The man was sitting in the corner fiddling with the display. Jenny was sitting at the table, playing absently with an empty cup and a spoon, staring at him. No matter how hard she tried, so couldn't accept that this man was her father, yet at the same time, she couldn't deny it.

It was frustrating to say the least.

Her thoughts drifted back to Messaline. In a way, she missed the naivety of her life there, especially when it came to the unique circumstance surrounding her, for lack of a better word, birth. To her, progenation seemed perfectly normal. Sure, you could have children the long way, but it you needed someone quickly, well, why not? Everyone was the same.

Once she had found her way off the planet and out into the universe, she had found that people didn't quite believe that. Progenation was almost exclusively used to create workers, settlers, or soldiers, all tasks that required long hours and lots of manpower. There, progenated people were important. But everywhere else, they were second class citizens, almost nothing more than machines. She had found herself suddenly very happy for the family she had.

What she had found most striking were the stories and myths about them. She had overheard a couple of children talking about them, ignoring the worker right next to them. They had said that they were nothing more than computer programs that had been downloaded into a human body.

That wasn't how Jenny had remembered it. She wasn't a program or some machine. She did have all this knowledge stuff back in her head that she tried her best to ignore, but still.

She actually couldn't remember anything before she was "born". There was no sudden flash of insight or feeling of coming into existence. Suddenly, she just was.

When the machine had opened, the gas that had served as a catalysis spilling out, she found herself stepping outside and looking around. There were walls and a ceiling, though she couldn't say how she knew they were called that. She just did. Knowledge had swelled in her mind, almost like a voice barking at, telling her everything she'd need to know, like a drill sergeant. Not that she had known what that was either before right then.

"Here, arm yourself," a voice had said, shoving a gun into her hands. She hadn't known she had hands.

It was a P290 suppression rifle. She knew it as well as she did her own hands, and just as suddenly too.

She examined the stock and barrel, noting the position of the firing pin. She pulled out her gun's magazine, checking to make sure that the bullets where ready. All the while more voices from the outside were talking. She had heard other voices, but they hadn't matter. They weren't soldiers, so they could wait.

But suddenly one of the voices cut through. It came outside, yet oddly in a way, from her mind. "Well, she's, well… She's my daughter."

She had looked up. He was the first real person she'd seen. He was tall with brown hair and deep brown eyes that seemed so guarded. There had been a sense of familiarity about him, and for the first time, the knowledge didn't tell her anything. For a heartbeat, she hadn't known what to do, but then a different voice murmured in the back of her mind, supplying what she needed.

She had smiled. "Hello Dad."

The inner-sergeant started barking again and she'd followed. She was a soldier, it had told her, and it was time to fight.

And she did.

After the battle was over, after she'd destroyed the tunnel, he had been mad. She hadn't understood why, she had just done what she was told to. So he had lost his friend and his ship on the other side. He still had his other friend, he had come out ahead. Repeating that to them hadn't got the reaction she had been hoping for.

He had been disappointed in her and it was crushing. And she had found herself questioning what she knew. It was following these orders and protocols that had made Dad angry. But she had only done what had made sense. There was nothing else there, not even a name to give Donna when she asked.

"She's a generated anomaly."

"Generated anomaly. Generated. Well, what about that? Jenny."

"Jenny?" The military side of her hadn't even bothered with a response, but that low murmur from before, the one that had told her who her father was, did. "Yeah, I like that. Jenny."

After they had all been escorted to headquarters, she found she knew exactly who General Cobb was, probably another benefit from her military side. Dad had seemed a little cautious at first, as if he was feeling the General out. He had scoffed at the idea of the Source and seemed different in every way, almost like the other low murmur in her mind.

When Cobb had declared a way to end the war, Dad had snapped.

"Then you need to get yourself a better dictionary. When you do, look up genocide, and you'll see a little picture of me there and a caption that reads 'Over my dead body!'"

Unsurprisingly, they had been thrown in a cell. Hardly even a moment passed before Dad had been moving. Watching him plan and scheme, Jenny couldn't help but feel he was a soldier. He had denied it, but it was there. Maybe he wasn't a soldier like she was, but he was a soldier none the less. Maybe he had reached some sort of balance between his military side and his other side. Her two sides seemed to be in direct conflict.

She could learn so much from him.

Which is why she was almost crushed when he tried to leave her behind. Before she could even speak, Donna was defending her. She hadn't understood at the time what happened next.

Donna asked Dad for something called a stethoscope, and held it to Jenny's chest. After listening for a moment, she held the ear buds out for Dad. As he listened, though they were still guarded, she could see the pain in his eyes.

"Two hearts."

"Exactly."

"What's going on?"

"Does that mean she's a… What do you call a female Time Lord?"

"What's a Time Lord?"

"It's who I am, where I'm from."

"And I'm from you."

His eyes had flashed, and for a moment, she felt such rage and power, beyond anything the military side of her could understand. "You're an echo. That's all. A Time Lord is so much more. A sum of knowledge, a code, a shared history, a shared suffering." The dull pain had returned then. "Only it's gone now. All of it." He sighed. "Gone forever."

She had still been trembling. "What happened?"

"There was a war."

"Like this one?"

He'd snorted. "Bigger. Much bigger."

"And you fought. And killed.

"Yes." It had been so soft she almost hadn't heard it.

"Then how are we different?"

He had stared at her, as if finally seeing what she was. Or maybe what she could be.

At the very least, he had taken her with them. He had complained during the escape, apparently annoyed at some of her methods, but they seemed to have less of a sting to them.

She had noticed something odd after they had gotten away, and were approaching the Source, that mythical thing that both Cobb's army and the enemy army, the Hath, were hunting. The two of them, Dad and Donna, they were always going on about things. Trying to figure out puzzles that really didn't matter. A soldier didn't think that much, so maybe Dad wasn't a soldier. Donna certainly wasn't. So what were they, what did they do?

"I travel, through time and space."

"He saves planets," Donna supplied, "rescues civilizations, defeats terrible creatures, and runs a lot. Seriously, there's an outrageous amount of running involved."

Jenny had grinned. Now that sounded amazing.

Soon after they had found themselves trapped in a corridor, a Mark 74 Abraham Laser Grid (according to her military side) in front of them and Cobb's army closing from behind. Dad would be able to fix it, she knew he could, but he'd need time.

And she could buy him that time.

But as she had started to run back to find a good place to 'stall' the enemy, Dad had stopped her.

"Where are you going?"

"I can hold them up."

"No, we don't need any more dead."

"But it's them or us."

"It doesn't mean you have to kill them."

"I'm trying to save your life."

He had grabbed her shoulder's then, his face earnest. "Listen to me: killing," he had paused. "After a while, it infects you. Once it does, you're never rid of it."

"But we don't have a choice.

"We always have a choice."

"I'm sorry." She had ran back to hold them, hearing him call after her.

She had settled behind a crate, and saw them charging up toward her. She had opened fire, driving them into cover. They, of course, returned the favor.

A minute passed, ducking in and out of cover, keeping the enemy at bay. Nothing really seemed to have been happening, though. Finally, she had found herself staring at her P290. The military side of her was screaming for her to shoot and kill, but the other side, it just seemed sad.

"Jenny, come on!"

"I'm coming."

Cobb had help up a hand. "Cease fire! Cease fire!"

"Jenny, leaving, let's go," her Dad had yelled from down the hall.

Cobb had stepped out into the center of the corridor. "You're a child of the machine. You're on my side. Join us. Join us in the war against the Hath. It's in your blood, girl, don't deny it."

Jenny leveled her P290 at him. No, she wasn't like that. She was his child, the child of a Time Lord. She could stop this army cold. One clear shot and Cobb would be dead.

Listen to me: killing… after a while, it infects you. Once it does, you're never rid of it.

He saves planets, rescues civilizations, defeats terrible creatures, and runs a lot.

What's a Time Lord?

It's who I am, where I'm from.

And I'm from you.

Well, she's, well… She's my daughter.

It was in that moment that Jenny had made her final decision. It didn't matter what she was created to be, she was the Doctor's daughter, and she wanted to be just like him.

And so she hadn't killed Cobb. Instead, she had shot the pipe above him, causing high pressure steam to shoot down in front of him. It would stall their advance till they could find the shut off, buying her Dad some time.

When she had reached the Mark 74 ALG, Donna and Dad were at the far end of the hall. Right before she crossed the threshold into the grid itself, it reactivated.

"Oh, no, no, no," Dad had said. "The circuits' moved back."

"Zap it back again!" Donna cried.

"The controls are back there."

Jenny could hear the army behind her resume their charge. "They're coming."

"Wait, just-" Dad looked around rapidly. "There isn't- Jenny, I can't-"

"I'll have to manage on my own, then" she had said with a grin, tossing the P290 to the side. The military side of her was screaming that it was impossible, that she should have shot Cobb, and that she was going to die. Her other side was quite confident, however. "Watch and learn, Father," she had said with a grin.

She had dived forward, twisting her body and using the momentum to carry through the grid. Each movement had merged into the next, and she spun, going hand to floor to foot to floor to hand to foot, et cetera. When she had landed her final flip, she had been shaking with adrenaline but smiling widely.

"But that was impossible!" Donna sputtered.

"Not impossible," Dad had said with a grin as big as Jenny's, "just a bit unlikely." He grabbed her in a hug and her heart soared. "Brilliant. You were brilliant. Brilliant."

She had started to babble as he released her. "I didn't kill him. General Cobb, I could've killed him, but I didn't. You were right." She could see in his eyes that he was proud of her.

Cobb ruined the moment, of course, by showing up on the other side of the grid. And so they ran. She had almost been in a daze. He was proud of her.

Later, as Dad had been trying to find their way, Donna told her about what it was like to travel with him and to see new worlds.

"I'd love to see new worlds."

"You will. Won't she, Doctor?"

"Hmm?"

"You think Jenny will see any new worlds."

He had regarded her for a moment. "I suppose so."

It dawned on her what that meant. "You mean, you mean, you'll take me with you?"

"Well, we can't leave you here, can we?"

The idea made her ecstatic. She had raced off, hoping to find the way as soon as she could so they could finish as quickly as possible.

Finally, after nearly being run down again by Cobb's army, they found a ship. Not just a ship, the ship that had brought everyone here, just over a week before. And that was the biggest thing. An entire war, fought in a week, all thanks to machines that could pump out soldiers by the dozens and hundreds to go and die.

In the ship, they found the Source. And then Dad ended it. Both armies, Cobb's and the Hath pointing guns at him, and he ended. He smashed the Source, releasing the terraforming gases it carried to change the surface of the planet from a radioactive swamp to an idyllic forest. And as the golden gas slowly climbed up toward vents to make it ways out into world, both armies lay down their weapons.

Except Cobb.

Jenny had been standing next to Dad and just happened to be looking the right way. In Cobb's eyes, it had been easy to see he felt cheated of victory. As his arm started to move, for the first time, her military side and other side were in agreement, and she stepped in the way of the bullet.

Dad had caught her as she fell. She'd heard Cobb get wrestled down by his own men. It was suddenly hard to breathe. She had found her gaze wandering, trying to take in as much as she could. The golden gases had caught her eye. "A new world. It's beautiful."

"Jenny," Dad had said as it got even harder to breathe, "be strong now. You need to hold on, you hear me." He was smiling at her, but it was a fake one. "We've got things to do, you and me. Hey? Hey?" He paused. "We can go anywhere, everywhere, you choose."

She'd known that was never going to happen, but for some reason, when he said it, it gave her hope. "That sounds good."

He then put one hand on her check. "You're my daughter, and we've only just got started." It was almost impossible to breathe. "You're going to be great. You're going to more than great. You're going to be amazing. You hear me, Jenny."

She had been staring into his eyes as the last of her breath faded. The guards in his eyes had come down again and she could finally see him for what he was. So much pain and rage, wounded pride and loneliness, such a love for life yet such a fear of it. He wasn't a soldier. Soldiers followed orders, went into battle and died.

No. He was a warrior, a beast, a man who, if he ever wanted to, could crush everything that was, is, and could ever be. It was almost like he was a reflection of the universe itself, a collection of all things, good and bad, a sinner trying to be a saint. If he was a Time Lord, than he must have been their greatest, because she couldn't imagine another like him.

Those had been her closing thoughts as the world had gone dark.

The darkness seemed to last forever. Finally, a noise that she had never heard before echoed. It was like a whine or maybe a groan, perhaps even a wheeze. What it ever it was, something about resonated inside of her.

No, she wasn't dead yet. And so she woke up, startling the Hath and human standing over her.

"Hello boys," she said with a grin.

A sudden clatter shook her out of her reverie. Carlos had knocked over several crates, including one filled with guns. P290s, AK749s, Glock Sigmas and even a Merdock 598 Personal Stunner were sprawled across the floor.

"Sorry, sorry," he said, waving sheepishly, bending over to start picking up the crates.

"Are you okay?" she asked, getting up to help him.

"Yeah, of course," he said. He smiled at her. "Still just a little shaken up from today. Really close call, you know."

"How close?" The man claiming to be Dad was standing behind them.

Carlos shrugged. "You know, close."

"Tell me."

"I-" Carlos stopped. "I really don't remember."

"Not really all that surprising," Jenny said, getting the last crate into place. "I'm sure lots of people find remembering traumatic events hard."

The man was frowning. He snorted. "Maybe."

Carlos shook his head. "I think I'm going to go to bed. A night's rest should do me good." He nodded to Jenny and then headed for his bunk.

"You should go to bed too," the strange man said. "We have a long day tomorrow."

She turned to make a retort, something along the lines about how he wasn't her father and he should treat her like a child, but stopped. She had only seen it for a second as he turned away, but his eyes had a very familiar dull pain.