Shakedown Read online

  Steg paused. ‘If the Rutan left the station, we must discover the means. We need a list of every ship that departed between the spy’s estimated arrival and our takeover. Every one of those ships must be overtaken and searched. A task force must be left at the station to prevent the vessels concerned being warned.’

  Steg’s plan was agreed. A second search of the station proved as fruitless as the first. A rapid and ruthless interrogation of the space station staff produced the list of departures. Very soon a copy was in Steg’s hands.

  He studied it eagerly.

  First name on the list was the solar yacht Tiger Moth – bound for Space Station Beta – on a shakedown cruise...

  The Doctor, Chris and Roz sat at a table at the back of the hall, waiting for something to happen. The Doctor was drumming on the table eyeing the ranks of Sontaran troopers, and cursing in very low Gallifreyan.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ asked Chris.

  ‘It’s not like you to get so worked up,’ said Roz.

  ‘It’s infuriating!’ muttered the Doctor.

  ‘What is?’

  ‘I know,’ said the Doctor. ‘I just know that the Rutan is on board that solar yacht – and there’s nothing, nothing I can do about it!’

  BOOK TWO

  SHAKEDOWN

  11

  Attack

  Sails furled, the solar yacht Tiger Moth moved through space looking oddly ungraceful, like an insect with far too many legs...

  Jacket slung carelessly over her shoulder, Lisa Deranne marched grimly along the ship’s narrow metal corridors, Robar at her side. The very beginning of the cruise and already there was trouble.

  Without speaking, Lisa strode into the control room, tossed her jacket onto a nearby console and threw herself into the command chair. Robar sat beside her in the co-pilot’s seat. For the next few minutes Lisa’s hands moved expertly over the controls, checking readings.

  When she’d finished she looked at Robar. ‘It’s perfect.’

  ‘Nope,’ said Robar stubbornly. ‘There’s a fault.’

  ‘Nothing shows on the checks. Nothing!’

  ‘Comes and goes. Ever since we left Alpha One.’

  ‘What comes and goes?’

  ‘Power. Fluctuations at irregular intervals.’

  ‘Which unit?’

  He shrugged. ‘Any of ‘em. All of ‘em.’

  Lisa thought for a moment. It was infuriating to have engine trouble so soon, but if Robar said there was a fault...

  ‘All right. Make a full power check, every unit.’

  ‘Aye, aye, Cap’n. Have to shut down the drive, though.’

  ‘Then we shut down. I’ll give them their first sail drill while you’re checking.’

  ‘They’ll like that,’ said Robar, straight-faced.

  Lisa grabbed the ornate uniform jacket and strode out. Robar grinned and started checking the power console.

  The crew’s quarters on the Tiger Moth were little changed from the ship’s space-freighter days. There was a dormitory with bunk beds, a recreation area complete with gym bench, and a small automated kitchen. The main crew room was a drab, functional place with bench seats covered in blue plastic, a table and a few chairs.

  There were three people in the crew room at the moment, and a certain amount of grumbling was going on.

  The source, as usual, was Zorelle.

  She was wearing one of her own creations, an exotic black and silver gown that would have looked better in a ballroom. She checked her extravagant eye make-up and lavish lip gloss in the minor and returned to her grievance.

  ‘How much longer?’ she said sulkily.

  ‘She’ll come when she’s ready,’ said Mari. For someone who’d been spoiled rotten since birth, she was surprisingly good-natured.

  ‘She treats us like nobodies,’ complained Zorelle.

  Kurt wandered in from the sleeping quarters and sat down at the long bench-seat.

  ‘She’s the best solar yacht captain in the galaxy,’ he said, adding infuriatingly, ‘To her, you’re a nobody.’

  Nikos laughed. ‘A nobody with money,’ he protested lazily.

  ‘Exactly,’ said Zorelle. ‘We’re the ones who bought this ship, we paid for its conversion to a solar yacht, we pay all the racing expenses –’

  ‘All useless without Lisa,’ Kurt pointed out placidly.

  ‘If it wasn’t for us she couldn’t afford to race, let alone win,’ said Zorelle. ‘I just don’t see what gives her the right to treat us as she does.’

  Mari snuggled up to Nikos, who began massaging her bare shoulders. ‘That’s not fair, Zorelle, she’s always polite.’

  ‘On the surface, maybe – we’re a necessary evil. But you can see she despises us.’

  ‘Maybe it’s because she earned her reputation,’ suggested Kurt blandly.

  Zorelle went off like a rocket. ‘I built up my design business until it covered three planets.’

  Mari got up and wandered across the room, studying Zorelle’s outfit with lazy amusement. ‘I know, I know...The kids back home raided their grandmothers’ wardrobes and made the House of Zorelle fashionable again – almost!’

  Zorelle glanced disparagingly at her. ‘My dear, it looks as if your little planet needs every bit of help it can get.’

  Mari smiled, well aware that she had nothing to worry about. In her clinging, sleeveless white dress, dark hair curled tight to her head, she was as luscious as a newly ripe peach.

  Mari was a constant, and painful, reminder to Zorelle that in competition with youth and beauty, high-fashion clothes and clever make-up have their limitations.

  ‘I hear it’s your sister who’s the real genius,’ said Mari teasingly.

  ‘She’s just a designer,’ said Zorelle furiously. ‘I’m the businesswoman, she’d be nothing without me.’

  ‘You inherited a business,’ said Kurt. He grinned at Nikos and Mari. ‘The real trick is to start with nothing.’

  ‘How did you make your money, Kurt?’ asked Nikos impudently.

  ‘Oh, this and that.’

  ‘What about your early days?’ asked Mari. ‘One hears such interesting rumours. Space piracy, smuggling...’

  Kurt produced his innocent look, the one he always used when he was lying. ‘Me?’

  Nikos leaned back, stretching luxuriously. ‘Well, I expect to inherit half a planet from my dear father.’ Mari came back to him and he reached out, enfolding her in his arms. ‘And Mari here is a planetary president’s daughter,’ he said in mock-reverent tones. ‘Far too important and too beautiful even to think about work!’

  While the Tiger Moth’s passengers wrangled, the Sontaran War Wheel rolled remorselessly towards them. The latest addition to the Sontaran Battle Fleet, its name derived from the massive wheel-like structures either side of the huge central dome.

  The War Wheel’s design incorporated a number of smaller vessels, powerful assault-craft, designed to separate from the mothership at need.

  Commander Steg and Lieutenant Vorn were in the control room of one of these sub-ships. Vorn was studying a space radar screen.

  ‘Alien vessel in visual range, Commander.’

  For a moment Steg made no reply. He was enjoying the last, fading, ecstatic moments of a power-burn. Reluctantly his three-digited hand plucked the feeder-hose from his probic vent.

  ‘According to our scanners they’ve cut their power,’ reported Vorn.

  Steg straightened up, renewed energy flooding through his body. ‘Convenient. Select a boarding party. This first target looks the most promising. Tell the admiral, I shall deal with it myself.’

  Steg, like the Doctor earlier, had decided that the Rutan would have taken the first possible opportunity of leaving Station Alpha, however inconvenient and inappropriate the vessel might be. And if the Rutan was on board Tiger Moth, Steg, and no one else, was going to command the expedition that found it.

  Lisa Deranne could hear Zorelle’s whining voice even before she reached the
crew-room door.

  ‘I even designed her a uniform jacket – and what happens? Half the time she doesn’t even deign to wear it.’

  Then Kurt’s flat voice. ‘Fancy jackets don’t win races.’

  Zorelle again. ‘The fact remains that our money, however acquired, bought this ship. We should be giving orders, not taking them. Lisa Deranne may be the captain but she’s still only our employee after all...’

  With a rueful smile, Lisa took the ornate uniform jacket from her shoulder and slipped it on. She went down the metal ladder that led to the crewroom and went inside.

  Ignoring Zorelle’s guilty silence, she put a bright, public relations smile onto her face.

  ‘I’m sorry to keep you waiting. There’s a problem with the power-drive.’

  Kurt looked up from his seat in the corner. ‘Major?’

  ‘Very minor. Robar’s dealing with it now. We can’t go on till it’s fixed.’

  ‘Why not?’ asked Mari. ‘We’ve still got the solar sails? Isn’t that the whole point of this cruise?’

  With an effort, Lisa managed to keep her smile in place. ‘Solar sails are fragile – the thing they do best is break down. If we lose sail and power we’ll just drift.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘Food supplies are limited,’ explained Lisa patiently. ‘We’d end up eating each other.’

  Nikos grabbed Mari. ‘I’d start with you!’ He nipped her earlobe and she squealed delightedly.

  ‘So what now?’ asked Zorelle petulantly. ‘More waiting?’

  ‘Solar sail drill,’ said Lisa Deranne crisply. ‘Sail deck in ten minutes.’ Her eyes flicked over Zorelle’s silver creation and Mari’s white gown. She smiled, genuinely this time. ‘Working dress, please!’

  When Captain Deranne arrived on the sail deck, she found three-quarters of her crew ready and waiting for her.

  Formerly the cargo hold, the sail deck was at the heart of the Tiger Moth’s conversion to solar sail. A vast shadowy area, lit by an eerie green glow, it now held a main control console at the centre of a semicircle of virtual reality platforms.

  Three of them were already occupied. Mari and Nikos both wore expensive but practical green space coveralls, while Kurt was in his usual black. All three held VR goggles and gloves.

  Lisa Deranne stood waiting impatiently at the central console, in the full splendour of her uniform jacket.

  After a few moments the jacket’s creator entered, or rather, made an entrance. She wore a set of stunningly elaborate, over-decorated green plasti-silk coveralls, a high-fashion version of those worn by the others.

  Conscious of everyone’s attention, and taking their concealed amusement for awed admiration, Zorelle took her place on the remaining podium, picking up her gloves and goggles.

  Lisa Deranne looked round the group.

  ‘Now we’re all here – remember this, it’s important. In solar yacht racing, the start is everything. Whether we win or lose can all be decided in those first minutes. It’s vital that the sails be set to the optimum angle at the maximum speed. In other words, we do it right, and we do it quick. Right, stand by!’

  She pulled on her VR gloves and goggles and the others did the same. A holograph sprang to life in the centre of the sail deck, a representation of the Tiger Moth as she was now, drifting through space with furled sails.

  ‘Each of you controls one bank of sails,’ said Lisa. ‘Each of you must obey my orders instantly and accurately. Understood? Right, let’s do it!’

  She began snapping out commands.

  ‘Set mainsail, full extension.’

  Kurt’s gauntleted hands moved in the air before him. In reality, he stood on a raised podium on the sail deck. But in virtual reality he was out on the deck of Tiger Moth, hauling on the cable that sent the great mainsail bellying out above him.

  The Tiger Moth’s enormous, shimmering mainsail spread out in space – in reality, in Kurt’s virtual reality, and on the hologram in the centre of the sail deck.

  ‘Mainsail set,’ he reported.

  ‘Set port sails, full extension,’ ordered Lisa.

  Working feverishly in his own virtual reality, Nikos called, ‘Port sails set.’

  ‘Starboard sails, full extension.’

  Now it was Zorelle’s turn. Anxious but determined not to be shown up, she hauled on her virtual reality cable, in her virtual reality world. ‘Starboard sails set.’

  ‘Set spinnaker, full extension.’

  Standing on the deck of a great sailing ship sweeping through space, lost in the wonder of it all, Mari was slow to react. Sharply, Lisa repeated the command.

  ‘Set spinnaker, full extension. Wake up, Mari!’

  Adjusting her goggles, Mari fumbled for the cable and the spinnaker rose upwards.

  ‘Spinnaker set!’

  Lisa paused for a moment. Now came the need for her own special expertise – the minutely calculated adjustments that made all the difference. Studying the solar wind readings on her console, she gave more orders.

  Together in their virtual reality world, wrestling with wheels and cables in the rigging of the great sailing ship as it sailed through space, Nikos, Zorelle, Kurt and Mari obeyed her commands and rapped out their replies.

  ‘Port sails inclination, adjust three degrees starboard.’

  ‘Port sails adjusted.’

  ‘Starboard sails elevate three degrees.’

  ‘Starboard sails elevated.’

  ‘Mainsail inclination elevate five degrees.’

  ‘Mainsail elevation, five degrees.’

  ‘Retract spinnaker, two degrees.’

  ‘Spinnaker retracted.’

  Lisa considered for a moment longer and then snapped, ‘All sails set. Maintain position. Lock off.’

  Transformed from an ungainly insect into a shimmeringly beautiful butterfly, the Tiger Moth swept through space, propelled only by the pressure of solar winds on her enormous set of fragile metal-foil sails.

  The astonishing sight was reflected in the transformation of the hologram on the sail deck.

  Mari pushed up her goggles and studied the glowing holograph with awe. It’s beautiful,’ she whispered.

  The crew removed goggles and gauntlets, returned to the real world, and waited for Lisa’s reaction.

  She studied her console. She studied the holograph. At last she raised her eyes and surveyed the little group.

  ‘Great!’ she said. ‘Terrific! Wonderful!’

  The crew members looked at each other in pleased surprise. Did she really mean it?

  She didn’t.

  ‘More like an arthritic Algolian dung beetle than a Tiger Moth. By the time we set off, the other ships in the race would be halfway home. Mari, you must be quicker with that spinnaker. Zorelle, your lower starboard sail is two degrees out of line. We’d be going round in circles. Nikos, no problems, well done!’

  By this time, Mari was tearful, Zorelle furious, Nikos was looking smug, and Kurt mildly amused.

  ‘I don’t know why you’re so cheerful, Kurt,’ said Lisa. ‘I said elevate five degrees, not six!’

  Kurt’s smile disappeared.

  Actually, thought Lisa, they’d done better than she’d expected. Not that she was going to tell them so, not yet. You break them down before you build them up.

  She looked around her chastened crew.

  ‘We are going to repeat this and similar manoeuvres until you can do them perfectly, smoothly, swiftly, and if necessary, in your sleep. Is that clear?’

  In the control room Robar was listening to Lisa over the intercom. He grinned. It was her standard speech with new crews.

  Robar was still searching for the cause of the mysterious power fluctuations. He’d checked the control circuits of all the main power units, establishing, at least, where the trouble wasn’t, and was about to go down to the engine room and check the units themselves.

  Suddenly an explosion rocked the ship.

  Robar scrambled to his feet and went to the comm
and console. He checked instruments and flipped the intercom switch.

  ‘Engineer to Captain. We are being fired on by an unknown vessel.’

  Lisa’s voice came back. ‘Are we hit?’

  ‘Minor sail damage,’ said Robar calmly. ‘I think it was a warning shot.’

  ‘On my way.’

  Lisa turned to the astonished crew. ‘Stay here, all of you!’ She turned and ran for the control room, pounding along the ship’s metal corridors.

  She found Robar peering at the monitor screen. It showed a blurred, indistinct image of the vessel that had attacked them. ‘Can you establish a com-link?’

  ‘Picture keeps breaking up,’ muttered Robar. He tried again, and a distorted image of a helmeted figure appeared on the screen. ‘Best I can do.’

  Lisa stared in puzzlement at the menacing shape. ‘What the hell is that?’

  ‘Beats me.’

  Lisa spoke into the com-unit. ‘Who are you? What do you want? Why did you fire on us?’

  A gruff, distorted voice came back. ‘We are sending a boarding party. Co-operate and you will not be harmed. Resist and you will be destroyed. Stand by for boarding.’

  The figure disappeared and the wheel-shaped alien vessel reappeared on the screen.

  Lisa peered at it thoughtfully. Not very informative.’ ‘

  ‘What do we do now?’

  Lisa’s first thoughts were for her ship.

  ‘I’m going to retract the solar sails on automatic. Whatever happens I won’t risk any more sail damage.’

  ‘I’ll go down to the power room and start checking those drive units,’ said Robar. ‘May as well keep busy.’

  Lisa flicked a switch on the intercom. ‘Captain to crew. The vessel that fired on us is an unidentified battle cruiser. They’ve got us covered with their space cannon and they’re sending a boarding party. That’s all I can tell you because that’s all I know. I’m going to retract the solar sails from here on automatic override. Stay where you are until further instructions. Captain out.’