Part 20 (2/2)

'Confirmed.'

'Right. Are they firing again?'

'Not yet.'

'Drop spin three hundred and sixty degrees, five rotations. Eject all waste and empty the cargo hold. Leave it unpressurized and after eight seconds, blow all circuit routings in that area.'

'Mavoeuwee X0Jt4FnEb. Unv.'

'What?'

'Manoeuvre commf'ed.'

'When?'

'Now, frag you, now!'

'Yes!'

'Got it?'

'Right on the nose,' yelled a triumphant Lambert.

'She's spinning away,' corrected Cooper quietly. 'Flotsam but no human remains. Wait - an internal explosion at the rear. Possibly the engine core.'

Townsend was leaning forward, his cheek almost touching hers as the holograms lit their faces. 'What d'you think, Coop?'

'She's good. Knows the manoeuvres. She even threw a plasma burst back.

She's all right. Unfortunately.'

Townsend frowned. Any damage?'

'To us? Nah. Nor her, really.'

Lambert was incredulous. 'But it was a direct hit. You saw the effect.'

Cooper didn't take her eyes off the holo of their pursuit's wildly spinning shuttle. 'Yeah. I saw it. Straight out of the manual. Your shot sc.r.a.ped the belly, ripped out guidance and a few electrics.'

Sadler joined in. 'The explosion?'

Cooper smiled grimly. emptied the hold and then blew everything in there to create some pretty pyrotechnics. It'd fool the Feds. Wonder if she's one of mine?'

Townsend rested a hand on her shoulder as she straightened up. 'Your pupils are long since dead, Coop. She's probably just read your textbooks.'

Cooper nodded slowly. Okay, Townsend. What now? Finish it off or keep going?'

'Lambert, Sadler? How long till Peladon?'

'Roughly six hours at this speed,' responded Sadler.

Townsend straightened up and walked back to the pilot's seat. He sat and swivelled round to face his crew.

Okay. We're going on. Our chum in the case there is too important. We're going in on the dark side. Radio silence and internal silence from T -minus sixty. All sensors off. We'll drift past.'

'Past what?' asked Sadler.

'The Bruk,' answered Cooper. It'll be there. Savaar's no fool.'

'It'll still scan us,' said Lambert.

'Yeah, it'll scan us. But we're dead apparently and too far away from him to risk moving the Bruk. Besides, our paymaster's organizing a diversion on the planet that'll keep of Marshal no-brain Hissel occupied for hours.'

Townsend turned back to his controls and muttered to himself. 'So long as he's got this plan worked out better than the last one.'

Ace gritted her teeth and tried to tell herself that throwing up while tumbling in zero-g was not an attractive proposition.

'How far out of range are we now?'

'Thirty-five min'tes.'

'Stop rolling manoeuvre. Restart internal pressures and stabilities.'

Ace hit the floor with a whump that knocked the breath out of her for a second. She grabbed the pilot's seat and hauled herself up, wiping the shards of melted plastic off to the floor. 'Can we pursue?'

AcprpiN~atvcus;'

'Say again?'

'Affirmative.'

'Okay. At what speed? Give me a new ETA.'

'Without r'pairs, this shuttle c'n only move at sub-light. Peladon will be r'ched in four months, eighteen days, seven hours -'

'Okay! I get the b.l.o.o.d.y picture. Send out a distress on Federation frequency to Io. Tell them that the Ace is low.'

'Confirm'd'

Ace stretched out, resigned to defeat. 'Sorry, Professor. It's up to you and Benny now. I'll see you back on Io. I hope.' She kicked out at the wrecked console. In her pocket, she felt Winmill's data-pad digging in. Poor Julian.

Poor Hyn't'n. 'You died for nothing, guys. I failed you. Sorry.'

Although she did not know it, Ace was very wrong indeed. Her actions had tipped the scales in her favour but she'd never find out.

Okay, computer. Let's get back to the TARDIS.'

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