CyberTech
Talon's Tale: CyberWarrior

Talon stood still, hiding in the shadows. The metallic footsteps came closer. He saw an armored head pass by him. A moment later, it was gone, the noise retreating with it. Talon slowly slipped out into the abandoned alleyway. He snuck across and into another alley that was out of sight of his tracker. A moment later he heard a shout of "There he is!" and many footsteps approaching.
     "Dammit!" Talon hissed as he ran further into the alley from prying eyes. He ran at full speed and as he turned a corner, he saw three men drawing their weapons. They hadn't seen him, yet.
     He dropped behind some of the rubble that half filled the alley. The three men started walking in the direction of the shouting voices. They passed by him without a twitch, and he relaxed. A moment later, he stepped out and went in the direction the men had come by. As he escaped from the enemy's carefully planned net, his thoughts were not on his success.
     So long ago. No, not long at all.
     It was two weeks before. Exactly two weeks, by the hour.
     Two weeks. Two weeks of running and hiding and escaping. Two weeks...
     Talon turned another corner more carefully. He saw a cyborg, almost eight feet tall at the end of the alleyway. The cyb had an ion hand cannon, one of the most deadly weapons available for single man use. Strapped to it's back was a rifle of some kind, long and unfamiliar to Talon.
     Talon ducked back, patting the pocket in which the data chip was well protected, underneath his armor. He peeked back around the corner and realized that the cyb was not moving with the rest of the entrapment formation. Obviously the opposition was smart enough to have some backup waiting. And had enough men to spare.
     He looked desperately around for some kind of distraction or escape route. He saw an ancient door on the side of the alleyway, a few feet away from the cyborg. The cyb was slowly moving his head from side to side, sweeping across the four way alley, hoping to spot something. Talon clumsily scooped up a piece of brick from the ground and the minute that the cyborg turned away, he threw it.
     The brick banged through the door and it creaked open. The cyborg turned towards the door, and Talon scrambled across the alleyway to the other side. He heard the cyborg's voice speaking into a comlink as he faded into the old abandoned landscape. This time he had gotten away. This time.

He made it to the outer wall with his wounds. Then he collapsed into Talon's hands. His last motion was to hand the young mercenary a data chip. Then he died. Talon managed to crawl through the guard post unnoticed, and escaped. He had been running ever since.
Talon walked away from where the enemy had almost trapped him, feeling satisfied. Not happy, just satisfied. He spoke to his helmet and called up a map of the area. The map showed a city only a few miles away. He could make it before the sun set.
     A few hours later, he reached the city. He immediately bought enough concentrates to last him for a month. He knew he would need it if he had to make another fast getaway. Then he found an abandoned underground room to settle down in and went to sleep.

Chapter One

Talon awoke refreshed. He looked around him and slowly got up. He felt his pockets and found the data chip. He looked around the room again and saw that it had not changed since the night before. He headed toward the door and left.
     Now he was in sunlight, after threading his way out of the maze of tunnels and ancient subways that made up most of the world. He blinked in the bright sunlight, then headed off towards the more populated part of the city.
     Soon he was in crowded streets of people. Shops lined the lane and there weren't any sort of houses to be seen. Those were all underground. Then he saw a cyborg at the end of the lane. It seemed very familiar, and it was staring intently at every human that passed by, as if comparing them to a photo chip in it's memory.
     It was the cyb he had tricked to get across the alleyway. It was definitely looking for him. He turned down one of the side streets, away from the cyborg. At the end of the road he saw several men in armor, standing around. But their slouch could not hide their arrogance, their trained killing skills. They were mercs, obviously sent to trap someone. Him.
     Talon looked around, and heard footsteps coming from behind. Slow, heavy footsteps. The cyborg had seen him and was following him. Talon looked desperately around, and then looked down. A slow smile crossed his face under his helmet.

The cyborg turned the corner. He didn't see anyone. He spoke into his comlink and all four mercenaries turned towards him and walked over. He spoke with them briefly, but none of them had seen anything.

Talon dropped down another level into the ancient sewers. He stopped a moment, but heard no pursuit. He continued along until he thought he was far enough out of the city limits. Then he found his way up to the top.
     He found himself walking along in an abandoned area, full of ancient buildings that no one had bothered to tear down. He walked along, then stopped. He looked around. Something felt wrong. Something felt very wrong. But he didn't see anything, and continued on.
     Suddenly, the ground erupted in a green blast in front of him. He dove backwards, and landed on his side hard enough to knock his breath out.
     "Freeze!" Yelled a voice through a loudspeaker. " If you move we will shoot you right were you lie!!"
     Talon held still. A man walked towards him wearing full armor. The man walked very uncertainly, obviously an amateur. Obviously not with the enemy.
     "Sit up" The man ordered. Talon replied immediately. "Hands up!" the man ordered.
     "You know," Talon said, "You should really paint that armor green"
     "What?"
     "To match your experience." Talon said as he deftly slid his leg between the man's feet and tripped him. Talon quickly rolled and grabbed the man's weapon. Green disruptor bolts lashed out from a window and Talon continued rolling and stopped to let loose a few bolts in that direction. He quickly ran into an alleyway and dove for cover. He heard the voice on the loudspeaker say something about stopping where he was, but he paid it no mind and dove back into the nearest sewer he found.
     He continued along until his chronometer in his helmet said that it was nearly sunset. He laid down right where he was. Soon he fell asleep.

No, not long. Not long at all.
     Talon looked down at his drink, then looked up again.
     "Smells good Jan."
     "I thought you would like it. It was your father's favorite drink." The pretty young bartender replied.
     "Thanks." Talon said.
     Soon, very soon.
     A man walked in the bar. A very strange man. He had a shock of white hair, long and wiry. He was very thin. His movements indicated an increase in reflexes in the past. He sat down next to Talon and asked for a drink. As Jan was fixing his drink, the man turned to look at Talon.
     "So, you're Thumper's son" He said at last, staring the whole time at Talon.
     "Yeah, so?" Talon hated his father's name. It sounded too plush to be the name of the tough mercenary his father was.
     "You look like him." The man said after a pause.
     "Yeah." Talon said, wondering what the man was getting at.
     The man said nothing for a minute, sipped his drink and then spoke. "I have a little job."
     "Yeah, you've come to the right guy." Talon said, his words sounding dry. Something was wrong here. Very wrong.
     "Just a small job, mind you. But I need someone very dependable. Very dependable." The man said.
     "What kind of a job" Talon said.
     "Just as a lookout. I'll be doing the real work. I want you to cover my back..." He dropped off as his eyes flickered towards the door. Talon turned to look and saw two men enter wearing full armor, their movements were very precise, very military. Talon prided himself on judging people by their movements, since you often couldn't see your enemy's face in a lightfight. He knew they were here to make sure this man didn't get anything out. Whatever that Anything was, they were serious. "Let's go to my place, we can talk it over." Talon said, trying to be casual.
     Not long, not long...

Talon awoke. He looked around him, then remembered. He was running, he was running... and he had been stopped. He looked down at the rifle in his hands. It was an ordinary disruptor light rifle. The charge showed half full. Twenty shots. Disruptors were good. They could knock someone out as easily as kill them. This model did more to stun someone than to kill them. Good.
     He walked along. Several times he thought he heard noises, and pulled out the rifle. Several times, nothing happened. It was late in the day, Talon stopped to eat. His rifle lay within easy reach. He heard another noise and paid it no mind. The noise repeated itself. He slowly stood and grabbed the rifle.
     "Hello? Anyone there?" He said. There was no answer. He sat and set his rifle down. He continued eating. When he was done, he stood. Then something slammed into his chest with enough force to send him sprawling. He smelled fire. Then he looked down and saw that his armor was cracked and burning. He quickly threw off his chest plate and grabbed the rifle.
     "Freeze where you stand!" A voice cried from the shadows. Talon stood and dropped his rifle to the side. "Good," the voice said. A shadow stepped out of the shadows. It was not human, nor was it robotic. As the creature moved closer, Talon saw the ancient projectile launcher in it's hands that had launched the armor cracking napalm pellet. It moved closer. It's crocodile-like head moved in a remarkably birdlike way. A black tongue flicked from between the lipless mouth. The creature's black scales shone in the faint light. "Who are you?" The creature asked.
     "I am Talon" He replied.
     "You a mercenary." The creature said. It was not a question, it was a statement.
     "Yes." Talon said.
     "Then I must kill you!" The creature said.
     "Wait a minute!" Talon protested. "What have I done?"
     "You feign ignorance, Human?" The creature said.
     "What do you mean?" Talon said, confused.
     "Your kind has hunted down my species until we are all but extinct! You do not deserve to live!!" The creature sounded vehement, but did not really mean it, thought Talon.
     "I have not hunted your kind!" Talon cried. "I do not even know who you are! I have never heard of your kind in my life! Who are you, anyway?"
     The creature seemed taken aback, but it was hard to tell with his featureless face. "You mean to say you no longer hunt us?"
     "We never have for as long as I know." Talon said. "How long has it been since you have seen a human?"
     "The last human seen by our clan was Irvin the Destroyer, who hunted down many of our warriors until the tribe was small and weak."
     "Irvin? That name hasn't been used by humans for hundreds of years!" Talon almost laughed. "I think your tribe needs an update on the facts. Who are you?"
     "Forgive my manners, I am Traken Vasheen of the Ytwarr tribe, Fra clan."
     "Well Traken, should we see your tribe? I think I might be able to help you get back to the real world."
     "Why would you do this when our tribe has fired at you? We have committed an act of war against you and your tribe. Why do you not seek vengeance?" The creature seemed openly confused.
     Talon laughed. "Let's say you could help me as well."
     "Oh." Traken thought for a moment. "Well, I suppose. Follow me."
     Traken brought him through a maze of tunnels. Soon, he began to see light in the distance. The tunnels grew brighter and brighter until he turned a last corner into a light. Talon looked around and saw that the lights were of an incredibly ancient make. They were actually light bulbs! He saw ancient thick dirt encrusted wires leading from strings of light. He assumed they must have found some ancient power generator of some kind.
     Traken brought him to the center of the underground village. There was a large hollowed out area in the middle, with many houses and he found himself being led to the largest one. All around him were aliens. All of them were black scaled, and all of them looked very fearsome.
     Traken pulled aside a curtain and walked down a short hallway. Talon followed him, and saw Traken knocking on a door. An older alien opened it. (at least she appeared older. Her worn scales, looses skin and her tired movements all indicated age with humans. But who knew with aliens? Talon hadn't seen any children around.) She spoke with Traken shortly and Traken introduced Talon. She looked at him, pursed her mouth(she didn't exactly have lips).
     "Alright, you can bring him in. Khwa is very tired today, the Doctor came to see him twice already. But this seems very important, I'll let you come in." The old woman opened the next door, then the next and led them to the end of a long hall and opened the door.
     Traken knocked very softly on this door.
     "Come in come in, don't just stand there with the door open." said a snappish voice. "Well, what's this? A Human? Hmm, very interesting. I assume he can speak?"
     "He can speak" Traken replied.
     "Well, why doesn't he?" Snapped the old alien.
     "Honored Khwa, may I present to you Talon" Traken said in a ritualistic tone.
     "Phaw, don't bother with all the ritual." Khwa said. "Why is he here?"
     "He says he has something for us. He wants something in return as well."
     "Well, what is it?"
     "May I speak?" Talon asked.
     "Well by all means do!" Khwa said. "The last time we saw a Human was when it was hunting us down!"
     "There are no longer any humans hunting you down." Talon said. "In fact, none know of your existence anymore."
     "That is good. We have been down here for centuries. None of our warriors have ever seen the sun for hundreds of years. We must get back out again." Khwa looked very odd, almost disbelieving. But that might have been the alien features.
     "It is true. I ran into Traken by accident. None of my kind know of your existence. A few might suspect if they found any ancient records, but they wouldn't know where to find you. You must have been hunted shortly after The War. We would not do such a thing now. We are not a species of hunters. We are warriors. We have many independent city-states and many wars happen, but humans do not hunt down other intelligent beings. Mabey other species do, but humans are not like that."
     "Yes, we believe you. Now the question is, what did you want to give us."
     "I want to help you make your reappearance on this world. The land above you is abandoned. You can rise your own city up above you, then announce your presence to the world.
     "Why would you do this?" Khwa looked at him suspiciously.
     "I need shelter for a short time. I myself am being hunted."
     "I thought you said that your kind do not do this."
     "I am the exception. I have in my possession something that they want. Something that they would like to kill me for. I have narrowly escaped several times. I only recently acquired this weapon when an inept thief tried to accost me with it. I need a place to find shelter, a place where my enemies will not find me.
     "Hmm. What exactly is it that they want? And why do they want it?" Khwa obviously would not do anything without a reason.
     "It is a data chip. It holds some kind of information that they do not want anyone to know. I do not even know what it holds. I must find an information terminal where I have privacy to read this chip. Once I do that, I can find a way to get them off my tail."
     "Well," Khwa hesitated. "We might be able to help you there. Come with me."
     Talon followed him to a door hidden behind some draperies that looked like they were decorative, but he saw that they were meant to hide the frame. He followed him down some steps and along a hall. He noticed that Traken had not followed him.
     Khwa stopped and opened a door. He led Talon to a small computer terminal. I looked to be of ancient make, but when Talon looked closer, he saw that many parts had been replaced with newer, more efficient parts.
     "This is our link to the outside world. It has helped us intercept food shipments and feed our warriors. It has also helped us build up some weapons and armor in case our clans need to fight again. You can read your data chip here.

Talon rubbed his eyes. The ancient monitor was up to the task of showing detailed blueprints and maps, but it needed focusing every once in a while. Ancient.
     He scanned over the last bit of data, a list of city-states. There were two lists. One was in order of military strength. The other was in resources the enemy wanted. Now it was obvious. Talon knew. He also knew he had to leave.

He brought the man into his room. He flipped on the light showing a cluttered room. It had a bed on one side, a chair on the other. Talon sat on his bed. The man sat on the chair, obviously uncomfortable.
     "So, what is it." Talon asked. The other man looked up at him with that stare again. Talon felt like he was looking through him, through the wall to the next galaxy or so. Or perhaps only the next star system. He quickly shook it off.
     "I need help. You saw those men. They know I know what I know. And they don't want anyone else to know. I know what I know, but I need proof. I know how and where to get it, but it is not a one man job. I need backup. Someone to give the information to if I don't hack it. Someone to watch my back in case I can't hack it. I've heard some stories about you, all of them good. I need your help."
     "That depends," Talon said. "on how big your credit account is."
     "I don't have much money now, it will have to be on delivery."
     "Fifty thousand credits. No less." Talon said in a matter of fact voice.
     "Fifty thousand!?! I couldn't pay that if..." The man paused. "Well, alright. But it will all have to be on delivery. All of it."
     "I don't like all on delivery. How about five thousand now, and forty thousand after. I'd much rather settle for a sure thing than a big risk."
     "I can afford three thousand now. I'll have the rest delivered to your account an hour after the job is done. You'll get it whether I make it or not. If I don't make it, you can sell the information. To someone other than who we took it from. Then you can disappear until the opposition is crushed. You'll be rich. And if I make it, you'll be able to get the money right away."
     "Sounds good." Talon said. "Now when are we doing this. And where."

His eyes flicked open. He looked around him, then remembered. He had stopped running long enough to see what he was carrying. A plan of great magnitude. A plan that could potentially rule the world. And when it got out, the plan would be automatically subverted. By knowledge of what would happen, the Earth could defend itself from the attacks. Simple knowledge of one thing could save the world from an unending tyranny.
     The plan had been fairly simple. Two of the strongest cities allied together and planned to take over a few more. But it didn't happen quite like that. One of them specialized in artificial intelligence and cybernetics. The other specialized in new weapons theories. Both had the resources to put their strengths together to make it stronger. Now, their plan threatened to put cyberwarriors all over the globe. With a few in each city, the plan would work. A few solders in a large city could effectively end the time of global wars and set a new, peaceful society. A peaceful society with as much taxes as the rulers wanted. There was no where else to move. The whole world would be a governmental monopoly. The whole globe. And there was only one way to stop it. Go after the source. And since there were two sources, that might prove to be hard for one lightly armed man. One man could use a lot of help in times like these. Help from a whole city. A city that was unheard of until now. A whole city full of alien warriors. A city looking for independence. It was time to talk to Khwa.

"What are you saying?" Khwa looked very confused, for a lizard.
     "I'm saying I need your help. I need more than what I've got. This plan is bigger than the both of our species. It could conceivably take over the world. And then your whole species would have no chance to rise. I need you to supply warriors. And weapons."
     "I would like an explanation of why I should do this!" Khwa looked upset.
     "Okay, let me start at the beginning."

"So what is the plan?" Asked Khwa, finally acknowledging the threat.
     "First we need to find the source of these enemies."
     "You mean to say you don't know where these two cities are!"
     "That is right. All I know is the location of one of their secret labs near here."
     "One of their labs. I thought they had already made these weapons."
     "That's correct. The labs are mostly abandoned now. There is a skeleton crew in place right now. They would not like for me to find it. I will look through whatever we find there and see if I can determine where it came from."
     "How will you know? There are many cities in the area. Any one of them could house the factories and such."
     "I have used your computer to skim the files on any cities. I have narrowed down the possibilities to seventy two cities that could be the experts on cybernetics, and eighty nine that could be the weapons manufacturers. I just hope that we find enough to identify with the cities."
     "For your sake, I hope so too."
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CyberTech and Talon's Tale: CyberWarrior are Copyrighted. Please do not use without permission.

      Any resemblance to any other characters, fictional or otherwise is purely coincidental. If you think I stole your personality and put it into my book, don't worry. I haven't. Although I enjoy spoofs of famous people, I myself do not copy characters and/or events from other people's movies/books/comics.

Oh, and by the way, Darth Vader never said "Luke, I am your father." He said "No. I am your father." If you're going to do a spoof, at least get it right!