Wanderer 3: Tainted Universe (30 page)

He checked how the changes to the ship designed to slow the troopers were progressing.  They were on track, which meant there was still another three hours before the
Wanderer
could return to jump space.

With nothing else to distract him his thoughts returned to Ali.  She had looked amazing wearing just a bathrobe.  The sight had been extremely distracting.  It was almost enough to make him forget he was angry with her, once the initial shock at finding her with Dash and Sal had worn off.  He was tempted to go to her room, but the memory of her stomping off the flight deck stopped him.  He’d been the one who was upset, who’d been angry.  How had she ended up being the one who stomped off in a mood?  He hadn’t done anything to deserve it.

He certainly wasn’t going to go to her room just for her to reject him.  He’d wait for her to realise she was in the wrong.

*****

Ali struggled awake to the sound of knocking on her door.  This time it was gentle but still insistent.  Yawning she climbed out of bed and grabbed the bathrobe again.  Querying the ship she saw Sal waiting outside, half slumped against the wall.

Worry surged through Ali.  Sal’s face was chalk white and she looked ready to collapse.  Ali quickly opened the door.  Sal stumbled into the room and fell into Ali’s arms.

Ali struggled not to drop her, lowering her to the floor as best she could.  She didn’t notice the door closing.

“
Sal?  Sal?  Can you hear me?”

Sal’s eyes snapped open again, now glowing from within.  Fear surged through Ali.  Her nightmares had returned with a vengeance.  But it was too late to do anything.  Sal’s eyes had Ali trapped.  The longer Ali stared into them the more lost she became.

Then the flow reversed.  Instead of her soul being drained into Sal, something now flowed from Sal into her.  Something that forced its way into Ali’s thoughts, into her mind.  Something she couldn’t resist.  Something that made her want to scream and yet prevented her doing so.

Desperately she tried to reach out to Jess, to use her link to the ship to call for help.  Whatever was pouring into her mind knew what she was trying and fought her, wrestling for control.  With every passing moment it became stronger and she became weaker.

Soon the presence had full control, locking her out completely.  Inside she kept on screaming.  A scream that no one would ever here.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Greenseed Station

“Commander, this is section Oak-Five.”

“
This is commander Marsh.  What’s your situation?”

“
We are secure for the moment sir.  We only have three entrances.  All are locked down.”

“
Have you changed the codes?  Some of those attacking the station will know the codes we had.”

“
Yes Commander.  As soon as we received your message.”

“
Good.  How many are with you?”

“
Forty sir.  Twelve children, the rest are adults.  All family.  We have some improvised weapons but if we keep the doors sealed we shouldn’t need them.”

“
Just remember, don’t open them.  No matter who approaches.

“
Yes sir, we… hold on.  There’s movement.  Someone is approaching.  Fast.”

“
Oak-Five, do
not
open those doors under any circumstances.”

“
Yes sir.  Hold on… no.  No, it can’t be!”

“
What’s happening?”

“
It’s my brother and his sons.  They’re being chased by a larger group.  They look terrified.”

“
You can’t be sure it’s still your brother.  Don’t open the door!”

“
I… no… I can’t leave them out there.  Open the door.  Quickly!  We can close it again in time.”

“
No!” Marsh shouted, but it fell on deaf ears.  Oak-Five was still transmitting, but they weren’t listening.

“
Can you get me video of that area?” he demanded.

“
Yes sir,” replied one of the officers.  “That area hasn’t been compromised yet.”

Yet.  As the tainted assaulted the station they were disabling and destroying its surveillance mechanisms.  Restricting the ability of Marsh and the others to coordinate a defence.

The feed appeared on his screen.  He saw a cluster of people near the doors, urging on a man and two teenage boys who were sprinting down the corridor.  Following behind was a large mob of people, trying to close the distance.

The fleeing man was pushing his sons along.  As they reached the doors he shoved them forward.  One surged through into the arms of those waiting, but the other stumbled and fell.  The father fell over him, ending in a tangled knot.

Several of those within surged forward, reaching out to grab their fallen family.  The two fallen figures seemed hurt.  They rolled about in agony, making it harder to grab them.  They were preventing the door being closed.  All the time their pursuers were getting closer.

Finally the two were successfully dragged inside the door, which quickly began closing.  It was tight but the door sealed shut just before the chasing group reached it.  Everyone inside started to shout and cheer.

Marsh only saw what happened next because he was looking for it.  Because he’d already seen it happen too many times.  The boy who had first entered, the one who had kept his feet, had quietly moved over to the door controls.  Only one man had remained by them, the others checking the father and son who had been dragged in at the last moment.

The boy suddenly lashed out, driving his stiffened hand into the throat of the man guarding the controls.  The man collapsed to the floor, choking.  The boy quickly stepped forward, entering an emergency code to open the door.  An old one, but it was still valid.  The tainted outside flooded in.

It took those inside a few moments to realise just how much danger they were in.  By then it was too late.  The tainted were in the room in large numbers.  The defenders stood no chance.

The video feed was the first thing targeted, as it had been in every other case.  Marsh had no idea what happened next.  He knew he’d see some of those who were being overrun again though, joining in a future attack.  The tainted were increasing their numbers exponentially.

Things had gone badly from the moment the tainted made their move.  Even at the best of times Greenseed wasn’t designed to hold off an invasion.  Most of the defences Marsh had tried to put into place were designed for far more mundane events — heavy damage to a section of the station, contaminated air in an area or something on a similar scale.

Greenseed might just have been able to hold out if the threat had been contained and the guards deployed.  Neither was possible.  Most of the guards were either on the
Willow
, the source of the problem, or mixed in with those who had come already left the
Willow
.  Marsh had quickly lost touch with most of the remaining guards, and the few that remained in touch were fighting desperate holding actions.

To make things worse the invaders had an intimate knowledge of the station.  They knew all the weak points, all the procedures and even most of the access codes.  The tainted had swept out across the station in an unstoppable tide.

Marsh had seen the drama in Oak-Five played out time after time.  The people under his control weren’t military.  In most cases they weren’t even guards.  Fighting or killing anyone was alien to them.  Fighting or killing close friends and family was unthinkable.  The tainted exploited that again and again.  Spearheading every attack were close family of the defenders.

Only one area of the station was truly capable of defending itself, of locking down completely.  The Operations Room.  Marsh had ordered it secured, and had blocked all comms and video feed from nearby corridors.  He would not risk the tainted using the same tactics against those under his control.

So he was still in charge of the station.  In theory.  In practice section after section was being ripped from his control.  The tainted were making use of their knowledge, using it to hamstring his control.

The generators had gone first, swiftly followed by the command links to everything outside of the station, all the weapons platforms and the small number of ships.  Both moves removed any chance of Marsh inflicting large amounts of damage on the station, even if he had been willing to.  Other critical areas followed, including the docking bays.

Now the tainted had control of all key areas and were quickly spreading out through the station.  And there was nothing Marsh could do.

Some areas were holding out, either because they’d seen what was happening and weren’t letting anyone in or because they had someone with military experience in charge.  It was only a matter of time for those areas.  Then only the operations room would be left.  Marsh knew it, too, would fall in time.

A cloud of gloom covered the room.  Hardly anyone spoke.  Those still with something to do focused intently on their tasks.  The rest were either sitting staring into space, had their heads in their hands or were watching snatches of video from around the station.

“
Commander,” the comms officer called out suddenly.  “I’ve managed to hook back into the external communications.  We can’t send but we can at least listen in.”

“
Good work.  Is anything out there?”

“
No sir.  I’ll keep monitoring.”

“
Is there any chance of being able to send a message?”

“
Sorry Commander, not a chance.  I’ve hooked into an emergency backup used to distribute signals throughout the station.  It’s specifically designed to be receive only.”

Marsh nodded.  He didn’t trust himself to speak.  For a moment he’d had some hope.  It had been crushed by the news they couldn’t transmit.  Without the ability to communicate with incoming ships he couldn’t warn them of the dangers they faced.  Couldn’t stop them from being captured or infected.

He started to realise just how dire the situation was.  Greenseed supplied food to hundreds of ships a week.  If the tainted got aboard each ship then they’d be able to spread far and wide.  No wonder they had returned to Greenseed.  And there was nothing Marsh could do about it.  Well, almost nothing.  But, even now, could he really bring himself to do
that
?

*****

Clay fidgeted in his fighter’s seat.  The usual joy of being in space was crushed by the target they were approaching.  It was on his screens already.  A small mining colony built upon a slightly larger asteroid.  That was the core of the colony at least.  Equipment and small ships were spread out across the area, capturing asteroids and bringing them in for mining.

The colony had no real military strength.  Their small fleet of ships would be swept aside by any one of the fleet’s warships, but they weren’t the real danger.  The colony had huge stockpiles of refined rock and metal, and launchers designed to accelerate those materials to massive speeds for their journey in system.

The same mechanisms could be used to throw the massive lumps of rock and metal at the incoming fleet.  The capital warships couldn’t dodge quickly enough to be safe, and the speed and mass of the projectiles could inflict serious damage if they struck.

So Clay and the other pilots were being sent in.  Their fighters were easily able to avoid any rocks lobbed their way from a distance.  Anything launched at point-blank range would be a problem but the fighters, and their pilots, were far more expendable than the large warships.

Clay and the others were tasked with destroying the launchers and any other infrastructure that could pose a threat to the capital ships.  Destroying the colony’s own ships was very much a side issue.

Did the colony know what was coming?  They must know something was wrong.  What possible reason could there be for such a large force of fighters to be flying towards them while the warships lurked at long-range?

Clay and the others from his flight briefing were leading the assault.  Pride of place the officer had said.  Clay wasn’t fooled.  Sacrificial bait would be a better description.  Or cannon fodder.

Comm indicators flashed up on his display.  The colony was trying to reach him and the other fighters.  He ignored it.  Orders were very clear.  Listening to the incoming messages would be an offence punishable by death.  Responding would mean a slower, more painful death.

Clay didn’t need to open the channel to know what the colony would be saying.  There would be questions.  Pleading.  Possibly threats.  All to no avail.  Their fate was already sealed.

As he drew closer Clay studied the colony and its surrounding infrastructure.  It was impressive, despite the colony’s relatively small size.  It would have been a prime target for capture, not destruction, if it wasn’t located so far out from its sun.

That distance put it far outside the area that could be patrolled frequently, and meant it was almost certain to fall to the tainted.  So there was only one choice.  It had to be destroyed.

The station was close now.  In a couple of minutes Clay would be able to engage targets.  In his head the colony’s pleading grew stronger and stronger.  Adults begged him to spare their children.  The children cried without really knowing why, picking up on the atmosphere around them.

Acid surged in Clay’s stomach.  He was fighting not to be sick.  He really wasn’t sure he could open fire on the innocent civilians on the station.

One minute to go.  The colony responded.  One moment there was nothing, the next a thick cloud of high-speed projectiles.  Far more than the mission planners had allowed for.  The colony must have rigged this up as a defence against anyone trying to reach the station.

His fighter’s systems couldn’t track all the incoming objects.  As well as huge rocks that would dent a destroyer’s shields there were hundreds of smaller chunks.  At the speed they were moving almost all would be deadly to a fighter.

Turning wasn't an option.  The rocks would hit before he could complete the move and build up enough speed to escape.  Every instinct he had was telling him to run, but the safest reaction was to meet the assault head on.

His stomach clenched as the moment approached.  The scanner was useless, it showed nothing but a solid smear of contacts.  Only two things could get him through this… raw skill and a huge amount of luck.

Clay caught his first glimpse of a large chunk of rock.  Almost immediately there were more than he could count.  Then hundreds, thousands of smaller chunks.  The collision alarm sounded.  Clay desperately worked his controls, throwing the fighter around more on instinct than anything else.

It was over.  Clay let out a shuddering breath.  He’d survived unscathed.  He glanced at the fighter’s displays and his hand started to shake.  The proximity warning was showing a minimum distance of less than a metre.  He’d been that close to disaster.

The crash of laser fire against his shields shook him out of the shock.  He immediately threw the fighter into a tight curve, working out where the attack was coming from.  A weapons bay on the main station.  Clay rolled his ship, swinging its nose across the weapons bay.  Firing all the way.  The station’s weapon fell silent, though Clay didn’t know whether he’d killed it or its crew.

He didn’t care either.  He was in full combat mode now.  The station had tried to kill him using the fast-moving chunks of rock and then they had shot at his fighter.  All that mattered now was survival.