At the co-ordinates 12.67.92 by 3 from galactic zero centre, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It was an empty area of space, close to the atmosphere of a hazardous gaseous planet, high in the deadly and, in the correct conditions, poisonous gases of sulphur dioxide and methane. To a human scientist or astronomer, this would be a fascinating sight and historical discovery. The burning bright surface of a rock-based planet incapable or withstanding life shining in its orbit around its closest star, Areibus V, in a majesty unseen by the human eye before. It would be a breakthrough for scientist everywhere to learn more about the true bindings of the universe compared to their primitive level 5 laws of physics (of which they believe to be the most accurate and comprehendible version of the truth when in reality it was not even the SLIGHTEST glimmer of what the universe has to hold). The harsh truth was that this planet was only one in gazillions, a sight any trade-runner in the market would pass by and dump their rubbish at every day in their century long travels and think nothing more of it. An intergalactic Rubbish-dump. The universe was reaching its peak of activity, with the majority of level 8 species now developing faster-than-light travel and experiencing all the other life-forms of the universe in the flesh, not just in superstitions and myths.
Unfortunately, very soon a war would begin. A war who's collateral damage would destroy and kill all of this new life. A war that would bring an end to the "old universe". A war that would spread out between not just time and space, but across the boundaries that divide one universe from another. Creatures from the darkest depths of the alternative multi-verses would come together to fight in a war that should have been nothing more than a small squabble between two disagreeing species and should have had no more affect than a petite so called "world war" on the small, insignificant planet known as Sol III.
The dominant species on this planet should have gone through the same process as every other Level 5 colony in this day and age. It would be invaded by traders or merchants, or harvested for its food and water supplies. They would stand no chance of resistance, and would not be remembered as anything more than a small parasite. Because of this war, however, (and their distance from it), they would last longer than any of the trade-runners of Areibus V, and start a bountiful empire lasting longer than any before or after it. They would see planets such as the one not far from 12.67.92 by 3 from galactic zero centre daily and conquer every level 5 planet in their path, going from one of the least important species in the universe to the greatest species in the universe in a turn of events that should never of happened. In the turn of events once known as the last great time war.
This war was still to come, however, and the universe continued its daily life of space travels and invasion. Only now would 12.67.92 by 3 from galactic zero centre begin to look suspicious to any observer, as a gigantic metal craft began to enter the zone. It's chrome casing glistened in both the light from the deadly planet and its sun, the reflections bouncing out in many directions. Smaller parts of the vessels outer casing burst away from the shell as the overpowering motion of the ship zoomed forwards out of control.
Inside the ship, red lights flashed and alarm bells rang out. Electronical voices called out warning messages as the ships crew of 10 panicked, trying to find a way to fix the damaged accelerator. Not one person was manning the correct controls, but instead radiating the effect of fear and the loss of hope. A male, no older than 30 years of age with a brushed, smooth
face had stopped running, slid down to a sitting position by the rusting, metal wall and almost completely faded out of the world. Inside his head, the alarms were fading, and silence began. Nothing in the ship mattered to him now, all he cared about was the cherished thought of his family on Meredusa III. His little boy running in the glistening, sweet sun-yellow grass, sun kissed and rippling in the breezy wind. The grass bristled around his sons feet as he ran, the sweet-as-honey image of the fields hazing in the heat of Areibus V. The Captain of the ship, a female space pilot, broke him from his hazed image.
"Come on Tamzin, no point giving up yet!".
She spoke in a confident voice. She expressed her authority in a bold manner and somehow was able to control her inner thoughts. She knew that she and her crew were about to burn on the surface of the nearby planet, but at least she could allow them to die with hope, which was better than whatever they had now. The mission had almost been completed as the crew were on their final routine flight back home. Her ships cargo had been dropped off months ago and after an exhausting non-stop flight, her crew were having one last rest before their last stretch. Evidently, things had not gone to plan.
Brushing her blonde hair behind her helmet, the captain spoke over the speakers, making sure all her crew could hear here over the sound of their inevitable fiery death.
"Have we tried the escape pods? Is ANYONE listening?!"
Tamzin replied from the floor behind her, showing no interest despite his captains best attempt at raising moral. he respected that, but knew it was pointless. He wasn't that daft.
"No point ma'am, we'd just burn up when we hit the surface. It's been...good, serving with you ma'am. Not great, but good..."
The captain was finally realising how hopeless this was.
"Well you may have given up hope, but I haven't" she stated as boldly as ever, marching towards the rear doors and the escape pod bays. "I'm leaving whether you are or not, it's better than nothing!" She expressed, hoping to get at least one of her fellow pilots to join her. They were all rather pathetic, she thought to herself, but they had been together for months and she couldn't just leave them.
She entered the pass code into the number pad.
A.J.L.1.1.8
Damn, last number was wrong. Must have been the vibrations of the ship putting her off. She awaited the low, downbeat hum to rattle out to indicate the lock was still active, but to her surprise the satisfying light "ping" noise rang out and a green light was displayed. The door slid open and even more shockingly, a rather tall, handsome man was on the other side, grasping a long silver device tight in his hand (which was emitting a light buzz, illuminating a white tip on the end). And behind him, hand-in-hand, a rather glamorous companion. In the far distance directly next the pods was a tall, stout, dark blue box covered in strange letters and panels that she was sure definitely was never there before.
"Oh, hello" the man said out calmly. "My name is the Doctor, I'm a space traveller like you I presume." She was surprised by how routine this speech sounded as if said many times before. The "Doctor" seemed so casual in this deadly moment, and she just wanted to shout out so many questions. How did you get here? What is that blue box? How are you so calm? Can you help us? Could you get out of my way? I'm trying to escape. But she found herself unable to speak, she felt completely transfixed and under his control.
The Doctor continued. "This is my companion Jemma, we haven't been travelling with each other very long. What's your name?"
"E-E-Emma"
"Hello Emma! Look at that, Jemma and Emma, what a lovely pair! You two better got on together." The man walked forwards and into the bridge "Now I'm afraid I'm going to have to take control. I can see your crew is in a panic, don't worry, I can fix that." The Doctor extended the device in his hand and set it to mode 1337, the mode he liked to call "turn-everything-off-and-make-a-very-loud-noise" mode. As he pressed the golden button on the glistening probe, it certainly did what it said on the label. All the alarms and warnings lost power as well as all the lights, leaving the room in complete darkness except for the white glow of the doctors metal wand and the bright orange glow of the planet below on the display screen...
The crew covered their ears in an instant as a high-pitched whine shattered across the deck, reflecting and bouncing back across from the metal walls in an endless pattern. Even Jemma was forced to cover her own ears within seconds, but the Doctor stood there in his manly posture, not even agitated a little by the ear piercing sound. As it died away, the crew stopped and slowly lifted their heads towards The Doctor. They began to notice his appearance for the first time as the chaos finally ceased. They noted that his hair was cut back, and on his chin he had slight stubble. He wore a dark blue leather coat like something out of a war, and over his shoulder was a brown satchel. They began to examine the second figure behind him, his companion, wearing typical human 21st century clothes of a green jumper and white shirt, with blue jeans that didn't seem to match very well. She wore her hair back, a chestnut brown colour and was respectably shorter than The Doctor.
When the Doctor spoke, he spoke with a soft English accent. Not that any of the crew knew that. Despite their humanoid appearance they didn't even know what a "human" was.
"Now that you are listening to me, I need you all to stay calm like you are now, do you understand?" The only noise in the bridge was the rattling of metal on the outer-shell of the ship, making the crew almost forget all the troubles they were going through. Even Emma was intrigued by the man. "I want you all to follow my lovely assistant Jemma here to my ship, you won't miss it. Captain, have you been outside to try and fix the accelerator yet?"
"Yes, but it was at least a meter beyond our reach, and the heat from the planet nearly burnt out the suits. Theirs no way you can get out there while the suits are that hot!"
The Doctor was already striding over to the air-lock in his un-protective, rushed-together costume.
"Emma, I appreciate your concern..." The Doctor started as he worked on the lock, "But this device is a Sonic screwdriver. It can activate levers and switches from miles away with nothing but a high pitched whistle. In regards to the suit, I'm a Time Lord. I can survive in the conditions of space for up to 3 minutes without a scratch. It's just entering the atmosphere I won't be able to survive." The door flung open and The Doctor stepped into to air-lock. "Jemma, once everyone is inside the TARDIS wait for me here in the bridge".
"Got it Doctor."
The Captain turned around towards the escape pod bay, an hesitated a moment. What if The Doctor was here to sabotage the ship or take it as his own, or maybe he caused this. She didn't know what it was about that man, but something natural about him just made her trust him. And with that, she ran along the corridor and into the blue box.
The Doctor clambered on to the railing outside, gripping the Sonic Screwdriver hard in-between his century-old jaws. What he said about being able to survive in space was true, but he still needed air. He would only have the average length of a single minute out here.
Better make this count he thought.
Everything around him was silent. It felt out of place with all the chaos around him. Debris was flying everywhere and the ship was plummeting towards the burning planet... above? Without the ships artificial-gravity systems to support him, he realised that this was going to get confusing very quickly. Gracefully, The Doctor pulled himself up along the ships body, searching for the acceleration control. Chrome metal was tearing off the ships sides and revealing live circuits underneath, loaded with a charge that could turn even a Time Lord into a single molecule at the slightest touch.
Better be careful of those.
At the backend of the ship, the Doctor spied what looked perfectly like a Meldavior- Class Acceleration system, hanging just behind a broken Hytroglyne-transmitter, blocking his path slightly. He reached out, grabbing hold of the transmitter so not to fly past and into the emptiness of the black void around him. He looked up to see a red glow pulsing at the front of the ship, starting to turn to blue, then white. It was only a matter of time before it reached the back, and the Doctor would be burnt to a cinder. Quickly, The Doctor reached for his sonic screwdriver, and stretched it out towards the accelerator. He lined it up perfectly so that the sonic waves would fly straight towards the system, and repair it instantly. The position was set, and the Doctor triumphantly pressed the golden button. The white light at the tip lit up.
Nothing happened.
Confused, The Doctor tried again.
Nothing happened.
Shocked, he gasped out the last of his breath, and then realised.
Of course! Sound doesn't travel in space. How could I be so stupid!
The rear end of the ship was now beginning to glow a faint, pure red. The Doctor could feel his hands starting to burn and knew he only had seconds to live. Maybe he would regenerate, but there would be no way he could survive the planet above either way. With an electrifying buss (which never reached The Doctor's eardrums) The Doctor's leg slammed into an open panel, causing the Time Lord's hand to burst open. With this, the sonic screwdriver flew straight away into the vacuum of space before exploding in a tiny white light far in the distance, unable to survive the planet's radiating heat. The pure crimson glow grew brighter and brighter on the ships hull, as The Doctor closed his eyes for one last time...
At that moment, a familiar whining looped noise began to echo around him. the familiar noise of his trusty type 40 Space-Time machine began to fade into existence. He didn't know how this was happening, but then he realised.
It isn't my TARDIS.
He had heard a similar noise a long time ago in his second body. It was the noise of a type 43 Time Capsule that was similar to that used by the War Lord in his War Games plot. Around him, his surroundings began to change. He appeared to be in a room with a bright, flat white glow. A few yellow-roundels were imprinted on the walls, and from the ceilings hung white plastic strips with galllifreyan markings along them, which reminded The Doctor of the ancient scrolls he had read about at the academy. The room was basic black and white, no need for adventurous colours as far as Time-Lords were concerned. At the centre of the room was a console, piloted by 6 men in blue ceremonial robes. Down along the centre of their garments was a gold strip covered in ancient texts, and on each shoulder was a golden seal of Rassilon, carefully sewn on. One of the men wore a large visor over his head, while another wore metal devices on a number of his fingers, both adapted for their individual jobs. If there was any confusion about their identity before, there certainly wasn't now, as on each of their backs was the seal of the Celestial Intervention Agency.
The Doctor jumped up in a hurry. "You lot better have picked up my companion!"
One of the men who appeared to be the leader (with red lining on his robes) stepped away from the controls and removed a Time-control plug from his eye (which bore a strong resemblance to that of a golden monocle on earth), and a pair of control-gloves.
"Even by our standards Doctor, we are not that cruel. Your companion is in the other Room along that corridor, resting."
The Doctor waited a second, trying to remember anything else that he may have needed.
"What about my TARDIS? It had people aboard you know!"
To this, the members of the CIA all lifted their heads and looked at each other. To a normal life form it would look as if they were just sharing a look, but the Doctor knew they were talking telepathically.
Finally, the leader spoke in a calm, emotionless voice.
"Unfortunately, we were unable to retrieve your Time Capsule however its occupants will remain safe as long as they remain inside. "
"Safe? SAFE? They are all on the surface of a planet that is incapable of sustaining life itself and you say they are SAFE?"
The Leader argued back.
"AS LONG AS THEY ARE INSIDE...". He paused, and contemplated his latest action. He returned to his place at the console and continued the flight pattern along with his team of quad-riggers. As he did so, he continued talking to The Doctor. "Now, My names is Kalex, and I am a member of the CIA. You have been summoned to Gallifrey by Lady President Romana." Kalex activated the atom accelerator. "And looks like we arrived just in time too!".
The Doctor found a chair and sat back. He hated being pulled around by the Time-Lords when all he wanted to do was travel.
"Well I'm not being put on trial again. I at least deserve some respect, I'll have you know I was once the Lord President!"
Kalex sighed and looked up from his panel.
"If I were arresting you, you would be dead three times over by now for disrespectful behaviour to superiors! No, for some reason you are wanted at a High Council session as guest of honour..."
And with that, the Capsule dematerialised, heading through the vortex to 10-0-11-00 by 2 from galactic zero centre... Gallifrey.