“The room on the left,” Jess said.
Matt moved towards it. The door opened to reveal a small room with a raised bed in the middle. No instruments, no screens, just the raised bed with legs that melded into the floor.
“I wonder where I should be?” Matt joked.
He climbed onto the bed, then turned to look at Jess.
“You’re sure about this kid? Really sure?” He didn’t look so certain now. In fact he looked distinctly worried.
Jess smiled reassuringly. “Yes. Certain. I wouldn’t have mentioned it otherwise. Just lay back.”
“OK.” With a deep breath Matt did as he was asked. “Now what?”
“Just lay back and relax. You’ll be asleep for a few hours during the procedure, then you’ll be stuck in bed for a few days.”
“Relax, he says. Easier said than done. I don’t think I could sleep… if… I…” his eyes closed, breathing slowing into a deep sleep.
“We should go,” Jess said, stepping back into the hallway.
Sal stepped forward, kissed the old man on his forehead, then backed out of the room. The door hissed shut.
“Can we watch the procedure?” asked Sal.
Jess concentrated, linking with the ship again.
“No. Sorry, no we can’t. There wouldn’t be anything to see,” he lied. “Just Matt sleeping. Trust me, I saw enough of that on the bridge. It’s nothing special.”
“OK.”
She started back to the main cabin. Jess followed behind. He felt bad for lying, but from what the ship had fed to him the procedure wasn’t something either of them would want to watch and he didn’t know how to explain that to her. The procedure would be invasive. Very invasive. It would work, but it was better not to know the details.
“Let’s get some hot chocolate,” he said.
Chapter 4
Three hours later Jess sat alone on the bridge, gazing out at the ever-changing mists. His skin tingled from a hot shower that had removed months of dirt and the touch of new, clean clothes. He’d checked in on Matt a few minutes before, confirming that the first stage of the operation was completed. The cancerous growth had been removed, now the damaged lung was being rebuilt. Seeing the web criss-crossing through Matt’s chest had made Jess shiver, knowing something similar had been done to his brain.
A flashing red light flared to life on the display board. Jess reached out for the ship, felt time slow around him, saw the light flash slower and slower as his mind sped up. Information flowed in from the ship. It had picked up a distress call in real space, nearby – as far as near had any meaning between real and jump space. He reached out, using the ships ‘legs’ to change direction, to close in on the beacon. They could be there in a couple of minutes. He pulled back a little, returning to thinking at near normal speed.
“Sal!” he yelled over his shoulder. “I need you!”
Sal came rushing into the cabin.
“My God, what’s wrong? You nearly deafened me. Your voice was coming from everywhere!”
“Sorry. I didn’t realise I could do that. We’ve picked up a distress call, I’m taking us in close and dropping back into real space.”
“Be careful. It might be a trap. Don’t take us in too close, just in case.”
“I should have thought of that. You’re right. Thanks.”
“Glad to hear it, golden boy. I wouldn’t like to think I was completely useless on this ship.”
He glanced around, worried he’d done something wrong, but saw by her smile that she was teasing him. He smiled sheepishly.
The distress signal was getting stronger as they approached. He started to pick words out from the message. Thirty seconds out and he had the full message. He played it for Sal to hear.
“Imperial ships have destroyed our engines, holed our ship. We are bleeding heat and air into space. Please help us. We have families.”
They exchanged glances.
“How many could we take?” asked Sal.
“Sixty, maybe sixty-five.” The answer popped into his head. “A few more if some are young children. Any more than that and I don’t think the life support could cope for long. The Wanderer wasn’t designed for a large crew.”
“Then let’s hope there aren’t more than that.”
Jess just pulled a face. What was there to say? He reached out to the ship again, fully linking. Despite being in jump space he was aware of the real space area they were targeting, could feel several large ships and some distance off another small ship which was tumbling slowly. He could feel the sensor sweeps from the large ships, mostly concentrated around themselves and the stricken ship.
He brought the Wanderer out into real space well away from all the other ships. The displacement could still be spotted but only if someone spared time from the battle. The Imperial ships were identified as two frigates and one smaller corvette. The tumbling craft was some form of small cargo vessel.
“Now what?” asked Sal.
Before Jess could answer one of the Imperial frigates jumped, quickly followed by the other.
“We couldn’t be that lucky, could we?” asked Jess. “Come on… follow them, damn you!”
Warnings flashed across the displays as a sensor swept across them. The corvette had spotted them. A transmission followed as the corvette turned and accelerated towards them.
“Unidentified ship, you are interfering in the punishment of smugglers. Power down and prepare to be boarded. Resistance will result in your destruction.”
“Strap yourself in,” Jess told Sal. “Time to see how big a punch this thing has.”
“Are you kidding? That’s a corvette. It must be fifty times the size of us at least. They’ll blow us to pieces!”
“Trust me. I know what I’m doing. I think.”
“Oh great, now I feel so much better.”
Jess swung the Wanderer round on an intercept course. He was fully immersed in the ship now, its engines were his legs, its weapons his arms. He flexed both, sending shivers down the ship. The movements felt tired, lethargic. Warnings that the ship was far from optimum status at the moment. He thought the ship could cope, though, or hoped it could, anyway.
For some reason the corvette’s shields were running at greatly reduced power. Jess suspected they simply didn’t consider the Wanderer a threat, or maybe that they had a problem of some kind. While reduced, the shields were still several times more powerful than the Wanderer’s own.
He knew that for Sal the two ships must seem to be racing towards each other, but for him everything was much slower. The corvette fired a volley of high-powered laser blasts. Jess already had the Wanderer weaving as it approached so most missed, but one seemed to scald his back and another clipped his heel. The shields coped with both. Jess was glad the other ship had fired first. Now there was no guilt, no concern over whether his actions were right. Now it was about survival. Twisting the ship he brought both sets of weapons to bear. The right side set of lasers fired at the corvette’s bridge, almost overwhelming the shields there. He sensed the enemy ship desperately routing power forward to shield the bridge from his next attack, draining power from their other shields. He ignored the bridge, instead firing the left side’s lasers in a volley at the corvettes’ engines, punching through the weakened shields to devastating effect. The engines imploded for a second or so, then the collapse was reversed in a massive explosion that ripped the corvette apart. Within seconds all that remained was a rapidly thinning field of debris, few bits bigger than a metre. A scan confirmed there were no survivors.
Jess turned the Wanderer towards the crippled cargo ship, opening a channel as he approached.
“Hello the transport. Can you hear me?”
For a few seconds there was silence, then a man’s voice replied.
“Hello? Did… did you just destroy the corvette?”
“Yes. They gave us no choice. Do you still require assistance?”
Jess knew the answer to that already. His sensor scans sh
owed only seven life signs, all crammed into a single section of the ship which was bleeding air and heat. The rest of the ship was already cold and dead.
“Yes! Oh God yes! Please, you must help us!”
“Hold on. We’re on approach now. I can see a docking port on the section you’re in. We’ll be latched in a minute or two. Please get yourselves ready to come across.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much. We’ll be ready.”
Jess turned off the channel and turned back to Sal.
“You all right?” he asked.
“Yeah.” She drew a deep breath. “Wow! That was incredible. An Imperial corvette, and you took it out with two volleys.”
Jess grimaced. “Yeah, but that was all we had. The ship’s reserves are really depleted, but we can use the debris to replenish.”
“What? That was… I wish you’d told me before. Then again, maybe I don’t. Anyway, our soon to be visitors. You know they might be smugglers or worse, pirates maybe. Not everyone the Empire takes a dislike to is innocent.”
“I know. The Wanderer can handle it. If they try to bring any weapons, guns or the like, I’ll know. And if they try to attack us with anything the ship will intervene.”
“Well, you know it better than I do. What about Matt? I’d rather he had some peace.”
“You’re right. I can set the rear door so it doesn’t show at all. They won’t know it’s there. Once he’s well and back on his feet we can bring him up to speed. Let’s go back and welcome our guests.”
“Don’t you need to guide us in?”
“Not really, the ship can take care of that. I’ll just monitor it and I can do that from anywhere.”
“That’s something else you might want to keep to yourself.”
They made their way back into the main living area, just as a gentle clang announced they had docked.
“Seals are holding, atmosphere on the other side. I’m going to open both the inner and outer doors so they can get across quickly.”
“What? WHAT?”
“It’s OK. There’s an energy curtain that will hold the air in, even if we were to open both doors onto vacuum. Um… maybe I should have mentioned that.”
“Yes. Maybe you should have, Jess. Maybe you should have.”
Jess gestured and the inner and outer airlock doors moved smoothly aside to reveal the refugees. Two men, one elderly the other middle-aged, entered the ship first. Both were carrying heavy packs. Behind came a middle-aged woman carrying a young baby, leading a boy of two or three by the hand. Last came a younger man, mid twenties probably, and a girl who looked a year or two older than Jess. Despite the smoke stains on her clothes and face Jess couldn’t take his eyes from her. She was beautiful. Long blond hair, pretty face, and clothes that were tighter than he was used to seeing. With a squeal she ran forwards, throwing her arms around a stunned Jess and hugging him close.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she kept saying. “I thought we were going to die. Thank you.”
Jess could feel himself going bright red. Sal covered a laugh with a cough, not very well in Jess’s opinion.
“Maybe we should get away from the freighter?” she prompted.
“Umm… yes.” Jess tried to pull himself together. He closed the outer airlock door, disconnected the Wanderer and pushed them well away from the stricken ship. Then he set the ship to sweeping up the debris from the corvette. The girl was still wrapped around him, holding tight. He wished she’d let go. Well, maybe not. He did wish that Sal would take that look off her face, though. He turned to the two men who had entered first.
“Sirs, I’m sorry, but can I ask you to put the guns in the airlock? The ammunition too.”
The two men twitched guiltily. Jess smiled.
“We won’t hurt you, and the guns will be safe. I’m sure you’ve got them for protection but there are only the two of us, so you have nothing to fear here, and we would feel much happier with the guns somewhere safe.”
The two men exchanged glances, then the older nodded. Both turned to the airlock and carefully removed two pistols from their packs and several clips of ammunition. Jess held himself tensely as they placed the guns on the floor in case they made any sudden moves, but the two men stepped back. The ship confirmed they had no other weapons so Jess ordered the inner airlock door to close, relaxing as he did so.
“They wouldn’t have hurt you, silly,” the girl whispered in his ear.
His pulse pounded again, his face felt like it was glowing. Sal still had that look on her face, clearly amused by his discomfort. She stepped towards the rest of their new passengers.
“I’m Sal. That’s Jess over there, I’m not sure he’s up to speaking for himself at the moment. He seems overwhelmed by the moment.”
The woman with the baby laughed and introduced herself as Kaitlin. Jess missed the other names as the girl squeezed him even tighter, pressing her face against his cheek and whispering in his ear again.
“I’m Alice. You can call me Ali.”
The next twenty minutes were a blur for Jess. After a few minutes Alice, Ali, loosened her grip on him, but only so they could sit on the sofa together. She sat pressed against him, holding his hand. He was uncomfortably aware of the heat of her as she leant close. The young man, Robby apparently, seemed to have taken a liking to Sal, one that she seemed to share. As she fussed around making everyone comfortable, showing them how to work the food unit, working out how to get baby milk from it, Robby was never far from her side.
Finally, Jess managed to slip away on the pretext of needing to use the toilet. Afterwards he made his apologies, saying he needed to check their status on the bridge. Sal arched an eyebrow at him, well aware he could check from anywhere, but she didn’t say anything. With a sigh of relief he made his way onto the bridge and slumped into the pilot’s chair. The doors for the bridge were still only coded to Sal, Matt and him so he should get some peace for a while.
A while turned out to be a little over ten minutes. The door hissed open to admit Sal and Robby, with Ali trailing behind carrying a mug.
“Jess. How are things?” asked Sal smiling awkwardly.
“Fine. It’s slow going but the Wanderer is replenishing its supplies. We’re in a better state than before already.”
“Good. Good. Umm… it’s been a really traumatic time for Robby. And for me. And, um, well… we thought we might go have a lie down. Get some rest. You know. Everyone else is settling down and… well…” she trailed off.
“You want some T.O.B. time?” asked Jess.
Sal flushed, then smiled gratefully at him. T.O.B. was a prisoners term. Privacy was near non-existent for them. Men, women and children were all mixed together. Couples still got together, and the little privacy they could have came from T.O.B. time. Turn Our Backs. Jess knew the term, knew what it meant. From the occasional stolen glance had a fair idea of the mechanics involved too.
“Yes. Exactly. Please.”
“No problem.”
Sal and Robby disappeared back towards the living quarters, leaving Jess alone with Ali.
“T.O.B. time?” she asked, walking forwards and leaning against the display board, uncomfortably close to Jess.
“It’s, well, it’s hard to explain,” he spluttered, feeling his face turn bright red.
“Oh,” she replied with a twinkle in her eye. Thankfully she didn’t push it. “I brought you a drink. A hot chocolate. Sal said it was your favourite.”
“Thanks. It is.”
Jess took the drink, struggling to think of something, anything to say. Ali made him feel uncomfortable, clumsy, tongue-tied… but he wanted her to stay. Thankfully, she showed no signs of wanting to leave, just leant there smiling down at him as he sipped his way through the chocolate. It seemed to calm him down. He felt less nervous, a little more relaxed in her presence. As he finished it he found his voice again.
“You really are beautiful.” He was shocked to realise he’d spoken aloud.
�
�Kiss me,” she said, leaning forwards. So he did.
Chapter 5
Jess slouched happily in the pilot’s chair, right leg thrown over the arm rest, foot kicking forwards and backwards. He glanced back towards the seat behind, where Ali sat. She smiled lovingly at him and he felt sure his chest was going to explode. He half wondered if he was dreaming. In less than two days he’d gone from a prisoner with no hope to captain of the most advanced ship he’d ever heard of, then met the girl of his dreams and fallen in love with her.
Amazingly, she had fallen for him too. He was even starting to consider asking Ali to come back to his cabin. He had a strong feeling she had similar ideas. Now she leaned forward and started to rub his shoulders, massaging them. It felt wonderful, relaxing and tingling at the same time. He surrendered to the feeling.
A spike of alarm shot through his mind, jerking him back to full awareness. Then another. The scanners picked out two ships, the Imperial frigates. They must have arrived at their destination then, when the corvette failed to follow in a reasonable time, returned to investigate. He’d planned to be gone long before they returned. The Wanderer had finished collecting all the debris hours ago. Why were they still here? Where had that time gone?
“What is it? What’s that alert for?” Ali’s voice in his ear made his pulse pound.
“The Imperial frigates, they’re back. We need to leave.”
“Go. Get us out of here,” She rapped it out almost as a command. Then continued in a softer tone. “Keep me safe, Jess. Please.”
Of course. How could he do anything else? Jess reached for the ship’s mind, felt the world around him slow. Strangely, his thoughts felt clearer too. The ships were close. Too close. He threw the Wanderer into a tight turn, acceleration pushing throughout the ship, blasted the thrusters up to full power and shot between the two frigates.
Weapons on both gigantic ships swung to bear, but held off firing. A miss at this range and they’d be smashing through each others’ shields. Neither captain had expected this move. Of course for most ships it would only buy some time, they would either have to make a run for it or be boarded. Even making it to jump space would only delay the inevitable.
Wanderer's Odyssey - Books 1 to 3: The Epic Space Opera Series Begins Page 4
