Shakedown

by Terrance Dicks

  Switching off before anyone had a chance to argue, Lisa set to work.

  An opening appeared in the central dome of the Sontaran War Wheel and a smaller ship emerged, on course for the solar yacht.

  In the assault craft’s control-room, Steg was listening to Sarg’s final message. ‘Admiral to Commander. We are now proceeding to the next interception point. The admiral wishes to remind the commander of the supreme importance of this mission.’

  The recycling vats for both of them if they failed, thought Steg wryly. He watched the solar yacht growing large on his monitor screen.

  With a sudden burst of speed, the War Wheel vanished into the distance.

  The Tiger Moth hung helplessly in space. One by one her solar sails began retracting and folding back. Only the damaged sail refused to return to its place.

  The Sontaran assault craft was very close now.

  With no information beyond Lisa’s announcement, the crew was getting restless.

  ‘This is an outrage,’ said Zorelle. ‘I shall protest in the strongest possible terms.’

  Nikos too was in a truculent mood. ‘Are we just going to stand still for this?’

  ‘What do you suggest we do?’ asked Kurt.

  ‘Fight!’ said Nikos heroically. ‘I’ve got a blaster!’ He produced it from the pocket of his coveralls.

  There was an echoing clang as another ship locked on to them.

  ‘They’re here,’ said Kurt. ‘Whoever they are.’

  ‘I’m going to talk to them,’ said Zorelle. ‘I shall tell them who we are, demand an explanation.’

  ‘I wouldn’t,’ said Kurt. ‘You heard Lisa.’

  ‘Our captain is more concerned for her precious sails than for our lives.’

  ‘True enough,’ agreed Kurt. ‘But she told us to stay here.’

  ‘I intend to deal with this matter myself,’ said Zorelle. She turned to Nikos. ‘Well, are you coming?’

  Nikos flourished his blaster. ‘I most certainly am!’

  Mari gave him an admiring look. ‘If you’re going, I’m going too.’

  Led by Zorelle they all headed for the door. Kurt hesitated for a moment, shrugged and followed them.

  A few minutes later they stood waiting in the wide metal corridor by the airlock door.

  Nothing happened.

  Then slowly, very slowly, the airlock door began to open. Nikos raised his blaster but Kurt put a restraining hand on his arm.

  Something came rolling towards them through the gap in the airlock doors. It was small, round, metallic and faintly glowing.

  ‘Run!’ yelled Kurt, urging the others before him.

  The grenade exploded with a shattering boom, pouring out clouds of smoke. Caught by the blast, Kurt was flung across the airlock corridor.

  The others turned and fled.

  Squat armoured figures appeared from the airlock, charging through the drifting smoke, blasters in their hands. Their leader paused to look down at Kurt’s body, and spoke into his helmet com-unit. ‘One target down,’ said Lieutenant Vorn. ‘Proceeding.’

  Spreading out through the ship’s metal corridors, the invaders hunted down the Tiger Moth’s crew with ruthless efficiency.

  Nikos took Mari’s arm, hurrying her along before him. He heard pounding feet close behind him, and swung round and fired. The pursuing Sontaran trooper staggered back – but the Sontaran behind him shot Nikos down.

  ‘Second target down.’

  Mari screamed, and the Sontaran shot her down as well. ‘Third target down. Proceeding.’

  Fuelled by sheer terror Zorelle was running surprisingly fast – so fast that she ran blindly into a dead end. She turned and saw a squat figure blocking the end of the corridor.

  It fired and the force flung her back against the bulkhead. She slid slowly to the ground.

  ‘Fourth target down. Search proceeding.’

  In the control room, Lisa finished retracting the solar sails and locked off. As she straightened up, she saw a squat, helmeted figure standing in the doorway of the control room.

  Lisa was too angry to be afraid. ‘Who the hell are you? What are you doing on my ship?’

  The figure made no reply. She could see little red eyes studying her through the slits in the helmet.

  ‘I am Lisa Deranne, ship’s captain,’ she said coldly. ‘I demand an explanation.’

  There was some kind of blaster in the creature’s stubby hand. It raised the weapon almost casually and shot her down.

  ‘Five targets down,’ said Lieutenant Vorn into his intercom. He removed his helmet, relaxing in the consciousness of duty done. ‘This ship is under Sontaran control.’

  12

  Prisoners

  Commander Steg sat in Lisa Deranne’s command chair in the control room, jabbing at the keyboard of the ship’s primitive computer. One by one names and faces appeared on the screen before him. Steg studied each dosier briefly before passing on to the next. When the list finished he sat back, waiting.

  Lieutenant Vorn entered the control room, a Sontaran trooper at his heels. They came to attention and saluted. ‘Commander Steg!’ said Vorn.

  ‘Ah, Lieutenant Vorn,’ replied Steg, with considerably less enthusiasm.

  ‘The ship is secured, Commander.’

  Steg pointed to the computer screen. ‘Six humans are listed on the ship’s crew roll.’

  ‘Commander?’

  ‘There were five human bodies.’

  Vorn thought this over for some time, and came up with the correct deduction. ‘One human is missing, Commander!’

  ‘Precisely, Lieutenant. Robar, ship’s engineer. Find him. Bring him to me alive.’

  ‘I shall go at once, Commander.’

  ‘No, Lieutenant Vorn, you shall send a trooper. Unlikely as it seems, I may have need of you.’

  Vorn saluted again. He turned away – and then turned back again. ‘Commander? Where shall I send the trooper?’

  ‘To find an engineer?’ Steg’s voice was thoughtful. ‘It’s a wild guess, Lieutenant, but you could start with the engine room.’

  Vorn saluted yet again, and he and the trooper marched away.

  Just for a moment, Steg covered his eyes with his hand.

  The engine was a long thin chamber in the centre of the ship, in semi-darkness except for a few dimly glowing working lights.

  Robar was screwing the hatch-cover back on one of the power drives. He was talking to himself, or rather to his engines, as he worked. ‘Not you then. Well, one more to go. Damn these conversion jobs.’

  He went to the last hatch, unscrewed the locking nuts and swung it open. He looked inside – and saw, to his horror, that something was looking back at him. Something strange, alien, that had no right to be there.

  With an effort Robar started to back away. A stream of light flowed from the hatchway and engulfed him. He tried to scream, but the same something sliced the breath from his throat with a blade of light, and the scream died away in a gurgle choked with blood.

  Lisa Deranne opened her eyes and saw a face looking down at her. It was a man’s face, not young, not handsome, but strong and dependable. She tried to smile at it but her face muscles felt stiff. Her head was throbbing and her tongue felt like a Sentarion cactus.

  A hand held a water-flask to her mouth and she sucked greedily at the long straw. It was flat, recycled water, but it tasted like nectar. She tried to sit up, wincing as pain jabbed through her head.

  ‘You’ll have a splitting headache for a while,’ said Kurt.

  Lisa took another sip of water. She managed to sit up and then tried to stand. Her legs collapsed under her and she sat down again with a jolt.

  ‘Take it easy,’ said Kurt.

  Lisa looked resentfully at him. ‘You seem all right.’

  ‘Experience – I’ve been stunned before.’

  As her head started to clear, Lisa looked around her. She was in the bunk area of the crew room, and the rest of her crew, all apparently unconscious,
were scattered on the other bunks.

  ‘Why didn’t you revive any of the others?’

  ‘They’ll only start moaning.’

  As if on cue, Zorelle stirred. She started moaning feebly. ‘See?’ said Kurt.

  Nikos revived too. He saw Mari unconscious on a nearby bunk and began crawling painfully towards her, ignoring Zorelle’s increasingly pitiful moans.

  He knelt over her bunk, and stroked her face. Mari stirred and moaned. ‘You’re alive!’ croaked Nikos delightedly. He looked at Kurt and Lisa. ‘She’s alive!’

  ‘Of course she’s bloody well alive,’ said Kurt wearily.

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘She was shot down with a blaster set on stun. You all were – I copped it from the stun grenade.’

  ‘Why? Who are they? What do they want?’ Another moan from Mari interrupted the flow of questions. Nikos looked desperately at Kurt and Lisa. ‘We must help her.’

  Kurt got stiffly to his feet and made his way to the water dispenser. He grabbed a towel from one of the bunks, poured water on it, and handed towel and flask to Nikos.

  ‘Here. She’s got a sore head and a dry mouth. Look after her.’ Zorelle produced another theatrical moan and Kurt added hastily, ‘Her too.’

  As Nikos began bathing Mari’s face, Kurt went back to Lisa, who was finishing her water. ‘Feeling better?’

  Lisa shook her head and immediately wished she hadn’t. ‘Not much. What do you reckon this is? Piracy?’

  ‘Did you get a look at their ship?’

  ‘Briefly, on the scanner.’

  ‘What was it like?’

  ‘Massive.’

  ‘I don’t think it’s piracy,’ said Kurt slowly. ‘Feels – military.’

  ‘I’m going to find out.’ With an effort, Lisa made it to her feet. Suddenly the door opened, revealing a squat helmeted figure, covering her with a blaster. It glared suspiciously at her for a moment and closed the door.

  ‘See?’ said Kurt.

  Lisa sat down again. She looked round the room. ‘Robar’s not here.’

  ‘Where was he?’

  ‘Engine room, checking the power drive. Perhaps they won’t find him.’

  ‘Don’t worry, they’ll find him,’ said Kurt.

  Vorn’s trooper moved cautiously into the darkened engine room. The room appeared empty and the trooper began a methodical search.

  A human stepped out from behind the power drive casing, and the trooper matched its appearance to the description he had been given. ‘You are Robar, the engineer? You will come with me.’

  The human did not move or reply.

  The Sontaran trooper had little experience of this particular alien species. Otherwise he might have noticed that its features were impassive, its eyes dead, and that it gave off a curious green glow.

  The trooper raised his blaster. ‘Move or I fire.’

  The human began to move, not towards the door, but straight towards the trooper. Suddenly afraid, the trooper retreated. ‘Back!’

  The human came on. The Sontaran fired but the blaster had no effect.

  Before he could fire again the human was upon him. Light flowed between their bodies, there was a crackle of power, and the trooper glowed brightly for a moment. Then he fell with a terrible choking death-cry.

  Glowing faintly, the human looked impassively down at him.

  The crewroom door was flung open and a helmeted invader entered, two troopers behind him.

  ‘I am Lieutenant Vorn,’ he announced. ‘All rise!’

  Nobody seemed impressed, and nobody moved.

  ‘Rise!’ ordered Vorn again.

  ‘Why?’ asked Lisa wearily.

  ‘I said rise!’ screamed Vorn. He stepped aside and the troopers swung their blasters in a menacing arc.

  Kurt rose to his feet. He looked down at Lisa. ‘Don’t get yourself killed.’

  Lisa stood up, raising her voice. ‘All right, let’s humour them. Everybody stand up.’

  Zorelle, Mari and Nikos got mutinously to their feet.

  ‘I should like to protest at the brutal way in which we have all been treated,’ said Zorelle.

  Mari drew herself up with a brave attempt at dignity.

  ‘My father is President of Valeria, one of Earth’s major colony planets.’

  ‘And mine is the planet’s leading industrialist,’ said Nikos. ‘When they hear of this –’

  Vorn had a simple but convincing answer to all their protests.

  ‘Silence, all of you, or you will be shot! Now move!’

  Vorn and the trooper urged the little group of prisoners into the main crewroom area, holding them in a semicircle.

  Another of the invaders came down the stairs. He seemed broader, more powerful than the others. He sprang down the last few steps with a cat-like bound, and surveyed his prisoners.

  He lifted off his helmet and put it down. Vorn did the same.

  The prisoners stared in astonishment at the heavy, brutal features of their captors, at the broad corrugated brows, the lipless mouths and the wicked red eyes.

  All except Kurt, who had seen those ogreish features before.

  ‘Sontarans,’ he breathed.

  The newcomer’s head swung round to look at Kurt. ‘You know our race?’

  Kurt realized that he even knew this particular Sontaran. ‘Only by reputation,’ he said evasively.

  Vorn was flattered. ‘Even primitives have heard of the might of the glorious Sontaran Empire!’

  ‘I didn’t say what reputation,’ muttered Kurt.

  Vorn stepped forward threateningly, but the newcomer waved him aside. ‘I am Commander Steg of the Sontaran Space Corps.’

  I know who you are, thought Kurt, but do you recognize me? Lucky I got rid of the beard!

  ‘Why were we shot down the moment you arrived?’ demanded Lisa.

  ‘To establish discipline. I am here on a special mission. You must learn that nothing, nothing and no one, will stand in the way of that mission.’

  ‘Why does your mission involve taking over my space yacht?’

  In any group there is a natural leader, thought Steg. ‘And you are?’

  ‘Lisa Deranne, Captain of this ship.’

  ‘Forgive me, Captain,’ said Steg. ‘All primitives look rather alike to me.’

  Kurt exhaled in silent relief.

  Steg began firing questions at Lisa. ‘What is this vessel’s purpose? Why has it been equipped with solar sails?’

  ‘To race.’

  ‘Explain.’

  ‘At an arranged time, this ship and others of its kind, will set off to cross an agreed segment of space, using only solar sails.’

  Vorn was clearly baffled. ‘Why?’

  Zorelle felt she’d been silent for far too long. ‘The ship that makes the crossing in the shortest time is the winner.’

  ‘Solar sails are clumsy and inefficient,’ objected Steg. ‘The crossing would be accomplished more quickly by the use of the power drive.’

  ‘That’s not the point,’ said Lisa wearily.

  ‘Then what is?’

  ‘To race. To compete. What do you do on your planet to amuse yourself, to test yourself to the limit?’

  Red fires glowed deep in Steg’s eyes. ‘Ah! You mean war.’

  A glowing sphere, trailing tentacles of light, floated along the corridors of Tiger Moth. Heavy footsteps approached, and the sphere blurred, and re-formed as a Sontaran trooper.

  Another Sontaran trooper, a real one, came round the corner.

  ‘You have found nothing?’

  ‘Nothing.’ The false Sontaran’s voice was flat and dull, but Sontaran troopers are not alert to subtleties of expression.

  ‘Continue the search,’ ordered the trooper, and moved on.

  When the real trooper was out of sight, the imitation glowed brightly for a moment and dissolved into a blur of light.

  The glowing sphere floated on its way – searching desperately for a way out.

  Comm
ander Steg had finished with his questions, and was addressing his captive audience.

  ‘My purpose is simple. I seek an enemy of my people.’

  ‘A Rutan?’ asked Kurt.

  ‘What do you know of the Rutans?’

  Kurt was already regretting drawing attention to himself. ‘You’re at war with them.’

  ‘Why are you so sure that your enemy is on my ship?’ asked Lisa.

  ‘I am not sure. It is merely a possibility, one amongst many. Your last port of call was Space Station Alpha?’

  Lisa nodded. ‘We carried out our final refit there, took on supplies. But we left some time ago.’

  ‘We tracked our enemy to Station Alpha,’ said Steg sombrely. ‘We arrived in pursuit, took over the station and searched it. Our enemy was no longer there.’

  Lisa was beginning to understand. ‘Alpha is one of the busiest way-stations in the star system.’

  ‘Precisely. In the period between our enemy’s arrival there and our own, many vessels arrived and left.’

  Zorelle laughed. ‘And I suppose you intend to board and search every one of them?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Steg seriously. ‘Every single one.’

  ‘That’s outrageous,’ protested Nikos. ‘According to all the laws of the Tri-System Alliance –’

  Lieutenant Vorn cut him off. ‘Sontarans do not concern themselves with the laws of inferior species.’

  Mari was horrified ‘But you have no right –’

  ‘We have the power,’ said Commander Steg. ‘That is all the right we need.’

  Lisa was thinking about the implications, for herself, her crew and her ship. ‘So what happens now?’

  ‘My troopers are currently searching the ship,’ said Steg. ‘If we find our enemy we will attempt to capture him alive. If we do not succeed in capturing him, we shall kill him. Then we shall go.’

  ‘So whatever happens, my ship and my crew will not be harmed?’

  ‘That is so.’ Steg rose and walked along the line of his captives. ‘I have no particular interest in your survival. But I have no reason to harm you. Take care not to give me one.’

  He paused before Zorelle, who quivered with fear under his burning gaze. ‘You have two species on your planet?’

  ‘She’s a woman, Commander,’ said Kurt evenly. ‘A human female.’