Talon the Slayer Read online

  TALON THE SLAYER

  TALES OF TALON BOOK 1

  A. A. Warren

  TALON THE SLAYER

  Andrew Warren

  Copyright © 2018 by Andrew Warren. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events or locales is purely coincidental. Reproduction in whole or part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited.

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  Contents

  Readers Group

  Excerpt 1175-B, From the Tales of Talon

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Talon returns in…

  Thank You!

  What to Read Next

  Readers Group

  A. A. Warren

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  Thank you.

  This book is dedicated to Ares and Mina.

  Best darned co-pilots in the galaxy. Still miss you guys. May the golden stars receive you…

  Excerpt 1175-B, From the Tales of Talon

  The fall of the Star Cross Throne marked the end of the Golden Era. The galaxy descended into a dark, violent age.

  Decades of peace marked fleeting interludes between centuries of war. And hidden in the deepest depths of space lay the First Ones - ancient beings of unthinkable power and unknowable appetites…

  Upon this tapestry of chaos and conflict, one man arose. A slave from the dusty, windswept worlds of the outer reaches. His travels shaped history. His adventures became legends.

  Wielding a plasma axe and an iron will, the man known as Talon would carve his own path to destiny…

  Jord’n Tomas, Dominion Chronicler

  Chapter One

  UNCLAIMED PLANETARY BODY

  (UCB 229-71B)

  Disputed Space, Dominion Border

  A beam of light pierced the murky gloom of the underground chamber. It cut through the dust and debris in the air, and cast crimson shadows over the vertical rock walls. The glow from the beam intensified. Its flickering red light revealed a series of carvings... faint tracings worn down by time and the elements. The ancient symbols and figures adorned the stone walls of a circular shaft. The murals curved away into the darkness, their makers lost to the mists of time.

  Then, with a sizzling hiss, the energy lance sliced through the stone overhead. Tiny chips of rock flew away from the intense beam, as it traced the edges of a stone slab that capped the shaft. The rock fragments rattled and bounced as they plunged into the shadowy depths.

  The sound of heavy boots stomping on the slab echoed through the darkness. A massive section of the stone fell away, striking the bottom of the shaft with a tremendous crash. Coils of rope slid through the new opening. Within seconds, three figures in sealed environmental suits rappelled down the shaft. Lights mounted on their helmets danced across the strange hieroglyphics that surrounded them. The hiss of their breathing apparatus echoed through the confined space.

  The shaft descended into a vast, domed chamber. One by one, the figures’ boots struck the bottom. They paused for a moment, checking the blinking displays mounted to their wrists. Pits and scrapes marred the exterior of each suit. Their red and orange paint had faded after decades of use in hostile environments. Sandstorms, methane gas and sulfur winds had scoured away most of the suits’ ID markings, but the name plates stamped below each helmet were still legible.

  One of the crew stepped away from the rope. Their lights swept across a cracked, decaying mural carved into the dome-like wall. The tag on her suit read ‘BECK’.

  “When you said the readings here were strange, you weren't joking,” she said. She whistled as her light revealed more of the chamber. “These markings, the architecture… I’ve never seen anything like it. Rydan, did you sweep—”

  “Yeah, carbon dating scan is finishing up,” Rydan replied, cutting her off. He turned to face her, his movements slow and awkward in the heavy suit. She could barely make out his features through the scuffed faceplate of his helmet. His skin was pale, and strands of fine blond hair were plastered to his face by sweat. “It’s taking longer than usual," he continued. "Nothing in these suits works right. Even the cooling systems are breaking down.”

  “That’s enough bitching,” the voice of the third figure crackled over their comm systems. “You want new suits? Well they don’t come cheap. Let’s make this a good haul.”

  The wrist unit on Rydan’s suit chirped. His eyes widened as he stared at the readings. “Captain, this… this can’t be right. The ship can’t translate these glyphs. There’s no record of anything like them in the data banks. And the age of these rocks… This is no lost colony or abandoned trading post. Airborne microbial counts indicate the atmosphere in here's been sealed for thousands of years, at least. Maybe longer.”

  The captain turned to face him. The name on his suit read ‘AROYAS’. He glared through his face-plate at Rydan. His eyes were deep brown, almost black. A hooked nose hung over his thin, sneering lips. Three angry pink scars ran across one of his cheeks.

  “Hundskak,” Aroyas cursed. “Check it again."

  The captain aimed his lights at a massive statue that dominated the center of the room. The sculpture depicted some kind of alien creature. It had crumbled and decayed, but Beck could make out a mass of reptilian scales, bat-like wings and curved claws. Even in its damaged state, it was monstrous and life-like. The upper half of the statue had fallen to the floor, and shattered into pieces. The remains towered over them in the vast, dark chamber.

  “Hope we don’t find one of those down here,” Beck said, gazing up at the monstrous statue. She paced around the crumbling rocks, examining a series of control panels that radiated from the base of the sculpture. “I don’t know what these instruments are for, but they seem too sophisticated for an ancient civilization. What race did you say lived here?”

  “No idea,” the captain said, pacing towards the eastern portion of the domed wall. “Whoever they were, they're long gone. All I know is, this place is old. And the first rule of salvage is, if it’s old, it’s valuable.”

  Rydan’s wrist unit beeped again. “Oh, it’s old all right, sir. This chamber predates the Star-Cross throne."

  “That’s pre-colonial history,” Beck said, squinting at the strange markings on the panels before her. The switch and buttons were dark and lifeless. No power or energy of any kind seemed to flow through the instruments, whatever they were.

  She glanced up at Rydan as he moved to the wall near Aroyas. “Pre-colonial? Before h
umans settled in this galaxy? That’s really old.”

  “Yeah,” he replied. “Really old. And really valuable." He brushed his gloved hands across the markings on the wall. A thin film of dust rose into the stagnant air.

  "Call in the haulers,” Aroyas grunted. “Whatever this stuff is, it’s a fair bet someone will fill our hold with chips for it.”

  Beck tapped the glowing display mounted to her wrist. A low hum vibrated across the ceiling. The noise grew louder, as a series of circular lights dove down the shaft towards them.

  A swarm of hauler mechs emerged from the opening and drifted in the air above them. Each unit was a compact pod, about the size of a human body. As they drifted through the air, their servo motors clicked and whirred. The units unfolded into large, insectile-looking bodies. Six metal leg clamps and a pair of glowing stabilizer wings emerged from each mech's body.

  Beck directed them with a signal beam from her wrist unit. Anything the light touched was “marked” for the hauler-bots’ sensors. The mechs grasped at the control panels with their spidery limbs. The metal groaned, as they tore the panels loose from the floor.

  Multiple haulers clamped on to the statue, while others grappled the shattered fragments that littered the floor. As they scouted the chamber, their anti-grav propulsion fields hummed and warbled. They strained to lift the heavy chunks of rock and debris into the darkness above.

  Rydan ignored the swarm of mechs. He continued inspecting the carvings that lined the chamber walls. He knelt down and aimed his lights through a dark crack that ran through one section of the carved mural.

  “Hey, check this out! These walls aren’t solid rock. There’s another chamber beyond this one.”

  He slipped a metal multi-tool from his belt, then placed it in the crack. “Think I can pry this panel out…” He grunted with exertion as he yanked on the tool, using it like a crowbar. Dust and a few tiny fragments shook loose, but the wall remained intact.

  “Captain, give me a hand,” he gasped.

  The older man chuckled. “I don’t think you understand the meaning of the word ‘Captain’. Help yourself, lad.”

  “Hold on Rydan,” Beck said, glaring at the captain as she bounced over to the struggling young man. “I’m coming.”

  Aroyas shrugged, and continued sweeping his lights around the chamber.

  “I got it, I got it,” Rydan muttered, his voice breaking up as a wave of distortion blasted over their comm systems. “Come on…”

  He yanked back again on the tool. A large chunk of stone crumbled away from the wall. He stumbled back, as falling rocks pelted his helmet. A cloud of dust billowed out of the dark hole.

  “Damn!” Rydan gasped, brushing the dust off his faceplate. "Almost cracked my helmet!” He peered through the new opening. “I was right! There’s another room back here!”

  Beck heard a high-pitched whine come from her wrist unit. She looked down and pressed the glowing display… She saw a small white dot rushing towards Rydan’s position.

  “Rydan, look out! Proximity sensors are picking up movement!”

  Rydan squinted and leaned forward into the dark hole. “I don’t see anything moving. But there is something back here. Looks like… coffins. Rows and rows of coffins!”

  The beeping at Beck’s wrist grew louder. “Rydan, don’t go in there!” She was running towards him as fast as she could, but the heavy suit slowed her movements.

  “Relax, I’m telling you, there’s noth— Ahhhhh!”

  His scream distorted and broke up over the comm system. Rydan’s body flew forward into the hole. The armored shoulders of his suit caught in the tight opening, and his body jerked and spasmed.

  Captain Aroyas spun around. “What the hell was that?” he demanded.

  “Something’s got Rydan!” Beck shouted back.

  She reached the trapped young man, and grabbed his wrist. She grunted as she pulled him back from the dark crevice. Before she could free him, she felt something pulling back… It was tugging on his body from the other side of the dark hole.

  Whatever it was, it was strong.

  She yanked at Rydan's arm again. More rock and stone crumbled away, and Rydan flew out of the hole. He hit the ground, writhing in pain. Beck gasped… there was something squirming, clinging to the man's chest. Before she could get a good look at it, Rydan flipped over onto his stomach, kicking up clouds of dirt and debris from the ground with his thrashing.

  The captain rushed to her side. He drew his sidearm, and aimed the heavy pistol at the man’s twitching body. Beck slapped his arm away.

  “Are you crazy? If you miss you could kill him at this range!”

  She kicked Rydan’s body with her boot, rolling him over in the dust.

  She gasped in horror… Some kind of creature gripped his chest, locked onto his body with six armor-plated limbs. The thing’s body resembled a cross between a rat and a scorpion, but it was far larger than either. Tufts of brown fur sprouted between the segments of its chitinous scale plates. Its three glowing red eyes peered up at Beck and Aroyas. The beast’s front claws slashed at the seams of Rydan’s suit, seeking the warm flesh within.

  “Vermirak!” Aroyas shouted. “Big one!”

  Beck kicked the creature with her boot, but its legs remained clamped around the man’s body. She kicked again. “Let go of him, you—”

  The vermirak swung its narrow, fanged snout towards her and snarled, revealing rows of needle-sharp teeth. It hissed like a serpent, and recoiled from her blows. But it did not release its prey.

  Rydan screamed as the thing’s front claws smashed against his faceplate, battering at him in a whirlwind frenzy. Tiny cracks appeared in the transparent plate.

  “Beck," Rydan cried out. "Please, help me!”

  “To blazes with this,” Aroyas muttered. He aimed his pistol and fired. A loud whine echoed off the domed walls as the gun spat a crackling energy bolt towards the creature. The shot missed the creature and burned a gash in the mesh fabric around Rydan’s leg. The creature continued beating at his helmet with its glistening claws.

  “You punctured his suit!” Beck shouted. “Get a patch!”

  As Aroyas fumbled to open a utility pouch on his belt, Beck slid the barrel of a heavy-duty tool from brackets on the back of her suit.

  “Rydan, hold still!” she ordered. A shriek of pain was his only response. Beck held the heavy device like a jackhammer. She aimed it towards the lump of fur and scales that thrashed on Rydan’s chest.

  With a loud pop, Rydan's faceplate shattered beneath the onslaught of the creature’s blows. The young man's eyes bulged as oxygen rushed from his suit. His mouth gaped open in a silent scream, and his tongue swelled. The claws tore into his exposed face, sending torrents of blood into the air.

  Cursing, Beck pressed the control trigger in her right hand. The energy lance hummed to life. Once again, its crimson glow pierced the shadows as a meter long energy beam leapt from its muzzle.

  The beam pierced the vermirak’s hide. The thing wailed in pain, and ceased its assault on Rydan’s face. It released his body and tried to scamper away but Beck stomped on it with her boot, holding it in place. She struggled to control the heavy lance, making sure the glowing blade of energy didn’t cut into Rydan’s body. Smoke rose from the thrashing beast’s carcass. Beck could smell its cooking flesh, even through the air scrubbers in her suit.

  The creature stopped moving. She cut power to the lance, and the high-pitched whine died down to a low hum. The beam disappeared.

  Rydan’s body lay still and motionless in the dust.

  Beck shot a glance over her shoulder at Aroyas. “Where the hell is that patch?”

  The older man shook his head. “You can’t patch a helmet, Beck. It’s over. One less split for our bounty.”

  The woman stared at Rydan’s body. His bloated tongue lolled from his savaged mouth. His eyes stared forward, wide and unseeing. The vermirak lay sprawled across his chest, smoke drifting from the gash in its armored
hide.

  The captain removed a small cylinder from his belt, and tossed it into the dark opening in the wall. A brilliant green light flooded the chamber beyond. They heard scurrying legs chitter across the rocks.

  “Damn vermiraks," Aroyas hissed, peering into the dim green shadows. “Bastards can breath anything, even the sulfur and methane gasses down here. They love caves, tombs, dark places. Rydan should have known better."

  "You've encountered them before?" Beck asked.

  Aroyas looked back at her. He turned his head, letting the dim green light highlight his scars. His lips curled into a grin. "How do you think I got my beauty marks?"

  He turned back to the hole, and fired his pistol several times into the darkness. The shimmering bolts exploded against the walls of the hidden chamber, sending pebbles and rocks tumbling to the ground.

  “That should scare away the rest of 'em,” Aroyas said. “Let’s see what Rydan found back here. Bring a hauler.”

  He stepped into the darkness, pistol at the ready.

  Beck tapped the controls on her wrist, and one of the floating haulers swooped towards her. She gestured into the hole. The mech floated ahead, following Aroyas through the opening. Wielding the heavy energy lance in a tight grip, she followed them into the darkness.