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The exchange of fire was swift and vicious. In the first attack section one lost three Daleks, and the renegades suffered only superficial damage. The imperial Daleks retreated quickly laying down a covering pattern of blaster fire.

Three columns of greasy black smoke boiled into the sky.

But all the ECM pods had been destroyed.

Both Dalek factions settled into inconclusive sniping fire along the length of the road. Battle updates flashed through the command-net to the shuttle commander.

The Doctor watched Ace. The young woman stood unmoving in the school foyer. Around her soldiers continued to clear up the mess left from the battle.

A body was pulled from the rubble by the stairwell. A medic knelt by him and put his hand on the man’s throat.

The medic looked up and shook his head. Stretcher bearers moved in to take the corpse. The Doctor wondered who the dead man had been, whether he was married, had children.

The Doctor looked at Ace again. Her eyes were glazed, her lips parted slightly. He could see her chest fall and rise in rapid shallow breathing.

She’s no good to me like this, decided the Doctor and started towards her.

‘Ace?’ he said. Her head turned slowly, a lost look in her eyes. ‘I don’t suppose you’re interested in a misguided attack on a Dalek shuttle.’ Ace merely stared at his face.

‘Suicidal, of course.’ There, a flicker of interest. ‘No, I’ll just have to do it myself.’

The Doctor walked away, just slowly enough.

‘Oi!’ Ace was suddenly at his side. ‘Wait a minute.’

The Doctor smiled, inside, where it wouldn’t show.

Allison had never seen Rachel this angry.

‘Out of my way, Group Captain,’ she shouted, jabbing a finger at Gilmore’s chin. ‘Or I may do something unscientific to your face.’

Gilmore retreated a step and banged into the foyer doors. ‘Professor Jensen, I cannot allow you to...’

‘Allow me to what?’ yelled Rachel, forcing Gilmore back through the double doors. ‘I’m sick of your regulations, rules and restrictions. If I want to put myself in danger, that’s my concern.’

Allison could see Ace and the Doctor standing in the foyer, watching them. Ace was grinning. Allison caught her eye and gave an embarrassed shrug.

Rachel saw the Doctor. She pushed past Gilmore and marched up to the Doctor. ‘We’re corning with you,’ she told him, ‘whatever this martinet says. I’m not going to spend the rest of my life wondering what was going on. I’m going to find out, even if it means following you into the jaws of hell itself.’

‘It’s very dangerous,’ said the Doctor.

‘So is ignorance,’ said Rachel.

15

Saturday, 16:11

The southern route.

Section three was pulling back in disarray. It had hit the renegade Daleks in one glorious charge. The renegades met them with a solid line of blaster fire. The first wave dissolved under its intensity, expanding globes of shattered polycarbide and soft Dalek flesh. The second wave of imperial Daleks had pressed on, blasters probing for the elusive enemy. Two renegades had been destroyed before the section had been forced to withdraw.

Tactical updates flashed through the command-net. The imperial shuttle commander relayed the communiques through its uplink to the main computer on the mothership. The main computer chewed up the data in moments and tactical options flashed down to the shuttle commander.

The shuttle commander ordered section four to form up behind the abomination. In three minutes they would reach reserve positions behind section two.

The attacks on the northern and southern routes had served their purpose. Renegade defence tactics had been challenged and the responses analysed. The attack on their central positions could start as soon as the reserves were in position.

Sections one and two would continue to pin down the flanks.

Section two, ordered the shuttle commander, prepare to attack.

Rachel stared at the rope in her hands, forcing her mind back to the 1930s and Hawthorne’s voice. The mouse goes through the hole. Rachel tied the rope around the leg of the bench.

The Doctor stood