Wanderer 3: Tainted Universe (10 page)

Movement!  One of the younger officers leapt forward, charging towards Marsh.  He hadn’t even made it halfway before Marsh had him at the wrong end of the gun.  His eyes widened and he started to slow, realising he stood no chance of making it.  All thought of attack had fled, replaced by fear that radiated off him.

Marsh didn’t hesitate.  He fired twice, both shots striking the officer’s body.  Probably fatal, definitely enough to seriously injure.  Either way he was no threat now.  Before his body hit the floor Marsh had the gun swinging to cover the room again.

Shocked faces stared back at Marsh.  That suited him fine.  Shock bought more time.  Few of them, if any, would understand instinctively that the officer had left Marsh with no choice.  If Marsh hadn’t fired, if he’d tried to fight some other way, then others would have gained confidence, would have joined in.  Soon Marsh would either be shooting many of them as he tried to fall back or he’d be overwhelmed, which would lead the security forces into a firefight when they arrived.  Shooting the young officer greatly increased the chances of everyone else surviving.

More seconds ticked away.  Some of those he faced down still looked shell-shocked, but others were beginning to get restless.  Marsh kept his face impassive but cursed inside.  Where was security?  He’d shoot someone else if he had to, but he’d rather avoid it.  A handful of seconds in a combat situation could feel far longer, but even so security seemed to be taking forever.

Another of the younger officers tensed.  Marsh swung the gun to cover her and shook his head slightly.  She relaxed slightly but not enough.  Marsh sensed others tensing too.  He got ready to bolt for the doors.

Then in an explosion of shouting security were there.  Only three, but all armed with assault rifles.  The dynamic in the room changed completely.  Everyone cowered back from the black garbed guards.  Marsh’s years of training meant he didn’t end up shooting when they burst in, but even his heart rate jumped.

“
Put the gun down slowly,” one of the guards shouted.

Marsh nodded and slowly lowered it to the floor.  Even if they’d recognised him, which they might not have yet, a code black meant
all
weapons had to be surrendered.  More guards soon arrived, including an officer who quickly went through the formality of confirming Marsh’s identity.  Guards spread out through the room.  Dash called the guard officer over.

“
We need someone monitoring for incoming ships.  Get Davies over here.  He can monitor things from my chair for now.”

He pointed out Davies and the officer dispatched a guard to fetch him.  Davies approached and gave Marsh a sharp salute.

“Very impressive Commander.  What do you need me to do?”

“
Take over on watch until we can sort this mess out.  You can use my chair.”

“
Aye sir.”

Davies moved off quickly, already focused on his task.  Definitely a steady hand, Marsh thought.  He looked to the wider room.  The guards had finished checking everyone for weapons and were now standing watch.  Marsh would have to identify those he knew to be a risk, and try to make a call on the others.  The station was already short-handed for the intense shifts they were running.  This was only going to make things worse.

As management duties started to occupy his thoughts the martial state of mind slipped away, and for the first time he truly thought about what he had just done.  He’d killed two of his own officers.  Alisha, who had stood beside him for several years, and a young officer whose name he couldn’t even recall.  With the adrenaline draining from his system it was payback time.

He almost collapsed where he stood.  That couldn’t be allowed.  Instead he forced his legs to work.  He strode into his office, where only a few hours earlier he’d made the disastrous decision to let Alisha cover while he slept.  As soon as the room was sealed, hiding him from everyone’s view, he collapsed into his chair and held his head in his hands.  Just what had he become?  What had they all become?  The danger of the Taint, and the fear that went with it, was turning them into something he didn’t recognise.  Turning
him
into something he didn’t recognise.

How much longer could they last before the station started to tear itself apart?  And was the same thing happening across the whole Empire?  What little hope he had left was pinned on the Empire riding to the rescue with a solution.  If he was honest he doubted it would happen in time to save Greenseed, but he’d been sure the Empire would come through in the end.

But what if he was wrong?  What if the entire Empire was tearing itself apart?  Could humanity survive, or was its span now measured in decades or even just years?

Chapter Sixteen

As the two stealth ships closed in on the
Wanderer
Sal knew it was over.  The
Wanderer
had no shields left, and it couldn’t put up any defence against the stealth ships let alone the immense warship that had inflicted the crippling blow.

The jump engines were still functioning.  If the
Wanderer
had any shields left they could jump to safety.  Without shields it would be a death sentence, and through her link to the
Wanderer
she knew that even minimal shields would take minutes to restore.

She sensed the
Wanderer
preparing to jump.  There wasn’t time to become properly scared, not deep in the bone scared, but her stomach clenched.  Then they made the jump. 
At least they didn’t capture us…
she thought as she tensed against the pain that was to come.

*****

It took Sal long moments to realise that not only was she alive, but that the
Wanderer
was still in jump space and still in one piece.  How could that be with no… shields!  They had shields!  They weren’t very strong.  Certainly not enough to withstand weapons fire.  Yet they were more than enough to survive in jump space.

But how?  She checked and found her previous assessment was correct.  The shields would take several minutes at least to repair.  The normal shields.  The shields she’d known about.  But there were new shields.  All over the ship secondary shield generators were operating.

The statistics for the new generators flowed into her mind from the ship.  Being very low powered meant they could go from off to fully active in fractions of a second, far faster than normal shields.  They’d activated just as the
Wanderer
clawed its way into jump space, and were fully active by the time it made it there a few hundredths of a second later.

For the moment Sal had forgotten all her anger with Jess.  All she could do was smile at the audacity of his plan, and the fact he’d kept it quiet from everyone.  Clearly this was another of his little changes to the
Wanderer
that he’d wanted to surprise them all with.  Well he’d definitely managed that.  Sal composed a short message to Jess.  Short, but to the point.

Well I bet you’re feeling smug right now!

*****

Jess laughed at Sal’s message.  Smug?  A little maybe.  Far more relieved though.  He hadn’t been sure the backup shields would work fast enough, but activating them in front of the Imperial ships was out of the question.  A single shot would have been enough to wreck the shields, and with it all hope of escaping through jump space.

The laugh soon faded.  The
Wanderer
had taken heavy damage and those on board hadn’t fared much better.  Ali was still unconscious.  Sal was shaken up and would have some bruises, but otherwise she was fine.  Teeko had proven to be surprisingly tough once again, and had kept Ben shielded from the worst of the effects.

That left Dash.  Jess contacted the shuttle and activated its cabin sensors.  Jess breathed a sigh of relief on seeing that Dash was strapped into the pilot’s seat.  He wasn’t happy about Dash still being aboard, but he’d half expected to see a mangled corpse.  Anyone not secured during the fight would have multiple fractures at the very least, and probably a lot worse.

Looking closer Jess realised Dash hadn’t escaped unharmed.  He was conscious but dazed, his eyes glazed over.  Jess sent a robot to get Dash out of the shuttle so the
Wanderer
could start on his injuries too.

With that taken care of Jess had the ship release him and the others from the protective cocoons he had improvised.  He stretched awkwardly, only now becoming aware of the many aches and bruises he’d picked up during the battle.  He managed to reach a sitting position but that hurt enough to discourage him from trying to stand for a few minutes.

Closing his eyes he turned his attention back to the ship.  The damage to the main hold was extensive.  He focused on the most pressing issues — reinforcing the structure, getting the shields back online and getting the damaged thrusters repaired.

It soon became obvious that they needed more of some resources than the
Wanderer
currently carried, especially certain metals.  They needed to go asteroid mining again.  Jess pulled up the map of local systems to see what options were available.

First he looked at where the
Wanderer
was.  When they’d entered jump he’d been focusing purely on getting away, not on any destination.  Their path was actually bringing them slowly closer to the Quarantine Zone.  Very slowly.  Checking the map Jess found a system with a suitable asteroid belt that was on a much more direct path.

Jess had the
Wanderer
slowly curve round on to the new path, smiling as he did so.  He was certain the Imperial fleet would be following not far behind.  With no way to track the
Wanderer
they would just keep going on the wrong course for days before realising they’d lost their prey.  Even then they wouldn’t have any idea where the
Wanderer
had really gone.  At least that was one less thing to worry about.

*****

Dash tried to look over as the shuttle’s door opened but gave up with a groan of pain.  His head ached horrifically and his body wasn’t any better.

Soft footsteps covered the short distance from the hatch to his seat.  Dash was surprised for a moment to see it was one of the
Wanderer
’s robots, then realised he shouldn’t be.  These robots were nothing like any he’d seen before.  Sleek and almost organic in their movements they packed a huge punch.  Panic started to filter through his confused mind.  Had Jess sent the robot to finish him off?

Long blades flicked out of the robot’s right hand, turning Dash’s panic into outright fear.  He tried to struggle but the robot easily held him in place with its other hand.  The blades flickered towards Dash’s chest then sliced from one side to the other… but he felt no pain.

The blades flicked away again and the robot peeled back the tattered remains of the seat’s straps, then eased Dash out of the seat.  Its touch was extremely gentle, but Dash still hissed in pain.  Everything spun as he was carried from the shuttle and laid on the floor.  The robot leaned over, pushing firmly on Dash’s head and chest to hold him in place. 

Dash felt something tickling its way along his neck.  He tried to struggle but it was useless.  A feeling of icy coldness flowed into his mind, sweeping consciousness before it.

Chapter Seventeen

Admiral Vorn frowned as the
Wanderer
vanished into jump space.  He checked the displays again.  The
Wanderer
’s shields had definitely been offline.  Entering jump space without shields meant certain destruction.

For normal ships.  The
Wanderer
had already shown itself to be far from normal.  Vorn was certain the ship had survived, though he couldn’t imagine how.  So, catching the
Wanderer
was going to be that much harder than he’d thought, but the rewards of doing so would be even greater.

On his displays the blazing signature of the
Wanderer
’s jump formed a tantalising signpost pointing the way.  One that he had to ignore for the moment.  While commanding a massive fleet had many advantages, being able to respond rapidly wasn’t one of them — especially when that fleet was engaged in combat.  He entered the command to address the fleet.

“
All detached ships, reform immediately on the
Starslayer
.  All ships engage in suppression fire only.  Prepare for immediate jump.  All banshees de-cloak for close manoeuvres.”

Killing the circuit he addressed the
Starslayer
’s captain.

“
Captain, we will be following the
Wanderer
as soon as the fleet has formed up.”

“
Aye sir.”

The captain snapped out a salute and passed on the instruction.  It was unnecessary of course.  Vorn knew that the captain and several of his men had been preparing for exactly that command, but he also knew the importance of maintaining discipline and order.

He watched impatiently as the fleet drew back together.  He wanted to be in pursuit of the
Wanderer
as quickly as possible.  Though ultimately it wouldn’t matter.  He still had a card to play if necessary, and that card was an ace.

*****

Admiral Vorn stared at an element on his display that only he had access to.  This was the biggest secret of his fleet, even bigger than the stealth capable banshees.  And now it was paying off.

Taking the
Wanderer
’s shields down had been necessary for many reasons.  To leave her helpless.  To prevent her fleeing into hyperspace, which had been far from successful.  Most important of all was that it allowed the beacon to be delivered.

Vorn didn’t really understand the science underlying the device, but then nor did any of the scientists who had spent years trying to understand it.  They certainly hadn’t got anywhere near duplicating it.

He did understand how to use it, and that was enough.  The device came in two parts — the tracker and the beacon.  The beacon was a strange construct of exotic matter.  When it struck solid matter it merged into whatever it had hit, leaving no trace that it had ever existed.  There it stayed giving out a signal that only the tracker could pick up, but which the tracker could detect at any distance.  Even in jump space.

The tracker was constructed of more solid matter, though of a form that the scientists had been unable to analyse.  What mattered was that it had relatively simple inputs.  Connections that the scientists had managed to hook into.  While they couldn’t understand the device, they did gain limited control over it.  They could trigger creation of a new beacon, which immediately led to the original beacon disappearing, and they could interpret information detailing the direction to the beacon.

The device was absolutely priceless.  Knowledge of it was restricted to a handful of scientists and an elite few within the Empire.  The scientists lived under strict conditions, given access to near miraculous devices but sacrificing all liberty in return.

Officially the Empire didn’t acknowledge such devices even existed.  Unofficially Vorn knew they came from derelict ships.  Ships similar to the banshees, though often in far worse condition.

Few below his rank knew of the ships, even as rumour, and discussing them with the wrong person would lead to immediate execution — even for Vorn.  The Empire was built on the premise that humanity was the most advanced form of life in the universe and those in charge of the Empire were the best of humanity.  Any suggestion that other creatures had come before, and those creatures had possessed fantastically advanced devices, would undermine the entire system.

Not that anyone admitted the relics were from non-human civilisations, but one look at the banshees left Vorn in no doubt.  There was something subtly wrong about the stealth ships, something beyond even their disturbingly organic appearance.

He didn’t care though.  What mattered was that the device worked, and worked well.  And right at that moment it was giving him critical information.

“
Captain, we need to leave jump space immediately.”

“
Sir?  Leave jump?  But we haven’t seen any sign of the
Wanderer
returning to normal space.”

“
I believe I made my order clear,” Vorn said, ice in his tone.

The captain gulped and visibly paled.

“Aye sir.”  He turned to the pilot.  “You heard the Admiral!  Exit jump now!”

The pilot was already prepared, having heard Vorn’s exchange with the Captain.  Within moments the
Starslayer
was ripping its way back to normal space.

Almost immediately the fleet started to appear around them, though in a ragged formation.  When travelling through jump space a fleet had no way to stay in touch, no way to even confirm the location of the other ships.  The only indication that it was time to leave jump was to watch for the telltale rip in the fabric of space as a ship left jump.

Each ship left a unique signature, and the computers aboard the rest of the fleet were keyed to react to the
Starslayer
’s signature.  Humans were far too slow, the fleet would have been scattered across hours of real space if it was left to their reactions.

Normally the ships would know an exit was coming, either because the destination was known or because of another trigger, such as finding the exit signature of a pursued ship.  Then the exits could be made gracefully.

Not this time.  The fleet had no warning and it dropped into space in a ragged formation.  Vorn didn’t need to give any orders.  In the absence of other instructions the ships immediately started to manoeuvre back into position.

Vorn stared at the display that only he could see, smiling slightly — though it was a cold and cynical smile.  The
Wanderer
hadn’t left jump space, yet it had changed direction.  The beacon bonded with her hull was still sending out its signature.  The
Wanderer
could change directions as many times as they wanted, they couldn’t escape.

Vorn gave the new coordinates to the puzzled captain.  He would have to remain puzzled.  There was no reason for him to know about the device yet.