AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This Prologue to the story is completely unrelated to the story but it seemed like a small starter to the story which kind of expanded. So anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this first part to The God Complex!

Prologue

Screams filled the control room as the red 'warning' lights flashed against the metallic walls and bounced about the space. The Captain slammed against the control console and opened a communications channel with Monty, the head engineer, down below in the bowels of the ship. The young black man's face appeared on the monitor; he was sweating profusely.

"What's going on down there?" The Captain bellowed at the computer controls; glaring at the engineer of his ship.

"It's the engines sir!" Monty cried as sparks flew from the nearest control panel and singed his side. "The energon crystals have exploded and torn up the engines! There is no way the ship can fly and that's even if we could get the thrusters online! All escape pods are powerless, emergency teleport circuits were fried in a black lash after the energon crystals exploded, life support can only hold up for another hour and I doubt we have enough power reserves to send out an emergency signal."

"So what you're saying is," The Captain began, feeling a tear come to his eye. "We're done for…"

"Yes Captain," Monty replied.

The ship shook violently as the vessel was pulled in by the gravity from the planet below. The ship contained four engineers, three scientists, two security officers, a pilot and a co-pilot and the Captain; all were going to be dead in a few minutes. The Captain turned to the two pilots at the front of the bridge whose efforts to get the ship out of orbit of the planet were useless. "Don't bother chaps, I'm afraid we're not going to make it, the Pirates have won."

The monitor furthest from the cockpit crew came up and The Captain staggered towards it; the Pirates appeared onscreen. "Hello Captain of the Fallen Eagle!" he waved; his skin was grey and scaly and his eyes shined red, his teeth were green with fungi and his four arms were stick thin. "We see that your ship is doomed to fall to the planet below; unless you give us some credits and we'll save you from your impending doom!" A voice spoke from the behind the figure on the screen and then the Captain of the opposite ship spoke again, "You have five seconds to decide."

The Captain's head spun; could he pay a ransom for the life of his crew? It was a ridiculous decision in such a short amount of time. He couldn't decide, loose his position as Captain by paying a ransom or kill himself and his crew out of pride.

"Excuse me," a posh and eloquent voice said through the speakers built into the control room. "But I recommend you don't pay that ransom."

"And why not?" asked the Alien Captain on the monitor; grimacing and showing even more of his cracked teeth.

"Because that would be a waste of good money," the voice replied.

"But they'll die!" the grey skinned creature barked back.

"No they won't," the man replied calmly.

"Captain!" the pilot called. "The scanner's picking up something."

"Probably a meteor," the Captain replied.

"No it's not sir," the co-pilot informed him. "It's a box and it's moving at an impossible speed."

"What?" the Captain asked; completely ignoring the pirate.

The ship shook and suddenly stopped completely, "We've stopped," the Pilot gasped.

"How can we have stopped?" the Captain barked as he made his way to the front of the deck and looked out of the reinforced glass viewing screen to see a blue box spinning in space.

"That would have to be me," the posh voice chuckled. "I'm pretty sure you can see my blue box just up ahead."

"That's you?" the Captain squinted to see it closer. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"I'm The Doctor and I just want to help; no fee, no bargain and no ulterior move in my mind," the voice replied. "Now let's get you out of orbit where I can get you lot fix up."

The ship shuddered again and they began to notice that the blue box, while spinning, was pulling them away from the planet and out into space. The Captain smiled to his two pilots as they moved from the large orb.

"How dare you!" The Pirate screamed as the bodiless voice. "I will kill you both for this outrage."

"I'm afraid you won't," the voice replied and The Captain could tell the owner of the velvety tones was smiling. "Because currently I'm using a shield to drain the power from your ship."

"What?" the Pirate screamed as he saw that the lights around him began to faze in and out.

The Captain's ship, once out of the nearby planet's orbit, stopped moving and the blue box began to glow and disappear. The Captain looked at his pilot, both completely confused, and then turned around as a strange noise filled the bridge. Lights moved about at the back of his ship and suddenly a blue box began appear. The noise faded and a blue phone box appeared in its entirety.

"What the hell?" The Captain stepped towards the box. The door opened and a man stepped out. He adjusted his blue bowtie and then his equally blue tuxedo; before stroking his perfectly groomed grey beard.

"Hello gentlemen, I'm The Doctor, now where's the rest of your crew," he smirked. He was of average height and muscle weight and he looked old but he had clearly aged well. His teeth were a brilliant white as he smiled at all of them; all the members of the cockpit just stared at him. He closed the box's door, "Well come on gentlemen you barely have an hour's life support left!"

"The crew's all around the ship," The Captain told him. "Power's down so we can't open the teleport links or the elevators."

"Do you have any access shafts?" The Time Lord enquired; producing his small crème and blue topped sonic screwdriver, he moved it about in his hand feeling the slight cracks in the casing.

"Yes just over there," the Captain pointed to the corner of the ship's main deck. The Doctor walked over there and aimed his sonic device at the screws which held the metal panel, which covered the access shaft, in place. "You're not going through them are you?"

"Well how else can I get to the crew," The Doctor retorted as he pulled the panel free from the wall and put the sonic in between his teeth. "See you in a minute," he replied through gritted teeth; he hauled himself through the tight metal tunnel.


Monty dodged a fountain of sparks and tried to find some sort of control panel which he could use to assess the damage further. But every place he turned there was fire and sparks and smoke. The team of engineers around him tried to cover all the damage but it was too much; they didn't have the right supplies for the job, it was doomed!

A strange sound vibrated through the metal hull, Monty turned to see the panel covering the access shaft clatter to the floor and a man crawled through. He jumped to his feet and dusted himself off before sprinting into the chaos. "Where's the Head Engineer!" the stranger shouted.

"Who are you?" Monty ordered as the man made his way towards him.

"I'm The Doctor and right now you need to get your ship stabilised," the Time Lord in blue replied. "Going by the readings I took from my ship, your engine will drain all the power from the vessel in an attempt to fully restart itself but this in turn will cause the engine to explode and take this ship and the planet below with it!"

"But we don't have the supplies to fix it," Monty told him.

"Well lucky you have me then," The Doctor remarked as he pulled out a small tube which he then pointed at the flames on one of the panels. The heat suddenly disappeared and the fire died. "Get the controls fixed," he ordered an engineer while he moved to the next fire.

Monty watched as The Doctor extinguished the flames that had overrun his engine room while issuing commands to his technicians; he would have been offended but in that situation he was too busy trying to save the ship.

As the last flame and spark went out The Doctor stored the tube away in his jacket and found the large engine at the centre. The design of it was basic, shine photon beams through a supercharged crystal and absorbed the enhanced light that poured off it; a supersized version of a solar panel. But right then the crystal had shattered and fried half the circuits throughout the ship; a powerful energy source but also highly dangerous if broken.

The Time Lord opened a panel at the bottom and assessed the damage to the internal components, "Okay so it works on a circuit and only one faulty part." He peered closer to mess of silicon and recognised the part. "I don't have one of these but the cell here only needs replacing…" he began to search his pockets for the required part when Monty came over.

"Excuse me but what are you doing?"

"Well your engine isn't that badly damaged you just need to replace a part inside it, fix the holding bay's shielding for the power source and then replace the shattered crystal and it will all be good," The Doctor informed him. He produced the required item, "Now please stand back dear fellow while I fix your ship."

The Doctor began to replace the item with a whir of the sonic screwdriver; Monty glared at him, "Yes my ship!"

The Doctor finished what he was doing and looked up, "Do I sense a feeling of animosity here?" He rose off the ground, covered the inner working of the engine with the metal panel, and moved around to the crystal holding bay.

"Well you have just come down to my deck and took control of my engineers," Monty snapped at the Time Lord.

"Well why shouldn't I?" The Doctor asked as he opened the chamber up and scanned it with his eyes. "You weren't coping on your own but I could so I took charge."

The Time Lord began to reach inside and removed part of the lining to reveal a mesh of multi-coloured wires. Monty glared at him with a furious rage, "How dare you!"

"Oh shut up," The Doctor sighed as he switched two wires. "I don't have time for idiots with large mouths; I have lives to save." The Time Lord powered up the container and smiled at his own handiwork. "Now for the crystal."

"And where are you going to get one of those?" Monty mocked; his crew were too busy working to notice his childishness.

"From my pocket," the alien smirked as he took a green crystal from his jacket. "Well actually I got it from my T.A.R.D.I.S and put it in my jacket before I left; having a jacket with pockets bigger on the inside is great." He made sure the claw which held the crystal was firmly balanced and sat properly before placing the crystal on the top and sealing the chamber.

The Doctor walked to the control panel attached to the engine and looked about, the team of engineers had finished their work, so he activated the main engine and felt its buzz. "It's online," The Doctor grinned. He turned his head to another engineer, "How's it looking down your end."

"All up and running," the engineer smiled; constantly checking the readings. "We're gaining power by the minute."

The Doctor moved from the control panel, "Good now try and get power to the elevators."

"What about you?" a blonde female engineer asked.

The Doctor put his sonic screwdriver between his teeth and got on his knees to crawl into the access shaft, he spoke with a mumble through the sonic device, "Rescue the rest of the crew."


The Captain stared at the monitors as they began to activate, "What's happening?"

"They've fixed the engines and the powers stabilising," The Pilot told him. "But the thrusters of the ship are broken and the life support is damaged and failing; even if they manage to get the power back up to at least 45 percent we won't survive."

"So you're saying that the engines are fixed but we still can't move and in less than…" he checked his watch, "Thirty two minutes; we'll die."

"Yes Captain," the Pilot replied. "Let's hope this Doctor has got something good up his sleeve."

"Me too," The Captain sighed; collapsing into his commanding chair. "Me too…"


The Doctor undid the metal screws and crawled from the tunnel and out into the open. The three scientists were trying to open the doors to the elevator tunnel since the control panel next to it had come to life.

"Hello," The Doctor said to the group. They spun around with terrified looks on their faces. "Don't be alarmed. Please could you crawl into this access shaft quickly and climb upwards towards the main deck where the crew are being assembled."

The scientists stared at him with a puzzled expression. "Who are you?"

"I don't have time for this," The Doctor replied. "Just get moving!"

The three scholars slowly made their way towards the access shaft and began to crawl through. The Doctor wondered what the ship was doing to have such an extensive laboratory; but he pushed the thought aside and focused on saving its members. He followed them through the metal tunnel beginning to feel slight claustrophobic.

As they crawled along the shaft and found the way towards the cross centre where there lay a ladder running up and down the decks of the space vessel. The team of scientists made their way towards the ladder as The Doctor followed behind.

"Up the ladder and wait for me at the main deck," The Doctor ordered. As they began to climb; a tremor shook the whole ship. The scientists nearly fell off the ladder as they climbed; The Doctor stumbled and looked about, "What was that?"

The Doctor guessed that the security officers were just opposite the laboratory so he turned to another tunnel and dove into it. He rapidly scrabbled down the metallic shaft and arrived at the end access panel. With fumbling hands he undid the metal plate and slid into the main security quarters.

Before he could say 'Hello' blasters were aimed and primed at his face. "Who are you?" barked a tall auburn male; his jaw was square and his shoulders were broad.

"I'm The Doctor and I'm here to rescue you."

"From what?"

"From whatever that just made your ship shake," The Doctor replied.

"That's the engine," his male, blonde, broad shouldered colleague said.

"No I fixed the engine but something caused a tremor within the ship," The Doctor said soothingly. "Now please let me stand and make a communication with your Captain; I have to find out what's going on here."

"Let him go boys," The Captain appeared on a nearby monitor; he had a grim expression plastered onto his face.

"Yes sir," they both replied in unison before powering down their weapons and stepping back.

"What's going on Captain?" The Time Lord adjusted his T.A.R.D.I.S blue bow tie.

"It's the Pirates Doctor," the Captain replied. "Their ships back online and they're firing missiles straight at us and all power we have is being diverted to the shields which are already crumbling."

The Doctor's mind whirred with ideas and tactics but he came upon the perfect one, "I may not be the best incarnation for all out warfare but I do have some skills." He placed his hands onto a metallic keyboard and rapidly tapped in data. "I'm sending you a code which you need to put into your shields; it will serve as a distraction for a few minutes while I get up to the main deck." He sent the code through and stepped back.

"Will do Doctor," the Captain replied.

"Now chaps," The Time Lord walked towards the access shaft while looking at the two men. "In here and we'll go up to the main deck."

Reluctantly, the two men followed the blue suited man through the tunnel and up the ladder which had stopped shaking for some reason and out onto the main deck. The control room was full of the crew and the T.A.R.D.I.S; so they had to struggle to get to the front.

"They've stopped firing," the Co-Pilot remarked.

"That's because of the cloaking shield I put around the ship," The Doctor said with a slight swagger. "The code, it turned your shield into a cloaking device which means they think we've disappeared. Now I'm going to make a deal with them."

"What deal?" the Captain asked as The Doctor reopened the communication channel between the ship and the pirates.

"They live or they die," The Doctor told him with a grim tone of voice. "Not my favourite choice but they're the ones that will make it."

The screen lit up and The Doctor stared at them coldly. The grey scaled pirate glared at the Time Lord, "Come to surrender?"

"No," The Doctor replied, not even making a joke out of it. "I'm giving you a choice. One is to turn and leave or the second is that I blow your ships up like birthday balloon. I recommend you decide one way but it's not called freewill for nothing."

The pirate snorted, "Are you threatening me? An old Earth man? Threatening me! Do you know who I am?"

"No but the real question is do you know who I am?" The Doctor retorted. "I'm not human and I'm not weak or feeble much to what you obviously think. I've battled Daleks and Cybermen and Sontarons and Gods and Devils and compared to them you are a child. So I'll give you the chance again; leave or die."

"I'll stay and blow you up first!" the Pirate sneered. "Because obviously you're still in the same place but with a cloaking field around you!"

"Oh have you seen through my clever disguise?" The Doctor asked with sarcasm. "Well I'd better get to work stopping you then shouldn't I?"

"And how will you do that? Doctor?"

"I'm glad you asked," The Doctor smiled producing his sonic screwdriver. "You see this device used to work on sonic wavelengths alone but I then adapted it to use radio waves to control computers and other electronic devices." He began to adjust the settings. "Now a ship is controlled by computers and circuits and signals and things I can't explain right now and my device here can control all those things." He extended an access cable from the nearest wall and plugged it into the sonic screwdriver. "If I plug this into the ship and use its satellites to enhance the signal then with a flick of a switch," he pointed to the single control on the tube like device, "I can blow up your entire ship."

The Pirate finally caught up, "You wouldn't."

"Just as much as you would," The Doctor replied. "And we all know the answer to that." The Doctor steadied his finger on the button. "I'm sorry, I'm very sorry but I tried to save you from yourselves but you didn't want to play ball. Now it's time for the games to end."

He pressed the button and the ship across from them exploded. A ball of fire expanded and moved out until the lack of oxygen in space snuffed it out. They died in silence and that's how The Doctor liked it; it made him feel less guilty in the end.

The crew watched the man unhook and pocket the device before producing a small box with a few controls on the side. He tossed it to The Captain and said, "Attach this to your transmitter and it will boost the signal for light years; you'll have someone pick you up soon."

And with that he turned on the balls of his feet and walked sombrely towards his T.A.R.D.I.S. The Captain handed the box to Monty, hoping he'd put it to good use, and walked after the weary wanderer. "Doctor?"

The Time Lord used his key to open the door and pushed it open a fraction, "Yes."

"Thank you," the Captain replied.

"No thank you necessary," The Doctor smiled weakly. "Now I must be off before I have to blow up something else." With those final words he entered the box and closed the door.

The crew stared as the air in the cabin whipped their faces and the blue box began to fade in and out. With its strange groan and wheeze; the T.A.R.D.I.S and The Doctor disappeared from the ship completely.