AN: I've started co-writing this story with Panda Puffin, one of my best friends in real life. We hope you enjoy it, and reviews are always welcome! Also, I don't own any of the Doctor Who characters, but I do own the Virdians and the Trafferi.

The Doctor looked around, searching for the source of the mysterious voice. The wind picked up and blew around him fiercely. A circular dent formed in the snow in front of him. The Doctor's eyes widened as he realized that an invisible ship was landing. Color began to form on the ship, bringing it into vision. It was small, dome-shaped, and covered in black and red paint. Part of the rounded wall began to open slowly, revealing a tall, thin…tree.

The Doctor came a bit closer and looked around in the hallways behind the tree. There was no one inside the ship that he could see, so he began to study the tree. It was a young maple, probably about 5 years old. There was nothing remarkable about it, save for the fact that it was in the doorway of a spaceship. The Doctor shrugged to himself and walked into the ship. Maybe Rose was there. He might as well explore, take the chance. "Doctor!" The voice exclaimed. It seemed to be coming from behind him. The Doctor whirled around, tensing as he prepared to face someone, or something for that matter. The tree seemed to have gotten a bit closer, but there was nothing else there otherwise. "Where are you? Show yourself!" The Doctor demanded, anger piercing his voice. He could have threatened them, told them he was missing his friend. If they really did know him, they would know how deeply he cared about them. Know that he would do almost anything to get them back, safe and sound, but decided that it would be best mentioned later.

The voice gasped a bit. "You really don't see me?" it asked. Then it mumbled something about being too early in someone's time stream; it probably meant the Doctor's. The Doctor noticed that the tree was beginning to move. Its branches went to one side or the other of the trunk and bunched together. Its bark began to soften, changing color from the light brown to a tan, and the upper piece of the trunk formed something that vaguely resembled a face. A mess of dirty blond hair formed on the top of the trunk, and eventually the tree had transformed into a human man in a business suit. "Ah, a shape shifter, are we?" the Doctor asked. The man nodded, looking pleased with himself, but something else glimmered in his eyes as well.

"I am Drason, leader of the race of the Trafferi. My people need your help. We are being attacked."

"Well, I'm a bit busy finding my friend, but what's attacking you?"

Drason looked at his black, freshly polished shoes. "I have no right to ask this of you, sir, and will be eternally in your debt if you help my people."

The Doctor was getting a bit impatient. He should be finding Rose, but if this Traffery needed his help, he should at least listen to what he had to say. And he wasn't one to ignore a race in need. "What is it?"

Drason looked up again, his brown eyes sad. "The Daleks."