by A A Warren
Talon shook his head. “No, definitely not. This feels different. Perhaps I am merely dreaming?”
Avra lowered her lips to his. “Well whatever you do… don’t you dare wake up.”
Her kiss devoured him. Talon’s arms curled around her, crushing her body to him. He felt the heat of her breasts pressing against his skin, the smooth caress of her legs entangled with his own. And he knew… He knew with absolute certainty that whatever this was, it was no dream.
Avra pulled away and gazed down at him again. “So if this isn’t a dark energy bond… This might be the last time I see you.”
Talon ran his fingers down her cheek. “I hope not… but in truth, I don’t know how much time we have.”
She shook her head, tossing her fiery hair over her shoulder. “No one ever does. You and me... we’re warriors, Talon. Not prophets. We live by our code, and take pleasure when we can.”
Talon grabbed her face in both hands and stared deep into her eyes. “I have never asked for anything more. And I never shall.”
“No more words, then.” Avra nuzzled his neck. Her lips traveled down his chest, and he felt her hair trailing across his skin.
“Besides,” she whispered. “All this talking might disturb Suphara.”
Talon narrowed his eyes. “What?”
He felt another hand move across his shoulder. Turning his head, he found himself gazing into the glowing eyes of the crystalline woman. The shimmering facets of Suphara’s hair reflected the warm light surrounding them. The light engulfed him, its warm glow blocking out all other sensations.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Talon shot up in bed, gasping for breath. He glanced down at the rumpled sheets, but he was alone.
The cabin was empty.
He felt a faint vibration, rumbling through the metal bulkhead. Outside the window, waves of color swirled around the ship.
Portal space, he thought. I’m aboard the Star Claw, heading back to the Dominion. He shook his head. “Just a dream after all,” he muttered to himself.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The harsh electronic chime sounded from the door again. Sighing, he threw himself out of bed, and slipped on his breeches. Pacing to the door, he leaned against the frame, and pressed the open button.
The panel hissed open. Suphara stood in the doorway, her shimmering body wrapped in a sheet. Talon opened his mouth, but before he could even speak, a glowing energy blade hummed to life in her fist. The dark energy weapon hovered millimeters from his throat. He could feel its heat against his skin.
She glared at him, her beautiful face contorted into an angry scowl.
“How dare you,” she hissed. “How dare you enter my pharum khora sukh without permission! I should flay the skin from your…” Her voice trailed off as she stared into his eyes.
Talon met her glare with a smoldering gaze of his own. “If you’ve come to test me in battle, Suphara, then let me fetch my axe and we’ll settle this as warriors. But I swear to you, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Liar!” she snapped. Her eyes traveled up and down his body, as if noticing his lack of clothes for the first time. “I… these thoughts, crawling through my mind. These desires are not mine. You must have put them there. The crystal in your eye, it has bewitched me, somehow!”
Talon sighed. “I take it this is about the dream. You had it too?”
She shook her head, averting her eyes from his smoldering gaze. “That was no dream. You and I… Our minds were as one. As were our bodies. It is the ultimate expression of pleasure. It is sacred, holy.” She glanced up at him, confusion in her eyes. “It is how my kind express… intimacy.”
Talon gently grabbed her hand, and pushed the dark energy blade away from his throat. Suphara blinked, then whispered a few words in her native tongue. The energy hummed and died away. But she did not pull her hand from Talon’s grasp.
“I assure you, it was through no action on my part,” he said. “I merely wished to rest.”
Suphara narrowed her eyes. “It should not be possible. A human and an Oreon, sharing such an experience. It is… taboo.”
Talon shrugged. “If you say so. I, for one, want to go back to sleep. So if you’ll excuse me…”
He let go of her hand, but she grabbed the edge of the door, blocking it from closing.
“Avra,” she hissed. “Her ayari, what you would call her soul… it is a part of me now. We are as one. And she has strong feelings of… attraction. She is the cause of this! I am having difficulty separating her desires from my own.”
She reached out and touched his chest, as if in a trance. He looked down, watching her shimmering fingers trace the outlines of the tattoo that snaked across his pectoral muscles.
“If Avra is to blame, then why are you still standing here in my door?”
Suphara met his gaze head on. She jerked her hand away, as if the touch of his flesh burned.
“This will not happen again, human. You will stay out of my sight until we reach the Dominion. Is that clear?"
Talon laughed. “As you wish, Suphara. But I have no intention hiding for our entire journey. So unless you can learn to control these strange outbursts of yours, I hope you don’t mind confining yourself to your quarters.”
He gently removed her hand from the door frame, allowing the panel to slide closed.
He half expected her to ring the door chime again. But all he heard was the slow, gentle vibration of the ship's engines, propelling them through the glowing star-path.
He paced over to the window and stared out into the colorful void. Far in the distance, he could make out the hazy, iridescent plume of the cosmic fountain. The gravity of the black hole at its center was so powerful that even here, within portal space, it left a shadow of its existence.
Was it possible? he wondered. Was what Suphara said true? Did Avra live on through her?
He remembered the battle in the Soul Vault… the strange, shimmering phantasm he thought he saw over the golemech’s shoulder. Her fiery hair and emerald eyes… he could have sworn it was her.
And the pleasure of their dream… the ravenous, sensual hunger of her lips on his skin.
Perhaps, he thought. Perhaps it was true.
As the ship sped on through the swirling void, Talon smiled. Some part of his mind knew more darkness and battle likely awaited him in the Dominion. He did not believe in destiny… he charted his own path through the stars. But like Avra said in the dream, he was a warrior — he faced his enemies head on. And he would have it no other way.
But for now, he was here on the Star Claw. Travel through the Gyre was slow. It would be a long journey to reach the stars of his old home.
A very long, and very interesting journey indeed, he thought. He grinned, and continued watching the iridescent colors outside. The ship drifted onward, plunging deeper into the endless void.
Talon and the Moon of the Emerald Empress
A TALES OF TALON NOVELLA
Author’s Note
The events of this story take place between Talon the Slayer and Talon the Raider…
Galactic Chronicles, Subfile 1127-C-B07
During Talon’s tour with the Dominion Merchant Marines, his path through the stars was fraught with adventure, battle, and the shifting tides of fortune.
Many prominent figures crossed his path in those early years, including the enigmatic woman known as the Emerald Empress. To some, she was a revolutionary and freedom fighter. To others, a vicious criminal and murderess…
As is often the case in these chronicles, the truth was somewhere in between. A fact Talon would soon learn, when a bar room brawl landed him in the dungeons of the Kyberan Magistrate…
Jord’n Tomas, Dominion Chronicler
Chapter One
PLANET KYBERA IV
Kybera System
Tygon Dominion, Outer Reaches
It hurt to look at the light.
Talon groaned and closed his eyes, but it seemed impos
sible to close out the harsh white glare. He opened them again, squinting as he staggered to his feet. His body ached and he felt dizzy. His mouth was dry and a foul taste clung to his tongue.
“Kyberan Brandy,” he muttered to himself. “What was I thinking?”
He glanced around the tiny room. The walls were smooth, bare metal, and devoid of any features. The floor consisted of heavy grates bolted into place. A crackling hum filled the air. He looked over his shoulder and saw a shimmering forcefield blocking the only exit from the chamber.
He was in a prison cell.
Slowly, his recollection of the night before emerged from the fog of his thoughts. The details were fuzzy, but he remembered an argument with a Kyberan miner. A fight over a dancing girl. Kev and his fellow Merchant Marines backed him up, and soon the entire bar joined the brawl. One thing led to another…
“Damn,” he muttered to himself, as he rubbed his throbbing temples. “Don’t tell me that piece of hundskak died.”
“Indeed, he did.” The voice spoke from behind him.
Talon spun around and saw a shimmering blue hologram, hovering in the cell with him. The glowing image showed a tall, imposing man who looked to be in his fifties. His dark, sunken eyes peered out beneath a broad forehead. He had a hooked nose and a long, elaborate beard decorated with braids and bits of metal.
The man in the projection wore a military uniform of some kind, though Talon was not familiar with the design. A row of medals hung from his chest and elaborate braids draped over his shoulder. One of the ornaments was larger than the rest and featured two alien symbols, framed by a pair of wings.
“Where am I?” Talon demanded.
The hologram shrugged. “Where would any murderer expect to find himself? You have been imprisoned.”
“Murder? My memory is still a bit hazy, but as I recall, a miner named Soven threatened one of the marines in my unit with a pulse pistol.”
“Perhaps,” the image said, flickering and buzzing as the man paced across the tiny cell. “But Soven Druvoss has taken his last breath. You did smash a bottle over his head, after all.”
“A bottle? That’s all? I thought these Kyberan miners were made of tougher stuff,” Talon grunted.
“Well, that was after you stabbed him in the chest with a cryocite blade.”
Talon nodded. “I see. That would do it, then.” He narrowed his eyes and stared at the glowing hologram. The image’s light reflected in his crystal eye, casting a faint crimson glow across his face. “You are my jailer then, I take it? I hold a commission with the Tygon Dominion Merchant Marines. Captain Snow, my commanding officer, will be looking for me soon.”
“I doubt that. Your ship, the Balteus, just left orbit. When your disappearance is noticed, they will assume you deserted. Many men do, now that the Dominion is at war with the Consortium.”
“Jailer or no, watch your tone,” Talon snarled. “I’m no coward or deserter.”
The man clasped his hands behind his back. “Excellent, that's good to hear. You are the one they call ‘Talon’, yes? The gladiator who became a hero of the Dominion? The man who returned the rightful heir to the throne of Tal Adar?”
“What of it?” Talon replied.
“My name is Raston Balakov. I am the Magistrate of the mining colony here on Kybera. And I have need of a brave warrior like yourself. One who does not cower in the face of a powerful dark energy wielder. The stories say you faced down a god?”
“In a manner of speaking.”
“Well, then this should be a trivial matter. I have a problem that requires one with your… special talents.”
“Surely you have your own soldiers,” Talon replied. “Most of the men I’ve known with titles like yours spend their time relaxing in their estates, gouging themselves on food and wine. While paying others to kill and die for them.”
The man chuckled. “Of course. But I’m afraid I’ve already tried that. The Empress guards herself with her husband’s mech forces. Top of the line combat models. I sent four of my best killers to her tower, with orders to bring me her head. That was over a week ago. No one has seen them since. After that, my men have not been so eager to volunteer for such an assignment.”
“Empress?”
A second hologram glowed to life next to the Magistrate… it spun in the air, revealing a tall, imposing looking woman. She was alien, with pale white skin and pointed ears. Three glowing green eyes blinked in her porcelain face. Her hair was liquid gold, held back with silver metal bands and emerald pins. Long, flowing green silks wrapped around her voluptuous body.
“She is known as the ‘Emerald Empress’, a fanciful alias. She’s not really an empress, of course. Her real name is Navena. She was once the consort of a powerful Lokaba gangster who held sway here during High General Kyr’s reign. In the chaos that followed the General's ousting, Navena saw fit to end her husband’s reign with a knife in his back.”
“Sounds like he got what he deserved,” Talon muttered.
The Magistrate nodded. “Perhaps. But then Navena assumed command of his criminal empire. Her husband was smart and ruthless. He kept a low profile, only did business over hyper-transmission or through mech intermediaries. The Empress has adopted his methods. She rarely leaves her tower. Few have seen her in person in years. But in that time, she has increased the scope of her illegal activities by a vast margin. Now she makes a fortune smuggling forbidden substances into colonies throughout the sector.”
The hologram held up a small, transparent sphere. Within the tiny globe, a swirl of glowing particles spun around in slow motion, as if suspended in a thick, invisible fluid.
“Fire orchid dust,” Talon snarled.
“Yes. In humans, it stimulates adrenaline production. Makes the miners work harder, allows them to ignore pain and exhaustion. And the harder they work, the greater the bonus they earn. But there is a price…”
"I have seen the effects many times in the arena," Talon said. "It is not a good death. But surely the Emperor can send you troops to—"
The magistrate cut him off with a cynical laugh.
"You are no politician, my friend. Between the current war and the outcry over all the young Emperor’s new laws… Well, let’s just say he has everyone from the highest nobles to the lowest criminal scum clamoring for him to abdicate the throne."
Talon glared back at the man. "Lucien Tygon may be young, but his heart has been tempered by death and loss. He will fight to protect his people.”
“As will I. There is nothing more valuable to me than the lives of my subjects. I have no doubt the Emperor means well, but this colony is owned by the Galt-Rand Guild. I assure you, as long as profits are high, they have little interest in upsetting the status quo here. They will use all their political capital to delay the Emperor from acting as long as possible. And in that time, who knows how many miners will die?”
The Magistrate coughed and puffed out his chest. “Besides, I think you’re missing a more immediate concern. You noticed the collar around your neck, I assume?”
Talon tugged at the metal loop that surrounded his neck. “Let me guess… a pain inducer?”
The hologram's face adopted a hurt expression. "We’re not savages here. No, the inside of that collar is lined with a series of narrow focus pulse projectors, aimed at your neck. Once I trigger the sequence, the four dots on the front will begin to light up. When all four glow red, the pulse beams fire, and…” The hologram shrugged. “I’m sure you get the idea."
Talon pounded the wall with his fist. “Remove it! Take it off, before I wring your…” He reached out for the glowing image, but his hands passed through the projection.
The Magistrate laughed. “Now you know why I chose to forgo a personal visit. Of course, I’d be happy to remove the device and send a message to your shipmates.”
“After I kill this Emerald Empress for you?” Talon snarled, recovering his balance.
“That would seem to be the easiest solution to both our pr
oblems. But make no mistake… the Empress is a deadly foe. Legends say she can peer into a man’s heart and see the truth within. She can kill with a word, even over vast distances. And she can sense the tides of destiny, read the ever-changing currents of the future.”
“I make my own destiny,” Talon growled. “And if this Empress is truly as powerful as you say, perhaps you should fear for your own head. Seeing as you’re plotting against her.”
The man in the hologram nodded. “Perhaps the tales are exaggerated. But forewarned is forearmed, as they say. Well, now that we understand each other, what is your answer?”
Talon starred at the glowing image of the smug man in the elaborate uniform. He clenched his fists, letting his simmering rage die down, and his blood cool. Then he nodded. “So be it. Tell me… where do I find this ‘Emerald Empress’?”
Chapter Two
RASTAN - THIRD MOON OF KYBERA IV
Tygon Dominion, Outer Reaches
Twelve Hours Later…
Talon kicked his legs, propelling his body through the cold, murky water. A lightweight environmental mesh encased his body and a clear helmet protected his face. But somehow the dark water’s chill managed to penetrate the suit's insulated fiber and heated gel inserts.
He took a deep breath, letting the helmet’s re-breather pull oxygen from the water as it cycled through its filtration membrane. In the dim light cast by the helmet’s illuminators he saw a metal grate a few meters ahead of him in the swirling haze.
As he swam towards the bars, a dark shadow moved across the waving plants and gray rocks on the ocean floor. Talon glanced up, but he saw nothing… whatever creature had passed overhead, it had vanished into the depths. He surveyed the surrounding water with an uneasy glance. Then he continued on, swimming until he reached the metal grate.