced the air. A blur of motion swooped overhead. Curved talons tore into one of the mechs, hoisting it into the air.

  Aviarux raised her pistol, but the creature was too fast. It streaked overhead, hurling the sparking mechanical body at her fleeing men.