The Many Shades of Blue
CHAPTER ONE
"...And that's why you never antagonize a Crested Wendon in heat, Rose," the Doctor shouted as he and Rose sprinted through the dense thicket.
"I got that, thanks," Rose panted, ducking beneath the low-hanging branches. She spared a glance over her shoulder at the enraged red creature chasing them. Its seven black eyes glinted and it snapped its long mandibles. "You remember where the TARDIS is, don't you?"
"Just a few more turns and we're there… I think."
"You think?"
An enormous dead tree covered in white fungi had fallen in their path, which they clamored over with some difficulty. The Crested Wendon clicked and hissed behind them.
"I don't remember coming this way, Doctor!"
"This is a shortcut."
"Doctor!"
The Doctor took a hard left, dragging Rose behind him. There was the TARDIS, waiting patiently for them in the clearing. "Look, Rose, we're here with plenty of time to spare," the Doctor said.
"Let's talk about it later, yeah?" Rose pulled her key from her pocket and jammed it into the lock. The door swung open and she and the Doctor fell inside the ship. The Doctor scrambled to his feet first and slammed the door shut, just before the Wendon could get inside. There was the sound of sharp pincers scraping against the wooden door and an irritated clacking noise before the Wendon gave up and wandered away.
The Doctor slid down the door to a sitting position next to Rose. They locked eyes, and after a minute of silence except for their rapid breathing, they both cracked smiles and descended into a fit of insane giggling.
"Your face when you saw the mother, though," the Doctor laughed, wiping his eyes.
Rose's stomach ached from laughing."How was I supposed to know they were her babies? I thought she was eating them!"
"She probably was. Wendons eat all but one of their offspring, so that only the strongest survive."
"That's stupid," Rose said, still trying to control her laughter.
"Well, maybe," the Doctor said with a grin. He pushed himself to his feet, offering his hand to help Rose up. "Or maybe they think you're crazy for trying to raise all of your children at once."
"Oh no, an alien spider crab thinks I'm crazy, whatever will I do?" Rose joked. She and the Doctor went to the main controls. She gave him a smile. "So where are we off to next? Somewhere with less spider crabs, maybe?"
"I think that can be arranged." The Doctor spun the monitor around and typed in a string of coordinates. A turquoise planet surrounded by thin white clouds appeared on the screen. "How does this look?"
Rose moved closer to examine the image. "Sort of hard to tell from a distance, but it looks pretty. What's it called?"
"It's called Nikaro. It translates to 'waterfall' in their language. The planet's covered in some of the biggest waterfalls in the Draco Eridani galaxy, and they've created the single most effective hydroelectric system in the universe. Rumor has it that you can see the waterfalls from outer space."
"Well, if rumor has it, then I think it's worth it to check it out," Rose said. She tried to zoom in on the picture, but the Doctor moved the monitor out of the way.
"Nope, no fair peeking at the waterfalls ahead of time." He smiled at her. "But maybe you could help me fly the TARDIS there...?"
Rose gave him a salute. "Aye aye, captain! I start with the blue lever, yeah?"
"Just let me set our coordinates for outside Nikaro's atmosphere." The Doctor adjusted some of the dials and punched in a new set of numbers. "All right, captain Tyler, ready when you are."
Rose pulled down the blue lever, and the TARDIS's warp engines groaned into life. The control panel sparked as Rose and the Doctor managed the controls.
"Stabilize the toroidal shift circuit," the Doctor called as the TARDIS wobbled.
"Which one is that?" Rose asked. "Is it this red wheel?"
"Don't touch the red wheel!" The Doctor dove across the console and spun a black wheel by Rose's right hand. "Red wheel controls the antimatter storage tank. You don't want to mess with that."
Rose moved her hand away from the red wheel. "Oops."
"Hit the red button next to that spinny ball to bring us into orbit," the Doctor said. He grappled with the shaking controls under his hands as Rose immediately jumped for the red button. With a wheezing noise, the TARDIS rumbled to a stop, throwing them both to the floor. The Doctor grinned at Rose from the other side of the control table. "Nice work, captain Tyler."
"Shut up," Rose said with a smile, though inwardly she was very pleased she had managed to help the Doctor pilot the TARDIS without breaking anything. "Let's see if the rumors about those waterfalls are true." She went to the door and threw it open.
Instead of a shining blue planet, a spaceship streaked past and exploded in front of her. If the TARDIS's protective shields had not been there, she would have been vaporized instantly. She stumbled backwards as the wave of energy passed over her.
"Rose! Get back!" The Doctor ran to the doors and slammed them shut. Rose's hands shook as the intense jolt of energy she felt faded away. The Doctor ran back to the control table and jerked the monitor around.
"Doctor?" Rose asked. Her voice was shaking as badly as her hands. "Doctor, what was that?"
The Doctor didn't answer as he adjusted the exterior camera to get a better view of the space outside. The serene view of the watery planet he had been expecting was obscured by a ferocious battle between two fleets of star fighters. A nearby explosion shook the TARDIS, rattling the controls and the occupants. "All right, change of plans, we're not visiting Nikaro, we're going somewhere else," the Doctor said, rushing to input new coordinates into the computer. Before he could finish, a crackle of static sounded through the communicator.
"...is Flagship Intrepid to...unknown...state authorization."
"Um, yes, hello!" the Doctor said into the microphone. "Terribly sorry about the intrusion, Flagship Intrepid, we were just passing through by accident. We'll be on our way, if you don't mind."
"Wait, Doctor!" Rose said, tugging him away from the communicator. "If there's people fighting out there, they might need help. And that's what we're traveling together for, yeah? To help?"
"I'm not interested in joining a war, Rose." Another explosion sounded, followed by a rumble of energy passing over the TARDIS. The Doctor and Rose had to grab onto the edge of the control panel to keep from toppling over.
Rose put her hand on top of the Doctor's. "I know you don't like fighting. But if we can help, I think we should. We could even stop the fighting, maybe."
"Rose, listen," the Doctor said. "This is the Kanaro System Civil War. I didn't mean to bring you here, I thought we were aimed towards the 34th century instead of the 43rd. This war spans across their entire solar system, across seven different planets. It's an incredibly violent war that ends with billions of casualties. It's not safe for you to be here."
"We've been in lots of 'unsafe' situations before, and it's never stopped us then."
"This is different, this is..." The Doctor was interrupted by the chiming of the communicator again.
"Flagship Intrepid to unknown...authorization failure...taken to high command..."
The Doctor's eyes widened and he jumped for the engine ignition lever. When he pulled it, the familiar groaning of the TARDIS's engines failed to sound. He jiggled it up and down, but nothing happened.
"Blimey..." The Doctor ran his hands through his hair, sticking it up on end. He twirled the monitor towards himself. "They've got us caught in some sort of temporal cage. We're stuck." The entire TARDIS trembled slightly when it was tugged out of place. The Doctor fiddled with the dials of the exterior camera to focus in on the chaotic battle taking place outside. Rose watched as bolts of blue and green light lit up the blackness of space and small ships streaked across the sky. When the bolts connected with one of the ships, a fiery orange explosion would temporary blot out the light of the stars behind it.
"I think they said they're bringing us to...high command." Rose said. The Doctor nodded silently. "Is that...bad?"
The Doctor let out a hiss of air. "Well, it depends on whose high command we've been discovered by. If it's the Committee for the Preservation of Planetary Rights, we might be in a spot of trouble. Well, I say a spot. More like a supernova of trouble. Enough trouble that it keeps sucking in more trouble to make a big black hole of trouble."
Rose smiled a bit hesitantly. "Oh, and here I thought we might have to deal with something hard for a change."
"Funny. Personally, I don't think there's any harm in hoping we've been found by the Kanaro Republic States. Then we might only be in a blue giant of trouble, as opposed to the supernova."
"Hmm...the blue giant sounds prettier than the supernova. I'll go with that one too."
"I know a sentient supernova that would be very offended by that."
"Oh, you do not." Rose stared at him. "You don't. Do you?" The Doctor just smiled and raised his eyebrows. She slapped his arm lightly. "You're just messing with me, aren't you?"
"You know me. Anything to diffuse the tension."
"Shut up," Rose said, grinning back. "So this civil war then. Who wins?"
"Ah...well..."
Rose gaped at him. "Don't tell me you don't know?"
The Doctor raised his hands defensively. "Do you remember everything you ever learned in primary school?"
"You're impossible."
The crackle of the communicator refocused their attention. The connection was much steadier than before. "This is Flagship Intrepid to unknown. You have been transported to the Intrepid and are about to be placed in the docking bay. Upon arrival you will exit your ship with your hands in the air and all weapons left behind. Any attempt to escape will result in your immediate destruction."
"They certainly are a cheery lot, aren't they," Rose said breezily. The Doctor shushed her as the transmission continued over the sound of a pressure lock releasing.
"You will be escorted to the conference room where you will answer any and all questions about yourself and your loyalties. Any threat to your questioner will result in your immediate destruction. If you are found to be trustworthy, further negotiations may be conducted. If you are found untrustworthy, this will result in your immediate destruction."
Rose pulled the microphone away from the Doctor. "Yeah, I think we've got the whole 'immediate destruction' thing down, mate."
"...Lady, I'm just trying to do my job, okay? We call this 'due warning' so it's all legal to the higher ups. Is that okay with you or what?"
"All right, all right, continue on with our immediate destruction." Rose could practically hear the eyeroll coming from the other end of the radio. "No need to get pissy about it."
There was a slight hissing noise as the TARDIS was settled on to solid ground. "Please exit your ship with your hands in the air and your weapons inside. Failure to comply will result in your immediate destruction."
The Doctor clicked off the communicator and he and Rose went to the entrance of the TARDIS. "Rose," he said. "I really am sorry to have dragged you into this. This isn't the kind of thing I wanted to get you involved in."
Rose gave his hand a squeeze. "Hey. It's all right. If we're together, what's the worst that could happen?"
"I was afraid you'd say something like that." The Doctor sucked in a deep breath. "Well, there's nothing to be done about it now." They pushed open the doors of the TARDIS together, where they were met with the painfully bright interior of a space ship hanger. Two humanoid guards with dark skin and shaved heads waited for them. They were both wearing some sort of space suit with gun holsters clipped to their belts. Neither of them looked pleased to see them.
"Allons-y, Miss Tyler," the Doctor whispered.
They raised their hands and stepped outside.
A/N: Any and all reviews are appreciated. Thank you!