Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC, not me. Rydell is an OC, all other characters belong to the BBC.
Please bear with this fanfiction. Not everything can be explained in one chapter. I swear it will all be explained in time. If you're really desperate, you can PM me and I will answer your questions provided they aren't being kept secret for plot reasons.
Chapter 1 : Temporal Disturbances and Jelly Babies
The room was very quiet, even considering there were hardly any people inside. Two, as a matter of fact, which meant everybody on board was in the room. The ship itself was not that large, but it seemed empty to its few occupants. It was designed for a crew of eight to ten, and although two could pilot it successfully, it wasn't advisable.
Nevertheless, that was what they had been forced to do. There had been no time to organise a full crew. Just her, and someone to act as her protector. They had left immediately, just as an explosion had destroyed the entire citadel. The ship had escaped just in time, but the two of them knew nothing of it until later.
They knew now. They had known since that morning, when Rydell had finally got the scanner working. At first, they had thought it faulty, but now they knew the truth. It was gone. Not just the citadel, but the entire planet. Romana had not spoken since.
Rydell had not been too bothered about this, and had used the time to continue working in peace for once. Of course he had been upset at the destruction of the planet, but he tried not to let it show. He was the sole companion of President Romana, and he felt he had to be strong for her sake. Even if she had ignored him ever since and cried for three hours without stopping, he would not ask her what was wrong. He assumed she would rather he ignored her unprofessionalism. She had a reputation to upkeep, as did he.
So when she finally spoke up, Rydell jumped. "Would you like a jelly baby?" she asked.
He stared at her, wondering if the President had finally cracked. "Would I like a what?"
"A jelly baby." When Rydell gave no reply, she elaborated further. "They're a kind of sweet. From Earth."
"Oh." He paused for a moment. "No thank you."
Romana shrugged and popped a red one in her mouth before getting up and strolling across the room to where Rydell was sat by the console. "What are you working on this time?"
It was the slightly bored tone with which the question was asked that made Rydell answer somewhat defensively. "I'm trying to restore the hyper-dimensional neutraliser. There's an energy impulse being directed at the ship that it can't seem to shake off."
"Is the temporal reflector not screening us from the impulse?"
"Evidently not. The temporal disturbance is too powerful for the shielding systems to counter," Rydell explained, trying his hardest to keep the patronising tone from his voice. It was clear the President hadn't a clue about how to prevent primary systems from malfunctioning. He doubted she even knew what a stalos gyro was.
Romana frowned for a moment, her eyes darting back and forth across the screen as she read the complicated stream of code Rydell had been inputting. She paused for a moment. "Are you sure you don't want a jelly baby?"