There was a buzzing from one of the consoles, and Gorrak went to look. Another ship was approaching. He grinned. His luck was changing, if he was to be blessed with a new ship so quickly. His hand had almost reached the intercom switch to call Borrk and tell him to try Karthakh's trick with the communications gear to disable the other ship's weapons when the first torpedo hit.

'What the hell?' Monty yelled.

Behind the gunship, the Speculator Speculator was reeling. The strain of the badly designed Ogron modifications would have pulled it apart eventually, and the impacts of a volley of plasma torpedoes didn't exactly add to its stability. Some of the constructions that encrusted the vast outer hull started to split. Secondary explosions inside produced flashes of light in the gaping maw that ran through the ship. was reeling. The strain of the badly designed Ogron modifications would have pulled it apart eventually, and the impacts of a volley of plasma torpedoes didn't exactly add to its stability. Some of the constructions that encrusted the vast outer hull started to split. Secondary explosions inside produced flashes of light in the gaping maw that ran through the ship.

Volcanic bursts of burning gases emerged from the Speculator Speculator as she started to drift. Scrap metal and oddly doll-like Ogron bodies were spat out from the new gaps in the hull. As the ship died, a dark and spiky-looking pirate ship sailed through the debris field which was trailing behind her. as she started to drift. Scrap metal and oddly doll-like Ogron bodies were spat out from the new gaps in the hull. As the ship died, a dark and spiky-looking pirate ship sailed through the debris field which was trailing behind her.

'Mandell.' Jack said. 'It must be.' He sucked air in through his teeth as he looked at the other ship's rate of approach.

The new attacker suddenly faded from the sensors. 'So, like, what exactly is the speedosity of this thing?'

'What?' Monty asked 'How fast does it go?'

'I haven't the slightest idea.'

'Looks like we'd better find out.'

'It would be best if I flew the ship.' Sha'ol's calm, precise voice cut through the discussion.

'Yeah, right,' Jack scoffed. 'Meanwhile, back in the real world...'

'Your concerns are understandable, but misplaced. We are all currently in equal danger. It is in all our interests for the best pilot to fly this vessel.'

'Plasma torpedo launched and running,' Chat warned.

'Bearing directly.'

Jack's eyes widened. 'Where the hell did that come from?'

On the screen, an incandescent bolt swelled rapidly. 'Are our shields up to thi-' The sudden blast knocked him off his feet and back into the gunship's cramped troop bay.

The ship straightened out again. 'I should say they were up to it,' the Doctor replied. 'How many more hits they can take is quite another matter.'

'You must allow me to take the helm,' Sha'ol urged the Doctor. 'It is necessary to our survival also.'

The Doctor nodded, and rose from the seat. Sha'ol replaced him smoothly.

'Incoming,' Chance announced.

Sha'ol threw the ship into a tight loop without apparent thought. The torpedo blazed past the underside of the hull, missing it by mere yards. 'If the human, Mandell, has been studying Tzun naval architecture, he will have undoubtedly replicated the camouflage field also.'

Frobisher threw him a sour look. 'You could sue them.

Your people should have patented that thing.' No one bothered to dignify that with an answer. The gunship shook as the torpedo detonated astern.

'The shield took the brunt of it,' Karthakh said with surprising calm. Glitz suspected that his iciness had become such an ingrained habit that he probably didn't even know how to sound as frightened as he should be. 'It will not holdup to more than one or two near misses. Another direct hit will finish us.'

The Doctor frowned in thought. 'Sha'ol, what's their maximum range, and how long does a shot take to reach us from there?'

'Their firing range is no more than four hundred units,'

came the answer. 'It would take a torpedo thirty-two seconds to reach the ship.' The discussion didn't distract him from putting the ship through a series of stomach-churning manoeuvres. Sha'ol cut the engine power, causing everyone to slam forward against their consoles.

'What the hell are you doing?'Jack demanded. 'They'll have a clear shot.'

'Yes.'

'Torpedo launched, bearing directly,' Karthakh interrupted appropriately. Jack glared at the Sha'ol, who merely looked back unblinkingly and slammed the thrusters on full, sending the ship into a full power dive.

The gunship sped over the curve of the planet's terminator as if chasing the night. Plasma flickered around the edges of the shield as it churned through the atmosphere. 'Ninety seconds to impact,' Chat warned, a little shakily.

'This will be the difficult part,' Sha'ol announced calmly. He slammed the controls to port, while pulling up. Everybody grabbed hold of console edges, as the ship lurched not away from the surface, but parallel to it, now heading directly towards the pole.

'They're evading the shot,' Wei warned. Cronan smiled reassuringly, as if the fugitives' postponing of the inevitable merely made the chase more exciting. After all, he was superior, so they could never escape him. Inside, however, he cursed the incompetence of Barrand's crew for missing such a clean shot.

'Follow them,' he snapped. 'Arm another torpedo.' This wasn't as easy as it looked in the holovids...

Sha'ol guided the ship expertly, even though it wasn't a Tzun vessel. If it had been, he reflected, the computer would have sent all the relevant data from the console through his fingertips directly to the brain. He would have been able to feel the ship move with his every thought.

'Nice try,' Jack said coolly, then pointed to a scanner display as they hurtled over the polar icecap, 'but they're following us.'

Sha'ol nodded. 'They are blind to the obvious strategy. That is why we will succeed where they fail.'

The Hornet Hornet rolled into an orbit in direct pursuit, looping over the planet's magnetic pole moments after the gunship. On the viewer, their quarry hurtled past the equator, but the distance between them was not great enough for them to try the same trick again. rolled into an orbit in direct pursuit, looping over the planet's magnetic pole moments after the gunship. On the viewer, their quarry hurtled past the equator, but the distance between them was not great enough for them to try the same trick again.

Cronan's eyes hooded over, satisfied at the imminent result of the chase. Even a blind speelsnape couldn't miss this time, let alone someone as gifted as himself. 'Target their engines, we'll blow their reactor core.'

'Locked.'

Cronan held his breath subconsciously, eager for the kill.

His whole life had gone down the tubes thanks to at least one of the people on that ship, and now it was payback time. This was going to be so cool, he thought. Another few seconds, and it would all be over. He toggled the communications switch. 'Good try, Doctor, but not good enough! This'll teach you to mess with me 'Torpedo,' Wei yelped suddenly, 'bearing directly!'

'What?' Cronan's head jerked up. He called up a tactical display, and felt his throat tighten with fear. It was the last torpedo they themselves had launched, coming round the planet in a slingshot orbit over the equator. Ahead of them, the gunship flashed out and away from the surface, having passed the path of the approaching bolt. 'Evasive!'

Wei tried to alter the ship's angle of attack, to pull up, but the view on screen remained steady. 'We're too deep in the gravity well. You've killed us!'

Cronan almost laughed at the irony, but the breath wouldn't come. He scanned for the torpedo. It filled the screen.

The Hornet Hornet was struck amidships by her own plasma torpedo. It smashed the ship sideways, blasting a shower of molten wreckage from the engine section. The hull began to crumple with pressure loss as it tumbled in towards the planet. Out of control, it hit atmosphere at entirely the wrong angle, and began to glow with the heat of friction. was struck amidships by her own plasma torpedo. It smashed the ship sideways, blasting a shower of molten wreckage from the engine section. The hull began to crumple with pressure loss as it tumbled in towards the planet. Out of control, it hit atmosphere at entirely the wrong angle, and began to glow with the heat of friction.

A host of possible last-minute pleas and dying declarations crossed Cronan's mind in nanoseconds, until the most appropriate and heartfelt one could find its way to his lips.

'Bugger.'

The crippled ship bloomed. Wreckage was torn from the hull and scattered far and wide, while the fuel and atmosphere ignited in the sort of explosion that was usually only created by firework specialists on drugs, and would have needed a dictionary full of adjectives to describe property.

'Way cool,' Jack commented agreeably. He slapped the Doctor heartily on the back. 'I like your style, Doc: flashy, but practical.'

'Cool?' the Doctor echoed. 'Cool?! There were people on that ship, Chance. People who died.'

'Yeah, and better them than us.'

The Doctor glared at him. 'That is a very narrow-minded point of view,' he said disapprovingly.

'OK,' Jack suggested, 'But me, I reckon the Ogron kids on that old ship deserve any sympathy you need to show.'

The Doctor hesitated, then sighed. 'All lost lives deserve that, Chance.'

Chapter Twenty.

Mandell's private yacht, paid for out of the SID's budget, was some distance away. Apart from Mandell, there was a small Tactical team on board, just in case. He wasn't going to take too too many chances where his own skin was concerned. If he played his cards right, he might even get through this without Kala knowing about his work. many chances where his own skin was concerned. If he played his cards right, he might even get through this without Kala knowing about his work.

He had tried to call to warn her that he wouldn't make it home for a bit, but she wasn't in either. That was unusual, but not unheard of. If she was on a case, she could be on a stakeout. Sometimes he envied her that freedom from secrecy. She could be openly proud of her contribution to the planet's security.

The homing signals that Wei and Cronan had been tagged with had both stopped transmitting, and Mandell could just feel his riches and power slipping away.

He left his luxury cabin, and went along to the yacht's flight deck. 'Increase to maximum speed,' he told the SID pilot. 'This is our last chance.'

Flight Director Trelokh hopped up on to the Zathakh' Zathakh' s command balcony to join his mother and the humans. 'We have picked up engine traces from several different ships. s command balcony to join his mother and the humans. 'We have picked up engine traces from several different ships.

There is a great deal of wreckage in the vicinity, and residual plasma torpedo traces.'

'A Vandorian ship?' Brokhal asked.

'Most likely. A second debris field has been detected by the Khadok Khadok on a landmass on Oblio I. More plasma torpedo traces there. A single engine trace leaves the Oblio system. on a landmass on Oblio I. More plasma torpedo traces there. A single engine trace leaves the Oblio system.

From the drive signature we estimate a smaller patrol craft; perhaps a gunship.'

'A gunship was stolen from an orbital tether during this crisis,' Jemson informed the aliens. 'It could be the same one.'

'Where are they heading?' Brokhal demanded.

'Going by the relative positions of the two destroyed ships, we estimate they are making for Veltroch itself.'

'Veltroch? But if they are attempting to prevent our recovery of the Core, then why go there?'

'It is the last place we would look,' Trelokh pointed out.

'There is another possibility,' Brokhal said slowly. 'This Mandell employed a Time Lord to lead his team; the one called the Doctor.'

'So? Even they have renegades.'

'Yes, indeed they do... But the Doctor is known to us as a man of honour. It is possible that he may be trying to return the Core to its rightful place.'