Darkling shook his head. ‘It would never get through their firewalls.’
Cruger was at the device, examining the panel set into its side. He tapped in a sequence, and a moment later a small drawer emerged from the side of the device. On it was a shining optical disc, its surface glowing red as it caught the light.
Cruger took the disc, and carefully pushed it into a pocket built into the sleeve of his armour. ‘Let’s go,’ he said and strode from the room.
‘Simple as that?’ Haden murmured as she followed.
‘Looked good to me,’ Darkling replied, equally quietly.
The VETACs were fanning out, spreading through the sections of Santespri as they went, securing each area. Somewhere within VC5’s brain, or perhaps out on the network – since it came to the same thing – a map of the fortress shaded slowly green as the VETACs took control.
VC5 was positioned at the junction of three of the major thoroughfares, a strategic position given the layout of the fortress. From here he watched through his troops’ eyes as they worked their way through the staterooms, checking each in turn and securing it.
A small force made its way directly to the Secure Area where the prisoners had been held. Logically, this would be Trayx’s command centre. It was designated ‘Objective One’.
The next section was clear, and Sanjak beckoned for Victoria and Helana to come forward. They tiptoed quickly across the room, Howper close behind them.
‘Right, we’re getting close to the landing area now,’ Sanjak said.
‘Good.’ The relief was evident in Victoria’s voice.
‘Yes and no. We’re also close now to the docking and loading bays. Where the VETAC cruiser is.’
‘But we haven’t seen any VETACs,’ Helana pointed out.
‘Logall’s men mined the corridors,’ Howper explained. ‘That has kept them out. But they’ll be through before long. And when they are…’ He looked round nervously, pulling his visor down over his face.
‘They’ll be looking for us?’ Helana asked.
‘Perhaps. They’ll be searching the whole fortress.’
‘Then we had better hurry,’ Victoria said. ‘Which is the quickest way?’
‘Ah, there we are.’ The Doctor stepped back from a cupboard, and almost at once a chessboard appeared beside him, hovering impossibly in the air.
‘How did you do that?’ Jamie asked.
‘Oh it’s a fairly simple system, Jamie.’ The Doctor suddenly dived back into the cupboard, wires and circuitry emerging around him as if displaced by his presence. ‘Now I wonder what this is for.’
Jamie shook his head. He looked round for somewhere to sit down and found a chair in a corner of Cruger’s room. He slumped down and watched as more wires and pieces of equipment spilled out of the cupboard.
After a while the Doctor’s smiling face appeared in the middle of the confusion. ‘I think he cheats, you know.’
But before Jamie could comment, Prion’s voice cut him short. It seemed to come from the very air, echoing round the room. ‘Doctor, Jamie, I think you should return to Kesar’s quarters,’ Prion said. ‘We have company.’
‘Thank you. We’re on our way,’ the Doctor called out. He was already shambling across the room, shaking one foot between steps in a fruitless effort to dislodge several wires that were wrapped around his ankle.
As soon as he stepped out into the corridor, Jamie could hear the noise. There was a heavy thumping, regular, insistent. It was coming from the direction of the main doorway.
Gunson was standing with his back to them. ‘There are noises,’ he said quietly without looking round. ‘Sounds like patrols, back towards the staterooms, but spreading out.’
Darkling nodded. ‘They’ll be checking and securing as they go. Standard procedure.’ He turned to Cruger. ‘Since we’re here, sir, I’d feel happier with some heavier weaponry.’
‘Very well.’ Cruger considered. ‘Two minutes, we can’t delay any longer.’
It took less than that. Darkling and Haden grabbed heavy blasters. Darkling stuffed extra power packs into his pockets, and took another heavy blaster for Gunson. Haden took a handgun for Cruger.
Their journey back to the Secure Area was much slower than their journey out. They were far more cautious, checking every section before making their way through it. At one point Gunson stopped them, waved them back, as three VETACs marched past. The huge metal figures seemed oblivious to their presence, the soldiers’ heat and DNA signatures masked by the suppressing field of their battle armour. The VETACs continued on their way without a pause.
‘We’re lucky that we seem to be moving ahead of the main patrols,’ Haden pointed out. ‘They’re taking it section by section.’
‘So far,’ Darkling said.
‘This way.’ Cruger gestured down the corridor, in the direction from which the VETACs had come.
Darkling frowned. ‘The direct route is straight on, sir. That way will take us towards the main body of VETACs.’
‘Exactly.’
‘Sir?’
Cruger was smiling, thin bloodless lips barely visible between the grey of his beard and the white of his teeth. He held up the small optical disc, reflecting a rainbow of colours from its surface. ‘They will already have laid siege to the Secure Area. But with this we can go on the offensive.’
Darkling looked from Cruger to Gunson and Haden. ‘With respect, sir,’ he said quietly, ‘we need more than just the disc. We need to decide how to deploy it. We need a strategy, not a single all-or-nothing attack.’
‘Are you disobeying my orders?’ Cruger snapped. He was no longer smiling.
‘I think the suggestion is ill-considered, sir. I ask you to think again.’
‘Or what?’
Darkling swallowed. He was still getting no help from the others, but neither were they siding with Cruger. ‘You may be a general, sir,’ he said slowly, ‘but given your status here, I outrank you.’
Cruger cocked his head slightly to one side. ‘An interesting suggestion,’ he said quietly. ‘And what would your orders be? To return to the Secure Area, discover it is already compromised, and then continue with my plan? Having wasted time, lost the element of surprise, squandered our advantage?’
It was Haden who answered. ‘We don’t know that the Secure Area has yet been compromised, sir. It might be prudent to contact –’
But Cruger cut her off. He turned suddenly, his face dark in the red light, his voice sharp. ‘Whatever the relative status of myself and this officer, you, Haden, are under my direct command.’
Haden held his gaze for a moment. Then she glanced at Darkling. ‘Yes, sir,’ she said quietly.
‘I think the question may be academic,’ Gunson said, pointing back along the corridor. His voice was quiet, almost a whisper. But a moment later the passageway exploded with sound.
The two VETACs that had appeared round the corner at the far end of the corridor both fired at once. The floor at Darkling’s feet seemed to lift towards him as flagstones were thrown up by the force of the blast. He loosed a single shot in return, saw it glance off one of the VETACs, then he turned.
They were running through a forest of explosions, along the corridor in the direction Cruger had wanted to go. Towards the main body of VETACs. Chips of stone ripped into Darkling’s face as he ran and he struggled to pull down his visor. Cruger was in front of him. Beside him Haden kept pace, her own visor already down. Behind them Gunson loosed several shots before he turned to follow.
The world was red and orange as they rounded a corner. Darkling turned, dropping to his knees as he brought the heavy blaster up, adjusted the setting. Haden was standing behind him, bracing her blaster across his shoulder for stability. In front of them Gunson twisted and loosed off another wild shot.
‘Go for the one on the left,’ Haden shouted. Her voice was loud in his ear.
Both weapons bleeped as they acquired the target.
Gunson hurled himself past them a
nd swung round again to face the advancing VETACs.
Darkling opened the communications channel, tried to keep his voice calm as he reported back to Trayx. The wall next to him exploded, a chunk of stone catching him across the side of the helmet. His communicator let out a burst of static, then it went dead.
‘Now.’ He heard Haden’s voice through the air, through his helmet rather than over the link. And he fired.
The combined blast caught the VETAC full in the chest, rocking it back on its feet. For a few seconds it pushed back into the wave of energy, as if struggling uphill. The second VETAC was already retargeting its weapons, raking the ground in front of Gunson, Haden and Darkling with a blaze of fire.
Then, suddenly, the first VETAC’s chest exploded. The blast was colossal, the sound funnelled along the corridor towards the soldiers. The VETAC’s head seemed to lift off its shoulders as the whole of its torso was consumed in a fireball of orange and yellow. Beside it, the other VETAC was knocked into the wall of the passageway by the blast. Its shots went awry, hammering into the ceiling and bringing down chunks of masonry.
‘Back!’ Darkling shouted over the noise. They would need a few moments to prepare for another concerted shot like that. He felt the weight of Haden’s gun lifted from his shoulder, was aware of how sore it felt after taking the brunt of the recoil. Then he pulled himself to his feet and backed round the corner.
In front of them, the surviving VETAC was staggering forwards again. Its left leg dragged slightly, but it was still operational. It fired a long burst of energy down the corridor, and Darkling felt the heat of it through his armour as he dived out of the way.
Gunson was slower, and he had further to go to make the cover of the corner. The blast caught him in mid air as he leapt after Darkling. It turned him, lifted him, consumed him. His screams echoed off the walls, mixing with the sound of the shot, amplifying it, giving it a dying cadence.
Darkling watched as the charred body slammed into the floor. A single hand grasped at a flagstone. The metal of the gauntlet was slippery on the floor, was running molten across the knuckles. A tiny droplet of silver ran down the side of the hand, like a tear, and splashed to the floor. It solidified into a starburst as it hit the cold stone. Then the hand was still.
Darkling stopped dead. Haden was rooted to the spot in front of him. Ahead of them, along the corridor, stood three more VETACs. They levelled their blasters. Darkling could see right into the black nozzles, braced himself for the inevitable yellow blossom of energy.
Between Darkling and the VETACs, Cruger was pulling off his helmet. He dropped it to the floor, let it roll to one side, rocking slowly as he stepped forward to face the VETACs.
‘I am General Cruger.’ His voice was strong, confident. ‘Check your command circuit.’
The VETACs hesitated for only a moment. Then they lowered their weapon-arms. ‘General Cruger,’ the leading VETAC intoned. ‘Identity confirmed.’
Darkling watched the exchange, uncertain what was going on. The pit of his stomach seemed to have dropped away. Behind him he could hear the scrape of metal on stone as the damaged VETAC lurched forward over Gunson’s body. ‘What’s going on?’ he asked, his throat dry.
Cruger turned slowly towards him. He was smiling again, his teeth like a white gash across his face. ‘Reinforcements have arrived. My reinforcements.’ He walked slowly back towards Darkling and Haden. ‘Did you really think this pathetic prison could hold us?’ Closer still. ‘You dare to suggest that you outrank me? A general of the Haddron Empire?’
‘Republic.’ Darkling’s voice was husky as it caught in his throat. He pushed the visor away from his face, up and over his helmet. ‘The Haddron Republic,’ he managed to say through dry lips.
‘No.’ Cruger was standing right in front of him now. He reached out and took Darkling’s blaster, flung it across the floor. The VETACs were a wall of silver behind him. ‘No,’ he said again. ‘I think not.’ Then he stepped back, jerking his head sharply as a gesture to Haden. ‘Kill him,’ Cruger told her.
‘Sir?’
Her visor was still down. Darkling could not see her eyes, could not read her expression. ‘You heard me. He is the enemy. Do it for me. For Haddron.’ Cruger’s smile twisted further. ‘For your brother.’
She stared at him, her expression hidden beneath the visor.
‘This is one of them,’ Cruger went on. ‘One of those who would have destroyed our dreams of empire. One of those who killed your brother.’
She hesitated just a moment longer. Then Haden nodded. ‘Yes, sir.’ She pushed the visor up now, as she turned to face Darkling, as she brought the blaster up to cover him, as the VETACs turned to follow Cruger.
Darkling shook his head slowly, in both disbelief and horror. He tried to speak, but he had nothing to say and no voice to say it with. Her eyes were deep and dark, her face was inscrutable, set, grim. She tensed. He could imagine the curves of her body hardening, could feel the press of her former embrace, could smell her close to him, her lips on his. Memories.
The gun was close, aimed at the weak point in his armour between helmet and chest plate. He heard the slight creak of her armoured glove as she applied first pressure. Her mouth curled up slightly, a parody of the smiles they had exchanged. Over her shoulder he saw Cruger turn back to watch.
Her voice was quiet. But it had an edge to it. Aggressive, hard. ‘Make it look good,’ she said, just loud enough for him to hear.
Then she fired.
Immediately he felt the blast hit him, he was slamming backward, the sound of the report ricocheting round the inside of his helmet, his head. The world was a red mist, closing in as he felt the wall suddenly hard against his back – harder than he had expected or intended. Then he was falling forward again, the floor rushing up to meet him.
END GAME
CHAPTER TWELVE
LOST PIECES
CRUGER ADDRESSED THE nearest VETAC. ‘Where is VC5?’
‘You may speak to me,’ the VETAC replied. ‘I am VC5. We all are.’
‘Not good enough. I want your commander here.’ He pointed to the ground at his feet. ‘Now.’
‘It is inefficient and slow for me to join you. Nothing would be gained,’ VC5 replied through the VETAC unit.
‘Then I shall meet you halfway,’ Cruger said. ‘But old-fashioned as I am, I prefer to speak in person rather than through proxies.’ He rapped the VETAC on the chest with the back of his hand. ‘However efficient they may be.’
‘Very well.’
Cruger smiled. ‘Good.’ Then he turned and pointed to his helmet lying where it had rolled after he dropped it. ‘The communications unit in there is switched off,’ he said. ‘But it will give you the command frequency that Trayx and his cronies are using.’ He smiled at Haden. ‘That should shortcut some of the proceedings.’
She had lowered the visor on her helmet again, and he could not see her face. ‘Yes, sir,’ she said.
‘You did well, Haden.’ Cruger glanced back at Darkling’s inert body further down the passage. ‘You made the right decision.’ He felt elated. It was working, everything was coming together exactly as he had planned. ‘The Empire starts here,’ he breathed.
*
The sound of hammering on the main doors seemed if anything to be getting louder.
‘How long will those doors hold them?’ Jamie asked.
‘Who knows?’ Trayx said with a shrug. ‘There are shutters we can drop behind the doors, and we have two fallback positions from here. But none of those will last very long.’
The Doctor coughed quietly. ‘And how are Victoria and your wife getting along?’
‘They have just passed through the Baygent Suite,’ Prion said. ‘So far they have encountered no problems, but they are close to the point where the VETACs penetrated the fortress. They are proceeding with caution.’
Jamie frowned. ‘How do you know?’
As always, Prion’s reply was level and devoid of appreciable emoti
on. ‘Howper and Sanjak have their communicators open. They give constant status and progress reports. It is easy to follow their progress.’
‘Unlike Cruger and his team,’ Trayx added.
‘Why, what’s happened to them?’
‘No data,’ Prion said. ‘Gunson is not registering an ident signal. Darkling’s communicator also offlined a short while ago.’
‘And Cruger?’ Kesar asked. ‘What of him?’
‘No data. His communicator is not sending. Nor is trooper Haden’s.’
‘Then we are on our own,’ Kesar observed.
The Doctor cleared his throat. ‘Er, that may not be such a bad thing,’ he said. ‘Actually.’
As he made his way through the fortress to meet with General Cruger, VC5 patched into Trayx’s communications system. It was a simple matter to set a virtual machine within his processing unit to monitor the channel and extract relevant data. Within seconds, a VETAC patrol was diverted to intercept the small group of humans making for Trayx’s shuttle.
‘We’re into the last section now,’ Howper told them. ‘Five minutes more, and we’ll be there. Safe.’
‘Thank goodness,’ Victoria said.
Behind her, Sanjak signalled their current position to Prion.
The blackness was complete. It was warm, snug, soft. But slowly it hardened, and in the back of his mind Darkling could see a tiny point of red light. It seemed to be growing, approaching, rushing headlong towards him.
Then abruptly he was awake. And he was staring at a flagstone, so close he could see the ridges in the surface. His head was throbbing as he struggled to sit upright. From somewhere he could hear muffled voices, and he remembered where he was. He froze, turned slowly to see what was happening.
Down the corridor, a group of VETACs were walking away from him. Cruger was with them.
And Haden.
Haden, who had shot him. Who had shot him with the blaster set to its lowest setting, just enough to jolt him. The rest – the stumbling backwards, the fall – had been up to him. It had been up to him to make it look convincing, or they would both now be dead. A headache from his misjudged collision with the wall was a small price by comparison.
Doctor Who: Dreams of Empire: 50th Anniversary Edition Page 20
