The Christmas Poison
By Lumendea
Chapter Four: The ATMOS Device
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.
….
Rose had only enough time to blink when the Doctor returned. He rushed out of the transmat and reached for her left hand.
"Run!" He snapped. "Luke, you've got to come with me!"
Luke made no move to run. The Doctor grumbled and reached for the sonic screwdriver, but the transmat flashed. Gasping softly, Rose turned to see what had come down. It was a stocky figure in metallic armor. Rose knew what it was in an instant from the stories of the other companions. The Doctor stopped moving for the door and Mickey pulled his firearm. Rose's right hand twitched and she braced herself to summon her sword.
"Sontaran!" Rose said. It was a little too loud because the figure stopped and looked towards her.
The Doctor didn't hesitate. "How did she know that?" the Doctor asked. "That's what you are, isn't it. A Sontaran. How did she know that?"
"I order you to surrender in the name of the Unified Intelligence Taskforce," Mickey said. His voice was even and calm.
"Your firearm isn't going to help here," the Doctor said. "Armor has a built-in Cordolaine signal. The copper excitation effect stops the bullets. They won't even fire."
"How do you know so much?" the Sontaran demanded. The Doctor just met his gaze and the Sontaran turned towards Luke. "Who is he? Who is she?"
"Her name is Agent Thorn," Rattigan said. He sounded nervous. "He didn't give his name."
"What are you doing?" the Doctor asked. "Is this how Sontarans behave now? Hiding up in their spaceship? Using human teenagers to bring their plans to fruition?" He nodded towards the armor. "Stopping bullets? Where's the warrior honor?"
"You dishonour me, sir."
"Then show yourself."
"I will look into my enemy's eyes!" The Sontaran removed his helmet with his two large fingers and thumb. As he pulled it off, he revealed the squat potato-like face that Rose had been told about.
"Ah…" Mickey breathed. "Okay."
"And your name?" The Doctor asked.
"General Staal, of the Tenth Sontaran Fleet. Staal the Undefeated."
"That will be a bit of problem if you're ever defeated," the Doctor said. Calmly, the Doctor picked up a racket and ball. Rose frowned slightly in confusion, trying to remember what the other companions had told her about Sontarans.
"Sir?" Mickey asked. Rose noted that he didn't call him by name.
"Mickey, this is a Sontaran. They are the finest soldiers in the galaxy, dedicated to a life of warfare," the Doctor explained. He began bouncing the ball on the racket like he didn't care. "A clone race, grown in batches of millions with only one weakness."
"Sontarans have no weakness."
"Oh, everything has a weakness," the Doctor said. "And yours is a good one all things considered."
"Aren't you supposed to be clever?" Rattigan hissed. "Only an idiot would provoke him."
"The back of their head," Rose said. "The uh… probic vent?"
"Exactly," the Doctor said. He grinned at her. "Yes, the Sontarans are fed by a probic vent in the back of their neck. That's their weak spot. It means that they always have to face their enemies in battle or else they expose their weakness. They can never turn and run."
"We stare into the face of death," Staal said.
Something in the room tensed and Rose's hand twitched with the urge to summon her sword. The Doctor, however, tossed the ball into the air and smashed it with the racket. It sped forward into the transmat only to bounced back and hit Staal in the back. He grunted in pain, stumbling forward.
"Run!"
The Doctor grabbed her hand as he ran past. There was a whirl of the sonic screwdriver and a hint of ozone behind them. Rose followed him and glanced back to make sure Mickey was following them. The three rushed down the corridors towards the main doors of the academy.
…
Rattigan dropped down next to Staal, trying to help him to his feet, but Staal shook him off. "Don't touch me. A Sontaran would rather be court-martialed than show pain. I must return."
Standing up and backing off, Rattigan gestured towards the transmat. "But he broke the teleport."
"Ha." Staal laughed and raised his baton. "Primitive sonic trickery." The end of his baton flashed and the transmat whirled again. "The device is now repaired."
Rattigan fell into step alongside Staal in the transmat. His shoulders were tense, but his expression was coldly calm as the device activated. A moment later the pair appeared on the bridge of the Sontaran ship. The alien soldiers looked towards Staal.
"Our presence is known," Staal said, marching forward through the dark bridge with Rattigan following. "Soldiers, we move to a war footing."
"I see you face battle open skinned, sir," another Sontaran said to Staal. "Might I share that honour?"
Staal turned to look at the Sontaran who spoke for a moment. "You may."
"Thank you." The Sontaran removed his helmet revealing a very similar face. Rattigan looked between them with confusion on his face.
"How do you tell each other apart?" Rattigan asked.
Both Sontarans looked at him with blank faces. "We say the same of humans," Staal said.
"Tell me, boy. How many ATMOS devices have been installed?" the second Sontaran asked Rattigan.
Rattigan stumbled for a moment but quickly recovered. "They've gone worldwide, but only about half."
"Which means four hundred million cars converted," Staal said. "A fine arsenal."
"Is it sufficient to trigger the conversion?" the second Sontaran asked.
"More than enough, yeah," Rattigan assured them. "And the test signal proved that it works! Fifty-two deaths in the same second. Man, that is just so cool." His glee radiated off of him even as the Sontarans gave him confused looks.
"Is the temperature significant?"
"No. That, that's just a phrase," Rattigan explained awkwardly. "But I'll get my people ready, General. Just tell me where and when."
"Have we infiltrated UNIT?" Staal asked.
There was a moment of hesitation. "There have been difficulties in securing a member with the proper access," the second Sontaran explained. "Only soldiers are near the clone center thus far."
"We must have an agent, Commander Skorr," Staal snapped. "Get to it."
"Yes, sir." Skorr nodded and moved to the teleporter. He vanished a moment later.
Rattigan exhaled slowly as the Sontaran vanished. He wasn't sure what kind of agent they wanted inside UNIT, but he knew that Skorr would get it. They were effective. He moved slowly over to the large window that looked down on Earth. It was so small. Blue and green with hints of browns and greys.
"ATMOS devices operating at one hundred percent efficiency. Orbit now holding at five five six point three, sector two seven zero," a Sontaran said.
"Continue," Staal said before moving over to join Rattigan. "War can never come too soon. Take your last look, boy."
"It was never big enough for me," Rattigan said. His words were dismissive, but there was a hint of tension in his voice.
"I like your ambition," Staal said.
"That doctor wasn't in a UNIT jeep," Rattigan said. "They probably used it because it didn't have ATMOS so how do we deal with him?"
"You said you didn't know his name," Staal said. He looked sideways at Rattigan.
"I don't. He just said doctor. Does that mean something?"
"There is an enemy of the Sontarans known as the Doctor," Staal said. "A face-changer."
"Do you mean he's an alien too?" Rattigan asked.
"Legend says that he led the battle in the last great Time War. The finest war in history and we weren't allowed to be a part of it," Staal explained. "Oh, but this is excellent. The last of the Time Lords will die at the hands of the Sontaran Empire, in the ruins of his precious Earth."
…..
Rose pulled out her phone as they sped away in her old SUV. Under other circumstances, she would have told metal foot Mickey to be more careful, but she was relieved to have gotten away.
"Stewart," the crisp voice of Kate greeted.
"Hi Kate," Rose said. "It's the Sontarans. We just ran into their general at Rattigan's Academy. UNIT should have files on them."
"Yes," Kate agreed. There was some commotion in the background. "Pulling it up now. Oh my, they look-"
"Yeah I know," Rose said.
"Tell her not to enter the factory!" the Doctor said from the front. "If there are any Sontarans in the factory then UNIT will get slaughtered. We're on our way back."
"Kate, the Doctor says to keep UNIT out of the factory. The Sontaran technology is too advanced for human weaponry."
"Bugger," Kate said. "Alright, we'll fall back, but please tell me that you have some kind of plan. We can't just isolate the factory forever."
Rose looked at the Doctor. "Do you have a plan?"
"I still need to sort out what ATMOS is," the Doctor said. "Tell her to set up a car with ATMOS in a secure room for me to work with," the Doctor said.
Rose relayed the message to Kate who sighed. "Alright, Rose. We'll get that done and I'll pull back the troops to the perimeter. Anything else?"
"Uh… keep an eye on the workers," Rose said. "The Sontarans use cloning technology so I'd isolate any soldiers who were in the factory alone."
"We had everyone in at least pairs of two," Kate said. "But message received. Are we sure that the workers aren't clones?"
"The Doctor seems confident on that," Rose said. "Just keep them at the old base. Hopefully, they'll come out of whatever was done to them."
"Understood. Keep us informed."
"We will," Rose promised. "And we'll be back soon." She hung up the phone and sighed. "Nothing to do now, but get back to UNIT and hope nothing goes wrong in the meantime."
"I still don't get the cloning thing," Mickey said. "If they can clone… why bother with the workers."
"Probably easier," the Doctor said. "Sontarans clone themselves and occasionally agents, but they also have mind control technology. First time I met Sarah Jane Smith, we were transported into the past where a stranded Sontaran was mind controlling scientists from the present to help him repair his ship."
"In the past?" Mickey asked. "Uh…"
"It was a weird one," the Doctor said. "Bottom line, they're happy to work with whatever they've got. Earth has a lot of people that no one goes looking for. A lot of those workers might also be homeless. Some drugs and suggestions, special food, and voila they can work 24 hours a day or close to."
"That's crazy."
"You humans are endurance machines," the Doctor said. "But for now, just drive and get us back to UNIT. I have a few thoughts on that ATMOS device."
….
Command Skorr was met with the two cloned soldiers in the silent factory. He looked around with a frown of displeasure. There were no human subjects waiting to be cloned.
"Have you not secured additional UNIT agents?"
"UNIT has ordered all troops to fall back from the factory," the clone of Harris answered blandly. "All personnel are now in the defensive line. Alerts not to enter the factory, not to engage with aliens, and not to go anywhere in groups less than four have been issued."
"Blast," Skorr huffed. "UNIT has anticipated our move." Skorr straightened up and almost smiled. "It is almost a pity that their actions ensure they will not die as soldiers. It would have been more honorable. Still, General Staal will not be pleased."
….
Whatever tension there had been at the factory had doubled by the time they got back. At least, all of the workers were gone now and the soldiers were organized in holding patterns behind barricades around the main factory. Everyone was rushing and moving as they pulled up and stopped. Mickey sighed in relief and patted the steering wheel.
"Back safe and sound," he said. "I'm glad Jackie isn't one to install every new piece of tech that comes around."
"No," Rose agreed. "She isn't. Not unless it is an improved phone system."
"True," Mickey said. "Still, don't want to think about what would have happened if we'd used an ATMOS car." He climbed out of the SUV and exhaled deeply. "Remind me to thank your mum."
"Please don't give her details," Rose said. She shivered slightly. "I don't need you making things worse."
"She's trying, Rose."
"I know." Rose shook her head and gave Mickey a smile. "Let's just be honest, we're two very different people."
"Usually," Mickey agreed. He looked at the Doctor. "Thankfully Rose doesn't slap."
"No, but she has a sword," the Doctor said. "Now, where's that car, Mickey. I need to figure out what we're dealing with."
"Of course," Mickey said. He straightened up, slipping back into full military mode. "One moment, sir."
Mickey saluted and the Doctor's expression tightened. As Mickey moved off to speak with an officer, Rose moved closer to the Doctor, standing close enough to him that their arms touched. He relaxed a little and looked around at the defenses. Then he looked up into the sky and shook his head.
"Doctor?"
"This is odd behavior for Sontarans," he said. "I don't like it."
"We'll figure it out," Rose said.
Mickey returned a moment later with Private Ross Jenkins and Rose smiled in greeting. He nodded to her and saluted the Doctor before escorting them to the space UNIT had set up for them. One of the UNIT jeeps was in the center of the small warehouse. There were a few boxes of materials pushed up against the wall, but it still gave the Doctor lots of room to work. Malcolm was just outside the door with some equipment, looking very uneasy.
"Are you sure about this, Doctor?" Malcolm asked. "Everything in the files about the Sontrans is much more straightforward. This doesn't seem to fit at all."
"I agree," the Doctor said. He pulled on his sonic screwdriver and looked inside at the jeep. "But I teleported onto their ship. It's definitely them and they are in orbit."
"What else do you need from us?" Malcolm asked.
"Stay out here for the time being," the Doctor said. Then he looked at Rose. "Any chance you'll stay outside."
"Not one."
The Doctor smiled, touched at Rose's reply and nodded towards the door. They walked into the lit warehouse and Rose looked back to see Malcolm, Mickey, and Ross lingering in the doorway. She wondered where Tosh had gone off to. The Doctor opened the hood of the jeep and pointed the sonic screwdriver at the ATMOS device installed into the engine.
"You tried sonicing it before," Rose said. "You didn't find anything."
"Didn't know what I was looking for," the Doctor said. "But now I know that it's based on Sontaran technology-" Whatever else he was going to say was cut off when strange spikes suddenly sprang out of the ATMOS device.
"Defense system?" Rose asked.
"No, this is something else. It's a temporal pocket, hidden just a second out of sync with real time."
"That's serious technology to invest into an invasion," Rose said. Then she paused. "Is this an invasion or something else?"
Then murky dark orange smoke began to pour out of the device. Rose's eyes widened and she took a step back, tugging the neck of her sweater over her mouth cautiously. The Doctor pointed the sonic screwdriver at the device again, but the smoke just kept spilling out.
"Doctor, that's not exhaust," Rose said.
"Rose!" Mickey called. "Come over here!"
"No, not just exhaust," the Doctor agreed. "Something more."
Then Malcolm made a sound of alarm. Rose looked towards him and Malcolm gestured frantically out of the warehouse. "Doctor!"
Grabbing Rose's hand, the Doctor tugged her towards the doorway. Already the warehouse was starting to fill with the ugly smoke. It tickled his nose as he tried to sort out the chemical composition, but he couldn't nail it. Then he looked outside. The rows of UNIT jeeps were all giving off the smoke through their exhaust pipes, suddenly running without any drivers. All around them, the soldiers were backing off with looks of confusion.
"They've activated the system," the Doctor said.
Malcolm's phone beeped and he pulled it out with fumbling hands.
"Doctor," Malcolm said. "Cars all over the world just started pouring out the gas."
"Millions of poison dispensers," Rose whispered. "I hope you have a plan, Doctor."
