Part 12 (1/2)

Ayaka's mind seemed to stumble back to awareness. 'With me?'

'Yes.' He tossed her the communicator, which was shaped like a bracelet. He then closed the door again.

'There goes that escape,' Sam said with a sigh.

The Doctor shook his head and opened his hand. The sonic screwdriver was nestled there. Sam grinned. Good old sleight of hand!

'Ayaka,' the communicator said. 'I'm out of my depth here. I need your advice.'

'This has to be a first,' the Doctor murmured. 'The captain of a s.h.i.+p asking his model prisoner for advice.'

'Cathbad was never interested in command,' Ayaka said simply. 'He's good at following orders, but not too innovative.' She tapped the control. 'Ayaka here. Cathbad, I cannot command a battle from a jail cell. You will have to cope.'

'It's not that,' Cathbad answered. Sam could hear the strain in his voice. He'd seemed like a nice guy, and very young. He had to be feeling totally inadequate for this. 'The Daleks want us to surrender.'

'What?' Ayaka was startled. 'Are you sure?'

'I heard the signal,' he said, troubled. 'Ayaka, they've never requested a surrender before.'

'It must be a trick,' Ayaka decided. 'They wish to avoid a fight. They will kill us all afterwards.'

The Doctor placed a hand over hers. 'I don't think it is a trick as such,' he said softly. 'They know we have Davros aboard. They must want him alive for some reason. Maybe the same one Delani had in mind. Maybe they're having more trouble with the Movellans. I'm not sure. But they obviously don't want to destroy this s.h.i.+p and lose him.'

Ayaka nodded. 'That makes sense, Doctor. But surrender is hardly an option. They will kill us all when we have laid down our weapons. It's better to die fighting.'

'That may not be your best option,' the Doctor warned her.

'It is all we can do,' Ayaka said simply. To Cathbad, she added, 'You must fight while you can.'

'Understood.' He sounded relieved. 'Thank you, Ayaka.' The line went dead.

Chayn snorted. 'Are you sure you don't want to take command back again?'

'I am dishonoured,' Ayaka answered. 'The troops would have no confidence in me.'

'It didn't sound that way just now,' Chayn informed her.

'Cathbad is my friend,' Ayaka said. 'He values my opinion. The rest of the crew would not be so considerate.'

Sam tapped the Doctor on the shoulder. 'Isn't it time for the great escape?' She tried not to sound too scared. 'Right now, I'd really love to be back inside the TARDIS.'

'That may not be our best option, either,' the Doctor answered. He was clearly very troubled. 'I don't understand what's happening here. Is leaving this cell really the best thing to do?'

'Speaking for me, yes,' Sam replied. 'Let's get back to the TARDIS and scarper before they blow us all to smithereens.'

'Good point,' the Doctor agreed. He moved back to the lock, and started to work on it.

Sam turned to Chayn and Ayaka. 'Are you two coming with us? The TARDIS can get us away from here in safety.'

Chayn grinned. 'That's the Doctor's time and s.p.a.ce machine? Sam, you'd have to lock the doors to keep me out of there! I'm dying to take a peek at what makes it tick.'

Ayaka shook her head. 'I shall stay here,' she replied. 'These are my people, and I should be with them.'

Sam couldn't believe her. 'Look, if you stay, you've got two options. First, the Daleks blow up the s.h.i.+p and you die. Second, the Thals get you back home, they put you on trial and you die. Either way, you die. Is that really what you want?'

'No, of course not,' Ayaka admitted. She looked wistful. 'I should dearly love to see my daughter again now. But I cannot abandon my people. I have committed a crime and I must be prepared to account for my actions. If I am sentenced to die, then so be it. But I will not be a coward and run away.'

'More fool you, then,' Sam informed her. But, at the same time, she supposed there was something admirable in the Thal's conviction and courage. She turned back to the Doctor. 'How's it going?'

He tossed his sonic screwdriver into the air and then caught it. Slipping it into his pocket, he said, 'The matter has become academic. The guard fused the lock. Perhaps he discovered I'd picked his pocket, and he's taking no chances. We're all of us stuck here for the duration of the battle.'

Sam sighed, and collapsed back on to the bed. Bad news and more bad news. Was the universe against them, or just this one small portion of it? They were stuck here, in this jail cell, while their s.h.i.+p took on forces three times their size...

Her mum and dad had always warned her about going off with strangers.

Dyoni sent a single-word answer to the Daleks 'No!' She would prefer to die than to spend the rest of her very short, painful life as a slave. She turned her s.h.i.+p to the attack. With Cathbad's support, perhaps they could hammer their way through the waiting s.h.i.+ps and escape. It wasn't much of a hope, but it was the best they had.

Tension rose as they closed in. The bridge was a hive of activity, and Dyoni knew it would be matched throughout the s.h.i.+p. Adrenaline was flowing, and she felt gloriously alive. This was what she had be born to do face the Daleks. Maybe this would be the day she'd die; if so, she'd take plenty of the enemy with her.

The closest Dalek s.h.i.+p opened fire, impacts slamming into their force s.h.i.+elds. Dyoni knew that this was only a testing; the Daleks didn't expect to cause serious damage at this distance. 'Hold your fire,' she ordered quietly, as the s.h.i.+p shook under the barrage. A second killcruiser joined in, the combined fire power causing a rolling effect similar to that of being on water. Still too far for her to consider wasting their ammunition. She gripped the edges of her monitor, her knuckles white, as she stared at her displays. Almost within range... The sh.e.l.ling on their s.h.i.+elds was increasing in intensity, but that was to be expected.

'Ready,' she called to the weapons officer. And a moment later, 'Fire!'

Her s.h.i.+p's missiles began to streak out, dots of light against the blackness of s.p.a.ce. Several exploded in the Dalek fire power, but most made it through to their target, the closest killcruiser. The Daleks' s.h.i.+elds flared almost white as they strove to absorb the impact, and then Ioki reported: 'They've lost power to their forward s.h.i.+elds. It's down almost fifty per cent.'

'Again!' Dyoni ordered, the scent of death heady. This could be their first victory of the day... As her s.h.i.+p shuddered under the continued impacts, they fired again and again. She was dimly aware that Cathbad's s.h.i.+p had engaged one of the other killcruisers. She focused all of her attention on their own target. The second killcruiser was closing, and the faster they could finish the first, the better.

'They've launched hoverbouts,' Ioki reported.

'Order the secondary gunners to target them,' Dyoni called to the weapons officer. Hoverbouts couldn't do a great deal of damage, but two or three together might be able to penetrate a s.h.i.+eld somewhere, and make them vulnerable to the main batteries.

s.p.a.ce about their s.h.i.+ps became a seething cauldron of fire. Lasers, masers, missiles, and anything else either side could throw against the other lit the inkiness almost constantly. The s.h.i.+p shuddered and groaned under the a.s.sault.

'Dalek forward s.h.i.+elds are down,' Ioki reported jubilantly.

Dyoni leaned forward, staring at her monitor. The enemy was vulnerable now... Her gunners targeted the bow of the enemy s.h.i.+p, pouring everything they could into an intense hammer. There was a momentary pause, and then s.p.a.ce lit up as the killcruiser came apart at the seams, billowing outward in a ma.s.s of flames and debris. The s.h.i.+elds shook harder as the debris battered against them.

'We're down to two-thirds strength,' Ioki reported.

'Continue,' Dyoni ordered, her eyes fastened to her own displays. Cathbad was taking on two s.h.i.+ps and struggling. The fifth now moved to press home the attack on Dyoni, and the one that had been chasing them into the trap was also closing in. Still, there was nothing to do but to fight on.

Brief flares showed where hoverbouts were being destroyed, but still the individual killers came on. Their puny fire power still rocked the s.h.i.+p, adding to the main blasts from the two killcruisers.