Chapter Eighteen
As Davros approached the newly constructed holding cell, he surveyed the prisoners inside. As he looked from face to face, he was confused. Dalek Jast had almost bragged about the way he had captured the Doctor. But the Doctor was not among the prisoners. There were a few humans inside that he hadn't captured before, but the Doctor's face was not among them.
Inside the cell, the Doctor was holding Sarah's limp hand hoping to convey some small amount of comfort. John Koenig leaned over his shoulder and whispered, "Doctor, we have company."
The Doctor looked up and saw Davros seated in his mobile Dalek throne. But when his eyes met the homicidal leader, it wasn't one of recognition from Davros. The Doctor wondered if there were ways to use this to his advantage. Looking up at the Alphans, he winked at them. He stood and yelled out, "What do you want with us?"
"You have no rights here human and soon I will have the others of your kind here on Skaro." Davros bragged while he tried to make sense of Dalek Jast's mistake in his mind. Even though a few were dressed differently, the Doctor wasn't amongst the prisoners.
"You're wrong. The Alphans will never come here willingly." the Doctor replied, still trying to assess the situation.
"I have spoken to the Commander himself not long ago. As soon as they are able they will travel here in one of their ships." Davros boasted, proud of the way he'd been able to manipulate the Alphans.
John Koenig exchanged a quick look with the Doctor, Victor and Alan. Alan whispered, "Maya."
The Doctor gave a small smile to the Commander. The Alphans weren't as inexperienced as he feared. "Don't let him hear your voice." the Doctor whispered back.
John Koenig merely gave a small nod in acknowledgement. The Doctor wanted to take advantage of this one on one with Davros but was interrupted by one of the few remaining Kaleds. He was carrying a large tray that appeared to have some sort of bread and water on it.
"I beg your forgiveness Davros." Brextin almost stuttered. His head was bowed, in what he hoped Davros would take as a sign of respect and not one of guilt and contempt.
"You have no authority to be in this section. Explain! Explain!" Davros yelled.
"I'm sorry Sir but I was on my way to the laboratory when I saw the Dalek drone carrying this tray. He was walking repeatedly into the wall. I was attempting to fix it when one of the Daleks came up to me and ordered me to bring this to the prisoners. Would you like me to go back and attempt repairs to the drone?" Brextin asked Davros and looked up to meet Davros' one mechanical eye. He prayed Davros could not read the deceit in his words. True, he had seen the Dalek drone carrying the tray and after the use of his homemade disruptor the Dalek drone had been walking into the wall. He'd been working on his device since the Dalek takeover, in case he ever needed to use it himself. He had coded it to the correct frequency to not only throw the Dalek drones off, but it also contained the door security codes as well as codes to turn off the security cells forcefield. It was cruel to the poor drone but Brextin decided the poor Kaled's life was over already, he was only a shell so there was no real harm done. After using it, he'd carefully placed it in the center of the tray under the bread. Also true was the fact a Dalek had spoken to him. He'd almost been caught when the Dalek had come up behind him.
Davros' mind was still trying to work out how Dalek Jast could have mistaken the Alphans for the Doctor so he didn't notice the scientist's nervousness. "No, it isn't necessary. I will order one of the Daleks to exterminate it." his gravelly voice stated. Turning his chair around to address the Daleks guarding the cell he said, "Open the force field so that this tray can be placed with the prisoners." Then turning to Brextin he added, "Put it just inside the entry once the forcefield has been lowered."
"Yes Sir." Brextin answered and turned to the opening awaiting the Daleks lowering of the force field. Without drawing undue attention to himself, he met the eyes of the man that had spoken. He gave a small quick nod of his head to the tray. The man gave a small nod back.
The Doctor decided that for once silence actually was golden. He didn't recognize this particular Kaled but it was clear he wanted to help and that was good enough for him.
As the force field was lowered the Daleks screamed as one, "You will stand back! You will not move or you will be exterminated! Stand back! Stand back! Stand back!"
Brextin carefully placed the tray just inside the doorway and backed away, not daring to exchange another look with any of the prisoners.
"Return to your work." Davros ordered as the Daleks brought the force field back up in the prisoners' cell.
"Yes Sir." Brextin said as he turned and walked away. He couldn't stop a small smile from crossing his face. "Phase one complete." he said to himself quietly once he was far enough away from the cell. He went to the next section of the bunker which was adjacent his section, bioenvironmental. Earlier today he'd extracted a pint of his blood and set the canister next to some rather volatile chemicals. He'd also placed one of his old uniforms nearby. Once he entered the lab, he checked all the security cameras. No sign of any Daleks in the section. He moved a cabinet in the back of the room slightly revealing an old ductwork opening. He had explored it earlier today and found that it met up with the Dalek nursery as well as a connecting set of ductwork that led to the old cavern. He'd heard there were things living there beyond belief but he also knew for a fact that there were things living in the bunker that were beyond belief. He decided he'd rather take his chances out there.
"Time for phase two." Brextin said quietly. He made one more quick check of the security cameras. "Still clear." He quickly punched in a series of codes into the computer that would take the cameras offline for about fifteen minutes, twenty if he were lucky. Then he cautiously mixed the potent cocktail that would cause a massive explosion in the lab. Once he added the last chemical he knew he had about thirty seconds before it would explode sending the container of blood and bits of his uniform all over the lab. Looking back at the file cabinet, he sighed. He could do this, he decided as he poured the last chemical into the large vial. More rapidly than he thought possible, he moved through the lab and was in the ductwork and then carefully pulled the file cabinet back into place. He had travelled a good thirty feet when he not only heard but felt the explosion rock the bunker.
Just up ahead was the Dalek nursery. He quietly removed the grating that was under a table. He carefully climbed out and came up behind Thonton who was staring at the closed door. He jumped when Brextin tapped his shoulder. "Shhhh!" Brextin cautioned. "We have to go now!" he said while staring intently at his friend.
"Did you hear that?" Thonton asked before adding, "How did you get in here?" He had decided long ago, back when they were just children that one day Brextin would be the death of him.
"I don't have time to explain and neither do you. They'll find evidence that I died in the explosion. I would have set the same thing up for you but there wasn't any way I could get the chemicals through the ductwork safely." Brextin explained breathily.
"What? No it doesn't matter. I'm not going anywhere. The Daleks will kill us both." Thonton was now in a panic as he physically pushed Brextin away from him.
"This is our one and only chance to get away Thonton!" He knew his friend would be scared but he didn't think he'd be this opposed to escaping the Daleks. Grabbing Thonton by the arm, he jerked him toward the vent.
"They'll have seen us by now on the security cameras!" Thonton protested as he pointed to the always on camera as he was being pulled.
"I've taken them down. We don't have time for this! Let's go!" Brextin crouched down and climbed in the vent under the table. If Thonton was too scared to go, so be it. He was not going to pass up this opportunity for freedom. Behind him he could hear Thonton enter the vent and then quietly putting the grill back in place. He looked back at Thonton and whispered, "Phase three, escape." He gave his friend a quick smile before climbing to what he hoped was freedom.
Bettan eyed her small band of soldiers. They were all so dependent on her. She wondered if any of them knew that she was as frightened of their current situation and objectives as they must be. "This," Bettan began by holding the device Jembra had found up so everyone could see it, "must be a communication device. Otherwise it would look like this." She held up a melted Alphan stun gun. "The Daleks would have never left a working weapon for someone to find. Therefor this wasn't identified by the Daleks as a weapon. But it was important enough for the Alphans to leave it so that the Daleks wouldn't have possession of it." Turning it over in her hand, Bettan wasn't exactly sure how to activate it. The decision on what to press first was decided when she accidentally slid a button on the side. The screen sprang to life, first with a sine wave and then a design appeared on the screen with the word Commlock in the center of it. Bettan looked at the others in surprise.
On Moonbase Alpha, Tony was doing his best to stay alert. He'd been at his post in Command Center for twenty hours solid and the stress of waiting was starting to take its toll. He knew the others were drawing straws to see who the unlucky Alphan would be who approached him when someone needed authorization for an order. But he couldn't help it. It had been hours since he'd heard from the fictitious King Sorvad and he knew in his heart that wasn't a good sign. He caught movement from the corner of his eye and looked at Maya. She was staring at something on her screen with rapt attention. "Maya?"
"Tony, the Commander's commlock has been activated." Her fingers began flying across the buttons on her terminal.
At that Helena jumped up from her desk. "Can we talk to him?" If she could have, Helena would have jumped through the commlock. Thinking the worst for hours on end, she was very nearly at a breaking point.
Maya frowned and explained, "The commlock has been activated. But no one is attempting communication." She adjusted a few dials but no matter what she did, that was all the information that was available to her at this point.
"I think we should risk it. I think we should attempt to call him. Maya can you give us any shielding?" Tony asked with newfound enthusiasm as the adrenalin coursed through him.
"I can't shield it. But I may be able to scramble it so that anyone listening without a commlock won't be able to understand it." Maya answered as her fingers once again flew across the keys. After she finished she looked up at Tony and Helena, "That's all I can do. Are you sure you want to do this? If the Commander…"
"We could be risking his life Tony." Helena pushed a swathe of blonde hair from her eyes and protested.
"I'm sorry Helena but there's a chance that John is in trouble." Tony said as he squeezed Helena's arm.
Maya said, "I agree, if the Commander's activated the commlock, someone may have stopped him and we may be putting him in more danger. Or he may not be in possession of the commlock now. We can go on guessing a hundred scenarios and not hit on the right one. But it's been more hours than I want to think about since we've heard from anybody, so I think we should risk it."
Helena looked from Tony to Maya, each giving her their most sympathetic look. They understood what she was feeling, of that she was sure. "You're right. We have to know." Helena steeled herself inside for the worst and prayed for the best.
"All right Maya." Tony said as he leaned further over Maya's desk.
"Moonbase Alpha calling Commander Koenig. Moonbase Alpha calling Commander Koenig. Commander come in." Maya called.