Title: The Battle for Gallifrey
Rating:K+/T
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, the BBC does. Anything you recognise, I don't own it. If I did, I highly doubt I would be sitting here writing this.
A/N: Heh, I just had to have Jack in this fic. There's so many possibilities there for him, so yeah! Enjoy! ;)
Chapter 1:
The Doctor chuckled, leaping up from his reclined position on the captain's chair to Rose's side.
"And if you pressed that, Rose, you would change the calibration of the vortex disruptor, and send us to untimely deaths," he informed Rose as Jack chuckled from the sidelines. Rose pulled a face as he guided her hand to the correct button.
"I don't think I'm ever gonna get this…" she sighed. The Doctor squeezed her hand comfortingly.
"'S ok. It took me about half a century to get to grips with piloting her, didn't it old girl?" he turned to address the central column with a smile. Rose and Jack exchanged glances and grinned at each other, stifling their laughter.
"So you wanna set a destination for us, eh?" the Doctor said, raising an eyebrow as Rose giggled quietly. She nodded. He gestured to a certain area of the control panel before stepping back and stuffing his hands in his pockets
"This one?" he nodded, smiling as her tongue poked from the corner of her mouth as she concentrated. "…then… you turn it this way and that sets the… erm… the date?" he nodded. Rose continued to mutter to herself, trying to decide which lever, switch or dial to manipulate next.
"Doctor, I can't tell where or when I'm going. It's all in funny letters," she mock–complained, tugging on his sleeve like a small child. He rolled his eyes, pulling an indignant face.
"It's not funny letters! Anyway, as long as you're using the right dials it doesn't matter if you can't read it or not. It'll just make it more fun if we dunno where we're going!" she grinned, and proceeded to twist the dials.
"Set," she said proudly, stepping back. The Doctor grinned.
"Right then," he dropped the device back to its nook and rubbed his hands together. "The start–up sequence. You use these switches, and this pump, and these dials, and then this lever here– what?" he stopped half–way through gesturing to nearly every switch, dial and lever visible, a confused frown on his face.
"I don't think I can do it all by myself, Doctor!" Rose laughed.
"All right I'll give you a hand," he sighed mock–irritably, moving round to the opposite side of the console, and started to call out instructions to her.
A few moments later the central column started to move and the usual rasping vworp sounded throughout the console room. The aqua glow intensified, and the TARDIS started to rock.
The Doctor chuckled, grinning at his two companions. He winked at Rose, who grinned in return, a pleased expression on her flushed face. He rested his hands on the console, content to watch his companions as they waited out the journey. He was about to speak when the TARDIS gave a particularly violent jerk. All three of them nearly lost their balance.
"Er, probably best if we hold on–" the Doctor started to say over the TARDIS's engines as the time ship gave another jerk. He frowned, checking that Jack and Rose were holding onto something stable before gingerly trying to make his way to the console monitor. His frown deepened as, when he eventually reached it, the display flickered and wavered, the symbols flickering across it erratically.
"Everything ok, Doc?" Jack called, concern on his face as the TARDIS threw them even harder. The Doctor didn't reply, just ran a hand through his hair distractedly, groaning as several lights started flashing mauve and red. Rose looked worried.
"Doctor– did I do something wr–?" he shook his head, trying to scramble round to flick different switches.
"No– ohh no, don't do that!" he groaned, holding on grimly as the TARDIS shuddered more violently. The lights dimmed and the console started beeping warningly, twice the amount of lights flashing.
"Doc– need a hand?" Jack cried, gingerly letting go of his railing to stumble unsteadily to the Doctor's side.
"Malfunction procedure 213!" the Doctor called, desperately trying to calm his ship. Jack nodded, face grim. The Doctor started to type frantically into the display monitor, face taut with anxiety.
From her precarious stance by the captain's chair, Rose watched and bit her lip as the two men worked furiously. She winced as a deafening screech sounded, and as the ship shuddered more violently. She could feel the railings in her death–grip vibrating and the grilles beneath her feet shuddering from the force of the TARDIS's throes. She winced again as the Doctor cried out and as Jack swore, and as yet more painfully loud noises were emitted from the console. She glanced up, shocked to see sparks jumping from several crevices and steam– or smoke– starting to billow in copious amounts from under the monitor. The lights flickered again, on, off, on, then for the longest time off.
"Doc, I can't see what's happening!" Jack cried, trying to keep his balance as he was forced to let go of the console. He glanced across to see the Doctor's face lit briefly by sparks. He stumbled back to the Doctor's side, losing his footing and colliding with the Doctor.
With one final shuddering jerk, that by the sounds of it knocked the two men off of their feet, the TARDIS stopped. There was silence, broken only by the sounds of steam being let off from the console, and the sharp sounds of electrical wires crackling. The console room was still in complete darkness.
There was a groan. "Jack; I told you, not without buying me a drink first!" the Doctor said, sounding disapproving. Rose sighed in relief, then grimaced as she flexed her stiff hands and arms as she shifted tentatively from her position. "Rose, you all right?" she nodded, then realised they couldn't see her.
"Yeah, I'm ok. Jack?" there was another groan.
"'M ok… hit my head on the console…" there was the sound of rustling clothes, the sound of footsteps on the grilles, a third groan, then the Doctor's slight chuckle.
"…and proceeded to squash me," he completed. The sonic screwdriver flicked on, a gentle hum accompanying the bright blue light. The Doctor helped Jack to his feet and guided him across to Rose, gazing at both of them worriedly before turning to view the damage to his ship.
"What's happened to you, hmm?" he asked softly, peering sadly at the monitor and control panels. There was a forlorn beep, and the display screen flickered weakly into life, symbols blurred and shaking, its pale light barely lighting his face. His brow furrowed as he tried to pick out the diagnosis the TARDIS had given him, rubbing a hand across the section of metal in front of him sympathetically.
After a moment he turned back to them, sighing. "Right. The TARDIS says that it's breathable out there. She needs to repair herself, have to put her in stasis so we've gotta get out of here,"
"What happened?" Jack asked
"Overload of Vortex," he sighed. Rose looked slightly confused. "Like an electrical power surge that blows your fuses, trips your switches. She had a Vortex–surge, and it gave her a bit of a jolt. Must'a stored too much Rift energy when we picked you up Jack, suppose it acted as a conductor…You ok?" he added. Jack nodded, grinning cheekily at him in the weak light emitted by the screwdriver.
"Y' can't keep me down for long, don't worry Doc," the Doctor rolled his eyes in reply.
"Well, let's go and see where we are then shall we?" he turned, still holding the sonic screwdriver like a torch. Rose and Jack followed him carefully through the darkness until they reached the doors.
"Oh," the Doctor sounded slightly disappointed as he peered out, blinking in the brighter light until his eyes adjusted. "We appear to be… in a tunnel. How many times have we landed in a tunnel? How many times have we had any sort of fun in a tunnel?" he muttered to himself, stepping out and looking around. They followed him.
The tunnel was pretty ordinary, not much different from other tunnels he had had the luck to chance upon in the past. The walls were made of some sort of dusky orange rock, a slight dull gleam to it giving it a similar appearance to marble. The floor was well worn. The tunnel was about 5 feet wide and roughly 7 feet high, with candles placed at even intervals. Two more tunnels led away from them, going in opposite directions. There was nothing that gave him an indication of where or when they were; actually there was nothing interesting at all, no distinguishing marks, writing or doors leading to other places, no mysterious noises or odd smells. Nothing that filled him with excitement, nothing to suggest they were in a dungeon, or a prison, or some sort of laboratory.
He turned to face them, hands in his pockets, pulling a face.
"Which way d'you wanna go? Might–" he stopped suddenly, watching them closely. Both Rose and Jack were staring at some point behind him, eyes wide and eyebrows raised. He sighed, nodding sagely.
"There's something behind me isn't there?" they nodded silently, and he turned.
A patrol of humanoid aliens, all of them open mouthed with shock, stared at them and the TARDIS. There was silence. The aliens wore gold robes, with sashes around their waists that held menacing rapier–thin blades, with gleaming black armour plates covering torso, back and shoulders. Typical that the only interesting thing would be behind him.
"Hello there– er– don't mind us we're just…" the Doctor slowed and trailed into silence as the soldier in front, who had gold lines on his armour and who seemed to be the patrol leader, drew his blade and advanced slowly. His patrol followed his lead.
"Attack!" the Doctor raised his eyebrows, taking a step back towards Rose and Jack. He glanced around beside him, eyes lighting upon two possible escape routes.
"Run!" he yelled, grabbing Rose's hand as the patrol gave chase. Jack laughed and took hold of Rose's other hand as they disappeared down the nearest adjoining tunnel; just like the good old days.
So what do ya think? If this sounds ok, then the next chapter should be up soon, Sunday at the very latest. Please review and let me know, reviews are love, as they say! Oh, and please be nice:D