"So, Doctor! Where to now?" Clara asked. "I'm ready to see something amazing."
"Adventure time!" The Doctor declared. The Doctor fiddled with the controls, throwing the Tardis into the Time Vortex with a sudden jerk. However before he could pull the next lever the Tardis console began flashing Mauve lights. The Doctor froze in his tracks.
"Doctor, what's wrong?" Clara asked startled.
"A distress call, Mauve."
"Mauve?"
"You know what Mauve means. You have to know what Mauve means. Everyone knows what Mauve means!"
"No one's told me."
"Oh...Clara! Mauve is bad. The biggest of bad. The all time never not good! It's like. Traffic lights."
"Traffic lights?"
"Yes. Green means go, Yellow is yield and red is stop. Well Mauve is like a fourth light. It means FOR THE SAKE OF THE UNIVERSE STOP! STOP NOW AS SOON AS YOU SEE THIS LIGHT STOP EVERY ONE STOP DON"T WAIT ANOTHER MOMENT STOP FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP. So Mauve in a distress call would mean...?"
"Help?" Clara suggested.
"More like, 'FOR THE SAKE OF EVERYTHING GOOD PLEASE HELP! STOP NOW AS SOON. HELP US PLEASE. SOS MAY DAY. EVERY ONE WITHIN RANGE PLEASE COME NOW TO HELP US. DON"T WAIT ANOTHER MOMENT HELP FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HELP."
"So it's pretty serious."
The Doctor gave her a telling look.
"Very serious?" Clara asked.
"Mauve is as serious as it gets."
"Oh, well lets go help them."
The Doctor hesitated, his hand resting on a lever. "We could help them later, we can go get tea and scones in the Julogron System," the Doctor said quietly to Clara.
She gave him a look, "Doctor, we can have tea and scones anywhere, you said Mauve was as serious as it gets. Lets go help them out. Let's do some good."
"Of course you're right."
Clara tilted her head slightly to the side and narrowed her eyes, "Was that a test?"
The Doctor pulled the lever and the Tardis materialized into space.
"I feel like that was a test."
"Never mind Clara!" The Doctor pulled monitor around and fiddled with some buttons.
"What are you doing?"
"Being overly cautious."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Being overly cautious, you're never cautious, I didn't know cautious was in your vocabulary." The Doctor looked at Clara, as her face was concerned, with a hint of humor. She pushed the humor out and used her 'serious' voice as emphasis, "Doctor, I'm serious."
"So much serious. Right well cautious because Mauve alert is very serious and perhaps I should work on adding a bit of caution into my life. Occasionally. They could be under attack. This part of space and time it's not unusual, pirates can be involved."
"Yar har fidelidee, do what you want because a pirate is free!"
"No, no, not that. Don't do that. Not Earth's media merriment pirates with the parrots, the pillaging and rape and killing sort. Only in space in spaceships. That sort. Now shush. I'm trying to hail them." Clara rolled her eyes at his terminology. She scooted closer when the monitor went from black to static to a poorly lit background. Sparks flew out in the background and a figure dodged passed them and came up the screen.
"Hullo?!" The figure made it to the front and her face came into view. Her blonde messy hair seemed pale green in the poor lighting of the room. She couldn't have been older than eighteen.
"Hello, the Doctor and Clara here, we got your distress call, everything okay?"
"Did you say you're a doctor? A medic? Please tell me you're a medic."
Clara gave the Doctor a look and he deliberately ignored her. "Yes, ish. Report your status, I'll see how we can help."
"Um I'm Raksha, this is star ship Akasam Sedo. It's bad, low on power, we lost the crew to badger pirates, severe damage to the engines and life support. We need a medic!"
"Did she just say badger pirates?" Clara asked.
"You managed to escape that's good. We'll come aboard and help."
"I don't know how you're going to dock, that's damaged too."
"We have our ways. See you soon." The Doctor pushed away the screen. He moved around the console and landed her.
"Alright, both shoes on let's go!" the Doctor declared.
"Badger pirates?" Clara repeated, but the Doctor didn't answer as he ran to the door. As they stepped onto the Akasam Sedo Clara jumped as sparks showered above her head. The ship groaned and tilted and Mauve lights dimly lit the corridor. There were black streaks on the ground and Clara covered her mouth as she saw an arm.
"Doctor," she whispered, trying not to gag or cry.
"I know. Stay close to me."
They inched slowly down the hall until the Doctor found a control panel. He quickly accessed it, just to double check Raksha's story. She'd told the truth. He found a recording of the badger pirates forcing entry and disabling the docking station.
"They really are badgers?" Clara asked again.
"Humans and their experimentation. They wanted to save the badgers but they'd gone extinct, they saved some DNA and for some reason thought they should make badger slash human hybrids. They were used as servants and slaves...well still are actually, but many of them escaped, will escape and become pirates. I've met them before. I've met some not so bad ones too. They just need a bit of love." The Doctor sighed as he witnessed the pirates slay the crew and salvage fuel, parts, food and resources.
"AAAAARGH!"
The Doctor and Clara jumped back as a figure ran towards the other end of the hall, he had a makeshift spear in his hands. The Doctor pulled Clara back towards the Tardis and then forced her hands up.
"It's okay, just us. The Doctor and Clara, we aren't armed! Here to help!"
As the figure approached them, he slowed down and the Doctor and Clara could see he was just a boy, though tall for his age.
"How'd you get here? The docking station is broken, what's that box?"
"How about you put down the spear and we can sort this out. We aren't pirates, I swear. We got the distress call."
The boy looked unsure. When the Doctor tried to take a step forward, the boy threateningly jerked it towards the Doctor. The Doctor backed away. "Sorry, what did you say your name was?"
"For the love of all that's holy, Hashiim put that down!" The face of Raksha came into view. "They're here to help us!" She looked up at the Doctor and Clara. "Please, Ereid needs you!" Raksha took the Doctor's hand and pulled him down the hallway, Clara followed him and Hashiim took to the rear.
"I saw what happened on the control panel," the Doctor told Raksha. "They left this ship for dead. I didn't see you nor Hashiim in it, who are you?"
"I'll explain after you help Ereid." Raksha promised.
After turning the next corner they came to an halt in front of a door labeled sickbay. Raksha moved slowly in, followed by the Doctor, Clara and Hashiim. Most of the beds had suffered some damage, but all were empty except for one. On that bed laid a seven year old boy. He was covered in sweat and crying. His left leg was a bloodied mess. Clara covered her mouth.
"Raksha?" the boy whimpered.
She went to him and held his hand, tears escaping her own eyes. "I found someone who will help us."
"No, it won't help. Why'd you let them? It hurts!" The boy cried and shivered before promptly passing out.
"It's going to be okay." Raksha looked up at the Doctor. "Please help him."
"Right!" The Doctor moved into action. He searched the medical supplies and found what he needed to stabilize the boy. He found an oxygen tank and connected it to a face mask the appropriate size for Ereid. He gave it to Raksha to place over Ereid's mouth and nose. Then the Doctor lifted away the makeshift bandages to inspect the bloody the wound. He winced when he saw a piece of the bone was sticking out. With clean hands and gloves the Doctor gently tested to see if the bone would go back in. It did so without resistance. The Doctor felt Ereid's leg to see if the bones were in a good position. He went to the scanners, but sparks flew when he tried to activate it. The Doctor hesitated, then decided to clean and re bandage the wound and finally put a temporary splint on the leg.
"Alright, Ereid is going to be okay. But I'm afraid to say your ship is beyond repair."
"I know," Raksha answered.
"How many of you are left?"
"Just us."
"What?"
"Me, Ereid and Hashiim. They're my brothers our Mum was the Captain. She had us hide. The ship shook so much that one of the shelves fell onto Ereid and crushed his leg...We are all that's left." Raksha looked away, tears streaming down her face."
"Okay, it's okay, c'mon, you and your brothers are coming with us, we'll get you set up and somewhere safe. I'll get Ereid, Raksha you carry the oxygen. Clara you take the lead. And Hashiim, where's Hashiim?"
"I'm here!" He called from the door way. He had one hand in the air and the other still clutched the spear.
"Hashiim, put down the spear and no stabbing. We're all good friends now."
"Okay." He threw it away.
The Doctor carefully picked up Ereid and Raksha followed closely with the oxygen. Clara led the way back to the Tardis. She pulled out her key and opened the door. A high pitched whistle whipped passed the Doctor's ear, nearly grazing him. A zipping sound followed and hit the Tardis console. It pinged around for a moment before latching on. The Doctor pulled back. It was some sort of grappling hook with a wire that stretched through the control room, out the Tardis door and down the corridor.
"What?!" His voice became instant fury and the Cloister bell rang out in warning. A second grappling hook and wire shot out from the darkness, this time catching the Doctor's cheek before latching onto something in the Tardis. The Doctor stumbled back and winced. He freed a hand to touch the gash on his right cheek, blood oozed as the gash was very deep. "Into the Tardis!" the Doctor shouted. He stood up and tried to move forward, but Ereid's head jerked back as his oxygen mask was pulled tight. The Doctor looked back. Raksha had put down the tank. "What are you doing? Let's go, into the Tardis!"
"I'm sorry. I didn't have a choice. None of us did. Please, help us."
"It's not too late, we can still escape, into the Tardis, into my ship."
"They have Hashiim."
The Doctor looked around and Hashiim was gone. He growled angrily and pulled off the oxygen mask. He turned to go back into the Tardis, but someone had come up behind him, someone much bigger and taller than him. Before the Doctor could make a move that someone grabbed his head and forced a chloroform drenched rag to his mouth and nose. The Doctor couldn't fight while holding onto Ereid. He quickly stopped his breathing and activated his secondary respiratory bypass. He tried to jerk his head back but the alien who held him tightly was much stronger. Raksha promptly took Ereid from the Doctor's arms. The Doctor pleaded with her through his eyes, but she wouldn't look at him. She only held her little brother and wept.
But now the Doctor's arms were free to fight. His right hand tried to wrench away the alien's hand and cloth while the other pulled out the Sonic Screwdriver. He ramped up the setting and let it flare out a blaring noise. The alien's grip relaxed ever so slightly. Slightly enough for the Doctor to wrench himself free. He tumbled and made it into the Tardis.
"Ahah!" he declared with a cough. He raced around the console to where the grappling hooks and caught on and pointed his screwdriver at them. As he tried to get them to release their terrible hold on his ship he noticed Clara, or rather a lack of Clara. He did a quick look around and finally found her on the floor. Her shirt stained red and blood pooled onto the floor of his beloved ship.
"No!" he shouted. He forced himself to focus on the hooks, the Tardis doors couldn't shut without them gone, and they couldn't leave. Just as managed to get one hook off another loud pinging came into the control room, followed by another and another. The Doctor counted twelve more grappling hooks and wires before something hit him in the back of the head and he fell down into darkness.