by A A Warren
“My business is my own. And you’ll have a better chance of escaping these tunnels with my help. Now, will you do as I ask or not?”
She nodded, rubbing her arms. “I suppose I owe you that much.”
“Aye,” Talon grunted. “That you do. Now, we’d best get a move on, before any more of those creatures find us.”
He held out his hand. Dariel reached out and took it. She uttered a surprised gasp as he pulled her to her feet. The motion seemed effortless to him, as if he were picking up a scrap of cloth.
“Put your arms around me,” he said. “Then hold tight. Can you do that?”
“I think so.” She did as he asked. Then he began the climb back down the rock wall. “You’re very strong,” she murmured. The muscles in his neck and shoulders rippled beneath her arms as they proceeded down the rocks. “You must be a soldier, a warrior.”
“Just don’t kick around too much,” Talon muttered. “These wet rocks are slippery. I don’t want to lose my grip.”
“There’s a thermal vent not far from here,” she breathed into his ear as they continued their descent. “The krakasaur don’t nest there, they don’t like the warm water that surrounds it. That’s how I got out of the tower.”
Talon chuckled. “Well, let’s hope we have better luck on the way in than you did on the way out.”
Chapter Four
Dariel guided him through the flooded tunnels to a narrow ventilation shaft that ran up into the structure of the tower. After more climbing, they crawled onto a tiny service alcove. Talon hoisted the girl up onto the cramped platform. A warm, humid wind blew down through the shaft. The air had an acidic, chemical smell.
“Watch your balance,” Talon said, pressing his back against the wall. He peered down the shaft they had just climbed. The faint glow of blinking work lights vanished into the shadows below. “It’s a long way down.”
The woman rolled her eyes. “Obviously.” She knelt on the ledge and touched his leg. “Uh, excuse me?”
Talon squinted at her in confusion, then shifted his weight sideways on the narrow platform.
Dariel leaned forward and tapped a pattern on a glowing panel behind him. “You were blocking the access controls. I stole the security code from a terminal in Navena’s bedchamber.” A metal access panel slid back with a quiet hiss, revealing a narrow crawlspace. “Here... this runs beneath the lower levels of the tower. You sure you want to do this? The Empress doesn’t take kindly to surprise guests.”
Talon shook his head. “We shall see.” He glanced around the alcove. “It seems safe in this shaft. You can wait here for my return.”
The woman tilted her head and blinked. “Who are you? I don’t even know your name.”
“My name is Talon.” He kneeled down and peered into the access tunnel. “Dariel, I have no wish to jeopardize your escape. If I don’t return soon, go on without me.”
“You said yourself, I’ll have a better chance making it through the rest of these tunnels with you by my side.”
He nodded. “That’s true. But—“
“So it’s in my best interests to make sure you don’t get killed. Follow me.”
She crawled into the tunnel.
“Dariel, wait—“
“Shhhh! You want to let the whole tower know we’re here? Shut up and follow me. I’ll take you on a route that bypasses the main guard posts. At least that will give you a fighting chance to find the Empress. Assuming that’s what you really want.”
Talon crawled in after her. “What I want is to leave this forsaken rock and rejoin my men on the Balteus,” he whispered back to her. “But to do that, I must remove this accursed collar from my neck.”
“And you think the Empress can help?”
Talon was silent for a moment. “In a manner of speaking,” he finally muttered.
The darkness of the tunnel swallowed them, as they crawled on in silence.
Talon peered up through a metal grill. After thirty minutes of crawling through the cramped, narrow passageway, they had emerged into a pipe conduit, running beneath the deck plates of a hangar. Above them, Talon saw several transports docked on the landing pads. Clusters of repair mechs hovered around the ships, fixing damaged systems on the vessels.
“This is the main hangar deck,” Dariel whispered. There are guards positioned outside but if you take the—“
Suddenly, she shrieked. Talon clamped a hand over her mouth, muffling the sound as much as possible. He heard a tiny clicking sound… a long, sleek rodent with matted black fur and ten pairs of legs scurried past. It made a loud chittering sound, then disappeared into the pipes and hoses that lined the crawlspace.
“Quiet!” he hissed. “It’s just a skulker.”
She nodded and he removed his hand. Suddenly, footsteps clanged across the grill. Talon and the girl ducked into the shadows, as a pair of armored men marched across the deck plates above them.
“You hear something?” one of them asked. His voice cracked through the speakers of his helmet. Talon watched from the shadows, as the man swept his pulse rifle back and forth.
"Negative,” the other replied. “Probably just more of those skulkers. They’ve been gorging themselves on the supplies in the shuttle.”
“Last meal those vermin will ever have.”
“Yeah,” the other one chuckled. “But what a way to go!”
The two men continued marching overhead. Their footsteps disappeared into the distance.
Talon gently prodded the grill above them with the inactive shaft of his plasma axe. The grill lifted up and he shimmied through onto the deck. Then he pulled Dariel up after him.
They darted behind one of the ships. Talon peered around the edge of the hull, watching as the two men exited a pair of shielded doors at end of the hangar.
The deck was dark, lit only by a few orange glow spheres floating above. The repair mechs hummed about them, focused on their work. Their programming did not seem to include dealing with intruders.
“Those doors must be the main exit where the guards are stationed,” Talon whispered. “You said there was another way out?”
“Yes, but wait… look at this.” Dariel dropped to her hands and knees and pointed under the shuttle. Several dead animals lay strewn across the deck. Their long, sleek corpses were twisted in painful, unnatural positions. Blood streamed from their eye sockets, and angry, pustulous blisters erupted from the skin around their snouts.
“Iberon’s harem,” Talon muttered. “We’re surrounded by armed guards in a crime lord’s tower and you’re worried about a few dead skulkers?”
“Those men weren’t part of the Empress's guard. Navena only uses mechs for security. She doesn't trust anyone else. Someone has invaded the tower and they were talking about these animals." She crept out from behind the shuttle. “Look… there’s more!”
“Dariel, wait!” Talon hissed. But the woman was already following a trail of the dead rodents. Muttering a silent curse, Talon jogged after her.
The trail of furry corpses led to the cargo bay of a small supply ship. The woman glanced around the chamber, making sure they were alone. Then she darted up the ramp and into the ship.
Talon followed. “Dariel, we should get out of here before…” His voice trailed off. “Orion’s blazing bow!” he gasped.
Hundreds of the animals lay dead in the tiny cargo bay. Their mangled bodies piled up against dozens of food and supply containers.
Dariel tapped the controls on the side of a container. The lid hissed open, releasing a burst of white mist. Inside, row after row of nutrition packs were stacked side by side, wrapped in clear plastic. Dariel pulled out one of the bundles.
“Look, the plastic here is chewed away,” she said, tugging at the loose wrapping. The bars fell apart and tumbled to the ground. She picked one up. “The skulkers got into the containers somehow. They were eating this food."
“Aye,” Talon muttered. “And it killed them. Could it be poisoned?”
“Who would want to po
ison skulkers?”
She closed the lid. A glowing shipping label lit up on the container's data screen.
“Wait, I recognize that design,” Talon muttered. He pointed at the screen. “One of the medals the Magistrate wore… It bore the same markings. Those two symbols, surrounded by a pair of wings.”
“The Magistrate? He sent you here?”
“He didn’t give me much choice in the matter,” Talon said, tapping the collar around his neck. “For now, he holds my life in his hands. But what do these symbols mean?”
“It’s an ancient language,” Dariel replied. “The symbols are letters. G and R.”
“Galt-Rand,” Talon muttered. “They own the mining colony on Kybera. The Magistrate said they were willing to look the other way regarding the Emerald Empress’s dust smuggling, so long as the miners continued to work themselves to the bone.”
“Dust smuggling? Navena may be many things, but she’s not a dust smuggler!”
Talon gave her a suspicious look. “You sound like you admire her. Odd, considering less than an hour ago you were trying to escape her tower.”
“I… It’s not that simple! I—“
“You there… freeze!”
Talon spun around. An armored solider stood on the supply ship’s loading ramp. The man aimed a pulse rifle at the two of them as he marched closer. Talon recognized the design of the man’s armor… he was one of the Magistrate’s men.
“I said don’t move!” The guard’s amplified voice echoed through the tiny loading bay. “Drop the weapon, now!”
Talon stepped in front of Dariel. “I was sent here by Magistrate Balakov himself. Apparently, my services weren’t needed, but I still fulfilled the terms of our bargain."
“I know who you are. Don’t move!”
He toggled the comm unit on the side of his helmet. “Unit 54435, I have the prisoner secured. Send more units to—“
From the corner of his eye, Talon saw a flash of light, high above the hangar deck. The soldier cried out in surprise as a shower of dead skulkers rained down on him, pummeling his helmet. His gun dipped as the stream of dead animals knocked the weapon aside.
Scarcely able to believe his eyes, Talon moved without hesitation. Dipping low, he triggered his plasma axe. As the blade hummed to life, the surprised soldier stumbled backwards, firing wildly. Dariel screamed as a stray pulse bolt struck the container next to her, melting a hole in the dura-plas wall.
Before the soldier could adjust his aim, Talon was upon him. Bellowing a ferocious war cry, the warrior swung his axe, severing the man’s rifle in half.
Sparks leapt from the mangled weapon's barrel. Talon landed a savage kick on the man’s torso. His armor plating absorbed the force of the blow, but he stumbled backwards and lost his footing on the ramp.
With a cry of surprise, the man toppled over and rolled backwards down the sloped loading ramp.
As he fell to the deck plates, he reached down to his side, drawing a smaller pistol from a holster at his waist. He raised the weapon to fire, aiming at the screaming girl. Talon leapt in front of Dariel. The gun screamed and a glowing bolt streaked towards her. But the shot ricocheted off the magnetic containment field of his plasma axe.
Before the soldier could fire again, Talon hurled his weapon through the air. The glowing blade buried itself in the man’s helmet.
The soldier dropped his pistol and slumped to the ground. The weapon clattered through the deck plates and fell into the dark conduit below.
“That pompous fool Balakov has betrayed me,” Talon snarled. “But why would he go through all the trouble of sending me here, only to—“
Before he could finish the thought, an explosion rumbled through the hangar. The muted roar of pulse bolts echoed in the distance.
“That came from the Empress's throne room… this way!” the girl shouted. She ran down the ramp, grabbing the soldiers discarded pistol along the way.
“Dariel, wait!” Talon shouted.
“You want that collar off your neck?” she shouted back to him as she sprinted onto a hydraulic lift. “The Empress might be able to help. But not if the Magistrate’s men kill her first!”
“Iberon’s harem,” Talon grunted as he hurried after her. “I seem to be making strange allies these days. First a Magistrate, then a slave. And now a Lokaba crime mistress.”
“You can never have too many friends in low places,” the girl said with a grin, as she activated the lift. They ascended towards the catwalks running above the hangar deck.
Chapter Five
The sounds of battle grew louder as the catwalk led them to a shadowed balcony. Nestled between towering statues, Talon peered down at a long, marble vestibule. A purple carpet ran down the center aisle of the opulent chamber, ending at a raised throne carved from pure Calderion stone.
The high-pitched whine of pulse weapons echoed from beyond the chamber. An explosion thundered through the air, and the glow spheres hovering above flickered and dimmed. Suddenly, a figure ran into the room… a woman, draped in fluttering diaphanous green silk.
She was tall, statuesque, and beautiful. Her skin was pale, whiter than snow. Her three eyes were like glowing green gems, and long tresses of golden blonde hair flowed down her back, adorned with gems and metal filigree.
As she raced into the chamber, a volley of pulse bolts streaked past her head. She spun around, swirling her hands in the air. Glowing symbols flickered to life around her.
“The Emerald Empress,” Talon whispered.
The young woman glanced over at him. She stared at him in surprise, as his eye pulsed with crimson light.
“The crystal in your eye… it’s glowing!” she whispered.
“Yes... it tends to do that, from time to time.”
“But what does it mean?” she asked.
“I wish I knew.”
He glanced back down, as another volley of pulse bolts streaked into the room. The glowing energy beams ricocheted off a dome of golden light surrounding the woman.
More men stormed into the room. Their bodies were shrouded with flowing dark cloaks. As they ran into the chamber, one of the men’s robes parted, and Talon spotted a dangling triangle pendant draped around his neck. The Empress backed away from them, heading towards the throne as the men continued firing.
“Iberon’s harem,” he muttered. “Kyberan soldiers, Lokaba enforcers… there’s no shortage of killers in the Empress’s tower tonight!”
The men’s steady barrage of pulse-fire lit up the shadows of the chamber. The Empress fell to her knees. Her energy shield sputtered and grew faint.
“Keep firing,” one of the cloaked men shouted. “We have her now!”
Talon looked down at Dariel. The girl had a pained look on her face, as if she felt the sting of each energy bolt fired below. “You fear for the Empress’s life? Did she not make you a slave?”
“I… It’s not that simple, I…”
A cry of pain rose from the chamber below. Talon looked down. One of the energy bolts tore through the weakened dark energy field and struck the alien woman's shoulder.
“Enough of this,” Talon snarled. The fiery plasma blade of his axe hummed to life as he triggered the power button with his thumb.
Dariel grabbed his arm. “What are you doing?”
“The Magistrate betrayed me, that much is clear. I don’t know what his game is yet. But it is clear these men have no honor. And the enemy of my enemy…”
“Could be a new friend,” the girl said, giving him an enigmatic smile.
“Aye.” Talon returned her grin. “And it’s good to have friends in low places.” He turned to the balcony and backed up. Then he took a running leap off the edge.
His battle cry echoed through the chamber as he descended on the men below. One of the startled enforcers ceased firing and glanced up, but he was too late… Talon’s boots slammed into his chest, knocking him to the ground. As they both fell, the plasma axe cleaved into the man's head.
&n
bsp; Smoke drifted up from charred black hood as Talon rolled to his feet. The other men spun around and opened fire, but he was already charging towards them. A stray shot grazed his shoulder, but he ignored the pain as he swung his fiery axe, cutting a burning gash across the nearest man's chest.
Talon spun around, dodging another energy blast as he spun his weapon in a wide arc. Another enforcer’s head toppled from his body and bounced across the floor. Before the remaining enforcers could attack, the alien woman crouching by the throne pressed a button on the arm of the massive chair. A small drawer slid out, and her slim fingers wrapped around the grip of a sleek, elegant pistol. She took cover behind the grand throne and opened fire.
The nearest man tumbled to the ground as a sparking hole erupted in his chest.
Talon did not pause in his attack. He lunged towards the last soldier, swinging his plasma axe overhead. The armored thug stepped in close and thrust his rifle up. The weapon blocked the shaft of Talon’s axe, halting the attack in mid-air. But the force of the blow drove the man to his knees. Talon grit his teeth, pushing the humming blade closer and closer to the enforcer’s hooded face. The fiery glow of the plasma axe reflected in his crystal eye.
The Empress fired again, but her shot went wide and struck one of the statues in the chamber. Bits of rubble exploded from the sculpture. She stepped out from behind her throne, clutching the pistol in a two-handed grip.
“Enough!” she shouted. “You fools think to invade my home, slay my servants, and defile my personal chambers? Drop your weapons and I shall grant you a merciful death! If you refuse, I—“
Suddenly, a pulse bolt streaked across the room, and struck the alien woman in the chest. She gave a strangled cry of pain as she staggered backwards. Her voice sounded distorted, almost electronic. Another bolt struck her shoulder and more sparks showered from her body. She toppled over, falling to the marble floor. Her body struck the ground face first. It twitched for a moment, then lay still.
Talon snarled and drove a knee into his opponent's chest. The savage blow knocked the man backwards. Before he could recover, Talon swung the axe down, severing his opponent's rifle in half. He swung again, slashing through the man’s abdomen.
