Wanderer - Origins

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“What do you mean, gone?” Admiral Vorn’s voice was icily calm but anger churned in his chest. The junior officer trying not to cower in front of him was simply the messenger, but Vorn had been known to shoot the bringer of bad news. Or worse.

“Sir, they weren’t with us when we last exited jump space. With the rush to attack the Wanderer and then to follow it into the wormhole their absence was not noticed.”

“Not noticed?” Vorn’s voice became quieter, even more dangerous. “Two ships disappear, a frigate and a Banshee no less, and they were not noticed? For more than an hour?”

“Sir, at first we thought they had been destroyed by the wormhole. Several of our ships have fallen to that fate. It was only when I ordered a check of their last contact that we…”

“You ordered?”

The officer froze for a moment, realising he had just made himself a prime target for the Admiral’s anger. With a deep breath he pulled himself together. There was little he could do now. If his death was certain then he would face it head on.

“Yes, Sir. Once I became aware of the situation I thought it best to check when we had last been in contact. Everything appeared normal until the last entry into jump space. According to the sensor logs from the rest of the fleet those two ships did not enter jump space, or they entered after the rest of the fleet had jumped. Either way, they did not arrive at our destination.”

The officer fell silent. Around him the bridge crew were working as quietly as possible, trying to make it clear they were in no way eavesdropping. Even the Starslayer’s captain had found an urgent task some way away from the admiral.

Vorn thought over what he had heard. One of the disadvantages of jump space was the inability to communicate between ships, or even detect other ships, while travelling it. Commanding a fleet under those circumstances was challenging to say the least.

Luckily a ship leaving jump space left a distinctive scar on the surface of space which was visible for several days after. Without that ships would always have to continue to their planned destination in order to regroup.

Vorn’s ship, the Starslayer, was always first into jump. If it exited unexpectedly then the other ships would see the scars on space and follow suit. That was the idea, at least. It wasn’t impossible that a ship could overshoot for some reason.

If just one ship was missing then Vorn might suspect that was what had happened. Or that they had suffered a jump drive failure which left them stranded at the last real space location. But two ships? And both failing to enter jump space until after the others had? That was stretching coincidence much too far.

One of the ships, the frigate Shogan, had contained a prisoner. Not just any prisoner — one from the elusive Wanderer. Vorn had considered bringing the prisoner aboard the Starslayer but decided against it.

The chances of the prisoner being one of the Tainted seemed very low as the Wanderer had only entered the Northern Sector, and so Tainted space, just ahead of the Starslayer. But the Wanderer had done many impossible things already. Vorn had not been willing to risk his flagship and himself.

Had that been a mistake? No, he thought not. The Starslayer was massively bigger than the Shogan, with security forces who should have been able to contain any threat, but even so it might have fallen.

Should he have waited in normal space and had the prisoner interrogated? Again the answer was no. Had he done so then the Wanderer would have escaped into the wormhole before his fleet arrived. Even had it still been in existence, he would not have been certain that the Wanderer had entered.

Still, the loss of the two ships should have been brought to his attention sooner. As soon as they failed to arrive. That was a major failing, and one for which someone needed to pay.

“I expect better from my officers,” Vorn said, voice still showing no emotion.

Something flickered across the officer’s face — possibly fear. It was gone in a moment, replaced by a carefully neutral expression.

“This failure directly impacted my ability to plan,” Vorn continued. “That is unacceptable. The penalty is death.”

The officer paled but showed no other reaction. He nodded sharply to show he had understood.

Vorn let a slight smile show. “Not yours. You showed initiative in tracking down where and when the ships disappeared, and bravery in bringing this to me yourself. You could have passed it on to the captain.”

Vorn’s eyes narrowed and he spoke again. “The same cannot be said for the officer who should have been monitoring the other ships. They not only failed to spot the problem when it began, they failed to show initiative in hunting down the time it happened. Their delay could have cost us dearly. It may still have done. The sentence is death by slow depressurisation, to be carried out immediately.”

The officer swallowed then saluted. “Yes Admiral. I will see to it immediately.”

“Dismissed.”

The officer scuttled away, no doubt relieved at keeping his own life but upset at the punishment he had to inflict. Vorn knew he wouldn’t hesitate, though. Death by slow depressurisation was a nasty way to die, but Vorn had far worse punishments lined up for those who disobeyed a direct order.

Vorn sat back, frustrated but not letting it show. The loss of a frigate was irritating but no more. The loss of a Banshee was a much bigger issue. The Banshees had not been allowed into the Northern Sector, to keep them out of the hands of the Taint.

Vorn had flouted that rule, deciding his need for the Banshees to capture the Wanderer was more important. If he didn’t capture the Wanderer then he already had no hope of returning to the Southern Sector other than as a prisoner, so one more black mark had seemed unimportant.

Now, though, he had lost one of the Banshees, and in a way which was suspiciously similar to how the Tainted were known to operate. Even if it hadn’t fallen to the Tainted yet it could still happen in the future. And if that happened then the Taint could easily bypass the Quarantine Zone. Once through the entire Southern Sector would be at risk.

Vorn told himself it would only bring forward the inevitable. Impressive though the Quarantine Zone was, it couldn’t hold the Taint out forever. Many layers of its defence had already been overwhelmed. His fleet had passed an immense battle as the Imperial forces tried to hold back the Tainted, one they were sure to lose sooner or later.

As would the defensive layers behind them. He had seen everything that was known about the Taint. Its strength grew exponentially wherever there were humans, spreading like a plague. Absorbing all those it came across and turning them to its purpose.

Shoving those thoughts aside Vorn focused on the future. His fleet was still in pursuit of the Wanderer, travelling in an unprecedented manner. The scientists amongst the fleet were studying the wormhole frantically but had no idea how it was formed, where it led or, more importantly, how long it would last.

The only certain thing was that the Wanderer was ahead of them. During his first encounter with the Wanderer Vorn had used one of the rare devices entrusted to him to place a mark upon the Wanderer. The mark was invisible and could only be detected using the related device, but that device could track the mark — and so the Wanderer — anywhere within normal or jump space. And, apparently, through a wormhole too.

The long chase and the many near misses were starting to take their toll on Vorn. So many times he’d been certain the Wanderer was caught, only to see it slip away — often doing something he had thought impossible until that point. He was starting to doubt that they would ever be able to bring the Wanderer to heel.

He had even considered ending the chase, but that wasn’t really an option. Returning to the Southern Sector, where his crew had their friends and families, wasn’t possible unless he had the Wanderer. If he ended the chase then pressure to return would build. If they returned it was likely the entire fleet would be destroyed and the crews all killed to prevent any risk of the Taint passing through.

All fleets operating within the Northern Sector had procedures in place to validate they had not fallen to the Taint, that they had not even had any risk of doing so. Just one more thing Vorn had chosen to ignore in his pursuit of the Wanderer.

Returning was out of the question, but even the iron discipline Vorn demanded would start to break down once the crew realised they would not be returning home at the end of the mission, or possibly ever.

So the pursuit would have to continue. Vorn would have to act as if he expected the Wanderer to be caught, no matter what his views actually were. And he would use whatever means were necessary to maintain discipline.