Wanderer 3: Tainted Universe (4 page)

Jess’s implants were special, the ship had told him.  Only one set ever existed at a time, used to link the ship and its captain.  Though captain didn’t do the reality justice.  Jess felt he was part captain, part navigator, part advisor and part biological computer component.  It was a view the ship hadn’t denied.

Sal and Ali’s implants were much simpler, allowing them to connect to the ship and control robots and drones.  The implants allowed them to accelerate their thoughts too, though not anywhere near the level that Jess could.

The moment arrived.  The
Wanderer
tore its way back into real space, just after the three ships it escorted.  They emerged almost on top of the bulky pirate base, a number of combat ships and several wicked looking free floating defence platforms.

Jess immediately started to send out the codes Dash had supplied, hoping that they could avoid a fight.  He kept his mind accelerated, making sure he’d be ready for any attack.

Now he experienced the downside of accelerating his thoughts.  The wait to discover whether the codes were accepted or not would have been torture at the best of times.  Now Jess had to wait for what would feel like chunks of an hour to him, rather than seconds, all with virtually nothing changing around him.

He gritted his teeth.  Whatever happened he was determined to be as ready as possible.  If that meant waiting for hours of subjective time then so be it.  For the sake of his friends, and the ex-prisoners on all four ships, he would wait to see if the response was friendly or hostile.  However long it took.

Chapter Five

Dash tensed as the
Wanderer
dropped out of jump space, not that there was much he could do.  If they were attacked it would all be down to Jess.  Dash still didn’t know how Jess achieved that control.  Jess, Sal and Ali had been reluctant to discuss it.  Another sign of how little they trusted him.

Screens flickered to life, showing the base. Dash had only seen it in person once before.  It looked unchanged.  The core was a long lattice cylinder which was extremely strong despite being more open space than material.  Something like a hundred ships were docked with the core, from fighters right up to a frigate.  Massive weapon turrets projected at regular intervals along the core, packed with enough firepower to see off all but the largest of warships

At the centre point of the cylinder was the living area of the base.  It was small compared to the base’s total size, but still large enough to hold several thousand people comfortably if needed.  In reality it rarely had more than a couple of hundred.

The
Wanderer
was already in range of the heavier weaponry.  If the codes weren’t accepted then they’d know pretty damn soon.  As they waited the seconds seemed to stretch out almost endlessly.  It felt familiar to Dash.  He’d endured the pause before conflict, potential or certain, more times than he could count.  Still… this was taking too long.

“
I don’t like this,” Dash said quietly.  “If the codes were good we should have received the acknowledgement by now.”

“
And if not?” Ali asked.

Dash gave a grim smile. 

“Then we’d either be glowing wreckage or plastered to the floor as Jess flew evasive manoeuvres to get us clear.”

“
What’s happening then?”

“
I wish I knew.  The codes must have at least bought us some time.  My guess is there’s some sort of discussion going on.  And that’s bad.”

Ali went to answer.  Dash expected her to ask why it was bad, but Jess interrupted her.

“Codes have been accepted.  They’re asking to talk to you Dash.”

Jess slumped slightly where he sat.  The strain of waiting seemed to have hit him particularly hard.  Why?  It hadn’t been
that
long.  Was it somehow related to his control of the ship?

Dash didn’t have time to follow up on the thought.  A screen in front of him flared to life showing a familiar face.

“Knuckles!  Am I glad to see you,” Dash said.

“
Hello boss.  What brings you to our neck of the woods?” answered the man with a big smile.

Dash studied Knuckles for a few moments.  He looked older than the last time Dash had seen him, but it had been several years.  He looked tired too.  Knuckles was one of the very few left who had been with Dash when he broke from the Empire.

His real name was Tom Dunton. Short and with a slight frame he’d been one of the calmest of the troops, renowned for never losing his temper or getting into a fight.  Until one day a bearlike trooper from another squad picked a fight with Dozer…

*****

Normally Dozer could handle himself in any fight, but not when the first hint it was starting was someone hitting him over the head with a heavy chair leg.  Dash had seen the security footage.  The blow was brutal.  It was a miracle Dozer wasn’t killed.

Dozer hit the ground almost unconscious.  The thug landed two solid kicks to Dozer’s stomach.  The third didn’t connect.  Tom crashed into the attacker, pushing him back a whole step.  The thug grinned down at the man who didn’t even reach his shoulder height.  Tom had saved Dozer from a severe kicking, but now he was the focus of the brutal trooper.

The fight was a complete mismatch.  Tom managed to dodge a hook that would have taken his head off.  Then he sidestepped a brutal jab, but that put him right in the way of another hook.  This one connected solidly with the side of Tom’s head, lifting him off the floor before dumping him down on his back.

And that should have been that.  The thug clearly thought it was, as he stood grinning.  As Tom fell onto his back he twisted, turning it into a back flip which landed him on his feet.  Without a word he closed on the thug again.

Another thunderous cross sent Tom ducking, bending down low, but this time Tom lashed out.  His open palm smashed into the thug’s knee.  Then, on the way back up, he lashed out against the thug’s stomach, chest and the elbow of the still swinging arm.

By the time Tom stood straight again the thug was collapsing.  He ended up on the floor, curled up in agony.  Tom simply walked past him to help Dozer.  Not even looking tempted to put the boot in.

News of the fight soon spread, and before long someone had hacked into the security system and the whole squad was watching Tom’s exploits.  Someone had commented on how little Tom looked like a bare knuckle fighter, and that was it.  Tom had a new nickname.  Knuckles.

*****

Looking at the man on the screen made Dash realise just how many years had passed.  It was well over twenty years since Tom picked up his nickname.  Closer to twenty-five.

“
I was in the neighbourhood and thought I’d look you up,” Dash said.

“
Yeah, right boss.  There is no neighbourhood here.  And you’ve turned up with four ships we’ve never seen before.  Are you dragging trouble with you?”

“
You worry too much.  No wonder you’ve lost most of your hair.”

It was an exaggeration, but Knuckles hairline had receded a long way over the years.

“It’s pretty bad, I’ll give you that.  I’ve lost a lot in the centre, but there’s still lots clinging on at the sides, thank god.”

“
If you say so.  I’m not picking a fight with you.”

That made Knuckles smile.  The line had become a standing joke after he earned his nickname.  Not that anyone had picked fights with him before.

Dash struggled to keep his face neutral.  They’d worked out the coded conversation based on Tom’s hair several years before.  The answer had sounded innocuous, but it actually told Dash that the base was under occupation.  The hair clinging at the sides comment was good though.  It meant that most, if not all, of the docked ships remained loyal.

“
Seriously boss, how can we help you?”

Dash grew serious.

“Three of the ships are packed full of slave transports.  We need to get all of them offloaded, set the slaves free then give them food, water and whatever medical treatment they need.  The
Wanderer
has a full load too, though they’ve already been freed.”

“
Wow… you don’t do things by halves.  That’s going to be a lot of people.  You won’t want to leave them here either.  Best thing would be to offload them directly onto other ships.  Saves moving them twice.”

“
That’s what I thought.  Can we make arrangements to do it straight away?”

“
Sure, I can coordinate that.  Are you coming aboard?  We could catch up over some beers.”

“
Definitely!  Once the prisoners are freed though.  Knowing how the empire treats its slaves I doubt we can save everyone, but I wouldn’t feel right relaxing until we’ve done everything we can.  Start working out where you want them offloaded to.  I’ll speak to the four captains and work out how we can get people off quickest.”

“
Sure thing boss.  It’s good to see you.”

“
You too my friend.  You too.”

Dash killed the connection, trying to decide how much to tell the others.  They didn’t place much trust in him.  Would they believe what he had to say?  Or should he keep quiet and get himself transferred to one of the warships, even if that would mean jumping back into the role he’d played for far too many years.

Compounding his worries was the thought of Knuckles.  Dash knew that whatever happened his friend would likely end up dead.  And it would be because of Dash.  That was a heavy weight to carry.

Chapter Six

Greenseed Station

“Incoming ship sir,” called out the watch officer.

Marsh jumped slightly, pulled from a near doze.  He was pulling eighteen hour shifts in the command chair.  There was nothing for him to do most of the time, but he wanted to be there whenever a ship approached.

The only reason he didn’t spend all his time there, sleeping upright, was that he’d noticed his officers starting to copy the example he set.  While he could get by, dozing in his chair at times if necessary, they needed to be sharp all the time.

“
Who is it?” Marsh asked.  The call and response had almost become ritual now, the words seldom varying.

“
I can’t tell yet sir.  It’s small though.  Too small to be a freighter.  I think it’s a cutter.”

“
Damn.”

It was a bad sign.  Everyone in the room was suddenly on edge, far more so than when the
Silver Tramp
had approached.  Marsh felt rocks settle into his stomach.  This was going to be a bad one.  He could feel it.

“
Comms, get me a connection to them,” Marsh snapped out.  “Right now.”

“
Aye sir.”

Within seconds a face appeared on the screen in front of Marsh.  His heart sank.  Staring back at him was a woman with dark circles under her eyes and greasy hair dragged up on top of her head.  The camera was on a wide angle, letting Marsh see six children strapped into the seats behind her.  One looked to be only a year old.  The rest were a spread of ages up to five or six.  A couple shared similar features, but the others didn’t look related to each other.

The woman spoke, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

“
Thank god!  We found you!  We found you!”

“
I’m sorry,” Marsh said gently.  “I don’t know who you think you’ve found, but it isn’t us.  We can offer you food and limited supplies but nothing more.  Stop your ship immediately and we can discuss what supplies you need.”

“
No.  No, no, no, no, no.  We’ve found you.  Everyone knows about you.  You’ve managed to stay safe.  To keep yourselves secure.  And you’re doing good too.  Giving away food to keep people alive.  You can do it.  You can keep the children safe.  You must!”

“
I’m sorry.”  Marsh’s voice was firmer now, though still soft.  “We cannot allow you to approach.  Slow down now or we will be forced to destroy you.”

“
No.  No you won’t.  You’ll protect them.  I’ll make sure you do.”

She had a crazed look in her eye now.  The look of someone who had been spread too thinly for too long.

“Madam, I will not hesitate.  Stop your ship immediately.”

“
No.  I’ll make you look after them.  They can’t control the ship.  Only I can.  They won’t be able to stop and you’ll have to save them.  I know how kind you all are.  Much too kind to let a ship with only young children on be destroyed.”

She smiled then, a strangely beautiful smile.  The smile of someone finally finding peace.  She smiled even as she stuck the pistol under her chin.  She was still smiling when she pulled the trigger.

The result was horrific.  Blood and worse flew everywhere.  The woman’s body collapsed.  Most of the children started crying, though one was stunned into silence.  Marsh stared at them, cursing the position he’d been put in.

He checked the ship’s course, unsurprised to see it would collide with the station.  Not that it made any difference.  Even a near miss would have forced his hand.

Feeling like his heart would burst from his chest he killed the video feed.  Tears stung his eyes as he spoke, but his voice was steady.

“
We can’t let them get close, and we can’t take them in.  We would have given them food and supplies.  She left us with no choice.  Destroy the ship.”

“
Captain, we can’t just kill them.  Let me go to them.  I’ll take the risk.  I’ll take them somewhere safe.”

Marsh looked at his deputy, Alisha Sanders.  He saw that she was serious.  Even though it would mean never returning.  He couldn’t let her do it.  Greenseed needed her too much.  He needed her help too much.  Looking into her eyes he knew those arguments wouldn’t deter her.  It didn’t matter.  It was too late.

“I’m sorry,” he said.  “No.  You couldn’t reach them in time.  The ship would be too close.  We can’t risk it.”

“
We can’t just kill those children!” she shouted.

“
We have no choice,” he replied, forcing calm into his voice.  “You know that.  Think of all the children we have here.  Think what might happen to every one of them if we let that ship get too close.  There’s no other way.”

Marsh’s heart went out to Alisha as she wrestled with knowing he was right, while still desperately wanting to save the children.  He couldn’t blame her.  He felt the same way.  If he could find any way to keep them safe he would… but there wasn’t any.

“Oh god… what have we become?” she whispered at last.

The whisper cut to the heart of Marsh where the shouting hadn’t.  What had they become?  Killers of children for no reason other than fear.  Marsh saw the same conflict on the faces of the others.  He knew he had to counter it.  Punching several controls he brought up a composite photo showing many of the children of Greenseed.

“We’ve become what we had to,” he rasped.  “You know the risks we run if we don’t destroy the ship.  Look at
these
children.  They are safe right now because we do what is necessary.  I won’t let them down.” 

He punched several more commands in, then spoke again.  This time he let the pain inside show in his voice.

“But I won’t ask any of you to do something I won’t do myself.”

He pressed one final button.  The station’s weapons fired.  The approaching ship disintegrated, ripped apart by weaponry designed
to kill far larger ships. 
At least it was fast
, he thought. 
They won’t have felt a thing
.

It didn’t help.  He bowed his head, tears threatening to fall.  He knew the faces of those children would haunt his sleep for weeks to come.  He could hear several people weeping, Alisha amongst them.  He didn’t blame them.

How much longer could they stay strong, he wondered.  How long before people started to crack completely, or to make bad decisions.  A chill settled into his heart as he realised Alisha wouldn’t have made the decision he had.  She would have let the ship through.  Docked with the ship, brought it to a halt and then brought the children onto Greenseed.

With a sigh he realised he would have to stay in the control room twenty-four hours a day.  Compassion was a noble virtue.  A wonderful virtue.  And it was one they simply couldn’t afford.  Letting just one ship through put the entire station at risk.

Even so, just how much longer could they really survive?  The station was tough, but not invincible.  Ultimately they were just playing for time.  Waiting for the Empire to solve the problem.  If they could.

He hardly dared consider the alternative.  If the Empire couldn’t solve the problem then humanity’s days were numbered.  It might take years, decades even, but the end would come.  Would Greenseed be one of the last outposts to survive?  Or would it be destroyed long before, crushed by the forces threatening the Empire or those desperate to escape those forces?

Right then, pain burning in his heart, he wasn’t sure which option was worse.  Maybe a quick end would be better than having his soul torn apart one destroyed ship at a time.  He really didn’t know.