Hey all, back again and starting more things that I may never finish. Brilliant. Go away.

Right. Anyway though, I started this maybe about a year ago for this challenge I heard about called the Nanorimo or November Novel challenge. You basically write a novel in a month but this carried on into for freaking ever so here we go. Going to try to post regularly, maybe every week or two to keep some discipline in my life but classes start up again next Monday and I also start a new job so we'll see how that goes.

My first Doctor Who fic in reality sort of, I started with the 11th Doctor so I have NO IDEA why I decided to write for the 10th but always open to notes on, well, anything.

Thanks so much to everyone whose helped me out! Ghost, Yen, Killer, Nico and Yel for helping me to keep my writing in character and betaing a bunch of my chapters. Also crediting different materials I've referenced such as the Whoology book (found it at Barnes & Noble) and show clips, etc.

Disclaimer like all hell. The only part of this that's mine are the plot and the character Cal Valgus.

Earth: Blackridge Observatory

December 9th, 2414

Far from the lights of the largest human settlement on the planet, snow and silence came with the night to Blackridge Mountain. Even though the sky was far from clear, it was still a beautiful sight to the Observatory's lone occupant. For First Lieutenant Caligo Valgus, the solitude was her peace. Up in the telescope room she stood looking out over the snow covered peak and the gray clouds in the sky. Even with the roof to the observatory closed, the chilled air still seeped in and she made a mental note to do something about the poor insulation later on. While things like the weather were normally trivial concerns to her, she entertained that little part of her mind that thought it was getting a bit ridiculous to have to wear her leather aviator jacket, boots, ear muffs, jeans and gloves while indoors. The young woman took a sip of the Earl Gray tea in her festive, albeit worn, reindeer mug and exhaled a faint cloud of steam.

"Wilhelm, what does the weather look like for the remainder of the evening?"

The steel blue Tech drone whirred to life at the sound of her voice and sat in the corner of the room, motionless for a brief moment.

"Cloudy, the temperature remaining at a steady negative 23 degrees, Lieutenant."

Caligo hummed thoughtfully as the Tech drone reverted back to its standby mode and continued to look out the small window. There's nothing to be done until the sky clears, she mused to herself, I can just keep an eye on the monitors for now, though I honestly don't like the idea of not being able to see the signs of an oncoming surge for myself… Low power satellites just don't have the transmission range to detect it in time… Another sigh, heavier this time and accented with the gesture of running her fingers through her wild bangs, she placed the cup down on a small table nearby and went to check her list of ongoing projects that she could hopefully direct her spare time to. "Everything's too still for my liking right now. Wilhelm, how about we-"

A deafening noise-something completely indescribable to her-resounded through the halls on all levels of the observatory and sent the alarms blaring. She felt like swearing, but the moment was gone in an instant before she picked up an old wooden baseball bat leaning up against the door handle. "I shouldn't think aloud because apparently the universe is still listening…"

"Lieutenant, the alarm was triggered on level two in the main generator room," Wilhelm informed her just before she strode out to investigate.

"Lock everything down. Whoever this is, I don't want them leaving until I find out how they got into this building in the first place."

Whether it was because they had disturbed her first slow evening in months or that they had somehow managed to make it past the observatory entrance without tripping an alarm until now, she wasn't about to let them off the hook.

"Good grief, what crashed into us…?"

A loud thrumming sound filled the air at a skull rattling volume and whether it was coming from the TARDIS or whatever busted up machinery was around him, the Doctor honestly couldn't tell at the moment. Speaking of the machinery, it looked like it had seen better days anyhow. The TARDIS on the other hand…

"Hopefully you're not too banged up…" He patted the frame of the big blue police box fondly when red lights and what sounded like a fog horn blared around him. This was sure to attract attention now that he thought about it. He did a quick sweep of the red tinted room, assessing the damage and danger before he located the alarm system's trigger point. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and after a quick adjustment from it, all was silent and dimly lit once more. First off, he noted the darkness. Probably someplace that wasn't ventured to very often. Cold? Probably a high powered generator that needed to be kept cool, judging by the hum of the machinery and the hinges on the grated floor panels. "Must mean there's a mechanic somewhere around here then. Maybe they could give us a little place to do a system check and see what the damage is."

"Authorized personnel only."

Breath fanned over the back of his neck and something reasonably solid was suddenly barred against his throat. The sudden weight behind him forced him to bend backwards at an uncomfortable angle and he was sure even a Time Lord's spine wasn't made for this. Thank goodness for his respiratory bypass system because it seemed like whoever this was had every intent to choke him to death or maybe just break his back.

"Well hello to you too! You're rather strong…!"

Must've been the wrong thing to say if she was still trying to choke him.

"You can let go, I promise I'm not gonna hurt you okay? Cross my hearts."

It certainly wasn't getting any better. Sometimes these situations made the Doctor wonder if his mouth got him into trouble. The girl must've been excessively small because this angle was really starting to hurt. "I think you're the one who needs to worry about getting hurt. Who are you and how did you get in here."

"The Doctor and I sort of….crashed…Now, could you let go? My back is starting to hurt and what is this thing you've got here? Feels like wood." The Doctor ran his hands over the object that was in fact a wooden baseball bat and tested his strength against his captor's. It really didn't seem like she intended on letting up on the pressure. As much as he didn't want to hurt her, he really needed her to let go. He must've caught her by surprise when he stepped into her and flung her onto his back because she definitely grunted. "Oi, back really hurts now…Could you maybe get off...!"

The girl easily rolled herself off his back and threw him down onto the metal grating with the momentum, taking back the bat as well. "They sent a Doctor? I might be insulted by what they're insinuating." The girl looked more like a woman now that he could actually see her. He also saw her raise the bat over her head, ready to strike and that probably would've hurt a lot if she got in a good swing at him. He quickly pointed his screwdriver at the hinged panel just a step in front of her, the hatch suddenly flying open and hitting her in the knees. She barely caught herself on the edge of the dark, deep looking vent. A blast of cold air hit both of them and the woman glared up at him.

"Get me the hell out of here!"

"Sorry! Sorry! I definitely didn't mean to do that," he yelled back in a panic, grabbing onto her arm and trying his best to pull her back up. "Don't worry, I've got you! Goodness, you're heavy!"

"Shut up and pull me up!"

There was a Princess Bride line on the tip of his tongue, but he figured that it'd better wait until she was safe again. The duo fell backward on the floor, panting and probably extremely relieved to be out of the vent. "You alright…?" The small woman suddenly rolled over and straddled his torso, grabbing the lapels of his trench coat and hoisting him up to meet her glaring black eyes.

"You," she growled dangerously.

"Me...?" He gave her an expectant look as he waited for her to finish her sentence but it seemed like all she could do at the moment was glare at him and pant. In the time they stayed that way he noticed that she actually sat very lightly on his chest (maybe she took that comment about her being heavy to heart?) and her dark hair fluffed over her right eye. Actually, he couldn't see her eye under that mess of hair. There was even a military insignia on the left sleeve of her jacket in silver with a polished black skull in the center.

"Lieutenant. The alarm was shut off from the trigger point. Security drones en route."

The glare on the woman's face suddenly dropped in severity to something more like a displeased scowl. Maybe she was wearing an ear piece? "I'm fine. I've found the intruder," she stated stonily, still looking at him, "He's no threat. Send some repair drones to this location and I'll take care of the security breech after we get this sorted out here." The woman let go of his coat and swiftly got up, even turning her back to him to kick the vent shut and look at the TARDIS.

"So…Lieutenant? Am I on a military base," he asked. The Doctor got back up onto his feet, doing a quick check to see if she'd done any real damage to him and straightened out his coat. The Lieutenant seemed less interested in him now compared to his ship.

"First Lieutenant Caligo Valgus and yes. You've somehow managed to get yourself and this old fashioned…phone box into the Blackridge Observatory post. You don't seem to have knocked a hole anywhere in the building and you can't be strong enough to just walk in here with it," the Lieutenant mumbled. She was more talking to herself than him as she circled the TARDIS slowly with curiosity that practically radiated off of her.

The Doctor couldn't help a small smirk at the curiosity that he often saw in humans. It couldn't hurt to show the old girl off a little. "Not justa phone booth, Lieutenant. This is the Tardis. The most powerful ship in the universe," he said proudly, "and she's mine."

The lieutenant stopped her pacing, still eyeing the TARDIS, and gave what looked to be an appreciative nod. "So your ship is alive then? Well. I don't know how you two got in here, but you're trespassing." Her expression didn't change but her tone wasn't steely like before. She was speaking matter-of-factly because he knew that they weren't actually supposed to be here, wherever here was. "I don't recall ever having run into this type of craft before but it looks like you both found out that the generator was made of tougher stuff than you thought."

The Doctor wasn't quite sure where the conversation was heading but this sounded like as good a welcome as it came when he broke into military bases on accident.

Caligo had no idea what gave her the confidence to not bludgeon someone who had just waltzed into a base with a military grade security system that was the best in the entire city of Pillar tonot do something bad. For some reason, this man just didn't strike her as a threat despite the facts set before her in the last ten minutes. "You said you got lost?"

"Oh, yes actually. You wouldn't happen to know what planet we're on would you? Or the year for that matter?" His smile dropped a little when he saw the odd look she was giving him. She must've thought he sounded crazy. In fact, he did sound a bit crazy to her, but a lot of that came from the fact that he was somehow still breathing while she was trying to choke the life out of him earlier. It felt a lot more likehe wasn't crazy per say, but he sounded that way.

"You're on Earth in an outpost on the eastern mountain range bordering the largest human settlement, Pillar. It's early December in the year 2414. Where exactly are you aiming to go and what does the year have to do with it? You do know that all travel other than non-technology based forms have been prohibited don't you?"

"What? What for?"

More weird looks but what were either of them expecting at this point? Obviously one of them had some 'catching up with the times' to do. "First things first. If your ship is alive and suffered damage from the crash, she needs a doctor. Or rather an engineer in this case," she quipped, directing her attention to her left arm and rolling the sleeve up over what looked to be a very miniature control module strapped onto her forearm.

A little fiddling caused several of the foot-long dome like structures on the ceiling to drop down as drones of some sort. The polished black fiberglass shells matched a set of arms that folded out from them and large circles on what appeared to be their front glowed bright green.

"Let's bring this ship down to the workshop. We can run a diagnostic there and see if there isn't something we can do." The circular lights blinked a few times in response before they went about their assigned task. The lieutenant waved a hand over her shoulder as she started out of the room through a door that he hadn't seen before and the drones followed her out with the Tardis in their claw like grasp.

"Woaw, wait now! Where are you taking my ship!?"

"Workshop. Are you just going to stand there?"

Cheeky, this one, he thought to himself before following. He thought about it a little more and it struck him as odd that he had suddenly just assumed that she was sassing him in that monotone voice of hers, but maybe it had something to do with the way she yelled at him earlier. "Me thinks I've got a real character on my hands here," he mused to himself before catching up to her. "So Lieutenant Valgus. Tell me about this travel ban going on right now. Pretend like I'm an alien from a completely different planet who's never even heard of Earth before."

"I already assumed something of the like."

"What? Is it the clothes?" The Doctor, just a step or two ahead of her, did a little twirl so she could get a good look at the suit and trench coat he was wearing. He thought he looked pretty good in it no matter what time or place he wound up. "Too shady looking? Do I come off as a bad influence to parents?" He leaned in a little closer to her and feigned self-consciousness as he dared to ask, "Does it make me look….fat..?"

That finally made Caligo look his way, brow furrowed as if trying to gauge just how seriously she should take his questions before answering. She had been planning on ignoring him until they'd gotten to the workshop to explain the travel ban since it wasn't more than two floors above the generator room, but then she remembered that the lift ride up would be at least two minutes of either more strange questions or varying degrees of asinine conversation. Awkward silence didn't seem to be much of an option with him, she noticed.

Ignoring everything before the mention of the kind of message his clothes gave off, she got into the large lift with him and the drones carrying his ship with the firm desire to avoid either of the predicted outcomes. "In the last few decades, the planet has become subject to constant and sporadic waves of energy given off by solar flares. It makes using many forms of technology such as vehicles and even medical equipment dangerous because of the possibility that they'll cease function at an inopportune moment."

Brief as her explanation was, the Doctor's need to thoroughly examine the lift and the given information was enough to keep him occupied until they reached the workshop floor. Windows along the polished chrome corridor leading to the actual work area provided an almost scenic view of Pillar from snow covered Blackridge. Caligo suddenly recalled the discussion she had with the architect of the observatory when she requisitioned the addition of her workshop and how he justified the need for so many windows as a tactical advantage.

You're up here all alone. What're you going to do if someone suddenly comes up for something like…a…surprise inspection! Yes, that's it, a surprise inspection! Do you really want to leave your commanding officer out in the snow? Or what if the power goes down in Pillar and they can't contact you? You'd be holed up here and you'd never know a thing like a shut in! The memory sparked just a hint of irritation at the man, something she noticed hadn't quite diminished over the years. Her workshop was supposed to be her private space where she had no other and he had the audacity to actually think she hadn't thought of such situations?

Shaking her head, she turned her attention back toward the Doctor who was still peering out the windows as the drones brought the Tardis inside.

"Seems to be plenty of bright lights and signs on for a city this big that's under a tech restriction. Hard to believe that anything's wrong down there just by looking at it."

"To my knowledge, nothing is wrong in the city at the moment. Pillar's power grid is set to its lowest possible failsafe mode to ensure minimal damage and impact on the people if it goes down for any reason. The idea of that is to encourage people to leave their homes or communities less frequently since they'll still have power and general comforts of living. Less travel means less chance of disasters or emergency situations occurring, at least in theory. The statistics show that this has worked so far. My job now is to improve the solar shields orbiting the planet so that we won't need such extreme measures."

"Right. So that's what was going on up there." He finally followed her inside the workshop, more sterile white and chrome walls and equipment all over the place. "Not much color in here I see…" The room itself was large enough to give him a good amount of exercise just strolling around him and there was a variety of machinery and equipment strewn about the room. "Sort of an organized mess?"

"Not a mess. I know where everything is when I need it and so do my drones and that's all that matters. No one else works in here but us." The big blue police box stood out in the center of the room facing a large computer monitor where all sorts of information was scrolling by on it. Information on the Tardis as he soon realized and that was certainly a reason to be alarmed. It wasn't every day that human technology could identify so much about a Time Lord ship and what made it worse was that he hadn't even seen her or those little drones scan his ship the entire way down here. If the Tardis was in fact damaged, then it was vulnerable.

"Oi. How are you getting all of that data? Is it your drones?"

"Just a basic scan. The drones mostly keep to themselves unless I instruct them otherwise. They just set your ship down on the work pad which also happens to be a scanner… Your ship is alive. I'm not about to do anything that'll make it uncomfortable if it isn't necessary." Caligo had just a very small portion of her attention span on him at this point, the information the scan gave her on the alien craft far more interesting than its pilot currently and she would probably never admit something like this aloud, but the Tardis left her nearly speechless.

The Doctor definitely noticed the look on her face when she saw the data her scanner had picked up from the Tardis. It wasn't really anything of consequence but what made him grin was the doe eyed wonder filled stare she held unintentionally as she tried to make sense of what she was looking at. He'd seen the same volumes of information confuse, discourage and frustrate many others who had tried to comprehend it, maybe even driven them mad. He knew of those who hated nothing more than not understanding something and those whose wonder turned to desire, envy and greed when they finally did. When she finally found something that she could understand, she looked worried and now again he wondered about what she might have found. Curiosity always got the better of him in times like this and a small part of him couldn't help the kick he got from surprising her with his attitude.

"Well…It does look like the flare did something to your navigation system before you got onto the planet. That's an easy fix even on a ship like this, but it's bound to happen again if you leave the atmosphere. Maybe even worse if you're not being careful. If you had your own shield system against this sort of thing then it really wouldn't be a problem." Caligo bit down gently on her lower lip, a habit she had picked up a long time ago but barely ever caught herself doing when she was thinking. I could help them out easily… Installing that shield system would be child's play but it's supposed to be used for emergency situations concerning the planet… "Although, those shields aren't equipped for that scale of work. They really could only shield a ship at best right now," she murmured under her breath.

"Now what is it that you're thinking of doing to my ship?"

Her gaze snapped upward in alarm and the young woman quickly leaned back at the realization that the Doctor was practically hovering over her shoulder while she had been lost in thought.

"A shield system, eh," he asked, finding her spot on the data files screen, "That's not a half bad idea..."

"That's all it is. An idea. This equipment belongs to the Central military engineering corps. I can't give it to you." Caligo's arms crossed over her chest as if she'd given him a deciding answer in an argument that they may or may not have been having. The Doctor, seeing her challenge, shrugged and stuck his hands back into his coat pockets like it didn't bother him in the slightest.

"You're right. Besides, there's no telling if it would work or not and then where would I be?" The Doctor purposely kept his gaze on the screen but he could feel hers intensify.

"I know what you're trying to do," she replied stiffly, "and it won't work. You really must be an alien if you honestly think these shields won't work." Her expression hardly changed but inside she clearly recognized the haughty attitude she had suddenly gained and quickly dialed it back. It didn't do her any good to know what his game was if she couldn't keep herself from playing it. But by the sound of it, he was challenging her abilities as a human engineer and that was something that hadn't happened in years. I'm smarter than this. He's not going to play my ego.

"You're right."

The only indication that she was surprised by him was how many times she blinked-he counted about four-and the drop in her scowl. The barest hint of a smirk tugged at the corners of his lips but he fought it off well enough for the moment. This woman was skeptical but had a curiosity that he liked and he didn't want to scare her off, although something told him that scaring her would take a lot more than smiling like he knew one of her dirty little secrets. "You're smart so I'm not going to try any tricks on you and I am in fact an alien," he said proudly, "So how about we trade? You let me borrow those shields for now so I can get to where I wanna go and I'll take you along on a little…trip!"

"Mhm… Where exactly?"

Skepticism tinged with curiosity. She wanted to know what he was promising her and how he could deliver on it but he could see that impulse of just jumping into the fray with him gleaming in her eyes. The Doctor honestly didn't know how she managed to hide it but she couldn't hide it well enough and he couldn't stop the grin this time. "Wherever you'd like," he answered with the utmost confidence. "There's lots of places to see, alien races and technologies you couldn't even begin to imagine and you're not going to see them by sitting around here on Earth in your chilly little observatory, lieutenant."

Caligo quirked a brow at him, arms crossed firmly and still looking skeptical despite the foreign nagging feeling at the back of her mind urging her to do something risky, act on a mere impulse for once. She did her very best to shove it somewhere in the back of her mind where such a crazy idea belonged, lock it away again with reason and logic. "I won't go as far as entertaining the idea of abandoning my post. I have a job to do and there are people counting on me." Her decision was adamant. She could never find it in herself to turn her back on her appointed duty but she couldn't fend off the feeling that she would always regret turning down such an opportunity. Regret. There's an odd thing…

The Doctor's enthusiasm didn't waver despite what should've sounded like a clear no, but it was easy to tell that even Caligo wasn't entirely convinced by her answer. "Oh well, then I guess it's a good thing my ship isn't just any plain old spaceship. You saw it yourself on your scan." He took half a step closer and gestured toward the text filled screen, his voice dropping to what she could only describe to be akin to the purr of a predator who knew they had their quarry in a favorable position and was doing little more than waiting for her to try to make a break for an opening that was clearly a trap. Three words.

Three simple words was all that he needed and what made matters worse was that she knew what they were. Somehow she just knew and she hated how they simplified the question and the answer. "Talk, and you'll be sorry for it."

Not even the steel in her voice could wipe the grin off his face. Oh yes, the Doctor knew he would win this argument hands down and he honestly doubted that either of them would be very upset when he did. He was standing behind her again and she still refused to budge. Stubborn, something that reminded him of a few choice people and that made the victory seem that much more satisfying. "Aren't you curious?"

He sounds so damn amused, she thought to herself, but he was right. She was curious. Very curious. If there was one thing she could never escape no matter how she tried, it was that damnable curiosity. Caligo had always needed a better half to reign her in… "You're implying that you can simply take me away from my post and bring me back again without anyone noticing…"

"That and a whole lot more and I can tell…" He swept back around into her line of sight, still grinning. "…You want to believe me. It's true. The perks of having your own time machine you know. I can take you anywhere, anytime you like and bring you right back to Blackridge in a heartbeat, give or take a few minutes. So what do you say, lieutenant Valgus?"

"Lieutenant." Wilhelm swooped down between them suddenly, the bright green ring glowing on the front of his shell staring her in the face. "It is against protocol to leave your post without permission from a superior officer and you will be classified as AWOL if you take leave without authorization. The penalty for this is severe." It sounded like a threat in the Time Lord's mind, but he saw the lieutenant give just the barest hint of a smile and place a hand on the shell of the steel blue drone.

"You heard the man, Wilhelm. He's got a time machine and we're supposed to be experts in alien technology. How can I pass up the opportunity to give us an edge on our colleagues? You've got my authorization override code. I don't think I need to ramble it off to you." She turned toward the computer screen again and gestured as if she were grabbing something from it. Wilhelm seemed to regard her for a moment until she turned and thrust the hand that made the grasping gesture toward the Tardis. The image of what the Doctor assumed to be holographic blueprints for the aforementioned shield system suddenly projected itself onto the sides of the police box and Caligo stood in front of him facing her fleet of engineer drones, hands on her hips and standing proud. "What're we waiting for? Let's get to work boys!" The sight of the dispersing drones certainly was impressive and she was definitely proud of her team. "Before, you said you were the doctor," she started, watching the beginnings of construction like she had so many times before. "Doctor who?"

The Doctor's grin returned full force when he heard the question. It was just one of the things he loved to hear when he met new people. "Just the Doctor," he answered as casually as he could manage.

"Just the Doctor?"

"Just the Doctor."

"Well then, Doctor…" Caligo cast a glance upward, her faint smile lingering like a ghost on her lips as she regarded the man and all the promises he had made just a few minutes ago. "Our first trip had better be somewhere amazing because I'm a hard woman to impress."

He hummed thoughtfully at her words. Be careful lieutenant, because that sounded like a challenge.