'I don't know.' replied the Doctor, pausing momentarily in thought. 'What was the base set up for? Why Saros 5?' asked the Doctor.
Napier was beginning to relax a little as he lowered his fire-arm. 'The Professor, Dr. Phillips had discovered that, of the seven planets orbiting Saros, this the fifth, was rich in minerals.'
'Most planets are,' said the Doctor. 'Go on.'
'Well, Phillips found that, not only was Saros 5 rich in your usual minerals, but it was also rich in Taranium.'
'Taranium,' whispered the Doctor, 'the rarest and most sought after mineral in the known Universe.'
'But who would want to do this?' asked Jezak, 'Who would go to all this trouble of putting a species on a planet like this only to rid it of us?'
'Good question,' said the Doctor.
'A lot of questions and not enough answers,' said Napier who continued to point his fire-arm at the Doctor, 'thou you seem pretty well informed, Doctor.'
The Doctor observed Napier as he casually walked about the communications room. 'What of Uranus?'
'Uranus' resources ran out years ago,' snapped Napier, 'Look, Doctor, what's your involvement in all of this?'
'My involvement? I've told you, Commander, I was just passing through.'
Both Napier and Jezak's com-links crackled into life. The voices that came across were very incoherent, but were just about recognisable as that of Malikyan and Lindley.
'Malikyan! Lindley! What's happening?' called Napier into him com-link. His reply was greeted with static.
'They're in trouble, Commander!' shouted Jezak.
'I know that!'
'Then do something!'
The Doctor moved over to Napier's side and asked, 'Where are they?'
'They were checking the airlocks.'
'The airlocks!' The Doctor declared, 'Come on!' and began to make his way towards the door. Napier grabbed his arm which the Doctor instantly pulled free. He gave him a scornful look and said: 'If you want to see them alive I suggest we help them.'
Napier looked at Jezak, who nodded in response.
'Come on, follow me.' and with that Napier led the Doctor and Jezak out into the corridor towards the airlock doors.
~~~
Valla and Lodge were still trying to find Ace, when they too heard the screaming.
'My God, what was that?' declared Lodge.
'Possibly what we've been looking for.'
'But...how? We've only just come from that sector.'
'Probably doubled back,' suggested Valla, 'Perhaps when we passed the accommodation block...come on.'
Valla moved on ahead, Lodge however was reluctant to go on when there came yet another scream from down the corridor. 'Lodge, move it!' shouted Valla.
'I can't,' he whispered, 'we don't know what we're up against.' He was afraid.
'Two intruders: a man and a girl,' Valla moved over to Lodge and grabbed his arm, forcing him to follow, 'Come on, we're hardly facing alien creatures...'
Lodge screamed as they moved forward. He pulled himself free from Valla, who wasn't sure as to what was happening.
'Lodge!'
'Look!' shouted Lodge and indicated up ahead of them both moving down the corridor towards them: several creatures, all different in height but equally furiousness, made their way towards them. It didn't take long for Valla to take control of the situation, she loaded her lazer-rifle and began to open fire at them. The bolts of energy had very little effect at first. They were knocked to the ground by the shear force as the lazer-fire hit their shell-like bodies.
Behind the creatures, the Doctor, Napier and Dr.Jezak had found the bodies of Malikyan and Lindley, both had been mutilated and were now lying in a pool of their own blood - a creature lay dead too, one of Lindley's successful hits from her lazer.
There was no point in stopping to examined the bodies as it was all too clear that they were dead.
'Come on, we'd better help the others.' said the Doctor and indicated to Napier to continue and show him in which direction the other party had gone.
As they began to move off, Jezak screamed as a large talon claw came from out of the shadows wrapped itself around her neck and began to drag her away. She fought for all she could but it was to no avail, the creature was just too strong for her.
The Doctor and Napier turned instinctively to help her, but Napier found it hard to set a sight on his target without hitting Jezak: 'I can't get a fix!' shouted Napier above the roar of the creature.
'Aim below it's jaw, at its neck!' shouted the Doctor, in return.
Napier took his aim and fired several shots. The creature roared in pain dropping the lifeless form of Jezak to the ground. Napier continued his onslaught until the creature finally fell to the ground at which point the Doctor grabbed the body of Jezak, dragged it towards them and safety, but it was too late - Jezak was dead.
'No, no, no.' growled the Doctor.
'Damn,' said Napier and moved away from the Doctor and Jezak, realisation finally came, the Doctor was telling the truth. 'I'm sorry,' he said softly and meant it.
'It's too late for that, Commander,' sneered the Doctor and headed off in the direction of the other creatures, 'Come on,' he called back, 'we've got work to do.'
Ace too had heard all the commotion in the corridors, her running had now become a cautious stalk as she made her way towards the sounds of gun fire up ahead of her. As she turned the corner she saw Valla and Lodge doing all they could to bring the creatures down.
'A can of Nirto-9 should stop that lot,' she thought but she realise that she didn't have her ruck-sack with her. 'Shit!' she declared and began to run back towards the living quarters of the crew.
As she turned the corner Ace ran straight into the arms of Zaran. 'Quick, those creatures, they're attacking the others, you've got to help!' shouted Ace, trying her best to coax Zaran to follow, but he refused to move.
Ace noticed the cold stare he was giving her and then noticed the familiar black boots she had seen earlier in one of the rooms.
'You're Zaran,' she declared, 'You're responsible for all of this!'
'How very observant of you my dear,' he raised his lazer-pistol at Ace who instinctively stepped back. 'Looking for this are we?' he asked and threw the ruck-sack at Ace's feet.
She cautiously picked it up. 'Who are you working for?'
'You'll see, soon enough.' said Zaran and pushing her forward ahead of him, 'You're my ticket out of here, now move it!'
Valla and Lodge continued to fire all they had at the creatures. Lodge was becoming increasingly worried as the power level in his weapon was decreasing rather rapidly. 'Valla, I can't take much more of this!' he shouted.
'Hang on in there, Lodge. I'll radio for help.' Valla continued to fire and managed to remove her com-link from her side belt. As she did so the familiar voice of Napier sieved through the sound of static.
'We're on our way, Valla! Hold on in there!' and then the com-link went dead.
The Doctor and Napier were now feet away from the creatures, Napier instantly opened fire at the creatures which confused them at first. Napier's shooting was improving as he brought another of the Armarytes down with his first shot.
'Well done, Commander!' declared the Doctor, trying to encourage Napier as best he could. He could see Valla and Lodge crouched down on the other side of the creatures, but he became quite concerned at not being able to see Ace.
'Napier, your com-link.'
Napier handed the radio to the Doctor who tried his best to operate it. The sound of static quickly cleared as Valla's voice came through.