'Lock tractor beam when in range; ordered Jalbert.

A few hours later, the small shuttle came within scanner and tractor-beam range.

'Wonder if those Anthaurk ships'll do anything,' mused Guvin. 'Maybe they'll blast it.'

But they took no notice of the tiny ship and it was drawn safely into dock, guided by the invisible hand of the tractor beam.

'Guess we should go down and check it out,' said Guvin.

Jalbert frowned. The guy was always trying to find other things to do. Never wanting to stay in one place. Jalbert had worked most of his life on the s.p.a.ceyards of Beatrix, had spent his years governed by endless safety rules and security regulations. Guvin had been a sledder, gathering meat for the freezefarms of Oomingmak. There was something of the wild snowy wastes glinting in his dark eyes. A restless young lad. 'No. That's not our job. Besides, you heard the 'puter no life signs. Just floating junk.'

Guvin's face, usually sullen and unsmiling, took on an even more frosty expression. 'Yes, sir.'

An idea struck Jalbert. 'Besides which, anything could be on board even some of that Omnethoth stuff.'

Guvin raised heavy eyebrows.

Jalbert grinned. 'Not so keen on going down there now, eh?' He accessed the comms network and informed the duty trooper squad of the situation.

Their job done, Jalbert dialled them more coffee. It had been a busy day, and the shuttle was hopefully the last 'Hey!' cried Guvin. 'Look at that!'

Jalbert spilled coffee on his lap, leapt to his feet brushing it away. 'What '

Then he saw the screens.

The ring of Anthaurk battle cruisers was closing slowly on the station.

'Warning: incoming vessels, weapons ports fully armed.'

Jalbert swore. 'Sound the general alarm.'

Guvin hit the alarm b.u.t.ton without hesitation.

The Doctor sat cross-legged on the floor of the Anthaurk battle cruiser, a mess of cables in his lap.

He shoved them to the floor with a sigh of frustration. It was useless. There was no power to reroute. They were stuck. He stood, shaking his head. 'It looks like we're doomed.'

Zendaak cursed.

'What about the escape pods?' said the Doctor.

Zendaak folded his arms. 'There are no escape pods on an Anthaurk battle cruiser,' he said with obvious pride.

The Doctor raised his hands. 'Don't tell me, better to die in the glory of battle than to run away.'

Zendaak nodded. 'I had no idea you had an appreciation of our philosophy, Doctor.'

'Appreciation?' exploded the Doctor. 'All I feel is disgust. You should be helping the System regain its feet after the Omnethoth disaster!'

Zendaak bore down on the Doctor, eyes gleaming. 'No, Doctor, that is not the Anthaurk way! The Anthaurk way is glory. With the heart of the System taken out, it is time for us to seize control.'

The Doctor drew himself up to his full height, shouting hoa.r.s.ely. 'Well that's good, as we're all about to die! You'll never live to see your victory!'

A zealous expression crept over Zendaak's wide face. 'I may die, but in my death I can be a.s.sured of Anthaurk supremacy.'

The Doctor rolled his eyes. And so it went on. Once warlike, always warlike. The Omnethoth invasion hadn't united the System: if anything it had spurred the Anthaurk on. Maybe. if Yquatine still stood, there would be a basis for negotiation. But, in the chaotic aftermath of the Omnethoth, it was every species for itself. Survival of the fittest and nastiest in this case, the Anthaurk.

The cycle of life. Sometimes it rea.s.sured the Doctor, sometimes it appalled him.

The deck lurched beneath their feet as another explosion rocked the ship. The Doctor ducked as the control console burst open in a shower of sparks. The screen cut out.

It couldn't be long now.

There was only one chance, but it was a long shot.

He shoved past Zendaak.

He ran along the corridor to the airlock. 'Oh, no!' he cried. both hands plunging into his ma.s.s of brown curls.

The inner airlock door hung open. Inside, there was no sign of the Omnethoth attack unit.

A scream from behind him. He whirled round to see snakes of black gas wrapping themselves around Zendaak, choking the life from him. The attack unit had smeared itself over the walls and ceiling of the corridor and dropped on Zendaak as he pa.s.sed beneath.

The Doctor pressed himself to the floor, shuffling past Zendaak, watching in horror as the Anthaurk commander fell to his knees, his form wreathed in black Omnethoth matter, an arm occasionally shooting out, claws splayed wide.

Zendaak fell face down, and the Omnethoth attack unit slid away. The Doctor's lips curled in disgust. His face had been burnt away, leaving behind a steaming skull, jawbone hanging open in a death's-head grin.

Zendaak may have been belligerent, driven and blinkered, but he'd saved the Doctor's life on two occasions. He was an intelligent creature. There might have been some basis for negotiation. Too late now.

As for the Omnethoth The attack unit billowed upwards, spreading its smoky arms wide, its black centre bulging towards the Doctor.

No basis for negotiation here.

The Doctor backed away towards the flight deck. A seventh sense made him whirl round and there was another attack unit, its limbs curling towards him. Screams from the flight deck told him that there were more of the creatures on the Argusia Argusia. How they'd got on board he had no idea. Perhaps there were weaknesses in the hull through which they had insinuated themselves. Perhaps the Omnethoth he'd trapped in the airlock had reproduced.

It really didn't matter, anyway, because he was trapped.

The deck shuddered beneath him and he fell to his knees.

A smoky tentacle caressed his face.

The Doctor screamed.

Compa.s.sion opened the hatch of the shuttle, and stepped down on to the boarding ladder. The s.p.a.cedock was deserted: just a few handling droids standing idle, a couple of other ships, but no troopers. That was good, that was how she'd planned things. They wouldn't have detected her presence on the shuttle. She wouldn't have registered as a life sign.

She descended, opened herself up and deposited Fitz on the oil-stained grating in front of her. He'd found a bathroom she never knew she had, and had scrubbed himself until his skin positively glowed with pink, perky health. He'd then found a wardrobe she never knew she had, and kitted himself out in black leather trousers and a baggy black shirt. As he came out of her he grabbed her shoulder for support.

'Aloysius Station,' said Compa.s.sion. 'We made it.'

'Great,' said Fitz. 'Now let's find the Doctor and get out of here.'

He strode away across the s.p.a.cedock towards the exit, his booted feet ringing on the floor.

Compa.s.sion followed more slowly. Something was stirring within her forest, a slow wind rustling the branches. She could feel an emptiness deep inside. Only now was she beginning to realise what it meant.

As she caught up with Fitz alarms cut in.

'Do you think that's for us?' yelled Fitz over the noise. 'It usually is.'

Compa.s.sion briefly scanned Aloysius's AI network. 'No. the station's about to come under attack from the Anthaurk.'

Fitz stopped dead and groaned. 'How long have we been here? Two minutes. That must be a record.' Despite his chirpy manner, there were dark rings around his eyes. He'd been crying a lot over Arielle. He must have really loved her. Stupid thing to do. At least she, Compa.s.sion, was free of such emotional millstones.

Fitz was looking impatient. 'The Doctor?' he said.

Compa.s.sion nodded. 'Let me concentrate.'

She reached out with her mind, searching for the Doctor's biodata trace.

There was nothing. No trace. That was what the empty feeling had meant, what her forest had been trying to tell her. The Doctor was dead.

She opened her eyes, looked away from Fitz. Started off up the stairs that led from the s.p.a.cedock.

'Hey!' Fitz caught up with her, grabbing her arm. She shook him off, but he stood in her path, blocking her way. She sighed. She hated having to cope with his feelings sometimes.

'Are you going to b.l.o.o.d.y well tell me or not?'

She fixed him a look she knew would unnerve him. Strange feelings were pulsing through her systems, as though they were missing the Doctor. A TARDIS bonds with its tenant. What would happen now that bond was broken? 'He's gone, Fitz. He's dead.'

She pushed past him, continued up the stairs. No clear plan at the moment, just walking.

'How do you know? He might be in danger somewhere in a Time Lord coma or something!'

She whirled round to face him. 'Even if he was in danger, even if I could detect exactly where he was, I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. He could be surfing into a black hole and I would just have to stand and watch!'

A look of gloom clouded Fitz's face. 'The Randomiser.'

Compa.s.sion nodded. 'Ironic, isn't it? They very thing he fitted to me prevents me from saving him. If he wasn't dead, that is.'

Fitz winced. 'So what do we do now? It's all over,' he said, fatalistic as ever.

The floor heaved underneath them, and a second later they heard the dull crack of an explosion. The scream of the station's atmosphere rushing out into a vacuum followed, and the air around them began to shift uneasily.

Compa.s.sion flexed her fingers. 'No. It's far from over.'

President Vargeld was woken by the screaming of alarms. He was out of bed and dressed in minutes, his body performing the actions automatically, his mind still caught up in a dream of Arielle.

Still couldn't believe she was gone; maybe she was still alive somewhere; she could have escaped from Muath Shaking his head as if trying to dislodge such futile hopes, he entered the command centre of the station, a circular two-tier room manned by technicians and communications officers.

The station chief, Keri Eperdu, saluted as he approached.

'Status report,' barked the President.

Eperdu was a tall, dark-skinned woman from the tropical Amerd Archipelago on Yquatine. A home she would never see again, the President realised. She looked tired and her voice was hollow. 'The Anthuark ships, sir. They're preparing to attack.'

No time to react. He'd been waiting for this. 'Alert all troopers. Contact every available Alliance ship in the sector.'

'Incoming transmission.'

'On screen.'

The circular screen on the far side of the room flickered into life. Staring out was the image of the ancient Anthaurk leader, the Grand Gynarch.

'President Vargeld,' she hissed slowly. 'You are surrounded. We have drafted a new treaty, an agreement which replaces the now sadly irrelevant Treaty of Yquatine.'

'Nice to see you've been keeping busy,' said President Vargeld, exchanging a wry glance with Eperdu. 'Order your ships to stand down.'

'I will not!' hissed the Grand Gynarch. 'You will agree to the terms of this treaty, or be destroyed!'

President Vargeld swallowed hard, cursing the unswerving callousness of the Anthaurk leader. Millions dead, and she had taken the opportunity of the lull after victory to make her counterstrike. 'What terms?'

'Rule of the Senate is to pa.s.s to the Anthaurk Inner Circle. New Anthaur will be the centre of the System.'

The President almost laughed aloud. 'How can you hope to maintain such an agreement? Every other sentient being in the System will resist you.'

'You have no choice. I suggest you surrender immediately or we will bombard this station until it is totally destroyed.'

'She is right. We have no choice.' Eperdu's eyes were on him. Their message was plain. No more fighting, no more death.

This was the worst part of being President. Taking the long view, making sacrifices for the future. He turned back to the screen. 'No surrender. Cut the connection.' Technicians obeyed and the screen went blank. 'Raise all shields, maximum power. Activate the defence grid. Contact the rest of the fleet, tell them to rendezvous at Aloysius a.s.a.p. in full battle readiness.' Many Alliance ships had been destroyed in the first abortive attack on the Omnethoth and the s.p.a.ce Alliance lay in disarray, the fleet scattered between Yquatine and Aloysius, licking its wounds. But there were still enough of them to fight. He was almost glad of the challenge.

'Sir.' Eperdu's voice showed signs of panic. 'The shields won't hold out for long under continual plasma barrage.'

'I know,' said President Vargeld. 'But we have to make a stand. How long before the others ships get here?'

Eperdu consulted one of the technicians. 'Two hours.'

'And how long before the shields fail?'

Eperdu shrugged. 'Hard to say. Depends on where they hit us first.'

There was a distant booming sound and the command centre floor shook beneath their feet.