Chapter Seven

Vaak had quickly made himself at home in the throne-room, sitting on Meridda's chair with a satisfied smirk on his ugly face. Aigus, formerly King of Aneth, was dead and Aneth would soon be firmly in the grip of the Sontarans, just as soon as he could persuade Teka to sign over the planet's sovereignty. He knew, from the intelligence which Sontaran High Command had gathered on Aneth, that the young woman had been the king's adopted heir, but she was only a female. A female was all that stood between the Sontarans and absolute control over Aneth and its people.

What was more, the Anethans were not a warrior race; that much was obvious. Like the Dulcians of Dulkis and many other races, they had chosen the path of pacificism, the path chosen by races too weak to fight. Why else would they have allowed the Skonnons to bully them for so long? No, the Anethans were weak, unable to stand up to Sontaran might, only fit for a life of slavery. Vaak's plan was to set Teka up as a puppet ruler and force her to put her people to work in the hymetusite mines; if necessary, he was prepared to threaten the lives of those closest to her in order to make her do his bidding. She had a child and, though the Sontaran race did not have families in the sense most races understood the term, Vaak knew how strong the bond between parent and child could be, though he inevitably saw it as a weakness.

Of course, like any self-respecting Sontaran, Vaak would have preferred to take Aneth by right of combat. But he told himself that the important thing was to gain control of the planet - how that was achieved didn't matter - so that its resources could be exploited for the Sontaran war effort. There was the small matter of the failed attempt on the Doctor's life, but, other than that, Vaak was fairly satisfied with how things were going. Perhaps it was time to contact General Stulve with another progress report . . .

Just then, however, a Sontaran trooper marched into the throne-room and clicked his heels as he stood before his Commander. "Sir," he said, "the prisoners have escaped."

"What?!" The smirk on Vaak's face disappeared to be replaced by a look of complete incredulity. "Are you certain?" the Sontaran Commander asked, his voice dangerously low. And, when a Sontaran Commander spoke to an underling with that tone of voice, the underling was well advised to answer truthfully.

"Yes, sir. I just checked their cell and they are gone."

"Then don't waste any more time!" Vaak ordered. "Find them! But," he added as the Sontaran turned to go, "I want them alive. They could be of use to our cause."


Adric had not known the Doctor long, but he had already known him long enough to know the Time Lord had a knack for getting into trouble. During the time they had known each other, the Doctor and Adric had encountered adversaries ranging from Marshmen to the Master, one of the Doctor's fellow Time Lords - and his oldest enemy. Luckily, the Doctor's habit of attracting trouble was well matched by an ability to get out of trouble. What was more, there were times when he almost seemed to enjoy it, almost as though he considered time spent "not in trouble", for want of a better term, to be time wasted. Indeed, the Doctor had never told Adric that the main reason he had left Gallifrey was because he could not stand to simply observe the Universe like his fellow Time Lords; he wanted to get out there and explore.

Right now, however, Adric's mind was focused on the Sontarans. He knew the Doctor had encountered the clone race before, defeating their plans each time, and wondered how he was going to deal with them this time. "Doctor?" he ventured. "What are we going to do about Vaak and his lot?"

The Doctor looked round at the sound of the Alzarian's voice. "Oh, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," he said, using another of the Earth expressions which Adric often found puzzling. "Or, to put it another way," he added, tossing one end of his scarf over his shoulder, "I don't know."

"But you must have a plan."

"Plan? Of course I've got a plan! Who said I didn't? I just don't know what it is yet." Which was the Doctor's way of saying he would make it up as he went along. He had always had a talent for improvisation, for making the best use of the materials he had to hand, such as the time he had adapted a miniature tape recorder to create a jamming device which he had used to neutralise a Dalek. Of course, it also helped if you knew the enemy's weak spot and how to exploit it. In the case of the Sontarans, this was the probic vent, though you had to be able to catch a Sontaran unawares in order to take advantage of this single weakness.

Not only did the Doctor have to deal with the Sontarans already on Aneth, he also had to make sure no more landed on the planet. He glanced at Teka, hurrying along the corridor with Sopea in her arms and Seth running beside her, and vowed to find a way of stopping the Sontaran menace. After all her people had been through, the young queen deserved to rule over a planet which was free from the tyrannical grip of a war-mongering race.

Just then, the small party of fugitives found the corridor ahead blocked by a Sontaran, standing there in full battle armour and with his gun trained on them.


"Back!" yelled the Doctor, grabbing Adric by the arm and propelling the boy back the way they had come. He had been lucky enough not to run into any Sontaran guards on his way to the cells, but it looked as though his luck had just run out. He had hoped they might be able to get into the palace and rally the servants in order to rid Aneth of the Sontarans. The Anethans were essentially pacifists, which was all very well if they were left alone; the trouble was that peace-loving races often found themselves the targets for hostile powers. But the Doctor knew from past experience that even pacifists could sometimes be persuaded to fight if necessary.

"We'll have to find another way out," the Doctor told the others as they hurried back down the corridor. So far, there was no sound of a Sontaran in pursuit, but the Doctor knew better than to trust that this meant they would be able to escape unchallenged. More than likely, the Sontaran they had seen earlier was there to stop them from getting up from the cells and there were probably more lying in wait further along the corridor.

"There's the hidden passage up to my chambers," Teka said. "I discovered it when I was a child." Handing Sopea to Meridda, she began to feel along the wall, searching for the hidden switch. "The entrance should be here somewhere . . ." Just then, she touched a part of the wall that was slightly darker, though it would take someone with keenly perceptive vision to notice the difference at first glance. There was a click and the wall slid away to reveal a flight of stairs leading upwards.

The Doctor smiled with delight; nothing beat a good hidden passage, provided it stayed hidden, though he tried not to think of that. There was a good chance that the Sontarans had not found this one and that gave the fugitives the advantage for the time being. Turning to the others, he quickly told them what to do. "Let me go first. Adric, you follow me. Meridda, you've got Sopea? Good, then you'll be behind Adric, then you, Seth. Teka, you'll bring up the rear. Remember to close the entrance - we don't want any Sontarans following us."

One by one, they stepped into the passage. As soon as they were all safely inside, Teka pressed a switch on the inside wall and the secret entrance slid back into place. Of course, this meant they lost the light from the corridor, but the Doctor had long ago learned that it was important to go equiped for all situations, including having to negotiate a secret passage. As he walked, he produced small glowing crystals from his pocket and placed them on the wall at intervals to light the way. He had done something similar in the Complex on Skonnos, but the constantly changing walls had quickly rendered any attempts to mark a passage useless. Still, there wasn't much danger of that happening now.

"Guess all we have to worry about is whether there's a Sontaran waiting for us at the other end," he muttered to himself.

His voice carried to Teka, who instinctively looked to the young man everyone said was the greatest hero Aneth had ever known. "If there is, you'll deal with him, won't you, Seth? Like you dealt with the Nimon?"

"How, exactly?" Seth asked, wishing for the umpteenth time that he could rid himself of his heroic reputation and lead a quiet life. "In case you haven't noticed, none of us are armed."

"You'll think of something," Teka said. She might have said more, had the Doctor's voice not cut into the conversation between the two young Anethans, telling them to "come on".


Presently, they reached the end of the passage. Teka told the Doctor how to find the switch which would allow them to exit and, moments later, they were emerging into a grand bedroom, the room which had been Teka's private quarters since she was brought to the palace as a child to be groomed as Aigus's heir and which she had shared with Seth since their marriage. Before that, Seth had had his own quarters elsewhere in the palace, though plans had been made to redecorate them for Sopea when she was old enough to need quarters of her own. At the moment, however, the infant slept in a cradle placed in one corner of her parents' room.

Once everyone was out of the passage, Teka pulled it closed, revealing a life-size portrait of a young woman wearing a long white gown with no ornamentation apart from the simple gold chain around her neck. Teka and Meridda both wore identical chains, which indicated that they were female members of Aneth's Royal Family; male royalty showed their status via gold epaulettes and belts. "This is Queen Sopea," Meridda explained, seeing the Doctor looking at the portrait questioningly. "This little one is named after her," she added, nodding towards the baby in her arms and handing her over to Teka.

Teka took the child and carried her over to the bed in the centre of the room. Sitting down, she held Sopea on her lap, recalling how she had fled to this very room on learning that she had been selected for the annual tribute. She remembered weeping with despair at the thought of never seeing her home planet again, of being sent on a journey all young Anethans feared but in which they had no choice. In order to avoid an invasion from Skonnos, the Anethans dared not risk breaking the Pact, not even when the heir to the throne was among those chosen.

Glancing at Seth, Teka remembered the moment she learned that all was not lost . . .

"Teka, may I speak to you?"

Teka looked up to see the king standing in the doorway. She hurriedly brushed away her tears, wondering what he was doing here. Aigus did not usually come to her private quarters, especially now that she was almost a young woman, and she had an uneasy feeling he had come to say a final goodbye. Even so, she decided it would be better to hear him out and silently nodded her assent.

"Teka," Aigus said, crossing the room and sitting down in a chair facing her, "I've been thinking it's time we did something about the Skonnons and the Nimon."

"But what can we do?" Teka asked, bewildered. "If we don't send the tribute, Skonnos will invade us. And we're not like the Skonnons - we can't invade them." She looked down at her hands and tried not to think about what might happen to her when she got to Skonnos. People guessed it must be something bad, but no-one knew for sure and only the fear of invasion kept the Anethans from trying to pull out of the Pact.

"True," Aigus replied. "But we can make sure we never have to send another tribute."

"How?"

Aigus cleared his throat. "The Skonnons are expecting four girls and three boys, but only the Selectors know what the ones chosen look like - and they're not the ones who collect the tribute. So I will have Seth take the place of one of the boys . . ."

"And Seth will kill the Nimon and set us all free," Teka finished. She had not known Seth long, but she had heard all about his heroic exploits and was certain he would be the one to bring an end to the Pact which had caused so much heartache.

Just then, Teka was brought back to the present by the sound of a rustling paper bag. The Doctor, sitting in the same chair Aigus had occupied, was holding out a bag of sweets shaped like brightly coloured humanoids, sweets just like the ones he had offered the young Anethans when he met them on the transport to Skonnos.

"Jelly Baby, anyone?"


Jelly Babies were currently the last thing on Vaak's mind. One of his underlings had reported seeing the escaped prisoners, but they had eluded capture and their current whereabouts was unknown. It was as though they had vanished without trace, a statement Vaak greeted with the contempt it deserved; nothing vanished without trace. The fugitives must be in the palace somewhere and that meant he and his fellow Sontarans would have to force them out. "Was the Doctor with them?" he asked, his voice dangerously quiet.

"He was, sir."

Vaak growled, recalling how the attempt on the Doctor's life had failed. Until the Time Lord was dealt with once and for all, the Sontarans' mission to Aneth was threatened. And Vaak knew only too well that General Stulve would grow increasingly impatient the longer the invasion fleet was delayed. It was vital that Aneth be secured in the name of the Glorious Sontaran Empire, vital that the Sontarans gained total control over the planet and all its people and resources. And, with the Doctor's previous track record for thwarting Sontaran plans, he would have to be "removed". This time, Vaak vowed to himself, there would be no mistakes; he would deal with the Doctor personally.

And, then, there was the matter of Teka. His plans for Aneth involved setting her up as a puppet queen, keeping her alive as long as she was useful and forcing her to do whatever the Sontarans ordered. But that was impossible as long as she and the rest of the Royal Family stayed hidden; somehow, he had to force her into the open and there was one strategy that was guaranteed to succeed. He turned to his fellow Sontarans, who were standing to attention a few feet away.

"I have a task for you," he said. "I need you to round up some hostages - palace servants will do. Get as many as you can and bring them in here."

As his fellow Sontarans saluted and marched off to scour the palace in search of servants to use as hostages, Vaak sat back in his seat and allowed himself to relax. Or, rather, he allowed himself to lower his guard a little, which was the closest a Sontaran could come to relaxation. As a military race, they had little time for anything that did not involve fighting and Vaak meant to have this mission dealt with as quickly as possible so that he could rejoin his comrades at the front.


Curious to see what was happening elsewhere in the palace, the Doctor had turned on a television monitor in Seth and Teka's quarters and was idly flicking from one screen to another. Meridda had told him that there were similar monitors all over the palace; they were intended as a security measure, though they were seldom used. Indeed, as far as she could recall, this was the first time this particular monitor had even been switched on since the Pact with Skonnos ended.

Right now, there seemed to be surprisingly little activity, but the Doctor knew better than to trust a lack of action, especially when races like the Sontarans were involved. Vaak and his underlings must be planning something . . . Sure enough, just as the Doctor switched the view from the palace grounds (where the TARDIS still stood, doubtless still surrounded by the force-field) to the throne-room, something finally happened. A small group of men and women, flanked by Sontarans, was led into the room and forced at gunpoint to kneel before Vaak.

Adric, watching the scene from over the Doctor's shoulder, frowned. "Now what are they up to?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," the Doctor said, turning in his seat. However, he had an uneasy feeling he knew what the Sontarans were up to . . . "Can you get me sound on this?" he said to Seth, who, out of the four Anethans, was the one nearest to the monitor.

Seth stepped forward and fiddled with the monitor's controls. Seconds later, Vaak's voice could be heard as clearly as if the Sontaran was in the room with them. " . . . timatum to those who defy the Glorious Sontaran Empire," he was saying. "The action my comrades are about to take will cease only when Teka, heir to the throne of this insignificant planet, emerges from her hiding place and is prepared to agree to our terms. These terms are as follows: she will ascend to the throne, but as a puppet of the Sontaran Empire and will have no power in her own right. Moreover, these terms are final and non-negotiable." With that, he signalled to the nearest Sontaran, who dragged a young manservant out of the line of hostages.

Vaak raised his gun and, without showing any sign of emotion, shot the young man in the chest. As the man fell to the floor, dead, another victim was quickly selected, this one a slightly older man whose brown hair showed flecks of grey. The Doctor quickly realised the implications, having once seen the Daleks do something similar to force him to release Davros. Vaak, whether he knew the Doctor and the others were watching or not, was going to kill the hostages one by one until Teka was surrendered. And that posed a dilemma; the Doctor's conscience would not allow him to stand by and watch innocent Anethans being gunned down, but nor would it allow him to let Teka become a puppet of the Sontaran Empire.

There was nothing else for it. They would have to get down to the throne-room and try to stop the executions before all the hostages were killed.


"Stop!"

Vaak, his gun poised to shoot the next hostage, whipped round at the sound of the Doctor's voice. The Time Lord, his scarf flying behind him, had burst into the throne-room, with Seth and Adric flanking him and Teka (carrying Sopea) and Meridda immediately behind. Their appearance did not entirely come as a surprise to the Sontaran; quite by chance, his troops had discovered a communication system hidden in the throne-room and he guessed the Doctor and the others had at least heard the executions. "Well, Doctor?" he said, trying to sound casual. "Do you accept my terms?"

"Terms?" There was no disguising the contempt in the Doctor's voice. "Ha! You plan to turn Teka into a puppet queen of a planet of slaves - I know how you Sontarans operate. And I also know what would happen to the Anethans once they'd served your purposes. Call yourselves glorious? You're nothing but butchers, the lot of you!"

Vaak did not reply for several seconds. "Brave words, Time Lord," he said finally. "But that won't save these people unless you agree to my terms." He left little doubt that he meant exactly what he said; either Teka was handed over and accepted her status as a puppet queen or all the hostages would die. Those were the terms he was offering and, like all Sontarans, he would accept no others. The planet Aneth must be annexed; it was strategically important in the endless war between the Sontarans and the Rutans.

With that, he raised his gun, which he had lowered slightly when the Doctor and the others burst into the room, and another victim was added to the two hostages who had already been killed. As a fourth victim was selected and hauled forward to await his doom, the Doctor slipped his hand into his pocket, winking at Adric as he did so. Seconds later, just as Vaak prepared to fire, the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pressed a switch on the device, causing it to emit a deafening screeching noise. The effect was instantaneous; the Sontarans in the room dropped to their knees, holding their heads, and were so distracted by the noise that they did not notice when the Doctor and the others (including the surviving hostages) made their escape.


"What do we do now?" Seth asked, once they were all safely in the corridor and the Doctor could switch off his sonic screwdriver. "It's all very well rescuing one lot of hostages, but the Sontarans won't give up that easily."

The Doctor knew Seth was right. He had used the screwdriver on a frequency to which he knew Sontarans were sensitive, but the effect was only temporary and would be wearing off soon. And, when that happened, it would not be long before they discovered that their prisoners had escaped. Something would have to be done to put a stop to the Sontarans' plans for Aneth once and for all. Somehow, he would have to persuade the Anethans to drive the invaders off their planet, but that meant trying to stall Vaak while he got the resistance organised.

And there was only one way to do that. "Teka," he said, turning to the young woman, "I need you to co-operate with the Sontarans."