Wanderer's Escape (33 page)

Yeah, that was close though.  There might be more of them.  Can you spare any drones?

No, but we will.  You need the protection.  Just get in that shuttle as fast as you damn well can.  Bring the Wanderer in closer too.  Once you're clear we can blow that whole section apart.

Doing it now.  Good idea.

Of course it is.  Now move that cute backside of yours!

Yes Sir!

“Come on everyone, we have to hurry!” Jess shouted.

A boom overhead announced four drones arriving.  Two took station ahead, one overhead and one behind.  Jess ran back to get Elizabeth's trolley and then set off down the corridor as fast as he could.  Behind him he could hear the adults shouting at the children to move.  Many of them were crying but Jess was relieved to see they all moved quickly.

Three more of the near invisible guards tried to ambush them, the drones dealt with all three the moment they appeared.  However their cloaking worked it clearly didn't extend to providing shields.

Jess rounded the final corner and ran into the shuttle bay, ordering the shuttle to open its rear doors and cabin door.  Three of the drones turned and streaked back into the corridor.  Jess quickly checked the status and saw why.  The robot was badly damaged and retreating under heavy fire.  All but one of the drones with it had been destroyed and that one was in trouble.

“Move!” he screamed as the mass of people behind him stumbled to a halt.  “Get into the back of the shuttle, right now!  Teeko, you go to the cabin.  Help me to get Elizabeth in there.”

Not looking to see if he was being obeyed Jess started to drag Elizabeth off the trolley.  Teeko was there almost immediately, using its arms to help lift Elizabeth and drag her into the shuttle.  The children on its back were clinging on tightly, eyes red from crying.  Jess didn't have time to reassure them, he jumped into the pilot's chair and strapped himself in then started the side door closing.

A flare of alarm told him the robot had been destroyed. All the remaining drones followed quickly after.  Checking the shuttles sensors he saw that most of the children were in.  The adults were quickly guiding the last few.  One older child had fallen over on the way and lay crying on the floor, too overwhelmed to move again. One of the adults dropped the child they carried off in the shuttle and ran back.  Jess realised it was Alex and completely changed his opinion of the man.  The others made it into the shuttle as Alex reached the child.  Hooking his arms under the boy's stomach he was turned and sprinting back before he'd even slung the boy over his shoulder.

Two guards appeared at the corridors entrance, swinging to target Alex and the boy.  Somehow Alex put on a last burst of speed and dived into the back of the shuttle just as they fired, the shots were mostly blocked by the shuttle's side but Jess saw Alex's feet blown clean off, the energy blast sealing the wound.

Jess immediately started the shuttle lifting, closing the rear  door and raising the shuttle's shields.  More guards appeared and even the shuttle's shields were rocked by the firepower aimed at them.  Jess reached out through the Wanderer to the station's controls and ordered the docking bay door open.  Nothing happened.  Somehow the guards had jammed the mechanism.  More shots impacted on the shuttle's shields.  Jess knew it couldn't take much more punishment.

In desperation he reached out to the Wanderer, carefully chose lasers he felt were not too powerful and fired at the door.  One moment it was there, the next it was gone and the shuttle was rocked by a huge blast which nearly collapsed its shields.  Jess smiled grimly at the thought he'd nearly done the guards work for them.  He threw the shuttle forwards, hoping none of the passengers would be too badly hurt.  With them packed in so tightly he hoped they wouldn't be thrown around too badly.

As he cleared the docking bay more shots impacted on the shields, which flickered dangerously before holding.  The docking bay had automatically sealed when the door had been destroyed, preventing the stations atmosphere escaping, but the guards armour clearly had life support built in.  He threw the shuttle down and to the right – taking it out of the line of fire for the moment.  Using the stations sensors he saw the guards rush towards where the door had been, clearly looking to get more shots off.  What they saw stopped them dead.  Sitting less than five hundred metres away was the Wanderer.  Jess gave them a few moments to contemplate their fate, and for the shuttle to reach a safe distance, then he used his control of Iona's systems to drop its shields and opened fire with some of the Wanderer's heavy weaponry.  The docking bay and several floors around it simply ceased to exist.  Jess smiled to himself grimly then swung the shuttle and Wanderer onto paths that would let them dock as soon as possible.

Chapter Twenty Nine

Less than a minute later the shuttle touched down in the Wanderer, clamps locking it in place.  Jess opened both the cabin and rear doors and hurried out, telling the children in the cabin to stay with Teeko.  Elizabeth too would have to wait, her breathing was still stable – she could sleep off the effects for now.  He ran around to the back entrance to the shuttle.

“
You're safe,” he told the anxious looking adults and scared looking children.  “We are back on the Wanderer, our ship.  You can stay here for now, but the room through there is our lounge and will probably be more comfortable.  There's some sofas and chairs.  We need to get Alex into the medical bay.  Two of you help me carry him.”

Alex looked in a bad way, the shock of his injuries had hit him hard.  His face was pale and coated in sweat, his breathing rapid and he was barely conscious.  Swallowing hard at the ruined flesh Jess lifted the injured man under his knees.  One of the men grabbed Alex under the shoulders and the woman who had argued with Alex earlier put her arms under his back, sharing the weight.

Jess led them through into the lounge at a near run, headed through into the short corridor and then into the medical bay.  A low bed was already in place, formed out of the ship's structure as always.  They carefully placed Alex down on the bed which immediately started to mould itself around his body, especially his legs.  The ship started pumping chemicals into his body to combat shock.  Almost immediately his breathing deepened and he soon settled into a deep sleep.

“
Alex!  No!” the woman screamed, reaching out to grab Alex by the shoulders.  Jess grabbed her hands.

“
It's all right, really it is.  The ship has put him into a coma while it works on him.  He'll be fine.  I was worried we wouldn't get him here in time, now we have the ship will take good care of him.”

“
I want to stay with him.” 

She glared at Jess, challenging him.  He realised he didn't have the time to argue.

“Fine, but don't touch anything.  Don't interfere.  Some of the ways the ship works are invasive but they are crucial.  Promise me.  Otherwise you can't stay.”

She met his gaze for long moments before nodding.  She turned back to Alex without saying a word.  Jess motioned to the other man to follow and left the room.

“
Will he really be all right?” asked the man, once the door was closed.

“
Yes.  I promise.  Now I need to go help rescue the other prisoners.  Please help the children off the shuttle.”

Jess sprinted out into the lounge, dodged past several children that were milling around, then ran through to the flight deck.  He grinned at Sal, stole a quick kiss with Ali then jumped into the pilot's seat and strapped himself in
– wincing slightly as the straps pulled against his shoulder wound.  His implants had done such a good job of numbing the pain that he'd almost forgotten it.

How is it going?
he asked.

Badly,
replied Sal. 
The only good thing is the fighters are keeping a good distance from us and the station.  I thought they would have tried something by now.  Most of the guards are ignoring our warnings, so the prisoners are focusing on trying to get past the guards, or get to them.  It's turning into a bloodbath down there. 

Damn.  We need to make the threat more real to the guards.  I've got an idea...

Sal and Ali felt the idea would work.  As Sal had spoken to the station before they let her send the new message.

“
Guards on the station, you are ignoring our threat.  That is a mistake.  We not only have a ship stationed beside Iona, we also control all of its systems.  To prove that, all the stations defensive weapons will fire seven times on my count.  One... two... three...”

Each time Sal counted they triggered every weapon Iona had, wherever possible the weapons were fired just slightly above the farm sections, ensuring the unleashed energy was visible to everyone.

“...seven.  You have seen we have control of Iona's weaponry.  Nothing can stop our ship from attacking you.  Any segment where the guards attack prisoners, in particular any segment where the guards kill all the prisoners, will be blown apart by our ship.  There will be no more warnings.”

If that doesn't scare them into behaving nothing will,
Jess sent.

Jess checked the deployment of their forces while waiting to see what effect the warning would have.  Most of the shuttles were on final approach, with a few already docked and unloading drones.  As more and more shuttles docked the three of them were hard pushed to keep coordinating all the drones they had.  Many encountered stiff resistance around docking bays, but nowhere near the firepower that Jess had fled from on the shuttle.  They quickly eliminated all resistance around the docking bays, with only a few drones destroyed by lucky hits or being overwhelmed by fire.

Using Iona's sensors Jess saw that many of the guards had now pulled back to defensible locations, letting prisoners pass safely.

It's working.  There's still a few hot spots
– here, here, here and here – but most of the guards are pulling back.  Let's get some drones there, the robots too if we can.

Great
, Sal replied. 
Hang on, some prisoners are trying to chase down guards that have pulled back.  I think they want revenge.  What do we do?

We send some drones out there.  Order them to stop.

And if they don't?

I hate to say it but... we shoot them.  Somewhere painful rather than fatal.  If the guards feel under threat they will start attacking prisoners again.  We don't control all communications, I'm sure the word would spread through all the guards pretty quickly.

Yeah, OK.  Shooting at prisoners though...

Jess could feel how conflicted Sal was through the link.  He felt the same.  He had to focus on getting as many prisoners out safely as possible though.  Despite the earlier chaos and fear he realised the trap had worked in their favour.  The people from Ali's station had all been grouped together and easy to save.  At least now he didn't have to worry about steering them to safety, possibly at the expense of other prisoners.

Things continued to improve for the next couple of minutes.  The first drones started to arrive at two of the trouble spots and quickly wiped out the guards there.  The third trouble spot followed suit soon after, but the fourth was much harder.  The guards there were dug into much better defensive positions, and were toting the same heavy weaponry as Jess had faced in the station's hub – though it wasn't used till the drones arrived.  Fourteen drones were destroyed in quick succession, Jess, Sal and Ali sent the others diving for cover or back out of range.

I don't think they are guards,
Ali sent. 
Their tactics and weapons are completely different.  I think they came with Matt, the ones that attacked you too.

Makes sense,
Sal sent. 
I think we should bypass them.  We can take the prisoners in that area out through here or here instead.  It's quite a bit longer but far safer.  I don't know if we have the firepower to overcome that position.

Let's do it,
Jess sent. 
Once the prisoners are far enough away I'll use the Wanderer to pound that position.  They won't survive that.

They diverted the prisoners as Sal had suggested.  In other areas some prisoners were already reaching shuttles.  Sal instructed them to unload the armour, weapons and some of the medkits then the first wave launched to rendezvous with the Wanderer.  Soon the first few were docking, using the docking bays in the lower section of the Wanderer
– the area sealed off from the flight deck and crew living areas.  Soon after the shuttles were launching again, heading back to pick up more prisoners.

An alarm flared in Jess's mind, drawing his attention to a region of space several minutes flight away.  A fleet of ships had exited jump space and were turning towards Iona and the Wanderer.  Jess could detect that they were powering up weapons and had strong shields in place.  The Wanderer tagged several ships as being familiar, ships they had last encountered at Stone Snake's pirate base.  The slight hope Jess held that the ships would be friendly, or at worst neutral, was crushed.

Incoming, we're going to have to fight,
he sent. 
You two take  over all the drones, I need to concentrate on this.

Good luck,
sent Sal. 
Try not to bump us about too much.  What do we do about the shuttle flights?