Prelude: When You Wish Upon A Starship…

The year 3411…

Denny felt the floor of his room shake from where he lay on his bed, reading from his holo-reader. The Starcrusier must've finally been touching down. Which meant they were finally here.

At that moment, the small comm-screen on the nightstand beside the bed came on. It was Denny's mother. She smiled at her son.

"We've arrived, Denny. The docking agents just have to finalize the passcode your father just transmitted and then we can board the station."

The screen blinked out, and Denny, smiling, flicked off his holo-reader and leapt to his feet. "Alright!" He quickly ducked down, fumbling under his bed until he found his red converse. He pulled them onto his feet, tying them as fast as his eleven year old fingers would allow him. He stood back up, dashing over to his dresser and grabbing the red baseball cap that rested there, pulling it down over his tussled blonde hair, before moving toward the doorway. The door slid open automatically with a whoosh, and Denny bounded out into the brightly lit, sleek white hallway…

And promptly collided with his older sister, Kelly. The two fell to the ground in a heap.

"Dammit!" Kelly swore. She quickly climbed back to her feet, straightening her short, denim skirt out, and pulling the pink top that barely covered her midriff as it was back down. "Why don't you watch where you're going, you little spaz?" She ran her hand through her long, curly black hair and sighed. "I just finished doing my hair. Now I need to find a mirror. Again."

"Jeez, sorry." Denny wasn't sorry at all. His sister had gotten so mean lately. Ever since she'd gotten accepted into First Class Administration School back on Providence Station. At first Denny had been happy for her. First Class was the highest you could get. You had to have really high marks (and Denny's, according to Denny's friend Luke, a certain amount of influence in your family) to even be considered for First Class. Denny's Father was on the board of Gateway Corp., who were responsible for the construction of most of the Warp Gates in the sector, so Denny supposed that may have been true.

Second Class was obviously second best. It was where most people got sent. It was for those with modest marks. Denny suspected (and his sister commonly reminded him) that second class was where he was most likely destined for. That was okay. Working as an administrator or a business official wasn't for him. He'd much rather work on a Starship! That's where a lot of Second Classers went. They got to crew commercial starships, or work in offices under First Classer, or the like.

Then there was Third Class. That was where all the below average kids and the ones that stirred up too much trouble went. Third Classers were sent off to labor camps or mines or factories. Or worse. Like the military. Where they were made to fight in the Dalek Wars.

Denny didn't like to think about that. Daleks terrified him.

It was because of the Dalek Wars that they were here, he supposed. Providence Station, which orbited a star in the Alpha Centauri system, monitoring a Warp Gate there, was growing too close to the ever expanding front line of the Dalek Wars. The Space Security Agency and the Earth Intergalactic Guard had taken over the station and ordered all civilians to evacuate. Denny's father had taken them back to one of their estates on Earth, before deciding they needed a vacation. Something to take their mind off the troubles.

Off the fact that the human forces may or may not have been engaged in a losing war with the Daleks.

It had come down to two choices, Kelly's pick of Stardasia, an ocean planet with a single continent that was entirely beach where they'd spent a summer the previous year, or Denny's pick of Space Station Disney. He'd never been and always wanted to go, ever since Luke's family had gone and Luke told him all about the Thousand Mile Roller Coaster. In the end, his parents had decided on SSD, since they hadn't been there before. A decision that infuriated Kelly.

"Oh, please!" she said. "You always give the damn baby what he wants. And now we have to go to some stupid amusement park, with idiotic robots designed to look like thousand year old cartoon characters?"

She'd stomped off before anyone could reprimand her. Denny never forgot the look she gave him.

One of utter contempt. Brothers and sisters were supposed to love each other, even if they annoyed one another all the time. Denny got the impression his sister didn't love him.

She caught him looking at her now as she fussed with her hair. "What? What're you looking at?"

"Nothing." Denny grumbled, turning away and heading toward the foyer, where the exit hatch was located. He really wished his sister wasn't here. More than that, he sometimes wished he didn't have a sister. He knew that was wrong, but at the moment he didn't care.

He wished Kelly would just go away.


Denny and his family stood in the terminal, waiting for the gate to open to officially admit them onto the space station. Denny couldn't wait. Luke had told him about the giant hologram of Mickey Mouse that stood at the center of the massive boarding chamber that guests who could afford the luxury level of the station first entered upon leaving their ships. How it greeted each of the guests at once, yet somehow seemed to speak only to each one individually, even using their names. Denny had asked his father about that a few days previous over breakfast.

"Oh, it's just a minor psychic circuitry," his father had replied. "Helps personalize the experience for each and every guest, so it seems like everything at the park is just for them. A chip in all the circuitry at the station, including in the talking holograms and robots, is capable of patching into the brainwaves of each person coming near them. Not completely, just skimming the surface to get a few base facts, so it's not too invasive. The person's name, favorite Disney character, that sort of thing. Then, it makes everyone believe that they're being personally addressed at once, when they're actually hearing a generic message."

Kelly, looked up from her cereal as he spoke, smiling wickedly at Denny. "Yeah. Courtney says the Haunted Mansion ride taps into your fears and makes you see the scariest thing you can think of. I know what you're gonna see, Denny!" She suddenly raised her voice, screeching in a robotic tone. "EXTERMINATE!"

"Kelly!" Her father had given her a warning look. "That's enough!"

Denny looked up at his father, fear in his eyes. "You don't think they really do that, do you?"

His father looked back at him now, shaking his head. "No, Denny. It's just a silly ride with ghosts and that. They wouldn't put anything that has to do with Daleks on the station. Not right now. Not with things the way they are."

Denny shivered, remembering the tone his father's voice at took as he said that last bit. Just then, a cheerful, high pitched voice came over a speaker at the top of the terminal. It was Mickey Mouse's voice.

"Haha!" he chirped in his trademark laugh. "Thanks for your patience, Mr. and Mrs. Warton, Kelly, and especially you, young Denny! You may now board the station! Enjoy your stay!"

The heavy door at the end of the terminal wooshed open and the Warton's stepped out.

And Denny felt his breath catch in his throat.

The chamber on the other side of the door was immense. Without a doubt, it was the biggest single room Denny had ever been in. It was a pure, glowing white, and dome shaped. All around it were doors, with glowing signs above them, each one leading to a different level, and thus, a different area of the park. Denny saw signs for "The Magic Kingdom" "The Mythical Lands" "The Holo-Suites" "The Night Life" and various others. The see of people was also larger than Denny had ever seen, of all shapes and sizes. Not just humans either. A green skinned couple, with prickles covering every inch of their faces walked by. Denny saw a business man, barking orders over his ear piece march by, followed by his two Ood servants. Yet another group walked past, if you could call it walking, that lacked any humanoid features whatsoever, two large, jellyfish like creatures, followed by a smaller jelly fish creature, wearing a Mouse Ears cap.

And dominating the center of the room, just like Luke had said, was an enormous hologram of Mickey Mouse, dressed in his usual red shorts with the buttons. Denny caught his eye, and he glanced down at the boy, waving a giant gloved hand. "Well, hey there, Denny! Hope you enjoy your stay here, and your sister doesn't pester you too much! May all your wishes come true!"

Denny beamed at this.

As they crossed the threshold, a young woman in a blue jumpsuit suddenly stepped infront of them smiling. She held up a hypo injector.

"Good afternoon folks!" she said cheerily. "My name's Erica. In order to gain access to the rest of the park, I'm going to have to stamp your hand as it were. This injector contains biodata nanos that will insure your access to various parts of the park. May I?"

Mr. Warton looked a bit uneasy at this. "Injections? I wasn't told there'd be any-"

"New policy," Erica interrupted quickly. "Can't be too careful in wartime, you know?"

Mr. Warton shook his head. "Of course. The new excuse for getting away with whatever you want. Whatever." He began rolling up his sleeve. "I paid an arm and a leg for this trip. Might as well get my money's worth, right?"

Mrs. Warton gave him a warning look. "Honey, don't start."

Erica took turns giving them all injections. Denny rubbed his arm and caught sight of the small mouse ear symbol that suddenly appeared on his hand. Erica noticed this and pointed to it. "There you are. Now when you want access to the rides all you have to do is run that symbol under the scanner at each ride entrance. Make sure you don't forget or you'll get quite a shock from the force field."

Mr. Warton raised an eyebrow. "Force field?"

Erica nodded. "New policy."

Mr. Warton shook his head. "Whatever. Let's just go in now." They walked away from Erica and into the crowd. "So, kids. Where do you want to go first?"

"Magic Kingdom!" Denny exclaimed.

"Night Life," said Kelly.

Denny looked at her, his eyes narrowing. "I can't get into Night Life. You have to be eighteen."

Kelly nodded. "Exactly." She looked up at their parents, grinning. "Let's go to Night Life."

Suddenly, a man stepped out in front of them, wearing the same style jumpsuit Erica had been wearing. He was holding a camera, which, before Mr. Warton could protest, he brought up to his face and snapped a picture of the family. The flash went off with a pop. It was the brightest flash Denny had ever seen, and for a moment he was completely blinded.

"Alright." Denny heard his father sigh, as he tried to blink the stars out of his eyes. "We're not paying for that." Denny's sight gradually came back, just in time to see the man pull the picture from the camera and offer it to Mr. Warton, who was clearly trying to blink the stars away as well.

"Don't worry, comes with admission." The man said in response to Mr. Warton's refusal to take the picture from him. "Catch a glimpse of mom, dad, and their boy as they come into the station for the first time."

"Wait a minute." Mrs. Warton took the picture from him and looked at it. Denny craned his neck to see it as well.

The picture showed he, his mother and his father looking a bit surprised. But other than that it was a nice picture of just the three of them. Mrs. Warton looked at it intently before sighing and handing it to her husband. "It's alright I guess. My hair's definitely looked better."

Mr. Warton looked at the picture and smiled. "It looks fine, dear. This is a great picture. The whole family. Me, my wife, and my favorite child."

Denny paused, before looking up at his dad. "I'm your only child, Dad."

Mr. Warton make a mock thoughtful face. "Oh yeah. Ah well. Still my favorite." He ruffled Denny's hair, grinning.

Denny grinned back. As the three started walking toward the entrance to the Magic Kingdom, Denny noticed, for the first time the song that was wafting over the massive room's loud speakers.

"When you wish upon a star, your dreams will come true!"

Denny's grin widened. Just he, his mom, and his dad. The whole family. This was going to be the best vacation yet!


AN: That's it for now, folks. For realsies this time. Obviously I've set a lot of stuff up here, and I very much intend to write a sequel and in fact a whole range of stories featuring the Eighth Doctor, Mira, Kylie, and several other characters, both familiar and brand new. Of course, really, this all depends on whether or not you all are even interested in reading further. I suppose we shall see! Thanks for reading and reviewing.