Wanderer 3: Tainted Universe (22 page)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

They’d only been in jump space for a couple of minutes when Ali cried out.

“
Jess!  The troopers are moving!”

Jess accessed the sensors.  The troopers were moving fast.  They were already several rooms from where they’d started.  They paused by a wall, fixing something to it.  Almost immediately a shaped charge blew a hole through into an area of the ship that Jess had sealed off.  There wasn’t anything sensitive in it, but it allowed them to bypass the maze of passageways he’d formed for them.

“Jess, throw them around,” Ali shouted.

“
Damn,” Jess replied.  “I can’t.  Not while we’re in jump space.  Hold on.”

He sent the
Wanderer
back into real space, making the transition hard.  Then he started to throw the
Wanderer
through a series of vicious turns and tumbles.  The troopers reacted by securing themselves in place with lines, easily riding out the violent manoeuvres.  Satisfied that they’d been stopped in their tracks Jess pushed the
Wanderer
back into jump space.

Almost immediately the troopers were moving again.  Jess dragged the
Wanderer
back into real space.  The troopers immediately secured themselves.  This time Jess returned to flying straight, but remained in normal space.  That way he could start the violent turns more quickly.  If he caught them out and injured one or two it might make the others more cautious.

They stayed secured.  Somehow they knew the difference between real and jump space.  The moment Jess shoved the ship back into jump space they were on the move again.

“Damn it!” Jess shouted, frustration boiling over.

“
Clever,” Dash said.  “Very clever.  Clearly at least one of them is able to tell when they are in jump space.”

“
Is that even possible?”

“
I can do it,” Dash replied.

“
What do we do?”

“
There’s no way to shake them up while in jump space?”

Jess shook his head.  “No.”

“All right.  They seem to be heading in a straight line.  Keep dropping in and out of jump space to keep them on their toes.  Form as many walls as you can in their way.  They must have a limited amount of explosives.  We need to make them use it all.”

“
I’ll only be able to block a few doors in the time we have.”

“
Just do it,” Dash snapped.

Jess bridled for a moment at the tone of command.  Glancing over his shoulder he saw the worry etched deep in Dash’s forehead and decided to let it go.  This time.

“Are they heading for anything important?” Ali asked.

“
No,” Jess replied.  “They’ll reach the hull but won’t be anywhere near anything critical.”

“
Could they get through the hull?” Dash asked

“
Not without a lot more explosives.  Why would they want to?  Opening that section to vacuum doesn’t hurt us.”

“
They might try to move along the outside of the ship,” Dash said.

“
What?  In jump space?”

“
It’s sound in theory.  Every ship’s jump field extends a few tens of metres out from the hull.  As long as they stay secured to the ship they’ll be safe.  And once they’re outside they can head straight for critical areas like the thrusters.  Or for us here.”

“
Oh I hope they try that,” Jess said grimly.  “Just let them get out on the hull and I’ll remind them that the
Wanderer
is no ordinary ship.  I can easily pull the field in to under a metre from the hull.”

“
Surely they know that from what happened to their shuttles?” Ali asked.

“
Probably not,” Jess replied.  “Remember, these are the ones who were already aboard.  All they know is that the shuttles were destroyed somehow.”

“
That does change things,” Dash said.  “But they might be planning something else.  Maybe they’ll get to the hull then keep moving on the inside, using it to guide them to more sensitive areas.  We need to wear them down.”

“
With pleasure,” Jess said, throwing the
Wanderer
back into real space and into a twisting spiral.  “Let’s see just how well strapped down they are.  Maybe we can crack a few bones.”

*****

Sal braced herself against the
Wanderer
’s manoeuvres, though there was really no need.  She was already well strapped in, and the ship automatically secured her head and arms as the tumbling began.  She felt smothered.  Trapped.

It just added to the isolation she was feeling.  She couldn’t talk to Roberto with Jess and Ali so close by.  She’d listened closely to their conversations and had even thought of things they hadn’t.  She found herself unable to speak though.  Each time she tried her chest became tight and she choked on the words, certain no one wanted to hear them.

Roberto had turned round on several occasions, quietly asking if she was all right.  She had either nodded briefly or completely ignored him.  He had given up in the end.

Another vicious turn jammed Sal into her seat.  She closed her eyes and started to wonder whether dying would be such a bad thing.  Her life felt pretty damn awful.

There had even been times as a slave that were better.  Plenty that were worse too, but she hadn’t had any control over her life then.  She hadn’t known any better.  Things were different now.  She had the power to do something about it.  To change her life however she wanted.  The thought made her feel both terrified and empowered.  She decided both feelings were better than those she had been nursing before.

*****

“And back to normal space…” Jess said as the
Wanderer
lost its battle against the latest tar pit.  “Imperial forces are in the usual set-up.  There’s more of them this time though.  Nearly half as many again.”

“
Maybe we’re getting close to the end,” Ali said.

“
It’s unlikely,” Dash replied.  “This is only the twelfth layer.  Unless they decided to jam them all closer together than when I first came through there should be at least eighteen.”

Ali groaned at that.

“Look on the bright side,” Jess said.  “We might be past halfway.”

“
Might!” she replied.

Jess grinned, but had the sense not to turn around.

Don’t think I don’t know you’re grinning just because you’ve got your back to me
, Ali sent.

Ah.  Sometimes he forgot about the link they shared.

Sorry,
he sent back.

You will be.

Her reply was tinged with laughter.  Jess relaxed a little.  Having managed to avoid a fight, he turned his attention to space ahead of them.

“
All clear,” he said after a few moments.

“
Good,” Dash replied.  “How about our friends in the main hold?”

“
They’re strapped down again,” Ali replied.  “They’re nearly at the hull now.  Another three walls and they’ll be there.”

“
I still can’t work out where they store the explosives,” Jess said.  “It’s almost as if it materialises on their gloves as they slap home against the wall.  I never see them take it out of a pouch or pocket.  That means there’s no chance to study it, or to try and trigger it before it reaches the wall.”

“
It might be stored inside the suit, I suppose,” Dash said.  “Then pushed through the glove as needed.  I’ve never heard of that, but it’s been a long time since I got to handle cutting edge Imperial toys.  So we know they’ll reach the hull, probably the next time we jump.  Any luck putting defences in place?”

“
No.  They’ve changed direction enough times that they are nowhere near where we first expected.  If they happen to wander back to where we first thought they’d reach the hull I can pick some of them off.  Otherwise, not a chance.”

“
They won’t do that.  I can guarantee that they have a pretty damn good idea of where they are and which directions they’ve headed in.”

“
So I wasted my time?”

“
No.  They might have tried a straight run for the hull, moving as fast as possible.  Then the defences would have been invaluable.”

“
I still wish I knew what they have planned when they reach the hull.”

“
Be careful what you wish for,” Dash said.  “You just might get it.”

*****

Jump space was clearing. The
Wanderer
would be able to jump soon.  Jess found he was far more on edge this time.  He knew the troopers were waiting for the jump to make their move.  They would reach the hull this time round.  The hull was much stronger than anything they had blasted through so far, but Jess was still worried.

“
Everyone ready?” he asked.

“
I guess so,” Ali said.

“
Yes.  Not that there’s much for me to do,” Dash said.

“
Sal?”

Jess had asked automatically.  When she didn’t respond he wanted to ask if she was all right, but he couldn’t find the words.  Especially with Ali and Dash listening in.

“No objections then,” he said with a shrug.  “Let’s go.”

The
Wanderer
dragged itself into jump space once more.  The Imperial troopers immediately sprang into action.  In moments they were through one wall, had orientated themselves and were moving to the next.

Jess sped his thoughts up as the troopers neared the wall, watching as closely as he could.  One of the troopers extended his hand and touched the wall, palm flat.  Jess was certain there had been nothing unusual on the glove.  Yet as the trooper moved his hand in a wide circle a thin layer of a white substance was left behind.  As soon as he’d completed the circle he drew his hand back and the shaped explosive crunched through the wall.  There was no blowback at all.  The troopers piled through.  One more wall to go.  Jess let his thoughts slow again.

The troopers neared the final wall.  Jess watched closely.  This time the troopers were near one of the defensive weapons, but only a laser.  It wouldn’t even scratch their armour.  Jess didn’t intend it to.  He watched closely as one trooper placed his hand flat on the final wall and started to move it.

Jess fired the laser.  He wasn’t aiming for the trooper.  He aimed for the spot the troopers hand was just leaving, the freshest section of explosive he could find.  As he’d hoped the laser was enough to set off the explosive.  All of it.  Even the part still being laid by the trooper.

Almost all of the explosive did its job, blasting a small hole in the wall.  Jess didn’t care about that.  The explosives under the troopers hand did their job too.  All the force was concentrated towards the wall.  The trooper wasn’t affected at all.

The explosives still being extruded from the glove were a different matter though.  They exploded too, but not being correctly shaped they exploded in a wide circle.  The trooper’s hand vanished in the explosion, as did most of his forearm.  The force struck his armour, denting the chest plate but not piercing it.  The force was enough to throw him to the floor though.

Two nearby troopers were battered by the shock wave but they weren’t badly hurt.  They rushed to their fallen companion, helping him back to his feet.  Jess saw that the armour had constricted around the wound, cutting off the flow of blood.  The trooper was injured but not out of the game.

Jess didn’t care.  He hadn’t been out to kill the trooper, though that would have been a bonus.  He was trying to slow them down.  Knowing their explosives could be set off prematurely ought to do the trick.

“Was that you?” Dash asked.

“
Yes.  That should slow them down a bit.  I managed to set off the explosives while the trooper was still laying them.  I thought the explosion might feed back into the glove.  It did.”

“
Nicely done,” Dash said.  “I’m impressed.”

“
I’d hoped it might trigger all the explosives they have stored, take them all out in one massive explosion, but that didn’t happen.”

“
It probably couldn’t.  It would be too dangerous to carry that much explosive in a volatile state.  It’s probably stored as two different components then combined in the glove.”

“
Do you think that will stop them?” asked Ali.

“
I doubt it,” Dash replied.  “It should slow them down a lot though.  They can’t keep taking casualties with so few of them aboard.”

Another trooper walked up to the damaged wall and tentatively extended his arm.  Jess smiled — the troopers were already changing their behaviour.