His emotions were in turmoil. He desperately wanted Ali to stay but at the same time she scared him, terrified him. There might be no drugs involved but the effect she had on him was still so powerful, and all the time she seemed in control of the situation. Poised. Self confident. Certain of herself. If she stayed would he always feel this off balance? Would she always make him feel like a clumsy child? If, as he secretly both hoped and feared, they started a relationship would he always be on the back foot?
Then he remembered Matt's advice about girls being just as confused as boys in this situation. Looking more closely at Ali he realised it was true. She was leant forwards, nervously chewing her top lip. Her breathing was shallow and there was a hint of tears in her eyes. He suddenly realised how much this meant to her, how much it would hurt her to be rejected. He had his scars, from being drugged and from his life as a prisoner, but she had scars too. With a smile he nodded his head.
“Yes. Definitely. Welcome to the crew.”
“Yes!” Ali squealed, jumping off her stool then turning bright pink as the other's laughed at her reaction. She tried to frown but was soon laughing too. Jess could almost feel the tension draining from the room. Once they stopped laughing Sal spoke and some of the tension returned.
“The next decision is a lot harder. What to do with our prisoners. We have a few options, First up is the simplest. We kill them. Space them, poison them, overdose them on sleeping drugs. We can sort the details out if needed.” She met the gaze of each of the other three before speaking again. “Do we kill them now?”
Matt nodded emphatically. “Yes!” he said. “That's still got my vote.”
Sal shook her head. “I can't do it. Sorry, it's just too cold blooded for me.”
Jess shook his head. “No.”
Ali sat for a moment, head bowed. She started to speak without lifting her head.
“I hate them. I hate them so much more than anyone could possibly imagine. For what they did to me. To my family. To our friends. And to so many others. It would be so easy to say yes, space them. Give them what they deserve. But I think that would make me too much like them. My answer is no.”
Matt pulled a sour face but accepted the decision in silence.
“No to that option then,” Sal sounded relieved. “So next question – do we hand them over at Glory Falls? Knowing that they'll almost certainly face the death sentence. My answer is yes, so long as the authorities guarantee to give them a trial.”
“Yes. I agree,” said Ali. “And you're right about the trial. It's important.”
“It's not my first choice but I'll take it,” said Matt gruffly. “Yes.”
All eyes turned to Jess. His feelings hadn't changed.
“I'm sorry. It's still no from me. I can't agree to it.”
He saw Ali's face darken and held up a hand.
“I'm not saying we won't do it. It's three to one. I'll hate it but we'll hand them over. I had to tell you how I felt though.”
Matt smiled at him, mock saluted. Ali's face relaxed and she smiled at him, though sadly. Sal leaned over and squeezed his arm.
“I think the only other decision is what to do after Glory Falls,” Matt said. “Personally I'm not sure. I know we want to find Ali's friends but I can't focus on that yet. I think we need to get those bloody criminals off the ship, return the kids and give the authorities as much info on where their people were taken as possible. Then we should think about what to do.”
Jess just nodded. It made sense and he had no other ideas.
“I agree,” said Ali. “Every time I think of them still being on the ship my skin crawls. Every time I think of my friends, about how to rescue them, it leads me back to thinking about how we were caught and so back to the kidnappers.”
Sal looked troubled, tears were in her eyes. Jess couldn't work out why till she spoke, clearly fighting against overwhelming emotion.
“You're right. Sorry. I'm really going to miss the kids. They need to go back to their parents though.”
Ali crossed to Sal and gave her a big hug. Soon both had tears running down their faces. Matt rolled his eyes and motioned to the door.
“Get out kid,” he whispered. “Wish I could!”
A gesture at his body, still trailing medical monitors, accompanied his last statement. Jess took the advice and quickly slipped out of the room.
Chapter Ten
Jess watched fascinated as the Wanderer finished its final approach to Glory Falls station and lined up to enter the docking bay. He'd given the instructions to get them started but the ship interpreted the commands and handled manoeuvring its huge mass. A tingling sensation in his skull told him it wasn't purely the ship, subconsciously his brain was part of the calculations. Yet another aspect of his link to the ship that he found both exciting and unnerving.
They'd agreed that Sal should handle communication with the station. Her initial message had been met with suspicion that quickly turned into excitement, followed by disappointment when she had to tell them only the two children had been recovered. She found out that one hundred and thirty-four people had been stolen away from the station, including the children's parents. Their grandparents were overjoyed to be getting the children back, but they and everyone else were still desperately upset at what had happened to the others.
The station explained how their people had been taken. The kidnappers had invited people onto the ship to give them a tour, a chance to view a working spaceship. Many families had taken up the offer. Soon after the ship had declared a reactor breach and used automated protocols to perform an emergency detach from the station. By the time anyone realised what was happening the ship had already covered half the distance it needed to make a jump. They'd made the jump before any ships could be launched in pursuit, not that it would have mattered. The station only had two jump capable ships – both ageing bulk freighters. Too slow to catch the kidnappers trading ship and with none of the scanners needed to plot another ship's jump course. There was no way to follow.
Sal had managed to get assurances that the prisoners would be given a fair trial, though she was warned the evidence was overwhelming and only one outcome was likely. Sal explained they had only limited control over the prisoners and got agreement to offload them first, to be followed by the children.
As the ship completed it's docking manoeuvre Jess focused on the prisoners. They'd been kept mildly dosed with the chemicals used on Ali and himself – to keep them under control and to ensure they could be offloaded from the ship without needing to use too much force. Matt was still restricted to bed, though he expected to be on the move within a few hours. Even then he would be very weak. Sal, Ali and Jess would have no hope of controlling the prisoners by themselves and Jess didn't want to give away too many details of the ship's abilities to those on the station. Now he reshaped the holding cell to lead to the airlock and Sal told the prisoners to enter. They did so without complaint. Jess watched as it cycled. As soon as the outer door opened the prisoners were grabbed by a waiting group of security guards, shoved to the floor and restrained. Other guards held back a restless crowd while the prisoners were swiftly removed from the area. With a sigh he walked back to the living area where Ali and Sal waited with the two children. They'd been watching events outside on a screen.
Sal crossed to Jess and gave him a hug.
“I know it's tough but it's for the best. Now focus on this. We're getting to return these two to their family. That counts. We've done something really good here.”
Jess nodded, forcing a smile.
“Yep. You're right. Are you sure you two will be enough? You don't want me to come with you?”
“It'll be fine. We're returning their children, we've brought their captors to justice. There's nothing to worry about.”
“And besides...” added Ali, with a mischievous grin, “we need you here to come rescue us if something does go wrong!”
“Very funny! Just be careful.”
They both
assured him they would be. Even so his heart felt heavy as he watched them cycle through the airlock with the children. This was the first time he'd been parted from Sal since they'd entered the Wanderer as prisoners, and watching Ali leave felt as bad. He couldn't help worrying something would go wrong.
Jess became more and more worried as time stretched on without any word from Sal and Ali. After ten minutes he was pacing the flight deck. After twenty he went to visit Matt. He opened the door to find Matt stood by the bed, legs shaking but with a fierce look of determination on his face.
“What are you doing?” shouted Jess, rushing forwards to support him.
“Good timing kid. I was just wondering how to make it from here to the door without falling flat on my face. Give me a hand. I've had more than enough of this place now.”
“Are you sure? You shouldn't be out of bed yet. You need to wait to get your strength back. Let me help you back into bed.”
“Stuff that! I can rest just as well on the sofas, and I'm sure this ship can monitor me perfectly well from there. Can't it?”
Jess didn't even need to query the ship, he knew Matt was right. He ran a quick scan of Matt's health and decided there was no reason to argue. He nodded his head then slipped Matt's arm over his shoulder. Slowly the two of them made their way out into the corridor and through to the lounge. Jess was supporting nearly all of Matt's weight by the time they reached the sofa. Matt sank thankfully into it and sighed contentedly.
“Thanks kid. Damn it feels good to be out of that room.”
“That's it though. You stay put for a few hours at least. Or I'm dragging you back into the medical bay – feet first if necessary.”
Matt chuckled at that and leant his head back, closing his eyes. Jess stiffened as the ship received a message, shoving it onto a screen so that Matt could see it too. The image of Governor Julia Demery appeared, the same person Sal had negotiated with. Jess felt a knot form in his stomach and Matt sat up again, watching intently.
“Firstly I want to thank you once again for the return of Danny and Ellie. Their family asked me to pass on their heartfelt thanks. The return of those two goes some small way to easing the pain we feel for the people we lost.
And for capturing the criminals responsible, for bringing them to us for trial, we thank you too. Next to bringing all our people back that was the most important thing for us. Rest assured that they will never be able to repeat their actions. No one else will suffer at their hands.”
She looked down for a moment. Took a breath as she composed herself.
“As I said, we have so much to thank you for. And I am truly sorry for what we must now do, but we have no choice. We know where our people are now. They are at the Stone Snake mining complex. Only two days flight from here. But the only ships we have are the two freighters, both with no offensive weapons and no ability to fight.
We can't go to the Empire for help. They won't care about a few slaves. Why should they? They keep so many themselves. We have no strong allies, no strings to pull. We only have one hope – your ship.
We interrogated the prisoners. They told us you destroyed an Imperial corvette. That makes your ship more than powerful enough to put the fear of god into a bunch of miners. Without it we will never see our people again. I will never see my daughter, her husband or my grandson. We are desperate, truly desperate. So we have to do this. We have your two friends, they are in a cell. If you want to see them again, and unhurt, then you will do as we ask. We don't want to take your ship but we must use it. You will allow twenty of our security guards onto the ship and fly them to Stone Snake. You will intimidate the miners with your ship's firepower then return with our people.
When you return with all our people your friends will be freed and all of you can go on your way, without any interference from us. Please don't get any ideas about intimidating us. You have no idea where your friends are and we are desperate. Most people on the station lost friends or members of their family to the kidnappers. If you take any aggressive action we will kill one of your friends. Immediately. The other will be held hostage for your cooperation.”
She stared intently at the screen for a moment.
“Please believe me, for the sake of your friends. You have ten minutes to decide. Out.”
The message ended. Jess realised his hands were clenched into fists, anger was boiling in his chest. The ship signalled that weapons were ready to be fired at the station, only the protocol he'd added before to prevent subconscious commands being executed had prevented them being fired.
“Jess! Jess!”
He heard Matt shouting as if from a long way away, turned towards him in a daze. Matt dragged himself up, grabbed Jess by the shoulders and shook him.
“Jess!” he shouted again. “Listen to me. Don't do anything. I know you're angry but Sal and Ali need you to calm down. Don't risk their lives!”
The words reached Jess but he still struggled for control. Words failed him. He pulled away from Matt and stalked around the room – unable to stay still.
“We can't let them do this. We can't let them hurt Sal and Ali. I'll rip the station apart if I have to. I'll tear...”
As his steps brought him past Matt the old man lashed out, cuffing him around the head.
“For god's sake Jess!” he shouted. “Listen to yourself. What you're planning will guarantee their deaths. These people are desperate. We have to find the best way to deal with this. I think we have to go to this mining station.”
“What?” Jess was shouting into Matt's face now. “What? Just do as they say? Let their guards board and fly off under their orders.”
“No! No. That would be a terrible idea. Look kid – just calm down and listen to me for a minute. I'm not saying we cave in. But we need to think about how to get the best out of this situation. Under no circumstances are we letting anyone on this ship. Even if they're on the level now I can guarantee that when it came time to give up their control they'd find another reason to keep us under their control. And another, then another and so on. So, we don't let them on the ship. Right?”
Jess fought down his anger, realising he was out of control. He stepped away from Matt again, took a shaky breath then nodded. Not trusting himself to speak.
“Right, so no one comes on board,” Matt said. “But I think we are going to have to do as they ask. Go to this mining station, put the fear of this ship into them and grab the kidnapped people. Hell kid, they've been made into slaves. You and I know what that means. Maybe we'd have agreed to do this anyway, if the governor had asked instead of threatening.
So... we go there, get their people. Once they're on board we make damn sure to keep them locked away from us then head back here. At that point we've got the power. They have two hostages, we have over a hundred. Plus the firepower to tear their station apart. They'll have to give us Sal and Ali, we drop their people off and then we leave – blasting a few non critical bits of the station off on the way, if I've got anything to do with it. How does that sound?”
Jess could feel tears coming, hating the feeling of helplessness. Angrily he fought them back.
“We can't just leave them here though. For four days. What will they think?”
“They'll know we're coming back for them. That we'll get them out. That's one of the conditions I'll insist on. That we have to speak to Sal and Ali before leaving.”
“You'll insist on? Why you?”
“Kid... Jess. Don't take this the wrong way. You're angry as hell and damn near out of control. That's understandable and it's no bad thing. At your age I'd have been spitting teeth too. But in a negotiation like this it's a weakness the other side will use. I'm a lot older and a lot harder. I'm still mad as hell inside, but I can negotiate this without them getting me so angry I make a mistake. This is going to be tricky to pull off but I can do it.”
“You're sure? That they'll be safe?”
“I'm sure. These people are desperate but they aren't evil. If we don't push them
into doing anything the girls will be fine.”
Jess thought hard but he couldn't see any flaw in Matt's logic, and he couldn't think of any better ideas. Reluctantly, very reluctantly, he agreed.
The governor fought hard against Matt's proposal but the old man refused to budge and in the end she agreed. Matt had already warned Jess to stay off camera, especially while Matt spoke to Sal and Ali. They couldn't let any sign of weakness be seen. Watching Sal and Ali on the screen, watching them listen as Matt laid out the plan, without being able to talk to them Jess realised how much he'd come to care for both of them. Love them. Sal as a friend and Ali – well, definitely as a friend but something more. He wanted to protect both of them but Ali he wanted to wrap his arms around and never let go. Once the screen went dead Matt had the sensitivity to busy himself and not comment on the tears running down Jess's face.
Several minutes later the Wanderer disconnected from Glory Falls station and pulled away. Not wanting to give away the ships unique jump abilities they waited till they'd reached the normal clear distance then made the jump for Stone Snake mining complex.
Chapter Eleven
Matt continued his determined recovery from the operation. Within a few hours of their departure from Glory Falls he was almost back to his old self, though he still needed to take more frequent rests. Jess had stopped worrying that Matt would overdo things, more because he realised there was no way to prevent it than that he thought the danger was past.
The time stuck helpless had grated badly on Matt. He told Jess how much he'd hated it, then went on to say how worried he was with only the two of them in the ship.
“What if something happened to you kid? You fall ill and we come under attack? Or you're so ill the ship can't help and we need to get you to a doctor? I need to be able to pilot the ship in an emergency.”
The arguments made sense to Jess. Together with what Ali had told him about not doing everything himself, he was sure it was for the best.
Wanderer's Escape Page 8
