Wanderer - Echoes of the Past

by Simon Goodson

  Yet more weapons fire appeared from nowhere, targeting the Wanderer. The new shielding kept the ship intact but the strikes were incredibly powerful. Far stronger than those from the corvettes they had faced earlier. Jess threw the Wanderer into motion, desperately scanning surrounding space. Something was out there. Something that seemed to be invisible to all the Wanderer’s sensors. Something that packed one hell of a punch.

  Part Six

  Chapter Forty

  Jess tried to stand up but found it impossible. A quick scan of his body using the Wanderer’s sensors showed extensive damage to his hip. While his implants could block the pain and shock, the hip was too badly damaged for him to move.

  “Looks like I’ll be fighting from here,” he muttered.

  Ali rushed over, kneeling beside him and staring at his wounds.

  “Jess, you’re hurt. Badly hurt.”

  “It’s not as bad as it looks,” he replied. “I can’t feel it at all thanks to my implants, and there’s nothing life threatening in there. The ship can patch me up. We need to deal with whatever is out there attacking us.”

  “What is it?”

  “I don’t know. The sensors can’t detect anything, but there’s something out there and it’s really heavily armed. Let’s make sure Sal is safe then I can focus on whatever it is.”

  “All right.” She squeezed his uninjured arm. “I love you Jess.”

  Jess smiled back, then turned his head towards Sal.

  “Captain Dash,” he called. “The wasp… does it have any sort of time limit? Will it go off if we don’t deactivate it soon?”

  “No,” replied Dash. “It’s designed for use over long periods. Hostage situations for example. As long as the activation pad stays in place the device won’t explode.”

  “All right. Sal, digging that thing out will have to wait until this battle is over. I want to secure you though, to make sure the activation pad stays in place.”

  “All right,” Sal replied. There was an edge of fear to her voice, but still plenty of strength.

  “Dash,” Jess said. “I need Sal on her side at least, or ideally her back, with the device in place.”

  Sal was currently laying on her front, Dash half sprawled across her and holding Hackett’s hand tightly in place.

  “I can keep it in place,” Dash replied. “You focus on whatever’s trying to blow this ship up. I’ll keep it in place better than anything you can rig up.”

  “Roberto,” Sal said softly. “Please do as he says. He knows what’s best. Thank you though… thank you for saving me.”

  “You’re sure?” Dash asked, worry still etched on his face.

  “Yes!” Sal insisted, as another blast rocked the ship.

  “All right. On three we’ll roll you by lifting your right side. One… two… three…”

  Jess watched closely in case of problems, but Dash managed to shift Sal and the severed hand without breaking the close connection. Now Sal lay on her back, Hackett’s hand pressed against the floor below.

  “Ready?” Jess asked.

  “Yes,” Sal replied. Then she spoke to Dash. “Don’t panic… the ship will keep me safe.”

  Dash looked confused for a moment, then his eyes widened in shock as the floor started to bulge out around Sal. Only her smile kept him from interfering.

  Jess had the Wanderer quickly secure Sal in place, holding her down with flexible bands across her torso. Now there was no chance of the activator pad being dislodged. He couldn’t do any more until the external threat was dealt with.

  Jess had the Wanderer do something similar for himself, though he left the ship free to start healing his wounds — with strict instructions not to do anything that would impact his ability to think.

  At the same time he had the Wanderer create basic seats for the others, complete with safety webbing, near to where they currently were. He could at least ensure they were safe from the manoeuvring he suspected would be needed.

  “Strap yourselves in,” he said. “Quickly.”

  As Ali, Elizabeth and Dash did so Jess thought of his other passengers. A quick check showed that Teeko had wedged itself securely in its empty bath. Ben was snuggled in beside Teeko where he wouldn’t come to any harm.

  The freed prisoners in the cargo bay were a much bigger problem. The Wanderer couldn’t change such a large area of the ship without Jess focusing intently, something he couldn’t do while under attack. He blasted out a quick warning to everyone, telling them the ship was under attack and that they should lay down. The rooms were relatively small but people could still get badly hurt if the ship was thrown around. He hoped to avoid that.

  The Wanderer shook once again. Jess checked the shields. They were slowly being battered down. They’d already fallen below seventy percent. He threw the Wanderer through even tighter evasive twists and turns, feeling some of the effects even through the ships inertial dampers.

  Desperately he scanned space for any sign of their attackers. There was none, in any band. Except for the brief moments when weapons were unleashed, seeming to appear from nowhere.

  “I still can’t find them,” he shouted.

  “Is it the Wanderer’s sensors?” Dash asked. “Could they be damaged somehow?”

  Jess paused for a moment before answering, wondering just how much he should trust Dash. Then he decided there wasn’t enough time to be suspicious. He’d already had the ship start to absorb every weapon dropped by the attackers. A quick scan had shown that Dash had nothing extra on him. With the weapons gone Dash should at least be manageable.

  “No, it’s not just us. The other freighters haven’t been targeted, yet, but they can see the weapons fire. They’re both shouting over the open band about not being able to spot the ships that are firing.”

  “What about the Shadow Beam? She’s packed with advanced sensors.”

  “Sorry… she’s gone. Destroyed by whatever is out there.”

  Dash’s face tightened for a moment, then he shrugged off the news.

  “All right. So they’re attacking the Wanderer. What about the Steady Light?”

  “No, not so far. She’s still mostly powered down but I can get the engines running soon.”

  “No. Don’t. I think our attackers saw what happened here. If so then they think the Wanderer and the Shadow Beam launched an attack on the Steady Light and left it badly damaged. If she powers up they might think differently. Especially if she powers up and starts trying to get away from them.”

  Jess nodded. “OK, that makes sense. I just need to worry about the Wanderer then.”

  “I’d quite like to see what’s happening,” Elizabeth said.

  “Sorry. Here you go…”

  Jess activated screens showing their status and what the sensors could pick out… little as that was.

  The Wanderer rocked as it was struck again. This time Jess was waiting and immediately lashed out with the Wanderer’s weapons, targeting the area the attack had come from. Most missed, but some struck the hidden ship’s shields.

  For the briefest of moments Jess was able to study the size of their opponent. He froze the image on one of the screens for the others to study. Another blast of weapon fire struck the Wanderer from a different direction. Jess reacted slowly to the unexpected attack, failing to hit anything with the return fire.

  “Damn… at least two of them,” he said.

  “They’re bigger than I expected,” Dash said. “Much bigger than a gunship, but nowhere near the size of a corvette. I’ve never heard of the Empire building any warship that size. Then again, I’ve never heard of the Empire building stealth ships either. If they’re going to exist anywhere then a research system like this will have them.”

  Another attack from another angle. Jess wasn’t completely sure whether it represented a third attacker, or that there were just two particularly agile ships .

  Another attack struck from behind. The shields were gradually fading, unable to recover from the relentless po
unding.

  “Just what the hell are they hitting us with?” Elizabeth asked. “Never felt a fully shielded ship shudder like this before.”

  That was a damn good question Jess thought. He set the Wanderer to analysing the attacks. It had plenty of chances… two shots from nearly opposite sides shoved the Wanderer’s shields below a quarter.

  “She can’t take much more,” Jess told the others. “If the shields go those weapons will tear straight through the hull. The only way out I can see is to jump, but that means leaving the other three freighters to the tender mercies of the Empire.”

  “You can’t jump,” Dash said. “Not this far in towards Daspal. The chaos in jump space would rip the ship apart. We need to make a run for it. There are two secret routes into this system known to just a few smugglers. We have to reach one of them.”

  Jess smiled. “Oh, we can jump. It’s pretty chaotic, but the Wanderer can take that. I’ve had her mapping the jump space distortions since we arrived. This area is relatively clear, well for the Wanderer it is.”

  “How far will we get though? How long before we reach an area that isn’t so clear? Twenty seconds? Thirty? Then the ship still gets ripped apart.”

  “Not if we drop back into normal space.”

  “Are you kidding? The jump engines will still be winding down from getting you into jump space. It takes at least five minutes to be ready to drop back again, even on finely tuned engines.”

  The Wanderer rocked under another onslaught. Now Jess was certain there were three ships out there. If not more. Shields had been battered down below fifteen percent. Waiting for another attack was out of the question. The shields could suffer spot failures, allowing some of the attack’s energy to punch through. Jess was under no illusions about how the Wanderer’s hull would cope. With no other options he threw the Wanderer into jump space.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Dash stared at the displays in disbelief for a few seconds. Jess had done it. He’d thrown them into jump space.

  “You’ve killed us,” Dash whispered.

  He felt strangely calm. After such a long time fighting to carve out somewhere safe, then keep it that way, certain death carried an almost hypnotic quality. There was nothing he could do, nothing he could say. He turned to Sal and smiled, taking her hands in his.

  “As last sights go, you definitely rate highly.”

  Sal smiled back, but there was something to the smile… a sense of mischievousness, that Dash couldn’t understand. Jess spoke before Dash could follow the thought up.

  “Twenty five seconds… and thirty.”

  They dropped back into real space. Many people, most even, couldn’t detect the transition. Dash had always been able to. The fractional moment of transition always left him feeling slightly off balance. The realisation that the ship had done something he had been certain was impossible left him even more off balance.

  “Welcome on board the Wanderer,” Jess said with a smile. “She’s a little bit special.”

  Dash looked back to Sal. There was no mistaking the humour in her face now.

  “If you could only see your face!” she chuckled. “It’s a real picture.”

  “Those ships are still out there,” Elizabeth reminded them.

  “I hadn’t forgotten,” Jess replied. “I’m watching space around us extremely carefully. I’m hoping they can’t get into and out of jump as invisibly as they fly. And that they can’t match the jump we’ve just made. If they can we’ll know about it in a few seconds.

  Even if they do though, the shields are already back to fifty percent. We can play cat and mouse with them through jump space a few more times if we have to. If they can't match our jump then we’ll get a good idea of how fast they are when they start to attack again. Now… if anyone has any bright ideas on how to deal with them I’m all ears.”

  “There are definitely two ships out there,” Dash said. “Possibly three.”

  “Definitely three,” Jess said. “Judging by the last attack. Possibly more but I don’t know.”

  “All right. At least three invisible ships, all apparently moving quickly and executing tight turns. So the question is, can they see each other? If not how are they avoiding a collision?”

  “That’s basic,” Elizabeth said. “The amount of space out there is huge compared to their size. The odds of a collision are tiny.”

  “That’s true. Normally. This is a different situation though. Those three ships are all trying to attack the Wanderer, and they’ve been attacking from close in so that she can’t dodge away. That means the volume of space they’re moving through is pretty damn small — especially when they’re on their firing runs.”

  “What makes you such an expert?” asked Elizabeth, not sounding pleased at being contradicted.

  “I used to be in the imperial forces, what feels like more than a lifetime ago. I headed up a team that specialised in assaults. I’ve seen more than my share of short range ship to ship fighting. Trust me, even when your fighters can see each other collisions aren’t unusual. Out there now, not able to see each other and making attacking pass after attacking pass, collisions would be inevitable.”

  “So what happened?” Elizabeth asked, tone cold. “Did you cross a line that even imperials normally refuse to cross? Did you do something so terrible that you had to run and turn pirate.”

  “Yes.”

  Suddenly everyone was staring intently at Dash. He let the moment stretch out, let them form their own incorrect opinions, then he spoke again.

  “I did something terrible. I refused to kill a group of innocent civilians who had survived being taken captive by pirates. The official version of events had already been decided on. No survivors.

  I killed the political officer when he tried to open fire on the prisoners. From that moment my life was forfeit. Everyone on my team too. So we grabbed the civilians and ran. As for being a pirate… it wasn’t what we set out to be. Time has a way of slowly wearing down your principles.”

  He paused for a moment, smiling at the thoughtful faces around him. They definitely hadn’t been expecting that.

  “Anyway, they must have some way of avoiding collisions. It would just be too dangerous otherwise, and those aren’t expendable fighters. Whatever they are they represent the peak of imperial technology.”

  “So they’re communicating?” Jess said. “I’ve had the Wanderer scanning every frequency. There was nothing.”

  “There’s another possibility then. They may have a predetermined pattern of attack. Almost like a dance. As long as every dancer keeps to their steps there’s never a chance of a collision. And each time a ship fires the others know it's still following the pattern.”

  “But I’ve been throwing the Wanderer through all sorts of turns. Wouldn’t that throw them off?”

  “Not if they used the Wanderer as the coordination point.”

  “All right, let me check.”

  Jess’s eyes glazed over. His attention seemed to be somewhere else.

  “Spotting the pattern when you’ve only got their firing positions, and the Wanderer has been tumbling all over the place, is going to take hours,” Dash protested.

  Jess blinked as Dash finished talking, coming back to himself.

  “Got them!” Jess said triumphantly. “It’s quite a simple pattern once you know what to look for, and there are just three ships attacking. Thanks Dash.”

  Dash stared at Jess. Spotting the pattern from so little data, and with the Wanderer’s erratic motion, should have been impossible for humans without weeks of effort. A powerful enough computer could manage it, but setting it up to run the problem would take tens of minutes at least. Yet Jess had apparently found the solution in a handful of seconds.

  For a moment Dash doubted Jess. He thought the youngster must have got it wrong. Then he thought of the other amazing things he’d already seen, from the impossibly short trip through jump space to seven men in heavy assault armour being cut down by some f
orm of invisible weapon. He had to admit the possibility that Jess was right in this too.

  The Wanderer was suddenly rocked again. Once… twice… then a third time.

  “Looks like they found us,” Jess said. “Damn they’re fast. Maybe half as fast again as the Wanderer is, even with her heavily boosted speed. We know what they are up to now though. So… we should be hit again right about… now…”

  The Wanderer shook again. Jess grinned.

  “Somebody’s about to get one hell of a surprise.”

  *****

  Jess studied space around the Wanderer. No longer was it empty. Now the estimated paths of their attackers were glowing trails, shining most brightly at the points where they would unleash an attack. Those points were certain, while the paths to get there were guesses.

  The next attack was only a few seconds away, but this time Jess was waiting. Before he had only used the Wanderer’s laser weaponry. Anything else would be too slow. The enemies would have moved on from their firing position and be gone like ghosts again.

  Not this time though. Jess fired every plasma weapon the Wanderer had, and launched several salvoes of missiles. One set of missiles, and much of the fired plasma, was aimed towards where he knew the ship would soon be. The rest he had fired in two different directions as a diversion. He didn’t want the ships to know their secret had been discovered.

  Now he had to hope that the ship wouldn’t have time to dodge even if it realised it was in danger. He started firing the lasers in random directions, preparing to focus on the attacker he was targeting as it opened fire.

  Zero. Jess registered weapons fire coming from exactly where he’d predicted, but it was cut off as the slow moving plasma impacted followed milliseconds later by the Wanderer’s laser fire and missiles.