 
# Wanderer's Escape

## Simon Goodson

#### Dark Soul Publishing Ltd
Copyright © 2013 Simon Goodson

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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Cover image © 2013 Andrew Goodson

Proofread by Frank MacDonald

First Published 9th January 2013.

Published by Dark Soul Publishing Ltd, v20190807

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

### Contents

Also by Simon Goodson

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Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

The story continues...

Read the first chapter from Book Two...

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# Also by Simon Goodson

**_Wanderer's Odyssey_**

Wanderer's Escape

Wanderer - Echoes of the Past

Wanderer - Tainted Universe

Wanderer - Origins

Wanderer - Extinction

* * *

**_Tagrale Universe_**

Tagrale - Gateway to the Stars

* * *

**_Dark Soul Chronicles_**

Dark Soul Silenced - Part One

Dark Soul Silenced - Part Two

* * *

**_Short Story Collections_**

Last Sunrise & Other Stories

Tales From the Starflare Universe & Beyond
To my parents,Chairman and Brian, and to my brothers, Phil and Andy.

* * *

Being who they were helped me to become who I am.
Grab your Simon Goodson Starter Library right now - just click this link to get four novels & six short stories absolutely free...

http://www.simongoodson.com/library

# Chapter 1

"You! Get over there!" the guard barked at Jess, clouting him on the side of the head for emphasis.

Jess stumbled forwards, then broke into a reluctant jog. He'd seen the guards whip and beat other prisoners for not moving fast enough. Ahead, several guards in heavy armour waited with two prisoners, and the remains of a third. They all stood near the side of a small spaceship which was a hundred metres long and thirty wide at its widest. It was only high enough for a single deck.

The dead prisoner had been ordered to open the ship's airlock but had set off a booby trap. Stuck at the front of his group of prisoners, Jess had seen far more than he wanted of the death. As the man had manipulated the door controls a blast of electricity had been unleashed, ripping through his body. At least it had been fast. Over the past four days Jess had seen many of his fellow prisoners die as they set off traps, most quickly but some lingering in agony until a guard grew tired of the noise and put a bullet in their head.

They were working their way through a series of vast hangars each filled with ships, from tiny one person flitters through to immense mining vessels. At least that's what some of the prisoners said they were called. Jess had been born a prisoner, grown up a prisoner. At sixteen he knew he'd die a prisoner. Like most of the others his aims in life were to avoid being punished too often, to get enough food to survive, to keep going.

Not everyone felt that way. A few tried to escape. Normally those who hadn't been born prisoners, who had memories of freedom. It was hopeless. Every prisoner was fitted with a control collar. At the slightest sign of a revolt any guard could activate the collar of every nearby prisoner. Jess didn't know how they worked, just how it felt. Like a million insects biting and burning their way down every nerve. Some people screamed, some couldn't. All dropped to the floor writhing in agony.

Distance offered no safety, the guards just increased the range until the running prisoner's collar activated – in the process taking down every other prisoner within range. The punishment for those trying to escape? Other than the pain from the collar, nothing. Nothing from the guards. Punishment was left to the other prisoners, to those who'd suffered when the collars activated. Few tried to escape more than twice. Repeat offenders were almost always killed or crippled by the other prisoners, who valued avoiding punishment from the collars far above a fellow prisoner's freedom.

It wasn't all stick. Sometimes there were rewards, like now. A month on special rations for anyone managing to help make three ships safe. Meat for every meal, even real vegetables. A feast compared to the prisoners' normal fare.

Not as easy as it sounded, though. Jess had no idea who the previous owners had been, but they'd been determined to protect their collection of ships. Many groups of prisoners were working to gain access. Hundreds had died already, just that Jess had seen or heard of. Now it was his turn to step up.

Walking past the guards he studied the two prisoners already by the ship. The closest was an old man, powerfully built despite his age. His face and arms were covered in scars and burns. Life expectancy for prisoners was thirty to thirty-five. The man looked well past that already, which probably meant he'd been captured in the last few years. The other was a woman maybe eight or ten years older than Jess, dirty face already creased with wrinkles.

Jess stopped by them, trying to ignore the charred and still smoking corpse on the floor. A guard stepped forward and shoved him towards the ship.

"Open it!" he told Jess.

Jess glanced at the other two. The girl looked away, the man spread his hands.

"We've already cleared one ship," he said. "You're the trap fodder at the moment, like barbecue boy was before you. They'll save us for the tricky traps inside." His face softened slightly. "Be careful, kid. Take a little extra time. You look like you've got more smarts than the last one. Use them. You'll need his pry bar."

Jess nodded. The bar was needed to open jammed doors and, in theory, to deflect any electrical blast safely into the floor. The body grasping the bar showed how well _that_ worked. Jess took a deep breath, stepped to the smoking corpse and, with a shudder, prised the metal bar from charred fingers. It came free easily; if it hadn't Jess was sure he'd have lost the meagre contents of his stomach. Standing, he turned to face the airlock.

The ship seemed different from the others Jess had seen in the hangars. Where most were blocky, often with garish paint jobs, this one was smooth, streamlined, and silver all over. No access panels, no warning signs, no external pipework. All that broke the side he looked at were the faint outlines of the airlock and a lock panel to the right of it. The panel where the booby trap had been set.

Jess peered closely at the lock panel, taking care not to touch it. It was a standard looking access system, with a number pad to enter the combination and a display above. Wires ran from it to a cracker unit which showed a long series of digits. Had the last prisoner just got unlucky? Mistyped a number? Jess reached out to start typing, then paused. Somehow the panel looked wrong. It seemed to jar with the rest of the ship.

Stepping back a little he studied the ship's side again, following the outline of the airlock. To the left, at shoulder height, he found a slight indentation in the hull. He reached out gingerly and pressed it, body tensed.

Nothing happened. Jess let out a shaky breath. Then he noticed that the outline of the door seemed a little clearer, and as he watched the entire door slid sideways revealing a small airlock.

"Well done kid," said the older man, stepping forwards and clapping Jess on the shoulder. "Plenty of room for the three of us. The guards won't come in with us, not until we've finished clearing the main traps from inside. Come on."

The man stepped into the airlock. Jess stepped in to his left, the girl to his right. The outer door closed quickly, leaving them in darkness.

"Matt!" the girl's voice snapped out.

"Sorry," muttered the man, Matt, flicking on an electric lantern. "Wasn't expecting the door to close that quick. Hope the inner door opens soon, the air in here won't last long."

"Yeah, thanks Matt. Like this doesn't suck enough without thoughts like that."

"Sorry, Sal." Matt turned. Jess could just make his face out. "Hey kid, what's your name?"

"Jess."

"Jess. Well Jess, I'm Matthew, Matt normally, and this is Sal. You seem to have some smarts so maybe you'll be around long enough for us to need your name. Or stuck in this airlock long enough to need it."

"Matt!" hissed Sal. "You know I hate the thought of getting trapped on one of these ships. Can you _please_ shut up!"

Before Matt could reply the inner door drew back smoothly, so quickly that Jess, who had been leaning on it, stumbled out. Matt stepped out next, holding the lamp up, followed by Sal.

Jess looked around in wonder. The only ships he'd been on before were prisoner transport barges, all bare metal and dirt, stinking of fear and filth. This was a different world. The room they were in was the width of the ship and about twenty metres long. It was sparklingly clean and completely empty, lit by gentle lighting in the ceiling. A door to their right led towards the front of the ship, another to the left led towards the back. Matt turned off the lantern.

"Be careful," Matt said. "Just because it looks empty doesn't mean there can't be traps."

They took a few tentative steps, then a sharp beeping made Jess freeze in place.

"Relax kid," laughed Matt, pulling a radio off his belt. "We're in," he said into it.

"What took you so long?" came the crackly reply.

"The inner door didn't open for a while. We just got into the main ship."

The radio stayed silent for a few seconds. Suddenly burning pain slammed through Jess's entire body. As his muscles all convulsed he dropped to the floor. He lay there for several seconds before he realised that the collar had turned off almost as soon as it had been activated. As he climbed back to his feet the radio crackled into life again where Matt had dropped it on the floor.

"Just a reminder that you aren't safe in there," came the guard's voice. "Now get on with it."

"Bastards!" muttered Sal.

Jess climbed back to his feet and glanced at Matt for guidance. The old man gestured right, to the front of the ship. Jess started to walk towards the door, taking each step carefully. He reached it without incident and stood studying it. This time there were no obvious controls, nothing like the fake number panel by the airlock. Looking closely he made out a small indentation to the left. Taking a deep breath he reached out and touched it. With a soft hiss the door slid open, revealing a short passage with another door at the end.

"Hang on, kid," Matt said. "There's something strange here."

Jess turned to look at him.

"Too clear?" asked Sal.

"Yep," replied Matt. "Every other ship has been littered with traps every step of the way. We should have found at least a handful already. This ship is different. Why?"

"Maybe because they couldn't get in here," said Jess thoughtfully.

"Sure. And yet you walk up, press the wall and the ship just opens up for you?" Sal said scornfully. "Right."

Jess shrugged, not saying anything. He still felt he was right. Matt stood deep in thought, Sal paced edgily backwards and forwards. Finally Matt sighed.

"Well, we won't solve this mystery by standing still, and our lords and masters outside will be getting twitchy fingers on the collar controls again soon. Sal, this is where you take over. I reckon the flight deck must be beyond that door and we don't want Jess setting off anything that wrecks it. You're up."

Grumbling under her breath Sal pushed past Jess, walked to the end of the corridor and studied the door before pressing the wall to the side. Nothing happened. She pressed again, harder, then several times in succession.

"Nothing," she called back over her shoulder. "Dead. Or locked. Doesn't want to open either way."

"Let me look," said Matt moving past Jess into the corridor.

He reached out to press the door control, again nothing happened. Jess moved a little closer and the door from the main room slid shut behind him.

"Shit!" Sal shoved past Jess, reached out to palm the door control and let out a shuddering breath as the door opened again.

"You OK?" asked Matt.

"Yeah." Sal nodded shakily, though to Jess she looked anything but OK. "Getting shut into small spaces once too often!"

"Maybe you shouldn't have _volunteered_ for this job then," Matt said, then chuckled.

Sal snorted but didn't bother to reply. Jess had been studying the door and panel while they spoke. Now he reached out and gently touched the door control. The door slid smoothly open, revealing a small flight deck.

"How the hell did you do that?" Matt asked, startled.

Before Jess could reply, red flashing lights came on around them and a siren started to blare. Bolts of electricity arced out from the walls, grounding through them. Sal let out a brief scream that ended with her choking. Jess was choking too. He wasn't getting burned as he'd expected, but he couldn't breathe. He scrabbled at his throat, trying to break free, to get some breath. His fingers found purchase and he pulled as hard as he could, collapsing to the floor and drawing in a deep breath. After a few seconds he heard the other two also dragging breath rapidly into their lungs. The siren stopped and the flashing red lights were replaced by the soft white light.

Jess stared at what lay on the floor, then tentatively reached up and touched his neck. He felt skin, nothing else. The control collar lay on the floor in front of him. That shouldn't be possible; once fitted any attempt to remove a collar led to it activating, and all collars within fifty metres doing the same.

Jess turned to look at the other two. Sal had both hands against her neck, staring eyes wide at her collar on the ground with a smile on her face. Matt had a face like thunder. He looked up, catching both their gazes before speaking.

"We're dead," he said flatly.

"What?" spluttered Sal. "Why?"

"That's why." Matt gestured at the collars. "We've found a way to get them removed. The guards won't allow that story to get out. The moment they see us, we're dead. If we step outside so the rest of the prisoners can see then they're all dead too."

Sal and Jess sat shocked, the truth of his words sinking in. Matt looked up and around at the ship.

"Not even like we can make a run for it in this thing. We'd have to find a way out of these hangars and dodge everything they can throw at us. If we got out they'd hunt us down like dogs. Though..." a grin spread across his face. "If we're dead anyway, we might as well have some fun."

He pushed himself to his feet, kicked his collar aside and made his way into the flight deck. Jess and Sal followed.

The flight deck was simple, one seat set at the front with two banks of two behind it. The seats were padded, comfortable looking. The front seat was clearly for the pilot, a joystick and a totally blank display board showed that. There were no windows. The walls looked like they might be screens, though they were dead now.

Matt sank into the pilot's chair, grasped the joystick and tried tapping the blank area in front of him.

"Nothing. Totally dead."

His shoulders sank. A few seconds later the radio burst into life.

"Get back to the airlock and open it now. It won't open for us. You have sixty seconds before we activate the collars."

"On our way," Matt answered. He flicked off the radio and continued. "Well, that's good news, at least. Now we can starve in here, or die of thirst, or open the airlock and get shot by the guards." He thumped the blank panel in front of him.

"Matt," Sal said softly, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Let Jess have a try."

"What? Why?"

"Because the ship seems to be responding to him. He opened the outer airlock. We couldn't open the door to get in here, but it opened first time for him. What have we got to lose?"

Matt sat thinking for a moment then stood, smiling lopsidedly at Jess.

"All yours kid. No pressure."

Jess looked from one to the other, thoughts tumbling over each other. What did they think he was? He wasn't anything special, just one more prisoner.

He slipped into the pilot's chair carefully. Nothing happened. He grasped the joystick. Again nothing. He reached out, touched the blank panel in front of him. Still nothing. He tried resting both hands flat on the panel. The controls remained dead.

"I was so sure," muttered Sal.

"Never mind. It was worth a try," said Matt. He clapped Jess on the shoulder. "Don't blame yourself kid, it was always a long shot. Now we need to decide whether to open the airlock or not."

Jess slumped back in the chair, arms resting on the arm rests. As his hands touched the black material a shock ran through them, almost like they'd been bitten. Before he could say anything the ship started to come to life around him.

First the walls, screens flickering into life. Images appeared showing the hangar, the other ships, even the guards and prisoners outside. Then the board in front of him lit up. Most of what he saw made no sense, but an outline of the ship from the side and above drew his eyes. It was mostly red, with some yellow. The only green section was the front, the flight deck. That was changing. Areas flickered from red to yellow to green.

"She's powering up," said Matt, disbelief in his voice. He grabbed Sal in a bear hug. "You were right! You were right! The ship is reacting to the kid."

Jess sat staring at the displays in front of him, mind reeling. Feeling dizzy. Outside he could see the guards starting to rush around, pointing towards the ship. Something was happening. The radio crackled into life.

"Where are you? What are you doing?" the voice sounded worried, panicked even. "Get down here and open the airlock now. The ship has just started to vibrate. Get down here now or else!"

With a grin Matt replied. "You sound a little concerned out there. I'm afraid we're quite happy in here, and it'll be a cold day in hell before we let you in. Oh... and don't bother with the collars. We've taken ours off."

They heard splutters of disbelief at the other end, before Matt turned the radio off.

"Boring bunch," he said with a grin.

He sat down in the left hand seat behind Jess, gestured for Sal to sit to his right.

"Right kid, get us out of here."

Jess was still sitting stunned, barely aware of his surroundings. He felt dizzy and... strange. Heavy. He couldn't put his finger on it exactly but he felt... well, wrong. He jumped as Matt's hand rested on his shoulder.

"Sorry to hurry you kid, but they're shooting at us, and they're bringing up some serious firepower. I can see a plasma cannon and heavy-duty laser cutter already."

Jess grabbed the joystick, tried pulling it back. Nothing. Forwards, sideways. Still nothing. He started to panic. The other two were depending on him and he couldn't do it. Looking at the screens he could see a heavy-duty wagon being turned so that the device on its back pointed towards them, towards the flight deck he guessed.

"I can't do it!" Jess wailed. "It won't respond. I'm sorry."

Matt tightened his grip on Jess's shoulder.

"It's OK kid. It's OK. You've already done wonders. At the least we've given them a good scare, and when they fire that thing they'll wreck this ship. Not bad for three lowly prisoners."

"He's right," said Sal softly. "It's not your fault Jess."

She leant forward, kissed him on the cheek. Jess felt his heart skip a beat, surprised to receive kindness from his two fellow prisoners rather than condemnation. He gritted his teeth. He wanted to save them. He wanted them to survive. Watching the screen he saw the weapon powering up, preparing to fire. He wanted to protect the other two, wanted to throw himself in front of the blast and shield them. The weapon fired.

Jess felt the blow as if it had struck the side of his head, a mild stinging sensation which quickly faded. Looking at the display showing the ship there was now a glowing outline showing green around most of the ship but yellow around the flight deck. As the stinging subsided the glow around the flight deck faded back from yellow to green. He decided the display was showing the status of the shields.

"What _is_ this ship?" Matt shouted. "That was a plasma blast! A combat ship ten times this size wouldn't be able to deflect a blast from that close. Damn! Look!"

Sal and Jess looked where he pointed. Several large ships were flying down the hangar towards them.

"Raptors. The weaponry on those things makes the plasma cannon look like a pinprick. It'll probably vaporise everyone outside the ship too. Even the guards. Shame."

Jess stared at the approaching ships as Matt's words sank in. He wanted to get away, get his new friends away. The closer the ships came, the more he wanted to get away. Suddenly the floor lurched, Jess was pressed down into his seat by acceleration, and the view on the front screen swivelled around. Another surge of acceleration and they were moving.

"Well done, kid!" yelled Matt. "I think I've figured out what this display is," he continued, pointing at a cluster of moving points near the left side. "It seems to be showing other ships. The smaller dots are the Raptors. God, there's at least another twenty closing in. And those larger dots... what the?"

Jess glanced over his shoulder. Part of the cabin had flowed out in front of Matt to form a board, and displays were coming on across it. Matt's puzzled expression was replaced by a huge grin.

"I like this ship," the old man muttered. "Let me see... that's the scanner, this looks like a viewer. If I do this... yes... oh... oh no. That's bad."

"What?" Jess asked, focus back on the screens in front of him. Several of the Raptors had opened fire and he was jinking the ship to avoid giving them an easy target. He was using the joystick, but was getting the definite impression the ship was responding to his thoughts rather than the physical action. He wasn't going to start experimenting whilst being shot at, though.

"There's much heavier ships moving in, some of them barely fit in here. They're really serious about stopping us. We're caught in a ring of ships. If we try to break out they'll chop us to pieces."

"This thing got any weapons?" asked Sal.

"No use," said Matt. "There's way too many of them, and some of those ships are monsters. I can see hundreds of ships closing already. Shame. This has been one hell of a ride. Still, better to die free than live a prisoner."

Jess wasn't so sure about that. Matt was an old man, Jess still had a lot of life left. Prisoner or not, he'd been counting on a lot more years. He felt a sharp pain in his leg as a Raptor's blast caught the rear of the ship, felt a tingle as another blast just missed. He shouted as two more blasts struck the ship's shields.

Almost without his realising, more and more knowledge of the ship had been filtering into his mind. Now he became aware of the flow he realised it was the cause of his dizziness, of his not quite feeling right. Something new came through. A way out. An exit. Four or five more shots struck the ship despite his best efforts, twenty or thirty passed nearby. Jess didn't hesitate. He reached out and grabbed the exit, dragging the ship through.

The screens went blank for a few moments then flickered back into life. All showed the same thing, a deep blue mist with wispy strands of a lighter blue all lit by a soft internal glow. Every few seconds a crackle of lightning discharged.

"Holy shit!" Matt swore. "We're in jump space. It's just not possible. You can't jump from inside a gravity field or inside a station. It's impossible."

"Then we've done the impossible," laughed Sal. "Don't you understand? We've made it! We're free!"

"Not yet. I spent most of my life on ships. They'll have tracked our entry vector. Ships will soon be following us, not the ones that were chasing us but they must have more outside of that place. Their sensors won't work here but the moment we punch through to real space we'll leave behind a huge disturbance which they can detect. They'll drop into real space right behind us."

"So? We'll just change direction."

"Not possible. The jump engines shove us through into this... I don't know, whatever this is. I just know it as jump space. I never learnt the theory behind it. As well as breaking through they give us a kick in the right direction. Once the ship is in jump space the thrusters are useless. The jump drive too, its only purpose is to break us back to real space when needed."

"Can't we drop out and quickly jump again, before they can turn up to track us?"

"No. Sorry. It won't work. Each jump damages the skin of real space, it can take days for the damage to vanish. Until it does it's like a signpost, pointing the direction we took. It's like a fingerprint too. Each ship's drive leaves a different pattern. On top of that, it takes time for the jump engines to charge again. We'd be sitting ducks while we waited."

"But we can stay here? They won't find us?"

Matt smiled sadly.

"Yes. For the moment. But with no food and water we can't stay for long. Also we don't know which direction we jumped in, the longer we stay the further we go and the harder it will be to work out where we emerge. We might end up stranded in the void between the stars. We've got no star charts, no idea where to go."

Several quiet minutes passed, each of them sunk in thought. It was Matt who broke the silence.

"That's odd. The scanner is still working. Look."

Jess glanced at his version of the scanner. Matt was right, he could see the dots representing ships. Thirty or forty at least. All following behind them. Some of the dots were immense.

"Well, aren't we the popular ones?" joked Sal. "They really want us back."

"Or this ship," muttered Matt. "Or more likely both."

Jess studied the scanner. Matt was right, all the ships were following. They all seemed to be travelling at the same speed, too. If Matt was right and the sensors on the other ships didn't work here then it would be so simple to lose them, if only the ship could change direction. A ninety degree turn to the left would do it, would leave the ships heading completely the wrong way.

As soon as the thought formed, Jess was pressed into the right side of the seat as the ship's nose swung left. A few seconds later the pressure eased off. A glance at the scanner confirmed what he'd felt. The pursuing ships were now shown to their left, but they were dropping behind. He could sense Matt and Sal tensely studying the display too. Neither said a word for the next few minutes as the chasing ships moved further and further away without deviating from their original heading. Finally, as they started to disappear off the scanner, Matt let out a whoop of delight.

"We've done it! My God, we've done it. Do you understand? We're free. Free!"

He broke down, tears running down his face, sobs racking his body. Sal moved to comfort him, while Jess sat dazed. He couldn't really take it in. When very young he'd dreamed of escaping, of getting free. As he grew older those dreams had been crushed out of him. Now it had happened and all he felt was numb. It was too much. He couldn't take it in yet.

After a few minutes Matt regained his composure.

"Sorry kids. I dreamt of getting free, being able to live again, every night since they took me prisoner. Actually achieving it is almost too much to bear. Come on, the ship will be fine for a while. Let's go explore, see if there's any food or water on this thing. Then we can decide what to do."

Jess went to stand up, to lean forward, found that he couldn't. His back and head were stuck to the chair.

"I'm caught on something. Can you see what?" he asked.

Sal leaned forward to look, then let out a cry.

"My God! Matt, look!"

"What?" Jess asked, scared. "What is it. Why can't I move."

Matt let out a curse. Jess started to try to pull free, but Matt quickly took hold of his shoulders to hold him in place.

"Don't move boy. Please. Hold still for a moment. There's some sort of web between you and the seat. Now don't panic, but it looks like some strands are going into your head. Like you're being linked to the ship. How do you feel?"

Jess took a ragged breath, trying to slow his hammering heart. "A bit dizzy. My head has been tingling. I've been feeling pain when the ship was hit. And I seemed to just know things about the ship. What's happening to me?" He started to struggle again, but his head was locked firm. He could turn to the sides a little, but not move forwards.

"Steady. Steady!" Matt's hands pressed down on his shoulders again. "If those are connected into your brain then ripping them out could kill you. Take it easy."

Jess felt himself relaxing, but not at Matt's words. A warm feeling was spreading through his body, easing the tension from his muscles as it went. He felt an image, a feeling, pushing into his mind. It wasn't his thought, wasn't trying to disguise itself as coming from him. It came from the ship, he was sure. The image was of him being held safely. Being cared for. What was happening was to help protect him. He relaxed some more.

"It's OK, I think," he said. "Really. It's a bit scary, but I'm sure the ship doesn't want to hurt me. It's doing this for me, to help me somehow."

Sal gently stroked the side of his face, studying him closely.

"You sure?" she asked. "It's definitely you saying that?"

Jess went to answer, then closed his mouth again. Gave the question some thought. Then nodded, as much as he was able.

"Yes. I'm still me. The ship is... reaching out to me, I guess. It's trying to connect me to it, but no more. It's not trying to control me or anything."

She stared hard at him for another few seconds before nodding.

"OK. But I'm not leaving you on your own. Matt, go explore. Tell us what you find. I'll keep an eye... I mean, I'll keep Jess company."

As Matt headed back to the main room she crouched down, reached out, taking Jess's right hand in both of hers. The way she looked at him brought a lump to his throat. His memories of his mother were vague but he remembered her using that look. He gave Sal a smile then closed his eyes, letting the rush of information from the ship wash over him again.

# Chapter 2

Jess blinked his eyes, waking from a pleasant dream. He'd been floating in warm water, in a deep blue sea, with a warm sun beating down on him. A strange dream as he'd never been on a planet, never even seen a lake, let alone a sea.

He stared blankly at the screens and displays in front of him for a few seconds before remembering where he was. He glanced at the displays again and they seemed to snap into focus. He knew what most of them were at a glance. Scanner, ship's status, generator flux. Some he still looked at with no understanding but he felt they weren't important, not yet anyway. He reached a hand up to the back of his head slowly, paused, then touched. He felt the web of strands still connecting him to the chair. They were warm to the touch, not slimy as he'd half expected. Slightly rough. Touching them caused a tingling in his head; not painful, but a little unpleasant. He let his hand drop down again. The process didn't scare him so much now. He understood it was necessary, part of the ship's efforts to bond with him.

He heard steps behind him and looked over his right shoulder to see Sal approaching, carrying a steaming mug.

"Here. Take this," she said. "Careful though, it's hot. It's also delicious. Hot chocolate, Matt calls it."

Jess twisted and took the mug from her. As he did so he realised his head was no longer held against the back of the seat.

"I can move," he said.

Sal smiled at him. "You've been out of it for quite a while, four or five hours. The web has grown some more. I don't think you can get off the seat but you should be able to move around more. It doesn't seem to be stuck to your back any more, either, just to your head. How are you feeling?"

She was still smiling but Jess could see the worry in her eyes, in how she held herself.

"I don't feel too bad. Actually I feel pretty good. Well rested. All this still feels a bit strange, but I'm sure the ship doesn't mean any harm. It's doing this for a reason."

He paused to take a sip of the drink. Delicious sweetness filled his mouth, together with a slightly bitter undertone. He quickly took a larger sip, burning his tongue.

"Wow! Ouch!"

Sal chuckled. "Careful. I burnt my tongue three times trying to drink it too fast. It is something special isn't it?"

"Where did you get it? Are there stores at the back of the ship?"

"Not quite. We've had an interesting few hours." Matt's tone was dry as he joined Jess and Sal. "First of all, you won't recognise the main room. Ah... that is... umm... sorry..." he stumbled to a halt, remembering that Jess couldn't leave the chair he sat in.

Jess chuckled. "You'll just have to describe it to me."

"Um... yes... well, when I went back before you fell asleep it was still just an empty area, and the rear door wouldn't open. I spent a few minutes looking for any hidden doors or controls but there weren't any. Just the same indentation the other doors have, and that didn't do anything. I came back to tell you both but you'd already fallen asleep. I explained to Sal, decided to go take another look and found the door from the flight deck wouldn't open. We were stuck.

"Must've been in here ten, maybe fifteen minutes. I was starting to consider waking you up but Sal was against it. She thought you needed the rest. Then, suddenly, the door slid open. I went back and the far door opened too. I stepped into the main room and couldn't believe my eyes. It had completely transformed. There are two big, comfy sofas and four chairs, all facing a large screen. A big table and chairs with space for twelve. It's narrower, though, most of the right side – opposite the airlock – is sectioned off now. A door there leads into a small corridor which has three small rooms, each with a bed, side table and lamp. There's also a small toilet and shower area. Each of the rooms had a few clothes, nothing special but a damn sight better than prisoner overalls."

Jess noticed for the first time that Sal and Matt were wearing different clothes; dark blue trousers and shirts. The colour wasn't that different to the near rags prisoners normally wore, but the clothes were clean and new.

"And in the main area there's this device that... well... it seems to create food and drink somehow. I've never even heard of anything like it, but it's made us several drinks and a meal already. I don't see how it could have stored the fresh food anywhere. The hot chocolate seems the most popular so far." He smiled.

"It's wonderful," Jess said, sipping some more.

"Speaking of which, that was supposed to be mine. I'm going to go get another," Sal said, heading back.

"You're looking well kid," Matt said. "Especially considering..." he gestured at the top of Jess's head, words failing him.

"Especially considering the ship has decided to wire me in?" asked Jess with a grin. "Don't worry. Please. I'm sure it doesn't mean me any harm."

"You think it's alive? Conscious? Aware?" Matt stared intently at him.

"I'm not sure about alive, but aware? Yes. Though not exactly. It's hard to put into words. It's like there's a large chunk of it missing, the part that decides. The part that takes action."

"And is that part going to be you?"

Jess nodded. "I think so, yes. Not in a sinister way. It needs a pilot, was designed to obey the needs of someone. It's not trying to take me over or force me to be a part of it. It's more like it's trying to make itself an extension of me."

"And that doesn't scare you?"

"Scare me? It's terrifying! But I don't feel like I'm in danger from the ship."

They sat in silence, staring at the blue mists floating past the screens as Jess sipped his way through the chocolate. Sal came back with her own mug, but didn't break the silence.

By the time Jess finished the mug his eyelids felt heavy and his head started nodding forwards. Matt took the mug and Jess was asleep again within seconds.

Jess was woken with a start by a rasping snore. Turning in his seat he saw Matt sprawled behind him, head back, mouth open and snoring loudly. Jess smiled at the sight, and sounds, feeling tension drain out of him.

Turning back, he started to run his eyes over the displays to check the ship's status. Then realised he didn't need to. Closing his eyes he reached out, feeling the status, seeing it in his mind. The ship was functioning, but in a very low power state. It had depleted most of its reserves at some point in the past. Powerful as it seemed to Jess, it was only a pale shadow of what it could be.

Stretching his thoughts out Jess felt the ship respond, felt it mesh perfectly with his mind. He wiggled the course back and forwards slightly just by thinking about it. Felt the powerful jump engines as they did something Matt had thought impossible, almost as if they were his legs. Felt the strong tingling of the shields around himself, and the weaponry come online. Aiming felt like moving his arms, the weapons locked to where he pointed.

Opening his eyes, he pulled himself back with some reluctance. He was still aware of the ship, of its status, but now he was back in his own body. A body that was decidedly stiff. Stretching, he pushed himself up, turned and took a couple of steps. Then he froze. The web! It was gone!

He reached up and touched the back of his head. Hair. Skull. Nothing else. No stickiness, no holes. Yet he could still feel the ship in his head. Closing his eyes he reached out for the ship again, linking with its limited mind. He called up a view of the cabin and saw himself standing as if in a trance. With a thought the view changed, was overlaid with temperature and other scans. Now he could see into his head, could see the silvery threads and nodes that formed an intricate lace netting interwoven with his brain; linking him to the ship without the need of a physical connection.

Now he understood. The web had been a temporary measure, allowing limited linkage and forming the bridge for the permanent connection to be grown. Jess marvelled at how calmly he was taking this. He realised it wasn't new to him. He'd been made aware of all this whilst he slept. Still, finding it out, facing up to it, was quite a shock.

With a thought his vision shifted to Matt, studying the old man. Matt's brain was completely free of the growths. Whatever was happening was reserved for Jess alone, apparently. Fascinated, Jess studied the flows of electricity across Matt's brain as he slept, panicked for what felt like seconds when he realised there was no heartbeat before the ship sent a soothing wave with the knowledge that he was thinking far, far faster than normal. What felt like long seconds later this was confirmed as the old man's heart gave a lazy beat.

Jess let his new senses range further over Matt, finding himself drawn to the left lung, to a fist sized mass that seemed wrong. Cancerous, the ship confirmed through the link. Likely to be fatal within a few months.

Jess pulled back into his own head with a start, tears blurring his vision. He was already fond of the old man. Did Matt know? Could he not with such a large lump? Jess stumbled past, towards the main cabin. Both doors opened at his approach, closing quietly behind him.

The main cabin was pretty much as Matt had described. Sal was asleep on one of the sofas, a soft grey blanket pulled over her. The lights were dim, though they started to brighten as Jess walked in. Without thinking how he did it he dimmed them again, not wanting to wake Sal. Stomach grumbling he made his way over to the food dispenser.

It was a large, rectangular, white box positioned against the wall and standing from floor to ceiling. Controls in the lower area of the machine offered choices and a large door stood above. As Jess approached the machine started to hum. The display flashed up 'Pilot's Special' and the door slid upwards revealing a large, steaming mug. Jess took it out and made his way to the dining table, settling into a chair at the end and resting the mug.

He sniffed the mugs contents cautiously and caught the wonderful smell of hot chocolate, but with other smells he could only half identify. He felt a gentle prod from the ship to drink up. The ship warned him that most of the changes made to him had come from his body's own resources, and that he urgently needed to replace them. With a shrug, he started to sip the drink.

# Chapter 3

"Hey, you're awake. How are you feeling?" asked Sal.

Jess turned in the pilot's seat and smiled back at her. She had the grey blanket draped over her shoulders. Matt was still sleeping in the chair behind, though thankfully the snoring had stopped.

"I'm fine. I was just watching the mists. They really are beautiful. They change all the time. You start to see shapes in them after a while."

She walked up next to him then stopped, a shocked look on her face.

"The web! It's gone!"

"Yeah, I had noticed," Jess said, grinning.

"So... are you and the ship... not connected now?"

"No, I mean yes, we're still connected. It did something to my head. I can feel the whole ship if I want to, control it too. I think that's how it's designed to work, with a single pilot who in some ways _is_ part of the ship. I'm still coming to terms with it."

She studied him in silence for a long time. Jess started to worry. Though he'd only just met them he suddenly realised how much he needed both Sal and Matt, needed their company, needed them to help him through what was happening. He hadn't thought about how they might feel. He'd been so caught up in his own worries. Now he realised how he must seem to them. Something different, not fully human any more. A monster maybe. He wanted to speak up, tell her it was still him, but he couldn't find the words so he sat there waiting for her to speak. Waiting for her to pull away in fear or disgust, to make her feelings clear. Finally, she spoke.

"Does it... does it hurt?" she asked, reaching out to touch his arm.

Jess broke down. Everything that had happened came crashing in at once, the enormity of the changes to his mind, his worries about what Sal was thinking and the obvious concern in her question for him, as a person. She leaned forward, wrapping her arms around him. Rocking him. Reassuring him. For the first time since he'd been separated from his mother aged nine, someone held him while he cried.

He took a few minutes to cry himself out. Sobbing cries subsiding to snivels and finally stopping altogether. He stayed where he was, enjoying the feeling of being held for a few more minutes, before pulling away. He was surprised to see that Sal had been crying too. He smiled at her.

"Thank you," he said.

It seemed to be enough. She smiled back.

"Does it hurt that much?" she asked gently, obviously still concerned.

His laugh surprised her. He shook his head.

"No. It doesn't hurt. It's a little strange at times but that's it. I was so sure you'd see me as a monster, as something disgusting. I was so scared you'd want to leave me."

She shook her head.

"Something strange has happened to you. But you're still the same scared looking kid that got singled out to help us de-trap this ship. Nothing's changed there."

"Same goes for me, kid," said Matt, stretching in his seat.

He winced, rubbing his chest where Jess had sensed the cancerous growth.

"Getting too old to be sleeping in chairs," he muttered.

"Matt," Jess said softly. The old man looked up, waiting for him to continue. "Matt... it's more than that. I saw... through the ship. There's a lump."

Matt's face tensed. He nodded sharply. Grimaced, sank back in his seat.

"I worried it might be. It's been getting worse for weeks. Not much I could do about it, though, the guards wouldn't have cared. Not till I was too ill to work, then it would've been a bullet to the head. Not much more I can do about it here, though I guess I'd rather know than worry about what it might be."

Sal moved to stand by Matt, hand on his shoulder, lost for words.

"So, did this wonderful ship say how long I might have?" asked Matt.

"The _Wanderer_. It says its name is the _Wanderer_ , or that's the closest translation it can get," replied Jess.

"The _Wanderer_. Nice name. Now... how about answering my question?"

"A few months. Maybe a bit more, maybe less," Jess said quietly.

"Could be worse, I suppose. Can get a lot of living into a few months, especially now we're free. Hell... might even be able to find a doctor that can cure it, if I had the money."

Jess felt a gentle nudge in his mind, the ship's way of bringing things to his attention. As he absorbed the information a huge smile spread across his face.

"Well don't you look like the cat that got the cream," said Matt. "What's up?"

"The back section, the area you couldn't get into. It contains the engineering deck like you thought. But more than that. There's a medical bay. The ship seems to think it can remove the lump and reconstruct the damaged area of your lung."

Conflicting emotions fought their way across Matt's face. Fear, hope, resignation, concern, relief.

"Are you sure? Really sure?"

Jess's gaze lost its focus as he pushed his awareness out into the ship's mind, checking. It snapped back again almost instantly.

"Yes. I've checked and I'm sure. In fact... please don't take this the wrong way, but the ship seems to feel it's quite trivial. Compared to what it did to my mind, that is."

"When can we start?"

"Now. If you want. The process will take a few hours, then you'll have to stay in the chamber resting for a couple of days while you recover. We'll be able to speak to you, but not come in. The room has to be kept sterile."

"Well then. No time like the present, is there?"

Matt stood. Sal glanced between the two of them.

"Are you sure? We know hardly anything about this ship, and you're going to risk letting it operate on you? How do you know it's even right? Maybe you don't have a growth, or it's not cancerous."

Matt placed his hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes.

"Sal, it's cancer. It's in my family, something in the genes. I've known for weeks, months, whether I wanted to admit it to myself or not. I'm old, nearly seventy, and for months I've felt this pain in my chest grow worse and worse."

He leant forward, kissed her on the top of her head.

"This is my chance. I have to take it. Do you see?"

She nodded, smiling sadly at him. He turned and walked back to the living quarters, Jess and Sal following. When they reached the rear door Matt pressed the pad to the side. Nothing happened.

"Sorry," Jess said, reaching out for the ship's mind again and making changes. "Now you should have access to all areas of the ship. Be careful of the engine room though."

Matt reached out again. The door slid open as he touched the pad. They stepped through into another short corridor, this one with a door to each side and another at the end.

"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 showed 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.

The _Wanderer_ wasn't most ships. Before they reached clear space again he stretched out, yanking the ship into jump space despite the masses of the two Imperial ships to either side. He'd chosen a path straight towards a blazing blue star, but kicked off onto a new heading almost immediately. Let them follow that course, see where it got them.

The sharp manoeuvring he'd had the ship pull off worried him; someone could have gotten hurt. He checked on Matt first. He was fine, not awake yet but the procedure had completed. The webbing was gone and he seemed to be sleeping well.

Jess paused. How was that possible? The last time he'd checked the procedure had only been a couple of hours in. That must have been ten or twelve hours ago for Matt to now be sleeping off the operation. And he hadn't checked on Matt in all that time? Just what was going on?

He flicked his awareness to the main living quarters, worried that the baby might have been hurt. She was fine, but what he saw chilled him. Robby and the other two men sat at the table, their guns and ammunition in front of them together with several large kitchen knives. He checked the ship protocols, weapon suppression had been turned off. By him. Why didn't he remember doing that? Worse than that, every one of the passengers had been granted full access to the bridge, full control over the airlock. Once again _he_ had granted the access. Something was terribly wrong. Then it hit him. Sal! Where was Sal?

He flicked his attention to her quarters, knowing it might be a terrible invasion of privacy but even more scared of not finding her. His relief at finding her was short-lived. She lay sprawled awkwardly across her bed, still dressed. Her eyes were open but unfocused. Drugged. She lay with a big, stupid looking grin on her face. At least she was safe for the moment. Her door was already closed. Jess locked it, then revoked all access to the refugees. Next he reactivated the weapons suppression. Anyone attempting to fire a gun was going to get a nasty shock.

Then with trepidation he flicked his attention back to the bridge, not into his own body but using the ships sensors. As he'd feared, his eyes were wide and a stupid smile was plastered across his face. He too was drugged. But then, how was he thinking clearly now?

The answer came from the ship, nudging into his thoughts. His brain was being accelerated many times over, supported by the new implants in his head. The electrical activity in his brain could be stimulated and emulated to reach those speeds; the glandular, chemical based thinking couldn't. The implants simulated that as best they could, but only within certain limits. They wouldn't replicate the effects of the drug.

That meant if he dropped back to normal thought he'd be lost again. Now that Sal was safe he needed to straighten himself out. He had the ship run an analysis of his blood and brain chemistry, a task made much easier by his implants' ability to take direct samples. It quickly identified a number of substances that hadn't been present earlier when the implants had been growing. One, refined cocoa, was quickly discarded. It came from the hot chocolate, was perfectly natural. Seven others were present. Three were confirmed as mild hallucinogenics, another had uses as a truth serum. The remaining three were unknown.

The ship was able to guide his implants to release counteragents to all the drugs. Over the next few seconds in real time, which felt like long minutes to Jess in his accelerated state, he watched his body start to return to normal. The dilated pupils returned to the merely slack, distracted look they had when he was linked with the ship. The levels of the chemicals dropped away to zero and his implants kept pumping out counteragents in case of a renewed attack. Finally he let his connection to the ship recede and dropped back into his own body.

"Holy shit!" he groaned, doubling over and holding his head. While a prisoner he'd drunk moonshine a few times and had suffered the crippling hangovers it brought. This was worse, far worse. He groaned again, then felt cool fingers on the back of his neck.

"What's wrong, my darling?" asked Ali, concerned. "What is it? And what happened? We were rushing between those two ships and then we were in jump space. That's just not possible."

Jess just groaned again, though his headache was receding a little. His implants had started releasing painkillers, and other chemicals to sweep up the unpleasant residue of the drugs in his system.

"Darling, what is it?" asked Ali again.

Her fingers rubbed his shoulders. She leant forward and kissed the back of his neck, then kissed his cheek. She turned his head to kiss his lips.

Everywhere she touched with her lips smarted, almost burnt, as the counteragents kicked in. Jess pulled away from her, pushed her back with a hand as she tried to lean after him.

"Lipstick? Nice touch. I guess you must take a counteragent, so it doesn't affect you."

"What? I don't know what you mean." She flashed him a huge smile, eyes staring into his. Despite everything his heart skipped a beat. She really was beautiful.

"My darling, I really don't know what you mean," she said leaning in closer again. For the first time he looked at her properly, saw that her pupils were dilated. Realised that she too was suffering the effects of whatever compounds had been fed to him. Now he was able to think more clearly it made sense, explained her manic rush to hug him when first coming on board and why she'd spent so much time with him.

"Wait here for a moment, please," he said, forcing a smile he didn't feel at all.

"Of course, my love." She sat back, face beaming with a loving smile.

It made him feel sick, knowing it wasn't real, knowing it was forced on her. He quickly left the cabin, closing the door behind him and locking it. She couldn't do any harm and he didn't want the distraction of having her around while he faced the others.

Robby saw him first. "What are you doing here? Where's Ali?" he demanded.

"She's safely on the bridge. She can stay there until we've flushed whatever chemicals you've been dosing us with out of her. I'm taking back control of the ship. Put down the guns now."

"I don't think so!"

Robby stood, aiming and firing his pistol in one smooth movement. The sound of the gun firing was incredibly loud in the enclosed space. Almost as loud was the scream Robby let out as he dropped the half melted remains of the gun, the palm of his hand blistered red from the heat.

"Consider yourself lucky," Jess told him. "I set the fields to keep your hand safe. I could as easily have let the gun take your arm off when it exploded."

He didn't know if that was true, but it felt like time to stretch the truth a little. The other two men stood, grabbing long knives from the table. Jess raised an energy barrier with a wave of his arm, sealing them off from the rest of the room and from the table full of guns. He made sure the barrier had a slightly red tinge so they were well aware it was in place. After hammering ineffectively against the barrier a few times they stood still, sullenly glaring at Jess. He glanced around the room from the two trapped men to Robby nursing his hand and on to the woman and two children.

"I won't waste my time asking why. We rescued you from certain death, gave you the run of the ship and would have found you somewhere safe to live. We might even have let you stay on-board if you wanted. You tried to enslave us. You tried to kill me. We will keep you fed, looked after, and drop you at the nearest station with a decent sized population explaining exactly what you've done."

"What do you know?" spat the woman. "You'd have dropped us off? With no money, no belongings, nothing. We'd have been beggars. Charity cases."

"You'd have been alive. Alive and free. Trust me, those two things are priceless. With those you can achieve anything. And judging by the guns and the drugs you used on us you were hardly innocent travellers."

Not wanting to hear any more from her he used the ships fields to push them all into an area near the airlock, well away from the weapons, and made the field soundproof. With a heavy heart he made his way to Sal's room. How was he going to explain this to her when she recovered? And just what had happened to her whilst she had been drugged?

# Chapter 6

Having already cured Jess, the ship was able to generate a counteragent for Sal and Ali that quickly reversed the effects of the drugs. Once Jess had revived Sal and explained the situation she was ready to flush the visitors out of the airlock. After a few minutes arguing she agreed to Jess's plan to hand them over to the authorities somewhere. There was still a dangerous glint in her eye. Jess added a confirmation subroutine to the outer airlock controls to give him the chance to counter any orders to open them. Just in case.

Jess then uncomfortably tried to ask if she thought Robby had, well, taken advantage of her. She shook her head fiercely. She was certain he hadn't. She made it clear that if he had then, no matter what Jess said, Robby would be breathing vacuum with his balls cut off. Jess was certain she meant it.

They turned to the problem of Ali. Sal insisted on taking care of the girl, from giving her the counteragent to explaining what had happened. She said that as Jess was the one Ali was fixated on it wouldn't be fair for him to do it. Jess happily agreed. He had no idea how to tackle Ali.

Jess sat on the bridge. A check on Matt had confirmed everything was going well, though he was still asleep. He'd have a lot of catching up to do when he finally awoke. With nothing else to do while Sal helped Ali, Jess was thinking over everything that had happened since they captured the ship. He was so deep in his thoughts he didn't hear anyone approach. The hand gently laid on his shoulder nearly made him jump clean out of the chair.

He spun round to find Ali standing behind him, trying to hide a smile at his reaction. Jess felt flustered, could feel the blood rushing to his face. Despite everything that had happened, he really did find her very attractive.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," she said. "I wanted to apologise for what happened. I don't really remember it very well but, well, I'm sorry anyway."

Jess smiled awkwardly. "It's OK. I forgive you. That is... I mean... it wasn't your fault, I don't blame you. How did you get mixed up with those people though? You aren't related, are you?"

"God no! No. Nothing like that." Her face clouded over. "I grew up on a small station orbiting a gas giant, Kershel V. There were a couple of hundred people on the station, mostly families. Mum and Dad died in an accident two years ago. I got by. People looked after me. Then, a couple of months ago, those... people... turned up in their freighter. They seemed honest enough; showed up with a variety of goods and started trading. A few hours later an Imperial warship arrived and started broadcasting a warning, claimed we had illegal goods and they were there to destroy the station. They wouldn't listen to reason, wouldn't accept our surrender. Wouldn't even allow us to evacuate the children. They gave us twenty minutes to make our peace, then the station would be destroyed.

"There was nothing we could do. The station was peaceful, it had a few lasers for dealing with stray asteroids but nothing that could even dent a warship's shields. Then our saviours came forward. The freighter crew said their ship had a special jump drive, that they could escape and avoid detection – make a clean getaway. Their ship was too small to take us all, but they could take the children and a few adults. They offered to do it out of the kindness of their hearts, wouldn't accept any payment.

"How could we refuse? In the end there were thirty-one children and six adults, one parent of each of the youngest five children and me. Since my parents died I'd spent a lot of time working in the nursery and the school. The children knew me well. With only a few minutes until the deadline we left the station, accelerated heavily away from the warship, ignoring the dire threats from it, and jumped. A few minutes later they dropped back to real space and jumped in another direction, then again a few minutes later. To make sure they weren't being followed, they said.

"About half a day later they docked with another station, a strong independent station they said. One that could cope with the influx of children. One that had defences. As the rest of the refugees left the ship Robby asked me to help him, saying some toys had been left and he'd hate for the children to miss them.

"He dropped slightly behind me as we walked back from the airlock. I didn't think anything of it. Then he grabbed me, shoved a foul-smelling cloth over my face and everything went black. When I woke up they had me chained by the leg to a bulkhead. The only times I was released were to use the bathroom, and even then I was watched.

"I was scared. Terrified. I kept expecting them to be chased down by a ship when my friends realised I was missing, until I heard the crew talking. It wasn't a station they'd been taken to, it was an orbital farm. They were the next batch of slave labour. Children last longer and can get into smaller spaces so they're worth more. It got even worse. The whole attack on my station was staged. The warship wasn't from the Empire, it was a pirate ship. The station was never in any danger. Once we'd left they told the station our evacuation was a set-up and demanded everything valuable the station had to get us back. Whether the station paid or not they'd then vanish without keeping the deal. That's how they got their payment for helping with the scam."

She stopped, eyes sparkling with tears she tried to hold in. Jess sat quietly, not knowing what to say. After a few moments she took a deep breath and carried on.

"When the kidnappers dropped into real space almost on top of several real Imperial navy ships... well... it was almost funny. They tried to put on the innocent traders routine, but their ship was known. The first shot destroyed their jump drive, the second their real space thrusters. Then the ship was slowly carved up. I was torn between being terrified of dying and being pleased that they'd be killed, that justice would be done. Something must have come up because two of the ships suddenly jumped out, and the navy went from trying to pick us apart to telling us to make our peace. That made me laugh, hearing the kidnappers' own terms used against them. They didn't see the funny side.

"Then you turned up and destroyed the one navy ship that hadn't already jumped. Robby grabbed me and injected something. Everything gets very hazy after that. I remember them telling me how heroic our rescuer was, how attractive he must be, how I must be _so_ grateful. They told me I must make sure he knows and that I must love him for saving me. Everything they told me I believed as truth.

"Then when the airlock opened and I saw you. I couldn't help myself. I just had to hold you. I had to be with you. You know what it's like, they got you with the same drugs. I think they probably used me to drug you, but I really can't remember clearly.

"Everything is pretty blurry then until Sal gave me the counter agent and I started thinking clearly again. Sal explained what had happened, what those criminals had done. I cried. I got upset. I got really angry with you."

"With me? Why?"

"Because of the feelings I'd been made to have. I'd been made to adore you, love you. I hated that. Hated you for that. Sal helped me, talked it through with me. She suggested I come and talk to you, she said it might help both of us. It has helped me."

She stood, holding a hand up as Jess went to speak.

"Please. I needed to talk to you, to get it all out. We can talk properly later but I need to leave it there for the moment."

She turned, walked to the door then looked back over her shoulder, grinning.

"Despite everything, you are cute you know."

With that she was gone, leaving Jess sitting in stunned silence. He was still sitting thinking things over a few minutes later when Sal entered the bridge.

"How are you feeling?" she asked softly.

Jess twisted round to talk to her.

"Wishing this chair swivelled, for a start!" he said, thinking how much easier that would make talking to people behind him. The chair suddenly twisted, spinning round and leaving him sprawled half in the chair and half on the floor. Sal sank into one of the other seats, laughing so hard she couldn't get a word out. Jess tried to push himself back onto the chair, upset and embarrassed. He almost made it before his side slipped and he ended up laid on the floor with one leg still caught in the chair, head pointing towards the door. Ali came rushing in to see what the noise was, then stopped and stared at Jess for a moment before cracking up too.

Jess stared at the two of them, who were upside down from his point of view, as they laughed. He tried to hold onto his anger over their reaction. It didn't work. The laughs were infectious. He tried to free his leg from the chair, only managing to turn the chair backwards and forwards, and found himself laughing too. Eventually Sal got herself under control enough to help Jess free his leg and to get up. He sat down on the chair so carefully it set Sal off all over again.

Once they'd finally laughed themselves out Jess felt as if a weight had been lifted. Their shared laughter had cleared some of the tension between Ali and himself. He felt more comfortable in her presence now, if still very aware of her. Both Sal and Ali looked more relaxed too. The laughter must have helped clear some of the impact of their recent drugged experiences. He glanced at Sal, then turned to Ali.

"Ali..." He pitched his voice low, soft. "I've been thinking about what happened to you, what happened to the others from your station. I'd like to help. I want to help you get them back. This ship is pretty powerful, I think we'd have a real chance, but I need to check it with Sal and Matt. Sal? What do you think?" Jess shot her a pleading glance.

"I agree," Sal said. "We'll need to be careful, and we need to find out just where they are, but yes... we'll help if we can."

Ali looked puzzled. "That's... that's wonderful," she said. "But... who's Matt?"

"Ah... I'll let Sal explain that one," Jess said, standing. "I want to go check on our passengers."

He headed back to the living quarters. As soon as he entered he felt the glares from the prisoners almost as if they were physical blows. All four adults stared at him with hatred in their eyes. Jess felt bad for the baby and child, but couldn't bring himself to try to separate them from their mother, and right now he had other concerns.

He walked over to the food unit and started using it to create a meal. Soup, soft bread and beer in china mugs for the adults. The same but with squash for the boy, and a bottle for the baby. Nothing that needed knives. No glass to be smashed. The soup was warm, but not hot.

The unit still fascinated him, the way it created not just the food or drink but even the containers. He wondered if they would have to start throwing mugs and plates out the airlock when they had too many. A thought gently nudged in from the ship, letting him know the unit could dispose of leftovers and the containers, that it would recycle them for future use. This reminded him uncomfortably of just how closely he and the ship were linked, even when he hadn't reached out for it. Answers to questions he wasn't even aware of asking just turned up. The ship adapted itself to his thoughts and wishes. The pilot's chair gaining a swivel being the most recent example, and the most embarrassing.

He finished carrying the food to the table, set it out and stepped back. Reaching for the ship's mind, he adjusted the containing field to include the table so the prisoners could eat. He changed it to allow sound to pass again, wanting to know what they were thinking. They made their way to the table, the middle-aged man choosing a seat near to where Jess stood. He pulled the chair out, then suddenly whipped around, swinging the chair at Jess's head. It clanged off the containment field a few inches from Jess's face, jarring the man's arm. Despite the field Jess had thought it was going to hit. He'd taken a step back and thrown his arms up. The man grinned at Jess, clearly deciding he'd won that encounter, before replacing the chair and sitting to eat.

Heartbeat still raised, Jess took a few more steps backwards, before turning and heading for the bridge. Mocking laughter followed him.

On the bridge he found Sal and Ali sitting looking at a screen showing Matt, who was still sleeping. Sal looked up grinning.

"See? I'm starting to get the hang of this ship too. Of course I have to do everything by hand, not just by thinking like _somebody_ I could mention."

Jess ignored her attempt to get a reaction, and tried not to notice the way Ali studied him after the comment.

"He's not looking too bad," Jess said. "I think he should start waking in the next couple of hours. We're going to have quite a story for him."

Sal chuckled. "Your turn to do the explaining. I've just been telling Ali how we got the ship and about Matt."

Jess groaned. "OK, OK. I just hope he's in a good mood."

"How are our friends back there?"

"Pretty unpleasant, so no change. Not yet, anyway."

"Fat chance of that!" said Ali. "They're poisonous scum. Always will be."

"I... er... I think that might change for a while... maybe..." said Jess.

Sal looked at him sharply. "What do you mean?"

"Well... I was thinking about what you said; that we needed to get more information on where Ali's friends were taken. Then I realised that our guests know everything we need to know, and that they wouldn't tell us any of it, or even if they did we wouldn't know if we could believe it. So I... I don't think you're going to like this."

Ali reached out, placed her hand gently on the back of his where it gripped the edge of the console tightly.

"You've done something to them? What?" she asked gently.

"It won't hurt them!" Jess said quickly. "I put something in their meal. Just in the beer. It won't affect the children. I used the same drugs they used on us. I had the food unit add the chemicals to their drinks. I feel really bad for doing it, even to them, but I couldn't think what else to do. In about twenty minutes they should be desperate to please us, to help us."

Ali sat back, tears in her eyes and stifling a sob.

"I'm sorry," said Jess. "I'm so sorry. I know I shouldn't have done it. I didn't mean to upset you. I know how horrible it is, but I just couldn't think what else..."

The rest was lost as Ali threw herself forward grabbing him in a tight hug.

"Oh you... silly... what am I going to do with you? I'm crying because I can't believe how much you're helping me, helping my friends. Thank you. Thank you so much. And don't worry about that bunch. They deserve this and far, far worse."

Jess awkwardly put his arms around Ali, greatly enjoying having her pressed so close but more than a little embarrassed, especially once he caught Sal's eye.

"Not to put a downer on things..." Sal said. "But doesn't there have to be some sort of focus? Couldn't they just end up falling for each other?"

"I thought of that. As they start showing signs of the drugs kicking in the ship will start playing suggestions to them, getting them to focus those feelings on me. Then I guess I'll have to try to interrogate them."

"No. Make it me," Sal said firmly.

"What?"

"Change the message. Make them focus on me. You're doing so well Jess, but don't take too much on. I'm older. I've dealt with more unpleasant situations than you have. Please, for your sake, let me do it."

Jess thought for a minute, not an easy task with Ali still hugging him tightly, before nodding.

"If you're sure? Really sure?"

Sal smiled sadly. "Yes, really. We need to work as a team. You look shattered already. In fact, you should go get some rest. Alone, ideally." She arched her eyebrows.

Jess spluttered and felt himself turn bright red. Ali pulled away from him, also blushing furiously, as Sal burst out laughing.

# Chapter 7

Jess woke with a start, feeling sure he'd slept much longer than he had planned to. A tickle in his mind from the _Wanderer_ helpfully told him it had been eleven hours and nine minutes. He'd woken facing the wall, so he turned as he sat up. The sight of someone sitting on the end of the bed froze him for a moment before he realised it was Sal.

"You look a lot younger when you sleep," she said softly. "I'd forgotten how young you are, you've handled yourself so well. I'm proud of you."

"Umm... thanks..." Jess shrugged awkwardly.

"Remember that we're here for you though, Matt and I. Lean on us when you need to."

Jess smiled and nodded. Her words could have sounded condescending, but somehow they didn't. They sounded caring. It had been a long time since anyone had truly cared for Jess. It brought a lump to his throat and tears to his eyes. Embarrassed, he busied himself shoving the sheet back and twisting so he sat on the bed next to Sal. Thankfully he'd fallen asleep in his clothes. He glanced at Sal, then looked more carefully.

"Sal, you look shattered!"

"Thanks. You know how to make a girl feel good!" she replied with a smile.

"Sorry, but you really do look wiped out. Have you slept?"

"No. I wanted to keep an eye on our guests, and on Ali too. I think she's on the level but I wanted to be sure. She's asleep in Matt's room now, and I got the ship to lock the door. It needs you, me or Matt to authorise any attempt to open it."

Jess was shocked. He opened his mouth to argue then closed it again, thinking of all that had happened. He nodded slowly.

"I guess that is for the best. How did questioning our guests go?"

Sal pulled a sour face. "It wasn't pleasant. They answered all the questions, almost fell over themselves to give me the information. I have the coordinates of the orbital farm, it's called Iona, and several ports the pirate ship is likely to put in at. I got a lot of background from them too. This isn't something new. They've been pulling scams like this all their lives. Always at small, out of the way, places that won't have heard of them and don't have a fleet to chase them, or links to anywhere that has a fleet. They've ruined the lives of thousands, tens of thousands of people, and they don't care. Not even now, dosed up to please me. None of them showed the slightest remorse."

She stopped, unable to continue; lifted her hands then dropped them back into her lap. Jess sat uncertainly for a moment, then leaned in and hugged her. She hugged him back fiercely for a few moments, then pulled away.

"But no more!" she said, swallowing. "No more! And it's thanks to us. Most of their schemes they kept secret, the drugs they used on us were made on their ship. No one else knows those particular scams. I think we did something good, something truly good, by capturing them. Of course the Empire would have stopped them if we hadn't got in the way, but this is different. I spent hours talking to them. I've got details of all the places they've taken people to, at least all those they could remember, and of many of the places they've visited recently to kidnap people."

"So, what should we do with them?"

"I still say hand them over. They've given me some locations which are large enough to deal with them and where they'll be remembered. We should take them to one."

"And the children? Do we just hand them over too, to be ripped away from their parents or to suffer the same sentence?"

"No. Sorry, I'm so tired. I didn't tell you. Near the end, I asked them how old the children were. Such a simple question. The answer was that they didn't know exactly, they've only had them about three months."

"What?"

"I know. The children aren't theirs. They stole them as part of a raid and decided to keep them. I know where from. We can take them home. I've already taken both children away, they're sleeping in my room now. So I couldn't have slept if I wanted to. Sleeping on the sofa in the same room as that lot didn't appeal to me, strangely enough."

"Here..." Jess stood, gesturing to his bed. "Get some rest. I'll keep an eye on things now."

Sal pulled herself onto his bed, smiling tiredly.

"That sounds good. Oh..." She yawned. "Sorry. Before I fall asleep, Matt woke hours ago. He said he feels well, much better in fact, if a little sore. I brought him up to speed on everything that's happened. He nearly had a fit! The ship must have shot him full of something because he soon calmed down and started falling asleep. He said he wants to speak to you, though, soon as he gets a chance. Says it's important."

"OK. I'll let him rest but as soon as he wakes again I'll speak to him. Sal? Sal...?"

Jess realised she was already asleep. Smiling, he pulled the covers over her and quietly left the room, noticing the door slid open and closed more slowly and quietly than normal. He shivered at the reminder of how closely the ship watched his thoughts.

"Space them! Throw them out the airlock, right now!"

Jess stared at Matt's image on the screen, speechless. The moment Matt woke up he'd contacted Jess. The first words out of his mouth were these demands.

"I mean it kid. They're trouble. More trouble than you or Sal realise. I've heard of gangs like this. Hell, I've seen the chaos and pain they leave behind. We need to space them now. Not the kids, but all the others."

"But... we can't just kill them in cold blood!"

"What do you think they'd have done if they knew about me, eh? You were vital – their link to the ship. Sal is young, worth plenty to them. Me? I'd have been out that airlock before you could blink. These people are evil. Completely, totally evil. As long as they're on this ship they are dangerous. If they find a way around your barrier they'll kill all of us, except you kid. You they might keep alive, but god knows what they'd do to you. Oh, and that girl you were sweet on, they'll probably keep her alive to torture, to make sure you do what they say. The only way to be safe is to get rid of them. Get them off this ship."

"I can't... I need... you can't just ask me to do that. I need to think it through. Talk to Sal about it."

"God!" Matt shouted in frustration. "Do you have any idea what it's like to be laid back here, not able to move, knowing they could get free at any time? That I couldn't do a thing to stand against them? Kid... Jess... you _must_ get them off this ship before they do something we'll all regret."

The ship pulsed warnings into Jess's mind, Matt's heartbeat had risen significantly, as had his blood pressure. He was also breathing hard, putting too much stress on his newly repaired lung. The ship wanted to sedate him, drop him back into a healing sleep. Feeling guilty, Jess agreed.

Within seconds Matt's eyes flickered and closed, his pulse dropped and the ship confirmed that his readings were back in the safe zone. Jess leant back in his chair, considering Matt's words, knowing they were right in some ways. If the prisoners got free then they would wreak havoc on Sal, Matt, Ali and himself. On the other hand, could he really kill them in cold blood? Murder them? Wouldn't that make him as bad as they were?

He linked to the ship, focused in on the prisoners. They were all asleep, curled up together on the floor with blankets and pillows that Sal must have given them. They were near the airlock. If it had to be done, then why not do it now, while they slept? A plan formed in his mind. Open both the inner and outer airlock doors, shape the containment field to protect the rest of the ship but leave the prisoners exposed. They'd be sucked out, dead in moments. Probably before they even realised anything was happening.

It took Jess a moment to realise the airlock doors _had_ opened, almost at the same moment he felt the containment field reshape and the air pressure around the prisoners start to drop sharply.

"No! Stop!" he cried in horror throwing up a new field to hold the air in. "No. I was only... you can't... oh god..."

Luckily he was linked to the ship's mind, making his reactions superhumanly fast. The air pressure had hardly dropped for the prisoners, none had even stirred. Feeling sick at what might have happened he secured the field around the prisoners again, then closed the airlock doors.

Jess pulled back from the ship's mind, knowing that even so he would have to watch his thoughts carefully. At least one question was answered, though. He wouldn't space the prisoners, wouldn't kill them in cold blood. He couldn't.

# Chapter 8

Sitting in the pilot's seat, Jess dwelt on the near death of the prisoners, or near murder as he saw it, for well over an hour. All the time keeping careful control of his thoughts in case something leaked out to the ship. The thought of what had nearly happened chilled him inside.

Finally, he made a decision. Once again he reached out for the ship's mind, but differently than before. Not to control the ship but to communicate with it.

"What _are_ you?" he sent.

The reply was confusing – a mixture of images, thoughts, even a few words. Once he managed to absorb it all he felt he had the essence of the answer, which was simply 'the ship', though the answer was layered with levels of meaning.

"Why do you need me?" Jess sent.

Again the reply was a confusing mix, even worse than before. The structure was similar, though. Eventually Jess thought he understood. The pilot was the core of the ship's mind. Without a pilot the ship's mind was empty. Growing up a prisoner Jess had occasionally seen people that had been lobotomised, shuffling shells missing the spark of intelligence, of consciousness. Reminders that there were worse things even than being a normal prisoner. Without a pilot the ship was lobotomised. It had no purpose, no direction. More than that it wasn't capable of having purpose or direction. The pilot was the spark that brought the rest of the ship's mind to life.

It was more than that, though. Jess struggled to understand but all he could make out was that the ship's mind itself became more with a pilot at the centre.

"But _why_?" he sent. "Why do you need a pilot? Why are you crippled without one?"

This time the reply was stronger and much clearer. An image of the ship blazing with power, and the pilot channelling that power. Judging where it should be used. Acting as the ship's conscience.

Jess pondered the answers then sent another query, this time in images as well as words. The image of thinking about an action but not wanting it to happen. Somehow he felt the ship would understand that better than trying to use words alone.

He was right. Immediately he was swamped with information, though the ship quickly slowed the flow to let him catch up. Some of it was general information on adding restrictions or confirmations to systems. Most felt different, though, less dry than the information he'd had before, though there were several distinct feels to it. The ship sensed his interest and told him the reason. These were protocols that previous captains had put in place. The feel came from each captain's personality.

That fascinated Jess. It was the first mention of any previous captains. Reluctantly he pushed it aside, focusing instead on setting up the restrictions he felt were needed. For the critical systems, including the airlock, life support and weapons, he added the requirement to consciously confirm any action.

Wading through the information he'd been fed Jess found many other useful ideas, though most he decided to return to later. One he would never have thought of was to ensure commands issued while he was asleep were ignored. That suggestion had a wry feeling to it, obviously the result of an interesting experience. Jess implemented that control immediately.

Finally he pulled back from the ship's mind again, feeling both relieved and concerned. Relieved that he now had controls in place to prevent the ship doing anything drastic if he had a stray thought. Concerned as the depth of his and the ship's interdependence hit home once again. The fact it would be monitoring, and potentially reacting to, his dreams hit particularly hard. It felt like having someone continuously peering over his shoulder.

Thinking of Sal sleeping in his room, Ali in Matt's, and the children in Sal's, Jess felt things were getting more than a little crowded, and that was before Matt was well enough to leave the sick bay.

He wasn't happy with the main living area, either. Having the captives in the corner, even safely contained, meant his skin crawled each time he had to pass through.

Reaching out to the ship he sent a query about changing the layout. Forming requests for information was becoming easier, feeling more natural, as was interpreting the information he received. The answer seemed to be that within most areas of the ship the structure could be formed into whatever arrangement he wanted. The main exceptions were the flight deck and the engines. The flight deck could have superficial changes but the main layout needed to stay. The engine room could be changed but the restrictions were great and he didn't fully understand the implications and interactions.

For the rest of the ship light and air would be supplied to every room he created without his needing to specifically plan them in. Water too, where needed.

He dealt with the prisoners first – erecting walls surrounding the shields holding them in. He added a small toilet and sink in a tiny sub-room, and a small slot in the main wall to allow food to be passed in. There were no doors which solved two problems in one go. Firstly, shutting the prisoners off from the main living area. Secondly, greatly increasing security by creating a physical barrier they couldn't pass.

With that problem sorted out he turned to the issue of living space and bedrooms. He expected to have to cut down on the living area to make more rooms but was surprised to see the space he had to work with was much larger than he'd thought it would be. Larger than the size of the ship, he was sure.

He pulsed a query to the ship and received confirmation that the space could be made available, along with a sense of the ship stretching to provide the space. Other suggestions came back with the image... changing the overall size of the ship whilst keeping its general shape, creating additional shield generators and weapon mounts, increasing the number of manoeuvring thrusters to maintain performance, growing the engine room and increasing the number of engines to increase the power available.

He queried the ship to find out how such changes were possible. The answer showed the ship harvesting materials from the destroyed corvette and storing them ready for use. Initially Jess was tempted to perform a major overhaul, but then he considered how the others would feel to find the ship changing itself around them. He settled on adding an additional floor accessed from the living area by a small spiral staircase.

He created four bedrooms, larger than the existing ones, each with a small shower area, toilet and basin. Two rooms on each side of the corridor. He decided Ali's should be next to his, but thinking of her sent his emotions into turmoil. He realised having her so close could be a major temptation, it would be too easy to create a door between their rooms if he wanted. He changed the design to have Matt's room next to his, Sal's opposite and Ali's safely diagonally across the hallway.

In Sal's room he added a cot for the baby and a small bed for the boy, both in a semi-partitioned section. Sal had taken a shine to the children and he was sure she'd want to keep them with her until they could be returned to their family.

He then turned his attention to the ship itself. It would need to grow to allow for the new rooms, but he increased the size a little more to provide some space for future expansion. Then he focused on the shields, weapons and engines. With the ship's help he added enough shield generators to double the level of protection, and ramped up the ship's speed and agility by roughly thirty percent.

He really went to town on the weapons. Some of the existing lasers were bulked up, their power increased and their cycle time between shots reduced while also improving their heat diffusion. The ship provided him with several other weapon patterns. He added a plasma weapon to each side. They were much slower to reach a target than the lasers, but devastating at close range.

Two missile launchers were mounted either side of the ship, between them loaded out with a dozen fast attack missiles and six heavy torpedoes carrying a much larger warhead at the expense of speed and agility.

Ion cannons provided the option of disabling rather than destroying an opponent, something Jess was more than happy to add. He'd fight if he had to, kill if forced to, but he wanted to avoid it where possible. Now the heat of the moment was long past, and the problems with their prisoners resolved, he regretted destroying the corvette even though he knew he'd had no choice. The captain and officers on the ship might have deserved to die for attacking the _Wanderer_ , but what of the others on the ship? In particular he regretted killing the prisoners, slaves like he had been, who were certain to have been on such a large ship.

He confirmed the changes to the ship then sat back and watched through the ship's sensors as they began to unfold. He spent the next hour following the transformation, fascinated by it. The internal changes to the prisoner's area only took a few minutes. The rest of the internal changes, and those to the weaponry, shields and engines, had to wait for the ship to grow. He'd wondered if they would need to drop out of jump space while it happened, but the ship told him no. In fact the changes were easier to make in jump space.

Ali was the first to wake. The _Wanderer_ informed Jess when she tried to exit Sal's room. He quickly approved the request, then headed back to the living area to meet her. The new bedrooms were almost completed and he was looking forward to showing them off.

He entered the lounge as she emerged from the original sleeping area's corridor. The look on her face when she saw him stopped him dead. She looked furious and crossed to where he stood, shaking a finger in his face.

"You don't trust me!" she shouted. "The room was locked. Don't think I didn't notice just because you unlocked it quickly. Do you really still think I might be with _them_?"

She gestured towards the prisoner's area, seeming to notice the changes to the room for the first time. She paused for a moment, then turned to renew her attack, shouting into his face. Jess realised with a start that she had tears in her eyes.

"Really? You still think I might be like them? Do you think that badly of me? Do you have any idea how much that hurts? Do you?"

Her tears were starting to flow now, she brushed them away angrily, staring at Jess from only inches away. Despite her anger she looked beautiful to him. He opened his mouth, tried to answer.

"I'm sorry. It's not that... it's... well, Sal set it in place and she felt it was best for now. I didn't want to argue..."

"Pathetic!" She cut him off. "Not even taking responsibility for your own actions."

She started to turn away.

"But I can't trust _my_ judgement. I can't think clearly when you're near."

The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. Ali turned back, shock on her face. Staring into his eyes. He felt his cheeks burning but couldn't tear his eyes away from hers. After a few seconds she grabbed his head and dragged him down into a passionate kiss. Jess froze for a moment, completely caught off balance, before doing his best to return the kiss. There hadn't been any girls near his age in his cell for several years. He'd never kissed like this before he met Ali. He had very vague memories of kissing her while they were both under the influence of the drugs, but this was completely different. He felt an electric thrill coursing through his body and was acutely aware of Ali's hands in his hair, her body pressed against him. Her scent filled his senses.

He felt so overwhelmed that he reached out for the ship, guiltily, checking if he was being drugged again. The ship's reply was almost instant; no external substances had been detected, however his own body was releasing a cocktail of chemicals all within normal bounds for a heightened state of arousal.

Reassured, he relaxed into the kiss. He felt he was starting to get the hang of it when Ali suddenly pulled back from him, fear in her eyes.

"You didn't... you haven't... have you drugged me? Done what _they_ did to me?"

Jess stood stunned for a moment, then shook his head fiercely.

"No! Never! That's a horrible idea. They did that to me, too. I'd never do it to you!"

Her eyes narrowed. "There's something else. What aren't you telling me?"

"Well... I worried the same thing. I got the ship to check you hadn't drugged me. When you kissed me it felt so wonderful, so overwhelming, I was worried."

She was still so close he didn't even see the slap coming, her hand seemed to materialise against his cheek. She'd put everything into it and his head rang from the blow.

"That's for thinking I would ever do that to you!" she shouted in his face. Then she grabbed his head again and kissed him fiercely, if briefly.

"And _that_ is for telling me how good the kiss felt."

With a mischievous smile she whirled and walked back into the corridor towards Sal's room. Jess was left standing, staring after her. His cheek stinging, lips tingling, pulse pounding and breathing rapid. His mouth hung open and his head whirled. Shaking his head he decided he needed advice. Why had it been fine for her to worry about being drugged, but so wrong for him to do the same? Somehow he couldn't imagine asking Sal about what had just happened, so he decided to see Matt again. The ship indicated Matt was stirring anyway.

Matt scowled as Jess entered. He was propped up by the bed to a half sitting position. Jess's confusion over Ali had completely driven the circumstances of his earlier conversation with Matt from his mind. Now the look on Matt's face made his stomach lurch.

"Come to talk to me again have you?" Matt grumbled. "At least till I say something you don't like. Then you'll shoot me full of sedatives again, I suppose."

"It wasn't like that. You were so worked up the ship thought you were in danger. It said you had to be sedated to avoid doing yourself serious damage. I decided it was right and told it to go ahead. I was really worried about you and I hated doing it. I felt really guilty."

Matt stared at him for a long time, then sighed.

"OK, kid. At least you admitted it. You could have claimed the ship acted on its own, and I can see how it might have been necessary, though I'm still not happy about it. More importantly, my point still stands. We aren't safe while those bastards are still on the ship."

Jess pulsed a command to the ship, causing a screen to appear on the wall showing the captives' new holding area, complete with shields and wall.

"I've taken some steps on that. I created this room around them. They can't get out. There's no door and the slot for food is much too small. Changing the ship's design is something only I can do, or the ship itself when a pilot first starts to bond. There's no way they can get out."

Matt studied the images for a while before turning to Jess.

"OK," he said grudgingly. "It's a lot better than before. I still don't trust them, though, and if there's a way to cause us problems they will." His lips quirked into a smile. "So if something happens to you they'll be stuck in there forever? Better make sure it doesn't. I can't guarantee to remember things like feeding them."

Jess frowned. Something else he hadn't considered. Then he shrugged his shoulders.

"If it happens, it happens. I've got too much to worry about as it is."

"I take it one of those worries is what to do with our prisoners? You realise you effectively have two choices. Let them go or kill them."

Jess opened his mouth to protest but Matt held his hand up and carried on speaking.

"Their crimes are pretty horrific. If you take them anywhere they've operated their scams then they'll be killed. Maybe after going through the courts, more likely spaced out the airlock by a mob, especially anywhere they've taken kids from.

"If we took them somewhere with an Imperial court then they'd be executed, almost certainly without a trial. You saw what the Imperial ships were doing to them before we arrived on the scene. Some places they'd be freed in hours, if not sooner. Pirate bases, independent stations. I'm sure you don't want that. You don't want them out there going back to their old ways, or even teaching others their tricks.

"So that leaves you trying to find a station where their actions mean they'll be locked up, hopefully for the rest of their lives. If you turn them over and they only have to serve a few years then every action they take once they are out is your responsibility. If you turn them over and they unexpectedly get the death penalty then you'll feel guilty because you chose to let them live yet directly led them to their deaths.

"It's a tough universe kid. Dirty. Vicious. What the Empire doesn't screw up directly the rest of us screw up in fear of, or anger at, the Empire. You're going to have to make the decision, and sometime soon. We can't keep them on this ship forever. The quickest, kindest solution may be to just space them. Sedate them first, if you like, so they don't know a thing about it."

Jess turned away, staring at the image of the prisoners on the wall. They still slept. He imagined himself handing them over to be executed, flushing them out of the airlock himself, seeing a mob beating them to death before the authorities could intervene. Far worse though was the thought of them going back to their old ways. Getting free and ripping families apart, selling children into slavery.

With a heavy heart he turned towards the door. As he reached it Matt called out, more softly this time.

"I'm sorry, kid. It's not fair to dump this on your shoulders, but the ship has done just that. You're in charge, you have the power to decide what happens to them. You can come to Sal or I for advice, the girl too most probably, but in the end it's your decision."

The mention of Ali reminded Jess why he had visited. It no longer seemed nearly so important, not after pondering whether or not to kill several people, but he was still completely confused by her behaviour, uncertain whether he couldn't wait to speak with her again or would rather she disappeared for a thousand years.

"Matt... there was something else. Not the ship or the prisoners. Something I wanted to ask you for some advice on. It's about Ali..."

For the first time since the operation Jess saw Matt smile. He felt himself flushing.

"Sal said you'd taken quite a shine to the girl," Matt said.

"She's... well... I think she... that is..."

"Oh, you've got it bad all right," Matt chuckled. Then he turned sober. "You were born a prisoner, weren't you? I can tell. There's something different about most who are. They seem more resigned to their fate. Conditioned to it, I guess. Anyway, did you ever get involved with any girls? Get close to any?"

"No. There weren't any. Not anywhere near my age. Not for the last few years."

"Oh boy. Then you're in for a rough ride, I'd say. Learning everything from scratch. It might be for the best, though. Relationships back in prison were... not twisted but... I don't know... distorted, I guess. People had so little time they grabbed the comfort they could when they could, never knowing if the person would still be in their group the next week, not knowing if they'd even be alive. Relationships were about comfort, physical and emotional. They were about hanging onto someone else, meaning something special to someone else, even if just for a short while. Yet all the time they were tinged with the knowledge it couldn't last, that sometime soon you'd be split apart and never see each other again.

"I'm hardly the best person to advise you. I've been married once, which was a disaster from start to finish, and I've got a trail of broken relationships behind me that you wouldn't believe. I can give you some advice, though. First off, you're both pretty messed up by what happened to you, by being drugged into falling for each other. Both of you are going to be terrified of that happening again, suspicious of any feelings for another person in case it's been forced on you."

"Yeah, we've managed to prove that." Jess told him about his encounter with Ali. The long kiss followed by the slap and then a short kiss. Matt nodded, face mostly serious though with the hint of a smile on his face.

"Right. I'm not surprised. First thing to realise is that you two aren't special here. She seems to have feelings for you, and you clearly have for her, but if either of you were falling for someone else after the experience of being drugged there would be just the same worries. It's natural – it happened once so you expect it to happen again. In some ways it will probably be easier going through it together as you're both worrying about the same thing, both know something of how the other feels.

"Second thing is that she's a girl. No end of books and films will tell you that means she knows all about feelings, about love, and that you as a poor boy will always be confused and off balance. Load of tripe! If there's one thing I've learnt it's that women, and girls too I guess, get just as messed up by those feelings as we do.

"Next thing... don't be someone you're not. Don't try to impress her. Relax and be yourself. If any girl only likes you when you're pretending to be something different then she's not worth your time. You won't listen to that one, I'm sure, but maybe it'll sink in and come back to you one day.

"Lastly... even if things work out between you, it won't last. Probably. Both of you will do and say things that hurt the other, probably things you can't believe you said but you won't back down from. Both of you will take offence at things. You'll argue over stupid stuff and end up breaking up. Don't beat yourself up about it. Relationships are no different to anything else. Learning the skills to make them successful takes time, takes making mistakes. If you're smart, if you learn from them, then one day you'll meet someone and it will work out. I've seen a few that did."

"So we're doomed? Ali and I shouldn't even start anything?"

"Oh, god no! Did I give that impression? Grab it with both hands, kid. Enjoy it, the downs as much as the ups. It could be wonderful for both of you. Just understand that getting it right for the long term in a relationship is bloody hard and normally takes a lot of false starts. Oh... and... you're plugged into the ship, yeah?"

"Yes."

"Does it have any details on contraception? Because I ain't your father and I really could do without giving you that talk."

The ship helpfully pushed some images into Jess's head. Images that made him blush furiously.

"I'll take that as a yes!" laughed Matt. "Seriously, kid, enjoy it. You're only in love for the first time once."

"Love... I didn't say... umm... I like her, but..."

"Trust me, kid. It's love. Don't try to fight the hormones." He gave a huge yawn. "I'm sleepy. You're not dosing me up again are you, kid?"

"No. Not me. Hang on..." Jess checked with the ship. "No, you're just tired. The ship says it will be another day or two before you're able to get up. You're body has taken a real battering."

"All right. And... I don't think I've said it before but... thanks Jess. To you and the ship. For getting me free in the first place and for curing me. I'd have been happy to die free again, but I'm much happier to live free. I owe you."

"You're welcome. And thanks for the advice."

Matt settled back onto the bed which was lowering him to lay flat.

"Any time kid. If you actually took in one word in ten I reckon I did well. Remember... relax and enjoy the ride."

He smiled at Jess then closed his eyes, falling asleep almost immediately. Jess turned and left the room, thinking over the advice from the old man. He returned to the pilot's seat. While he didn't need to be there to control the ship, he still found it comforting. Checking the ship's status he found that the hull had finished its growth and the changes to shields, weapons and engines were well under way.

Then he sat back, thinking through everything Matt had told him about their prisoners and about Ali.

# Chapter 9

Nearly a day had passed. Sal had woken and Jess had shown her the new quarters, which she loved. Ali appeared soon after, almost ignoring Jess. He retreated to the flight deck while Sal gave Ali a tour of the new rooms, then introduced her to Matt. Sal later told Jess that Ali had charmed the old man rotten, which caused Jess a surprising spike of envy.

Some time later they gathered in Matt's recovery room to discuss what to do next. All four agreed they should head for the station the two young children had been kidnapped from, a station known as Glory Falls. The question of what to do with the prisoners was much harder to agree on.

Matt still wanted to space them immediately. He argued that it was cleaner, fairer. They were guilty by their own admission of hundreds upon hundreds of crimes. Waiting only delayed the inevitable.

Sal argued for dropping them off at Glory Falls when they delivered the two children. Matt argued that was no different than spacing them, that they would be killed within hours of arrival. Jess was torn. He couldn't space them. It wasn't in him. He didn't like the idea of delivering them to near certain death either, yet he had no better idea. He certainly didn't want them to ever get free and go back to their old ways.

Jess was back in the pilot's seat, trying to figure out what to do and, if he was honest with himself, avoiding being near Ali. No matter how many times he thought it through he couldn't reach a decision about their prisoners. The only option he couldn't rule out was to put off the decision and keep the prisoners on board, which wasn't a decision at all.

The door opened behind him. Turning, he saw Ali. He stared at her for a moment while a range of emotions ran through him and, he was pretty sure, over his face. He grunted a greeting then turned away from her.

The silence stretched out uncomfortably. Finally she spoke.

"Jess, I... that is... damn, this isn't going to be easy. I need to ask you something you won't like, but please think about the question. Can you do that for me? Please?"

His first reaction was to say no. To push her away. Shutting her out would hurt, but he was starting to feel it might hurt less than the constant flips in her attitude to him. He opened his mouth to speak and found he couldn't. He felt panic in the pit of his stomach at the thought. He couldn't shut her out. Taking a deep breath he turned to her and spoke.

"All right. I'll try. What is it?"

"I just wanted to know... at what point did you decide you were more important than Matt and Sal?"

The question threw him completely, it wasn't at all what he'd expected. He struggled for words.

"What... but... no... I don't. I've never thought that!"

"You do, though," she said softly, staring earnestly into his eyes. "Even if you don't realise it. You've decided you have the final say over the prisoners, that you get to decide what happens to them. That means you think you're more important."

"But... I can't let them be spaced. I couldn't live with myself. I couldn't take the guilt."

"That's the problem! _You_ can't let them. _You_ couldn't live with yourself. _You_ couldn't take the guilt. You. You. You. Always you!"

She stopped herself with a visible effort, took a deep breath and continued in a quieter but still firm voice.

"Things can go one of two ways. You can all discuss things, make decisions together. Include me if you want, but that doesn't matter. Or you continue to make all the decisions which means everyone else is just along for the ride, that they are just passengers, and before long they'll be looking for a way off this ship. I will too."

The last sentence was almost too quiet for him to hear but it hit home the hardest. He hadn't been thinking far ahead but he realised he didn't want Ali to leave. For that matter the thought of Matt or Sal leaving was terrifying too. He thought about what Ali had said, how he'd been acting, and realised she could be right.

"I think... I think you're right," he managed to say past the lump in his throat. "But I don't know how to tell them, what to say."

He felt tears forming in his eyes and blinked them away angrily. Ali smiled at him and his stomach did a flip.

"It's all right. I'll talk to them." She turned, walked to the door then glanced over her shoulder at him. "Maybe there is hope for you after all."

With that she was gone, leaving Jess once more feeling he was in way out of his depth, playing a game with no idea of the rules.

Twenty minutes later they were all gathered in the medical bay. Matt was still propped up on his bed, though he looked far better to Jess's eyes. The rest sat on stools the ship had provided.

"Before we discuss anything else, there's something important you three need to decide," said Ali. "You need to decide whether you trust me fully and I get a say in the decisions. I can understand you being cautious and if the answer is no that's fine. I'll ask you to drop me off back home, or somewhere I can get home from safely, then I'll be out of your hair. And this needs to be unanimous. If you don't all trust me it's not going to work."

"And if we do?" asked Matt. "You'll stay with us?"

"I don't know, really. I haven't thought that far ahead yet. Maybe."

"Well it's yes from me. You've been straight with us so far and those buggers had you as drugged up as Sal and the kid."

"Thanks. Sal?"

Sal sat for a time in thought, studying Ali. Finally she spoke.

"It's difficult. Matt, Jess and I have a shared background. The horrors of being prisoners, slaves, and of escaping together. You come from such a different life, a different _world_. I find it hard to trust you because I don't really understand you, but that's my problem. My gut feeling is you're on the level even if I don't understand you fully. Yes, I think you should be part of the... well... I guess we're the crew of this ship now. So yes, I think you should be part of the crew."

"Jess? How about you?" asked Ali, turning to face him. "And without asking the ship or using it to scan me so you can tell what I'm thinking!"

It came out jokingly, but with an edge. Jess felt himself flush guiltily as he realised he'd been about to do exactly that, almost subconsciously.

His emotions were in turmoil. He desperately wanted Ali to stay, but at the same time she scared him. There might be no drugs involved, but the effect she had on him was still incredibly powerful, and she seemed in control of the situation all the time. 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 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 and jumped off her stool, then turned bright pink as the others laughed at her reaction. She tried to frown but was soon laughing too. Jess could 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. "Sorry Matt, I can't do that. It's just too cold blooded for me."

Jess shook his head. "No."

Ali sat for a moment, her 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 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, then 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 until 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 10

Jess watched in fascination 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 which quickly turned into excitement, followed by disappointment when she had to tell them only 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 which were too slow to catch the kidnappers and had none of the scanners needed to track a ship through jump. There was no way to follow.

Sal managed to get assurances the prisoners would be given a fair trial, though she was warned the evidence was overwhelming and only one outcome was likely. She 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 its 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, though 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, especially as he'd had to remove the wall between the prisoners and the rest of the living area to allow Sal and Ali to use the airlock.

Now he reshaped the holding cell to lead to the airlock. Sal told the prisoners to enter, which they did 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 as 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 and we've brought the kidnappers 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 just 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."

"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 sofa. 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. He shoved it onto a screen so 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.

"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. I am truly sorry for what we must do, but we have no choice. Thanks to you 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 when 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're 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 from you, we just need to 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 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 attacking 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 boiled 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, and turned towards the sound 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! 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 when it came time to give up their control they'd find another reason to stay. 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. "I think we are going to have to do as they ask other than that. 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 we head back here. At that point we've got the power. They have two hostages, we have over a hundred, plus the firepower to badly damage their station. They'll have to give us Sal and Ali, we drop their people off, 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. Not 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, but 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 didn'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 he spoke to Sal and Ali. They couldn't let any sign of weakness be seen.

Watching Sal and Ali on the screen, seeing them listen as Matt laid out the plan but not being able to talk to them, Jess realised how much he'd come to care for both of them, to love both of them. Sal as a friend and Ali... well, definitely as a friend but also as something more. He wanted to protect both of them, but he wanted to wrap his arms around Ali 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 ship's unique jump abilities they waited until they'd reached the normal clear distance then made the jump for Stone Snake mining complex.

# Chapter 11

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 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? What if 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 having Matt able to fly the _Wanderer_ was for the best.

"OK. I can get the ship to format some basic controls so you can manoeuvre, dock if needed. Weapons and combat will take a lot longer to learn and we'd need to be in real space for that time."

"That's fine, kid. Can we get started now? I've been sitting around doing nothing for far too long."

"Sure. Let's get up to the flight deck."

Matt quickly learnt the controls. He said they weren't that different from other ships he'd flown. For Jess the lessons took his mind off Sal and Ali, and off the reception they were likely to get at Stone Snake. Before long he was back to worrying, though, trying to find any flaws in Matt's plan or any areas they could improve. He didn't find any and that just worried him more, made him certain he was missing something obvious.

Jess was a solid knot of tension as they neared Stone Snake. Matt had decided they should drop into normal space a long way out, to let them study the station. Despite Matt's assurances that they could pull this off Jess wasn't sure they would.

"I'm so glad you're with me," he told his friend. "I couldn't do this without you. I couldn't have come up with this plan. Thanks."

Matt patted Jess's shoulder.

"You're welcome, kid. You're young, still quite naïve. Nothing wrong with that, especially growing up a slave. There's lots of people out there who would take advantage of you, run rings around you. I aim to make sure that doesn't happen, not to mention getting Sal and Ali back as soon as possible.

"We've got a few minutes till real space, then things are going to get intense pretty damn quickly. I'm going to grab a drink now. You should too. What do you want?"

"Just a juice, please."

"Sure. Back in a minute."

Matt returned just in time for the return to real space, handed Jess's drink over and settled into his seat. As Matt had predicted, the mining complex was huge with a number of bulk freighters docked and many smaller ships and shuttles on the move in the area.

"Damn. Sometimes I hate being right. Right kid, better drink that quickly. Things are going to get real busy for us."

Putting action to his words Matt downed his own drink in one. Jess followed suit. Suddenly the cabin started to spin around him and the floor felt like it was dropping away.

"Matt, I really don't feel..." he started to say. Then everything went black.

# Chapter 12

Jess groaned and struggled to open his eyes, blinking against the light. The first thing he managed to see was Matt's face peering down at him. Not the most pleasant of sights, but one that was incredibly welcome.

"What... what happened?" he managed to croak out.

"You're OK? I was getting worried about you there for a moment. Take it easy."

Jess struggled into a sitting position with Matt's help, then just stared at his surroundings. They were in some form of cell, his life as a prisoner meant he had no doubt about that. The room was about three metres by two with a hard bed that he lay on, a toilet that was little more than a hole in the floor and nothing else. The floor was stone as were the ceiling and the walls. A solid metal door was set into one wall with no window or bars. Two small gaps in the ceiling supplied stale air.

"What happened?" he asked again. "How did we get caught?"

"We didn't. You did. By me."

Matt looked sheepish as he spoke. Jess just stared at him in disbelief. After a pause the old man spoke again.

"You're too trusting, kid. Much too trusting, and much too naïve. Someone was going to get the ship from you, or get you and so the ship under their control, and it was probably going to happen pretty soon. Just look at what happened to Sal and Ali. So if someone was going to get control of the ship I decided it should be us."

"Us? What us?"

"I know Stone Snake well. I operated from here for years before I was captured and turned into a slave. I know the people here. They're the closest thing to a family I've got. The place is more than a mining complex, much more. It's a base for an organisation that gets involved in some less than legal actions."

"What? Piracy? Slave trading?"

"Yes, and more. I told you before kid, this is a tough universe. The Empire makes sure of that. The rest of us make do as best we can. You and the ship are too good an opportunity to miss. If it makes you feel better, at least this way the Empire will never get control of the ship."

"Nor will you. Do you realise what this means? Sal and Ali are going to be killed, and it will be your fault!"

"No they won't. They're safe. About the only chance of them being killed was if you'd started shooting up the station and hit the section they were in. Threatening to kill one of only two hostages is useless, a sign of amateurs. If they were serious the threat would have been to hurt them, maybe cut bits off. Something that put pressure on you without wasting a hostage."

"What? But you said they were in danger, that we had to come here and... oh!"

"Exactly. I needed you to come here. You were kind enough to teach me the basic controls on the _Wanderer_ , so once we dropped into normal space I gave you a drugged drink. I wasn't sure if the food unit would make it without warning you, but it did.

"As soon as you were knocked out I contacted the station, explained about the ship and flew her in. For some reason the ship wouldn't cycle the airlock with anyone else in it so I had to drag you out myself. No fun with the way I'm still feeling, I can tell you. Once outside the others took you and brought you down to this cell, which I should tell you is fully shielded. Your link to the ship is cut. We don't want it powering up weapons or anything else unfriendly like that."

Panicked, Jess reached out for the ship. He found nothing. That hit him harder than he could have guessed. He'd become so used to the ship being a mere thought away, enhancing and extending his abilities, that the absence was a huge shock. He reacted angrily.

"So you've got a useless ship that no one but you can get into and out of, and you can only handle basic flying. Well done you. Ali and Sal are safe and I don't care what you do to me."

Matt smiled, shaking his head.

"Afraid not. Ali and Sal are safe for now, but not for long. We know they're your weak spot, we know that we need them, so a freighter launched for Glory Falls a little while ago packed with the prisoners from that place. It was accompanied by a number of fighters and larger combat ships. The good people of Glory Falls are going to get a chance to get their friends and families back. All they have to do is turn Sal and Ali over to my friends.

"To make sure they comply their people will be loaded into containers and shoved out in a variety of directions. Far too many for Glory Falls' small fleet of ships to recover in the time available because the containers will have limited oxygen, very limited, and because any ship attempting to reach them will be blown out of existence by the fighters.

"So, soon after arriving, one of our ships will pick up Sal and Ali, then they will all return here. As for the people in the containers... well, they'll be left as an example of what happens when people try to threaten us. Who knows, the station may be able to rescue one or two groups, if they're lucky."

Jess stared at Matt as if he was a stranger. How could he discuss the deaths of so many people, including children, so calmly?

"So is this what you always planned?" Jess asked. "Right from the start?"

"No. You saved me from captivity. I owe you for that. Then you saved my life by removing the cancer. I owe you for that too. Unfortunately I can't repay you. Funny, lots of people seem to be saying that to you today.

"You brought this on yourself, you know. First off you picked up the kidnappers and nearly let them take over the ship. That gave me a worry I can tell you. Two of them knew me and would have told you the sort of company I used to keep. Spacing them from the airlock would have made the problem go away, but you were too soft.

"Then at Glory Falls you let Ali and Sal fall into the hands of the governor, let them be captured so they could be used against you. I could see you were never going to retain control of the ship. Someone was going to take it from you, and soon. The moment Stone Snake was mentioned I knew what I had to do. You might not appreciate it, kid, but I'm looking out for you. Your life won't be so bad. They need you to pilot the ship. As long as you cooperate Ali and Sal will live safe lives too."

"And if I don't?"

"You don't want to go that way. Trust me. First off it'll be broken bones. Fingers, toes, arms, legs. Then burns and other torture. Then, if necessary, cutting bits off. Ears. Toes and fingers again. Then they'll get inventive. None of this for you, of course, they need you whole. This will all be done to the girls."

Jess slumped down, head in hands, wishing this was a bad dream and he could wake up.

"You've got a lot to think about," Matt said, standing. "I'll leave you to it for a while."

He walked to the door and banged on it. It opened to reveal a short corridor and another door. Jess sat slumped in silence long after the door to his cell hid all sight of Matt from his eyes.

Jess had no idea how long he'd been sitting when the tickling in his head started. Time had little meaning in the silent cell. No one had come to see him, no noises reached him. He'd given up trying to reach the ship.

It started as a slight tickle, one in the centre of his mind. It quickly progressed to an annoying itch and then very briefly he felt like something had stabbed into his brain. The pain went as fast as it arrived, leaving in its place something that he couldn't believe. Once again his mind was linked to the _Wanderer_!

He received an image of his being closed off, shielded away, somewhere unknown. In the image both the ship and he were trying to communicate. All efforts were blocked by the shielded barrier. Then something changed about him, a change to the implants, he realised. The image seemed to shift in a new direction and while the barrier remained strongly in place it now had a limited height. The signals between the ship and Jess simply passed over the barrier. Additional information with the image told Jess that in reality the communication was via a series of higher dimensions. There was more but he was unable to grasp it. What mattered, though, was that he and the ship were now in contact again. He no longer had to sit helplessly waiting for someone to decide his fate, to decide the fates of Ali and Sal. He smiled for the first time since waking in the cell.

Contacting the ship was one thing, getting out a different thing altogether. The ship was able to pinpoint his location by their connection and fed a map into his mind. He was deep in the station, near the centre. Even if he could escape the cell he would have to find his way through miles of corridors to reach the ship, or any point where it could reach him. The ship suggested that if could get near the outside of the station then precision weaponry could sever that section, leaving it floating free for the ship to grab. He had no illusions he'd make it anywhere near that far. Even getting out of the cell seemed impossible.

Blowing sections of the station up to demand his release was a non-starter. The moment it started to happen they'd be likely to drug him again. Even without that, the _Wanderer_ could only do limited damage to the station – definitely not enough to intimidate a ruthless bunch of pirates who were holed up safely inside.

How else could he get free? He couldn't think of any way and his initial joy at feeling the ship's presence in his mind faded into despair. He considered sending the ship away, maybe even killing himself, to prevent the pirates gaining control of the _Wandereer_. The thought of Ali and Sal stopped him. The pirates were unlikely to free the girls if he did deny them the ship, and even if Jess was dead they might torture or kill them. He remembered Matt's casual mention of leaving the prisoners from Glory Falls to die in the containers, as an example to the station.

A thought pushed itself into his mind from the ship. This felt different than normal. Tentative. He sensed the ship was uncertain. As he absorbed the idea he could see why. In essence it was simple, whilst also being astoundingly audacious and quite probably suicidal.

The ship had huge control over its entry into and transition through jump space. Over a short distance it could thread the eye of a needle. It was certain it could pass through the section of jump space that correlated with Jess's location.

On its own that wasn't particularly useful. Any attempt to emerge in the same location as another physical object would be strongly resisted by the jump engines – both due to programmed restrictions and because the matter in the real universe would act as a physical barrier. It was possible to override the controls and overwhelm the barrier but then the moment the ship made it into real space a devastating explosion would ensue as particles tried to occupy the same space and annihilated each other.

The ship's plan was very different and, in its own estimation, far from certain to work. The recent changes to the systems in Jess's head did more than just allow him and the ship to communicate. They also offered the chance to fling Jess into jump space – acting as a miniature jump drive. But jump space was no more hospitable to an unprotected human than the vacuum of real space, if anything it was even less so. Jess's jump would have to be timed precisely to match the moment the ship passed by, an exceptionally tricky manoeuvre due to the speed the ship would be moving at. There would be a window of a few milliseconds at most. The final problem would be trying to jump to occupy the same space as an object already in jump space. Once again the attempt to make two objects occupy the same space created a barrier that would need to be crossed. The ship thought it could ensure both its and Jess's jump fields were in phase which should remove that barrier. If not, he'd be blocked for the milliseconds while the ship passed then dumped into jump space with no protection.

When asked for the chances of success the ship warned there were many variables which could greatly change the results but it estimated the overall chance of success at around twenty percent, one chance in five. Most of the risk revolved around getting the timing right, matching the phases correctly and the chances of Jess's body being able to withstand the jump. It was almost certain his implants could throw him into jump space, meaning that almost every possible failure led to his death.

Jess decided to go for it. It was the only chance he had of taking back control of rescuing Ali and Sal. He told the ship to start. He immediately felt a tingling as arcs of green energy started to writhe over his body. A countdown from the ship appeared in his mind, starting from twenty seconds. The ship suggested curling up on the floor, so he did.

Heart hammering and breathing in short gasps he watched the countdown drop. With three seconds to go his body was covered in a web of green energy which stung him all over. Time seemed to slow down for him. The two second mark seemed to take an age to reach, the one second even longer. Then the cell around him started to waver and twist, pulsing faster and faster until suddenly... darkness. Excruciating cold, complete blackness and a feeling of utter nothingness around him. He could feel the air in his lungs being dragged out by the emptiness.

Realising the attempt had failed he started to panic, but the cold and the nothingness sapped his energy quickly and he almost welcomed death as it overtook him. At least it wasn't as painful as he'd feared.

The next moment something crashed into him. Light, sound, pressure all returned in a blinding flash, along with intense acceleration. After a few moments the acceleration eased off and he became aware of his surroundings. He was in the living area of the _Wanderer_ , suspended in mid air by a force field.

From the ship he gained the image of the ship grabbing him and using the force field to cushion his body against the immense acceleration needed to bring him up to the ship's speed. He also learnt that he had spent only three milliseconds in jump space before being grabbed by the ship. Enough time to do some nasty exterior damage but generally he was in good health. The ship lowered him to the floor and secured him in place, medical devices already deploying to heal his skin, ensure his lungs were undamaged, and review his internal health.

He closed his eyes and linked with the ship fully, losing all sense of his own body and replacing it with the ship. He could swear there was a slight hint of smugness to the ship's thoughts at what it had achieved. He decided the ship deserved to feel that way. Now he was fully linked in he could appreciate just how difficult a trick it had pulled off. Having tried the experiment the ship now rated the chances of success at around eight percent, much lower than before. It certainly wasn't anything Jess wanted to try again in the future.

He felt great, though. He was back in the _Wanderer_. He had power again. He could chase after the pirate fleet, overhaul it and somehow rescue Sal and Ali. To do that the ship was going to need a lot of resources, and in the process of getting them Jess intended to start extracting his revenge. He pulled the ship round in a sharp turn, heading back towards the Stone Snake mining complex.

# Chapter 13

Jess had the _Wanderer_ drop back into real space almost on top of the mining complex. He had no doubt Matt had already told his collaborators about the ship's amazing abilities so there was no need to hide them. He blasted a message at the station across all frequencies.

"Matt – I'm going to stop your fleet and rescue Sal and Ali. Then I'm going to come back here and finish the job I'm starting now. I'm going to rip this place apart around your ears. And you know I'll do it. There's no one here to tell me not to any more. He betrayed me and left. Now it's payback time."

Jess had the start of a plan forming in his mind. One thing was clear, the ship would need more resources, a lot more resources, for what he had in mind. The mining complex was the perfect place to get them. The ship had already identified numerous storage bays and unmanned freight shuttles containing materials it could use. He needed to be quick, both to avoid a response from the station and to allow him to catch the pirate fleet before they spent too long at Glory Falls. A thorough plundering of resources was out, he needed to hit many sources and grab what he could on the way through. A course of action that would lead to far more damage to the mining station's operations. That thought put a large smile on his face.

The first target was a chain of twenty bulk shuttles, all loaded down with metal ores. Exceptionally slow and heavy, they were sitting ducks as the _Wanderer_ swooped in. The ship's lasers quickly shredded the shuttles' minimal shields, shields designed to protect against impacts from stray rocks rather than high yield weaponry. Once the shields were down he vaporised each shuttle using the plasma cannons. Finally the _Wanderer_ swooped through the glowing debris cloud slowly expanding from each shuttle, using force fields to channel and recover as many of the materials as possible.

Next he needed to increase the amounts of rare metals available to the ship. Far more expensive than the ores the shuttles were carrying, the rare metals were held in a section of the mining complex guarded by heavy weaponry. A shield arced high above the storage bays. Massive tower-like laser and plasma weapons studded the surface just outside the shield. Anything approaching would be shredded by the hail of destruction. Even the _Wanderer_ couldn't hold off that level of firepower for more than a few seconds.

It didn't have to. The defences were designed for normal ships, those that had to drop into real space far away from something as massive as the mining complex. Ships that had to run the gauntlet of the tremendous volley of energy to get near the storage bays, not to mention bringing down the powerful shield.

The _Wanderer_ was no normal ship. Jess had it drop into jump space on a path that let it drop out above the storage bays but within the shield. Suddenly the complex had to face a ship that had not only avoided its defences but was now protected from them by the station's own shield.

Jess immediately set to work on the storage bays. With no individual shields to deal with he moved straight to vaporising them with the plasma cannons. To an observer Jess would seem to be targeting bays at random, sometimes taking out every one in an area, other times leaving individual bays or groups of bays. It was far from random. The _Wanderer_ was scanning every bay for life signs and Jess was avoiding all those flagged. It was more than likely that many of those in the bays were prisoners, slaves. While Jess's anger at the pirates meant he would happily kill them and any of their pilots he had no intention of taking any poor slaves with them.

Only a small proportion of the bays held life and there were far more valid targets than he could possibly use. After half a minute the ship had all the resources it needed. The force field remained up, shielding the _Wanderer_ from any retaliation. Jess continued the destruction, now using the lasers to target bays at longer distance while still using the plasma cannons on those nearby.

Nearly a minute after the _Wanderer_ had appeared within the shield it was finally dropped. Weapon towers immediately opened fire but they found only empty space – except one that vaporised a significant section of the station itself. Mind accelerated by his connection to the ship, Jess had triggered a jump within milliseconds of the shield dropping. He left a huge swathe of destruction in his wake. At least sixty percent of the bays were destroyed or badly damaged. A huge fortune in materials was gone. Still secured to the floor of the living area, Jess grinned fiercely as he directed the ship towards Glory Falls and started transforming it using the newly gathered materials.

The first part of his plan involved catching the pirate fleet while it was still en-route to Glory Falls. The _Wanderer_ had been analysing space surrounding the mining complex, even while out of touch with Jess, and had detected twenty ships in the pirate fleet. He wanted to remove some of the escort ships while they were still in jump space, while the other ships would be unable to communicate or detect them. Even for a ship as powerful as the _Wanderer_ taking on twenty combat ships would be tricky, especially if he needed to try to protect and then rescue the prisoners in the containers.

Matt had told Jess that all ships moved through jump space at a fixed rate. Thinking about the _Wanderer_ 's unique ability to change course in jump space, Jess had wondered if it could use the same techniques to travel faster. The ship had confirmed that while difficult it was possible, so the first set of changes to the _Wanderer_ boosted its jump engines. Once completed, Jess could sense them clawing at the fabric of jump space to drag the ship forwards faster. The jump engine capacity had been more than doubled but it would only reduce the travel time by around eight hours. Any further increases in engine power would provide smaller and smaller gains. The pirate ships had a head start of just over seven hours, meaning Jess would have only an hour to deal with them before they reached Glory Falls. He hoped it would be enough.

The next stage involved further changes to the ship's defences and weapons, and corresponding increases in the hull size to mount them, the thrusters to maintain manoeuvrability and the engines to provide sufficient power. Once completed the ship would pack an even more powerful punch.

Then there was nothing left to do but wait. The ship had finished patching up his body. He felt sore and his skin still tingled but he was in good shape overall.

Once again, with things weighing on his mind he ended up sitting in the pilot's chair. He sat and stewed over Matt's betrayal, thinking back to try to spot any indication of Matt's intentions. There was nothing, which made things worse. If he couldn't spot Matt's betrayal coming could he spot the signs in anyone else? Would he rescue Ali and Sal just for one or both of them to betray him?

Then the thought of his two captive friends had him worrying for them, for their safety in the battle to come. Worrying whether he could save all the prisoners in the containers, whether if some perished the people of Glory Falls would hold him responsible, whether they'd agree to free Sal and Ali if that happened.

After two hours of seemingly endless worrying, the ship started to nudge Jess with warnings about his health. He was badly in need of food and sleep and his body needed a chance to recover from its ordeal. Mechanically he made his way back to the food machine, accepting a large bowl of soup that was delivered without his asking. Once he started to eat he realised how hungry he actually was and ended up wolfing the soup down, then following it up with a large chunk of cake. Whilst eating, it occurred to him that the one entity he did trust completely was the ship. He'd accepted its food without question. Accepted its suggestions. Even let it throw him into jump space with nothing to protect him. Through his link he felt he knew it well enough to be completely confident in trusting it. He might not always understand it, but he had no doubt that his safety was its first concern.

Once again the ship warned that he needed sleep but he felt far too keyed up, had far too many worries in his head. There was no way he'd get to sleep. The ship offered an option. It could use his implants to send him to sleep, letting him get a good long rest and waking him if anything happened or once they neared the fleet they were chasing. Jess knew he needed to be fresh and awake when the confrontation came. He curled up on a sofa under a blanket and told the ship to go ahead. A comfortable, warm feeling washed through him, nothing like when Matt had drugged him. He felt himself slowly slipping towards sleep but knew that he could interrupt the process at any time. That knowledge allowed him to relax and let sleep take him.

# Chapter 14

The ship woke Jess as the pirate fleet started to appear on long range scans. He felt far better for his sleep. He was calmer and able to view the situation with a clearer head, and he soon realised his plan wasn't going to work. If he took out most or all of the combat escorts then the freighter would be unlikely to still launch the containers holding the prisoners when it arrived and they didn't. If it didn't turn tail and head back to the mining complex it would still be a tough nut to crack. Jess doubted it would be possible to intimidate those on board, and destroying it would kill the prisoners he wanted to rescue. He needed a different plan.

The _Wanderer_ 's speed meant it could pass by the fleet and reach Glory Falls a little over ten minutes before the fleet did. As a new plan formed he threw a new set of instructions to the ship to change its configuration. First he changed the shiny silver hull to matt black. Next he added baffles to help hide its heat signature and large heat storage systems so the ship could run completely cold for a time. Then he set to work reviewing the ship's records of Glory Falls, identifying the best position for the _Wanderer_ in his new plan. It wasn't perfect, but it might just work.

The _Wanderer_ eased into real space a few minutes out from Glory Falls. Jess had chosen the area for its proximity to the station and the fact it was covered by patchy scanning at best. The ship made barely a ripple in the surface of real space as it appeared and it was running fully dark. No sensors that could detect the jump space distortion were aimed so close to the station. Why would they be? No ship could possibly emerge that close.

No heat or light escaped the _Wanderer_ 's hull. The heat storage systems would let it run cold for around thirty minutes, as long as the ship stayed mostly dormant. Any significant manoeuvring would soon generate more heat than could be stored, probably within a couple of minutes. That was fine by Jess. He didn't intend to go anywhere just yet.

Watching the station go about its normal business while the pirate fleet bore down on them seemed strange to Jess, but of course the station had no idea of the threat that was about to materialise. He fought down the temptation to warn them; it would change nothing other than risking his attempts to free Sal and Ali.

When the fleet dropped out of jump space it exactly matched the formation it had jumped in. The freighter supported by fourteen fighters and five much larger combat craft. The _Wanderer_ estimated that the five were roughly comparable with an Imperial corvette, though the weapons systems registered as being more powerful.

The freighter blasted out its demands almost the moment it reached real space. Within a few minutes the containers loaded with prisoners had been launched – thirty of them, all on different paths. The countdown had started. Despite the gravity of the situation excitement flooded Jess's veins. He smiled fiercely as the pieces moved into position. So far, so good.

The response from the station was quick to follow. The governor appeared, looking pale, pleading for their people to be recovered quickly and assuring that their two prisoners would be put on a shuttle as soon as possible. She estimated it would take five minutes which worried Jess. He really needed it to be longer for his plan to work fully. There was nothing he could do, though, except wait. Wait and watch the containers with limited air and warmth spreading out from the freighter.

He quickly shut off the video feeds from inside the containers. The images of terrified prisoners sitting huddled together in the dim light was too distracting, especially from the containers containing young children. They brought back too many painful memories, too, memories of the many times he too had been huddled into a ship or container with no idea where he was going, or whether he'd survive.

He studied the displays tensely for any hint of movement from the pirate fleet, any hint that they would follow some of the containers. There were none. Jess had to admit that so far Matt had called it correctly, much as he hated to do so. The station appeared to be caving in to the pirate demands and the lack of movement suggested the pirates would renege on their side of the deal, simply leaving the prisoners to die once they had Sal and Ali.

Jess's driving aim was to rescue his friends. Once they were safe, if he could manage that, then he would try to help the prisoners in the containers, but he knew there was a good chance most of those prisoners would be dead within the next half hour. Hardening his heart, he studied the station displays, waiting for the right moment to start the rescue.

As the minutes passed Jess found himself becoming more and more tense. Stomach knotted, wishing for something to happen at the same time as hoping desperately that more time would tick away. Sensing his state the ship offered several options that should reduce his tension without affecting his edge. Gratefully he chose one and felt his body relax immediately. It didn't even occur to him how happily he'd accepted the ship's interference in his mind and body. He was too focused on the coming fight.

The promised five minutes came and went without a shuttle leaving the station. Almost immediately the governor sent out another message, apologising for the delay and insisting it wouldn't take much longer. Just a minute or two, she said. Jess let out a sigh of relief. A delay of between three and five minutes would be ideal for his plan. Any longer and there was the risk of the station realising some containers would be difficult or impossible for the fleet to recover and refusing to release Sal and Ali.

It turned out to be another two minutes and nine seconds. Not ideal, but much better than he'd feared. Now timing became critical. He watched the shuttle swing away from the station and begin its journey towards the waiting freighter. He couldn't risk scanning it but the shuttle was small and could probably carry no more than ten or twelve people. So Sal, Ali and between one and ten others.

He would deal with that when he had to, but his instincts told him there would be just a pilot. Anyone on the shuttle risked becoming a new hostage or being enslaved. The pilot would probably be someone with lots of family in the containers, and most likely someone who was quite old.

When the shuttle had been travelling for ninety seconds Jess fired the _Wanderer_ back to life. Engines ramped up to full power, weapons and shields too. Energy was once again dumped out into space. Within seconds the _Wanderer_ was streaking towards the shuttle. Jess triggered the weapons.

Lasers lashed out, collapsing the shuttle's shields but aimed precisely so they then passed within inches of the hull and caused no damage. Ion cannons targeted the shuttle as a whole, knocking its systems off line. Lasers then flicked out precisely to carve up the engines. Within seconds the shuttle was dead, drifting on its last course.

Jess flew the _Wanderer_ close in to the shuttle, then caused it to reach out with powerful fields whilst braking hard at the same time. As the ship reached the shuttle the closing speed was greatly reduced. The ship's fields grabbed the shuttle and dragged it in to nestle securely against the hull, safely within the ship's shields. Anyone within the shuttle would have been shaken up badly, but Jess hoped they'd have nothing worse than a few bruises. He couldn't worry about that now. It was time for the trickiest part of his plan.

Jess forced the ship into jump space, a rougher than normal transition because of the shuttle's bulk sticking out from the _Wanderer_ 's usual clean lines. Almost immediately he dropped back into real space, right in the middle of the pirate fleet, a fleet which was only just responding to the _Wanderer_ 's sudden appearance and capture of the shuttle.

Jess expected the fleet to go after the containers, to destroy them, in retaliation for the loss of their prize. Both the message transmitted to the station and Matt's words made it clear that was the price of any resistance. Now he had to stop them.

The fighters were his first target. Fast and agile, he had to take them down before they scattered too widely. His first pass took him tearing through them, weapons firing in all directions. He managed to collapse the shields of three and disable them with the Ion Cannons. Two more were ripped apart by laser fire. The plasma cannons badly damaged one more but several others evaded the slow moving plasma bolts. Jess launched six of the agile fast attack missiles. All six found their targets, having been launched at near point blank range. Four tore the targeted ships apart, the other two inflicted significant damage, leaving the struck fighters reeling and struggling to regain control.

In a single pass he'd disabled three fighters, destroyed six and badly damaged another three. That left two fully operational fighters and the five corvette grade ships to deal with. The two fighters were already streaking away in opposite directions to each other, and the corvettes were moving too. Two were closing on the freighter to defend it, while the other three turned towards the _Wanderer_. The two active fighters would be able to start destroying containers within a minute or so. On their current course the three corvettes would be able to do the same within a couple of minutes, their longer ranged weaponry making up for their relative lack of speed.

Jess pulled the _Wanderer_ around in a tight circle and blasted towards the three corvettes, jerking the ship through evasive manoeuvres as he closed. The sheer mass of firepower from the three ships meant the _Wanderer_ took multiple hits. The newly reinforced shields were holding but weakening fast. Hooked into the ship Jess felt as if his skin was being flayed by sand.

In response he was lashing out with every weapon he had. Lasers, ion cannons and plasma cannons all focused on the closest corvette. Despite starting at full power the corvette's forward shields flickered and died as the range shortened. The weaponry Jess could bring to focus was massively more powerful than the last time he'd faced a corvette.

The _Wanderer_ 's shields were close to buckling, too, but Jess persisted. He chose a near collision course with the corvette he'd been pounding. As the separation between the two ships rapidly reduced the corvette started to turn away, but it was much too late. With only a handful of seconds until impact Jess launched two of the heavyweight torpedoes and threw the _Wanderer_ into jump space.

The two torpedoes struck the corvette before it had any chance to launch defences, their explosions ripped the ship apart and triggered far more massive explosions as the engines were destroyed. The detonation was so intense it bled over into jump space. Due to the nature of that medium the _Wanderer_ was already clear of the area before the blast occurred, moving far faster in jump space than in real space, but it was still badly rocked by the blast.

Dropping back in to real space a short distance later, Jess saw that the explosion had crippled one of the other corvettes and shredded the shields on the final ship that had come after him. Once again pulling the _Wanderer_ into a tight turn he lined up on that final ship. The _Wanderer_ 's shields had recovered partly and had to endure far less punishment than before. With more time Jess targeted critical systems, taking out the main thrusters and sensors and leaving the corvette stranded and partly blinded.

Checking the larger picture, he cursed. Both fighters were approaching containers. Neither was significantly closer to the _Wanderer_ than the other, but one fighter would be able to attack four containers in quick succession where the other could only target two. For most people the decision would have been clear – take out the first fighter. Thoughts accelerated massively, Jess was able to analyse the feeds from each of the containers. The four containers held thirty-five people, the other two only held twenty – but nineteen of those were children. There were only two children amongst the thirty-five in the other set of containers.

Hating himself for making such a decision, for not having avoided getting to this situation, Jess threw the _Wanderer_ into jump space, heading for the fighter closing in on the containers full of children. He had the weapons firing even as the ship dropped into real space. The fighter was rocked by the concentrated volley of weaponry, causing its own fire to go wide of a container. Jess didn't give it long enough to correct. Pouring fire into the fighter at point blank range even the plasma cannons struck home. The shields buckled almost immediately then the fighter erupted in an explosion. At point blank range the blast rocked the _Wanderer_ , burning out several already overloaded shield generators.

Not pausing to recover, Jess threw the _Wanderer_ back into jump space and towards the remaining fighter. Too late. The fighter had destroyed two containers already and a third was blown apart even as Jess reached for jump space. In desperation he brought the _Wanderer_ back out between the fighter and the fourth container... just in time to absorb the punishment intended for it. More shields burnt out under the onslaught.

Jess was aware some hull areas were covered by only minimal shielding now. In desperation he lashed out with every weapon he could focus on the fighter and launched the remaining six fast attack missiles. The fighter shuddered under the weapons' assault but its shields held somehow. Return fire scorched a burning line of fire down Jess's leg as it pierced the shields and burned away a patch of hull near the engines. Then the missiles struck the fighter, erasing all evidence of its existence in a massive explosion.

Jess quickly checked the status of the final container. It was undamaged. Six people had survived thanks to Jess, but twenty-nine had died, including the two children.

Heart aching, Jess stretched his awareness out to the rest of the battle zone. The freighter and the two undamaged corvettes had turned and were making a run for it, trying to cover enough distance to jump clear. The three heavily damaged fighters were trying to limp away, as was the heavily damaged corvette which still had propulsion. Three fighters and one corvette remained completely unable to move. The danger to the containers was eliminated.

The danger to those _within_ the containers remained. Already the air would be getting stale and the temperature dropping dangerously low. There was no chance of any ship from the station reaching and recovering more than two or three of the containers in time to save the occupants, even if they launched immediately.

Jess was tired and battered from the battle, but his work wasn't finished yet. He started with the container he'd just saved from destruction. The _Wanderer_ drew close to the container, then used its fields to drag the container into contact with itself. Once it was secure Jess had the ship jump to the next container, secure that and move onto the next.

The containers were small enough that the _Wanderer_ could capture four at a time, even with the shuttle still nestled against its belly. Once he had the first four he jumped the ship, now wallowing badly with the additional mass of four containers and the shuttle, close to the station and released the containers. Then it was on to the next four, then the next, and so on.

With twenty-seven surviving containers Jess needed to make seven runs. Even with the _Wanderer_ 's agility and ability to short cut via jump space it was a race against time. Now the video feeds from the containers were invaluable, allowing him to prioritise those containers with the most people, or with many children to be picked up first, along with those where the occupants were clearly in trouble.

By the time he dropped the third cluster of containers off, the area around the first two groups was busy with tugs and shuttles pulling the containers into cargo bays. From the chatter over the radio he knew that the entire station had mobilised to bring the containers in and treat those inside. So far no messages had been sent to the _Wanderer_ , which Jess was glad about. He still harboured a lot of anger at the people of the station for getting him, Sal and Ali into their current situation.

Once the final three containers were dropped off by the station Jess jumped the _Wanderer_ a good few minutes' flight away from both the station and the remaining pirate ships. The freighter and two corvettes continued their run for freedom. For the moment Jess was content to let them go.

Finally having some time, Jess had the _Wanderer_ extrude an elongated corridor to meet the shuttle's airlock then made his way into the corridor. Heart heavy from what had already happened, and fearing the worst, he patched into the airlock's emergency communication circuit and spoke to those in the shuttle.

"Whoever is in the shuttle," Jess said. His voice sounded tired, drained, even to himself. "I'm sorry for the rough ride and for having to overpower your ship. The battle is over and the pirates have been defeated. The containers have been taken to the station and are being recovered now."

He felt it best not to mention the three destroyed containers or the fact that at least some of those in the final containers he'd rescued might not make it.

"You will see that your airlock leads to a pressurised corridor. Please send out your captives. If you wish to join them then feel free. I will say this though; don't make me come in there to get them. If you do, I won't be held responsible for my actions."

He killed the circuit without waiting for a reply. He didn't want a dialogue, he just wanted this nightmare to be over. Nothing happened for a couple of minutes, then he detected vibrations that suggested the inner airlock door was being opened. Soon after, the outer door opened and he grinned in relief at seeing Ali and Sal standing there, both looking tired and worried but otherwise unhurt. His smile froze as he took in the two men standing behind them, each holding an automatic pistol pointed at one of the captives. Both men were well into their fifties and had a hard look about them. Jess was sure they'd use the guns if provoked. The one standing on the left spoke.

"Right. You've seen our captives. You've seen they are healthy. Now the four of us are going back inside and you're going to let this shuttle go. If what you say is true then once we are safely back on the station you can discuss their release with the governor. Until then any hostile action means we shoot one of them. Nowhere fatal to begin with, but it will still hurt like hell. Don't try anything."

Jess stared, mouth open. The man who'd spoken reached out and triggered the control to close the outer airlock door. As it started to slide shut Jess reached out for the _Wanderer_ , for the familiar acceleration of his thoughts.

Immediately the closing door seemed to slow to a crawl. Jess reached out with the ship's fields, first jamming the door so it couldn't close, then slamming a shield between the two men and Sal and Ali. He stepped forward to pull them both out of the airlock. The man behind Ali fired... then screamed as the gun exploded, taking part of his hand with it. Jess was in no mood for half measures. He'd ensured any weapon fire wouldn't kill the two men but felt they deserved significant pain if they tried anything. The other man dropped his gun as if it had suddenly turned into a scorpion, then tried to aid his colleague.

Jess pulled Sal and Ali from the airlock then allowed it's door to slam shut. Sealing the corridor, he had the _Wanderer_ shove the shuttle away, none too gently, and then let himself return to his normal speed of thought. Almost before he could react Ali had him in a fierce hug, crying against his shoulder. Sal threw her arms around both of them and the three stood hugging, all with tears running down their cheeks. Jess could hardly believe he had the two of them back.

# Chapter 15

Once the initial relief of being back together passed, the three of them headed to the living area. Jess retracted the corridor behind them and left the shuttle where it floated immobilised. The people on the station could rescue the two crew, he had no desire to.

Once they reached the living area the questions started.

"What happened?" asked Sal shakily. "What the hell happened?"

"What do you know so far?" replied Jess.

"We were being held in a cell for days. The conditions weren't bad and they didn't mistreat us, but I hated being confined again. It made me realise how valuable our freedom is. Our guards seemed fairly relaxed. Things were settling into a routine. Then suddenly they appeared outside our cell, shouting at us to stand up. They wrenched the door open and dragged us from the cell at gun point. It was terrifying. They wouldn't tell us what was happening, just kept telling us to shut up and move faster.

"After several minutes passing through the station at a near run we entered a hangar and were taken on board that shuttle. They belted us in then secured us to our seats so we couldn't get free. All of the guards except two left. Those two went into the cockpit.

"The flight was smooth for a couple of minutes, then all hell broke loose. The shuttle was shaken violently then all the systems seemed to die. Even the lights went off for a few seconds. I thought we were going to die. The shuttle was grabbed or shoved by something. The acceleration was crippling for a second or two. After that there was the occasional violent manoeuvre but nothing more.

"Finally the speakers in the ship boomed to life with your voice. We couldn't believe it for a moment. Not until the pilots came back to get us. I could see how worried they were. They freed us, took us up to the airlock. You know the rest. So... what the hell has been going on?"

"I guess I need to start at the beginning. Once you were caught I was pretty angry. Ready to tear the place apart. Matt convinced me not to."

He hoped they hadn't noticed the catch in his voice at Matt's name. He had enough to tell them without going into his friend's treachery.

"You know the governor wanted us to fly to Stone Snake mining complex and free their people from what Matt told you before we left. They said they were going to kill you if we didn't go, so there wasn't any choice."

Ali turned pale at his words. Sal looked angry. Before they could comment he continued.

"So we flew there, but it turned out it's more than a mining complex. It's the main base for a pirate organisation. They found out about the ship's amazing abilities and wanted it for themselves. They decided the way to do that was to get leverage over me, which meant getting you. They sent a fleet here to intimidate the locals and as added pressure they brought all the slaves captured from Glory Falls, loaded them in containers with limited heat and air, then sent them out in different directions. Too many containers and too many directions for the station to rescue them all. And they'd threatened to destroy any ship attempting a rescue anyway. That's why you were dragged out of your cell at such short notice. Not that the pirates actually planned to save the prisoners."

"But what happened to the people in the containers?" asked Ali. "You rescued us. Does that mean all those people died? For us? What happened to the pirates?"

"I did," Jess said flatly. "I destroyed or disabled almost all their ships. The main freighter and two combat ships the size of a corvette are heading out to jump range now. The rest I dealt with, but I wasn't fast enough. They got three of the containers. Killed twenty-nine people. Two of them were just kids.

"That left the other containers. I used the ship to grab them, dragged them close to the station. I did it as fast as I could but I think some of those inside might still have died. They were getting so cold and the air was running out. I messed up. I didn't manage to save them all."

Ali crossed to where he sat and knelt in front of him. She took his face in both hands and forced him to meet her eyes.

"How many containers did you save? How many people did you at least give a chance to, a chance they didn't otherwise have."

"Twenty seven." His voice was still flat. Devoid of emotion. Inside, anger and pain warred with horror and self loathing, yet none of it reached his voice. "Twenty seven containers. There were one hundred thirty-two people to start with. So there were one hundred and three that I got back to the station. I could have saved more, though. I could have saved those twenty-nine. I decided to risk them to save just twenty... but nineteen of those were children. I had to choose. I don't know if I made the right choice."

The churn of emotions inside were finally penetrating the numb layer that surrounded him. His eyes filled with tears that he blinked away angrily – not wanting to seem weak.

Ali shook his head gently, moved her face to within inches of his. Stared into his eyes.

"Jess... what am I going to do with you? You're doing it again, taking all the responsibility. You saved over a hundred people. _You_ saved them. I know you did the best you possibly could. Far more than anyone else could have. You couldn't save everybody. That's tough. That hurts. But that's the way it is sometimes. Now for god's sake let yourself cry!"

At her words the barrier inside Jess was smashed aside. He broke into agonised sobs driven by his feelings over failing to save everyone, the shock of the fight finally sinking in and even guilt over those he'd killed in the battle. Ali wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight and rocking him gently as he cried.

Once he'd cried himself out she pulled back a little, though he was very aware of her having taken his hand. He started to feel awkward about his outburst. Ali seemed to guess what he was thinking.

"If you even think about getting all manly and ashamed over crying you'll be getting another slap round the face! You're human. Despite being wired into this ship you're completely human. There's nothing wrong with crying for those who have died, but you mustn't let it overwhelm you. You must not take all the responsibility."

Jess nodded sheepishly. Sal looked intrigued.

" _Another_ slap round the face? Did I miss something?"

This time it was Ali who looked sheepish. She just shrugged her shoulders. Sal laughed.

"What I want to know is what Matt's been up to," Sal said. "He should have been looking after you, making sure you didn't take on too much. I'll give him a piece of my mind. Where is he?"

Jess's face fell immediately. His stomach dropped too. This was the moment he'd been dreading more than any other. Before he could speak Sal sensed something was wrong.

"What happened?" she demanded. "Is he hurt? Did someone manage to capture him?"

Jess took a deep breath then started to answer.

"No. He's not hurt. Matt... that is... well... Matt is the reason the pirates know about this ship. He betrayed us. When we reached Stone Snake mining complex he drugged me. I woke up in a cell deep in the complex. He already knew the people there. He'd been there many times before. He used to live there, or be based from there, something like that. He told them everything. About the ship. About you two. That's why the pirates came here to get you. They wanted to use you to control me."

Ali sat staring at him with her mouth open. Sal looked as if she was about to be sick.

"Are you sure?" she asked in a whisper.

"Yes. I'm sorry. When I woke in the cell he was there. He told me I was too naïve. That with the kidnappers manipulating me using Ali, and then losing the two of you to Glory Falls, it was only a matter of time till someone controlled me, and so controlled the ship. He said that in that case he wanted his group to be in control. He made threats. He said they'd hurt you both, badly, that if I still didn't cooperate they'd start cutting bits off of you. It was horrible. I couldn't bear the thought of it.

"He told me about the plan to get you back, about the containers with the prisoners taken from Glory Falls. And it was Matt who told me those prisoners would die no matter what, or most of them anyway, that the pirates wouldn't stick to their side of the deal once they had you two. He knew. He knew those people would die, those children would die, and he didn't care. How did I misjudge him so badly?"

"You didn't!" Sal told him firmly. "You didn't. We didn't. We'd only known him a handful of days. We knew he'd had a life before being a slave, but not the details. He wouldn't have told us about that anyway. Whether he planned to betray us from the start or wanted to stay with us, he had to keep that side of his life hidden."

Jess nodded, though he was only partly convinced.

"And I swear," Sal continued. "If I ever get my hands on him I'll make him regret the day he was born."

"Only if you get to him before me," Ali said.

The fierce looks on their faces made Jess glad he wasn't Matt.

"So we know roughly what happened," Sal said. "We can fill each other in on all the details later. The question now is... what do we do?"

"First thing is to deal with the damaged and disabled ships," said Ali. "They'll be working on restoring them to action. If we're still here that means running or fighting. If we're gone then they'll turn on the station."

"I know," Jess said. "That's part of the reason I disabled some of the ships, to try to leave the station something they could use as a defence force, though they'll have to get the pirates out somehow. Now I'm not so sure. After everything they've done, and them trying to shoot you as you left the shuttle I'm tempted to leave them for the pirates."

Ali squeezed his hand, smiled gently at him. "You don't really mean that. You're angry at them, but there are kids on the station. You've already saved some of them once. Could you leave them to the pirates' mercy?"

"I... I... no." He sighed deeply. "No. You're right. I guess we can help persuade the pirates to give up."

"So that's what we'll do about those ships, and I guess we know what to do about the station too. We're going to help them, though I certainly won't be going back on board." She shivered at the thought. "And we shouldn't make it too easy for them. The other big question for the moment is what to do about the freighter and corvettes."

Jess mentally checked their position, then threw the display onto a screen.

"They've nearly reached jump range," he said. "Another fifteen minutes. They need to be further away to jump out than they could jump in to. We could reach them, but the _Wanderer_ took quite a beating. I'm not sure we could defeat them without a couple of hours repairs."

"All right, that's settled then. We can't stop them before they jump and that means we can't attack them till they reach Stone Snake. By the time we arrive they will have passed on their records of the battle. Everyone there will have the info on how this ship fought, and they'll know you rescued most of the prisoners. That means they'll want to come after both us and this station with a large force."

"No. Sorry, I didn't say. We can catch them after they jump. The _Wanderer_ can go faster in jump space than they can. Not massively so, but we can do that trip about eight hours faster than they can. If we leave in the next six or seven hours we can easily catch them."

"That's not possible!" Ali leant forward intently. "My dad was an engineer. He used to talk about this all the time. Every ship moves at the same speed through jump space. He always said if someone found a way to go faster they'd be rich beyond anyone's dreams, or floating out an airlock without a spacesuit more likely, with their idea stolen by a corporation."

"I did it, though. The pirate fleet had a seven hour head start leaving Stone Snake but I got here before them. We already know the _Wanderer_ is pretty unique. That's just one more thing to add to the list."

Ali looked uncomfortable.

"When we get some time we really need to find out more about this ship. I know you're hooked into it, but the things it can do... they just shouldn't be possible."

"So we can catch them," Sal said. "Then what? Can you force them out of jump space? Attack them while still in jump space?"

"Attack them, definitely. I was planning to do that on the way here. Reduce their numbers. But I decided it would scare them off when they arrived. The ship can produce some weapons that will work in jump space."

"Then the question is, what do we do? Damage the ships? Destroy their engines? Maybe leave them stranded in deep space until their supplies run out or they repair the engines and their message still reaches the pirate base. Or do we destroy them? Make it clean?"

No one spoke for a time, each thinking through the options. Finally Jess spoke.

"There's no point in stopping them unless it's for good. We can be gone from here in next to no time so they can't catch us, but they'll know far more about what the _Wanderer_ can do if those ships make it back to their base. I'm still not keen on killing, I hope I never will be, but those are the same people that launched the containers and would've left everyone in them to die. I won't enjoy it, but I can do it."

"I agree," said Sal.

"Yes," added Ali quietly. "So the question is how. Quick or slow."

"For what they did here they deserve slow," said Sal. "But this isn't about what they deserve. I don't care what they've done, I don't want to leave them to a slow, lingering death. If we have to kill them it should be fast. Not for their sakes, for ours. I don't want to take even one step down the road of becoming like them."

"Definitely. It needs to be fast. Jess? What do you think?"

"Well, the decision is already made. I'd be outvoted," Jess said, then grinned as he ducked a half-hearted swat from Ali. "Seriously... I think you're right, but before you spoke I'd have been planning to strand them in deep space with no hope of ever returning. They deserve that, or worse. But you're right. If I think how I'd feel afterwards... I'd be thinking about them every day. Feeling guilty. Feeling angry for feeling guilty. It needs to be done, and it needs to be done quickly and cleanly."

Sal and Ali both smiled in relief.

"That just leaves Matt and the pirate base," said Sal. "You know that even without any details of what happened here they'll know you were involved. They sent out twenty ships and none came back. With that sort of power at stake they'll never stop hunting us. Every station we go to, every planet we visit, we'll have to be constantly watching our backs. Even if we left you, Ali and I would be marked targets for the rest of our lives. Anyone wanting to control you will start with us."

"So what do we do?" asked Jess glumly. "This ship's powerful, but the mining complex is huge. We couldn't possibly destroy it all. Even if we somehow could, plenty of ships would get away."

"We'll have to think of something. Whatever happens, I want a shot at them. A chance to hurt them like they've hurt so many people. Anyway, let's deal with this system first then we can get after those fleeing ships and try to work out a plan."

# Chapter 16

Jess opened a channel to the station, asking to speak to the governor. A few seconds later she appeared, looking tired and nervous. He deliberately set the camera to show all three on board the _Wanderer_.

"Governor," he said curtly, with a nod.

"Captain," she replied. "I have to admit to fearing what you have to say. Once again we find ourselves in your debt. Considering how we treated you last time I wouldn't be surprised if you plan to extract some form of revenge. Though if you don't I'm sure the allies of those ships out there will do so for you."

"I won't say it hasn't crossed my mind. You kidnapped my friends, forced us on a mission that nearly got us killed. Then you were ready to hand my friends over to those bastards. And when I rescued them one of your guards shot at us."

The governor's face grew haunted.

"I know it won't help much but... the guard who shot at you has been relieved of duty. He may be facing charges, and he turned himself in. He didn't know it was you. He thought it was one of the pirate ships that had captured him. Even so, his actions are inexcusable."

Jess stared at her for a few moments, then shrugged.

"It makes no difference. We'd made our decision anyway. Despite your actions there are many innocent children on your station. Quite a few more than there would be, thanks to us. For their sake I'm going to help you again."

The governor's face flickered through surprise and hope before a guarded neutrality locked itself in place. Before she could speak Jess continued.

"Most of the ships out here are disabled or damaged. If you can capture them and repair them then you'll have the makings of a strong defence fleet. I can try to help you take them but our time here is limited, and I need something to offer those on the ships. I need you to guarantee they will receive a fair trial and that even if, or more likely when, they are found guilty execution will not be an option. Either officially or in unexpected accidents."

"I think I can promise that. I'll need to speak to some other people first, though. Can you give me an hour?"

"You've got five minutes. In thirty we leave whether we've helped you or not."

"Five minutes... I can't... that is..." she paused studying Jess. After a moment something she saw changed her mind. "Five minutes. All right. You'll have your answer. What is this going to cost us? What do you want?"

Jess scowled back.

"Want? Nothing. You have nothing we could possibly want, other than to have left us alone in the first place. Call when you've made your decision."

Angrily he killed the connection.

"Well done!" Sal said, hugging him. "Exactly what she deserved. Serves the bitch right."

"Five minutes? Just enough time for a shower and change of clothes. I feel filthy!" said Ali, heading for the ladder to the cabins at a near run.

"Great idea!" Sal followed on her heels.

In moments Jess was sat alone, a slightly bemused smile on his face. He found his thoughts following Ali. Images of her in the shower, water running down her body, flashed through his mind leaving him both exhilarated and terrified.

Suddenly the ship threw an override confirmation at him. It had picked up on his daydreaming. Only the privacy protocol he'd put in place had prevented him getting an immediate view of Ali in the shower. For a moment he considered giving the command, a surge of hormones pushing him towards it. Would it really be so wrong? She'd never know!

Except she would. How could he meet her eyes? For that matter meeting her eyes after his daydream of her in the shower wasn't going to be easy. Dismissing the override he forced his mind onto the message he'd send to the pirate ships not about to jump back home.

Somehow Sal and Ali were done and coming back down the stairs just over four minutes after he'd last spoken to the governor. Ali came down the stairs first and Jess's jaw nearly dislocated. She was wearing a large white towelling robe with her long blond hair still damp. She looked amazing and he couldn't take his eyes off her.

"You must have something I don't dear," said Sal.

Jess felt himself turn bright red and struggled to think of something, anything, to say. He was saved by an incoming call from the station. Tuning the camera to only show himself this time he accepted the call. It was the governor again and she wasted no time.

"Captain. We have discussed your... suggestion... and we accept. Anyone that surrenders will be tried fairly and when, not if, they are found guilty they will not be mistreated. Which is far more than they offered our people.

"However... anyone refusing to surrender, resisting our attempts to board, attacking us or resisting us, will be executed on the spot. And before you say it yes, we will ensure you have a video feed of all boarding actions so you don't have to worry about us deciding that standing still, or still being alive, constitute resistance."

"Thank you. In that case I am happy to offer my assistance for the next twenty-five minutes. I'd suggest you launch your recovery craft now. I'll ensure nothing happens to them."

"Some argued against trusting you." She spoke softly now. "They said sending out our guards and using most of our shuttles gave you the perfect chance for revenge. In one action you could wipe out our ability to defend ourselves at all. Some even thought you'd be being reasonable in doing so.

"I think they are wrong, though. They're making the mistake of judging you by the pirates' standards. And, it shames me to say, by our own standards. This is a tough universe. It makes the people in it tough, when dealing with strangers especially. We owe you so much already and have repaid you with nothing but pain and trouble. So I offer you some advice, small repayment as it is. We are not unusual. Misguided, yes. Wrong, yes. But not unusual. Expect others to act as we have. Not all but many, most even, will do. Despite our worst efforts you've made a difference here. A big difference. I think you'll do the same wherever you end up. Just be careful. Remember what happened here and be suspicious.

"Anyway... the shuttles have launched. We can tackle the fighters easily. The two big ships though... we need the crew off of those. They should have escape pods. We'll pick them up. Anyone left on board we'll kill on sight."

Jess considered for a moment, then glanced at Sal and Ali. Both nodded. He checked the status of the fleeing Freighter and its two heavyweight escorts just in time to see them jump.

"That seems reasonable. I'll send the message now."

Jess cut the call, then quickly sent out the message to the remaining pirate ships. He warned that any attempts to flee or to fire weapons at the approaching shuttles would lead to the offending ship being destroyed.

He received an immediate reply from one of the damaged fighters. Sent out to all ships in the area, it told him to clear off in particularly graphic terms. It also stated that the ship would keep fighting until it was destroyed.

With a thought Jess sent the _Wanderer_ into jump space for the brief moment it took to emerge near the fighter which had replied. Steeling himself, he opened fire with lasers and the plasma cannon. The minimal level of shields they'd managed to get working collapsed instantly and with its damaged thrusters it stood no chance of evading the plasma bolts. One moment there was a fighter, the next an expanding cloud of debris.

"Anyone else want to turn down my offer?" Jess sent to the remaining ships.

Assurances that they'd surrender poured in from most of the remaining fighters. He hadn't expected any response from the three he'd disabled with the ion cannons as most of their systems would be fried, but one had apparently patched something together that let them send out their surrender.

One corvette responded, agreeing to the terms, but the other replied saying they were unable to. It was the corvette that was heavily damaged when its sister ship had blown apart. They claimed their escape pods had been badly damaged, and using them would be near on suicidal.

The governor had received the message too and contacted Jess. She suggested clearing one of the station's larger shuttles of personnel and sending it in on automatic. It was too small to have a jump drive and wouldn't be a threat. Jess passed on the idea to the corvette's crew and they quickly agreed.

The boarding actions met mixed results. The crew from the badly damaged corvette all left on the shuttle, at least those still alive did. The station personnel who boarded said they weren't surprised; the ship was in a terrible state. Luckily several engineers were amongst the party and they managed to bring the engines back under control and into a safe state.

The other corvette's crew were less honest. Most left on the escape pods but a number holed up in the ship with weapons. With no shields remaining Jess was able to scan the ship accurately and warned the station personnel of the waiting ambushes. Seven waited at various defensible locations. Three were killed by precision strikes from the _Wanderer_ 's weapons. The other four had to be beaten the hard way, though with Jess's warning the cost to those from the station was kept down to three injuries – two minor, one major but not life threatening. All four remaining defenders were killed.

Jess couldn't help with the fighters. They were small, with crews of two or three. Two damaged ships surrendered peacefully, while on the other a fierce gunfight broke out. From radio chatter and the video feeds Jess thought two of the station's people were killed and several more wounded before they cleared out all the pirates.

The disabled ship that had restored communications surrendered without a fight, as did one of the others once the demand to surrender had been fed in over the emergency channel. The final disabled ship made no reply of any kind. As the station's personnel boarded cautiously they found out why. The ship's life support had been knocked out. In such a small ship the air hadn't lasted. One of the crew was found with a nearly depleted emergency oxygen cylinder.

The other two crew were dead, not from suffocation but from being shot. A fight had clearly broken out over the oxygen bottle. Jess watched the video feed as the survivor was disarmed, restrained and dragged out of the ship. With a sigh he cut the video feed and sat back. He felt absolutely exhausted. He still had some tasks to take care of, though. He called up the governor again.

"Captain. Once again, thank you. Are you sure there is nothing we can offer to repay you?"

"There is one thing Governor. We need up to date navigation charts. Can you supply them?"

"Yes, of course. It's the least we could do. We'll send over the official charts but I'm afraid they have large gaps. Many areas are designated interdicted. The Empire keeps a tight rein on who has access to data on those areas. Others are blank because the Empire enforces strict limits in places on the routes that can be travelled. The rest of the data isn't complete either, many stations are not sanctioned by the Empire. There are strict rules against including those in the data."

The ship confirmed it had received a data squirt. After confirming it free of any viruses or other toxic payloads, Jess looked at it. As the governor had warned, it had large gaps in it.

"However, you might find this of interest."

The governor was smiling now. Another data squirt came in.

"It's not official, in fact possession of it means life imprisonment, but as I keep saying we owe you. This is the best we've been able to cobble together from a large number of sources. There's still a lot of gaps but it covers many areas the official charts don't. Just don't get caught with it... or if you do don't mention my name."

Jess studied the new charts. As she said it filled in many gaps, as well as adding additional information in other areas. He had no idea how reliable it was but it provided hope, if nothing else.

Acknowledging how useful this would be he found himself smiling back at the governor.

"Thank you," he said. "And goodbye..."

With that he shoved the _Wanderer_ into jump space, setting a course for Stone Snake mining complex. The faraway systems on the new charts beckoned, but first they had several pieces of unfinished business to take care of.

# Chapter 17

Jess sat at the table with the other two, enjoying a spicy chicken dish that Ali had called up from the food machine. Both women were dressed now. Jess couldn't decide if he was disappointed or relieved. The sight of Ali in the robe had led to an avalanche of emotions he had trouble coping with. Uncomfortably aware that he'd been wearing the same clothes for a good two days he'd taken the chance to take a shower and get changed himself.

They discussed their plans while they ate. The ones for dealing with the freighter and corvettes stayed the same. Longer term they wanted to get well away from the area around Stone Snake.

That left the nasty problem of the pirate base. All three wanted to inflict heavy damage but knew it would make the pirates even more determined in their pursuit. Then Jess hit on an idea which allowed them to do serious damage and prevent the pirates coming looking for them. It was a risky plan but all three decided to go with it.

Ali and Sal spent much of the forty hour journey asleep, recovering from their ordeal. They were both up for a few hours in the middle of the journey and cornered Jess in the pilot's chair.

"We need to talk to you," Sal said firmly. "This is important."

Unsettled, Jess just nodded, studying them both for any clue as to what they wanted to talk about.

"You've been caught out twice now by being drugged. It's an easy way to get at you. You have to eat and drink. You need some defences. Can the ship, or that stuff in your head, monitor all food and drink? Check it for drugs or even poisons and deal with them, or at least warn you to stop eating?"

Jess considered for a while, communing with the ship.

"Yes... I think so. It can't recognise every drug, though it will spot a lot, but it can also be set to monitor my body for signs an agent of some form is affecting me."

"Good. You should do it now, then."

"But it's going to be tricky telling it not to scan food you give me. I know I'm safe with you. If I start doubting that I don't think I could keep going. I can't doubt everyone."

Ali leaned forwards. "Jess you _mustn't_ trust us, not over that. Someone could get to us first. Look at when we first met. If someone does get to us you'll be our only hope of being rescued."

"I don't like it. It's still me saying I don't trust you fully. I do trust you. I _have_ to trust you. Please... don't betray me like Matt did. I need you. Both of you."

"Glad to hear it. We aren't going anywhere Jess, but you must protect yourself because that's the only protection we get."

He studied both women. They'd clearly made their minds up. Jess decided arguing with them would be pointless.

"All right, but I still don't like it."

"Amazing! He can listen to sense!" Ali said to Sal, and grinned.

Jess shook his head, but couldn't help smiling back. He linked into the ship fully and started to set up the monitoring, and widened the protection from food and drink to any form of administration in case he was jabbed with a needle or dosed in a way he couldn't yet imagine.

"It's done," he said tiredly.

"Good," said Sal. "Maybe now you can accept a drink without trying to read my soul!"

"I didn't do that, did I?"

"Relax Jess. No you didn't. Well, you were a little hesitant, and I don't blame you for that."

Later, as the two women headed for bed again, Sal threw a parting comment over her shoulder about not spying on the sleeping Ali. As Jess spluttered his denials both women disappeared up the stairs laughing at his discomfort. Jess realised he missed Matt. Despite the terrible betrayal he missed having the older man to balance things out. Now he was alone with two women who at times seemed decades ahead of him in self confidence and knowledge of the world.

During the flight Jess reconfigured the _Wanderer_ again. The outside was returned to its original bright silver surface. Damaged shield generators were repaired and new weaponry was created for the battle in jump space. The engines were tweaked to provide more power and the thrusters were upgraded to make the already agile ship even more manoeuvrable. He had the ship manufacture thirty additional torpedoes, knowing they'd need serious firepower to damage the pirate base.

Once the pirate ships registered on the scanners the tension in the ship rose sharply. Jess took the pilot's seat. Sal and Ali took the two seats behind. No one spoke as they closed in on the fleeing ships. Time seemed to drag out for Jess but finally they drew close enough to use the new weaponry.

"We're close enough. Any last minute cold feet?"

Neither of the others spoke for a moment, then Ali rested her hand on his shoulder.

"No. Let's get it over with."

Jess nodded, then reached out to the ship and fired the newly built weapons. No laser beam could exist in jump space, nor could plasma or ion bolts. Missiles could be fired but they'd have no way to reach their target and would be out of phase with the destination ship even if they did.

The weapon he fired was something very different, a variation on jump technology. A focused beam, several metres across, shot out from the _Wanderer_ lancing through the centre of the closest corvette. The beam didn't inflict any direct damage, but everything it touched was ripped back into real space. The rest of the ship was left with a gaping hole torn though its centre for the few milliseconds before it imploded. The beam had dumped parts of the thrusters and engines into real space. What was left went into immediate meltdown. It was all over far too fast for anyone on board the corvette to know anything about it.

The section of the ship ripped back into real space fared no better. The abrupt transition wasn't cushioned by jump engines as normally happened when exiting jump space. The section hit real space at a significant proportion of light speed and was torn apart within seconds. Anyone somehow surviving the abrupt return and the destruction would then be exposed to hard vacuum.

If, by some miraculous chance, someone was already suited up despite being in the middle of the ship and survived the translation then they would find themselves drifting in real space, far from any planets or stars and with no hope of ever being found. They'd certainly have no hope of being rescued in the hour or two before their oxygen ran out.

Grimly Jess lined the _Wanderer_ up on the other corvette and repeated the process. The corvette went the way of its sister ship, both the parts in jump and real space ripped apart in milliseconds. The freighter would be a tougher target. It was much larger and the damage the beam could do might not be enough to cripple it. Jess wanted a clean kill from within jump space. So far the freighter wouldn't even know its escort ships had been destroyed, he wanted to destroy it before it realised anything was up. He brought the _Wanderer_ alongside, positioning her carefully. Once he was satisfied he triggered the weapon once more.

His positioning was perfect. The weapon sliced a hole through at least six of the freighter's engines. The explosion was massive, easily engulfing the whole of the freighter and billowing out towards the _Wanderer_. Only Jess's machine-fast reactions saved them. He threw the ship down and to the side. The explosion smashed into the _Wanderer_ , shaking it but doing no major damage.

Once he was sure they were clear, Jess settled back in his chair. Sweat was pouring down his face. No one spoke for some time, each lost in their private thoughts. While he still felt what they'd done was necessary, Jess dwelt on the lives he'd just ended, feeling hollow inside. He'd given them no chance to defend themselves, no chance to surrender. No chance to even know they were in danger.

He didn't have long to dwell on it. All too soon they arrived at Stone Snake mining complex.

Jess brought the _Wanderer_ out of jump space at point blank range. The first the station knew of the attack was the impact of weapons fire. Once again Jess aimed to keep casualties amongst the slaves to a minimum. It wasn't difficult. The complex was an incredibly target rich environment.

He'd brought the ship out in a processing area. Massive automated machines processed the raw ores from the mining operation, refining them and moving them into immense storage areas. It was the heart of the mining operation and Jess intended to rip that heart out. They couldn't kill the station but they could certainly inflict some heavy losses, maybe enough for the leaders to be pulled down and replaced. Almost certainly by more of the same, but at least those responsible for the attack on Glory Falls would be gone.

First he hit the mining machinery. As well as firing the on board weapons at their maximum rate he launched fifteen of the torpedoes into the complex machines. Huge chunks simply vanished in the explosions, causing cascading collapses which spread through the machinery.

Then he flew over the precious metals storage area, once again skipping within the force field. This time it was dropped almost as soon as the _Wanderer_ reappeared. He targeted the remaining rare, valuable stores; gold, platinum, uranium, palladium and others. The lasers and plasma cannons were particularly effective against the massed stores of metals, while the remainder of the heavy missiles vaporised a fortune with each explosion. There was no doubt in Jess's mind that the raid had already achieved its purpose. They'd hurt the pirates. Hurt them really badly.

The defences were starting to come online now. Smaller weaponry had been attempting to target the _Wanderer_ almost since she'd arrived but had been hampered by a desire to avoid damaging the mining complex. The heavy duty weapon towers had been completely silent. Now that changed. Whoever was in charge had clearly decided the _Wanderer_ needed to be stopped, and stopped quickly.

Restrictions on targeting were removed. The lighter weapons started firing continuously while the heavy towers opened up too. Jinking the _Wanderer_ rapidly to avoid taking too much damage, Jess was happy to see the base's defensive weaponry inflicting massive damage to the nearby machinery and stores as shots went wide of the _Wanderer_.

Still, it was nearly time to leave. One heavy missile remained. Jess executed a tight turn which threw off the systems targeting them and started to pass a huge storage tank which had so far remained intact. At point blank range he launched the heavy missile.

The result was catastrophic. The tank didn't hold metals, it held refined fuel used for shuttles and other small craft. The explosion was so large it even shook the mighty mining complex. Even the _Wanderer_ 's shields had no chance of withstanding that powerful a blast. Small chunks of debris rocketed out from the explosion, none larger than a few metres across. Mostly they came from the ship's silver hull, the reflective properties having deflected a little of the force of the explosion.

Nothing remained of the inner compartments and anything organic, such as the bodies of those on board, were completely obliterated by the unleashed power. Slowly the base's defensive weaponry fell silent. Shuttles were launched to recover the remaining fragments of the amazing ship, few as they were. The _Wanderer_ 's rampage had ended in its destruction.

# Chapter 18

Jess cursed as he wrestled to stabilise the ship. Amber and red statuses were springing up everywhere, and through his connection to the ship each ached or stung. His skin felt as if it had been scalded. The immense explosion from the fuel tank had bled over into jump space, making the _Wanderer_ buck and sway violently. Even with his thoughts massively accelerated he was struggling to stay on top of everything.

The extent to which the explosion would leak into jump space had surprised him. He'd known what the tank contained, their plan depended on it. As the missile struck he'd thrown most of the _Wanderer_ into jump space. Most, but not all. The outer shell had been jettisoned and left behind, together with enough other hull segments to make a convincing wreck, as proof of the ship's destruction. Everything left had been produced during flight for that express purpose. None of it contained any trace of the ship's advanced capabilities. Anyone trying to learn from it would be in for disappointment.

As they had planned, the immense explosion bled over to jump space. In doing so it smeared both real and jump space enough to completely obliterate the telltale scars on space indicating a jump. All the evidence would point to the _Wanderer_ being destroyed and, for a while at least, they'd get some peace.

The explosion had been too powerful, though. The ship bucked again. Hull stress warnings blossomed down the right side of the ship. Jess reinforced the shields on that side, using them to hold the ship together. The jump drives flashed warning then critical alarms as they frantically scrabbled against the rippling surface around the ship. Another shock wave crashed into them from behind, shaking the flight deck.

And then it was over. The ship steadied and jump space around them returned to being smooth and undisturbed. Sensors showed a spreading wave of disruption behind the _Wanderer_ , but they were outrunning it now. Jess felt as if he'd been wrestling the ship for hours. A quick check showed it to be nine point seven two seconds.

Running through the alerts he identified priority areas for repair and shifted shields to reinforce the worst damaged areas. He took offline those systems that weren't currently needed, reducing the strain on the engines which had taken a severe beating and badly needed to be overhauled. The powering down allowed rolling maintenance on them, starting with the most heavily damaged.

After reviewing and prioritising thousands of alerts he checked the time again. Twenty eight seconds since jump. Satisfied nothing needed his immediate attention he let his mind revert to normal speed and slumped down in his seat with a deep sigh.

_Twenty eight seconds,_ he thought. _Felt more like twenty-eight days._

"Are we clear?" asked Ali quietly.

"Yes. Just. That was closer than we planned for."

"Well done. I got a bit worried there during the rough patch, but luckily it was over so quickly I couldn't really get scared. Thank the stars it didn't last very long."

Jess snorted at that, then started to laugh hysterically. Turning and seeing her frowning at him in confusion just made it worse. All the worry, the fear and the excitement of recent events came flowing out. It was some time before he gained control of himself again. Ali was clearly not impressed. Even when he explained how long the ordeal had seemed for him she didn't see the funny side.

The _Wanderer_ was headed for a planet called Washington. To avoid straining the damaged ship they were coasting along at the speed all normal ships managed in jump space, which meant a journey time of three and a half days.

They'd chosen Washington for its distance from Stone Snake and the details they could find on it. The planet had numerous large stations orbiting it, most of them active trade hubs. They hoped to pick up news and gossip on local events, possibly some supplies.

Near the end of the first day Jess walked into the living area to find Ali sitting alone staring at a screen. As he moved closer he saw it was a map showing the orbital farm those kidnapped with her had been sold to. A location they were currently heading away from.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I wish we could go rescue them right now, but Stone Snake showed that wouldn't work. This ship is powerful but it's not a fleet on its own."

Ali blinked a few times before answering, tears visible in her eyes.

"I know. It's hard knowing where they are and not being able to do anything about it. It's more than that, though. It's happening everywhere, isn't it? You and Sal were slaves. We know the kidnappers had carried out a lot of raids and sold to many places. That means those places needed slaves and probably got them from many suppliers. Even the great and glorious empire uses slaves. It's not right!"

"No, it's not, but we can't fix everything. We can try to save a few people, but that's all we can do. Even doing that is so tricky. We can't march into those places. Hell, we can't march into any station without risk. Wherever we go we're in danger. I wish there was some way of getting things done without us having to physically visit."

"Robots!" Ali said excitedly.

"What?"

"Robots. We had a couple on the station. Pretty beat up. They were used for any jobs too dangerous to send a human on. You must have seen them used?"

"No. There wasn't a job in existence they thought was too dangerous to send a slave on," he replied drily.

"Oh... oh my... that's terrible!"

Jess shrugged his shoulders.

"We were used to it, it's how life was for us. But your idea is a good one. Let me check with the ship to see if we can make some."

His eyes glazed for a moment. When his focus returned to Ali he wore a troubled frown.

"No," he said. "The ship won't manufacture robots. Not can't, won't. It made it clear that's a hard block written throughout its systems. It's not something we could get around."

"Did it tell you why?"

"Kind of. More an image and a feeling. An image of a large area covered in robots, each marching in step, with the ship sitting behind them. Controlling them. And a feeling to go with it, one of total horror at the situation. I think it means the ship could make nearly endless amounts of robots, and that would be terrible."

"An immense number of robots all under one person's control? One person safely protected in the most advanced space ship I've ever heard of?" Ali shivered. "Yeah... I can see its point."

"It's not all bad, though. If we could get a few robots somehow the ship would be happy to change them. Upgrade them and link itself directly to them so they can be controlled. It will limit how many but the number is quite vague, I think it depends on what sort of robots we get and how powerful they are once upgraded."

"It's not all bad news, then. With some robots we have a chance at least. Maybe we could use them as bodyguards if we're off the ship. I hope so. The thought of spending my life on this ship without ever leaving... it's too much. The station I grew up on was small but there were places to go, greenery to see, other people to talk to. We should get some entertainment too when we reach Washington, some vids or books."

Jess agreed enthusiastically. Books had been rare as he grew up, though they were tolerated and even sometimes supplied by their guards. Slaves who could read orders or instructions were useful. Prisoners who'd had a life before becoming slaves often talked about how limited the selection of books was, of far more interesting and thought provoking ones they'd read. Now Jess was keen to explore that world. He'd never seen a vid but those same prisoners spoke of them in hushed tones. To those born into slavery vids were nearly mythical. The thought of actually getting some filled Jess with excitement.

"Damn!" Ali suddenly cursed. "We can't do it. We've no money. We might be able to scrape together enough for a vid and a few books, but robots are expensive. Really expensive. Even ones that are ready for the scrap heap."

"That won't be a problem. In all the excitement of getting away I didn't tell you or Sal. We vaporised a fortune in precious metals during the attack and at times we were almost flying through the blast zone afterwards. I had the ship use its fields to grab some of the particles. We've got a few hundred kilos of gold and smaller amounts of some of the other metals. We're kinda rich right now."

"Really?" Ali's eyes lit up. "You mean it's possible? We might be able to get the robots?"

"Possible, yes. We need to find out how much what we have is worth and how expensive robots are and we need to find someone who will take some of our stockpile no questions asked."

"Still... it's a chance. A way to move forwards. At least it means there's a chance to rescue my friends."

Jess smiled at Ali, glad to see her looking happier. She was right. It was a chance, however small.

Jess slept poorly that night. Seemingly endless dreams of Sal and Ali being kidnapped, hurt or killed when visiting stations and planets filled his mind. In some he was too far away to interfere, while in others he was close but unable to help, often being kidnapped or killed himself. Waking with a start from a particularly gruesome nightmare he brought the rooms lights up with a thought and sat thinking.

They couldn't stay locked up in the ship forever. Leaving the ship was inevitable, no matter how much they tried to minimise the need. Once off the ship they were vulnerable. If both Sal and Ali left the ship together one kidnapping would leave him completely alone again. Just one or the other leaving would equally be a terrible idea – they might as well tie a target on her back. Jess wanted to be able to leave the ship too. While it was comfortable, and through its sensors he could experience the wonders that space held, he still felt the strong need to get out and explore the places they would be visiting.

Frustrated, he turned to the ship and to the echoes of past captains. After some digging he came across several variations on an idea that had definite promise. He lay down again and dimmed the lights before slipping into a much more restful sleep.

When he woke the next morning he quickly washed up and dressed, keen to pass on his ideas. As his bedroom door opened it let in a wonderful smell. He hurried down the stairs to find out what was for breakfast. Sal and Ali were already seated and tucking into their food.

"Smells great!" said Jess. "What is it?"

"Sausage, bacon, fried eggs, fried tomatoes, beans and toast," replied Ali.

"It's wonderful!" said Sal, swallowing a mouthful. "No wonder the prisoners not born to it always complained about our food."

Jess sat down and piled food onto his plate. Sal had been right, it was wonderful. Something else to add to his growing list of favourite foods.

After a couple of minutes of eating in silence Jess looked at both women. While enjoying the food he could tell they were still worried. He hoped his ideas would help.

"I was thinking last night," he began. "Thinking about the problems we face when we leave the ship."

Ali pulled a face. Sal just sat still for a moment.

"Go on," said Sal.

"I had a trawl through the ship's information and found something useful. The implant in my head can generate a low level force field. Nothing major, but enough to protect me from a knife or the first few shots from a reasonably powerful gun. The best bit is it can be automatic. The implant will detect anything getting close and generate the barrier. It's smart enough so I can still eat and drink with it activated, can still touch things and people. It will only activate if something is moving too fast towards me. It won't make me bulletproof, but it will give me a good chance to survive an attack and get away."

Sal studied him for a moment.

"Sounds good," she said. "At least you'll be safe, then, and you are the most likely target for any snatch. Will it affect your breathing? Will it be noticeable?"

"Well I've had it active since I came down this morning and neither of you has noticed, though nothing has caused it to turn the shields on, obviously. Breathing would get tricky a minute or so after it went on – it's only designed for short term situations."

Without warning Ali threw a piece of sausage at Jess's head. It almost reached his head then, with a very slight sparkle of light, it was deflected past him.

"Hey!" protested Jess.

"Yep, it's working," said Ali grinning at him.

Sal smiled at them both, then launched a spoonful of beans at Jess which were deflected around him in a series of flashes. Laughing heavily Sal and Ali started grabbing and throwing handfuls of food at Jess. He shouted indignantly for a few seconds then saw the funny side himself. Laughing, he reached out to the ship and shaped a field in front of him to catch the food. Sal and Ali stopped throwing as they noticed.

"No fair," shouted Ali. "That's cheating."

Jess just grinned and shifted the field, splitting the captured food into two and moving the two new piles to hover over Sal and Ali's heads.

"Oh no!" Ali tried to look stern but it was spoiled by a laugh. "You do _not_ want to do that."

"Jess," added Sal. "If you ever want to be able to sleep safely again don't even think about it."

Jess grinned for a moment then released the fields. The food dropped onto the two women who shrieked and tried to move, much too late.

Both hunched up against the shower of food but it didn't reach them. Jess had placed another field just over their heads which caught the food. He laughed so hard at their outraged faces that he could hardly breathe, and didn't see what happened next. Suddenly the world lurched as Sal and Ali dragged him off the chair and onto the floor. Laying on his back he was pinned down by Ali on his chest and Sal who sat on his arms. Then they started to tickle him mercilessly as he tried to wriggle free, without success. They didn't let up until his muscles hurt from laughing too much. Finally Sal released his arms and stood up.

"Clearly the shield doesn't keep you safe from being tickled! Anyway, I'm going for a shower. I know the food didn't hit us but it still feels like it did."

She quickly climbed the staircase towards their rooms. Jess was suddenly very aware of Ali laying on his chest, of her body pressed against his. She was staring into his eyes. His heart pounded as he stared back, almost panicking. He had no idea what to do or say but desperately wanted the moment to continue. Ali smiled at him, her face only centimetres from his.

"So," she said gently. "Now that I have you in my power what should I do with you?"

Jess nearly swallowed his tongue. He didn't trust himself to speak, didn't think he'd manage more than a stammer if he could make any sound at all. Not getting an answer Ali lowered her face to his, gently kissing him. Self consciously Jess wrapped his arms around her back, responding to her kiss. The rest of the world faded away. All he was aware of was the warmth of her body, the scent of her skin, her lips against his.

Finally she pulled away slightly, once again looking down at him. Her face was flushed and her breathing fast. Jess realised with a start that Matt had been right. Ali was as uncertain as he was. The thought of Matt sent a cold spike through his chest. Ali frowned.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "I thought you wanted to... well..."

"No. I mean yes. I did. I do." Jess stammered out. "I really do. Something Matt said just popped into my head. Thinking about him hurts, reminds me of how he betrayed me. How he betrayed us."

She leant down and gave him a quick peck.

"I know. I didn't really get to know him but I saw how close the three of you were. Or seemed to be anyway." Then she smiled mischievously.

"So what did he say that came into your mind right then?"

Jess opened and closed his mouth several times trying to find the right thing to say, then decided to go with honesty.

"He said you were probably just as scared of the situation as I was. That even though you looked so confident you weren't."

He found it hard to meet her eyes as she studied him intently. His insides churned, he was sure he'd said the wrong thing. That she'd take offence, probably slap him again. Strangely the thought of her being angry with him hurt more than the slap would.

"Do you think he was right? That I'm confused and uncertain?" she finally asked in a cool voice.

"If you are, you're doing a great job of hiding it," Jess blurted before he could stop himself.

"Really? That's good to know."

To Jess's huge relief there was a twinkle in her eye. Before he could say anything more she was kissing him again. All thoughts of Matt's advice, and his betrayal, slipped from Jess's mind.

Ali finally pulled back again.

"Sal is going to be back soon. We'd better sort ourselves out," she said with a sigh.

Jess had other ideas. He shoved with his right arm and leg rolling the pair of them over so he lay on top of her. He smothered her protests with a kiss which she soon responded to. Once again time seemed to slip away.

Some time later the sound of Sal's voice startled them from their own private world. Both looked up guiltily towards the stairs but there was no sign of Sal. Jess had missed the start of what Sal said but managed to fill in the gaps.

"...in a few minutes. Can you get a hot chocolate ready for me?"

Then she was gone again. Reluctantly, very reluctantly, Jess pushed himself up and helped Ali to stand. Hair tousled and clothes in need of straightening he thought she looked amazing. He stole a quick kiss, which lengthened until he managed to pull away.

"We need to get straightened up, otherwise Sal will know what we were doing. Not that there's anything wrong with it... but... er..." he stumbled to a halt.

Ali grinned at him. "She knows, silly. Why do you think she called down? Still, we could sort ourselves out a bit."

"Are we... that is... I'd like to do that again," he finished lamely, cursing himself inside. He couldn't seem to find the right words. She laughed gently.

"So would I. Lots."

They stared at each other for a few seconds. Jess felt an almost magnetic pull. They'd been standing close together anyway, a short step from each of them and they were kissing again.

"Looks like I'll have to get my own drink, then."

At the sound of Sal's voice from almost beside them they both jumped. Jess felt himself turning bright red. He wished the floor would open up and swallow him. The ship queried the command, pointing out that there was only machinery and then the outer hull below him. He quickly cancelled it, once again made aware of how closely the ship monitored his thoughts and how literally it could take them.

Sal had a knowing look and a big smile on her face, which only made Jess blush even more. Turning to Ali, who had moved a step away from him, he was surprised to see that she too looked embarrassed. Sal stepped forward and grabbed them both in a hug.

"Your faces! It's fine you know. I'm glad for you. Just, well, just be careful. Be nice to each other."

With that she turned away from them, chuckling as she went. Tentatively Jess reached out for Ali's hand. She took it, smiling shyly, then they followed Sal, who'd finally got her drink and had sat on one of the sofas. Ali and he sat on the other, close to each other but not quite touching.

"I was thinking about Washington," Sal said. "Thinking about what we should do when we get there. We need to be really careful where we go. Ideally we need people to come to us. It will cost more but we have to be safe. Even you Jess, that shielding doesn't mean you can't get hurt. And Ali and I don't have the benefit of even that."

"You could," Jess said softly.

"What? How?"

Both women were staring at him now.

"I would have told you earlier, if you hadn't both assaulted me."

"I thought you quite enjoyed being assaulted," Sal said with a grin.

Jess felt himself blushing again and didn't dare look at Ali.

"You could, though," he pressed on. "I kept having nightmares last night about you two being grabbed again. In the end I couldn't sleep so I started trawling through the ship's data. That's where I came across the shielding idea for me, but more than that. I asked the ship and it confirmed it would be possible to give you both a limited shield and a locator so the ship can always pinpoint your location."

"Does that mean we'd get something implanted in us, in our brains? Like you have?" Sal looked worried by the thought.

"Not really. It's much simpler than what happened to me, and it will be automatic. It would be installed between the skull and skin at the back of your head. No direct connections to your brain. The shield won't be as strong as mine, and it won't protect you against drugged food or drinks, but it will stop a few shots. The ship will be able to spot the locator beacon through anything too. It's passive so scans won't detect it."

"If we say yes then you'll be able to track us wherever we are?" asked Ali. "Know what we're doing and when?"

"Not without you knowing. Each time it gets scanned you'll get a slight tingling, almost an itch, at the back of your head. It will repeat every couple of minutes till you acknowledge it by scratching that area. You'll always know."

Sal and Ali sat quietly for a couple of minutes, thinking. Finally Sal spoke softly.

"I have nightmares almost every night, you know. Dreams where I'm back as a prisoner, where I've been caught again or this has all just been a vivid dream. Or where I get grabbed on a station and held. Every dream feels the same. The panic at being trapped. The despair at realising that I'll never be free again. The feeling that the walls are closing in.

"I'd never had freedom before. I couldn't understand why those not born to captivity were so desperate to escape. Now I understand. I've been free and I never want to go back. Doing this will help ensure I stay free."

She took a deep breath, then pushed on.

"We've asked you to trust us, Jess. Asked you to believe we mean you no harm despite what happened with Matt. Well, that cuts both ways. If you're certain this is safe then we need to trust you. I'll do it."

Ali sat deep in thought for a few moments, before looking up to meet Jess's gaze.

"Will it hurt?" she asked.

"No." Jess smiled. "Not at all. A slight tingling at most. No more."

"OK." She nodded. "Can we do it now? Get it over with?"

"Sure. Let's go to the medical bay." He turned to Sal. "If you're ready?"

Sal nodded, stood up. The three of them headed to the medical bay. Jess could have plucked the devices out of the ship anywhere but he sensed it was better not to. The women were nervous enough as it was. Somehow the medical bay seemed the best place to go.

He had each of them sit in a chair, facing each other, then went to the wall and retrieved two small, blue lumps that looked like thick jelly, each sitting within the palm of his hand.

"Ready?" he asked.

Both nodded, though they said nothing. Jess stepped to Sal and placed one lump against the back of her head, where it stuck in place. Then he did the same with Ali and finally sent the command telling the ship to start the process. The blue lumps rapidly disappeared as they embedded themselves.

It finished quickly. Within a minute both systems were up and running. Sal and Ali looked surprised when he told them it was complete. He had the ship ping both their locators. In unison they raised their hands to scratch the itch at the back of their head, laughing as they realised what had happened.

"That was fine," said Ali. "I didn't feel a thing until that tingle. Is that what happened to you?"

"Not really. It had to make a much deeper connection, to create an entire web within my brain. I was stuck to the pilot's chair by my head for quite a while."

"Oh. There's no chance of this doing more than it should? Of it doing the same to me?"

"No. You're safe. It's like creating robots – the ship has hard limits in place. Only ever one captain at a time."

"This really is an amazing ship. There hasn't been much time to think about it, but the things it can do... I've never heard of any ship like it. Do you know where it came from?"

"Not really. I've tried asking it but it doesn't answer as such. I just get an impression of age, of it having been around for a long time. Nothing concrete. Maybe it's not human built."

"Alien?" Ali asked with a grin. "That's pretty unlikely. The Empire is spread across a huge area of space now and no intelligent aliens have ever been found. That's part of their propaganda – humans are the only intelligent creatures in the universe, and the Empire is run by the most intelligent humans. For the good of all of us, of course." The last point was said with heavy irony.

Jess shrugged, feeling embarrassed.

"Maybe. There were always rumours, though, rumours and stories that the prisoners passed on. I think prisoners often get to see more of the universe than anyone else. If it's dirty, dangerous or just downright unpleasant we get sent in. If there are aliens we'd probably get to know."

"I'm not so sure," said Sal. "If there were aliens and the Empire wanted to keep it quiet they'd just kill every prisoner who knew the truth. No one would be around to tell stories."

Jess had to agree with that. Prisoners were exceptionally expendable. When he'd first been sent to break into the _Wanderer_ he'd already seen or heard of hundreds being killed trying to access other ships. There were always plenty more prisoners to replace them.

"More importantly, we need to decide what to do at Washington," said Sal. "When we get there we need to find someone offering robots for sale who's willing to trade direct to our ship. No going off into a station or a ship. Ideally we want the robots to be nearly useless. Pitch it as us needing spare parts for other robots."

"I want to be there at the exchange," said Jess. "To make sure I can deal with any unexpected surprises quickly. I think you should be there too Sal. Your being older should stop them getting the idea that I'm innocent enough to be ripped off easily."

"Fine. I'll play the part of the old hag."

"What about me?" Ali asked. "Do I get to sit around doing nothing?"

Jess winced inside at her tone. "No, not at all. You'll be in the ship monitoring the situation for anything strange, anything that Sal and I miss. Even with doing the handover on our doorstep this is going to be a risky plan."

Ali wasn't particularly happy but accepted his argument. They talked the plan over for a while without finding the need for any significant changes.

Jess and Ali spent most of the day together. Sometimes just holding each other close, other times talking about their lives. Ali's childhood was a revelation for Jess, a glimpse of a world he'd never known. It was far harder for Ali. Many of Jess's tales brought tears to her eyes.

As dinner approached Jess decided he wanted to impress Ali. She had presented them with a number of meals they would never have thought to order. He wanted to return the favour. Digging into the ship's memories of past captains he found a number of suggestions. In the end he settled on sea bass with steamed vegetables and mashed potato. It was a huge success with all three of them. Ali added sticky toffee pudding for desert, leaving them all feeling pleasantly stuffed.

The next day passed slowly. The plan couldn't be refined further until they arrived at Washington. As the ship's repairs were proceeding well, Jess increased their speed slightly, ensuring their arrival time wouldn't tie in with a normal flight from Stone Snake. Matt hadn't known the ship could travel faster than any other in jump space so the pirates wouldn't either. Arriving early was an extra step in maintaining the fiction that the ship had been destroyed.

Ali chose lunch again and Jess chose dinner. Searching though the previous captains' favourites he found a particularly unusual dish and sent it to the food dispenser. It rejected the dish with a warning that several of the ingredients were extremely toxic to humans. Jess checked the recipe again, confirmed it was correct and that it was a previous pilot's favourite. It was.

He could hardly contain his excitement as he called the other two. He quickly explained what he'd found out.

"There might be another explanation," Ali said. "Like... well... all right I can't think of one right now, but there might still be."

"I don't think so. What could it possibly be? There's no doubt this was one of the previous captains' favourite dishes, the ship is very clear. There are several other dishes tagged for that captain and they all have the same warnings."

"It is pretty convincing," Sal said. "And it would mean at least some of the previous captains weren't human. That means there is a chance this ship wasn't built by humans. It has technology that is far beyond any ship I've heard of. Either it was built by an alien race or by a group of humans with very advanced technology."

"That makes sense," said Jess. "I can't get any impression from the ship as to which it was. I'm pretty certain the ship is old, really old. Hundreds of years, if not thousands."

They talked over the possibilities for a while but with no more information to work on the topic fizzled out and the question of dinner arose. Jess found a less exotic dish named chicken vindaloo which registered no warnings. It was human safe, though after several mouthfuls all three of them were questioning that as, mouths burning from the spice, they desperately drank water. If anything that made matters worse. Ali ordered yoghurt from the food dispenser which helped somewhat.

The rest of dinner consisted of toast and butter, all they felt brave enough to risk. Jess put up with the teasing from the other two over his special meal. His own mouth was still recovering and his stomach unsettled so he couldn't really argue.

The next day passed particularly slowly. All three agreed that getting some books and vids was a top priority. They swapped more stories of their lives. Ali listened horrified to Sal and Jess when they spoke about their lives as prisoners. Jess and Sal were fascinated to hear the details of Ali's life, especially the mundane day-to-day events of normal life they'd never experienced.

They went over their plans for Washington repeatedly, but couldn't improve them as so much depended on what the system was like. When they finally turned in for the night Jess slept badly, mind running through possible situations and dangers they might face the next day.

# Chapter 19

Breakfast was a quiet meal, all three of them lost in their own thoughts. Jess and Ali's relationship had been developing well but he felt she was distant that morning and didn't know what to say to bridge the gap. He only ate a little, nerves making him feel queasy. Afterwards he spent time deeply interfaced with the ship, checking the state of the repairs and the external image they would portray. The ship was much blockier looking now, mostly dark grey, and with many pipes and external components scattered across the hull. None of them did anything, other than give the appearance of a run of the mill vessel. The last thing they wanted was to attract attention to themselves.

All three were sat in the flight deck as they prepared to drop into real space. The maps of the system they had were packed with installations... massive space station hubs near the main planet, small trading platforms, mining complexes, ship repair docks both large and small and hundreds of other types. Colonies flourished in many parts of the system. Jess found it overwhelming to contemplate.

They'd decided to steer clear of the largest stations, the main planet and the colonies. All were Imperial hubs and the chances of them being questioned or the ship being searched were too high. Ali said the sheer number of ships within the Empire, and the speed with which they changed hands and new ships were built, prevented them all being tracked centrally, but that every ship should carry Imperial registration documents confirming ownership. The navy, in system security and other official organisations could demand to see those papers at any time. As the _Wanderer_ had none of the usual documents they couldn't risk that happening.

They also wanted to avoid the smallest locations, partly to avoid standing out and partly because being small they were unlikely to be selling suitable robots. They'd drawn up a list of possible locations. Top of the list was a disreputable station run by a collection of independent traders. It wasn't particularly large and, while it didn't have a great reputation, it wasn't tagged as being particularly dangerous. Its bad reputation came from the traders' willingness to exploit customers and sell poor quality goods rather than anything darker. It was perfect. They wanted robots in poor repair and paying in precious metals shouldn't be a problem, so long as the traders thought they were getting the best of the deal.

Jess brought the _Wanderer_ back into normal space as if it was any regular ship. As they coasted in towards the station he scanned through the offerings from the various shops and companies on board. They were in luck. One company had five robots for sale. Non functional, available for repair or spare parts. The company was happy to take payment in precious metals, indeed from scanning the various price lists Jess found that precious metals and gems were the standard currency in use. Best of all the company had its own docking area. There would be no need to enter the station proper, the exchange would be made just outside the _Wanderer_ 's airlock.

In some ways it almost seemed too good to be true, but try as they might they couldn't see any particular risk. The actual exchange carried some danger, but Jess and Sal would never be far from the ship. They confirmed the deal and changed course to dock in the appropriate place.

As they closed in Jess had the _Wanderer_ scan the data traffic in the area. Huge volumes of information flowed between the station and both other stations and ships. Much of it was heavily encrypted. What wasn't, the _Wanderer_ was able to decode and store. The ship even managed to decode some of the heavily encrypted communications. Most were uninteresting, but one data burst between the station and a passing passenger liner carried thousands of vids and books. Jess considered offering to pay for the data but realised it would give away the ship's abilities. He decided to enquire about entertainment with the company in question once they had the robots. He could get the same data again, but legitimately. He didn't feel right stealing it.

Jess waited by the airlock door with Sal as the ship went through the final stages of docking. Ali was in the flight deck monitoring the situation. Jess's lips still tingled from the fierce kiss she'd given him before telling him to be careful.

With a series of gentle thuds the docking operation completed. Jess could have made it smooth as silk but had decided to make it a little rough, giving the impression of a ship with somewhat degraded systems.

"Ready?" he asked Sal.

She nodded in return. Jess reached out to the ship, feeling time start to slow. He opened first the inner then the outer airlock, keeping an invisible defensive field in place to prevent any attack. Nothing happened. They moved into the airlock, grabbed the trolley loaded down with metals and made their way ten metres out into the corridor.

At the other end a small buggy waited with a trailer hitched to it. The trailer had the robots they'd purchased piled haphazardly on the back. The robots were mining units based on a humanoid shape. Each was a little shorter than an average human but much bulkier, weighing in at around four times Jess's weight. Far too heavy to carry so they'd agreed to purchase the trailer as well. It would be reversed into the _Wanderer_ and left there. Due to its size they'd had to open both airlocks, spare space would be at a premium in the living area until they got the robots working and ejected the trailer.

Jess and Sal moved the trolley to the side of the corridor as the buggy started to move, reversing towards them. It was being driven by a middle-aged woman dressed in an outfit which covered her from head to toe. Only her face was visible and even then her eyes were hidden behind dark glasses. Jess watched her closely but couldn't spot anything that worried him. She seemed quite tense, but then if those buying from the company planned any trouble this is where it would happen and she'd be at the sharp end. He'd be tense in her position too.

As the trailer was reversed past them Jess inspected the robots. While they had numerous scars and scorch marks they looked to be in quite good condition. He was confident the _Wanderer_ could repair them. He glanced at Sal whose face was drawn in concentration, studying the robots, trailer, buggy and driver. Jess knew Ali was doing the same but they'd agreed she wouldn't say anything unless she found a problem.

The trailer passed them and the buggy drew level. The driver's eyes met Jess's and he knew something was wrong, even through her dark glasses. Something in the set of her face jarred his senses. Scanning her using the ship's sensors he detected a high rate of data transfer between the driver and the station. On a hunch he had the _Wanderer_ interfere with the signal, disrupting it. Suddenly her face contorted in pain.

"It's a trap!" the driver screamed at him. "Run!"

Even with his perception of time greatly increased, several things happened at once for Jess. A different, more powerful signal from the station washed over the area. The old woman collapsed over the steering wheel, body shaking. A powerful ion blast blew out the electronics in the buggy and would have damaged systems in the _Wanderer_ if Jess hadn't already had its shields up. At the same time the robots surged into life, leaping off the trailer.

One robot opened fire on Sal, several powerful laser blasts flinging her backwards. A second robot did the same to Jess. His shields stood up to the shots and were able to deflect the force around him, though he was still rocked back. The other three robots charged into the airlock and on into the _Wanderer_.

Jess was amazed at their speed. Even with his mind accelerated by the ship they were exceptionally fast. Still reeling from the speed of the assault, and the impacts on his shields, his reactions were slowed. By the time he activated the planned response to any attack it was too late. The _Wanderer_ 's external shields came on at full strength, modulated to extend a short distance into the corridor. They sliced through the corridor and the ship started pulling away immediately. Jess, Sal, the driver, buggy, trailer, two of the robots and the section of corridor they occupied were all still attached to the _Wanderer_ and safely within its shields. They still had air for the moment, though it wouldn't be replaced. One robot was trapped within the airlock as internal fields came on to cover both airlock doors. The other two robots were within the living area.

Jess had to improvise. They hadn't thought anything could make it to the main part of the ship. He threw fields up to contain those in the living area, then turned his attention to the two robots trapped in the section with him and Sal. The internal fields wouldn't reach this far out and the robots would soon realise they hadn't killed him or, he hoped, Sal.

Jess had been thrown to the left side of the corridor and Sal was beside him. One robot was near the other side while the other was still near the trailer, and so near the driver. Jess needed to change the shape of the ship's shield to put the robots on the outside. It would be easy to do that if he didn't mind spacing the driver too, but he couldn't. Not after her attempt to warn them.

He managed to sketch out an awkward shape which would stretch even the _Wanderer_ 's advanced shields to the limit, then activated it. The two robots were suddenly flailing around in vacuum, rapidly falling behind the _Wanderer_. A moments thought and the ship's lasers lashed out at them, weapons designed to punch through ships' shields and hulls vaporised the robots immediately.

The unstable shape the shields had formed collapsed back into a more stable configuration, one that covered a wider area, but that caused the remaining air to be spread more thinly. Jess felt his internal shield activating again. He had maybe ninety seconds of air in his lungs and trapped close to him. Sal would have less and the driver none, though she continued to convulse so lack of air might be a minor worry there. They all needed to get back into the airlock and soon.

The robots trapped in the ship and airlock opened fire with their weapons, attempting to batter down the barriers in front of them. Their weaponry was far more powerful than the handguns brought on board by the smugglers. The ship's fields were already struggling to contain the destructive power. All signals from the station were now being blocked by the _Wanderer_ 's shields so the robots had to be acting on predetermined orders. Jess realised that trying to capture the robots was too risky. They needed to be stopped, and stopped quickly.

The robots themselves gave him his first chance. The robot in the airlock was battering away with its weapons at the internal field that blocked its way. The field also blocked its vision, so it had no idea of what lay beyond. Jess suddenly dropped the field in front of it. Its weaponry was unleashed into the back of a second robot, which was standing in just the right position. The unlucky robot's shields flared for a moment then it was blown apart, pieces of wreckage flying across the room.

A thought nudged its way into Jess's mind and he discovered the ship had internal weaponry designed to repel attackers, the details unfolding into his mind from the ship. He quickly unleashed the defensive weapons against both robots, very aware that the fields were close to failing. Shields around each robot sparkled under the assault before collapsing. Jess then targeted the weaponry on each robot, knocking out their weapons. Once they were disarmed he reformed the fields to trap each robot into a small space. Strong though the robots were, the fields could take being physically pounded on all day. With their weaponry destroyed the robots were trapped.

Jess sent a quick message to Ali to tell her he was all right, that the robots were contained, then he rushed to where Sal lay. He found her blinking her eyes and starting to stand. He was hugely relieved to see her shield was still intact, if somewhat battered. He helped her to her feet and pointed towards the airlock. She nodded but when he set off for the driver she followed him instead. There wasn't time to argue.

The driver still lay slumped over the steering wheel, body convulsing. Her lips were starting to turn blue from the low air pressure. Jess grabbed one arm, Sal the other, and they dragged the woman off the buggy and down the corridor towards the airlock.

As soon as they entered the outer airlock door Jess closed it and ordered the ship to flood additional oxygen into the area. His shield turned off and he gasped down a breath of fresh air in relief. Sal dropped to sit on the floor and did the same. Jess glanced at the robot near them as it pounded on the walls of its prison, then he turned to the driver.

She still shook, and if anything her lips were more blue now. Jess grabbed the hood worn over her head and dragged it back, tearing at the material so he could see her neck, wondering if she was somehow choking on something. What he saw stunned him for a moment, then flooded him with anger. A control collar. The driver was a slave. No wonder her body was convulsing. She'd be dead pretty soon if the collar was left active. He reached for the ship, concentrating on the collar and his desire to get rid of it.

Electricity crackled from the floor across the device. The driver was directly in contact with the ship's surface making the process much less traumatic than when Jess's own collar had been removed. Within a second the lightning stopped and he was able to drag the collar clear. The woman stopped shaking but still wasn't breathing. Jess had seen it happen before – prisoners reacting so badly to the collar's effects that they died even after it was turned off.

The guards had never cared. This was different. He _did_ care. The ship's floor was already morphing shape around the woman, holding her in place as emergency medical devices grew onto and into her. Details started to flash into Jess's mind. Her heart had stopped but the oxygen levels in her blood were reasonably high so brain damage was unlikely to have occurred. Oxygen was flooded into her bloodstream and her blood pumped round by the ship's devices. Having secured her survival the ship got her heart going.

Confident that everything was under control Jess sent Ali a quick message to update her then sank down to sit on the deck himself, shaking with reaction to their exceptionally close call.

Moments later Ali came running from the flight deck, skidded to a halt at the sight of the robots hammering at their prisons, then rushed over to Jess. Dropping to the floor next to him she flung her arms around him, nearly knocking him over. Jess realised with a shock that she was shaking.

"That was too close," she said. "I thought I'd lost you. Lost both of you."

He returned her fierce embrace.

"For a moment there I did too. Those things were fast."

"Are we safe now? They still look dangerous. And what about the station?"

"I've put a good bit of space between us and the station, so far they haven't tried shooting at us and nothing has launched. The robots are contained but I'd like to deal with them soon. And we have our unexpected guest to talk to as soon as she recovers consciousness."

"Can we trust her? I know she shouted that warning but it was very late. Maybe she's a spy."

"I don't think so. She was wearing a control collar, similar to those used on Sal and I but with some changes. I don't think she could do anything. I broke the link between it and the station, and that's when she shouted. Don't worry, we'll be cautious with her. I might be slow, but I do learn eventually."

She pulled back a little and gave him a dazzling smile followed by a passionate kiss. Just as Jess started to relax into it several alerts flowed into his mind from the ship. Cursing he pulled back.

"Damn, that's bad timing. Three ships have just launched from the station. All three are touting some hefty weaponry and armour, they'll be tricky for us to deal with."

Sal shuffled over to them, still looking exhausted from her ordeal.

"There's no reason to stay, is there?" she asked. "Let's get out of here."

"We're too close to the station for any normal ship to be able to jump. We can reach jump distance in about twenty minutes. Those ships won't be close enough to attack us before we do, though I'm sure they'll follow us."

"We can deal with that when we need to. What about the robots? Do you need to destroy them?"

"No. I can deal with them. Well, the ship can. The damaged one should be salvageable too. Might as well get that started."

With a thought Jess told the ship to start tackling the robots. The floor around the two that were active flowed up, quickly encasing their legs. The substance flowed on, reaching their chests then immobilising their arms and finally their heads. Jess had been prepared for what happened but he saw Sal and Ali shivering at the sight. Even knowing it would happen he felt uncomfortable watching the humanoid shaped robots being swallowed by the ship's substance. A similar process took place with the damaged robot, though as it was already in parts on the ground it was much quicker. He followed the ships progress in dealing with the robots. The two still active soon had their control functions wiped. Then the ship set about modifying them. Improving everything from their brains and power systems to their weapons, armour and shielding.

The process would take some time, but at the end they would have two very powerful robots. No, three very powerful robots. The third was badly damaged, probably beyond normal repair, but the ship was rebuilding them from the ground up anyway. Apparently rebuilding a ruined robot wasn't against the rules governing the ship.

"There. It will take some time but the robots can be rebuilt and made loyal to us," he said. "While we still have a little time, I think we should wake our guest and offer her the chance to leave. I doubt she'll want to, especially as we'd have to send her off in a very minimal survival suit, but it needs to be done."

Both women agreed, so Jess had the ship confirm their guest was well enough to be woken. Most of the medical devices had withdrawn, the few remaining were embedded in her body and would be controlled remotely until they were no longer needed – then they would simply dissolve away. He instructed the ship to release its hold on her and to bring her around. She opened her eyes with a groan.

"Don't try to sit up," Jess said. "You need to take it easy. How are you feeling?"

"Rough. Like I've been out getting wasted all night."

Her voice was deep, her words clipped short. She stared at Jess for a moment.

"Damn but you look like Ethan. My nephew. Bit younger than him, though. Help me sit up, will you? I ain't planning on carrying on a conversation whilst laid out."

Sal helped the woman to a sitting position. Jess monitored her health closely via the ship but saw nothing to worry about.

"I can't see the ugly mugs of those bastards who sent me over with the bots so I guess something screwed with their plan."

"Yeah, we managed to get away. They don't seem too happy. They've sent three ships after us. You knew what their plan was then?"

"Sure. They didn't bother discussing it where I couldn't hear. I was just a prisoner. They'd stuck a collar on me which locked my muscles rigid if they wanted, or felt like it was burning its way through every bit of my body. Don't suppose you lot have ever had the pleasure of wearing one?"

"Just every day of my life until a week or so ago," Jess replied, smiling slightly.

"Oh," she grunted, taken aback. "Guess you know what I mean, then."

"Partly. I never heard of them being able to freeze anyone in place before." He turned to Sal. "Did you?"

"I'd heard rumours occasionally," Sal replied. "Nothing concrete though. If the guards used that function then it was either pretty rarely or well away from anyone I ever met. They seemed quite happy using the collars to inflict pain."

Jess turned back to their guest who'd listened to Sal and him intently.

"So what was the plan?" he asked.

"Pretty simple really. Get the robots into your ship, then have them kill or subdue everyone in there. Same trick they pulled on me a few weeks back. Took my ship, killed the other two members of my crew. Captured me, stuck the collar on and used me as a slave. I felt so bloody helpless sat on that buggy knowing the same was gonna happen to you. Then suddenly I was free. I could move, could talk, could warn you. I remember shouting, then the collar activated again... this time to punish me. The pain started but this time it didn't stop. I must have passed out. Next thing I remember is waking up here and seeing you lot."

Jess thought she was telling the truth. She seemed honest and the ship's monitoring of her backed that up.

"What happened to your ship?" he asked.

"No idea. Either they sold it or they've still got it, I guess. Not sure which thought is worse. Twenty years I'd had the old girl. Even named her after myself. The Queen Elizabeth."

"You're a queen?" asked Ali in surprise.

The woman laughed at that.

"No. I'm just plain old Elizabeth. The ship's the queen, not me. So, you know my name, how about telling me yours?"

Jess quickly introduced all three of them. He didn't go into details about where they were from or how they controlled a ship. Elizabeth was clearly intrigued but didn't press for information.

"I reckon I could stand now," she said.

With the help of Jess and Sal they got her to the nearest sofa. Jess activated a display, using it to show their current position and the three ships behind them. He explained the choices they could offer – stay on board when they jumped or leave in an escape suit.

"Not much of a choice, really," said Elizabeth. "If I leave then most likely I'll be picked up by that lot following you. Back to square one that'd be. And that's if they don't just blow me apart as they pass. Guess I'll be with you for a little while, till I can get somewhere safe at least. Ideally somewhere I've got some contacts so I can try and get my ship back."

Suddenly she stared intently at the screen.

"Hang on. Can you zoom in on the central ship? Thanks. What's it called? Unbreakable? Bollocks! That's the Queen Liz. I'd recognise my ship anywhere. That shape is far from standard. She was a salvage job, stitched together from three other ships. Not on the cheap, mind, I took the best bits of three different ships to make one damn good freighter that could really shift and packed a hell of a punch. Never felt as safe as I did aboard her. That's probably why I got careless. Now the bastards are chasing me in my own ship."

"They aren't closing on us fast enough to be a problem," said Jess. "Once we reach safe range from the station we'll jump."

"You know they'll follow you, don't you?" She asked, giving him a piercing stare. "However close they are when you jump that's how close they'll be at the other end, if not closer."

"I know. We've got a few tricks up our sleeve though. It shouldn't be a problem."

"If you say so. I didn't get a look at your ship but I'm guessing fighting isn't an option, seeing as you're leaving in such a hurry. As far as I can see it's fight now or fight later, though. At least later we'll be away from the station. If by some miracle we do win then they won't be sending anything else straight after you."

"I don't understand," said Ali. "Why are they doing this? Why did they attack us in the first place? They had a deal. We were ready to pay. What do they get out of this?"

"Bloody obvious ain't it?" Elizabeth asked. Then, seeing the shock and confusion on Ali's face, she continued in a softer tone. "Sorry. You've been through a lot in a short space of time. I'm not the most subtle person you'll meet. My crew was used to me being sharp, knew I meant nothing by it. What do they gain? Your ship. A ship, any ship, is worth a fortune. Forget whatever you were going to pay for those bots, that wouldn't even scratch the surface. The ship was the only thing they wanted. Any prisoners were a bonus, but not one they'd go out of their way to get.

"As to what they want now... I guess they want you dead, and quickly, before you get a chance to blow their little scheme. If you talk then there'll be no real proof, but their little operation would be watched much more closely. Maybe by the authorities, but definitely by those representing the other traders in the system. Rogues like that are bad for business, at least they are once word gets out. I reckon there's plenty who know what their game is and keep their traps shut."

"They won't try to take the ship again?" asked Jess.

"No. Too difficult. They'll be looking to pounce on you the moment you return to normal space. Damn my brain still feels fuzzy, should have asked before. Where's your captain? They should be hearing this too."

"That's me," said Jess.

She stared at him for a moment.

"Really? You're pretty young. Not the youngest Captain I know, though. So who've you got flying her right now?"

"Err... that would be me again. The ship is pretty automated."

"Three hostile ships closing on you and you're sitting down here?" She shook her head. "Well, you're the captain. Though I'm guessing there's a story behind that. One for later though. If there is a later."

# Chapter 20

The _Wanderer_ reached safe distance and jumped on time. The three chasing ships had closed the gap significantly and were only a few minutes away from engagement range when the _Wanderer_ jumped. Jess was surprised to see their pursuers jump at almost the same time, and mentioned it to the others.

"Safety margins," said Elizabeth. "The published safe distance is actually about ten percent more than is really needed. Cutting it fine like that is frowned upon, but I don't think they care about that."

Jess pulled up a display showing the _Wanderer_ and the three ships chasing them. Even in jump space they were far closer than he liked.

"We'll drop out in about fifteen minutes and take a different route. That'll put us out into deep space. Then we can pull a few of our tricks."

"I'd love to see them," said Elizabeth. "I've been around a lot a years and I ain't got anything we can use. Clever display, by the way. Estimating their position relative to us. Must have used the disturbance from them jumping to calculate it. Bit pointless really though, nothing's gonna change till we drop back to real space and we know they'll be right on us when that happens."

"I guess," said Jess, shrugging and trying to appear casual. If she hadn't guessed the scan was real time he wasn't going to tell her just yet.

As the time to drop into real space approached the four of them strapped into the flight deck. Sal had taken a seat in the back row, leaving Ali and Elizabeth to sit behind Jess. She said it was because Elizabeth had more experience in piloting and ship to ship combat. Jess suspected it had more to do with being in position to watch their new passenger.

When the moment came Jess dropped the _Wanderer_ into real space, wrenched it through a hard turn and jumped again, just as the chasing ships dropped into real space almost on top of them. He started to grin at the close call when alarms blared out across the flight deck and blasted into his mind. With a crunching wrench the _Wanderer_ crashed back into normal space. They were several minutes' flight in real space from where they'd started, but that still left them almost on top of their pursuers. Jess urged the ship to jump again but it couldn't. It felt as if the ship was mired in something sticky.

"What the hell happened?" shouted Sal.

"I don't know. We'd just got into jump space, then it was like we hit a wall. Now I can't get the ship to jump. Every time I try to use the jump engines it feels like we're stuck in something. I don't think we can jump."

"Tar pit," Elizabeth muttered to herself.

"What?" asked Jess.

"A tar pit. A jump space inhibitor. It's a device that disrupts jump space, prevents any ship in its radius from being able to make a jump. They're incredibly rare and the Empire has just about all of them. The rumours say no one knows how to make them, that they're so rare cos they've been salvaged off derelict spaceships. Most of the rumours say alien ships, unbelievable as that sounds."

"So that's what they've got? It couldn't be anything else?"

"Not that I know of."

"Any way to get away? To shut it down?"

"I don't know. It's not like these things are common. If you're fast enough you can outrun the ship it's on, get clear and jump. Otherwise you need to destroy it. If there's another way I don't know it."

"Looks like we fight then," Jess said grimly. "Any idea which ship it will be on?"

"It could be any of them, but..." She stopped and sighed. "It'll be the Queen Liz. She's significantly stronger than the other two ships. You'll have to destroy her."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you and me both. Guess I had the idea I'd get her back somehow, bloody unlikely though that was. Can you take her down?"

"I don't know," he answered, shrugging. "Maybe. Her shields are pretty strong and she packs a wallop. If the _Wanderer_ was at full strength then I'd say yes, easily. She's not though. Those other two ships will complicate things too, they'll be blasting us as we try to tackle your ship."

"Damn it. Bastards. Making me do this to my own ship. All right, there's a chance. A weakness in the shields. Bring her up on the display. Right... it's here. There's a small area in the shields that's far weaker than the rest, something to do with the way she was built from the three old ships. Been trying to fix it for years. Used to pray each time I got in a fight that nothing would find that spot. Nothing ever did. Just hitting it ain't good enough, though. You need to get the shot through to hit the reactors, here. The armour's strong there but if you can punch through it'll be goodnight folks."

Jess studied the image for a while, then nodded to himself.

"It's tight but we can do it. Dangerous, though. We'll be taking fire from all three ships. Anyone got a better idea?"

No one had. Jess swung the _Wanderer_ around sharply, curving back towards the pursuing ships. Now the closure time was measured in seconds instead of minutes and the other ships seemed to leap towards them. Mind heavily accelerated, Jess was able to keep track of the situation despite the massive closing speed. He had the _Wanderer_ performing basic evasive manoeuvres as they entered weapons' range, avoiding anything that would change their course significantly. He opened up with the ships weapons, targeting the leftmost ship, ignoring the Queen Elizabeth in the centre and the other ship.

The sudden change of course caught the pursuers flat footed. It was almost five seconds after entering weapons' range that the right most ship returned fire. The Queen Liz and the ship on the left followed suit soon after. The _Wanderer_ shook as its shields were pounded by return fire, but they held firm.

A virtual display in Jess's vision counted down to the critical shot. With five seconds to go it still looked good. Then alerts flew into his vision. All three ships had launched missiles. A lot of missiles. At such short range avoiding them would be nearly impossible, and they'd easily overwhelm the shields. There were almost fifty. With a curse Jess changed direction. He shoved the _Wanderer_ hard over to the left and downwards, dragging the missiles down towards their new course but ruining his chance of making the killer shot.

At three seconds the shields were struggling to hold out as the enemy poured fire into them at point blank range. The missiles had turned to their new interception path. Jess tensely watched as everything came together, trying to judge the right moment.

At two and a half seconds he threw the _Wanderer_ back up and right, clawing its way back towards the position it needed to make the critical shot. The missiles detected the new course and adjusted, but crucially the move slowed them a little more, lengthened the distance they had to travel slightly. Now they'd reach the _Wanderer_ just after the countdown finished instead of just before.

At two seconds Jess targeted some of the incoming missiles, managing to knock out the closest and buying them a few more tenths of a second. He kept the ship turning hard despite numerous hull stress warnings. Even so they'd only just be able to get into position for the shot before they flashed past.

At one second the _Wanderer_ 's shields were dangerously weakened. Jess desperately routed power into them everywhere he could, only sparing the weapons, thrusters and jump engines. With a sinking feeling he realised the Queen Elizabeth was rolling to bring more weapons to bear, and in doing so moving the weak area of shields away. He pushed the _Wanderer_ into an even tighter turn, ignoring both the critical stress warnings and the grunts from the others at the forces acting on them. If they didn't make the shot they'd be dead anyway. There were far too many missiles to take out and the shields were already close to collapse.

Half a second and they were still not going to make it. Jess shoved the ship over even harder. An alarm flared into existence warning of a hull breach in one cabin, air pressure dropping already. The ship sealed that cabin to prevent losing air from the rest of the ship.

At quarter of a second he thought they might be able to make it. A volley of enemy fire collapsed part of the _Wanderer_ 's shields for a moment, Jess registered it as a scalding pain across his shoulder. Damage signals flared amber but nothing was critically damaged, the shields had sapped the attack of almost all energy.

Two tenths of a second and the shields flickered back into life – just in time to deflect another pummelling. They held this time, but only barely. Pretty soon they were going to fail completely. Jess silently pleaded with the ship to hold together, to last just a little longer, to manage to make the cripplingly tight turn.

One tenth of a second and he started to think they'd make the shot. The shields were holding out somehow and the turn was going to get them in place just in time. Now there seemed to be a chance of making the shot he worried whether it would work, and if it did whether they could get clear. The closest missiles were estimated to strike only forty-two hundredths of a second after he could take the shot. What if he missed? What if it worked but the field took time to collapse? Realising there was nothing more he could do he shoved his worries down, focused completely on the impending shot.

Zero. He took the shot. Even with his mind accelerated the window during which the weak spot lay between the _Wanderer_ and the Queen Elizabeth's engines was fractional.

Zero plus five hundredths. He thought the shot had hit cleanly, a concentrated burst penetrating the armour. There was no sign of a reaction yet and jump space was still unreachable.

Zero plus ten hundredths. An explosion was starting to rip through the Queen Elizabeth, flaring out from her engines. Jump space remained impossible to reach. Jess targeted the closest missiles, managed to take three down which bought them another few hundredths of a second.

Zero plus nineteen hundredths. A volley of incoming fire caused the _Wanderer_ 's shields to fluctuate wildly. Jess could tell they couldn't take any more punishment.

Zero plus twenty-five hundredths. The Queen Elizabeth was being ripped apart by huge explosions. Jump space was still out of Jess's reach but felt different now, ripples flowing through the sense of stickiness the tar pit created.

Zero plus thirty-two hundredths. A volley of fire collapsed the _Wanderer_ 's shields for good, punching through and smashing into her hull. Forward sensors, all exposed on the outer hull, were knocked offline along with some weapons. Jess was suddenly nearly blind to the front of the ship. He knew the closest missiles would reach them in twenty-two hundredths of a second, if nothing else changed. Desperately he had the _Wanderer_ claw at jump space but it couldn't get a grip. The effects of the tar pit were dissipating but jump space was taking time to revert to normal.

Zero plus forty-two hundredths. They'd be dead already if Jess hadn't knocked out the first waves of missiles. It wasn't going to matter. They had at most twelve hundredths of a second to go.

Jess stopped watching the countdown, focusing everything he had on trying to find a way into jump space. Suddenly the jump engines found something to grip, a tiny stable patch amid the chaos. Without hesitating, Jess dragged them in. The ship bucked like a dinghy going over a waterfall, Jess heard at least one scream of pain from behind him. It was a short flight, less than two seconds later they were dumped back into real space again, the ship unable to stay in the twisting and compressing world of jump space any longer. It was enough. They were clear of the missiles, clear of the remaining two ships. Not massively so, only a few minutes of normal flight, but a breathing space.

Jess turned the _Wanderer_ directly away from the pursuing ships and piled on as much acceleration as the ship could handle without stressing it further. The shields were still offline, forward sensors and weapons were out of action and a number of structural warnings flashed despite the limited turn of speed. The hull breach had almost finished leaking the cabin's air. The room had automatically sealed. There wasn't anything else he could do. It was the cabin Ali had been using. Despite the situation the thought of sharing his cabin, his bed, with her flashed through his mind, causing a tightening in his chest.

A moment later it was gone as the two remaining enemies started to manoeuvre. The rear sensors were still intact, allowing him to monitor the ships closely. The _Wanderer_ 's brief jump had taken her well behind the two which now had to turn sharply to begin pursuit. They'd been quite slow to respond, allowing the distance to open up even further, but now they piled on all the power they had. Jess studied them closely for any sign they planned to jump, a move that could cross the distance in fractions of a second, but none came. The chaos unleashed by the tar pit's demise was still churning the structure of jump space, and the _Wanderer_ suggested ordinary ships couldn't make such a short jump.

Jess needed two things. Firstly, the shields to recover, at least to a basic level, as the ship was warning him of the dangers of any jump manoeuvre without shields. They'd got lucky before as far as he could tell, the short distance they'd travelled was the only reason they'd survived. Secondly, he needed jump space to settle so they could jump clear. Neither looked like happening in the immediate future so he turned to check on the others.

"Is everyone OK?" he asked. As the words left his mouth he realised they weren't. Sal was holding her left arm, its wrist on her lap but bent at an unpleasant angle, and her face was deathly pale. Elizabeth had a cut and the start of a large bruise on her temple. Ali had no obvious wounds but looked scared. None of them answered for a moment, each too stunned by what had happened.

"OK, stupid question," Jess continued. "We managed to destroy the tar pit and make a short jump but that's all we could manage. Jump space is still shaking around like crazy. The ship's pretty beat up but holding together... just about. Good news is we've put some space between us and the remaining two ships and it's going to take them at least another ten minutes to get in weapons' range. We've got time to get you patched up."

"Bugger that!" responded Elizabeth. "I've just had a knock on the head. Nothing's fallen off. I'm seeing this out right here."

Jess found himself leaning away from the force of her statement. Rather than push the point, something he found himself slightly scared to do, he focused on Sal.

"Sal, your wrist is badly hurt. I think it must be broken. We need to get you to the medical bay."

Sal continued to stare into the distance for a few moments before she seemed to take in what he'd said. Her eyes slowly focused on Jess.

"Not a chance."

She barely spoke above a whisper. Jess shuddered inside at the pain in her voice.

"Staying here... want to... see this through," Sal gasped out. "If... I'm gonna... die... I want... to see... it coming."

He opened his mouth to argue then stopped himself. The ship was in bad shape, they couldn't jump yet and the other two ships were closing fast. Maybe they were going to die here. He put himself in Sal's position and realised he'd do the same. They'd both spent all their lives shut away, kept from knowing what would happen to them, from controlling their own fate.

"If we're going to die you want to face it free?" he asked gently.

"Yes!" she gasped out, smiling through the pain.

"I understand. Please let the ship give you a something for the pain, though. Just something local, it won't make you sleep."

She studied him for a moment then nodded, too exhausted to speak. Jess had her seat morph out to wrap around her arm just above the damaged wrist, securing it in place. It blocked all feeling from the wrist and hand then injected several chemicals to help boost her body and ward off shock. She relaxed immediately, still looking pale and exhausted but without the aura of intense pain. Jess smiled at her and she smiled back tiredly. Then he turned to Ali.

"Ali, are you hurt?" he asked.

"No. I'm not hurt. It's just..."

She stopped, unable to continue. Tears forming in her eyes. Jess reached out and took her hand in his, squeezing hard.

"It's all right to be scared. I was terrified, really, and I had loads to distract me. You just had to sit there and watch, and put up with my poor flying."

She held his hand tightly, grabbing it with her other hand too, and smiled at his poor attempt at humour.

"Maybe, but you were linked into the ship. That means it seemed to last much longer for you than it did for me. But your flying _was_ pretty awful. If I had any belongings in my room they'd be all over the floor now."

"Ah – not exactly. Actually they'd be floating through space. We had a hull breach in your cabin."

As he said it he cursed himself, he'd meant it as a flippant remark to cheer her up instead he saw the fear return to her face.

"Hull breach? My god, is the ship going to break apart?"

"No, no. Sorry. It's not that bad. We had to really pull some sharp turns and the structure gave way there. The room is completely sealed. We can't use it but there's no danger."

"Oh smooth Jess... real smooth." Sal's voice wasn't strong but was much improved, the booster meds and the lack of pain already making a big difference. "Sorry babe, your cabin's got a hole into space. You'll have to share with me."

Jess immediately felt himself turning bright red. He tried to answer but choked instead. Ali started to blush too, stared at him as he choked, then burst out laughing. Elizabeth was smiling too. Jess buried his head in his hands.

"I give up. There's nothing I can say to that, is there?"

"Smart boy!" said Elizabeth. "Quit while you're a long way behind."

Jess looked up and smiled fondly at Ali and Sal. He still felt embarrassed, and knew this type of teasing would always continue, but he was starting to feel more comfortable with it. They were teasing him, no more. He realised he actually quite enjoyed it in some ways.

The laughter had reduced the tension. Sal was no longer in pain, though still clearly badly hurt, and Ali seemed less nervous. A grim determination settled over them all, a desire to face whatever was coming head on. Jess brought up a display showing the _Wanderer_ and the following ships, together with an estimate of when they would enter weapons' range. While still minutes away, the time was ticking down quickly. The ship's shields were still offline and jump space was rapidly settling down.

"Jumps will be possible again soon," Jess said quietly. "Still nothing from the shield generators. The ship is trying to repair them but they took a real beating."

"What do we do if they manage to jump?" asked Ali. "They'll be right on top of us. Do we try to fight? Try to dodge? Blow up the ship and try to take them down? Can we try to jump without shields?"

Elizabeth winced. "A jump without shields is suicide. How the hell we survived that last one I don't know. We can't have been in jump space for more than a second or two. Anything more and the ship would be ripped apart. Though... they might never know what had happened to us. The wreckage would be spread across a huge area. At least we could inconvenience the bastards, make them go searching for us."

"It's a choice," Jess said. "Fighting isn't, unless someone wants to stand in the airlock and throw things at them. Same goes for trying to evade them, the ship just can't take any more stressful manoeuvres – she'd tear apart. Overloading the engines is a possible, but they'd have to be pretty close for us to take them down. I doubt they'll make things that easy for us."

"I vote for making a jump," said Ali. "At least we'll be escaping, kind of."

"Me too," said Sal.

"Works for me," added Elizabeth.

Jess nodded.

"That's agreed then," said Elizabeth. "We've only just met, but I have to say I like you folks. You've got spirit."

"I'm sorry," said Jess, overwhelmed as the reality of the situation finally hit. Tears starting to fall. "I should have avoided this. I should have found a way to get us through without losing the shields. I should have..."

He broke off as Ali's open hand rushed towards his cheek. At the last moment she slowed it, delivering a pat rather than a full on slap. Then she grabbed his face with both hands.

"What did I tell you about taking on too much responsibility?" she asked him, eyes locked on his. "You did your best. That's more than enough."

He grinned sheepishly, went to answer then jumped as an alarm blared out both in his head and out loud in the flight deck.

"What is it?" asked Sal urgently. "Have they jumped?"

"No," answered Jess with a huge grin. "We've got shields back. Minimal shields. Really, really low power, but the ship confirms they'll be enough to keep us safe during a jump and that it can maintain them. Let's get ready to get out of here."

The others stared at him in disbelief for a few seconds, then whoops of joy rang out. He turned the ship, aiming towards the nearest star other than the system they were fleeing. Aiming right towards it, a collision course. He stretched out with the ship's senses, judging the state of jump space around them. While still turbulent he was pretty sure they could make a jump stick, then twenty or thirty seconds' flight would take them far beyond the disruption. Still he held on, wanting to be sure.

His mind was made up as one of the ships pursuing them started to shoot at the _Wanderer_ , still at extreme range but a few lucky shots could take the _Wanderer_ 's shields down again. Already linked to the ship Jess's reactions were near instantaneous. He launched the _Wanderer_ into jump space, desperately hoping they could ride out the remaining disruption.

It was milder this time, still rough but controllable. Fifteen seconds into the jump the shaking slackened to a mild vibration. Twenty seconds in and jump space around them was completely normal.

The two enemy ships had jumped almost immediately. The scanner showed them coasting along behind the _Wanderer_ , matching its speed as all ships in jump space did. Almost all at least.

"Well they're right behind us and we can't shake them off in jump space," said Elizabeth. "I'm looking forward to seeing what you've got up your sleeves. I'm an old dog but I still like learning new tricks."

Jess turned and grinned at her.

"Well," he said. "We can do this..."

He had the _Wanderer_ slew to the right, swinging round to a heading ninety degrees away from their original course. The other enemy ships soon shot past, still on course for the star and waiting to see the distinctive patterns as the _Wanderer_ ripped a hole back into real space.

Elizabeth's jaw dropped. For several moments she was speechless. Finally she found her voice.

"That's... that's not bloody possible! No ship can do that! You're screwing around with me, ain't you?" Jess noticed that her speech became even more clipped when she got agitated.

"No. It's for real," he answered. "Don't ask me how, I don't have a clue, but it's on the level. Our friends will be chasing after where they think we've gone till they give up and figure we went straight into the star. Or maybe they'll push it too far and get fried themselves. Either way, they're not our problem now."

"That's one hell of a trick! What's next? Pulling a rabbit out of a hat?"

"What's a rabbit?" asked Jess.

"What's a rabbit? Really? Small fluffy animals kids love for about two weeks then ignore?"

Jess shrugged. "I grew up a slave. We didn't see many animals. Those we did were normally treated better than us. Anyway, my next trick is finding somewhere quiet to stock the ship up on raw materials. It can manage some critical repairs, but that's all. We need to sort the _Wanderer_ out before taking on anyone else that doesn't like us, which seems to be an ever growing list."

They studied the local charts and found a star a few hours flight away which had an asteroid belt and virtually no human presence. The belt was too sparsely populated for commercial exploitation, but with the _Wanderer_ 's ability to scan real space as it flew past in jump space they could quickly locate useful targets.

# Chapter 21

With the flight to the asteroid belt under the ship's control they set about patching up Sal and Elizabeth, then started to relate their stories to their new visitor. Explaining the ups and downs since their escape from slavery, how they'd encountered Ali, and then Matt's betrayal and their escape. They held nothing back, she'd already seen several amazing things that the ship could do, and would see it repair and rebuild itself once they reached the asteroids. There weren't any other secrets.

"That's quite a story," Elizabeth said as they finished. "If I hadn't seen some of it for myself I'd doubt it was true. This ship is amazing! Truly incredible!

"You've been completely honest with me, now I need to do the same with you. There's one thing I want and one thing only... a ship. Don't worry, not this one. I couldn't control it anyway and I think it's going to catch a lot of attention wherever it goes. No, I want a new ship. The Queen Elizabeth Two, I guess.

"I don't expect you to do anything illegal or even to go too far out of your way, but I think you need my help for a while. You're all far too... how can I put it... trusting. Too straight. You don't know enough about the world out here to avoid getting stung. I can help with that. And at some point I'm pretty sure we'll come across a ship. One we liberate from pirates, one we find abandoned, something like that. Or maybe we'll put together enough money to buy one, though only if one of those asteroids turns out to be pure gold."

"I'm curious," said Sal. "How did you get the Queen Elizabeth? Did you inherit her?"

Elizabeth smiled at them, sat back in her chair and took a deep drink of her beer.

"Well now, that's a story. No, I didn't inherit her. I used to wait tables in a star port dive. Years ago, when I was young. I wasn't stunning but I could turn a head or two, especially as I mostly wore short skirts and tight tops. That got me a lot more tips, though a lot more hassle too.

"Then one day there's this guy in there drinking. Casual looking, cleaner than most in that place. Had a man mountain sitting next to him that could only be a bodyguard. I get him his drinks a few times then he asks me when I finish, if I'd like to join him for a drink. I'm a little uncertain but he seems OK, and he's kinda good looking. I figure why not. My shift ended half hour before anyway, so I join him straight away.

"Pretty soon he's got me drinking the hard stuff. Cocktails with vodka, gin, whisky and god knows what else. Glasses of champagne too. He says he's heading off to the casino, would I like to go? His shout, he says, and I can keep what I win.

"I'm young, carefree, and this is the most excitement I'd had in months. I say yes. We get in his car, a limo no less, and head to the casino. Now this is where I expect him to get frisky, hands everywhere and pushing his luck. He doesn't. He keeps charming me, telling me how beautiful I am, but behaves like a gentlemen. I'm almost disappointed when we reach the casino. I'd have quite liked a bit of fun in the back of a limo.

"So, the casino. More drinks, lots of games of chance. Then we end up in a private room at the back and he makes his proposal. He really likes me he says. Really, really likes me. Wants me so bad he's fit to burst. I'm expecting him to say he wants me on the poker table right there, and I'm pretty sure I'll say yes. What he actually says totally throws me. He wants to gamble. Best of eleven games of Cartash, a form of poker, one we'd been playing earlier and I'd done pretty well at.

"If I win I get money. A huge amount of money. I'm talking several billion here, enough to buy a ship and that's a dream I've had for years without any hope of achieving it. Then there's the catch. If I lose I get to walk out with twenty thousand, still twice what I earn in a year. I get to walk out in the morning. If he wins then he gets to have me all night. Nothing kinky, nothing painful, just normal sex. I wonder if he's joking, about the stakes if I win and the stakes if he does, till a lawyer walks in with a contract to sign. Casino manager is there too, and he swears on a secure recording to make good if Mr Rich doesn't.

"I kinda get it then. Mr Rich could have me quite easily. I'd taken a liking to him and screwing him in the limo or a plush hotel suite would have been fun. He knows that too. He wants the control, the feeling of having won me, of having owned me for the night. Twenty thousand if I lose is good money, but I know I'll hate myself for it. Sleeping with him now would feel shitty.

"But if I won... the money was crazy. I could live my dream, buy a ship. I'm pretty damn drunk too, which clouds my judgement. I say yes, sign the contract, and we sit down to start playing. This variation of poker is for two people. You take turns to be the dealer. I start.

"It's still pretty early in the evening but we've been drinking since lunchtime. Thinking about it, I've been knocking back a lot more than him. I start to realise he's done this before, probably loads of times. Gets the girl drunk so she's gonna make mistakes. I lose the first three games and realise it's more than that. His money is never at risk cos he cheats. A lot. He must be running inserts calculating all the odds, telling him the ideal move, tracking the cards. He can't lose the bet.

"Let me rephrase that. He can't lose the bet in an honest game. Bad news for him is that I can cheat better than him. I start slipping cards off the deck while I shuffle them. I'd spent months working a casino as a dealer. Not cheating the punters, it was a legit place, but the casino taught us how to cheat so we could spot every trick that might be used on us.

"I win four of the next five games. He pretty soon realises what I'm doing, but he can't catch me at it and he can't say anything without giving away his own cheating. That's the only way he can know I'm not being incredibly lucky. So now it's four each, three games to play. I win the next and consider letting him win one more, drawing it out to the final game, giving him some hope. Then I think screw it and nail him into the floor with the next hand.

"He looks like he's going to have a heart attack as I win. For a moment I can see him considering refusing to pay up, then he realises he's stuck, caught by his own contract. We both stand and he nods to me, congratulates me. I move close to him, smiling, press my body against his then whisper in his ear. ' _Next time pay for a whore, you arsehole,'_ I say. ' _We slutty waitresses are too damn good for you_.'

"He moves to hit me. Damn lucky for him his bodyguard stopped him. He's outta there almost straight away leaving his lawyer, and a bank manager turns up from somewhere. Suddenly I'm absolutely loaded. Next day I started the search for a ship. Late the next day. One of the waiters in the casino was damn sexy. We hired a limo and spent the night screwing in the back. It turned out to be every bit as good as I expected."

She settled back with a satisfied smile. Jess knew his cheeks were red, Sal was laughing delightedly and Ali was grinning too, though she had a slight flush at the explicit ending. Jess tried hard not to meet her eyes.

"Did you ever see him again?" asked Sal.

"No, though I heard he tried his tricks a couple more times that month. I'd put the word round though. I could certainly afford to. Everyone working in a bar or restaurant or anywhere else he'd be likely to hit on knew his game. One girl he picked up had a great time at his expense, then laughed in his face when he suggested the bet. The other turned round and told him she knew she'd lose, she thought he was really cute so they might as well go straight to bed. Completely ruined it for him apparently. He was out the club and into his limo in under a minute, leaving her with all the chips on the table. She quickly cashed them in then went on a year-long cruise with the proceeds. Never heard of him after that, he most probably tried his luck in a different area or on a different planet. Or we shook him up enough he saw a shrink and got himself straightened out. Somehow I doubt it, though.

"So you know my history. Some of it, at least. And you know what I want. Question is, do you want my help? Do you trust me? I'll completely understand if you don't after what you've been through."

"Do you want to stay?" asked Sal. "At least until you can get a ship?"

"Yes. Yes, I do. I like you, I like what you're planning. I've never been that happy about slaves but couldn't do anything about it, at least that's what I told myself. Spending some time wearing one of those collars made me think a lot. I want my own ship and when I get that I want to go back to my old life – flying, trading, enjoying life. I'll look at things differently, though, watch for chances to help reduce slavery, even if it's just dropping a word into the right ear. Until then I'd love the chance to help you out and teach you to look after yourselves."

"That's good enough for me," said Sal. "You tried to warn us when the robots were being delivered, just about got yourself killed for doing it too. I trust you."

"I agree," said Jess. "Without your warning those robots would have been even closer to the ship when they attacked. We might easily have been overwhelmed, lost the ship."

"Me too," added Ali. "You helped us survive the tar pit too, even though it meant destroying your own ship."

"Looks like I'm part of the team." Elizabeth smiled at them all, then took a deep breath and became serious again. "I appreciate that and I hate to do this to you but... you need a reality check.

"First off, getting any prisoners out from Iona will be tough, no matter how good those robots are when the ship rebuilds them. You ask for a select few prisoners and you give away a huge advantage. Those prisoners immediately become hostages, giving the station power over you. And when you're busting them out other prisoners will try to get free too, maybe shoving those you want to save out the way to do it.

"So you need to plan for getting _all_ the prisoners. That's going to be a nightmare to organise, there will probably be thousands. There's no way this ship can take that many. You've told me it will change as it takes on resources, that it can grow larger. Can it grow enough to take thousands of passengers?

"And if it can, how do you get them off the station? They'll be spread out across the station. Airlock corridors are limited in size. The flow through one is slow. You really need shuttles, lots of them. Send them to multiple locations and bring the prisoners out in small groups.

"Next... you aren't going to save everyone, and you aren't going to do this without blood on your hands, some of it from the prisoners you're trying to save. Bastards in charge overall will be ruined if you pull out all the prisoners, they'll fight to the last. They'll even send prisoners at you using some cock and bull story to convince them to fight. You need to get your message to the prisoners and the lower grades of employees. Make them realise that the only thing you want is to free the slaves and get clear. Then they'll be less likely to fight, or fight so hard.

"More bad news... you ain't gonna fix anything. Yeah, you'll free these slaves, but the station will just get more. They may start by making the current managers slaves for their failure, but the rest of the replacements will be ordinary folk, just more slaves. If you destroy the station then its markets will still be there. Another complex will set up, complete with new slaves, or existing ones will step up their production, which again means more slaves.

"Lastly you'll be making some damn powerful enemies. If they find out where the slaves are returned to they'll follow and enslave everyone, destroy everything. All to make a point. There'll be a price on your heads so large you'll consider turning yourselves in.

"Sorry, but like I said – I spent a lot of time thinking about this while I was a prisoner. You want to stop slavery? Topple the Empire, put something in its place that is just and will outlaw slavery."

Jess and the others sat stony faced. Jess's stomach felt like it had sunk through the floor. Sal looked shocked and Ali was close to tears.

"Hey, it's not all bad," said Elizabeth. "OK it's tough, but we can crack it. And we might not stop slavery as a whole but you'll be making an amazing difference to those you do rescue. Best thing is to tackle it in small steps. First off, get this ship patched up then see how much space it can create. Then we can work on the next part of the plan."

# Chapter 22

To Jess's great relief the ship held together till they reached their destination and identified a suitable asteroid. He'd managed to coax the ship into getting one laser working. Settling the ship only twenty metres from the asteroid, he set to work vaporising small sections which the ship could use its fields to retrieve. It was painfully slow going to begin with, and he had to balance shoring up the structure of the ship with trying to speed up the mining operation. Having the ship sat so close meant using the laser sparingly, a lesson he learnt the hard way when superheated vapour crashed into the shields, nearly overwhelming them.

Elizabeth's idea of creating independent shuttles for the prisoner rescue had stuck with him. Now he found himself thinking in new ways about the problems they faced. The ship needed significant repairs and rebuilding before he could mine from further away, but a small drone craft was another matter. While the critical hull repairs were underway he linked to the ship and refined the idea. He soon realised that one drone wasn't going to work and shifted to the idea of using three. Each drone was essentially just an engine and a shield projector. Soon he moved the ship several hundred metres out from the asteroid and deployed the three drones.

"What's wrong?" asked Sal. "Do we need to stop mining?"

"Watch this!" Jess replied, grinning.

Bringing up a display showing the asteroid and the drones he fired the mining laser, letting it run far longer than had been possible while close in to the asteroid. Vaporised rock jetted out and he used the three drones to create a triangular tunnel, each drone projecting one side. The vapour rushed down the tunnel towards the ship. His grin faded to embarrassment as almost all the vapour escaped through the sides of the tunnel, through small gaps where the shields overlapped. Sal and Ali fell about laughing, pointed at his face then laughed even harder. He scowled at them.

"Ignore them!" Elizabeth said, standing behind him and putting a hand on his shoulder. "You didn't get it quite right, but that's a great idea. You just need to tighten them up a bit. You should actually be able to embed the shields in each other slightly. That'll prevent any losses."

"Thanks. Let me try that..."

"One more bit of advice... if you're going to make a song and dance about something make sure you've tested it out on the quiet first. You kinda set yourself up for a fall there."

She squeezed his shoulder again, taking any sting out of her words. Trying to ignore Sal and Ali's continuing laughter, he focused on fusing the three shields together. As Elizabeth had said it was possible to do it, though as the fields merged the resistance soon became too strong to push any further. He fired the laser again, just a short pulse this time, and smiled as the vaporised components of the asteroid were channelled directly to the ship. Soon the mining was coming along at a much faster rate. Sal and Ali continued to make the occasional reference to his initial failure but were mostly busy working with him to prioritise repairs.

Soon another laser was operational and he built another three drones, channelling the raw materials back along another pipeline. One unexpected result of the method was that the asteroid slowly started to move away and tumble – pressure from the superheated vapour shoving on it even as the gases rushed down the tunnels. Jess had the _Wanderer_ keep pace and tried to prevent the tumbling by mining on opposite sides.

A few hours, and three more sets of drones, later the asteroid was nearly gone. Jess used the final materials to create mount points on the hull to hold the various drones and they set off in search of another.

Jess probed the ship to see how many drones and other vehicles separate from the ship itself the _Wanderer_ could control. The first response was a warning – the range the drones could operate at was limited, though still quite considerable. He queried why and received a very similar image to that explaining why the ship wouldn't create robots. It made sense when he thought about it – once again the ship could make a single person massively powerful. If the automated vehicles could operate far from the ship's control whole systems could be enslaved.

He queried the maximum number again and received a confusing answer. Initially the answer seemed to be around twenty, he couldn't count all the images in time, then the number increased but something else was growing in step with it. With a jolt he realised it was the _Wanderer_ – not the ship but the machine intelligence at its heart. The number of drones could be increased greatly but the controlling intelligence would also have to grow.

He got the impression that these were new ideas for the ship, areas it hadn't ever considered before. He felt quite pleased at having surprised the ancient ship, at making it think in a new way. The image showing the number of drones which could be controlled increased, then suddenly stopped growing. A new element was shown in the vision, a limiting element. Jess himself. The ship was warning him that he would become the bottleneck.

It made sense, he thought. Even with his mind accelerated there had been times in battle he'd felt nearly overwhelmed, with too many things happening at once or close together. He didn't need to control each and every drone, but he had to provide the overall guidance. There had to be a limit.

Picturing an assault on a mining complex he knew they'd need more than he could control, especially while also flying the ship and handling the robots. As well as shuttles, he thought creating combat drones which were all engine, shield and weapon would be necessary. The ship was making it clear that ultimate control for all the autonomous creations had to rest with him, that it would refuse to provide the overall guidance for them. He added the problem to the ever-growing list of things to worry about that he couldn't think of a solution to yet.

Two days later the four of them gathered in the living area. Jess thought the others looked tired, not surprising given the efforts to restore the ship and the limited sleeping space. With Ali's cabin unusable the sofas had been turned into temporary beds at night.

"So how are we doing?" asked Sal.

Jess glanced at the other three in turn. Sal sat on the other sofa to him, Elizabeth perched on that sofa's arm and Ali sat beside him, not touching but close enough to be distracting in a very pleasant way.

"Very well," he said. "We're about halfway through mining the third asteroid. Most of the damage to the ship is repaired now. Shields are at full strength, weapons are all back online, sensors repaired and thrusters fully operational. If we have to fight we're in the best shape we've been in for some time. The ship is mostly just storing the materials we mine now, ready for the redesign... which we need to finish."

He called up the designs showing the ship as it was and as they planned it to be, unfinished as that was. The difference was startling. The new design was much larger. roughly ten times as long, seven times as wide and with five decks instead of one.

A significant proportion of the design was driven by the additional size. Thrusters and manoeuvring jets had to be much larger to keep the ship as nimble as before. The internal structure had to be able to withstand far higher stresses due to the size and weight they'd be throwing around. Powerful inertial damper fields were added to reduce the strain on the ship, and to prevent the people on board from being crushed by those manoeuvres. Far more shield generators were needed just to maintain the same level of protection, and Jess had actually chosen to significantly upgrade the shields' power. Point defence lasers were added across the hull to take out missiles or fighters that got too close. The number and size of the engines were increased massively to cope with the additional power requirements.

That still left nearly two hundred times as much space free as they'd had before. Some of it was taken by hangars for the drones and shuttles, as well as storage of supplies for future repairs or production. The remainder was turned over to areas to house up to a couple of thousand people comfortably, or up to five thousand in minor discomfort. This included the cabin space, toilets, food dispensers, life support, medical areas and access corridors tying them all together.

"I want to add more drones and shuttles, a lot more, but I won't be able to control them. Do you have any ideas?"

Ali raised her hand and patted the side of his cheek, her way of telling him he was trying to do everything himself again. He much preferred it to the full on slap she'd first used. This time he was confused, though.

"I'm not trying to do it all myself!" he protested. "I'm asking you for ideas."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Yes, but you aren't thinking still. You can't control any more, why don't we?"

He stared at her for a moment then frowned.

"You'd need a full set of inserts like mine. The ship won't do that."

"No. The ship won't let us have the link with it that you've got, won't allow more than one captain. Can it give us enough of a connection to just control the shuttles, drones and robots?"

Jess's frown grew deeper.

"I see what you mean. That's a pretty hard question to ask, let me try... no. The ship won't accept the idea."

"Are you sure? You said it was tricky to put across. Try changing the way you ask."

He nodded then did as she asked. Another two efforts met the same refusal. Disheartened, he tried once more. This time he got a strange reaction, not a rejection but a blip of interest. He pushed the idea again and the ship's mind seemed to shimmer against his for a moment. When it finished he was aware of a difference to the connection, a whole area of information was available that hadn't been there before. Accessing it felt like walking through a long forgotten museum. In some strange way there was a sense of neglect and disuse, though that sense was fading quickly as the ship integrated the new knowledge.

"Something's happened! I seem to have triggered some extra functions. Yes, it's possible to do what you want. In fact I think it's how the ship was first designed, or how it was configured long, long ago. It feels like the ship hasn't accessed those areas for thousands of years. It feels more complete now, I'm getting a stronger sense of personality from the ship than before."

"Are we safe?" asked Sal. "How much has it changed?"

"Completely safe. It's still the same personality but more... complete. It still requires a single person in overall charge, the captain, which is me. There's much more knowledge here than just how to link others in to control drones and remote ships. It's going to take days to work through it all."

"You've got the time," said Elizabeth. "We're gonna be stuck here mining for at least another couple of weeks."

"Right. Well the process seems to be quite simple. It is similar to what happened to me, but a little less complex and with much more restricted access to the ship. You'll get some ability to accelerate your thoughts and the ship assures me the control is all one way – nothing will be able to control or influence you through the link. Not even me."

"Great, when can we start?" Ali asked, eyes bright. "I'm fed up feeling useless every time we get into trouble."

"Straight away, if you're sure. Having control of more drones will speed up the mining. You're absolutely certain?"

"Yep. Absolutely. Besides, I can get rid of it in the future can't I?"

Jess quickly checked with the ship. He realised that in all the time since his own implants were inserted he hadn't once asked that question, hadn't once considered the possibility of being separated from the ship voluntarily.

"Yes. Yes you can. It takes a few minutes for the structure to dissolve and be flushed out but the process is painless."

"Right then – count me in."

"You can count me out!" Elizabeth said firmly. "Sorry, but I don't want nothing messing with my head. Don't care how safe it is, it's a no. Not in a million years."

Jess was surprised by the strength of her feelings but didn't feel he could argue. The idea of the implants had become normal to Sal, Ali and him, while to Elizabeth it was a new and shocking concept.

"Sal, how about you?" he asked.

She didn't seem to hear him, lost deep in thought. He was about to speak again when she looked up, meeting his eyes.

"It's hard. It reminds me of the control collar. Something artificial intruding into every part of my life. I know it's not the same at all but..."

She trailed off helplessly, unable to put her thoughts into words. Taking a deep breath, she spoke again.

"Is it safe, Jess? Really? Will I be free still? Will I be me?"

Jess stood and walked over to her, kneeling on the floor and taking her hands in his. Her obvious uncertainty stripped the years from her, made her seem much closer to his own age.

"Sal, I would never, ever do anything to hurt you. You're like family to me now. We've been through so much already and we share memories of life as prisoners. I promise this is safe. You will be completely free. If anything more free than you are now. You'll have the power to control shuttles, drones and robots."

She stared at him for a while, eyes roving his face, looking for something. Whatever it was, she must have found it.

"OK Jess. I trust you. Let's do it."

"Now?"

"Yes, now. Where do we need to be?"

"You'll be stuck in place for ten to twelve hours, though you'll soon be able to start controlling drones so you won't be bored. I think the medical bay would be best."

"Right, let's go."

Once Sal and Ali were comfortable the ship started to build the interfaces to their minds. It was strange watching the web building, not only on the outside but viewing the strands penetrating deep into their brains. A shiver went down his spine at the thought he'd been through the same process.

Once he was happy both were taking the implants without complications he left the room. Elizabeth had begged off watching the process, saying the idea made her feel queasy. She sat on a sofa studying the plans to transform the ship. Jess gave her a quick update on the situation, then started working with the ship to create enough drones for Ali and Sal to control.

Not long after he was surprised by a tickling feeling running through his mind. Following the source he felt another presence alongside that of the _Wanderer_. He reached out towards it, pushing a sense of comfort and safety. The reply sent his mind spinning. It was Ali and a deluge of feelings from excitement to wonder to fear crashed over him. After a few moments his experience dealing with the ship allowed him to filter out the worst extremes and send a message back asking her to calm down, stop sending so much. The answering reply had a strong tinge of ruefulness but was much more controlled. Then another presence appeared, broadcasting tension and worry, and Jess went through the same process with Sal.

With suggestions from the ship's mind they were soon communicating rapidly using a mixture of speech, images, sensations and ship-built structures such as scans, charts, flight plans and more. It wasn't telepathy, but it was far more than simple conversation. Emotional overtones tinged their communications. Sal's often carried a protective feel, a desire to look after Ali and Jess. Ali's messages to Jess varied – sometimes amused, sometimes caring, often with a warm element he could only interpret as a hug. Occasional flashes of something stronger and far more intimate, something he knew he was leaking the other way too. Each time it happened Sal's messages gained a deep sense of amusement, while Ali leaked embarrassment.

After twenty minutes or so Jess reluctantly left them to it. He needed sleep and they had the mining operation well in hand. He would take over when he woke up, giving them a chance to rest.

"How's it going?" asked Elizabeth when she saw him stretching and blinking.

"Fine. Good." He yawned. "Sorry. They are both handling it very well. I'm going to get some rest, leave them to it. They'll be stuck in the medical bay for a good few hours yet, so the other cabins are free if you need to sleep."

"Sounds good. I don't sleep much these days, but I'll grab three or four hours."

Jess went to his cabin. He expected to fall asleep immediately but instead found himself worrying. Memories of Matt's betrayal flashed across his mind, mixed with concerns over Elizabeth. If she was going to try something this would be the time, he realised. Sal and Ali were stuck where they were and he'd be asleep.

Feeling disgusted with himself, he locked the door to the medical bay and sealed his own door, adding alarms to each. Elizabeth had done nothing to warrant his suspicions, but he couldn't help himself. Memories of waking in a cell after Matt had drugged him kept returning, despite the monitoring his implants now ran to warn him. Locking the doors helped but didn't erase the worries. He finally fell into a restless sleep.

# Chapter 23

Jess woke to a blow on his head and a deep voice shouting at him. Another blow was accompanied by more shouting to get on his feet. He rolled over to get up only to get a kick to the stomach. Winded and dizzy he collapsed back to the floor. Suddenly hands grabbed him, dragged him and helped him to stand.

He gasped his thanks to the other prisoners, warily watching the guard to see if the beating would continue. Not this time. He'd seen another prisoner who hadn't stood up yet. A boot to her side made her roll over. Jess stared... it was Ali! His brain was sluggish from the blow it had taken but the sight of Ali being assaulted poured molten fire through his veins. Screaming at the guard he rushed forwards, tackling the man just as he was about to deliver another kick, dragging him to the floor.

The rest of the prisoners scattered to the edges of the cell, crouching down with hands on their heads, desperately trying to avoid the punishment they knew was coming. Three other guards ran over and grabbed Jess, dragging him off, then laying into him with the heavy clubs they carried. Then two of them held Jess, partly restraining him but mostly holding him upright. The beating didn't hurt as much as he knew it should have. He wondered if his skull had been cracked.

The guard he'd attacked stepped in close, drew his gun and pointed it at Jess's head. Then, shaking his head, he lowered it, pointing it at where Ali still lay on the floor.

"No! No, don't!" Jess screamed out. "Please... shoot me, don't shoot her!"

The guard grinned at Jess then pulled the trigger. Once, twice, three times. Each shot struck Ali in the chest, making her body writhe. Jess felt as if each shot had hit him instead. Ali's wounds hurt him far more than his own beating had. Then the guard fired once more, into her head. Jess screamed as the shot rang out...

He jerked upright, scream still echoing around his cabin. The bedclothes were in a tangled mess around him, dripping with sweat. His heart was pounding and his breathing ragged. Desperately he reached out for the ship, checking the status of Sal and Ali. Both were still safely in the medical bay, busy controlling the mining operation. Elizabeth was in the living room watching a vid.

Checking the time he saw he'd been asleep a little over five hours. Knowing he wouldn't get to sleep again he used the shower, washing off the night's sweat and putting on clean clothes before heading into the living room. Despite the time and the shower he still carried a huge knot inside his chest, the dream had been so real and far too close to his fears.

"You look terrible," Elizabeth said. "What happened?"

"Bad dream," he muttered, heading for the food dispenser to get a strong coffee. "Really bad dream."

"Want to talk about it?"

He got his drink, then sat on the sofa beside her, uncertain whether to share his fears or dismiss them. He realised he couldn't keep quiet, that he needed to talk. In a quiet voice he started to recount his dream, his voice growing strained and cracking several times towards the end. When he finished Elizabeth pulled him into a hug. That was the final straw. He burst into tears. The horror of the dream overwhelming him.

She held him until the tears subsided then he pulled back, feeling embarrassed at having let himself go. She smiled at him gently.

"It's easy to forget how young you are," she said. "You carry off being captain so well. You really care for Ali, don't you?"

Jess just nodded, surprised by her words.

"Can't say I blame you. If I was, I don't know, much younger you'd have some competition. Fine looking girl." She studied him for a moment. "You don't seem shocked?"

"Why would I be?"

"Really? There's a lot a people out there who'd disapprove of two women together."

Jess shrugged. "It wasn't unusual amongst the prisoners. So long as no one is getting hurt what does it matter?"

"Blimey. Imagine that. Anyways, you're safe. She's way too young for me. Tell me, was there ever anyone for you before? Anyone you got close to?"

"No. Ali is the first person I've met who I've felt this way about. I think I might be in love with her. When she's around she makes me feel so... well... really..."

Elizabeth laughed. "Don't worry. Far better people than us have stumbled over describing love. I'm guessing the two of you haven't... err... spent the night together."

Jess flushed and shook his head, not trusting himself to speak.

"And by now I'm sure you've been through the vids we intercepted and watched some of the pornographic ones, the ones with sex in?"

Now Jess felt like his face was on fire. He froze, not knowing what to say or do.

"Good for you. I'd be damn worried about a teenager who didn't. I'll put odds on the fact she has too. Take a bit of advice – when the time comes forget all that, it's all fake. Just go with your feelings, take it as slow as you can, enjoy yourselves and remember that like anything worth doing it takes a lot of practice to get really good. The practice is damn good fun, though!"

Now Jess was nearly choking, certain his skin would catch fire if it got any hotter. Laughing again, Elizabeth stood.

"Normally I'd tell you to take your time. Take it real slow, be completely sure. We might not have that long, though. If it feels right, to both of you mind, then grab your chance with both hands. Otherwise if something happens you'll regret it the rest of your life. I do."

The last two words were so soft he hardly heard them. She walked off, leaving Jess wishing the floor would swallow him with half his mind while the other half was feverishly thinking about the advice he'd been given. He wouldn't realise for several hours what a great job she'd done of distracting him from his nightmares.

Evening saw them working on the sixth asteroid, this one much larger than those before. The speed of the mining had greatly increased. Jess estimated they'd be finished stocking up on the supplies they needed within a couple more days, three at the most.

As they finish eating he told them he had news. The first two robots were fully refurbished. He downplayed the event to avoid another embarrassing failure. When the two robots walked into the room the other three were amazed. Gone were the bulky mining robots, in their place were gleaming sleek machines with no obvious weapons. However they were actually far more dangerous than before, not less. Hidden under their smooth skin was a powerful shield generator capable of protecting both the robot and one person. Lethal weaponry emerged from their sleek bodies at a moment's notice. They were fast and agile and, as they were controlled through the ship, unusually flexible in what they could do. Despite appearing to be unarmed they carried with them a sense of danger far beyond their previous incarnation.

"They scare the pants off me," Elizabeth said. "I think we need something more than them though. Body armour for a start, a lot of it. When we take on the station we're gonna need help from the first batch of prisoners to get the others out. They'll know the layout, know where to look. We can't send them back in without protection. We'll need basic medical packs, too, to deal with any wounded in the complex and the less badly injured once we get them clear."

"And guns? Do we arm the prisoners?" asked Jess.

"Definitely not! We want an evacuation, not a battle. Give them guns and some of them will go looking for revenge. We need the guards to feel safe too, at least safe from the prisoners. If they start getting shot at it'll be a bloodbath."

"Right. Sorry."

"Don't be daft. How could you know? This is what I'm here for, planning the stuff you don't know, can't know. We will need to buy guns actually, the only place to get this stuff is from an arms dealer. They'll get suspicious if we just buy armour and medkits, and the one thing they're happier to sell than arms is information."

"Makes sense," said Sal. "We need to be careful, though. We can't have a repeat of the trouble getting the robots."

"No, but it's different this time. We'll take Robby Robot and his pal over there along. Those shields can protect us from a lot of damage, get us well clear of trouble. We'll have the equipment loaded into a sealed off section of the ship, use the sensors to scan it and one of the robots to check through it all."

"Only two of us can go, then," Ali said. "Which two?"

"Definitely me," replied Elizabeth. "None of you could carry it off. And I think Jess. He can be my son, though it pains me to say I'm that old. Out on his first business trip with me, learning the ropes. That way they won't be suspicious if he makes any mistakes."

"Are you sure? What if something happens?"

"I'll be fine," Jess said. "The robots can shield us long enough to get clear, and you two can have plenty of combat drones nearby. I'm pretty sure the ship can make some that are really small too, small enough to fit a couple into each robots' bodywork. That'll give a really nasty surprise if anyone tries any dirty tricks."

Ali and Sal asked more questions before agreeing with the plan, relieved that they would have a direct influence on keeping Jess and Elizabeth safe if things went wrong.

Jess had another piece of news. The remodelling of the ship was advancing well and crew quarters had been completed. They now each had a reasonably sized bedroom complete with an en-suite. The big news, though, was that each included a deep bath, something Ali had talked about wistfully a couple of days before. The news was met with smiles all round.

Later, Jess and Ali sat together on a sofa talking, Ali snuggled against him. Sal was in the flight deck supervising the mining and Elizabeth had gone to her cabin to soak in the bath.

Their conversation reached a pause and Ali pulled back a little, studying his face.

"You know, the idea of a bath sounds heavenly. I think I might go have a soak too."

Jess gulped as an image of Ali lying naked in a hot bath came to him. Quickly pushing the image away he searched for something to say.

"I've never had a bath. Well, not a proper one. We were sometimes forced into a freezing cold pool of water if there was one handy, or we got hosed down with cold water if we were getting too smelly and dirty for the guards to put up with. Never a warm bath, though."

"Really? You must try it sometime. There's only one problem I find." She spoke tentatively, chewing her bottom lip.

"What?" asked Jess. "Did I mess up the design?"

"No, no. It's just... well... I can never seem to reach my back to wash it. Would you mind helping me?"

Jess's jaw dropped, his heart hammered and his breathing was ragged. She laughed at his reaction.

"Umm... yes, of course."

He was grinning madly now, but so was she. He felt a little confidence return.

"You might have to teach me how, though," he said.

"I'm sure I can do that. I'll wash your back first, if you like."

Unable to contain himself, Jess pulled Ali to him and kissed her, a kiss she returned hungrily. Moments later they were running down the corridor towards her cabin, hand in hand. Jess already had the bath filling with hot, soapy water and it was full by the time they reached it.

Jess paused by the bath, uncertain whether to start undressing. For a moment Ali looked awkward too, then with a sparkle in her eye she shoved him into the large bath, clothes and all. Laughing, she jumped in after him.

Jess's first experience of a bath was one he thoroughly enjoyed, even more so once they had stripped off their soaking clothes. As the night wore on he had several other new experiences, ones he enjoyed even more. Finally, a long time after entering Ali's cabin, the two of them lay curled up together in her bed basking in each other's company. As sleep washed over him Jess was sure he'd have no nightmares that night.

# Chapter 24

Jess opened his eyes to find Ali staring at him from a few inches away. He grinned as memories from the night before washed over him, a grin that soon spread to her face.

"Morning," he said.

"Morning," she replied, kissing him quickly. "You look younger when you sleep, you know. Less worried."

"Have you been watching me long?"

"Only a few minutes. I was thinking, worrying really, about you and Elizabeth going to the arms dealer. It makes sense but... I don't know... it's just..."

"You don't trust her?"

"Do you?"

Jess shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just being too cautious because of Matt, but I don't think we know her well enough to trust her fully. I want to trust her, but something keeps nagging at me."

"I feel the same. This trip to the arms dealer could be a perfect time to betray us. You'll have the robots for protection, and the drones Sal and I will control, but what if there's an easy way to neutralise them or their weapons? She could be leading you straight into a trap. I don't like the way she suddenly had this idea, suddenly said we needed armour and the rest."

"I know, but you, Sal and I would never think of the things she has. The armour and field medkits make good sense."

"You need bait in a trap, you know."

"Yeah, I know, but I have an ace up my sleeve, an escape route. You remember how I got out of Stone Snake mining complex?"

"How could I forget? Entering jump space without even a spacesuit! It was madness. You're not going to try that again, are you? You said it nearly killed you, that you got really lucky."

"It was, but this time it would be different. The field from the robot will protect me and I can take it and me into jump space. Because I can survive there a bit longer the timing of the ship's jump isn't so critical. The chances of success will be higher."

"And if they have found a way to neutralise the robot or its protective shield? What then?"

"Then we use the ship to start peeling the place apart till I get free. They'll get the message eventually."

"Damn, I hate waiting around. I thought now I could control the robots and the drones that was behind me. Instead I'm going to be waiting to see if it's a trap and, if it is, whether I'll be able to save you."

"I think it goes with the territory. Even with control of the _Wanderer_ I still seem to spend most of my time waiting and worrying. Especially about you."

She stared into his eyes for a few seconds, then laid her head on his chest. He held her close, finding comfort in the feeling. Soon the feel of her body against his led to much more intense thoughts and feelings and they were both swept up in their passion. A long time passed before they emerged from the cabin for breakfast.

They found Sal and Elizabeth sitting at the table eating. Both looked up, took one look at Jess and Ali holding hands and immediately turned away trying to hide huge grins. Fighting the urge to turn and run Jess walked to the food dispenser with Ali, then sat at the table, Ali still beside him. Both he and Ali kept their eyes on their food, stealing occasional glances at each other.

"You'll have to excuse me," Sal said, standing. "I need to... er... have a shower. Then get some sleep. I've been controlling the mining all night. I'll catch you later."

Jess nibbled at some toast as she left the room, glancing at Ali several times. He caught her eye the last time and a stupid grin spread over his face. She smiled back and tried to hide it behind her cup of coffee.

"Young love!" Elizabeth said.

Jess could tell she was grinning even though he couldn't make himself look her way.

"Right kids," she continued. "I told you I was a straight talker so... yes, we know that you two spent the night together. Yes, we have a fair idea what you were doing, believe it or not you haven't just invented sex. And yes, I can't think of anything worse for you right at this moment than having two oldies grinning at you. But you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to be ashamed of. So how about actually looking at me when I'm talking to you."

Jess glanced at Ali, who nodded reluctantly. They both turned towards Elizabeth. As he'd expected she had a big grin on her face. He felt his cheeks burning, but reached out for Ali's hand and stared back defiantly. Somehow he didn't feel so young any more. It wasn't what they had done, or mostly not, it was knowing Ali felt the same way he did, that she was going to be there for him no matter what. He felt like he could take on the whole galaxy right then. He stared Elizabeth in the eye, not trusting himself to speak, but not willing to back down.

She glanced between the two of them, her grin settling down into a smile. She nodded to herself.

"It's done you good, both of you. Given you a bit of fire, a bit of confidence. Good. We're gonna need that. Word of advice though, tread carefully around Sal for a while."

That completely threw Jess.

"Why?" he asked.

Elizabeth sighed deeply, a sad look settling onto her face.

"I may be getting older than I like to admit, but I do remember how you feel. Finding someone who will stand beside you forever, or so you think at the time. Sal never had that. We were talking before you two finally made an appearance. She fell in love when she was younger, of course, but she always knew it wouldn't last, that sooner or later they'd be split up. In her case it was only a few weeks after she'd first fallen in love that the prisoners were moved around. Markus she said his name was. She never saw him again. She doesn't know if he's still alive even. Don't get me wrong, she's happy for you both, but it brings back some painful memories."

"I should have thought," Jess said. "I knew what it was like. I lived that life too."

"Bollocks! If you'd been thinking of another woman in any way last night Ali should have cut your balls off! I sure as hell would have."

Jess stared at her, shocked, while Ali collapsed in giggles. Her laughter was infectious, soon Jess was laughing too. Elizabeth made her excuses and left them to their breakfast, though she threw in a warning about not shagging on the breakfast table which had Jess and Ali blushing furiously.

Much as he would have loved to take Ali back to her cabin, Jess forced himself to enter the flight deck and resume the mining operation. Ali joined him and soon they were deep in communication via the ship, guiding the mining drones as they depleted another asteroid. For a short while, at least. Jess found his mind wandering back to the previous night and flashes of the sights and feelings he remembered leaked over to Ali, who responded in kind. Very quickly all thoughts of mining were forgotten as they realised the opportunity their mental link offered. Jess only just retained enough control to lock the door of the flight deck before they were pulling each other's clothes off. The sex the night before had been an amazing experience, but doing it while their thoughts and emotions were so closely linked was simply mind blowing.

The next couple of days seemed to fly past for Jess. He and Ali found it easier to face Elizabeth and Sal. Work on restructuring the ship went rapidly. Despite the dangers they'd soon face he felt on top of the world. The only damper was Sal. As Elizabeth had said, his relationship with Ali had stirred up some unpleasant memories for Sal. He and Ali were careful not to work at the same time she did, to avoid bleeding any of their daydreams over to her, and worked on bringing their minds more fully under control.

Suddenly work on the ship was completed, at least that's how it felt to Jess. The reality of their situation hit home. It didn't dull his intense feelings for Ali, but it did add an element of melancholy. The knowledge that one or both of them could be killed in the next few days weighed on his heart and his thoughts.

# Chapter 25

Jess nervously drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair, trying to ease the knot in his stomach. Strapped in beside him Elizabeth seemed calm, quietly studying the station their shuttle was approaching.

"One last time, tell me the rules," Elizabeth asked.

"Again?"

"Yes, again. You're wound up like a spring. I want to be sure you've not forgotten them."

"All right." Jess sighed before continuing. "One, you're in charge. You do all the talking. Two, I don't call you by name, but I don't call you mum or mother either."

"That's critical. It won't sound natural. What's three?"

"Three, no communicating with the _Wanderer_. They might pick up that my attention is elsewhere and wonder why."

"Good. And four?"

Jess stared at her in panic, his mind blank.

"What? I don't know!"

She smiled at him.

"Relax, there is no four. Seriously, take it easy. Just remember to keep your mouth shut and everything will be fine."

Jess wasn't convinced. Quite apart from his nerves over the coming encounter he still didn't completely trust Elizabeth. On top of all that, the situation felt uncomfortably close to the disaster when they'd tried to purchase the robots. That thought made him glance over his shoulder. The sight of the two robots standing behind him was reassuring, especially when the one controlled by Ali winked at him. Despite everything, he grinned back.

As they walked out of the shuttle's airlock they were met by five guards, all decked out in heavy black armour and toting powerful rifles. One stepped forward, asked them to follow and set off towards a corridor at the back of the docking bay. Jess and Elizabeth followed, the robots shadowing them. The remaining guards fell in behind.

They followed the corridor for several minutes, passing numerous doorways and side corridors. Jess was pretty certain they were heading deep into the heart of the station, something which Sal confirmed to him. Despite Elizabeth's rules he was staying in close contact with Sal and Ali, ready for any treachery by either Elizabeth or the arms dealers. To avoid arousing suspicion they were sticking to short, plain messages.

**Detecting heavy electronic interference.** Sal sent. **Normal communication would be lost by now.**

**OK, thanks.** He replied, grateful yet again for the _Wanderer_ 's exceptional abilities.

They left the corridor soon after, taking a bewildering series of turns which Jess was sure had them covering the same ground several times. Then they reached an imposing blast door. Their guide stopped and turned to speak to them.

"Just through there. Your robots must stay here."

Jess tensed inside, glancing nervously at Elizabeth. If she agreed could he argue? Would it risk blowing their cover? But would it also be a sign that she couldn't be trusted?

"That wasn't the deal," she said firmly. "They go where we go. We're in the middle of your station, what're we going to do? Start a fight? Not bloody likely. They stay with us, otherwise the deal's off and we go back to our ship."

The guard studied her for a moment then shrugged and turned back to the blast door which softly hissed open. They followed him into the room beyond.

Jess couldn't have said what he expected to see, but a small room dominated by a conference table complete with a man dressed in a smart suit certainly wasn't it. The man was middle-aged but still fit looking, with a full head of dark hair neatly gelled down. Almost the perfect image of an honest businessman. The eyes let him down, piercing and cruel they were the eyes of a predator. He sat behind the table, gesturing for Jess and Elizabeth to sit the other side.

**Careful, the room has a large number of concealed weapons, all trained on the two of you.**

Jess sent a quick acknowledgement as he took his seat, trying not to look for the weapons. The sound of the door closing behind made him turn. Both robots were standing close behind him and two guards were just inside the door. The others waited outside.

"We have your requirements and you have our prices." The man launched straight in, not bothering to introduce himself. His voice matched his appearance, cultured and gentle but with a hint of steel. "We can supply what you asked for from our stores. I have to meet you face to face and ask you what you need them for. It is part of our duty as responsible traders." The last was said with heavy irony.

"We're branching out into hunting trips," Elizabeth answered. "Big game hunting, only on planets where it's allowed, of course."

"Of course. All is in order. I can authorise delivery as soon as we receive payment then, as I'm sure you will use the items... responsibly."

Even having been warned of this by Elizabeth Jess found the brief exchange shocking. She'd explained that the arms dealers wanted to keep a respectable image, to claim they only supplied weapons responsibly. A complete sham, but one that prevented the authorities from looking at their business too closely, provided those authorities were suitably bribed.

"The payment is in our shuttle," Elizabeth replied. "We'll unload it for you before leaving."

"Excellent. Now, would you care to join me for a drink?"

Without waiting for an answer he pressed a button set into the table. A small side door opened and... something... walked in, carrying a tray with three shot glasses on it. Jess stared at the creature. Covered in short, dark fur its main body was horizontal, supported by four short legs on each side. Its body was rectangular. Maybe two metres long and half that wide it almost looked like a walking, furry table. A long, flexible neck and two equally flexible arms rose from the front of its body. The arms ended in many sucker-tipped appendages, the neck was topped by a narrow head with a small mouth and two sets of eyes – one pair close together like a hunting animal, the other pair set wide on its head giving excellent peripheral vision. A large silver band circled its neck. With a start Jess recognised it as a form of control collar.

The creature reached the table and set the tray down with a slight bump, spilling a little of the contents. It cowered back immediately as the arms dealer scowled at it.

"Useless creature!" he shouted at it. Reaching out, he pushed another button on the table. Immediately the creature collapsed to the floor, writhing in agony. Jess stared in horror, his life as a prisoner meant he could recognise a control collar in action, even on such an amazing creature.

"Stop it!" he shouted. "You're hurting it!"

He went to stand but Elizabeth grabbed his arm, glaring at him. The arms dealer grinned at Jess, keeping his finger on the button for several more seconds before relenting. The creature remained on the floor, whimpering in a deep tone.

"Do you like my pet?" the man asked. "It is amazingly rare. I found it in a damaged ship, nearly thirty years ago now. It may not be the best servant, but it is the most unusual."

"I want to buy it," Jess said. "How much do you want?"

The man laughed. "It's not for sale, not that you could possibly afford the price if it was."

"How much?" Jess demanded, standing. "I want it. How much will it cost? We can pay!"

The arms dealer's face twitched, annoyance showing through his façade of reasonableness. Elizabeth stood and grabbed Jess by the arm, forcing him to sit again.

"Jess! I won't have you showing me up like this. I brought you on this trip to see how I do business, to start to learn, not to cause a scene and embarrass me. Now sit down and _shut up_!"

**Jess, calm down. It's too risky. Get hold of yourself.**

Jess forced himself to take deep breaths, the message from Sal having far more of an effect than Elizabeth's words.

"I'm sorry," Elizabeth said, turning back to the arms dealer. "It's my own fault. He's my only child and I've spoilt him, always let him have anything he wanted. He needs to learn there are things in life he can't have. Something we'll be having a long discussion about as soon as we get back on my ship."

The arms dealer visibly relaxed, a smile that was more like a sneer on his face.

"We were all young once," he said. "We all had lessons to learn. If we lived long enough." The last statement carried a clear threat. Jess stared at the table sullenly, not trusting himself to look up. He was still incredibly angry and felt helpless, desperate to help the poor creature but unable to.

"Get out of my sight!" the arms dealer ordered the creature. It quickly slunk out through the side door. "Now, please join me in a drink."

He took one shot glass, pushing the tray with the other two towards Elizabeth and Jess. Elizabeth took one and pointedly set it down in front of Jess, then took her own. She knocked hers back in one hit, as did the arms dealer. Reluctantly Jess followed suit, coughing as the strong spirits burned his throat – much to the arms dealers enjoyment. For a moment Jess worried what might be in the drink but his implants quickly confirmed it was simply alcohol, though particularly strong. The implants were already working on neutralising it.

The arms dealer stood. "Thank you for your business. You will be escorted back to your shuttle. Please unload the payment and we will arrange for the containers to be delivered near to your ship, ready for your shuttles to collect. As agreed."

"Thank you," Elizabeth said. "And I apologise once again for my son's outburst. Come on, Jess."

They stood and followed the guards out of the room, robots once again following close behind. Still seething inside, Jess played the part of a petulant teenager without any need to act.

**I'm sorry. You couldn't save that creature. I know it's hard.**

The message from Sal didn't make him feel any better. He trudged along the warren of passages before they finally entered the main corridor. Elizabeth didn't try to speak to him and he had no desire to talk. They reached the shuttle in silence. Elizabeth walked to the shuttle and entered a code on the control panel by the cargo door, one that wasn't connected to anything. Jess sent a pulsed command to the shuttle and the door opened. To the guards it appeared to be a normal shuttle with a security lock.

"Unload the cargo," Elizabeth ordered the robots.

Again this was just for show. The robots were under Sal and Ali's control. They marched in and started unloading the contents. Large bars of gold and other precious metals were carried out and then scanned by the guards. Jess had no idea of the value, other than that it was far above a reasonable rate for their supplies. They were paying a huge premium to get the items with no questions asked.

The guards confirmed the payment was valid, that the bars were pure all the way through. Elizabeth sealed the cargo hatch, then she, Jess and the robots entered the shuttle's flight deck via its airlock. Sal sent a message to confirm that the containers were being delivered. Everything had gone completely according to plan, yet Jess's mouth tasted of ashes and he had a heavy lump in his chest. He couldn't get the image of the poor enslaved creature out of his head.

They lifted off without issues and flew out of the station's docking bay. As they cleared the structure Elizabeth let out a huge sigh and visibly sank into her seat.

"My god Jess, what the bloody hell were you thinking? You bloody idiot! They coulda killed us both!" As always when she was stressed or angry her speech became clipped.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. You saw what they did to that creature."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry, shoulda known how it'd affect you. Bloody hell, though. That was too feckin close."

She paused for a moment, took several breaths to calm herself down. It must have worked as her speech became less clipped.

"Sorry, I wish we could've helped it too. We couldn't though. At best we'd have blown the deal. At worst they'd have started shooting, even with the robots I didn't want that. You OK?"

"Yeah, I'm OK. Really." Jess replied, smiling.

She studied him closely. "Why the sudden change? I thought you wanted to save it? Now suddenly you don't care that we left it behind?"

"We didn't. I just checked the shuttle's sensors. It's standing behind you, against the wall."

Elizabeth span round, staring at the wall. Jess knew she couldn't see the creature, nor could he with his own eyes. It was showing up clearly on the shuttle's internal sensors, though.

"There's nothing there!" Elizabeth said.

"Actually, there is." Sal's voice sounded strange coming from the robot's speaker grill. "Now Jess has pointed it out the robot can just about detect it, not easily though."

"Try scanning for electrical discharge," Jess said.

"Wow... yep, it's glowing away there. Amazing. It's standing on the rear two sets of legs, the front half of its body is tilted up by ninety degrees and it's front two pairs of legs are just hanging down."

Suddenly a chunk of the shuttle's back wall seemed to flicker and they could see the creature. Flexing its long neck, it faced Jess.

"Found me have you. Take me back not. Please."

It's voice was deep, the words more rumbled than spoken. Jess stared at the creature for a few seconds, amazed that it could speak. Not the creature. The alien, for it couldn't be anything else. He realised it was waiting for a reply. He tried to speak, only managed a squeak, cleared his throat and tried again.

"No. Don't worry. We won't take you back, I promise."

"Much thanks. Kind are you. Pain recognised you. Slave recognised you. Slave were you? Your eyes saw it in."

Jess struggled for a moment to make sense of the creatures words, then it struck him. The creature was asking if he had been a slave, was saying it saw that in his eyes. The creatures broken speech had led him to think of it as stupid, he realised with a shock that he had seriously underestimated it.

"Yes," he said softly. "Yes. I was a slave. Until recently. I didn't want to leave you there. I couldn't get you free, though."

"Matter not. Myself freed did. Easy was."

"Wait... your collar is gone. How did you do that?"

"Easy. Long time do could. No point. I go where? Waited. Long, long waited. Right soul for waited. Right soul found. You. Stay can?"

"I... I guess so. I need to speak to the others, we need to learn more about you. Whatever happens we won't take you back, though. You'll be free. I promise."

"You thank Jess."

"You're most welcome." Jess grinned. "What's your name?"

"Can say you not. Use you Teeko."

"Teeko? OK Teeko. We'll be back at our ship soon. Is there anything you need before we get there?"

"Need no. Freedom I have. Much thanks."

Once they returned to the _Wanderer_ , Jess introduced Teeko to Ali and Sal. Both looked nervous. Jess could understand why, they had a complete unknown on board the ship.

**It's OK,** he pulsed to them. **The ship can track it, I'm keeping a close eye on it.**

Sal caught his eye and nodded once to show she understood.

"How did you get on board the shuttle? How did you know where it was?"

"Followed did I. Followed to shuttle. As door opened entered did I. Fast am I."

"And they didn't know you could do this, that you could disappear from sight?"

"No. Careful been I. Saving escape for. Saving today for."

"How did they capture you?" asked Jess. "They mentioned a ship, were you flying it?"

"Memory not have. Memory start slave as. Young maybe was. Baby maybe was."

"Have you met any others like you?"

"Not met. Want to much. Travel want to. Family find. Find you with?"

"Maybe. I need to talk to the others. You've managed to deceive those arms dealers for years, we have to decide if we can trust you."

Teeko became agitated, weaving its head in a figure eight pattern.

"Deceive not them. Tell nothing them. Say not can hide. Tell you now. Tell you trust can. Tell you hurt will not. You fellow not-slave."

"All right, calm down. We still need to talk about it, and we need to deal with the shipments coming across from the station too. Are you hungry? Would you like to rest?"

"Hungry now not. Rest like. Pool water warm like much."

"Warm water? Well you can use the bath in my room. Anyone else want to ask Teeko anything?"

The others shook their heads, faces still troubled. Jess led Teeko to his own cabin having ordered the bath filled, then left it, locking the door behind him.

"Well, what do you think?" he asked as he reached the living area again.

"Could be a spy," Elizabeth said. "Classic way to get an agent on board. Though I would've expected messages from the station, something about it having escaped and being very dangerous. Something to reinforce that it had escaped rather than been let go."

"Or it could be on the level," Jess countered. "We can't send it back. Who knows what they'd do to it now."

"I didn't say send it back. I ain't certain it's a spy, but it is a possibility. We need to be careful of it. Keep a close watch, not trust it."

"Even if it's really escaped that doesn't mean we can trust it," said Ali. "It might have plans of its own. Maybe it wants this ship. You heard it say how long it had waited, waited for the right moment."

"That doesn't make sense," Sal said. "You saw what it can do. It could have got onto almost any ship that docked here. Why wait all this time? There's no way it could have known our ship was special."

"So spy or on the level," muttered Elizabeth. "If it's a spy you catching it screwed their plans. It ain't gonna do much if we keep a close watch. We should do that even if we decide it's being honest."

"Makes sense," said Sal. "We haven't always been great at spotting what people are going to do. With an alien we can't possibly tell."

"I guess," Jess said. "We can use the ship to watch where it is. I don't think it can hurt us. Whatever it can do must be fairly limited. If it could control minds or the like then it would have taken over the arms dealers station years ago. Ali?"

Ali shrugged her shoulders, then nodded hesitantly.

"I guess so," she said. "Do we tell it our plans though?"

"As soon as the supplies are loaded we're heading directly for our target. I don't see how telling it the plans has any risk. And it has a right to know we could all wind up dead soon."

"Cheerful thought," muttered Sal. "All right, I think that's decided then. We need to get those supplies on board."

Jess used the ships sensors to check on Teeko. The alien was stretched out in the bath, only it's long neck above the water, repeatedly making soft, deep crooning noises. Somehow Jess felt the alien seemed happy. He wondered when, if ever, it had last been allowed the luxury of a long soak in hot water.

Then they set to work using shuttles to grab the containers packed with supplies and load them on board the ship. Armour and medical supplies went to one area, weapons to a different area – one that was self-contained and not accessible from anywhere else. Dishing out the weapons was a true last resort situation.

As soon as the supplies were secured he had the _Wanderer_ heading away from the station. Once they were at the normal safe distance they jumped, heading for Iona orbital farm where Ali's friends were held.

# Chapter 26

The flight to Iona was short, only fourteen hours, as they'd chosen an arms dealer relatively close by. They'd planned to get a good night's sleep on the way, but Jess soon realised that was unlikely to happen. Between the building excitement about finally putting their plan into action and the wonder and worry that Teeko generated no one would be sleeping much.

After soaking in the bath for more than two hours Teeko finally dried itself off and headed for the door to Jess's room. Alerted by the ship, Jess unlocked the door and monitored Teeko as the alien returned to the living area. He was surprised at the changes he saw. The alien's fur was now a deep brown colour and far softer than it had been. When he asked Teeko about the change the alien told him the previous colouring had mostly been dirt. It hadn't had a bath of any form for several years.

They talked to Teeko for a while but it was frustrating. The alien knew nothing about its personal history or its race. Most of what it could suggest were things it had overheard its human masters discussing. Soon their conversation turned to the plan for Iona. They ran through it yet again from start to finish.

"The problem is still getting your friends off," Elizabeth said. "Whatever happens, making sure we get everyone off is gonna be tough. We won't know where your friends are so we can't be sure to get them off early on. Saving the others is good, but if you manage that and don't get all the folks snatched with Ali I don't think any of us are gonna be happy."

"What else can we do?" Jess asked. "I can't think of any way we can work out where they are before making our move. If we could get access to their main systems it would be different. The _Wanderer_ can create a package to infiltrate and control the systems, but they aren't going to let us walk up and slap something in place on their consoles."

"Help maybe can I," Teeko said. "Package deliver can I. See me not will they."

They all stared at the alien for a few seconds, then Jess smiled.

"Teeko could, you know. We've seen how effective the camouflage is. How would we get Teeko on board, though?"

"Same way as we got Teeko off last time," replied Sal. "We visit as buyers, looking to buy food this time. Teeko slips in, finds what we need and gets out with us. Or we work out a way to bust Teeko out as the attack starts. Who should go, though?"

"Me and Jess," replied Elizabeth. "That worked well last time. We give off the right vibes. Sal's too old to be my daughter. Ali, you're too close to this, you wouldn't be able to keep cool in there. Not so close to your friends."

"Could we get the robots in there again?" asked Jess.

"One maybe, not both. Don't need two, though. One'll be enough. It's a farm, not a bloody arms dealers."

"Teeko, what if there's someone in the room you need to get to? There might be guards. It will take a minute or two for the package to infiltrate, after that it will physically have melted into the systems but till then they could destroy it, or lock down the systems. They might figure someone is in there but camouflaged, and start firing."

"Enslavers not stop me can. Enslavers kill I. Succeed will I."

"Damn right, look at the size of him," Elizabeth said. "They won't see him coming either, won't know what hit 'em."

They discussed the idea and soon everyone agreed it had promise. Jess worried for Teeko's safety, but the alien was adamant it would be fine. One thing seemed to worry it.

"Leave me not. Back for me come," it said, eyes fixed on Jess's.

"I promise," said Jess. "Whatever happens, we'll get you off that station."

"Thanks Jess friend."

They spent some time discussing the modified plan. If Teeko could deliver the infiltration package it would give them a huge advantage. They could locate Ali's people, ensure those prisoners were amongst the first evacuated. Then it would be a matter of freeing as many other prisoners as they could. Having access to, and control of, the internal systems would be a huge help there too.

They kept running into the same problem, they couldn't finalise the plans till they saw the layout of the orbital farm. The meeting gave way to a meal, where they discovered Teeko was vegetarian by choice, though it didn't object to the rest eating meat. It told them that it had often been fed animal offal, forced to eat it to survive, but that a vegetarian diet had always felt right.

Finally, everyone started to head to bed. Jess asked Teeko if it slept, Teeko replied that its body and mind entered a quiet state but it never truly lost consciousness. Jess offered his room again, no sacrifice as he was sleeping with Ali each night. When Teeko accepted he felt he had to warn it that the door would be locked. Teeko took it with good grace, telling Jess that it understood why.

Jess and Ali went to her room, but the intense passion of previous nights was missing. Instead, they quickly found themselves clinging to each other, discussing their fears. Both worried for the other, worried it might be their last night together.

Jess was surprised to find that rather than making them want to sleep together one last time, or several last times, he just wanted to hold Ali. Keep her close to him, feel her breathing, feel her heartbeat, smell the scent of her skin and hair. She clung to him in turn, alternating between holding him close and pulling back to study his face, as if trying to commit it to her memory. Jess realised that night that he loved Ali, beyond any doubt, and he wanted to spend his life with her. The moment was bitter-sweet, tinged as it was with the knowledge that this could be their last night together.

Breakfast was a quiet affair, each person lost in their own thoughts. Jess ate mechanically, knowing he would need the energy but hardly tasting the food. He kept replaying the plan in his mind, searching for weaknesses or assumptions. The others were doing the same, he was sure.

Jess finally finished his breakfast and checked the time. There was still over an hour until they'd arrive at Iona. He spent most of that time checking and rechecking the readiness of the shuttles, drones and robots, then the shields, weapons, thrusters and engines of the _Wanderer_. All things he already knew were absolutely fine, but it helped distract him. Tempers frayed amongst the others as the tension built. Sal and Elizabeth snapped at each other over nothing. Ali intervened, making several waspish statements herself.

When the timer ticked below ten minutes the change was tangible. Now the huge amounts of nervous energy in each person had a useful focus. Each prepared for their role, ensured they were clear on the plan, tested their communication links. Despite the approaching danger the mood swung between nervousness and excitement. Jess found himself grinning uncontrollably several times.

And then they arrived. The _Wanderer_ broke back into normal space a reasonable distance from the Iona orbital farm. Sensor information flowed in and for the first time they saw their target. Jess's first impression was of a large, blunt star shape. Eight long spokes radiated out from a central section, each mounting numerous rectangular farm sections. Each section was topped by a clear material, the station's orientation ensuring the sun shone continuously on the crops. The scale of the farm was amazing, each spoke was nearly ten kilometres long.

Additional information from the sensors started to appear on the display. Several small fighters were patrolling the area, two of which had already turned to intercept the _Wanderer_ , with others docked at the central hub. A relatively strong shield covered that hub, but the sheer size of the farm segments meant they had only the barest of shielding, enough to protect against radiation from the sun but not against much else.

Many small laser emplacements were located along each arm, probably to act as meteor defences. Interspersed through them were much larger weapons; ship killers. Considering the huge area and poor shielding it made sense. Without the massive weapons Iona would be at the mercy of any bunch of criminals that turned up with a few ships and threatened to blow holes in the farm.

Elizabeth contacted the farm, confirmed they were on a peaceful trade mission, and arranged for her and Jess to visit to discuss terms and agree payment. Their request to bring one robot with them was agreed without question.

"I don't like this!" Elizabeth said. "Something ain't right. They didn't ask enough questions. They agreed to the robot without any argument. Something don't feel right."

"A trap?" asked Sal. "Do we call off visiting them?"

"I don't know. I ain't comfortable, though."

"I don't think we can call it off," Jess said. "Look at the size of that place. We can't cover that much space, we have to know where the slaves are being kept, and tell them how to reach where we'll be. We really need to get those weapons under our control or disabled, too. The _Wanderer_ could stand up to them pretty well, for a while at least, but the shuttles wouldn't stand a chance. We have to get control of their systems."

"Damn it! Yeah, you're right. If we didn't have the robot along with us I'd say no way, but... we should be fine. Between it and the drones we have hidden in the shuttle we can blast our way out if necessary."

"I'm sorry," Ali said. "This is my fault, you're only here because of me. Now you're going into what is probably a trap and I won't even be sharing the danger."

"We're doing this because we want to," Jess insisted. "Besides, I'm counting on you to control the drones if we need busting out of there."

They'd already agreed that Sal would control the robot, that Ali might be too tempted to vaporise the farm's managers before they got any prisoners clear. If the drones had to be deployed then the time for subtlety would be long gone. Ali looked at Sal, Jess, Elizabeth and finally Teeko.

"Thank you," she said. "Thank you all. You have no idea what this means to me. I hope I can repay you one day."

"Sounds like you're on one hell of a promise tonight," Elizabeth said to Jess with a grin. "Better strap yourself in!"

The remark was perfectly timed. Ali gasped and turned bright red, Jess followed suit while Sal and Elizabeth burst out laughing. The fear and worry remained, but the dark mood was broken.

Soon the _Wanderer_ coasted to a stop relative to Iona. Jess and Elizabeth said hurried farewells, though Ali and Jess had to be prompted several times before they let each other go.

Then they were in the shuttle with the robot and Teeko. Teeko suddenly disappeared from their sight. Once again Jess could detect the alien via the ships sensors, the more advanced ones which Elizabeth thought might be unique to the _Wanderer_.

It seemed likely that Iona wouldn't have sensors sophisticated enough to spot the alien. It was simply an orbital farm, one of several hundred around the star it orbited. Its defences were aimed at deterring opportunists rather than fighting off a determined force. He was pleased to see that Teeko was able to hide the infiltration package as well. He'd worried the package would be visible, and any guard seeing it floating down a corridor would be bound to raise the alarm.

"I still don't like this," Elizabeth muttered. "Stay on your guard."

The short flight was uneventful. Once they had settled in the landing bay Jess triggered the hatch and watched via the sensors as Teeko quickly headed out. Jess lost sight of Teeko as soon as it left the shuttle. Elizabeth and he took longer to exit, taking it slowly while trying to avoid being obvious about it. Elizabeth had a walking stick with her and used it as she slowly exited, Jess walking beside her. They were met by a young man dressed in dirty blue work overalls.

"Welcome to Iona. I'm Nicholas. Sorry for the state of my outfit, the manager got delayed and I had to rush down here to meet you. We don't often get unscheduled visitors so you've caught us out, I'm afraid. If you'd follow me you can wait in the manager's office."

They followed Nicholas out of the docking bay and down several short corridors, taking it slowly as Elizabeth hobbled along using her stick. As they went Nicholas chatted away explaining the workings of the farm, how the water and soil were renewed by mining comets and many other facts about Iona. Despite himself, Jess quite liked Nicholas, especially when the subject of the workers came up.

"I guess you know we use slaves," he said uncomfortably. "It's the only way places like this can be profitable. I know that, but... well... they could be treated better. Fed better for sure, we're running a farm aren't we? Treated with more respect. Given rewards rather than punishments." Suddenly he seemed to realise what he was saying, and to who. "Sorry, please don't repeat that. I'd get into a lot of trouble. But... well, you seem nice. If you get the chance to suggest they could be treated just a little better maybe you could bring it up."

"We'll see," Elizabeth replied, in a neutral voice. "So do you need special soil bacteria for different crop types?"

Relieved to be off the dangerous topic of the slaves, Nicholas launched into telling them about the varieties of crop bacteria needed for various different crops, how some could be used for many crops while others had a unique symbiosis with a single crop. Partway through Jess received a message from the ship confirming the infiltration package had been successfully deployed and had finished integrating. The _Wanderer_ estimated it would take several minutes more to fully control all systems.

Jess hid a smile and returned his focus to the lecture by Nicholas, which seemed to be never ending. Jess was rather glad when they arrived at the manager's office and the flow of technical terms stopped. Nicholas showed them into a small room with a big table taking much of the space. A black executive's chair sat behind it, with three worn looking chairs the other side.

"Please, sit down," Nicholas said, gesturing towards the chairs.

They moved towards the chairs. Jess glanced over his shoulder and was pleased to see their robot holding position just inside the door. As he looked the door quickly slid shut. The moment it did there was a tremendous crash and Jess's vision went white.

He immediately reached for the ship, accelerating his thoughts. He was alarmed to realise he had no control over his body. He felt it slowly falling to the floor. At the same time his implants warned that powerful airborne drugs were seeping into his body, drugs designed to knock him out. The implants quickly countered the chemicals, breaking them down into harmless compounds.

**Jess, the robot has been hit by some sort of electrical charge** Sal sent. **It's managed to shake most of the effects off thanks to the changes the Wanderer made, but I'm shifting it into low power mode to make it seem disabled. Backup is there if you need it.**

**Thanks. Something hit us too. I can't see or hear, my body is falling and I can't control it. They're trying to drug me too. The implants are fighting that off. I think Elizabeth must be out for the count. I can't tell, though. I'm scared, Sal.**

**Hang in there, Jess. The robot still has vision and sound, I'll feed them to you.**

Suddenly Jess could see again, though watching his own body slowly falling to the floor was a strange sight. Elizabeth's too. Jess was pleased to see Nicholas had also been affected. He liked the man and this suggested Nicholas hadn't known about the trap.

**Drones are ready to launch from the shuttle,** Ali sent.

**Hold on,** Jess replied. **Let's see what happens here first.**

He didn't have to wait long at all. A hidden side door in the office opened and seven people wearing breathing masks emerged. They rushed towards Jess and the robot, ignoring Elizabeth and Nicholas, though to Jess the rush took place very slowly. One dived towards Jess, reaching his body not long after it struck the floor, and slapped a device onto the back of Jess's neck. Jess's implants immediately identified that a cocktail of anaesthetic drugs was being pumped into his body. He had the implants clean these up too, while keeping his body completely limp.

**Someone knew to go straight for you** , Sal pointed out. **I don't like this.**

Two of the others reached the robot and slapped devices onto it, which immediately started to discharge electricity through its chassis. Once again the robot's advanced design allowed it to shrug off the assault.

**Maybe,** Jess replied. **But they've seriously underestimated us. Let's see how this plays out.**

Believing they had secured Jess and the robot one of the attackers flicked some controls on the large desk. The main door opened and powerful fans kicked into action. Within a few seconds the air was breathable again. The attackers started to remove their masks, one of them crouching by Jess as he did so. The angle prevented the robot seeing his face yet Jess thought he looked familiar somehow. The man spoke.

"Bloody hell kid, you just don't learn do you?"

Jess couldn't believe his ears. It was Matt!

# Chapter 27

Jess stared at Matt in disbelief for a few moments, then he sent Sal an urgent message.

**Sal, don't shoot him!**

Despite Sal's thoughts also being sped up there was a long pause before she answered.

**How did you know?**

**Because it was my first instinct too. We need to find out what's going on. The Wanderer is making progress on subverting their systems. Please, hold fire. For now at least.**

**All right, but when we decide to nail him _I_ get to pull the trigger.**

**Fair enough.**

Matt reached out a hand and ruffled Jess's hair, it was almost an affectionate gesture. He shook his head.

"Kid, how could you be so dumb? I was there after you'd promised to help Ali, after you said you'd come here and rescue her friends. I knew you'd be here sometime soon, but to walk into such a simple trap... bloody stupid."

"We set?" asked one of the other men.

"Yes, Slick. He's out for the count. Let me send the message to the ship now."

**Oh great, this should be good** sent Sal.

**Bear with it. We'll have control of the station's systems pretty soon.**

Jess found it strange hearing Matt's message both in the room and via the ship. He muted the relay from the ship and focused on Matt's words directly.

"Sal... Ali... and whatever other strays Jess has picked up along the way. It's Matt here, in case you've forgotten me already. I'm sure you're on the ship. Glory Falls didn't suddenly get a fleet of ships all on their own, especially not a fleet made up of our ships, and I know Jess wouldn't have handed those ships over without getting you both. That little display at Stone Snake fooled plenty of people, but not me. It was too neat, too convenient. I thought you'd escaped. Lucky for me I was right.

"Listen up. We have Jess. He's unconscious and is damn well staying that way for now. I don't know how he escaped us before, but it ain't happening again. We've got his lady friend, too.

"Now we need Jess mostly intact but that doesn't mean we won't break the odd finger or toe, and we'll really go to town on his friend. If you want them in one piece you'll let us board the _Wanderer_ and escort you ladies off. No arguments, no discussions. You've got ten minutes to think about it, then our shuttle heads your way. Please don't do anything silly, I'm really looking forward to seeing you both again."

**Ten minutes,** sent Jess. **That's great. Sal, Ali – get the combat drones and shuttles ready. As soon as we have control of Iona's systems we can make a break for it, then start the rescue. I think we're going to face a lot more resistance than we thought. We may need to arm the prisoners as we rescue them.**

**Got it,** Sal replied. **We'll be ready.**

**Be careful Jess,** Ali sent. **I love you.**

Jess had to use his implants to control his heart at Ali's words, his chest felt like it would burst. He was determined to get free and back to her.

Several more men entered from the main corridor, pushing two medical trolleys.

"Load them both up," Matt ordered the new arrivals. "Let's move them further away from the docking bay."

Two of the men moved over to Jess and bent to pick him up.

**Now what?** asked Sal. **We don't want you to be separated from the robot.**

**I know. Let it go for a little longer, though.**

Before the men could grab Jess a tremendous roar ripped through the room. One of them flew several metres and crashed into the wall. Teeko flashed back into visibility and sent the other man flying. Once again Teeko was reared up, only four legs on the ground. With his accelerated thoughts Jess could appreciate the incredible strength the alien could generate by twisting the top half of its body then letting it unwind in a whip-like movement. Teeko started towards another man, while several others started to raise their weapons.

**Damn, we have to move,** Jess sent. **Sal – concentrate on protecting Elizabeth and Teeko. My shields can take a few hits. Release both drones from the robot, Ali and I can take one each. The drones from the shuttle will never get here in time to make a difference.**

**OK. Drones released.**

Jess's point of view suddenly jumped to that of the floating drone. While equipped with only light shields and weaponry to keep it small enough to conceal in the robot, it was more than up to the current task. Jess expanded his links to Sal and Ali, allowing them to instinctively agree their response and who should take which target.

Jess took two of the men who had recently entered the room, both were bringing machine guns up ready to fire. Reluctantly he targeted their heads for several shots each. It was a life and death situation for him and his friends now, he couldn't risk trying to disable the men.

The drone's laser snapped out several times at each, killing them instantly. Ali had taken out two others already. Sal had moved the robot so it could protect Elizabeth with its shield, now she targeted several more of their attackers – blowing large holes in their bodies with the robot's advanced weaponry.

Teeko had disabled another attacker, or more likely killed judging by how the body landed. The robot and drones quickly finished off the others, just leaving Matt who stood still and slowly raised his hands. Jess climbed to his feet, staring at him.

"Damn kid, you proved me wrong. You do learn after all. It ain't going to help you, though. Surrender to me now. Make it easier on yourselves."

"Matt," said Sal's voice from the robot, before Jess could answer.

"Yes, Sal?" he asked, turning towards the robot.

"Drop dead!"

The robot fired several weapons at once, Matt's body was thrown back against the wall, not that he cared; he was killed almost instantly. Jess stared in horror at the old man's body. Despite everything, he'd still felt something for Matt, still harboured hopes that somehow the old man could be persuaded to give up his old friends and rejoin the _Wanderer_ 's crew. Those hopes were gone now, destroyed by the same shots that had left Matt's body smouldering on the floor.

# Chapter 28

Jess was jerked from his stunned state by Sal's voice rasping out of the robot.

"Jess, we need to get you out of there. How is Elizabeth?"

He gave himself a shake and crossed to check on Elizabeth.

"She seems to be all right. Her breathing is steady. She's out for the count, though. I think we should load her on one of the trolleys."

"Makes sense, I'll help you."

The robot moved forwards and helped Jess get Elizabeth onto the trolley. He strapped her securely in place, then glanced at the open door to the corridor.

"We need to watch for anyone trying to surprise us."

"Already doing it. Ali has one of the drones watching the corridor. We've activated the drones on the shuttle, too, they're protecting it for the moment."

"Great. What do we do about Nicholas? I don't think he was involved in the trap."

"You might be right, but we leave him, for now at least. Getting Elizabeth back will be tricky enough in itself."

"Yeah, I'd like to get him later, though. He might be able..."

Jess broke off as the ship signalled it had control of Iona's main systems, including sensors, weapons and shields. He quickly ran searches to locate Ali's friends.

"I've found everyone from Kershel V. The good news is they're all together and it's not far from here. The bad news is they're under heavy armed guard."

He sent the information through to Jess and Sal. The thirty-one children and five adults were grouped together in a fairly large room. Ten armed guards, wearing thick armour and holding large guns, stood watching over them.

"We need to get to them quickly," Sal said. "As soon as they realise the trap failed they'll start using those people as hostages and their guard will be right up. We can get the ship drones to meet you there, that should even the odds up significantly."

"OK. I'm going to have to take Elizabeth with us, there's nowhere safe to leave her."

Jess turned to Teeko.

"Thank you Teeko, you put yourself in a lot of danger."

"Worth was it. Friend Jess saved did I."

"Definitely. Are you hurt?"

"Hurt not. Fine feel. With you come will I."

"Everyone is ready then. Let's move."

They charged out into the corridor, turned to the right and set off. Jess found himself juggling several things. First, keeping his body moving and controlling Elizabeth's trolley. Second was managing the drone he was in control of, using it to scout ahead ready to provide covering fire. Finally, he was monitoring the target room for any signs the occupants knew they were about to come under attack.

The shuttle's drones reached the room just before Jess and the others did, four larger drones with significantly more firepower and shielding than the two that had been hidden in the robot. Others remained by the shuttle, protecting their exit.

"We go through the door together," Sal said. "Hit them hard and fast. Teeko, you stay here and protect Elizabeth. Jess, you keep your head down too. Let the robot and the drones earn their keep."

Jess nodded, Teeko performed what Jess thought must be a nod but the movement was so alien due to its sinuous neck that he wasn't sure.

The robot and drones approached the doors. Sal, Ali and Jess decided who would tackle which of the guards, then executed the plan.

The robot went through first, smashing the door aside and opening fire immediately. The drones followed close behind. Several guards were struck whilst still registering what had happened to the door. The quickest thinkers were starting to lift their weaponry, reacting very quickly to the attack. Their thick armour offered no defence against the robot's advanced weaponry, two guards went down immediately. Several more fell as the drones opened fire. Those targeted by the two small drones managed to withstand several shots before finally being overwhelmed. The robot and the ship-based drones quickly finished off the remaining guards.

It was over so quickly that all the guards were dead before the prisoners could react. For a second or two intense silence followed the roar of weapons, then it was broken by screaming and crying children. Jess ran into the room, holding his arms out and trying to shout over them. He couldn't make himself heard.

"Children, quiet!" Ali's voice boomed out over the robot's speaker. "This is Auntie Alice. We are here to take you home. Please calm down and follow Jess. Jess, put your arm up so they know who you are."

Jess raised his arm, feeling stupid as he did so. The children stared at him, eyes wide, but they did calm down. Several of the adults headed for Jess asking if it was true, if they were going home.

"Yes, we've come to get you, but it's dangerous out there. You have to get the children organised, get them ready to move and make sure we won't leave anyone behind."

"What about the other prisoners?" asked one of the men.

"We want to get them free too, as many as we can, but you all come first. We came here to rescue you. Ali insisted on it."

"How do we know we can trust you? We thought she'd betrayed us. Why didn't she end up here with us?"

"She was grabbed and drugged by the people that kidnapped you. If you don't trust us then fine, stay here. Explain the dead guards when the next lot turn up, assuming they let you explain before opening fire."

"Don't be stupid Alex," one of the two women said. "Look at what they've done already. We need to get out."

"What about these collars, though? You've felt what they do, seen how much the children suffer. What happens when the guards turn them on?"

"We've taken over their systems," Jess said. "We have an interference signal pumping out across the farm. None of the collars will work. Once you're back on our ship they can be removed."

"They told us no one can remove them without the right codes, that trying will activate all collars nearby."

"They told me that, too, it was something I knew for a fact every day of my life. Our ship removed mine when I first went on board. It gave me quite a shock, let me tell you." Jess grinned at the memory.

"What do you want to do, Alex?" asked the woman. "Stay here? Or take a chance to get free? I say let's go, right now."

The other adults agreed. Alex seemed less than convinced but didn't argue further. The adults quickly rounded up the children, but Jess could see that keeping the smallest moving would be a big problem. Teeko chose that moment to enter the room, causing shouts of fear, confusion and, from many of the children, wonder.

"It's all right!" Jess shouted. "That's Teeko, it's with us."

"Jess friend," Teeko said. "Little children carry can I. Sit on my back can they."

Teeko lowered himself to all eight legs, meaning his back covered a large area. Jess quickly grabbed one of the smallest children, lifting it onto Teeko's back.

"Who else wants a ride?" he asked.

Most of the children put their hands up. The adults picked out five more of the younger children, then picked up one more each to carry themselves. With the youngest eleven children riding or being carried Jess thought they had a much better chance.

"Come on, we need to get moving," he said.

He took the lead and moved quickly into the corridor. Almost immediately there came the crash of a gun being fired and Jess's personal shield flared bright. Mind still accelerated, he spotted the guard hidden in a door recess, swung a drone around and blasted the guard with weapons fire before a second shot could be unleashed. He beat the robot by a few milliseconds, and Ali's drone by a little more due to its positioning. By the time all three had fired the corpse was mostly drifting ash.

**Jess, be careful!** sent Sal. **Let the drones scout ahead.**

He wasn't about to argue. The shot had shaken him badly. They set off down the corridor, a strange collection indeed. Two drones leading the way followed by the gleaming robot. Jess came next, pushing the trolley Elizabeth lay on, then came Teeko loaded down with young children, and finally the mix of adults and children. Some distance behind the final two drones patrolled on high alert.

**Can we get everyone on the shuttle?** Ali asked.

**Yes, just about,** Jess replied. **We'll have to leave the robot and the drones, and it will be a tight fit, but we can do it.**

**Great. I'm launching the other shuttles now. Many of the slaves are grouped together which will make our life easier, although we can't take them all in one go. I've loaded the shuttles with armour, medkits, and some weapons for those that can't get on the first wave. The other two robots are on their way over too. I'll start letting the prisoners know now.**

Jess listened with half an ear to Ali's message, mostly focused on reaching the shuttle safely.

"This is a message for all prisoners. We are here to rescue you. All of you. Shuttles are on their way to key airlocks, along with combat drones to protect you. Your collars have been temporarily disabled. Please make your way to your closest airlock if it is safe to do so.

"If not, please group together. We can see where you are and will come to get you. We have room for everyone on the ship, but the shuttles will need to make several trips. Armour, medkits and some weapons will be on the shuttles. Use them to keep yourselves safe, but do not go after the guards. Please help those who are very young, old or ill.

"Guards, listen carefully. We have killed many of you already. We will kill you all, if necessary. Stay out of our way and do not interfere with the prisoners and we will spare you. Step in our way and be crushed."

The message started to repeat. Jess smiled to himself, greatly impressed. He doubted Elizabeth could have done better. Then he wondered if she had helped cook it up.

They neared the docking bay without issues, but through the stations sensors Jess saw several armed groups closing in from behind. While his ragtag band could reach the shuttle safely they'd be sitting ducks whilst trying to get on board.

**Sal, we need to hold those guards up.**

**I know. Two more corners and all the approaches merge. We'll hold them there. Be quick though, this lot seem to have some hefty hardware.**

**Better stagger the defence, then. Pull the drones from the shuttle too, we know the area is clear now.**

**Done.**

They turned round the next two corners, then the robot and drones at the front slipped to the slides. Ali's voice boomed out of the robot again.

"Keep moving! Follow Jess. Quickly now! You're almost there."

Jess shoved the trolley with Elizabeth on even faster, only a few corridors remained and the doors in those corridors were all single rooms with no other exits. Sensors and cameras showed them all to be empty. Several drones from the shuttle flew into view and shot over his head, heading towards the fight. He heard weapon fire behind him as the first units of guards were cut down. Sal had been right though, this lot had far heavier weaponry. The second wave opened fire, severely damaging one drone and rocking the robot within its shielding.

"Keep moving!" Jess shouted over his shoulder.

Turning back he saw a door further down the corridor opening and a shimmer of movement. Without his implants and fast thoughts he would have seen nothing, even with them he could only make out an outline; a man holding a weapon of some sort.

With a shout Jess shoved Elizabeth's trolley to the side and started to charge towards the near invisible assailant. He forced his body to move faster, feeling muscles starting to tear under the extreme load. Spreading his shielding he tried to protect the children behind him. He made it almost halfway before the guard opened fire. Jess saw the flare of energy at the same moment something struck his shields. This was no mechanical gun, it was an energy weapon of some sort. His shields held, flaring the energy off in dazzling sparks of energy which flew to the sides.

The guard fired again. Jess's shields held but were struggling. The third shot partially overloaded his shields, thanks to the speed he was moving the shot pierced his left shoulder but didn't hit anything vital. Jess was aware of the impact but the pain hadn't hit yet. He pressed on, now three-quarters of the way to the guard, but knew he wouldn't make it. The guard would get off two or three more shots and Jess's shields couldn't handle it.

Realising he had to try something desperate, Jess studied the weapon, struggling to penetrate its camouflage and tell where it was aimed. He thought he knew but it was partly guesswork. If he was wrong he'd be dead. So would those behind him, soon after. Desperately hoping he had it right, he collapsed his shields to a small area only a hand's width across so it could withstand another shot, forming it into a cup shape with the open top pointed towards the weapon.

The guard fired once more. Jess had guessed correctly. The shot impacted the shield and once again the energy was flared away in crackling lines of electricity, but this time the shape of the shield sent the energy back at the guard. The blast spread out slightly on the way. When it hit the guard it blew a hole the size of a dinner plate through his chest, killing him instantly.

Jess stumbled to a halt, then the pain from his shoulder hit. He screamed but almost as soon as it came it faded again – his implants limiting the pain and already sending out tendrils to start the healing process. The blast of energy had cauterised the wound so he wasn't bleeding, at least.

**Jess!** Ali's message crashed into his mind, somehow far more forceful than normal. **Are you OK?**

**Yeah, that was close though. There might be more of them. Can you spare any drones?**

**No, but we will. You need the protection. Just get in that shuttle as fast as you damn well can. Bring the Wanderer in closer, too. Once you're clear we can blow that whole section apart.**

**Doing it now. Good idea.**

**Of course it is. Now move!**

**Yes, Sir!**

"Come on everyone, we have to hurry!" Jess shouted.

A boom overhead announced four drones arriving. Two took position ahead, one overhead and the other behind. Jess ran back to get Elizabeth's trolley and then set off down the corridor as fast as he could. Behind him he could hear the adults shouting at the children to move. Many of the kids were crying, but Jess was relieved to see they all moved quickly.

Three more of the nearly invisible guards tried to ambush them. The drones dealt with all three the moment they appeared. However their cloaking worked, it clearly didn't extend to providing shields.

Jess rounded the final corner and ran into the shuttle bay, ordering the shuttle to open its rear and cabin doors. Three of the drones turned and streaked back into the corridor. Jess quickly checked the status and saw why. The robot was badly damaged and retreating under heavy fire. All but one of the drones with it had been destroyed and that one was in trouble.

"Move!" he screamed as the mass of people behind him stumbled to a halt. "Get into the back of the shuttle, right now! Teeko, you go to the cabin. Help me to get Elizabeth in there."

Not looking to see if he was being obeyed, Jess started to drag Elizabeth off the trolley. Teeko was there almost immediately, using its arms to help lift Elizabeth and drag her into the shuttle. The children on its back were clinging on tightly, eyes red from crying. Jess didn't have time to reassure them. He jumped into the pilot's chair and strapped himself in, then started the side door closing.

A flare of alarm told him the robot had been destroyed. All the remaining drones followed quickly after. Checking the shuttle's sensors he saw that most of the children were in. The adults were quickly guiding the last few. One older child had fallen over on the way and lay crying on the floor, too overwhelmed to move again.

An adult dropped the child they carried off in the shuttle and ran back. Jess realised it was Alex. In that moment Jess completely changed his opinion of the man. The others made it into the shuttle as Alex reached the child. Hooking his arms under the boy's stomach he was turned and sprinting back before he'd even slung the boy over his shoulder.

Two guards appeared at the corridors entrance, swinging to target Alex and the boy. Somehow Alex put on a last burst of speed and dived into the back of the shuttle just as they fired. The shots were mostly blocked by the shuttle's side, but Jess saw Alex's feet blown clean off, the energy blast sealing the wounds.

Jess immediately started the shuttle lifting, closing the rear door and raising the shuttle's shields. More guards appeared and even the shuttle's shields were rocked by the firepower aimed at them. Jess reached out through the _Wanderer_ to the station's controls and ordered the docking bay door open. Nothing happened. The guards had jammed the mechanism somehow. More shots impacted the shuttle's shields. Jess knew it couldn't take much more punishment.

In desperation he reached out to the _Wanderer_ , carefully chose lasers he felt were not too powerful and fired at the door. One moment it was there, the next it was gone and the shuttle was rocked by a huge blast which nearly collapsed its shields. Jess smiled grimly at the thought he'd nearly done the guards work for them. He threw the shuttle forwards, hoping none of the passengers would be too badly hurt. With them packed in so tightly he hoped they wouldn't be thrown around too much.

As he cleared the docking bay more shots impacted on the shields, which flickered dangerously before holding. The docking bay had automatically sealed when the door had been destroyed, preventing the station's atmosphere escaping, but the guards' armour clearly had life support built in. He threw the shuttle down and to the right – taking it out of the line of fire for the moment. Using the station's sensors he saw the guards rush towards where the door had been, looking to get more shots off. What they saw stopped them dead. Sitting less than five hundred metres away was the _Wanderer_. Jess gave them a few moments to contemplate their fate, and for the shuttle to reach a safe distance, then he used his control of Iona's systems to drop its shields and opened fire with some of the _Wanderer_ 's heavy weaponry. The docking bay and several floors around it simply ceased to exist. Jess smiled to himself grimly, then swung the shuttle and _Wanderer_ onto paths that would let them dock as soon as possible.

# Chapter 29

Less than a minute later the shuttle touched down in the _Wanderer_ , clamps locking it in place. Jess opened both the cabin and rear doors and hurried out, telling the children in the cabin to stay with Teeko. Elizabeth too would have to wait. Her breathing was still stable. She could sleep off the effects for now. He ran around to the back entrance of the shuttle.

"You're safe," he told the anxious looking adults and scared looking children. "We are back on the _Wanderer_ , our ship. You can stay here for now, but the room through there is our lounge and will probably be more comfortable. There's some sofas and chairs. We need to get Alex into the medical bay. Two of you help me carry him."

Alex looked in a bad way, the shock of his injuries had hit him hard. His face was pale and coated in sweat, his breathing rapid and he was barely conscious. Swallowing hard at the ruined flesh Jess lifted the injured man under his knees. One of the men grabbed Alex under the shoulders and the woman who had argued with Alex earlier put her arms under his back, sharing the weight.

Jess led them through into the lounge at a near run, headed through into the short corridor and then into the medical bay. A low bed was already in place, formed out of the ship's structure as always. They carefully placed Alex down on the bed which immediately started to mould itself around his body, his legs in particular. The ship started pumping chemicals into his body to combat shock. Almost immediately his breathing deepened and he soon settled into a deep sleep.

"Alex! No!" the woman screamed, reaching out to grab Alex by the shoulders. Jess grabbed her hands.

"It's all right, really it is. The ship has put him into a coma while it works on him. He'll be fine. I was worried we wouldn't get him here in time, now we have the ship will take good care of him."

"I want to stay with him."

She glared at Jess, challenging him. He realised he didn't have the time to argue.

"Fine, but don't touch anything. Don't interfere. Some of the ways the ship works are invasive but they are crucial. Promise me. Otherwise you can't stay."

She met his gaze for long moments before nodding. She turned back to Alex without saying a word. Jess motioned to the other man to follow and left the room.

"Will he really be all right?" asked the man, once the door was closed.

"Yes. I promise. Now I need to go help rescue the other prisoners. Please help the children off the shuttle."

Jess sprinted out into the lounge, dodged past several children that were milling around, then ran through to the flight deck. He grinned at Sal, stole a quick kiss with Ali then jumped into the pilot's seat and strapped himself in, wincing slightly as the straps pulled against his shoulder wound. His implants had done such a good job of numbing the pain he'd almost forgotten it.

**How is it going?** he asked.

**Badly,** replied Sal. **The only good thing is the fighters are keeping a good distance from us and the station. I thought they would have tried something by now. Most of the guards are ignoring our warnings, so the prisoners are focusing on trying to get past the guards, or get to them. It's turning into a bloodbath down there.**

**Damn. We need to make the threat more real to the guards. I've got an idea...**

Sal and Ali felt the idea would work. As Sal had spoken to the station before, they let her send the new message.

"Guards on the station, you are ignoring our threat. That is a mistake. We not only have a ship stationed beside Iona, we also control all of its systems. To prove that, all the stations defensive weapons will fire seven times on my count. One... two... three..."

Each time Sal counted they triggered every weapon Iona had, wherever possible the weapons were fired just slightly above the farm sections, ensuring the unleashed energy was visible to everyone.

"...seven. You have seen we have control of Iona's weaponry. Nothing can stop our ship from attacking you. Any segment where the guards attack prisoners, in particular any segment where the guards kill all the prisoners, will be blown apart by our ship. There will be no more warnings."

**If that doesn't scare them into behaving nothing will,** Jess sent.

Jess checked the deployment of their forces while waiting to see what effect the warning would have. Most of the shuttles were on final approach, with a few already docked and unloading drones. As more and more shuttles docked the three of them were hard pushed to keep coordinating all the drones they had. Many encountered stiff resistance around docking bays, but nowhere near the firepower Jess had fled from on the shuttle. They quickly eliminated all resistance around the docking bays, with only a few drones destroyed by lucky hits or being overwhelmed by fire.

Using Iona's sensors Jess saw that many of the guards had now pulled back to defensible locations, letting prisoners pass safely.

**It's working. There's still a few hot spots, but most of the guards are pulling back. Let's get some drones there, the robots too if we can.**

**Great** , Sal replied. **Hang on, some prisoners are trying to chase down guards that have pulled back. I think they want revenge. What do we do?**

**We send some drones out there. Order them to stop.**

**And if they don't?**

**I hate to say it but... we shoot them. Somewhere painful rather than fatal. If the guards feel under threat they'll start attacking prisoners again. We don't control all communications, I'm sure the word would spread through all the guards pretty quickly.**

**Yeah, OK. Shooting at prisoners though...**

Jess could feel how conflicted Sal was through the link. He felt the same. He had to focus on getting as many prisoners out as safely as possible, though. Despite the earlier chaos and fear he realised the trap had worked in their favour. The people from Ali's station had all been grouped together and easy to save. At least now he didn't have to worry about steering them to safety, possibly at the expense of other prisoners.

Things continued to improve for the next couple of minutes. The first drones started to arrive at two of the trouble spots and quickly wiped out the guards there. The third trouble spot followed suit soon after, but the fourth was much harder. The guards there were dug into much better defensive positions, and were toting the same heavy weaponry Jess had faced in the station's hub – though it wasn't used until the drones arrived. Fourteen drones were destroyed in quick succession, Jess, Sal and Ali sent the others diving for cover or back out of range.

**I don't think they're guards,** Ali sent. **Their tactics and weapons are completely different. I think they came with Matt, the ones that attacked you, too.**

**Makes sense,** Sal sent. **I think we should bypass them. We can take the prisoners in that area out through here or here instead. It's quite a bit longer but far safer. I don't know if we have the firepower to overcome that position.**

**Let's do it,** Jess sent. **Once the prisoners are far enough away I'll use the Wanderer to pound that position. They won't survive that.**

They diverted the prisoners as Sal had suggested. In other areas some prisoners were already reaching shuttles. Sal instructed them to unload the armour, weapons and some of the medkits, then the first wave launched to rendezvous with the _Wanderer_. Soon the first few were docking, using the docking bays in the lower section of the _Wanderer_ , the area sealed off from the flight deck and crew living areas. The moment everyone was off the shuttles were launching again, heading back to pick up more prisoners.

An alarm flared in Jess's mind, drawing his attention to a region of space several minutes' flight away. A fleet of ships had exited jump space and were turning towards Iona and the _Wanderer_. Jess could detect that they were powering up weapons and had strong shields in place. The _Wanderer_ tagged several as being familiar, ships they had last encountered at the Stone Snake pirate base. The slight hope Jess held that the ships would be friendly, or at worst neutral, was crushed.

**Incoming. We're going to have to fight,** he sent. **You two take over all the drones. I need to concentrate on this.**

**Good luck,** sent Sal. **Try not to bump us about too much. What do we do about the shuttle flights?**

**Get the prisoners to safe points near the docks and make sure they're armed. Send back any shuttles already in flight. I have to engage those ships before they get close to the station.**

**Can the station's defences hold them off?**

**Not a chance. Two of those ships are frigate class, their shielding will be massive and they could pound the defences apart in no time.**

**In that case... can the Wanderer hold them off?**

**I think so. We don't have to sit still and let them shoot at us like Iona would. I'm going to have to make some jumps which will interrupt your connection to the drones, robots and shuttles.**

**That's fine, most of the prisoners are away from guards now and those guards still near prisoners are sitting tight.**

**OK, great.**

Jess already had the _Wanderer_ swinging around, turning to face the oncoming fleet. He played a quick warning over the ships speakers, for the sake of those already on board.

"Hostile ships have jumped in and are moving to engage us. We will be in combat very soon and you may hear or feel some of the effects. Please don't worry, we are more than capable of dealing with the incoming ships. You are completely safe." _I hope,_ he added mentally.

Jess focused on the approaching fleet. The two large frigates were the most impressive, and most dangerous, of the ships. Some twenty times the size of the corvettes the _Wanderer_ had been able to destroy in the past. Their weaponry was a mixture of hugely powerful ship killers, designed to take on other large ships, and numerous fast tracking but lower powered weapons for keeping fighters and small ships away.

Accompanying them were three corvettes, twenty-eight smaller gunships and around two hundred small fighters. The fleet was arranged in a flat wedge with the largest ships in the centre and the fighters on the edge. They flew close together, apparently wanting to ensure they could support each other. Jess decided his prior success against the pirates was now returning to haunt him. They knew the _Wanderer_ was dangerous, very dangerous, and were taking no chances.

He realised there was another option. He didn't have to fight. Ali's friends were safely on board, around a hundred of the other prisoners too. He could run, punch into jump space and leave the fleet far behind. He imagined the thousands of prisoners still on Iona, the fragile feelings of hope they must have, and what would happen to them if he did flee. He knew he couldn't do that to them. He had to rescue them, which meant he had to defeat the fleet.

The frigates were the first to fire as the _Wanderer_ neared, their massive ship killer weapons lashing out. They would have crippled a normal corvette or similarly sized ship before it could get close enough to retaliate.

The Wanderer was far from normal. As soon as the frigates opened fire Jess threw the ship into jump space, emerging almost on top of the fleet and angled to pass from the top right section towards the centre. At point-blank range, the Wanderer's upgraded weaponry started to lash out. Tens of fighters simply vanished, nothing but expanding clouds of vapour marking where they'd been. The larger gunships held out longer, but not by much. Jess managed to destroy two of them and heavily damaged a third. His approach meant one frigate was blocked by the bulk of the other, meaning only the closer frigate could target the Wanderer. It started lashing out with its heavy weapons. None struck. The Wanderer was far more agile than any ship of comparative size, so it was able to dodge far too fast for the ship killing weaponry to track. The small anti fighter weapons started to land hits, but the Wanderer easily shrugged them off.

The shields were taking a battering from other sources, though. Two of the corvettes had managed to target the _Wanderer_ and were scoring as many hits as misses. A number of the gunships had too, though any fighters trying the same trick were destroyed almost instantly. The shields were holding but they couldn't cope with so much firepower indefinitely.

Jess targeted one of the corvettes with as many weapons as he could and unleashed them together. He was amazed by the result. The _Wanderer_ 's previous encounters with corvettes had been close run things where skill or blind luck had played its part. This encounter was exceptionally one sided. The corvette's shields flickered for a second then buckled and collapsed. The weight of the weaponry then punched its way through the corvette's thick hull from one side to the other. It missed the engines and thrusters so there was no major explosion, but the corvette was dead in space. Escape capsules started to fly out from the undamaged sections of the ship.

The _Wanderer_ suddenly rocked as the nearer frigate scored a lucky hit, shields holding but seriously strained. Jess punched into jump space again for a moment then emerged a short distance behind the fleet. He slowed the _Wanderer_ , preparing for the fleet to turn and engage again. It didn't. Instead it kept heading for Iona. Jess realised the fleet must know what he was attempting to do, that the prisoners on Iona represented a soft and immobile target. Angrily he dragged the _Wanderer_ around and into jump space again, emerging halfway between the fleet and Iona then swinging around to engage again.

Once more he used a jump to close on the fleet, this time emerging a short distance in front and aiming to fly right through the centre, between the two frigates. As the frigates and other ships lashed out at the _Wanderer_ again, Jess focused all his fire on the right hand frigate. Even with the _Wanderer_ 's powerful new weaponry the frigate was a worthy opponent. With repeated shots he managed to weaken the forward shields significantly, but the ship reinforced them by pulling power from the rear shields. Space around the _Wanderer_ was being peppered by fire and more shots were landing than Jess was happy with. Given enough time he was sure he could puncture the frigate's shields, but he didn't have time. A desperate plan formed in his head.

As the _Wanderer_ neared the fleet he kept it heading between the two massive frigates but slowed the speed of the evasive manoeuvres. The massive ship killing weaponry was getting closer and closer, and the _Wanderer_ 's shields were already under strain from a mixture of corvette and gunship fire. Just as it seemed the frigates' weapons would find the _Wanderer_ it reached the point where it was flying between the frigates.

The right hand frigate's large weapons fell silent immediately as they realised the danger. The left hand frigate's crew were far too intent on destroying the _Wanderer_ and kept firing. Now Jess let the _Wanderer_ dodge faster again, none of the mighty pulses of energy even came close. Instead they crashed into the shields of the other frigate at near point-blank range. Jess added the _Wanderer_ 's own fire to the barrage impacting the right hand frigate, delighted to see the shields flickering under such a heavy onslaught and then fail completely.

Some of the left hand frigate's weapons fell silent but many kept firing, as did Jess. He launched a barrage of torpedoes too. Even the frigate's heavy armour was no match for such devastating firepower. Huge holes were blown in its superstructure. Jess focused the _Wanderer_ 's fire on a particularly deep hole near the engines. Pouring fire into the area, the _Wanderer_ was able to punch through and destroy several engines. The resulting explosion was massive. Jess immediately threw the _Wanderer_ into a jump, fighting to keep the ship stable as the huge explosion rocked the fabric of jump space.

He dropped the _Wanderer_ back into normal space and swung her round. The damaged frigate was now just so much wreckage, ruined chunks the size of small ships spinning away. One of the remaining corvettes had been caught in the blast and was reeling with its shields flickering. Many of the gunships and fighters had disappeared without trace. Even the other frigate had sustained some damage, and its shields were significantly weakened.

Jess swung the _Wanderer_ around once more and used a short jump to approach the fleet yet again. Dropping into real space he focused fire on the damaged frigate. Within seconds he was rewarded by its shields dying, quickly followed by a massive explosion as the engines were ruptured. He flew past the frigate, pouring fire into its shields, weakening them further but not inflicting any damage. A handful of weapons lashed out from the frigate, none coming close, but most stayed silent. Jess managed to destroy several gunships as well as he flew past them.

Clearing the fleet he was shocked to see how close to Iona they were. Within a couple of minutes the frigate's weapons would be able to attack it. Grimly he swung the _Wanderer_ to attack again. He was becoming sure that he could defeat the fleet now, but it would take a miracle to take out the frigate before it laid waste to Iona.

There was movement within the fleet, ships changing position rapidly. It took him a moment to realise what was happening. Ships were breaking off, turning to run. First a few fighters, then most of those that remained. Some of the gunships joined the flight. The remaining corvette pitched down sharply, curving away from the _Wanderer_ and Iona.

When the frigate started to brake heavily and turn as sharply as such a ship could Jess knew they'd won. He watched the large ship closely in case it was a diversion, even with the turn it would be closing to within twenty or thirty seconds of being able to target Iona. If the move was a feint then the frigate could quickly swing round into weapons' range. It didn't. All fight had gone out of the pirates. They turned tail and fled, heading in many directions.

Jess considered following the frigate, pounding it apart so it couldn't threaten anyone else. Then he took in the devastation before him properly for the first time. He started to total up in his head how many thousands had died, mostly at his hands. Feeling sick inside, he let the fleeing ships go. He had enough blood on his hands. So much he doubted they would ever be clean again.

# Chapter 30

With the threat from the fleet gone, Jess flew the _Wanderer_ back to Iona, which allowed the evacuation of the prisoners to resume. While the space battle had raged Sal and Ali had continued to organise the prisoners. Most were now near to docking bays. With the _Wanderer_ holding close station above Iona they could rapidly transfer the prisoners, shuttles weaving back and forth.

**What about that band of pirates we couldn't tackle?** Sal sent. **Do you still want to blast them with the Wanderer's weapons?**

**Are they any threat to us? Or to the prisoners?** Jess asked.

**No, none at all now.**

**Then no. I've killed enough people today,** Jess sent wearily.

He was almost overwhelmed by the message Ali sent in return, a mixture of love, excitement and encouragement.

**And you have saved so many too. Look at the people, look at their faces as they arrive, as the collars are removed, as they realise they are really free. I love you so much. You did what you had to out there, no more.**

He wasn't completely convinced, but her message helped lift his mood a little. He still felt exhausted though, both mentally and physically. As the flow of prisoners slowed he considered the fate of those left behind, the managers and workers. They would survive but the farm would be ruined. Without the slave workforce crops would rot or wilt, Iona would either be finished or would require massive investment. Somehow he couldn't bring himself to care about those who had run it, those who had relied on the slaves.

Except for one. On a hunch he contacted different groups of prisoners, showed them Nicholas's image and asked if they knew him, what he was like. Many didn't know him but those that did all had a good word to say. Of how Nicholas had always avoided using the collars, had actually cared how they were, had falsely declared crops as spoilt occasionally so the prisoners could get some much needed nutritious food. How he'd sneaked medicines to sick children. All at great personal risk.

The tales confirmed his hunch. Jess took control of the remaining robot that was in good condition and sent it to the room where he and Elizabeth had been attacked. He found Nicholas still collapsed on the floor, not surprising as Elizabeth was only just coming around with the help of the ship's medical attention. The cocktail of drugs had been extremely powerful. Jess was thankful that the destruction he'd unleashed on the docking bay hadn't reached where Nicholas lay comatose. He had the robot pick Nicholas up and take him to the nearest undamaged docking bay, arriving in time to board the final shuttle.

In the end they rescued nearly four thousand prisoners. The achievement was dampened by the knowledge that several hundred had died at the hands of the guards and pirates, not to mention the large number of people who died as Jess fought off the fleet. Jess felt a grim satisfaction, though, as the _Wanderer_ flew away from Iona and punched into jump space. Considering his fears that they would fail, that they would all die during the operation, things had actually gone pretty well.

In the lounge area behind him a tearful reunion between Ali and her friends was taking place. Sal was there, too, along with Teeko and a recovering Elizabeth. Teeko had become a firm favourite of the younger children. The strange alien seemed to love the attention and was busy giving them horsey rides, though Jess had no idea what a horsey was.

After a quick check to ensure the _Wanderer_ had no problems, Jess leant his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. Within moments he was fast asleep.

"So we've agreed that we're all wonderful and the operation went really well," Sal said, smiling. "But the question is, where do we take everyone? We can't keep this many people on the ship for long. The conditions aren't cramped down there but they aren't luxurious, either."

Jess, Ali, Sal and Elizabeth were sat in the flight deck. With the living area overrun with children it was the only place to hold a conference.

"Gonna be tough finding anyone that'll take that many, especially ex slaves," said Elizabeth. "Or finding somewhere you can bloody trust not to sell them to the next slave trader!"

"I think I know exactly the place," said Jess, smiling. When he told them the others grinned too. Somehow it was perfect.

As the _Wanderer_ dropped into real space near Glory Falls several ships immediately changed course to intercept, blasting out warnings and threats. Ignoring them, Jess opened a channel to Glory Falls station itself.

"Governor Demery, would you kindly ask your ships to stand down? I think we've already proven they wouldn't stand a chance against the _Wanderer_ , and as you can see she's packing a lot more firepower than she did last time."

After a few seconds the governor appeared, such a shocked look on her face that Jess couldn't help but laugh.

"Yes, of course," she said.

She gestured to someone off screen. The approaching ships broke off their demands, though two continued with only a slight course change.

"Those two will escort you in," she said. "We both know there's no need, but my people's confidence is fragile right now."

"That's fine. Please extend my thanks to the two captains."

"I will. Without wishing to be rude, I have to ask why you are here. I never expected to see you again."

"Well Governor, as you kept reminding us before, you owe us. Now it's time to pay that debt. We have a number of rescued prisoners looking for a home, or a safe place for a few months before they travel on. Nearly four thousand of them. I want Glory Falls to take them. All of them. Will that be a problem?"

The governor sat back in her chair, whistling through her teeth and looking thoughtful. Finally she spoke.

"We certainly do owe you. Nearly four thousand? A few months ago I'd have laughed in your face. Now, though... well, we are really short of people. Crewing the fleet has taken a lot of people, and we are trying to expand too. Improve our weapons. Grow more of our own food. If those prisoners are willing to work for their place, to obey our rules, I'll welcome them with open arms."

"I think I can guarantee that," said Jess, then he smiled. "And you may find their special skills particularly useful. They were working on an orbital farm. If you want to grow more food, these are the people you need."

From that point the conversation turned to logistics and planning. The governor had to prepare her people, arrange living quarters, guides, registration of the influx. In the end it took more than a day to transfer all of the prisoners. Nicholas chose to join them, pointing out that his expertise in growing food would be sorely needed. Tales of his previous kindness had spread and he was welcomed by all of the freed prisoners. Nicholas seemed to be truly happy to be dealing with them as people, not as slaves.

As the _Wanderer_ turned to head out of the system, the governor called again.

"I wanted to say thank you, once again," she said. "I'm glad we could help, but I don't consider the debt paid. I doubt it ever will be. If by some strange chance you ever find yourself in this region of space again, you will always be welcome here. You've changed the destiny of so many people, not just the slaves you rescued or our people you saved. The whole station is now securing itself, making sure we can stand up for our rights.

"I suspect wherever you go danger will follow, so I won't wish you a quiet journey. I'll just say I hope you stay safe and are happy."

"Thank you, Governor. If we are ever back then we will stop by and see how you are doing. Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

The _Wanderer_ jumped, turning towards Kershel V, Ali's home.

Curled up beside a sleeping Ali, Jess found it impossible to sleep. With the bedroom lights dimmed he could just make out the back of her head, the curve of her shoulder, as she slept with her back to him.

They would arrive at Kershel V next morning. Ali had been excited all day, but Jess was worried. His stomach felt like it was full of acid. His chest was tight and tears threatened to fall. Kershel was Ali's home. He was sure she'd want to stay, to be with her friends, to return to the life she had known. A life he couldn't share, not with his link to the _Wanderer_. The thought of losing her was like a knife in his chest, but he couldn't say anything. If staying would make her happy, if it was what she wanted, then it was what she must do. More than anything else he wanted her to be happy. He let out a deep sigh.

"Something is obviously wrong, are you ready to tell me yet?"

Jess jumped at Ali's voice. She rolled over to face him, the lights brightened slightly so they could see each other's faces clearly. Steeling himself, Jess managed to speak without a quiver in his voice.

"You're so excited about reaching Kershel tomorrow. Aren't you?"

"Of course I am! It's my home. There are people there I haven't seen since I was kidnapped. I want to see them all. And to see their faces when we return all the children. That's not the problem is it? How can it be?"

"It's your home," he said flatly. "You'll want to stay there, won't you? You should. It's your home."

"Oh. Ohhhh..."

She stared at him, eyes wide, studying his face. She reached out with both hands and held his face gently. It was too much, a juddering sob ripped through him and tears started to fall. Ali grabbed him in a fierce embrace, clinging to him.

"Oh Jess... I'm sorry. I didn't think. I'm so sorry."

He shuddered again, her words reinforcing his fears.

"Jess... my Jess... no. No, I won't stay there. I'm not even tempted. I'm sorry I worried you. I should have said it _was_ my home. This is my home now. This ship. Mostly because you're here, but also because I've seen how big the universe is, how much there is to see. Even if I didn't love you, how could I go back to my quiet old life? And I do love you, more than I can ever tell you. I want to be with you forever. Don't ever doubt that."

Jess managed to pull away enough to stare into her eyes.

"Really?" he asked in disbelief.

"Really!" she insisted, then dragged his face in for a fierce kiss.

As Jess started to accept her words his body began to react to the passionate kiss. With his worries banished, Jess found he was wide awake for a whole different reason, and soon discovered that Ali felt the same. They made love passionately, fiercely, both collapsing exhausted when they finished.

"I love you!" Jess said intensely.

"I know," Ali replied softly. "I love you too."

They held each other close, kissing softly. The kisses soon turned more intense and they both found they weren't quite as exhausted as they'd thought.

When they finally fell asleep later that night, Jess slept without worry for the first time in what felt like years.

# Chapter 31

Jess smiled at Ali as Kershel shrank behind them. As they jumped and the station disappeared tears ran down her cheeks. Jess leaned in and hugged her, knowing that despite the tears she didn't want to be anywhere other than where she was.

They'd spent three days at Kershel. The sight of parents and families being reunited with children they'd given up for lost would stay with Jess for the rest of his life. It more than balanced the weight of the lives he'd taken in the battle for Iona.

The people of Kershel had taken Ali's new friends to their hearts, even the alien Teeko. For the first time since escaping slavery Jess felt comfortable and relaxed whilst not on board the _Wanderer_. Admittedly he had the ship scanning space for any threats, but that was almost a reflex now. They'd all insisted on sleeping back on the ship, even Ali. Some scars still ran deep. Even in the safety of Kershel they didn't feel comfortable falling asleep, letting their guard down completely.

Alex's family in particular had thanked Jess. To the amazement of Alex, the _Wanderer_ had managed to rebuild his ankles and feet. He was still walking tentatively on them, training the muscles, but was clearly determined to grab the chance he'd been given with both hands. He admitted he'd expected to live the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Jess was glad to have helped. Despite his first impressions he now had great respect for Alex. The man had risked his life and lost his feet, even if only temporarily, to save a child. Someone else's child at that.

When the time came to leave it was a wrench for Jess. He could tell Sal and Elizabeth felt the same. Teeko had, in its strangely fractured words, mentioned the same feelings. Jess couldn't imagine how tough it was for Ali, but despite the tears she had a big smile on her face. She had no second thoughts. This was where she wanted to be.

"So, where do we go now?" asked Sal.

They were all sat in the lounge, having just finished a meal. Jess had simply set the _Wanderer_ flying away from Kershel, making several turns in jump space to prevent them being followed. Some habits were becoming ingrained.

"I can answer that," Jess said, bringing up a star map. "We need to go here."

The star he had indicated, a red dwarf, was thousands of light years distant; a long journey. It was in a large cluster of stars with no indications of human settlements or presence.

"Why there?" asked Sal. "Did you just pick a star as far away as possible?"

"No." Jess smiled, knowing they were about to be as shocked as he had been earlier, when the suggestion was made. "That's where the _Wanderer_ wants to go. Its mind has been much more... well... focused since we accessed the new areas of it and linked you two in. Its personality is stronger. I'm still in control, but it was able to tell me it wants to go there. We don't have anywhere else to go, so why not?"

Their faces were a picture. Jess had to fight not to laugh. And they hadn't heard the best bit yet.

"But why there?" asked Elizabeth. "Why the hell does the ship want to go there?"

"Because," replied Jess. "It wants to go home!"
The story continues in...

**Wanderer - Echoes of the Past**

* * *

_Freedom was only the start. The crew of the Wanderer face ever greater challenges as their journey continues. Knowing the Empire will hunt them down Jess and the others must seek help from another source._

* * *

_Turning to the criminal underworld seems like their only option, but it soon threatens to end in disaster. Especially when past events return to haunt the present._

* * *

_Will even the incredible Wanderer be enough to keep Jess, and those he cares about, safe?_

* * *

You can grab **Wanderer - Echoes of the Past** for free as part of your Simon Goodson Starter Library just click this link...

www.simongoodson.com/library

# Read the first chapter from Book Two...

Jess grinned at the stunned reaction from the others. Elizabeth looked like she was about to choke. Sal and Ali just sat with their mouths open. It was Sal who recovered first.

"OK... right... putting aside the fact the ship is suddenly expressing desires, which we really need to talk about, you want us to just fly off to this star which is weeks or even months away?"

"Sure," Jess replied. "We could go direct easily enough. The _Wanderer_ can provide all the food we need. We've got plenty of vids and books now to keep us busy. If you want we could stop off at some systems on the way, but why not just kick off in jump space and fly directly there?"

"You might be captain of this rather incredible ship, but you have an awful lot to learn about travelling in space." Elizabeth cut in dryly.

She gestured at the star map that Jess had called up. It was zoomed out, allowing them to see the whole span of human occupied space.

"Look carefully at the map. There are tens of thousands of systems with settlements in them, but look at how clumped together they are. You see how there's almost always a sharp division... most systems in an area have at least a basic human presence, then beyond a certain point there's nothing. Did you never wonder why?"

"I'd never seen a star map until a few weeks ago," Jess replied reproachfully. "Slaves weren't expected to know where they were going."

Sal nodded, her expression making it clear she shared Jess's feelings about the comment.

"Damn. Sorry. I forget your backgrounds sometimes, and I'm not the most tactful person."

"I've never thought about it either," Ali said. "To be honest, I don't think I've ever seen the full map before. When I was growing up all we really cared about were the nearby stations, and the systems that were really close by. I knew about some others, but more from curiosity than need."

"Hmm..." Elizabeth said. "Different perspectives I guess. All my life I wanted to get a ship and to travel. Once I got my ship I did exactly that. Best way to make money as a trader is to stick to a few routes that you know well. I did the opposite, travelling far and wide. I only reached the edge of the inhabited systems once but it stuck with me. Being so close to worlds that no one had ever visited."

Her expression clouded for a moment. Jess thought she must be thinking about the ship she had owned for so long and then lost. Before he could say anything she cleared her throat and continued speaking, back to her abrupt self.

"All right, getting back to what I was saying. You might not have seen this before but you have to admit the pattern is mighty strange. You'd expect to have a core of systems that the Empire controls, and then a smattering of systems beyond where those wanting to keep out of the Empire's way drifted to."

"Yes, I can see that," said Sal. "So why isn't it like that?"

"It's down to jump space," Elizabeth replied. "Jump space where we are now is pretty smooth. It's easy to travel through. It isn't like that everywhere. There's the occasional star that does something nasty to jump space, causing disruption and worse. Think of the disruption that we've felt in jump space when a large ship's engines have blown in real space nearby. Now imagine that multiplied thousands of times and covering anything from a few light minutes to a few light years.

You can't see it at this scale but there are many no go areas even in the populated areas of space. You get clumps of disruption more often than pure chance can account for, creating dead ends or narrow paths. Surrounding these clumps of disruption are areas of space that can be navigated with care and a damn good map. Areas where a tiny change in course can soon be the difference between safe transit and your ship being ripped apart.

There are completely safe routes which are well known, of course, but sticking to them would make the journey at least ten to twenty times as long. The more direct routes are valuable so they are never given away. They can be bought, for the right price and in the right places. That means we need to stop regularly to buy details of our next step."

Elizabeth paused for a moment, holding her hand up to stall any replies.

"There's a much nastier problem getting where you want to go," she continued. "At the edge of populated space, on every edge, jump space becomes a chaotic swirling place. The disruption isn't centred on particular stars, instead the turbulence covers from tens to hundreds of light years. So those chaotic regions aren't pressing up against the inhabited systems. The inhabited systems are pressing up against the regions no one can get to."

"And nothing can fly through those regions?" Jess asked.

"Yes and no. Anyone can try, and the level of disruption can vary greatly. One course might let you fly safely, for a while at least, while a slight variation would mean your ship was ripped apart in seconds."

"How does anyone even know that?" asked Sal.

"Automated probes mostly. It's an expensive business but plenty of people are interested in finding a clear path through the chaos. Even if it only led as far as a single system just think what that could mean — a system the Empire was unable to reach. Many, many organisations would love to find such a place — pirates, shady businesses, even those looking for a different political set-up than the Empire. And of course the Empire puts even more resources into the search — to ensure they find and take control of any such systems."

"And are any found?" Jess asked eagerly, caught up in Elizabeth's tale.

"Officially? No. Not any more at least. But there are always rumours saying the opposite. Are any of them true? I have absolutely no idea."

"How do they know how far the disturbance goes?" Jess asked thoughtfully. "It might only be very shallow. If it was then a path to one system might open up another huge area of accessible systems."

"Now _that_ is a good question, and it relates to our problem with reaching the system the ship wants to get to. Look here..." She zoomed the map in. "You can't see it until we zoom in, but look at this section."

"It's narrow," Ali said. "Really narrow."

"Yep. In fact between those two stars there's only a channel a couple of light seconds across — about six hundred thousand kilometres. That might sound a lot but it's pretty much nothing. It's so tight that the Empire tightly restricts traffic through that area, to prevent collisions they say. That's a lie of course. What they are actually doing is cutting the Empire in half, ensuring each half is completely isolated. They even refer to it as the Quarantine Zone.

Anyway, back to your point. The Empire isn't too hot on history. The implication is always that the Empire has always been around and things have always been the way they are, since well before any records exist at least. That's the official version. Other tales are told though, and one in particular says that the Empire was once much smaller. Then someone found a safe route through what had been thought to be an impassable area of space. That route is the Quarantine Zone.

The tale makes sense, and it explains why the empire works so hard to track down anyone probing areas of disruption. It might not be a single system at stake, it might be enough space for an entire rival empire — especially if a group slipped through and left no trace. It would take time, probably hundreds to thousands of years, but something that could threaten the entire Empire might develop out there."

"So we've got two problems," Sal said. "First, we'd have to get past the Quarantine Zone to be able to get anywhere near the _Wanderer_ 's home system. The second is that the system is well inside one of those regions of disruption."

"That's not a problem," Jess replied confidently. "The _Wanderer_ knows a safe path. We just need to get there. Elizabeth, is there any other way through the Quarantine Zone?"

Elizabeth sighed. "Again, there are plenty of rumours. Tales of pirates and others knowing secret ways past. In all honesty I have no idea if they're true."

"So the other option is just to blast our way through? It's a narrow channel but the _Wanderer_ can handle it, and she has scanners that work in jump space which no other ship has. We can avoid any collisions and just fly through. No one will ever know we were there."

"If it was that easy then lots of people would try, even without the ability to avoid potential collisions. The Empire uses jump space inhibitors, tar pits, like the one we were trapped by. There are several at least and each is used to force ships past a checkpoint backed up by a massive fleet. The Empire is exceptionally serious about maintaining the Quarantine Zone.

"But why? Why go to that much trouble?" asked Sal.

"Another question with no answer. I think it's partly out of fear. If there ever was a threat to the whole Empire then the Quarantine Zone would serve as a perfect defensive point. It gives them a single, focused point from which they could ensure half the Empire was safe. I reckon that's also why they allow so little traffic between the two sides — ideas are the most dangerous cargo. They lead to questions and, ultimately, to revolutions."

"So we're back to hoping there's another way through, that someone, somewhere knows it. And that someone will probably be a pirate who's highly unlikely to share it with us."

Jess's shoulders slumped at the thought. Reaching the _Wanderer_ 's home had seemed such a simple task. He'd been buzzing with excitement at the idea. Now it looked like it would be impossible. Jess felt as if it had been snatched away from under his nose.
You can grab **Wanderer - Echoes of the Past** for **free** as part of your Simon Goodson Starter Library just click this link...

www.simongoodson.com/library

* * *

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