Chapter 4 - No Good Options

Jake looked up from the phone and his face was hard and angry.

"I understand, I'm on my way," he bit out and looked at Diana. "We're going to Earth, there's been another bombing. Jackie and Pete and the kids. Their house is gone."

Diana had already been picking up her sand gun and shrugging on her jacket when she had seen the expression on his face change, now she turned to him, her jacket half-on, the other sleeve forgotten, and looked at him with big round eyes.

"Oh, Jake!"

"Yeah. Davian died, the rest are in hospital," he told her and he was now moving towards the door.

Diana shrugged on her jacket, holstered the sand gun in its spot, and grabbed a small cloth bag filled with ammo for it.

"Let's go."

"We'll take the Trans Mat to Torchwood One, they have a car waiting." He paused and took a breath. "I'm acting Head of Operations, Diana. He left me in charge..." He shook his head and slammed through the door.

"Good on him. No one better to leave in charge. You point me, and I'll go."

"No. Not good. This is bad. I am not the guy to be in charge here. I'm a shooter, a field agent. I can't do what he does," Jake disagreed.

"You're a strategist with a good head on your shoulders. You will never, ever convince me that anyone else could step into Pete's shoes in a crisis like this. Not even the Doctor could do it. He'd jump in, wave his sonic around, and be gone again."

"Diana, you don't get it. I can't be the diplomat, the salesman, the guy who gets union reps to go along with him. That's not me. Pete does that stuff," Jake retorted.

"It is you. Who talked down all the Mashas when we found out that Guinn was going to be allowed to live? Wasn't me!"

"That was inspiring the troops, talking to the other soldiers. This is different. I can't explain," he shook his head. "I'm only good in combat."

"This is combat," Diana countered. "Someone blew up Pete's house and we are going to find them and pound their heads into the pavement."

He shook his head, gave her a sad little smile, and kissed her gently.

"Never mind, Angel, let's go." He pulled a cell phone from his pocket and dialed as he walked. "Cassie? Yeah, good to talk to you too, get yourself to T-One and sit in the Big Chair till I get back, okay?" There was a pause as Diana could hear a stream of invective coming from the phone. "Because he left me in charge, that's why, and I am leaving you in charge, while I go find them." Another pause and more rather creative epithets. "I know, sorry, but it's Pete." There was now silence on the other end and then a soft reply. "Thanks, Cassie, I owe you." With that, he folded up the phone and marched into the Trans Mat station, punching the code for Earth.

"Give her a 'big chair bonus,'" suggested Diana as she stepped in with him. "Sort of like hazard pay, but more like, dealing-with-politics pay."

"No, what she really wants is me to bring the heads of whoever killed our people. We lost Ramani and Chris. They were on duty guarding Pete and Jackie."

For the second time in five minutes Diana was looking at him witha shocked expression.

"They're dead? Oh Jake, I'm so sorry!"

"Yeah, she wants their heads, so, let's go get them for her," he growled and they vanished from Gallifrey.

Aislynn, Guinn, and Taydin finished the scan and Guinn frowned.

"I think we've learned everything we can from here," Guinn told them. "We should report back to the Doctor."

"Agreed," Aislynn said. "I've transmitted everything to him ahead of us, but we'll be there in a moment," she said as Taydin punched in the coordinates and then she hit the de-materialization switches. She frowned at Guinn, but in a thoughtful way.

"You say that this girl hacked this system? The one in which we believe Rassilon was originally contained? Can you be more specific on precisely what happened with that?"

"That's the thing, I really can't. I knew the system was having issues. We had two Time Lords jack in and then go crazy shortly after," he explained. "But, we didn't know why."

"And it wasn't dismantled on the spot?" Aislynn sounded shocked.

"No, Rassilon said it was their 'operator error' that caused the problem. I forbade anyone else from doing a brain-to-brain interface with the computers after that, despite Rassilon's orders, but Tomoko thought I just meant a 'jack', she used a different interface device instead, but it was essentially the same," he explained and Aislynn was silent for several seconds, looking at Guinn thoughtfully.

"The mathematics… well, this may be painful to you personally," she looked at him with some concern.

"Don't mind that, Aislynn, I deserve whatever comes from all this," he waved her concern off wearily.

"I would debate that, but we really haven't time for an extended conversation about philosophy. Mathematically, I can't tell what the mental status of that girl may be. You, obviously, eventually recovered your personality, after Rassilon's possession was removed. I can't tell whether the same will hold true for her. It may or may not, but without more information, there is no way to know."

"He bound me up in compulsions, Aislynn, he never directly possessed me, there is a difference. Even so, the damage to my psyche was extensive. I am not sure that I really have fully recovered my personality. I was eight, after all, so I have little memory of who I used to be. As for Tomoko, I have little hope that there is anything left of her in there. He could have squashed her like a bug with little effort. Whether he did so or not, I don't know."

Aislynn closed her eyes for a moment.

"Agreed. The musical translations work properly only if resistance is basically non-existent. It looks very bad."

"Aislynn, as much as I worry for the girl, there are far more serious issues here. Rassilon must not be allowed to start playing his damnable games here in this universe, the way he did before. We have to stop him, no matter the cost to ourselves, billions of sentient lives depend on that," he informed her in agonized tones.

"Again, agreed. Does this girl have any… next of kin? Any relatives?"

"Me. I'm her father," he replied, feeling as though the words were each of them individual knives being shoved through his hearts.

Taydin and Aislynn both looked at him for a long moment and their eyes were blank and unreadable, then Aislynn nodded slowly.

"That's probably for the best," she said as the TARDIS materialized.

"Yes, I brought her into being, it's my responsibility and no one else's," he agreed and headed for the doors. "Damn Rassilon anyway," he grumbled and pushed into the airlock with a glower.

The Doctor looked up as he heard the materialization of a TARDIS, his hands still shaking a bit.

He'd gone to find his wife and, as soon as he had returned to the children's ward, he'd lost all urge to move away from it again. He was sitting beside his daughter's hospital bed, watching her chest rising and falling as she breathed. Tubes in her nose had been removed by Susan, who'd whirled through the wards making sure that the children weren't accidently killed by well-meaning human doctors, but the mark on her upper lip remained and she was still deeply asleep in a healing trance.

Her baby brother lay on the next bed, Rose holding his hand, his head swathed in bandages and his face, where it was visible, purple and blue from bruising. He looked so small and defenceless, so precious, and so vulnerable, that it broke his hearts.

Adie was standing quietly in the corner, with such a horribly lost, lonely expression that it was hard to look at her. She had barely said a word since they had arrived, but had simply stood like a sentinel, watching them all.

"Hostages to fate," he murmured and Rose looked up at him, her eyes equally bleak and nodded.

"Susan says they'll heal without any problems. She put them all under with no trouble, she says that's a good sign," Rose told him with forced cheer.

"Yes," he agreed, tracing his daughter's face with a tender gesture. "I've never been more grateful that Susan ignored me and became a doctor." He looked up and forced a small smile, for Rose's benefit rather than because he felt at all like smiling.

Soon, he'd have to leave them and go fight, but he found that he suddenly didn't want to. He knew what he had to do, what he must do, but he wanted nothing more than to sit beside his daughter and hold her hand until she woke up. He wanted to be here for her and the fact that he couldn't was tearing him apart.

For all his desperate rage at Rassilon, for all that he wanted to tear him apart for what he had done, he also wanted to stay right here and watch his little girl breathing. He was being torn apart inside by conflicting desires and he didn't know which way to go.

Adie kept an eye on them all and felt very naive, and very alone.

Somehow she had never imagined that people actually did bomb six-year olds. She had known it intellectually, but never really known it in her hearts, not really, not like this.

She leaned against the wall, watching them, and listening absent-mindedly to the echoing in her chest. Before it had been like a black hole, draining away her energies. It wasn't like that any longer; it was now more like a well, where it was possible to put one's ear to the ground and hear the distant, echoing drips of water, if one was very quiet. The overwhelming impression was still one of impossible, unimaginable distance.

Her bondmate was a desert soldier, a scout, and a spy: certainly a sensible man of the world. The Doctor was well experienced in everything imaginable, and even Rose had clearly been around the block a few times. She wondered if they ever got used to seeing small children in hospital beds… well not their own children, of course, one could never be expected to get used to that.

She just felt so young, ignorant, and helpless. She ought to know what to do, but she didn't. The only thing she could think of was just to try and be there for them. Not much of a plan, as plans went, but the best she could come up with.

Besides, looking at Jamie's and Jenny's still little faces, she wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else.

Jake and Diana came into the cheerless green hospital room. They were ready for action, but had also clearly come at a moment's notice. Jake was wearing his Torchwood fatigues, but Diana was wearing jeans, a leather jacket, fingerless leather gloves, and a T-shirt.

"Rose?" Jake asked and she got up to go hug him tightly.

"Dad and Mum are alive. Mum's out of danger, though Dad is still listed as critical," Rose told him. "They're in Ward Six, Donna and Wilf are there with them. Susan walked in, starting waving her sonic, ordering people about, and Dad went from the doctors expecting him to die any minute, to merely being 'critical' in about half an hour."

"That's wonderful to hear," Jake said with a relieved nod. "What's our next move?"

Diana went to give the Doctor a hug, but the icy cold look on his face made her pause and move to hug Rose instead, who gave her one in return. The Doctor's face was like granite and fire and had no give in it at all.

He stood up and looked at Jake.

"We got information from Guinn and Aislynn. They went to the house and did some scans. It wasn't terrorists, it was Tomoko, she is being controlled by Rassilon. She stole Adie's TARDIS, kidnapped Freeya and Justinian. So, next move? We find out where Tomoko took them and what Rassilon is up to. We have to go stop him."

"I hear Aislynn's TARDIS materializing," Rose said, as she leaned down to kiss her son gently. "We should go."

"I hate leaving them," the Doctor whispered, his face breaking and the anguish in his eyes apparent for a moment, before he tucked it back away, but the pain in him made Diana's heart break.

"Susan will be here with them all, she won't leave them," Rose reminded him, thought she looked equally torn, and he nodded.

When Diana turned away from the children's beds, she was all business again. It was obvious that the Doctor was barely holding it together, so she felt she had to be strong now, for him.

"What do you mean, where Tomoko took Adie's TARDIS?" Diana asked.

"When she hacked into the station computers, Rassilon downloaded himself into her brain," the Doctor replied. "Which is why when someone tells you not to jack into a system, you really ought to listen!" he told her in a fierce tone and stomped out of the room.

Diana's hands went over her mouth.

"When I found her, she was just… staring. She was wearing the circlet and it was like she was asleep and I… I didn't realize anything..," she stammered to a halt.

"How could you?" Rose asked. "It wasn't as though he posted a big sign or anything." She shook her head and took Diana and Jake's hands, her fingers cold in theirs, and then led them from the room. She did not look back at her children, where they lay there, still and broken, but her hands were holding onto theirs with a convulsive strength that revealed her inner anguish with bitter clarity.

Aislynn, Taydin, and Guinn stepped out of her TARDIS to see a group coming towards them.

The Doctor, Rose, Jake, Diana, and then Koschei, running in from another hallway, gathered together.

"Sorry, had some troubles with Susan's TARDIS, but I did get all the humans back, Owen and Katie too," Koschei told them all breathlessly.

"Were you able to repair it? Susan's TARDIS?" the Doctor asked.

"Sort of, well, enough to get us here, but that's it," he sighed and Aislynn frowned.

"That sounds bad," she commented and, behind her, Taydin looked worried.

"Rassilon did something to the ship, I can't figure it out just yet. Still, Susan will have access to the TARDIS medi-bay and K-9's help, which is more important, just now."

"Are you aware of the current status?" she asked him and he exchanged glances with Guinn.

"Yeah, I've been kept up on developments," he replied and the two versions of the same man had expressions that matched each other in grimness.

"Shall we go then? The Elysium is equipped with excellent tracking systems."

"Yes, if you please," the Doctor replied, his eyes distant and hard. The courtesy made Aislynn's eyebrow rise. The Doctor must be truly dismayed, if he hadn't even the ability to be rude.

"Susan?" Guinn asked Koschei, who shook his head.

"Staying here to care for the injured," he replied and Guinn nodded, looking suddenly relieved.

"Good." Koschei nodded back at him, the two of them obviously in agreement on that. Aislynn wondered what they were thinking, as Susan was obviously better at keeping herself alive and out of trouble than they were. Still, it wasn't her place to judge.

Aislynn unlocked the door and they all filled in behind her, none of the usual joking or laughter between them.

"Koscheis, if you would be so good as to handle the sensors, Doctor, Rose?" She gestured to the central column and took her own station there, Taydin taking the co-pilot's position as usual. Adyra took the position that normally the Koscheis would have had, while they worked on enhancing the sensor readings.

They all fell into place, flying the ship, six pilots moving together as one. Normally, it would have been a joyous thing, but now it was just a grim trip that they all had to make.

The ship materialized on one of the Command Centre docking station pads. The door opened and Guinn went first, making sure that the security remained off, none of them were sure that Rassilon hadn't returned and mucked about after all.

"No sign that anyone has been here," Guinn told them and waved them all out.

Aislynn shuddered visibly upon setting foot on the station and grasped her cane rather tightly, but said nothing, walking forwards somewhat unsteadily, Taydin's hand on her elbow, following the others.

"Thank you," she said to him in an undertone. "There are… many commands involved in this place. The fact that I am able to walk around relatively freely… well let's hope it means that I am making progress, hm?" she smiled at him, but she was very pale and it was clearly difficult to move about. Still, her face allowed for no pity and he merely nodded at her in understanding.

"Command and Control, then?" the Doctor suggested, Rose's hand in his as they walked through the hallways, the holographic people going through their ghostly routines around them.

"Sounds good," Dar agreed.

Guinn was already at the computer controls when they got there and he was frowning fiercely at the login history.

"It's not here," he grumbled and Koschei came to lean over his shoulder.

"Of course it isn't," Diana looked at him as if he was rather thick. "Have you ever actually talked to Tomoko about her philosophy of hacking? If you leave tracks, it's a sloppy job, or so she has told me on many occasions. Or else, you leave tracks that you want your follower to find."

"Yes, but there should have been something, some trace that the computers were active at all, you cannot make energy usage disappear without access to the underlying machine code and there is no way that she could have hacked that, no matter how clever she is."

"Why not?"

"Because she didn't exist in enough dimensions, at that point, to access it!" Guinn shouted. "Humans are not capable of properly hacking Time Lord computers, because our systems span more dimensions than they are capable of perceiving."

"Right, but Rassilon was there, wasn't he? Isn't this where she picked him up?"

"Which is what we were trying to tell everyone, before you interrupted," Koschei told her calmly, his hand on Guinn's shoulder. "Rassilon has erased the tracks."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's all right," Koschei soothed. "We know how clever Tomoko is, Guinn designed her brain, after all, but there are limitations. Now we have to figure out exactly what Rassilon was planning."

Rose ushered everyone from the room, except for Koschei, Guinn, the Doctor, and Darginian, who bent their heads together over the computers and went to work.

"Let's let them alone, everyone's tempers are a bit frayed," she told them soothingly, but Diana still looked a bit disgruntled.