A fleet of nearly a hundred ships lurked only a few minutes away from the Wanderer’s position. The numbers weren’t what scared Jess though. The ships were.
Five were frigates. The Wanderer had managed to fight off two frigates before, but it had been a close run thing. Five together would be a massive challenge. Accompanying them were two larger ships that the Wanderer tagged as being destroyers.
Even those weren’t the worst, though. Nestled in the centre of the fleet was a truly massive ship, one that easily dwarfed the frigates and destroyers. The Wanderer had tagged it as being a battlecruiser. Jess stared at it, struggling to comprehend how something so large could ever have been constructed.
As soon as Jess saw the battlecruiser he knew the tar pit would be on board. The last time they’d faced a tar pit Jess had managed to destroy the ship it was on, taking the tar pit with it. It had been an encounter they only just survived. Staring at the battlecruiser he knew that wouldn’t be an option this time. The Wanderer was exceptionally powerful for its size, but the battlecruiser was in a completely different league.
The fleet became aware of the two newly arrived ships. Fast fighters streaked out from the fleet, followed by heavier gunships. Three of the frigates and one destroyer followed behind.
Jess desperately started to work through scenarios. The outlook was grim. Even against the smaller force sent towards them the Wanderer would struggle to survive for any length of time, and he had no doubt if that happened reinforcements would soon arrive from the rest of the fleet to finish the Wanderer off.
That left running. With the upgraded engines he was pretty sure the Wanderer could outrun everything except the fighters and gunships, and those it could easily deal with.
The only questions remaining were where and when. Where should they head, and when should they start making the run? Where seemed reasonably obvious. The fleet was between the Wanderer and Daspal, but Jess had no real desire to travel to Daspal anyway. So the answer to where was away from the fleet.
When… well, as soon as possible made sense. Before the frigates and destroyer came within weapons range. Jess prepared to fire up the engines and turn tail.
Wait… don’t panic… security checkpoint.
Jess stared at the terse text only message from the Shadow Beam. Could they be right? Could he take the risk?
Then a message arrived from the fleet.
“Daspal blockade to the two newly arrived ships. This is a controlled area. Please supply your authorisation codes immediately. If you fail to do so you will be treated as hostile and expected to power down immediately or face destruction. Out.”
Maybe the message from the Shadow Beam was right after all. Jess hesitated, torn between waiting to see what would happen and setting the Wanderer on its way to safety.
Whoa… rough exit, Jess. Sal had interfaced with the ship and was able to communicate quickly now. Took me a while to unscramble my brain. So what’s happening out there… oh shit!
Yeah, Jess replied. Tell me about it.
He started to quickly bring her up to speed on everything he’d already learnt. Halfway through Ali joined them, having managed to activate her own interfaces, so Jess started again from the beginning.
Can we outrun them? Sal asked.
We can outrun the frigates, the destroyers and the battlecruiser, Jess replied. The rest we can deal with easily enough. We have to get going before the frigates and the destroyer are able to target us.
So we just fire up the engines and run until we’re away from the tar pit’s influence?
What about the Shadow Beam? asked Ali. The Imperial ships will go after the Shadow Beam, won’t they? Will it be able to get away too?
Damn, Jess said. Yes, if we warn them. Otherwise they might take too long trying to work out what we’re doing to get away safely.
We have to warn them then, Ali insisted.
You’re right. I don’t know the range of the Destroyer’s weapons, but I’m assuming it’s a step up from what we’ve seen on frigates. We need to get moving within a minute or so to be safe. I'll have to keep the message short enough for them to hear it and respond. I’ll record it now then blast it over.
Jess started to record the short message, but was interrupted by Sal.
Jess, listen to what Elizabeth is saying.
He’d been vaguely aware that Elizabeth was saying something, though as she had no implants she was talking far more slowly than Jess’s brain was working. The Wanderer had been automatically building up her message, now Jess listened to what she had said.
“Don’t run! Hidden trap. Wait and speak…”
The message wasn’t complete yet, but it sent a chill down Jess’s spine anyway.
What do you think? he asked.
I don’t know, Ali replied. Elizabeth often has a better feel for these things than we do. You didn’t find anything that indicated a trap?
No… but I was looking for ships. Maybe there’s something else out there.
Jess stretched out with the Wanderer’s sensors once more, this time looking for anything unusual, anything that seemed suspicious.
Could that be it? he asked, sending details of what he’d spotted to Sal and Ali. It almost looks like debris, tiny chunks of matter, but now I’m looking at it properly the distribution is far too regular. Whichever direction we ran in we’d be bound to come close to some of those, very close even.
You think it’s dangerous? Sal asked.
I certainly don’t like it. Let’s check what Elizabeth says. Time is really running out.
Jess allowed his mind to slow to something near, but not at, normal speed. He still wanted to be able to react quickly to any changing threats.
“Elizabeth, look at this. Our scans found these… objects. We were going to run for it, but every direction except towards Daspal is blocked by them.”
“Don’t run!” Elizabeth insisted again. “The Empire doesn’t want anyone visiting Daspal without permission, and they won’t plan on letting anyone swoop in, look around their outer defences then fly off again.
“I don’t know what’s out there, but it could be mines or even automated ships. This system is used for high-tech weapons research. It makes sense that some of that research gets deployed to protect them.”
“So do we just stay here and hope they accept us?”
“They will,” Elizabeth said. “Just keep your nerve. This is a classic tactic, intimidation to make anyone with a guilty conscience run. Don’t fall for it.”
Jess glanced at Ali and Sal. He still felt the urge to run, but whatever was out there had him worried. Could they risk staying though?
“Damn it!” Jess swore. “All right, we wait this out. I’m keeping everything on standby, though. If they decide to start shooting then we won’t be hanging around!”
Elizabeth visibly relaxed. “It shouldn’t come to that. They’ll check our permission to be here and send us on our way towards Daspal. I just hope they don’t decide to personally inspect the prisoner transports.”
“What?” Sal spluttered. “If they do…”
“If they do that we run,” Jess said firmly. “I don’t like the idea of dodging fire from destroyers and frigates, let alone that battlecruiser, but the Wanderer is much tougher than they’ll expect. Faster, too. I don’t think they’ll try to destroy her to begin with. They’ll want to disable her. To board us and find out why we ran.”
“Jess’s right,” Elizabeth said. “Though the question will be which way do we run. Towards the much larger force, or towards the weapons we have no idea about?”
“Towards the fleet,” Jess said. “Remember we can get into jump space when most other ships can’t. We should be able to get past the fleet then far enough from the tar pit to hit jump space. We’ll have to try and skirt around the tar pit’s effect once we jump, but I think we can do it.”
“What a choice,” Ali said. “You know the Wanderer better than us, Jess. Do what you think is best.”
/>
“I just hope I’m right,” he replied quietly. “I… hang on… we’re getting a transmission from one of the frigates.”
Jess brought up a screen to show the message, which was accompanied by full video. A fierce looking middle-aged man appeared on the screen, scowling out at them.
“This is Captain Vallero commanding the Emperor’s Cauldron. You have entered a restricted area. Provide your transit authorisation codes immediately or you will be boarded. You have one minute. Vallero out.”
“Provide our what?” Jess asked.
“Transit codes. They’ll be part of the contract we signed to carry the prisoners,” Elizabeth said urgently.
Jess scrabbled to bring up the documents, acutely aware of how much of the minute had already ticked past. For a few seconds more he frantically scanned through the large document, heart starting to pound. He’d never find the codes in time!
Then he felt like kicking himself. Reaching for the ship he accelerated his thoughts. He went from having only twenty-five seconds left to having the huge amount of time twenty-five seconds now represented.
With the panic gone Jess realised there was a simpler way to get the information. He had the Wanderer scan the documents for all mentions of transit codes. The ship found references to the codes in twelve separate locations. Jess started with the end of the document, assuming they’d be there, but they weren’t. Then he looked at the beginning. Nothing again. In the end he found them buried away in the centre of the document. With a smile he sent them over to the frigate, and allowed his thoughts to slow to normal pace.
“I’ve sent them,” he told the others. His internal timer told him it was with sixteen seconds to spare. “They were damn hard to find, and there was no reference to them in the overview of the contract. It’s as if they didn’t want us to find them.”
“They probably didn’t,” said Elizabeth thoughtfully. “Anyone who has done this type of work before would know about the codes and have them ready. Anyone that doesn’t is worth special attention from the greeting party.”
“Do you think it will be enough to stop them wanting to board?” Sal asked anxiously.
Elizabeth shrugged. “Damned if I know. Hopefully it will. If the prisoners are needed as badly as we think they are then they won't want any delays.”
“We’re about to find out,” Jess said. “Incoming transmission.”
Captain Vallero appeared again, looking no less intimidating than before.
“Codes accepted,” he snapped out. “Proceed to these coordinates and join the convoy that’s about to leave. Any deviation from instructions between now and when you leave the system will result in your ship being boarded and you being executed or enslaved. Vallero out.”
Jess had the Wanderer lay in the required course and breathed a sigh of relief. The course would take them only a little nearer to the main fleet. Waiting for them were three freighters and a small detachment of Imperial ships. Jess counted three corvettes, six gunships and ten fighters. Nothing the Wanderer couldn’t handle with ease if necessary.
“I think I can start breathing again,” Ali said. “What now?”
“We tag along, for the moment,” Jess replied. “They’re taking us where we want to go. As soon as we’re able to jump, I say we do so. We jump and get the hell out of here.”
Sal and Elizabeth agreed. Once again it was Ali who reminded them of another responsibility.
“We have to warn the Shadow Beam,” she said. “We can’t just leave them to be captured.”
“Damn. She’s right,” Elizabeth said. “Apart from anything else, they might get away. Don’t want them holding that serious a grudge. Wait till we’re in the clear though, in case they decide to warn our Imperial friends.”
“Makes sense,” Jess said. “But what can they do with the warning? It’s almost certain they won’t be able to reach jump space. The Imperial trap would have been closer in to Daspal if ships could. The only way they could get away is if… well… if we let them on board the Wanderer.”
“Hell, I don’t like that idea,” Elizabeth said.
“Is there any alternative, though?”
“You can’t haul their ship along?”
“No. We might have been able to fit it into the hold if we had no cargo, but it’s packed out with prisoners right now. Besides, that would leave them access to their sensors and to their ship’s equipment. I’d spend half the time worried they were seeing what the Wanderer was capable of, and the other half that they were getting ready to break into the flight deck.”
“If we pick them up from somewhere no one can escape and drop them off somewhere completely different then they’re going to spot that something is up,” Sal said.
“Well it’s that or nothing,” Jess said. “What else can we do?”
“Can you keep them away from us?” Elizabeth asked. “On board the Wanderer, I mean.”
“Maybe. It depends how many are on their ship. We could squeeze in five or six, but any more than that and we’d either have to put them in with the slaves or make some significant changes to the ship again.”
“Maybe we should let them in with us,” Ali said. “The Wanderer can keep them from doing anything, and we can keep them off the flight deck easily enough.”
“Maybe,” said Jess.
“That’s a damn stupid idea,” Elizabeth said. “Just shove them into a small area. If you need more space then make it. We really don’t want them watching what we’re doing.”
“Yeah, I suppose so,” Jess said. “I just wish I knew how many are on that ship, and what they think of what’s happening right now…”
Chapter 32
Dash stared at the Wanderer’s image on his screen, willing them to acknowledge the Frigate’s demand for authorisation codes.
“Captain,” Hackett asked nervously. “What do we do if they blow this?”
“We run,” Dash snapped back tensely.
After a moment Dash winced inwardly. It was so easy to fall into the role of feared leader when he was stressed, but it was something he desperately tried to avoid. Right now, though… just what was taking so long? Surely it had been more than a minute already? It felt a lot longer, but the frigate hadn’t made any further demands.
“Another transmission from the frigate,” Hackett said, routing it to the screen.
“Codes accepted. Proceed to these coordinates and join the convoy that is about to leave. Any deviation from instructions between now and when you leave the system will result in your ship being boarded and you being executed or enslaved. Vallero out.”
Dash sank back in his chair, letting out a deep breath and feeling cold sweat across his body. Running from such a large force would have been no easy matter. The Shadow Beam packed a surprising amount of speed even for such a small ship, but the fleet had many ships which could keep close to them. Running would have meant shooting past the fleet and heading further in system, before swinging out towards one of the smugglers routes.
“Sorry,” Dash said to Hackett. “Didn’t mean to snap, but that was too damn stressful.”
“No problem, Captain.”
“Jasper, keep us close to the Wanderer. I don’t want the Imperials finding any reason to stop and search either ship.”
“Aye, Captain.”
Dash closed his eyes for a moment, considering the situation they’d flown into. Normally all flights into Daspal were carried out by Imperial transports bolstered by a carefully vetted group of merchants. Despite Dash’s organisation’s extensive reach he’d known nothing of the tar pit, and accompanying fleet, guarding the approach. That raised another unpleasant thought. If the Empire kept their security measures so secret then…
“Oh shit.”
“What’s up, Captain?” asked Hackett.
“They aren’t going to let us go. The Imperials. They’ve kept the security arrangements here completely secret. They aren’t going to let a random bunch like us out where we can talk about all this.”
“Good job we’ve got an escape route then, Captain. When do you think they’ll make their move?”
“Good question. They won’t want to risk losing the prisoners, after all that’s why they’ve let us come here in the first place. Either during the transfer or after. If they insist that the ships carrying the prisoners dock to unload them then it’s a simple matter to storm the ship with assault troops. Or if they don’t care about taking the crew as prisoners, or saving the ships, they’ll simply overwhelm the freighters with a massive force after the prisoners have been dropped off. Hell, they might even use them as target practice for whatever weapons they’re developing.”
“So we need to clear out of here before reaching the station. What about Sovon?”
“Good question. If he’s working for the Empire then he’ll quietly slip away here. In fact his ship might be the only one that makes it out, minus any crew members who aren’t also agents. If not then we won’t have to worry about him. Hell, if he gets out of here we still don’t have to worry about him, we’ll know for sure he’s an agent.”
“Would he have known about the security here? Could he have planned this to catch any pursuit?”
“Damn. Yeah, he could have. This whole thing stinks of being a set up. I wish I could get my hands on him, though, even if just for ten minutes.”
“You could crack Imperial conditioning in ten minutes?” Hackett asked, clearly surprised.
“Not a chance,” answered Dash with an evil grin. “But I’d get to enjoy ten minutes of beating the shit out of him. I was pretty damn certain he was an agent before we were led into this trap. Now I’m sure, even if we can’t prove it. All we have to do is escape this deadly situation, ideally taking a few shots at the Steady Light on the way past.”
“I’ll start plotting some possible courses. What do we do about the Wanderer?”
“Damn, I don’t know. As soon as we run the Imperial ships will be all over them, but there’s no way she could keep up with us and we can’t hang around for her. She won’t even be able to outrun the corvettes and they’ll make short work of cutting her up. I feel bad for them, though. We led them in here, now we’re going to leave them to slavery or death.”
Wanderer's Odyssey - Books 1 to 3: The Epic Space Opera Series Begins Page 43
