Wanderer 3: Tainted Universe (24 page)

“
Admiral Vorn,” he replied.  “We are in pursuit of a criminal who has stolen highly dangerous technology.  Have you seen this ship?”

Vorn sent images of the
Wanderer
over.  Lancaster studied them carefully.  Finally he spoke.

“
Yes.  That ship passed us several hours ago.”

Vorn just nodded.  It wasn’t news to him.  The tracking signal for the
Wanderer
already told that story.  He could see the questions in Lancaster’s eyes.  Lancaster wanted to know what the technologies were, but he knew better than to ask. 

“
Do you have any idea what you are heading into?” Lancaster asked.

“
I’ve reviewed the files,” Vorn replied.

“
And yet you still pursue this ship.  The technology must be incredibly dangerous.”  He held a hand up to stall Vorn.  “Don’t worry.  I won’t ask.  This is a ship that emerged from jump space well within our tar pit’s field.  That alone is a powerful ability.”

“
Then you understand why I must pursue it.”

“
You realise you’re throwing away your fleet, don’t you?  If you cross the Quarantine Zone then none of your ships will be allowed back.”

“
I know.  We will suffer whatever period of isolation is needed.  The
Wanderer
must
be caught.”

“
You’ve read the files,” Lancaster said.  “But you don’t really understand them.  This isn’t about isolation.  All Imperial fleets operating in the Northern Sector have a commandant general on the flagship, sealed away from the rest of the crew.  Their role is to guarantee that the fleet is free from the Taint.  That they haven’t been boarded or had any physical contact with any ship, station, debris or the like.”

“
Yes.  I read that.”

“
But did you think it through?  When Imperial fleets meet they rely on an exchange of information between the two commandant generals to confirm the other side is free of the Taint.  What do you think happens if they find a ship or fleet without a commandant general?”

Things clicked into place in Vorn’s mind.  He didn’t like the shape they made.

“They open fire,” Vorn said.

“
Damn right they do.  You go into that space as you are now and you’ll be fighting every Imperial ship you come across.”

“
That seems… unfortunate.  Can you spare us a ship with a commandant general aboard?”

“
Not a chance.  If things kick off we’ll need all the forces at our disposal.  We are the last line of defence.”

“
Then I will have to try to avoid such confrontations.”

Lancaster shook his head.  “I wish I could order you back, but I don’t have the authority to override you.  I will ask you once more though.  Please do not go stumbling into areas you don’t understand.  Stay here.  Share your intelligence on the ship you follow.  Have the conversions to your own ships done.  Do this the right way.”

“I’m sorry.  Time is a luxury I don’t have.”

“
Then on your head be it.  I… wait… you have banshees with you.”

“
I do.”

Vorn glanced down at his display.  His fleet had cleared the defenders, but was still well within range of their weapons.

“Admiral, the banshees must remain here.  That isn’t a request.  It is a level zero order.  I’m surprised you missed it.”

Level zero was the highest priority order passed down from the rulers of the Empire.  Vorn couldn’t remember ever seeing a level zero order before.  He received his orders from his immediate superiors.  They would talk about their own superiors from time to time.  Vorn, and every other officer of significant rank, knew that speculating or asking questions about those who ran the Empire was career suicide.  Normally he didn’t spare them a thought.  Now he found himself wondering just how far up the level zero order had come from.

“I didn’t,” Vorn replied calmly.  “I am aware of the order.”

Lancaster’s face reflected his shock.  “You were knowingly ignoring a level zero order?”

There was no point in denying it.  The
Starslayer
’s own records would show the lie when they were interrogated.  Vorn was gambling everything on his ability to capture the
Wanderer
.  Bringing back a ship with such amazing technology would mean all his sins would be overlooked, even defying a level zero order.

“
Capturing the
Wanderer
is worth the risk,” Vorn said.

“
But if one of the tainted captures a banshee they could evade our entire defensive force.  They could break through the Quarantine Zone without effort and spread the Taint in the Southern Sector.”

“
How do you know they haven’t already got banshees?”

“
No banshee’s have been allowed to pass.  You are the first to be arrogant enough to try.  If any had tried stealth we would still have detected them in the moments after they left jump space, and the moments before they entered jump space again.”

“
Maybe.  But what if they discovered banshee’s in the Northern Sector?”

“
Impossible!  They are only manufactured in one system in the Southern Sector under intense security.”

Vorn laughed, though there was precious little amusement in it.

“Admiral Lancaster, have you ever been aboard a banshee?”

“
No.”

“
Well I have.  Believe me, they aren’t made anywhere in the Southern Sector.  In fact they aren’t made by humans at all.  Two minutes on board would be enough to convince anyone of that.”

“
Aliens?  You think aliens made them?  That’s your defence for breaking a level zero order?  That aliens made banshees and there might be some sitting around in the Northern Sector?  You’re mad!”

Vorn shrugged.  Every second of conversation put his fleet further from Lancaster’s fleet.

Lancaster got control of himself with a visible effort.

“
All right Admiral Vorn.  Regardless of the reasons, you are violating a level zero order.  I can’t allow that.  I’m ordering your ships to stand down with immediate effect.”

“
That won’t work I’m afraid.  The fleet is on communications lock down.  Your signals won’t get through.”

“
Then you leave me no choice.  We will destroy your fleet.  We have you outnumbered and outgunned.”

All sign of calm was gone.  Lancaster’s face was a picture of barely restrained fury.  His breathing was fast and shallow.

“Yes, you do, but you know as well as I do that you will take heavy casualties.  You’ve only just told me you can’t spare a single ship to go with us because you need to keep the fleet at maximum strength.  Tangling with us will cost you far more than one ship.”

Lancaster gritted his teeth, unable to speak for the moment.

“I will make your decision easier,” Vorn said.  “The banshees are vital to capturing the
Wanderer
.  I have given them specific orders in the event you attack any part of this fleet.  They are to engage stealth and use it to pass every Quarantine Zone defence layer.  So if you attack my forces all you will achieve is to force the banshees to travel into danger without any backup.”

Lancaster took a deep breath.  Anger still blazed in his eyes but his voice had turned cold.

“Admiral Vorn, you seem to believe you are doing what is right.  No matter how powerful the
Wanderer
is it can’t be worth the risk of the tainted getting their hands on a banshee.”

“
You’re missing the bigger picture,” Vorn replied scornfully.  Lancaster had been given all the information, but he hadn’t used it.  “The
Wanderer
is far more powerful than any banshee.  It destroyed three banshees single-handedly while they were stealthed, and that’s just the beginning.  If the
Wanderer
falls into the hands of the tainted the fight is over.  We have lost.”

“
Would you destroy it?” Lancaster asked.  “If the opportunity arose would you destroy the
Wanderer
to protect against that.”

“
Not if I can possibly avoid it.  The Empire is going to fall.  The tainted are too strong.  I can tell that even from the limited information I’ve accessed.  The technology in the
Wanderer
is the only hope we have of surviving as a species.”

“
The Empire will not fall,” Lancaster said fiercely.  “Nothing will get through while I guard it.”

“
Maybe.  I tend to think that if a force has beaten every other layer of defence on the way here you aren’t going to be doing more than fighting a holding action.

“
Anyway… we have established that you will not be attacking my fleet, and we are drawing away from you with every second.  Your faster ships could catch us, but you know as well as I do that they would be torn apart.  Goodbye Admiral.  Until we return at least.”

Vorn closed the channel, cutting off an angry retort from Lancaster.  He didn’t expect to face an attack, but his fleet was well prepared if there was one.  His key officers had been fed some of the information about the Taint.  Enough to convince them that the defending fleet might be a danger, might have fallen to the Taint, and any attack must be met with full force.

As he went to pour himself a drink Vorn realised his hand was shaking slightly.  Adrenaline was starting to take its toll on his system.  Until that conversation there had still been the chance to change his mind.  To avoid the career suicide of defying a level zero order.  To return to the Southern Sector and live a relatively safe life.  At least until the tainted broke through.

The Empire was too important.  He couldn’t step aside and watch it die.  He’d dedicated his adult life to serving the Empire, to keeping it safe, laying his life on the line many times.  This was just one more time.  He would do whatever it took to save the Empire.  Or die trying.

Chapter Thirty-One

Jess tensed as the
Wanderer
lost its fight to remain in jump space.  What was waiting for them?  Were they about to face what had the Empire so worried?

They hit normal space.  Jess scanned space around them quickly.  He was a little disappointed at what he found.  It was the familiar Empire fleet arranged at the start of the tar pit’s influence.  The
Wanderer
was already well past them.

“
Just the usual,” he said.

“
Don’t sound so disappointed,” Ali replied.  “We want to get through the Quarantine Zone safely, not confront whatever is out there.  Don’t we?”

Jess grinned sheepishly.  “Yeah.  I guess so.  I’d almost welcome a fight right now, rather than endlessly going through the same steps at each blockade.”

“Well I wouldn’t.  Remember that before you send us charging off into danger.”

“
Yes boss,” he replied, grinning over his shoulder.  “What are the troopers up to?”

“
Same as always in normal space.  They’re strapped down safely.  I’ll watch them but I bet they don’t move until we go back into jump space.”

“
I’m not taking that bet.”

Jess checked the Imperial fleet again.  As he’d expected, none of the ships had reacted in any way to the
Wanderer
.  It was becoming eerie.  It almost felt as if the
Wanderer
had some form of stealth effect.

Despite what Ali had said, Jess was still beginning to wish for something to happen.  Anything that would alleviate the strange combination of worry and boredom.

*****

Nothing happened.  The journey was as quiet as the crossing of each previous layer had been.  As the
Wanderer
escaped the tar pit's influence Jess felt excitement stir.  At least the troopers would keep him from crying with boredom.

Sure enough, as soon as the
Wanderer
entered jump space the troopers were on the move again.  A few minutes later they were nearing the airlock which appeared to be their target.

“
Will they be able to break through the airlock?” Ali asked.

“
Not easily,” Jess replied.  “Those doors are almost as tough as the main hull.”

“
They will try to subvert the controls,” Dash said.  “Or bypass them completely.  If they blow the controls, physically hack into the wiring, they’ll hope to force the doors open.”

“
They’re in for a shock then.  The
Wanderer
doesn’t work like that.  They could completely sever the whole door and it would still be under my control.”

“
It could be a good way to use up their explosives then,” Ali said.

“
Some maybe,” Dash said.  “They won’t keep trying for too long though.”

“
How long?”

“
Two, maybe three minutes.  If they can’t get through in that time then odds are they never will.”

“
So if I open both the inner and outer doors something like a minute after they start trying they won’t be suspicious?”

Dash chuckled.  “That’s a nasty turn of mind.  Yes, they’ll be suspicious.  They’ll be suspicious of everything that happens around them, whether you are responsible or not.  But your trick should work.  I think they’ll believe they struck a vital control.  Having both sets of doors open at once helps there.  That shouldn’t even be possible unless the safeties are destroyed.”

“Good.”

“
They’re through,” Ali said.

The troopers shoved through their latest hole, checked their surroundings then moved to the airlock.  One placed his hand on the airlock controls for several seconds.  When he moved it away a layer of explosives were left in place.  They promptly detonated, damaging the area of wall that had held the controls.

Two troopers examined the hole.  Jess could sense their confusion.  They’d expected to find wires at the edge, the control systems for the airlock doors, but there was nothing but slightly damaged hull.  The
Wanderer
wasn’t linked together by wires.  The very fabric of the ship enabled the communication.  Physical connections weren’t required.  Sections communicated using the same technologies that interfaced Jess to the ship.

After discussing the problem for some time a third trooper came over and gestured at the hole in the wall.  One of the troopers applied more explosives, which quickly went off.

Jess opened the inner airlock door a few centimetres.  Nowhere near enough for anyone to get through, but enough to catch their attention.  It worked.  The trooper added another layer of explosives.

As it exploded Jess opened the inner and outer airlock doors wide, overriding the warnings he received from the
Wanderer
.  The area immediately started to decompress.  Jess had half hoped some of the troopers would be dragged out by the fierce wind.  He was disappointed.  The troopers were expecting it.  As soon as the decompression began they secured themselves to the floor and walls.

Soon they were in vacuum.  Jess had activated fields within the cargo bay to prevent most of the air escaping.  The troopers started moving again.  Two moved into the airlock then to the edge of the ship.  Carefully they edged themselves around, somehow using their armour to keep them secured against the hull.

Jess was impressed despite himself.  The misty nothingness of jump space hung above the two troopers, held at bay only by the invisible efforts of the
Wanderer
’s jump engines.  One slip, one mishap, and the troopers would be lost in jump space forever.

Jess shivered as he remembered his own trip through jump space without the benefit of a ship.  That had only lasted moments yet it had felt like forever.  The vacuum of normal space had nothing on jump space.

“Two troopers on the hull,” he told the others.  They could see the same on their monitors, but he felt the need to speak.

“
What are the others waiting for?” Ali asked.

“
I don’t know.  They aren’t… wait.  Damn.”

The other troopers had turned away from the airlock and were heading for the hole they had recently created.  In moments they were through, and they continued to retrace their steps.  Reaching a hole in the ceiling they helped each other up and through.

“Where are they going?” Ali asked.

“
I don’t know.  There’s nothing obvious in the direction they’re going.”

“
They won’t keep doing this,” Dash said.  “It makes them too predictable, and they don’t know whether we’ve set-up defences on the route they took.”

“
So why do it at all?”

“
As a distraction maybe.  What are the two outside doing?”

Jess swore.  He’d forgotten them for a moment, too busy worrying about the main group.

“They’re moving quickly.  Towards us.  They could be here in a couple of minutes.”

“
Like I said.  Diversion.”

Dash sounded smug to Jess.

“Fine,” Jess snapped back.  “What are you going to do to stop them?”

“
What?  Me?  There’s nothing I can do…”

“
That’s right.  Remember that.  I’m the one that has to deal with them.”

Jess gritted his teeth.  The words had sounded cutting in his head.  Now he’d spoken them they sounded petulant and petty.  Instead of making him feel better they’d just made him more angry.

Anger.  He could use that.  Stoking it up he turned his attention to the two troopers scrambling across the
Wanderer
’s hull.  What he had to do next wasn’t going to be easy.

In the short time since he’d escaped aboard the
Wanderer
he’d killed more people than he could easily count, even limiting it to those just those he’d specifically targeted using the ship’s defences, drones or the robots.  Once he added in those he’d killed when destroying ships the numbers became huge.  Thousands definitely.  Probably tens of thousands.  Maybe even hundreds of thousands.

Jess felt the
Wanderer
begin to produce an estimate of the numbers involved.  He quickly cancelled it.  That was one total he never wanted to know. 

Despite his horror over the total number he’d killed, killing was becoming easier.  It was almost routine now.  Admittedly he’d never killed someone with his own hands, it had always been at one step removed — via the
Wanderer
, robots or drones.  What he was about to do was still difficult.  Not because he planned to kill the two troopers, but because of the way he planned to do it.

Jess kept his anger at Dash burning as he prepared to adjust the
Wanderer
’s jump fields.  Then he paused, struggling to do what he knew needed to be done.

You have to do it Jess
, Ali sent. 
It isn’t your fault.  It’s them or us.

Her message was accompanied by a sense of support and caring.  Jess sent his thanks back.  Then, before he could change his mind, he had the
Wanderer
change the jump field.

The effect lasted less than a second.  In a very limited area the
Wanderer
’s jump fields went from extending several metres into space to extending only a few centimetres.  Then they flashed back to their normal position.

The two troopers were gone.  Almost. Each had left behind a thin layer of their suit, all of it that was within a few centimetres of the hull.

Jess felt sick.  The two troopers were floating out there somewhere.  Dying if not already dead.  Enough of their suits had been left behind to expose them to vacuum, but Jess suspected battle suits would be designed to seal quickly.  There was a good chance they were alive and aware of their predicament.  How would they be feeling?  Each floating in jump space, completely isolated and knowing that no one and nothing could save them.

Jess thought he’d hit rock bottom.  He hadn’t.  The
Wanderer
drew his attention to two small items it had detected within jump space.  The two troopers.  It was even suggesting that a pickup could be possible, if difficult.

Jess’s heart sank at that.  Swallowing hard he had the
Wanderer
change course.  He had it move away from the two troopers, leaving them to their fate.

“
Two more down,” Dash said.  Even he sounded subdued.

“
Yeah,” Jess replied.  “We still have to deal with the others though.”

Everyone fell silent, watching as the remaining troopers moved swiftly.  They soon started off in a new direction, blowing holes in the
Wanderer
’s walls as they went.  Dash had been right.  Somehow that made Jess feel more hostile towards him rather than less.

Then Jess felt the familiar feeling of nearing a tar pit.  They had reached the next defensive layer.