Child in Time
Chapter One

Authors note:
I'm exploring some obscure Time Lord (and Lady) genetics early on in this chapter. Just remember that while people from Gallifrey look like us on the outside the inside is quite different.

'Radu what are you doing?' Commander Seth Goddard almost shouted as he came out of the jump tube. The Andromedan had put the young woman on the medical bed and was almost smothering her with blankets. Seth could still see her face, just. It was covered in a thin layer of frost and her lips had a blue shade to them that wasn't from any lipstick.

Radu looked back. 'Sir, she's freezing.'

'I can see that.' Seth didn't have time for an argument and the woman certainly didn't. He spun to find Rosie in the corner glancing between Radu and himself. 'Rosie, heat her up.' The child's Mercurian heat powers were needed more than ever.

'He told me not to.' She pointed at Radu as THELMA and Catalina followed him.

'No commander, she can't. Please, she's too hot.' He looked around desperately, and then saw the android. 'THELMA! Take a temperature reading, tell them she's going colder. Not warmer.'

The android nodded and quite simply poked her little finger into the frozen woman's ear. 'Radu is correct. The stranger is cooling from her core. Temperature is minus four and dropping slowly.'

'What? How can that be?' Catalina asked but Seth already had the answer.

He'd seen it during the Andromedan wars. 'It's a natural healing mechanism Catalina. Andromedan's, when dangerously ill or starved of oxygen, their bodies freeze. Like hibernation, it can save their lives. Good call Mr Radu.'

'She doesn't look like an Andromedan.' Rosie pointed out. She was right, the young woman looked very much human.

'THELMA, what species is she?' he asked.

The android spun her finger for a moment. 'I... I do not know. She is not human. Or Andromedan. Or of any race I have in my database. I will ask the Christa.' There was a pause. 'Strange, the Christa say's it too does not know. However there is a large data file I cannot access.'

'Incidentally her core temperature drop has halted. She is in a form of natural stasis.'

'The Christa is hiding something from you?' Catalina asked, bringing them back to the point. It was worrying, THELMA was supposed to be their main interface with the strange ship they were trapped on.

'Yes...' she stopped again and suddenly jerked up right. 'Please excuse me, but my memory files of the last few minutes have just erased themselves. Hum. Did you know there is a stranger in the medical bed. Her core temperature is low.'

The four of them looked at each other. There were a lot of strange things about the Christa. It was alive, to a point, and had it's own mind. THELMA was the ships android and could communicate with it but this was the first time it had shown how much control it had over her. Selectively deleting memories at will was not a good sign. Seth decided to be a bit more careful around the android and to dig a little deeper into the ship's background alone.

His musing was interrupted when Harlen called down from the bridge. 'Hate to tell you this but we've got friends out there.'

Seth dived for the internal comm. 'What?'

'A Spung war cruiser, just came out of nowhere and it's closing fast. Bova's got the shields up but I don't know about it.' The ship was rocked by an explosion. 'They're not going to take that for long.'

'Do what you can to out run them. I'm on my way.' Seth punched the destination code into the Jump Tube.

Catalina was already at the other one, 'I'll get to the power room Suzee might think of something.' The girl said, talking about her imaginary friend. When the best hope you had was an underage child who spent most of her time talking to walls you knew you were in trouble.

Thing was, on this ship, that was situation normal and they hadn't ended up dead yet. ' "Suzee" better do it quick. We haven't the power left to keep this speed up for long.' Harlen called back down and the Saturnian jumped down her tube.

'THELMA, stay here. Radu follow me.'

Rosie held a hand up 'What can I do?'

'Help THELMA, just don't try to cook our visitor. It might kill her.' Seth ordered as he threw himself down the tube. Coming out on the other side he ran to Harlen's side. The screen in front was showing a rear view, a great big green flying wing was closing in on them. The central cylinder slung under it's bottom pulsed with a green ring and launched a sparkling green pulse. And another, and again.

'Harlen...'

'No power, we've used it all up.' The young man threw his hands in the air. Seth could read the controls, he was right. They'd used all their reserve energy pulling away from the circle.

'Bova?' Seth asked as two of the three shots blew up on their shields. The small Uranian jumped from his chair as his console exploded.

'Shields are gone, so are we.'

Seth looked around, there had to be something they could do. Anything. 'Yes!' Radu suddenly cried out. 'The last shot missed. The other two pushed us out of it's way.'

'Possibly Radu but we're still dead in space. Another shot and it's all over.' Seth looked up. One last slim string of hope left, he looked back at the controls. 'Catalina, tell me we have hyperdrive power. Throw everything we've got left into it.'

'It's no good commander, There's life support and that's it. Suzee's screaming... I...'

'You did your best.' He said. As last words went these weren't that original but what the hell. 'You all did your best under impossible circumstances. I couldn't have asked, or expected, anymore from an experienced crew. Thank you.'

Davenport looked at him incredulously from the corner of command. 'Is that it? The great Stardog Commander Goddard faces certain death and all you can do is thank the crew?' The woman screeched.

'Any better ideas?' He asked point blank.

'Thanks Commander.' Harlan said sadly. 'I think we all appreciate it.'

The young man's words were echoed by the crew quietly as Davenport kept staring at them like the were from another dimension. If he was honest he'd never been prouder of the lot of them.

Radu coughed uncomfortably. 'Bad timing here, but missile incoming.'

'Think good thoughts people.' Seth muttered before frowning. 'A missile? Spung don't use missiles.' Looking at the screen Seth recognised the projectile as it exploded before hitting them. 'Hell! Everyone down!' The fragments of missile spun out before swooping down at them.

'What?' Harlen asked before Radu tackled him to the floor.

'Shock bombs, they want us alive!' The Andromedan shouted.

'Limpets! Seth growled before the dozen or more pulse bombs clanged against the hull.

There was a blinding flash and a deafening noise, it should have been enough to wake the dead but as it faded no one on the Command Post was left standing.

Jenny sat upright and coughed, she was cold and not in her shuttle. She also had no idea where she was or how she got there. She had been hunting for that wormhole again, the tiny shuttle was running out of supplies and she would have to land somewhere soon. Then a strange white glowing... thing came out of nowhere.

It was like nothing Jenny had seen before, not that that was saying much. The shuttle didn't have the fuel to out run it but she tried anyway. Something must have drawn it to her because it followed and eventually swallowed her shuttle whole. The last thing she remembered was bouncing around and warning lights flashing all over her control board.

Getting out of bed she shook some feeling back into her hands and hopped from foot to foot. It felt like she'd been in a freezer, it was then she noticed she wasn't alone. A woman with a golden complexion and some sort of light metal armour was on the floor at her feet. 'Hello, I'm...' Jenny trailed off. The woman was out cold but there was more too it than that.

Jenny tapped the metal plate on her head, it rang a lot deeper and louder than it should have. 'Metal all the way through?' She said to herself. 'Must be a robot, and it's not working. 'Jenny looked around again, there was someone else, a small neon pink girl unconscious on the other side of the room.

Vaulting over the bed Jenny took the child's pulse. She was alive and very hot, almost hot enough to burn Jenny's fingers. 'Something very strange is happening on this ship.' Jenny muttered as she blew on her hands. 'And I don't like it.'

The room was around circle around a lit octagon. The bed she'd been in taking up the middle of the octagon, to it's right there were three small tunnels. One led down while two went up.

Opposite was a door, it was half open and split into three parts. The top and bottom parts went one way and the middle the other. Getting her shoulder behind it Jenny was able to force it open.

The corridor outside curved around and the lights were flickering on and off. Something had pounded the ship, damaging everything. Jenny didn't know much about spaceships but she could tell it couldn't have happened long ago.

Picking a direction at random Jenny ran down the corridor. Hearts pounding she passed empty rooms before finding the end of the corridor and a locked door. Jenny tried to force it open without much luck, until there was a loud clang. With a jolt the lock broke and she fell through.

Inside was the ships crew. Slumped around their consoles. Only two of them were adults, the rest were children. At the front of the room a flickering monitor screen showed a large dark green wedge hovering off to one side.

It was another ship, stuck there. 'Oh no. We're still under attack and they're boarding us.' Jenny whispered. The jolt that opened the door must have been their first connection to get on board.

She didn't now how much time she had, but guessed on less rather than more. If they were willing to attack a ship full of children they weren't the sort of people she would want to be friends with. There were two doors on either side of the room and another set of three tunnels at the back. That left three choices; back where she had come from, forward through the other door or wherever the tunnels went to. Considering she had no idea where the invaders were going to come from any was equally likely to get her killed.

Times like this she was her own worse enemy. Cart-wheeling across the bridge she threw herself down the far right tunnel. Flying down the tunnel feet first Jenny lent back and enjoyed the ride.

Harlen's head was pounding, that was the first thing he noticed. The second was that he couldn't move. 'What happened?'

'Stun bombs. They wanted to capture us alive.' Radu growled from beside him. They had been tied up and put in line on the floor of the Command Post. From further down the line Commander Goddard groaned as he tried to sit up. Only the three of them were awake.

'We called them Limpets back during the war.' The Commander explained. 'Andromedans would use them to capture cargo ships without damaging the supplies. We found a whole grave yard of our own ships after the war ended, I always thought it wasn't in character for your people Radu.'

'It wasn't. It's a Spung weapon for capturing escaped slaves.' Radu spat out.

'Silence!' Bellowed a Spung Harlen half recognised. It's deep voice dripping menace. 'This ship is impressive. Fast, agile and tough. A perfect trophy to take home.'

'I know you don't I?' Harlen asked.

'You remember me boy. Good. I am, of course, Warlord Shank of the Spung Empire. You are my prisoners to do with as I please.' The green lizard like alien tapped his chrome baton across his folded arm. 'We will wait for my men to bring your crew mates here before I begin.'

'I'll never serve a Spung!' Radu struggled. 'I'll die first!'

Shank beat him down with a swift blow from the baton. 'It has been a long time since I had to brake in an Andromedan, but I still know how. By the time I've finished you'll be glad to serve.'

'Don't bet on it. I fought during the war.' Commander Goddard said coldly. 'You're no match for Radu without your toys. Some Warlord, you capture us in a sneak attack just after a rescue mission. What's the matter? Couldn't beat a bunch of flunking students in a fair fight?'

Shank spun on him, bringing his baton up before stopping. 'Good, keep trying to anger me. I have no intention of leaving them alone and you'll live long enough to see them suffer.'' The Warlord hissed, eyes bulging.

One of the doors opened and two more Spung came in. One carrying Rosie and the other pushing THELMA ahead of them. 'These are the only two we were able to find.' The one carrying Rosie grunted before throwing her down next to miss Davenport at the far end of the line.

'We think there might be another,' the other one said. 'But this robot won't answer.'

'Really?' Shank asked before sizing up THELMA and asking with false pleasantness. 'Why is that?'

With a quick "boing" noise the android tilted her head. 'I am THELMA. My name is comprised of:- Techno Human Emulating Machine. It is my duty to help the crew of the Christa. You are not the crew, thus I am not obliged to assist you in anyway. Further more you have invaded the Christa against the crew's wishes. I must find some way to stop you.'

Shank took a deep breath but Harlen could see he was angry, his tail was literally quivering with rage. 'Is there anymore crew on board?'

'I cannot say.' THELMA tilted her head.

Shank snorted. 'If you're programmed not to harm these humans listen carefully. I will kill everyone of them, slowly, if you do not tell me what I want to know.'

Harlen made a decision, one any stardog captain should make. 'Don't tell him anything THELMA!'

Shank turned his crazy eyes to Harlen 'Ahh so there is another human. Good.

'You.' He gestured at one of the Spung with his weapon. 'Go back to the ship and bring a full search party. Find whoever is left before they recover. I will stay here and acquaint myself with the controls.'

Jenny pressed herself against the column. The tunnel had taken her to a big room with some sort of power generator in the middle, glowing a subdued orange. She might not have been an engineer by training but her time on the Liandra with Na'Feel had shown her she had the knack for it.

The knack, as it were, told her it was flat out of power but recharging. She'd had a look around and read some of the dials. The way they were slowly climbing it would take a while for power to build. It didn't help right now but as soon as she disconnected the other ship it would be very useful.

Jenny had just found the crew member down here when the door slid open and an alien entered. A head taller than her, even stooped over as it was, the creature was green, muscular and wore thick leather like armour. She could tell it had a scaly hide underneath and it carried a long fighting spear. The creature wasn't very stealthy, slapping a long tail on the floor with every other step.

From the way it moved and looked attentively in all the wrong places Jenny could tell it was of low rank and inexperienced. Despite herself all her pre-programmed training kicked in. If she took it out there was a chance it would raise an alarm. It would be far better for her to leave it be, evade detection and find more information before continuing. The unconscious girl with multicoloured hair was already a casualty.

Jenny winced. She wasn't a solder, she was a child. It was Jenny's duty to protect her. Pushing her training back along with the urge to kill. Jenny slid around the column. Smoothly she extended her leg and connected with the invaders gut. Doubling it up.

With both hands she pulled the spear from it's stunned grip and caught it on the jaw with the back. The tough creature was still standing, but stunned. Throwing the staff away Jenny kicked the invader back before connecting with a right cross. Still it stood up, at least for a moment.

Then it's eye's crossed and it fell to one side.

Behind her Jenny heard a squeak, spinning she saw it was the girl. Awake and shaking with fear. She was looking first at Jenny, then at the invader and back at Jenny as if she couldn't believe what she had just seen.

Jenny didn't have time for this. Only an idiot travelled an unknown environment alone. 'There'll be more than one, come on. Quickly.' The girl just blinked in shock. Jenny decided to give her a moment and picked up the spear. The invaders were tough, she was going to need a weapon.

Taking hold of the spear Jenny cracked it across her thigh, snapping about a third off with the tip. It hurt, but she needed it short and as non-lethal as she could get it. Looking back at the terrified girl she was on her feet. Scared half out of her mind, but on her feet. 'I don't know this ship as well as you do. But neither do they, I can help.'

'Okay.' She squeaked out, eyes still wide. 'How did they get in here?'

'There's a big ship outside, I thing they've got an airlock. We need to find a way to get them off this ship and back to their own.' Jenny said as she jogged to the door and looked out it was all clear. 'Lets' go.' She whispered. 'And leave that there.'

The girl was eyeing up the spear tip before looking up. 'Watch out!' she half shouted. Jenny didn't need to think, she felt the shadow behind her.

Given how well it had worked on the other one she threw her elbow into the invaders gut. Once again hitting his soft underbelly. With her stave she smashed him across the temple and pulled back.

With it's head in it's hands she had a chance, striking them across their back she was able to get an arm around and get them in a headlock. A good twist and she could kill it here and there.

Jenny paused. One less enemy to worry about. As simple as that. Any solder would do it, but she couldn't. Once again it wasn't just her Fathers words about it infecting her, changing her. It was deeper, even genetic. Constantly fighting her programmed training and it was still winning.

Before it was too late Jenny held off twisting and pulled down and back. Charging the invader into the floor head first and knocking it out cold.

Getting back to her feet Jenny saw the girl fumble with the spear tip. 'I told you to leave it. If you want to help never do that. Understand?'

She looked down at her hands and threw the blade away. 'I understand.' she winced and got behind Jenny. 'Do you think there's anymore.'

'Of course there are, just non out there that I can see.' Jenny darted across the corridor and looked around before waving the girl over. 'Any ideas?'

End Chapter One

Authors note:-

If it helps, the girl, Catalina, was played by Jewel Staite. The same lass who played Kaylee in Joss Whedon's Firefly. The characters are pretty similar too. There are a few differences but I'll cover those.

Oh and don't forget this is a sequel to The Fire Still Burns. So any skills and insights (like Jenny's knowledge of engineering principles) are carried over. Hope that doesn't confuse too many people.