Katie stumbled out of the smoking TARDIS, gasping and coughing. After the Doctor had been flung out of the front door, TARDIS had continued to flip top over bottom. Katie had managed, somehow, to bring TARDIS under control and land her, but she was damaged. To what extent Katie didn't know, and she couldn't find out until the smoke lessened.
Katie looked around her, trying to locate where she was. She was in a pit, or something close to it. On all four sides, sharp hills of grass and mud rose a good twenty feet into the air. There was no way that she could pull the TARDIS out, and climbing for help would be a time consuming chore. She turned back to TARDIS, trying to judge how long it would be before she could do anything, whether it be fixing TARDIS or finding the Doctor.
"The second thing shouldn't be too hard," she mused, her Texan accent flavoring her words. "He's the Doctor, runs about saving planets and galaxies and moons and he is the hardest person in the known universe to find civilizations have died waiting for him. Isn't that just...peachy."
"Ahoy the blue box!"
Katie looked up the hill to her left where the voice with the Northern accent came from. A man with a pale clean shaven face and dark hair stood on the hill.
"Is everyone alright mam?"
"Well, she's not looking too hot," Katie said, gesturing over her shoulder at the still smoking TARDIS. "I'm pissed and the usual pilot recently went flying out the front door. Things could be better."
"Hang on," the man said. He finished topping the hill and descended carefully, sliding all the way. Katie turned back to TARDIS, rubbing her paneling.
"Now old girl," she said in a low voice. "What's hurt you, huh? What happened to you out there?"
She heard the man come up behind her, his boots making a squishing sound in the mud. "Are you the Doctor?"
Katie turned to face him, eyebrows raised. He seemed slightly put off. "I thought you'd be man," he said.
"He is," Katie drawled.
"Then you aren't him," the man said, obviously disappointed. "Is he in the TARDIS?"
Katie smiled sarcastically, leaning against TARDIS. "Yes, I just decided to stay out here talking to a complete stranger rather than save my best friend from a smoking time machine where anything could happen to him."
"Then you are one of the Companions of Time?" the man said, his voice taking an excited tone. Katie groaned and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"Please tell me I am not on Atlantis."
"Why would you be on Atlantis?" the man asked, a note of derision in his voice. "That's on one of the central planets, set up for science brains who fancy themselves as the great thinkers of this day, unraveling the mysteries of time and space."
"Oh, thank the vortex this isn't there," Katie said, relieved. "So, where is this then?" She looked the man up and down, studying him. He seemed human, but the reptilian look to his eyes marked him for a human cross. She guessed him to be somewhere in his early thirties.
"You said central planets. Is this one of the Human Empires?"
"The Third one to be exact. The year is 7632. You're on Beriin."
Katie winced. "7632. Not a pleasant year. Rather nasty actually. Plagues and bad art. Really bad art. So, Third Human Empire, outskirt planet, 7632. You're probably at war with someone."
"Yes mam. That's why we need the Doctor."
"You were looking for him?"
The man nodded. "We were signaling him, though we didn't dare hope. Digital signals through all of space, some from the surface, others through satellites. Messages with dates and places, all encrypted so that the Ranngour couldn't see them. We sent out time capsules even. Anything to get his attention."
"A digital signal." Katie's voice was heavy with disbelief. "You sent digital signals to find a man that travels through time. A man people have waited millennia for." She shook her head in pity. "How desperate are you, sweetheart?"
"Extremely mam. The Doctor is a man only told about in stories; he, his magic blue box, and his friends. Right now, the only thing that can help us is a legend."
"I'm sorry I couldn't come with better news, but I don't know where he is right now," Katie said, shaking her head. "Something hit TARDIS while we were in the vortex, and he went sliding right out the door. First time I've seen her doors open outward, come to think of it," Katie mused, her voice quieting.
"How long have you traveled with him?"
Katie shrugged. "I've known him for ten months."
A slight spark came to the man's eye. "Then you are a Companion. You could help us."
Katie opened her mouth to protest, but the man interrupted. "You've traveled with him. If nothing else, he trusted you enough to take you with him. Please, if you can do anything—"
Holding up a hand to stop further begging, Katie interrupted him. "Buddy, I've been to a lot of places, and done a lot of things, and the one thing I never do is turn down a cry for help. But I need to know what you've got going on."
"We're at war mam."
"Yeah, I gathered that. By why call for the Doctor if you're at war? What sort of stories have you got?"
"Stories where he prevents disaster, and right now, disaster is precisely what will happen if we lose."
"Could you be just a little more specific?"
"We need his help to prevent interstellar nuclear war, mam. And since he isn't here, you've just become his replacement."
Katie rubbed her forehead. They were expecting the Doctor of stories, some of which she had read. Whoever these Beriinians were, they were grasping at straws. She was a poor substitute for a legend. She had no idea what she could do.
Then again, when did the Doctor ever know what he was getting into?
Katie smiled at the man. "Sure. I'll need a little more of the details, but I'll give it a shot."
Instead of breaking into a smile as she had expected, the man opened his jacket and spoke into the lapel.
"We have a go on Indigo Cargo, we have a go."
Instantly, a flood of people came pouring down over the hills, all of them in uniforms. Trucks appeared and people with chains and pulleys jumped out. Katie stood stunned for a moment, then did an about face and slammed TARDIS's door shut, knowing the automatic locking mechanism was on and always worked. Whatever they wanted, at least they couldn't get in now.
The people had reached TARDIS. They started wrapping the chains around her, attaching lines and anti-grav tools. Katie made a move towards one of them.
"Get your—"
Someone grabbed her arm, restraining her. She whirled about, catching her assailant with a hard right hook. A dozen nearby soldiers moved for their guns before the man she had clobbered raised a hand to stop them, picking himself up out of the mud.
"Mam—"
"What are you doing with her?"
"We're just trying to pull your ship out. It won't be damaged."
"My ship, as you call her, is a living thing, and you treat her like a lady. If she ends up damaged… And what's with the army swooping in over the hillside?"
"We didn't know if you would help if you felt threatened, so I came over by myself."
Katie looked at him with half-closed eyes. "I have been through too much for soldiers with toy pistols to make me feel threatened. But people who lie to me, or deceive me in any fashion are a threat to themselves. That's how the Doctor works, and that is how I work. Are we very clear on that?"
The man nodded stiffly. Katie gave a light snort and turned back to the people trying to move TARDIS, pointing threateningly. "Treat her like the lady she is. I do not want to hear any complaints out of her."
Katie turned back around and started the walk up the hill, brushing past the man.
"Now, you've asked for help, and whether you like it or not, you're still going to get it. I need to know precisely what you're preventing, what you've got available to do it, who you've got doing it, more on the why you're doing it, and where you're trying to do it. So, whoever runs this place, it'd be good to meet him slash her slash it."
The man came slipping up behind her, for whatever reason finding it more difficult to handle the terrain than Katie did. "Who are you mam? I mean, what's your name?"
"Trouble. And stop 'maming' me. Gets annoying after a bit."
*Constuctive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*