Disclaimer: The characters of Stargate belong to MGM and those of Doctor Who to BBC Wales.
The Achilles Stratagem
AU: The Doctor and Clara end on a derelict ship named USS Achilles at the end of the 24th century. They begin investigating the reason for its current predicament and find some interesting answers.
Chapter 1
The shaking was stronger than ever before. Clara held to dear old life with two hands the metallic bar while the Doctor danced around the controls of the central column and continued speaking softly to the ship. He navigated this technological jungle that was still Terra incognita for her.
"We are nearly there." He said as he pressed one more of the odd things that occupied the controls.
He had attempted before to show her how the TARDIS worked but it was way too complicated and she gave up trying.
The sudden jolt made both hit the floor. The Doctor was quickly on his feet his nose into the monitor.
"Ha!" He exclaimed loudly and joyfully.
"What?" Clara asked as she stood up.
"A black hole intercepted our path and now we are on our way to…" The Doctor paused as his face took on a new expression that depicted impossibility. Clara had seen that expression only once before. It excited the Doctor a great deal and now it was no different.
"What?" She repeated in attempt to get more information.
The Doctor did not reply. Instead he danced some more around the controls – checking and rechecking the data received on the screens. His face continued to say that's impossible but the more he thought of it the more excited he continued becoming.
There was another jolt and they were both again on the floor. The Doctor jumped to his feet and steered the TARDIS mumbling under breath. Clara sought to find a safer place to hold but sadly there weren't many such in the main control room. Unfortunately with all the shaking going upstairs was simply out of the question.
The shaking of the TARDIS suddenly came to a halt. The Doctor looked at Clara and bolted to the front door.
"Wow! Would you look at that?" He said with his irresistible teasing voice making Clara wonder what he was seeing.
Clara reached the door – the Doctor had already left – and took a peek. The sight outside was definitely different and yet somehow familiar.
The TARDIS had landed in a large grey room. The familiarity in it was two-winged crafts with missiles on each wing. Each of the crafts had a cockpit for two pilots – one in front and one behind.
The Doctor hovered already around one of the crafts with his trusted tool – the sonic screwdriver. This marvelous little thing seemed to open almost anything (except wood as the Doctor kept complaining, every time. Clara had learnt to ignore it).
The cockpit window opened and the Doctor sat in the craft. He quickly activated the controls and the craft came to life. Its engines roared with deafening sound and Clara held her hands to cover her ears. She wanted to tell the Doctor to dial it down but it was obvious he would not hear her so, Clara wandered around.
She was almost certain they were inside a hangar bay of a big naval ship. She did remember the massive aircraft carriers with planes and other crafts but she made just a few steps and realized that opposite her was not the blue ocean but the black one. The ship was in space so possibly it was a space ship.
She wondered how they had air as it seemed there was nothing between her and the stars. It seemed but since they did have air there was some protection – possibly a field like the one around the TARDIS.
Clara looked at the Doctor who had already left the craft and stood before a door at the end of the hangar bay. It seemed the sonic had trouble opening the massive doubled door. This prompted him to leave his trusted tool in his pocket and seek another way to open the door. It did not happen often but from time to time it did.
There was one panel just next to the door on the right at mid human height. The Doctor pressed some of the buttons but since nothing happened he sought to see what's behind it – wires, obviously. He took them out and bared the live wire then connected it to the other one. There was a spark and the door clicked open. The Doctor applied some pressure and pushed it open.
"Doctor, wait…" Clara said but as always the Doctor bolted forwards and Clara had no chance in catching up. This happened often these days. He would rush on and leave her behind. Of course she still found it interesting being with him otherwise she would have stayed home. But it was impossible to say no to such adventure (all of space and time, the entire universe at any given moment).
She ventured through the door and found herself in a corridor of the same grey metallic color as the hangar bay. There were some frames in both directions possibly other doors to rooms or closets, or storages. She wondered where the Doctor went but the buzzing sound soon gave her the right direction (not right just the – well you know).
The buzzing came from the left and so she followed the sound. The corridor curved and she found the Doctor once more in a tough spot trying to unlock a door. The door was smaller than most doors around though still human height.
Clara noticed the Doctor was ecstatic at the challenge. She decided not to ask this time what and why and just wait.
The Doctor apparently acknowledged her presence and said. "It has an interesting lock. It is definitely not a standard generic password."
"Oh," Clara exclaimed softly. "What is it then?"
"I think it is a genetic lock."
"A, what now?"
"It is a lock that requires a specific gene."
"Can you bypass it?"
"I don't think so but…" He paused at mid sentence realizing something. He grabbed her hand and placed it at the lock. The door slid open. "You will do. Now let's see…"
Behind the door there was nothing and it was kind of disappointing. The buzzing screwdriver opened a panel with a screen. The Doctor touched the screen and again nothing. Of course he did not think twice before taking Clara's hand and placed it on the screen that promptly came to life.
"Brilliant," The Doctor exclaimed.
Clara just looked questioningly.
"Most controls, I presume would open upon contact with the specific gene and so it makes this ship's defenses and secrets untouchable and unreachable for anyone without it." The Doctor explained patiently. "Brilliant defense mechanism as logically you can see I can't open anything…"
"It works with humans and not Time Lords." Clara concluded and the Doctor nodded. "Interesting,"
"Or any other race, just humans," The Doctor added. "Brilliant as I said,"
"So what does this screen do?" Clara asked encouraged.
"I'm not sure yet and…" The Doctor again paused. He slapped himself on the forehead and then using Clara's hand touched a point on the screen.
The door closed and a strange light passed from bottom to top. The door then opened and the Doctor took a peek outside. There was a big smile on his face.
"The screen shows the quick ways."
"Quick ways?"
"It is a teleport unit, Clara. The points on the screen point to the different areas where one can go on the ship. It is fast and efficient way to move around a ship. Most ships have elevators but this one has brilliant design."
"Who built it?"
"Humans, Clara,"
"That is obvious at this point, Doctor. I meant who and when."
"I don't know, yet." The Doctor replied. "Most materials here suggest early to mid twenty-first century but honestly I have never seen anything like it." And he smiled big time. He offered a hand and Clara took it. They ran down the new corridor.
To be continued...
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