Talon the Raider by A. A. Warren

Author:A. A. Warren [Warren, A. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blackwing Books
Published: 2019-02-15T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

Talon planted his foot in the ice and took another step down the side of the ravine. The slope was steep, and the shimmering ice was as slippery as polished glass. The grueling trek had been slow going, but he could see the ground leveled out after this next slope. If B’Turo was correct, the Zigra colony lay beyond the craggy ice walls that surrounded them.

“So let me get this straight,” B’Turo panted, huffing for breath as he slid a few inches down the ice. “That thing in your eye detects dark energy?”

“Among other things,” Talon said. He kept his eyes on the treacherous ground as they continued their descent.

“Guess that's why Katara sent you, instead of Makor.”

“I don’t pretend to understand her motives,” Talon replied, taking another cautious step. “I'm eager to finish my business with her, and leave this forsaken planet.”

“You’re assuming Katara will keep her end of the bargain.”

Talon glared at the old man. “I’m not a fool, B’Turo. I have no intention of turning the black jade over to Katara until she proves her good intentions. If you think you can stop me—”

B’Turo laughed and held up his hands in a gesture of mock surrender. “Me? Hell, I’ve got no loyalty to Katara or the Toho Clan. Bunch of corporate blood-suckers. I worked on one of their factory worlds, years ago. The med-techs there found Ch’irox disease in my lungs. Caused by all the plasma gas residue we were breathing… they used cheap filters in their life support systems.”

Talon glanced at the old man as they slid another few inches down the ravine. “Ch’irox? I thought there was no cure?”

B'Turo nodded. “There wasn’t. But the Toho Clan are big into medical technology. Their bio-mancers used some kind of machine on me… a prototype they called a bio-harvester. It replaced the cancer cells in my lungs with healthy tissue. Edited the disease right out of my DNA.”

“So they saved your life?”

"Yeah. But I didn't read the fine print. The treatment cost more than I could earn in a lifetime. When I couldn’t pay their blood money, I had to turn to smuggling to make ends meet."

Talon grinned. "I take it your masters didn't approve?"

B'Turo shrugged. “Guess I wasn't very good at it. I got caught, and the Toho Clan threw me in a forced labor camp. A few years later they transferred me here, to the mining colony."

The two men paused for breath, resting along the edge of a giant ice outcropping.

Talon checked his regulator belt, then looked up at the old man. “Doesn’t the Consortium government have laws? Rules to protect its citizens?”

B’Turo laughed. “Laws? Look, the Jotoru Emperor controls the military. Everything else… schools, trade, law enforcement, local governments… he turned those over to the citizens of the Consortium. But the clans had so much wealth, they bought them out. Now, the clans are the law. Only law that matters, anyway. The Emperor just sits on his throne and collects his shares. The clans run everything in this damn kingdom.

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