The Doctor Under Siege
Part 1: Atmospheric Dysfunction
"Ah that's more like it!" the Doctor grinned wickedly, as the TARDIS spun through space the familiar whirr churn whirr of the machine filling their ears, their hands grappling the control panel for support.
"Where are we going now?" Martha shrieked with laughter as the Doctor gave her a smile.
"It's a surpri –"
The words were hardly out of his mouth when the TARDIS jerked precariously sending the both of them flying back.
"What the hell just happened?" Martha yelled over the noise before the TARDIS flipped and she was summersaulting backwards again. The Doctor clenched his teeth as he held onto the control panel to keep himself upright. Spinning a crank and slamming his palm down over a button the TARDIS finally leveled out, their bumpy ride coming to an end. As soon as the whirring of the engines halted to be replaced by silence, steam shot from beneath the control panel. Martha and the Doctor both coughed, waving the hot air away from their faces as the Doctor got to his feet and stroked the central transparent tube stretching up to the ceiling.
"Oh no, no, no, no, no," the Doctor complained, rushing about to the other side of the control panel as Martha got to her feet.
"What happened? Doctor, where are we?" she demanded, but received no response as the Doctor mumbled incomprehensible scientific formulas under his breath, pulling on cranks and levers to alleviate the steam. At last he looked up, running his hands through his tangled hair.
"I don't know where we are," he muttered, looking just as confused as she. "Somehow the TARDIS got knocked off course and damaged. We were thrown through an opposite vortex in time ending up…" he trailed off and pulled up a computer screen with the familiar Gallifreyan shapes and symbols floating across it. "In a completely different galaxy," the Doctor whispered in silent awe. "A galaxy that has…no," he laughed.
"What? Doctor, what is it?" Martha asked, coming to his side as the Doctor pointed to the screen in excitement before pulling back and doing a little twirl on the spot. "Oh brilliant, Martha! We're not even in the Milky Way Galaxy anymore!" he whooped.
"And that's good…how?" Martha let out a nervous chuckle. The Doctor pulled his glasses out of his pocket and slipped them on his face as he squinted at the screen, tapping buttons and the like, the wild smile never leaving his face.
"This is impossible and yet…here it is! A galaxy far away from the Milky Way! Oh we're not in Kansas anymore, Martha Jones!"
"Just tell me what's going on," Martha complained, placing her hands on her hips. The Doctor removed his glasses, turning to stare her down.
"This galaxy is filled with oxygen."
(Insert Doctor Who Theme Song Here)
"Oxygen?" Martha gasped. "That's not possible! That can't be possible!"
"But how could the TARDIS have gotten hit and with what…?" the Doctor was mumbling as he skidded about the control room, tugging at wires and important pieces of machinery.
"But there's no air in space!"
"…And where did she get hit? Oh girl, you've had a rough ride if that's what your readings are…"
"How can one galaxy have air and the other none?" Martha continued to question, trying to wrap her head around this logic as the Doctor finally looked up from his work.
"I don't know, but it doesn't seem right. I'm going to have to let the TARDIS rest for now, let her engines cool down before I can work on them and get her calibrated again. Then once she's all fixed up we can travel to the edge of this galaxy to figure out what's going on," he explained.
"And what are we supposed to do while we wait for her to cool off?" Martha inquired. The Doctor passed her a silly grin – it was the sort of grin he gave her every time they journeyed to a new location. It a was a grin that spoke volumes, showing all of the Doctor's teeth, all his happiness, excitement, wonder poured into one simple look. He lived to breathe in star dust from every sector of the universe.
"I never thought you'd be one to ask such a ridiculous question," he responded as Martha's own enthusiasm burst forward as she ran for the TARDIS' double doors and yanked them open expecting to see…well, she wasn't quite sure what she was expecting to see, but it definitely was not what was before her.
"Boxes?" she arched an eyebrow, staring around at the enormous stacked crates held down by sturdy ropes tied to the floor. "We're in a room full of boxes," she said as the Doctor poked his head out behind her.
"We must be in some sort of cargo bay aboard a ship, but the question is…what sort of ship are we dealing with?" he lowered his voice before stepping out behind her and locking the double doors so no one would be able to get into the TARDIS that was unwanted. "Well, let's have a look, shall we?" the Doctor waved Martha forward as they set off through the maze of boxes. It took them little time to find the exit – an enormous steel door pulled open by a metal handle that one would pull to the right. As they exited the cargo room they found themselves in a cramped dimly lit hallway. Rooms were scattered here and there along with pipes lining the wall all the way to the end. Barrels and extra crates cluttered up the sides as they moved through the halls searching for a way out.
"We must be on the lower decks," the Doctor spoke up.
"Doctor?"
"So there should be a service stairwell around here…"
"Doctor?"
"And that should take us –"
"Doctor!"
"What?" the Doctor turned as Martha stood with one foot on the first step.
"Is this what you're looking for?" she smirked.
"Yeah, that'd be it," the Doctor scratched his neck as they headed up the short flight of stairs to another corridor that looked roughly the same as the one below. "The ships too quiet," the Doctor frowned, turning around in a slow circle. "I wonder where everyone is –"
"Freeze!"
Both Martha and the Doctor whirled around to face a burly alien man holding a loaded antique looking musket at their hearts.
"No way, what sort of artillery design is that? It looks like 18th century material, but obviously you've decked it out with some lasers, haven't you?" the Doctor squinted as he and Martha both raised their hands above their heads.
"Who are you two? Stowaways? Pirates?"
"No!" Martha began.
"Nope, we're not –"
"Definitely not pirates."
"Why would you assume we were pirates?" The two spoke over each other.
"Then who are you, and how did you get aboard?" the man demanded. "Speak!"
"Easy there," the Doctor warned, his eyes trained on the gun barrel. "We're not here to cause any trouble. We're just a couple of…er…ship inspectors," the Doctor stammered, slowly reaching into his pocket to draw out his flipbook. He flipped it open revealing the blank paper. The man stared at it, frowning as his gun lowered just an inch.
"Why wasn't the rest of the crew informed of this? Does our captain know?" he asked.
"Oh the Captain…we don't want to bother the captain. You see, we're part of the – uh – intergalactic –"
"Empire," Martha substituted on a whim.
"Yes, you're exactly right, Martha. We're part of the Empire, and usually we inspect ships while they're in flight. No need to worry, Sir, everything is as it should be. Just pretend we're not here," the Doctor waved his hand as he and Martha made to move past him when the man raised his gun once more causing them to back up.
"Let me see your papers again," he ordered. The Doctor held up the blank flipbook. The man glared at the two of them. "I've never heard of ship inspectors before. Your credentials are real, but just in case I'll be taking you to the captain to clear this up a bit, now move. Don't think I won't hesitate to shoot if you make any threatening attempt," the man ordered, forcing them forward in front of him, their hands above their heads. Both the Doctor and Martha tried desperately to reason with him, but it was no use. They were marched up two more levels before finally rising from the dark underbelly of the ship and to the top. What the two saw took their breath away, despite the amount of oxygen.
They were in space, on board an enormous 18th century flying galleon with no sign of protection from the starry backdrop. Masts towered above their heads, creaking in the wind, and it was then that the Doctor realized most of the crew must have retired to bed. The ship wasn't dead, but resting.
"How are we breathing?" Martha choked out, her eyes straining to capture everything, her mind begging her to make use of logic in a world that made use of none.
"The galaxy is full of air. Atmospheric dysfunction if you ask me," the Doctor whispered as they reached the helm and the man at the wheel helped escort them into the captain's stateroom just beyond after a short period of questioning. They rapped upon the door several times, loud enough to get the captain's attention.
"What do you think they're going to do?" Martha breathed. The Doctor didn't reply, just kept his hands raised as at last a voice bade them entrance. The helmsman and the other sailor escorted Martha and the Doctor into the room at gunpoint. The room was very spacious with decorative maps and cabinets covering the expanse, a set of beautiful open windows stretching all across the far wall just behind an ornate desk so one had a brilliant view of the universe.
The captain himself was located behind said desk and he looked up when his crew forced the Doctor and Martha forward. The Doctor surveyed the captain's appearance, taking in his blue uniform, tight white pants and the emblem stitched under his right shoulder. He was young, he couldn't have been any older than Martha. He had shocking blue eyes and cropped brown hair. A small square patch of his brown hair was also upon his chin. When he looked up, his eyes immediately found the Doctor's.
"What's the meaning of this, Emsworth?" the captain demanded, getting to his feet.
"I found these two in the underbelly of the ship, Sir. Said they were inspectors. They said they didn't want to bother you, but I thought I'd take them to you just in case they were a couple of stowaways," Emsworth replied, keeping his gun trained on them.
"Inspectors?" the captain frowned, clasping his hands behind his back. "I doubt it."
"No, it's true, he's got his credentials, look!" Martha pleaded as the Doctor pulled out his blank flipbook for the third time and held it out. The Captain studied it a moment before the Doctor slipped it silently back in his pocket where his hands remained, fingering his sonic screwdriver just out of sight.
"I've never, in any of my years of training, heard of a ship inspector, and if so I would be informed of this before I set sail. You're definitely a couple of stowaways if I've ever seen any," the captain crossed his arms, staring them down.
"Alright, yep, so we're two stowaways, but to be fair we only needed to use your ship for a little while to make transit somewhere else, we weren't going to interfere, and we're not here to sabotage your ship," the Doctor answered.
"Where were you making transit to? This ship is part of a patrol squadron. We only dock to make repairs or deliver cargo to territories that need it," the captain said, giving them both suspicious looks.
"We didn't know where this ship was headed," Martha argued.
"Yeah, we're like nomads, always hopping from one territory to another," the Doctor smiled.
"Yes, we're just travelers!"
The captain narrowed his eyes further before he nodded.
"Just as a precaution, I'd like to have my men pat you down so as to make sure you're not concealing any weapons," the Captain announced. "I'm not taking any chances."
The Doctor and Martha both agreed and remained still as the men patted them down, finding nothing of importance…save for one thing.
"What…is this?" the man named Emsworth asked as he removed the sonic screwdriver from the Doctor's pocket.
"Ah, haven't any of you ever seen one of these?" the Doctor grinned, looking around at the others, but all he received were blank stares. The captain took it from Emsworth and held it up in the dim lighting to examine it. "Man, and I thought everyone was doing the sonic thing back in the Milky Way," the Doctor muttered.
"Sonic?" the captain questioned, turning it about in his hands, staring at the contraption as if trying to understand its purpose.
"Don't worry, it's just a sonic screwdriver. Completely harmless, but useful when you want to get out of a tight spot. Give it a go if you'd like. Point it at something locked and press the button, see what it does," he ordered. The Captain looked hesitant, but did as he was told, pointing it at his locked cabinet across the room and hearing the lock unclick.
"Wow, I've never heard of a screwdriver being sonic before," the Captain raised his eyebrows, handing it back to the Doctor.
"Well, new technology, limited edition. Not well known, yet," the Doctor lied, tucking it back into his coat pocket.
"I see. I'm Captain Jim Hawkins of the RLS Superior," The Captain continued, introducing himself.
"I'm Martha Jones," Martha extended her hand and Hawkins gave it a firm shake when he turned toward Martha's friend.
"Oh, I'm the Doctor," he smiled, rocking on the balls of his feet. Hawkins stared at the man with an odd look.
"The Doctor of…what, exactly?" he pressed.
"Just the Doctor."
"Doctor…?"
"Just the Doctor," the Doctor repeated. Hawkins seemed like he wanted to interrogate him further, but it was late and he was exhausted
"Alright, well, Miss Jones, Doctor, if you're going to stay aboard my ship you're going to have to work for it. Are you a medical officer, Doctor?"
"Eh, I guess you could say that," the Doctor replied, running a hand through his hair.
"You and Miss Jones can help keep this ship in top condition while we sail which means you'll be appointed duties similar to those of a cabin boy. I'll have Mr. Emsworth here show you both to the bunkhouse. Get your sleep, because you will start early tomorrow morning. It is a crime to stowaway on a vessel, but for the time being I'll let this one slide. I'll drop you two off when we reach the nearest port," the captain explained.
"Thank you, Captain," Martha said graciously as Mr. Emsworth and the helmsman turned to lead them out.
"But if the two of you give me any reason to suspect you might hurt my crew or this ship, I'll not hesitate to turn you in," Hawkins added as the Doctor and Martha turned back to face him. The Doctor wore the familiar expression that told Martha he was thinking before they left the room.
"But, Doctor, what about the TARDIS?" Martha whispered as Emsworth showed them to the bunkhouse full of other sleeping spacers strung up in hammocks.
"The TARDIS will be fine. I'll have her fixed up before Captain Hawkins can bring us to the nearest planet. But in the meantime we're going to have to blend in," the Doctor replied in a hushed tone.
"And how do you propose we do that while making sure the Captain doesn't find the TARDIS?" Martha inquired. Taking off his brown trench coat, the Doctor tossed it into an empty hammock nearby before turning back to her with another cheeky smile.
"We're going to be sailors, Martha, real sailors on board an 18th century vessel!"
A/N: Okay, well, this just sort of happened. I've been really sick the past three days and so I've just been sitting on my couch with a tissue box and medicine watching back to back episodes of Doctor Who. And I just absolutely love the 10th Doctor! He's so AWESOME!
As for the part about the theme song: I imagine this like an actual episode – a long episode haha, but an episode nonetheless.
Well, anyway this just sort of happened, because I started combining my favorite two space shows in the whole universe: Treasure Planet and Doctor Who!
This is just me playing around a bit with the concept. I honestly don't know if I'll continue this, but what the heck? And as the 10th Doctor would say: Allons-y!