"Doctor?" Jack asked when the silence had become uncomfortable and there was no movement from his friend.
When the Doctor did finally speak, it was in an almost inaudible whisper.
"Ten billion people, ten billion."
Then he was quiet again, but Jack could see the anger as every inch of him was trembling.
"Are you sure? The TARDIS could be off."
That was a mistake.
The Doctor rounded on Jack, eyes blazing with barely controlled fury.
"Sure, am I sure?" he spat.
He grabbed hold of Jack and hauled him up the ramp, and virtually shoved his face into the scanner.
"Chadra System, sixteen planets. Cirrus, the fourth planet, largest in the system, two moons, population ten billion men, women and children. It was here when the TARDIS wouldn't let me in, now it isn't."
Jack knew better than to push the Doctor away, instead, he waited for the Time Lord to stop trembling, and only spoke when the Doctor walked away.
"If it's been destroyed, there'd be debris, the moons would be gone, or out of orbit, but they're still here."
He still didn't move, but heard the Doctor let out a long breath.
"Possibly," the Doctor said and moved once more to stand by the console. "But there's no debris, no sign of anything that could cause a planet to just disappear. It's just gone, vanished, just like..." he trailed off.
Jack knew what he was thinking. "No Doctor, they're gone, you know it."
"You're right, but there must be something, it can't..." he stopped again.
This time Jack knew there was something the Doctor wasn't telling, and this time he said something, or tried to, but the TARDIS suddenly lurched, throwing both of them to the floor.
"The doors!" Jack yelled as the TARDIS lurched again.
The Doctor grabbed hold of the nearest strut as the TARDIS lurched again. He heard Jack's yell and using the strut to steady himself, he launched himself down the ramp.
He slammed the door and landed heavily on the metal grating.
Then he felt it again, that gnawing fear that had...no still plagued him...a nameless darkness, gnawing at his soul.
He fought it back, feeling it recede and stood up.
Without warning it hit again...no this was something different, something he had no defences against.
It blasted through his barriers, ripped through his mind and left his psyche screaming in fear.
He fell to his knees and his own scream matched that of his mind.
Jack had been surprised when the Doctor had flung himself at the doors, but he wasn't prepared for the Doctor to fall to his knees, grab his head and scream in pure agony and terror.
He couldn't move while the TARDIS was still lurching, but as soon as it stopped he was at the Doctor's side, but lost as to what he should do.
The Doctor's cries were deafening but he closed his ears to them and wrapped his arms around his friend.
"Hey it's okay, it's okay, come back, it's okay," he whispered.
Concern ran through him when the Doctor's breath hitched and he didn't take another breath
"Doc?" he said, hoping to elicit a rebuke over the shortening of his name, but it had no effect, and he began to worry.
He sighed, all he could do was wait, so he sat back, arms wrapped round the Doctor and waited. .
He could hear and feel ten billion screams inside his head, he could hear the pleas of the dying. But the all pervading darkness filled his mind and he screamed himself as it touched his very core.
"What are you!" he cried, but the darkness was as silent as the screams were loud.
"Why won't you speak to me? Tell me what you are?"
Then as if someone had thrown a switch, the screaming stopped and there was nothing but the silence and the darkness and the echoes of a ten billion people screaming.
He realised he'd stopped breathing and inhaled sharply, chasing the echoes away as he exhaled.
Jack had become increasingly concerned when the Doctor had become unresponsive and even more so when he'd stopped breathing. He was about to consider moving him to the med-bay when the Doctor took a deep shuddering breath.
A few seconds later he opened his eyes and Jack smiled at him. "Hey, welcome back, where did you go?"
The Doctor blinked and looked at him, and Jack could see the indecision on the Doctor's face.
"It okay if you don't want to tell me," he said, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice.
He let go of the Doctor and began to move away, when the Doctor caught hold of his arm.
"No Jack, I want to," he said quietly.
The TARDIS rumbled as if in approval.
'Tell him' she said 'Tell him everything.'
Jack's coffee sat untouched as he watched the Doctor.
They'd been in the kitchen for what seemed forever, sitting in silence, waiting for one of them to start the conversation.
"So, where do you want me to start?" the Doctor said suddenly.
Jack hadn't expected the Doctor to speak first, so didn't have a reply planned. "Wherever, how about where the hell did that wolf come from and what the hell was that Chaos and what has it to do with what's happening to you."
The Doctor hesitated but then began and didn't stop.
"The Wolf, that was the TARDIS, well part of the TARDIS, the part you really don't want to mess with, and quite frankly neither do I. She had to do it, she had to give me a chance to fight the Chaos."
The TARDIS projected an apology into his mind and promised never to do it again.
The Doctor smiled. "It's okay old girl, you did what you had to do."
Jack cleared his throat. "The Chaos?"
The Doctor sat back in his chair. "It was old, very old, a relic from the Dark Times. My people tried to destroy a long time ago, but they appeared to have failed."
"Is it dead?"
"I really don't know, but its small fry compared to what I felt."
Jack tensed, here it comes, he thought.
"Something is coming Jack, and war is it's pre-cursor. Not just a war between two races, it's a war between two universes. The Darkness is coming Jack, and I don't know if I can stop it."
The General looked on in dismay at the steady stream of refugees that flowed through the already over-crowded city gates.
The rumours of invaders had reached them a few hours ago. Now the rumour for real.
Then he saw them, the sleek shapes appearing from the sky.
He turned to his second-in command. "Send out a distress signal, tell them we are under attack."
He turned back to the sleek shapes that were now beginning to land. He couldn't see who the enemy were, but he could hear the cries of the people who were not yet in the city.
"Close the gates!" he ordered and closed his ears to the cries and screams of those left outside.
"The stars help us, let there be a saviour."
