Tal Kray - Book 3 Thanos Kalamidas booK 3 Tal Kray Thanos Kalamidas An Ovi eBooks Publication 2025 Ovi eBookPublications - All material is copyright of the Ovi eBooks Publications & the writer C Ovi ebooks are available in Ovi/Ovi eBookshelves pages and they are for free. If somebody tries to sell you an Ovi book please contact us immediately. For details, contact: ovimagazine@yahoo.com No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the writer or the above publisher of this book Tal Kray - Book 3 Tal Kray Book 3 Thanos Kalamidas Thanos Kalamidas An Ovi eBooks Publication 2025 Ovi eBookPublications - All material is copyright of the Ovi eBooks Publications & the writer C Tal Kray - Book 3 T he stars blinked, indifferent. In the unfath- omable depths of space, time stretched like a taut wire, flickering between the past and an endless future. Galaxies spiraled gracefully, their stars burning brightly for millions of years only to be snuffed out in a cosmic moment. Worlds rose and fell, their fates bound to the whims of forces far too vast for any mortal to comprehend. But beyond the reach of telescopes and sensors, hidden in the shad- ow of the universe, a different force moved, ancient, deliberate, waiting. Thanos Kalamidas At the fringes of the galaxy, in the void between the known and the unknown, a nebula hid more than just stardust. Here, in this place where light barely existed, something stirred, a presence not measured by mass or energy but by the ripples it created in re- ality itself. The virus, as it had been known to the few who had survived its touch, was only the first sign. Born from an experiment forgotten by time, it had begun as a weapon—nothing more than a fragment of a grand- er scheme. At first, it spread like any other conta- gion, infecting entire populations in the city of K’lan. But then it changed. Evolved. It mutated, adapting in ways that defied understanding, becoming some- thing far worse than any simple plague. The virus was no longer confined to a mere biological form, it was becoming an intelligence, a mind, and it was not content with mere destruction. In the darkness, something older, much older, was waking. Joseph Hale had thought he had outrun the threat. He had escaped K’lan’s devastation, fled to the stars, leaving behind a galaxy in chaos. But even as the ship’s engines hummed through the infinite night, a thought gnawed at him. It’s not over. Not by a long Tal Kray - Book 3 shot. Beside him, Elena Michaels watched the stars. She could feel it, too. A shift in the fabric of reality. The universe had begun to change, and the chaos was spreading. “It’s happening again,” Joseph said, his voice barely audible over the hum of the ship. Elena didn’t need him to explain further. She al- ready knew. The virus was evolving, and they were just beginning to understand the scope of the de- struction it would bring. What they had encoun- tered on K’lan was just a fraction of what had been set into motion. The real threat was not biological. It was something older, far more dangerous, a being or force that had lain dormant, waiting for the right moment to emerge. “We need to find it,” Elena said, her voice firm de- spite the fear in her eyes. “Before it finds us.” Joseph didn’t argue. He simply nodded, his grip tightening on the controls as he prepared to navigate the ship deeper into the unknown. The stars, distant and cold, offered no answers. Thanos Kalamidas Behind them, the darkness swelled, a storm of en- ergy, invisible to the untrained eye, but unmistakable to those who had seen the first signs of its power. Something vast, something incomprehensible, was waking up. The true battle had just begun. And it would consume them all. Tal Kray - Book 3 I. Joseph Hale sat alone in the cockpit of the starship Horizon , his hands firmly gripping the worn controls. His fingers itched from the familiarity of the vessel, a ship that had seen too many battles, too many years. It was a relic, a vessel that had outlived its intended purpose, but like its occupants, it was still alive. Out- side the thick canopy, stars bled into streaks of light, their furious speed painting the darkness of space in fleeting flashes. His mind, however, was not on the ship’s trajec- tory. It was on the planet they had fled from. K’lan. The city that had once thrived in the heart of an ad- vanced, prosperous civilization. Now, it was a tomb. The virus had done that. The virus that was not sup- posed to exist. A weapon designed for one purpose: to Thanos Kalamidas subdue, to control. But instead, it had evolved, twist- ed beyond all recognition. It had spread, infected the planet’s inhabitants, and had somehow developed an intelligence, something more than just a disease. Something more malevolent, something sentient. Joseph’s grip tightened, his knuckles pale under the strain. He could still see the faces of those he’d failed—the screams, the helplessness in their eyes as the infection overtook them. The pain they’d suffered. And now, that same virus was spreading through the galaxy, reaching farther than anyone could have an- ticipated. He thought of the countless star systems, the colonies, the isolated worlds, each one vulnera- ble. No one was safe. From the rear of the ship came a soft voice, barely breaking the oppressive silence. “Joseph,” Elena Mi- chaels said, her tone gentle but laced with the weight of shared trauma. “You’re thinking about it again, ar- en’t you?” Joseph didn’t respond immediately. His gaze fixed on the stars ahead, watching them warp in the dis- tance. They were entering uncharted space, racing toward the fringes of known civilization. If they could just outrun the nightmare long enough, they might buy themselves time, time to understand, to Tal Kray - Book 3 fight back. But time was a luxury they could no lon- ger afford. “I can’t stop thinking about it,” he said, the words rough as if dragging themselves from the depths of his chest. “We thought we were stopping it, but all we did was buy time. Time we may not have.” Elena’s footsteps were soft as she moved toward him, her presence a steadying force against the tur- moil inside him. She was a scientist, a brilliant mind in her own right, but even she had no answers for what they had faced on K’lan. Her hand, warm and solid, rested briefly on his shoulder. “You did what you could,” she replied. “We both did.” Joseph shook his head, feeling the weight of her comfort, but also the hollow ache of defeat. “What if it wasn’t enough?” His voice trembled with the pos- sibility. “What if we’re too late?” “The virus is still evolving,” Elena said, her words tinged with a quiet resolve. “But so are we. And as long as we’re alive, we have a chance.” Joseph turned his eyes to her, his face etched with the wear of long hours and sleepless nights. “We can’t Thanos Kalamidas hide forever, Elena. The infection is still out there, spreading faster than we can comprehend. It’s a tick- ing bomb, and we don’t even know where it’s going next. No place is untouched.” Elena’s expression hardened, the fire of determina- tion flickering in her eyes. “I know,” she said. “But for now, we wait. We need time to recover, to think. We don’t even know where we are going yet.” Joseph leaned back in his seat, his thoughts spinning in chaos. The endless blackness of space stretched be- fore them, infinite and cold. He could feel the weight of their isolation, the deafening silence of the void. And in the silence, the nagging question refused to leave his mind: What if it’s already too late? What if the virus had already spread beyond their ability to stop it? The hum of the ship’s engines vibrated through the metal, a constant reminder that they were alive— barely. His fingers hovered over the console, gliding over the navigation controls without really thinking, lost in his spiraling thoughts. “Joseph,” Elena’s voice broke through again, soft- er now, as though sensing the depth of his spiral- ing thoughts. “We need to find answers. We can’t Tal Kray - Book 3 keep running. We have to understand what we’re up against.” “I know,” he replied, his voice distant. He could feel her eyes on him, but he couldn’t bring himself to meet her gaze. Not yet. “But what if there are no answers? What if the virus is just the beginning?” Elena exhaled slowly, her breath steady. “Then we’ll find a way to make it stop. Together.” The silence stretched between them again, filled with unspoken fear and the quiet terror of an uncer- tain future. They had made it this far, but what lay ahead was a question they couldn’t answer. The gal- axy, vast and endless, was becoming a battleground, and every star, every planet, every colony was at risk. “We need to get to the outer rim,” Joseph said, fi- nally looking up from the controls. His eyes were tired, but resolute. “There’s a system there, a network of old outposts. Maybe we can find someone who knows something about the virus, someone who can help us.” Elena nodded. “It’s a long shot, but it’s the only shot we’ve got.” Thanos Kalamidas The ship surged forward, its aging engines groan- ing as they pushed toward the outer reaches of the galaxy. They had no clear destination. No precise plan. Only a hope that somewhere, someone might have an answer. But in the back of Joseph’s mind, a terrible thought continued to grow. What if the virus is already ahead of us? What if it’s waiting? And as the ship drifted deeper into the unknown, the stars outside seemed to pulse in time with the ever-growing anxiety in his chest. Something was coming. Something darker than anything they had yet faced. Something more dangerous than a virus. And it was not going to wait for them to catch up. * * * * * The journey was quiet for hours, the steady hum of the ship lulling them into a strange, uneasy calm. Outside, the stars flickered like the dying embers of a fire, each one a distant, cold witness to the vastness of space. Elena had returned to the rear of the ship, her Tal Kray - Book 3 mind absorbed in the data they had gathered from the K’lan system, looking for any clues that might of- fer them a way forward. Joseph couldn’t shake the feeling that they were be- ing watched. It was an irrational fear, he knew—just the side effect of too many days spent running, hid- ing. But something gnawed at him, something pri- mal. The universe had a way of watching, listening. And, somewhere, deep in the void, something was listening to them. “Joseph,” Elena called from the back, her voice tight with urgency. “You need to see this.” He jumped from his seat and moved toward the rear of the ship, his boots echoing in the quiet of the ship. Elena stood over a monitor, her fingers flying across the controls. “What is it?” he asked, trying to shake off the un- ease that had settled over him. Elena’s face was grim. “I’ve been running diag- nostics on the ship’s sensors. I think... I think we’ve picked up something.” Joseph leaned over her shoulder, his eyes scan- Thanos Kalamidas ning the screen. A series of fluctuating signals were displayed in front of him, faint at first, but growing stronger. “What am I looking at?” “That’s not a natural signal,” Elena said, her voice low. “It’s... it’s too regular. Too deliberate.” Joseph’s heart skipped a beat. “A transmission?” “Maybe,” Elena said. “But from where? I can’t pin- point it. It’s too weak, too distant... but it’s coming from somewhere ahead of us.” Joseph’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the data. His pulse quickened. “Set course,” he said, a new urgency creeping into his voice. “Set course for that signal.” Elena hesitated for a fraction of a second. “Joseph, we don’t know what this is.” “I know,” he said, his jaw tight. “But we don’t have a choice.” The ship’s engines roared as they changed direc- tion, moving toward the unknown signal. And deep in the void, something stirred. The hunt was on. Tal Kray - Book 3 II. The Horizon drifted, a solitary shadow in the vast emptiness of space. The distant stars—each a burn- ing furnace of unimaginable energy, looked like pinpricks in a sea of endless black. Inside, the ship hummed with quiet activity, but the silence of space outside made everything feel impossibly distant. The crew had become mere figures against the backdrop of the void, like ghosts aboard a vessel of rust and steel. Joseph Hale sat at the helm, his fingers grazing the worn controls. His gaze was fixed out the viewports, though his thoughts wandered, unfocused. The days had bled together. Every minute in this unknown part of space seemed to stretch into eternity. No pursuit. No sign of danger. But the absence of any Thanos Kalamidas pursuit didn’t bring peace, it only heightened the sense of looming dread. It was too quiet, too calm. As though they were simply waiting for something to reveal itself. He ran a hand through his graying hair and let out a long breath. He tried not to think about the past few weeks—about the burning surface of K’lan, the helpless faces of those they couldn’t save. But it was impossible not to. The virus that had destroyed that world had left its mark on him, and now he felt like a man fleeing his own shadow. His reverie was broken by the voice of Elena Mi- chaels, sharp and steady. It was the kind of voice that could anchor anyone in the chaos of space. “Joseph, I’ve been analyzing the data,” she said, drawing his attention back to the task at hand. “I think I’ve found something.” Joseph straightened in his seat, every nerve sharp- ening at her words. “What is it?” She was at the ship’s rear station, her face illuminat- ed by the soft glow of multiple screens. Elena’s eyes were fixed on one of the readouts, brows furrowed in concentration. “There’s a pattern to the spread of Tal Kray - Book 3 the virus,” she said slowly, her voice calm, but tinged with something darker. “It’s not random. It’s pur- poseful. Someone is directing it.” The words seemed to settle like dust in the air be- tween them, each syllable heavier than the last. Jo- seph felt a sudden tightening in his chest. “A new in- telligence?” he asked, though he almost didn’t want to hear the answer. “Perhaps,” Elena replied, pausing only long enough to give him a meaningful look. “The virus could be the vehicle for something greater. We’ve seen it be- fore, a tool for manipulation, something more than just a plague. Something that can spread not only disease but also influence, control.” Joseph’s thoughts raced. The possibilities churned in his mind like an ocean before a storm. An intelli- gence? A virus as a weapon of control? He had con- sidered the unthinkable—had even fought against it in battles fought in the darkest corners of the galaxy but this... this was different. The idea that something, or someone, might be using the virus as a means to manipulate entire systems was a new level of terror. “So, what are we dealing with? A new enemy?” he asked, trying to steady his voice, but failing. Thanos Kalamidas Elena didn’t answer right away. Instead, she adjust- ed the controls, pulling up more data. The screens flickered for a moment, and then a new set of read- ings appeared an image of the galaxy, a map of stars and systems, each one pinpointed with eerie preci- sion. The data from K’lan, the infection vectors, the rate of spread, it all added up to something far more deliberate than anything they had encountered be- fore. Elena’s voice broke the silence again. “I think it’s something... older. Something that’s been awake for much longer than we realized.” Joseph narrowed his eyes, focusing on the map, his pulse quickening. “Older? How much older?” She turned to face him then, her expression one of quiet resolution, as though she’d already accept- ed something he had yet to understand. “I’m not sure. But this virus, the pattern—it’s consistent with a known phenomenon. Something I came across in my research years ago. Something that shouldn’t ex- ist.” Joseph’s throat tightened. “You’re telling me this vi- rus isn’t just a mutation? It’s—”