The Doctor, while not being totally pleased about his capture, had also been in so many capture situations that it was starting to feel almost routine. On the other hand, Aliya had escaped into the Ventilation shaft system, so there was hope of a rescue. Of course, he would much prefer if she returned to the safety of the TARDIS, but had known Aliya for centuries and knew that she would be determined to rescue him.
As the Sontarans led him to the Primary Flight Deck, the Doctor thought about the words he had been planning to speak to his companion before the alarms went off. I think we're missing something. The nagging feeling returned to his head the moment he thought about it. None of it made sense. The Sontarans weren't the type of species to hide out, which is what they appeared to be doing. They were wanted for numerous crimes throughout the universe, but seemed to be lying low on a planet that Judoon couldn't land on without dying. There had to be something else, something more than just a hideout...
He wished Aliya were with him, namely because her brain combined with his would be incredibly helpful. Donna had been brilliant for bouncing ideas off, but Aliya had even more potential, being the same species as him.
"So...The Primary Flight Deck, huh?" The Doctor said casually to the Sontarans. "Got any comfy chairs? I do like it when they have comfy chairs."
"Comfort is irrelevant," one of them replied touchily.
"Well you would say that, wouldn't you? I mean look at you, you're just soldiers who know only war and strategies! Ever heard of a thing called a 'day off', or relaxation?" He pointed out.
"They are non-productive. Sontarans are not as idiotic as to waste time on leisure."
"Fine then, be boring. Your loss," he muttered. They had reached a door by this point and one of the Sontarans opened the door, and the group continued on into the Primary Flight Deck.
"We have brought the male," the leading Sontaran said to the General at the front of the flight deck. He turned around to scrutinise the Doctor with his beady eyes, though the Time Lord didn't flinch or blink.
"What are you doing on our ship?" The General asked him.
"Me? Just...having a look," the Doctor answered.
"You lie," he said. "I can see it on your face."
"Alright," the Doctor admitted, preparing to get dramatic, "I was sent by the Shadow Proclamation, because –as I'm sure you very well know- you're wanted for multiple crimes all across the universe. Usually they wouldn't get me involved, but you released that mineral into the atmosphere which stops the Judoon landing here, which I'm sure you know perfectly well." He stopped quickly for breath, taking in the almost completely blank mask of the General that showed only the tiniest ounce of surprise. "Of course, that's not the only thing that's going on here. There's something else, something I haven't figured out yet, but I will; for the same reason the Shadow Proclamation sent me here, because I'm the only one that can stop you, because I always do. Because I'm...The Doctor."
All in all, he had thought it to be quite an impressive ramble. The Sontarans didn't seem to agree, for the moment they heard that he was the Doctor they trapped him in a chair with metal straps that restricted his arm movement to almost nothing, with the General boasting in the background about how he was going to be the one to bring the Doctor's death, but not before he found his companion so they could die together after watching their plan unfold.
"Oh, and about my friend. You see, I'd say good luck with finding her, because you're going to need it," the Doctor started again, "Because when that woman doesn't want to be found, she often isn't. Of course, I would say good luck, but I'm not an idiot. I may be many things and do many less than clever things, but even I know that that's just asking for it," he leant back against the chair with satisfaction, content with what he said and now content with just waiting. Aliya wasn't really as much of an expert at evasive manoeuvring as he'd claimed (or at all, really), but the Sontarans didn't need to know that.
"Every inch of the ship with be checked until she is found, and then we shall kill you both, for the good of Sontar!" The General said haughtily. "Sontar, ha! Sontar ha..." He had started the chanting among his men and the Doctor rolled his eyes, bringing his head down between his knees so that his fingers could reach his ears, blocking out the ridiculously annoying chanting of the Sontarans.
After returning everything but the sonic back to her pockets, Aliya leant against the wall of the shaft and sank into deep thought. Something was going on that she and the Doctor hadn't picked up on, and she was sure he was also aware of it, and – like her - at this moment was probably trying to figure out what it was they were missing. Although they would have got it a lot faster bouncing ideas off each other, they were going to have to work it out on their own.
Problem was, Aliya had no idea where to start. That was why she needed the Doctor, as he had much more experience with these sorts of things.
Before she could go any further, a breeze ran through the shaft. Without any better ideas, she decided to follow it back to its source. After a couple of minutes of crawling she came across a hatch in the ceiling, that once opened led her to the top of the ship. Cold, damp wind met her face as she climbed from the hole, and blew her hair around her face in a way that made it quite a nuisance. The metal of the ship's strangely generalised exterior – compared to most Sontaran spacecrafts - was extremely cold against her bare feet, and she shifted her footing with uncertainty. The wind struck her again, chilling her exposed face and neck.
It was peculiar, because the strange temperatures she was sensing from the environment was telling her that had the wind not been there, it should have been warm. As centuries ago she had studied many planets and cultures at the Academy, she knew that Strepto was not a warm place, therefore the strange warmth aroused suspicion in her gut.
Instinctively, Aliya raised her head to the sky to look at the sun which hadn't been visible through the dense foliage of the jungle. She couldn't hold back the shiver that ran down her spine as she shielded her eyes from the unnaturally bright glare coming off the bright orange sun. She held up her sonic up to the sky, scanning the orbiting star that just seemed so wrong. The readings astounded her.
But how could that be right? Even they can't be that stupid, the blonde thought. It seemed as though the star had been enhanced by something, a completely foreign element inside the sun. Something had been added to it, and messing with natural substances on such a huge scale was incredibly dangerous. The readings told her that it was pure Hydrogen Peroxide, which left the Time Lady wondering how the sun hadn't exploded, since that was one of the most flammable substances in the Universe, not even including the huge amounts of hydrogen and oxygen in the sun that it would be able to ignite, and should have already. She'd failed chemistry back at the Academy, but even she knew how serious the situation had become.
Aliya used the sonic to scan as much of the ship as it could, and almost instantly picked up a particle transmitter that was on top of the other side of the ship. After further examination, she discovered that the transmitter was what was injecting the sun with Hydrogen Peroxide, which could be quickly stopped with the screwdriver, but there was still the lingering problem that there was already enough in there to cause an explosion that could only safely occur in suns three times the size.
She climbed back down into the ventilation shaft, mind working at top speed to absorb all the new information and figure out what it meant.
Either the Sontarans wanted the planet to overheat – possibly to dry up the marsh, though why? - or they wanted the sun to explode.
"And because of the added chemicals, it won't just explode; it will turn into a supernova. A supernova so powerful there's no question it will turn into colossal black hole, one that will suck in the whole planet, and maybe others," Aliya finished for herself aloud, sucking in a needed breath when she realised how much was at stake. But she needed the Doctor, and somehow had to rescue him from a room full of Sontarans. Brilliant, she thought to herself sarcastically, just bloody brilliant. This sort of thing is why I chickened out of all of this the first time.
Aliya crawled along the shaft with the sonic between her teeth, using her memory for the general direction of the Primary Flight Deck. Once she got close enough, the boastful voices of a Sontaran - who almost definitely had a high rank, if his attitude were anything to go by - led her to where she wanted to be. Looking through the grate hatch of the shaft down into the room, she found herself to be right overhead of where the Doctor was imprisoned in a chair.
Digging around in her pocket for something to throw at him, Aliya pulled out a pebble which she then dropped through one of the holes in the grate so that it hit him on the crown of his head. He remained silent but inclined his head upwards to spot her, meeting her eyes with only mild surprise. Even though she now had his attention, the next part was going to be harder.
Aliya realised that she needed to be able to communicate with him without speaking, and began to use a sign language that had been part of the mandatory basic languages course back in the Academy. She kept it simple, with the two phrases 'I'm going to get you out' and 'catch'. Then, she dropped her sonic screwdriver with as much aim as she could manage through the hatch and watched it fall into his right hand. While he spun it in his fingers to undo his straps, Aliya silently opened the hatch so he could climb up. He was now free from the chair and had placed the sonic in his pocket so he had both hands ready, and jumped.
It only took a few seconds for the Sontarans to notice his departure and start getting testy about it, but the Time Lords were too busy crawling down the shaft to care, the Doctor leading the way this time. When they were far enough away, they stopped.
"I'm exactly sure what they're planning but it's something bad. Something so bad that by the time the Shadow Proclamation has cleaned it up, they'll be galaxies away," the Doctor told Aliya, and she nodded in agreement.
"It's a black hole. They're creating a black hole," she said quickly.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow with disbelief. "What do you mean, a black hole? You can't create a black hole. Well, the Time Lords did, but no one else can!"
"No, but a supernova does it naturally," she said.
"Supernova?" He repeated worriedly, running his fingers through his hair. "Do they have a specific one in mind?"
"They're using a particle transmitter to inject this planet's sun with Pure Hydrogen Peroxide. The excess energy coming off it probably created whatever mineral it was that stopped the Judoon being able to land here. The sonic should be able to disable the transmitter, but there's already a lethal amount of it inside the sun. It should already have ignited," Aliya said, and the Doctor felt a wave of pride hit him, having found all of it out on her own. It made a difference from the last time they had travelled together – and that had ended somewhat badly – when she had been quite reserved and stayed close to his side where possible.
"And when it does it will turn into a supernova so big that it was create a black hole big enough to swallow this whole planet," he concluded, and she nodded. "They're probably holding the sun back to make for a bigger black hole."
"I thought that too."
"Now we've just got to stop it. From the sounds of it, there is no way of neutralising it..."
"There isn't."
"So the only other way would be to retract the particles back out using the transmitter," he considered. Aliya brightened at the idea only to shake her head and frown a few moments later.
"Except the readings said that it was released gradually in small amounts, which means a concentrated dose that large would be lethal, and harmful at the very least. The transmitter would probably just explode. It's impossible," she sighed and dejectedly brushed a curl of golden hair out of her face.
"No it's not. It's almost, but not quite, impossible, which is what I do best. Come along, Aliya," the Doctor grinned mischievously at her and started off again down the tunnel. She abruptly followed.
"I'm guessing you still have the transmat?" She called along the tunnel.
"Of course I do. Do I look that stupid?" He replied, and immediately could sense the sceptical look she was aiming at the back of his head. "Actually...don't answer that." A slight snort of amusement emitted from behind him before they again lapsed into silence. He paused in front of one of the openings in the floor, and after telling Aliya to wait for him to come back up, the Doctor lowered himself into the deserted corridor and activated the transmat on the delay setting, placing it on a wall before returning to the shaft. "I've put it on delay. We've got six minutes," He told Aliya.
"To do what?"
"Retract the particles into the transmitter without it breaking and then releasing them into the ship to spread throughout the whole thing, becoming too thinly spread to be fatal," the Doctor said as they climbed out of a hole and came out next to the transmitter.
"It would still be harmful, though," Aliya pointed out.
"Only to us. If we can get out of there in time, it will filter through the Sontaran's probic vents and knock them all out for at least at hour. They'll arrive at the Shadow Proclamation safely unconscious."
An awed grin crept onto Aliya's face. "Oh, Doctor, you are good," she said, impressed. They exchanged a mutual look of success and went to work using their sonics to first disable and then reverse and concentrate the transmitter's function. When they were done they ran back down the hole and through the shaft until they came to the nearest exit and jumped down onto the floor before beginning the sprint of our lives, with only two minutes left until the ship filled with gas and an extra thirty seconds before it would be teleported to the Shadow Proclamation. Their hands wound together and probably have remained that way until they had reached safety, had a phone in the Doctor's jacket not started to ring.
"Is that a phone?" Aliya asked in disbelief, but not slowing in the slightest.
"No, it's my sonic screwdriver, of course it's a phone!" He retorted exasperatedly, and gave her a 'ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer' look when she threw him one of scepticism. Then he dug around in his pocket and pulled it out, pressing the answer button and holding it to his ear with his free hand.
"Hello?" The Doctor asked curiously.
"Doctor! How's the new face treating you?" The voice on the other end was American, enthusiastic, and all too familiar.
"Good..."
"So what are you doing?"
"Jack, this really isn't a good time. We're sort of...running for our lives here," the Time Lord panted as they rounded yet another corner, trying to disperse the feeling that they were going in circles.
"Oh, so the usual then," came the amused reply.
"Jack..."
"Okay, okay. Just pay me a visit at Torchwood sometime soon. I want to see your new look." He hung up.
"Doctor, over there!" Aliya had spotted the exit and was pulling him towards it. They had only managed to get fifty metres away before the entire ship disappeared, leaving the two of them staring at the space it had once occupied.
"Next time we go on a life threatening adventure, can you turn your phone off?" Aliya asked her friend with a raised eyebrow.
He simply rolled his eyes and ignored her.
"So who was that on the phone, then?" Aliya asked the Doctor as they walked, waded and swung their way back to the TARDIS. "You said Jack. Did you mean Captain Jack? The one I saw in those memories of Malcassairo and the Valiant?" The Doctor snapped back to attention, having been staring vacantly at the TARDIS which was coming into view.
"What? Um, yes. The one and only."
"What did he want?"
"We wanted us to pay him a visit so that he could see my new regeneration," he said, fiddling with the TARDIS controls.
"So are we going to? I'd love to meet him," Aliya asked.
"I bet you would, Aliyana," the Doctor commented dryly. She raised an eyebrow at his use of her (almost) full name.
"Aliyana? No one's called me that in centuries, or…pretty much ever, actually, either go for Aliya, or Aliyanadevoralundar, but please not somewhere in the middle," she pleaded as she edged her way around the console to him. He straightened up and turned towards her, one hand resting on the TARDIS as he leant ever so slightly on the console. She leaned in closer as he did the same, grinning with fond amusement.
"Aliyanadevoralundar," he said quietly, smiling in a way that meant she was forced to smile back, unable to look away from him in that moment, "Did I ever say just how glad I am to have you here with me, after everything?"
"Possibly," she said, her voice just as quiet, "But feel free to say it just to be sure." His lips twitched and his left hand came up to touch her cheek softly, as if she were made of glass and were going to shatter at any moment.
"Part of me still doesn't believe you're real…that you can't actually be alive," he whispered, green eyes running over her for reassurance, and she put her hand over his to keep it at her cheek.
"I'm real, I'm alive, and I'm right here," she murmured, eyes locked with his, "And I'll be here as long as you want me." Their faces were only a few inches apart at that point, but neither of them seemed to realise.
The Doctor allowed himself to smile at her words, feeling comforted. "My guardian angel."
At that, it was as if a spell had been broken. Aliya's face contorted into an unamused scowl, and she twisted and strode away from him, annoyed. "Not. Funny," she told him, crossing her arms to create another barrier between them, as if three metres weren't enough. "You know that's not why I chose that name, it's not my fault that the translations-"
"You can moan about translations all you want, but the fact is, Aliyanadevoralundar, that your name is the Angel, and you picked it!" He reminded her, and she huffed.
"Well, in Gallifreyan it means 'carer', 'protector', 'guardian', things like that! I didn't know that in English I was going to considered a bloody feathery, winged, celestial creature!" She defended, and the Doctor smirked at her.
"Technically, you still are a celestial creature, being from another planet and all-" He didn't press it when she pointedly glared at him, and he held up his hands defensively. "Alright, Aliyanadevoralundar is a bit touchy in this regeneration."
"Please stop calling me that," she asked, slightly less agitated by that point, "You sound like my father." That was enough to make the Doctor pull a face, as he hadn't cared for her father in the slightest, though the feeling had been mutual. "Besides, I thought we established the first time we met that that name was far too long for a sensible person."
"Of course we did. It's just fun to say," With a smirk, he turned back to the monitor, and both found themselves remembering their first meeting.
The fair-haired girl entered the huge library of the Prydonian Academy. She travelled over to the old fashioned book shelves, tracing her fingers over the spines of the many books at her disposal. At the age of seventeen, Aliyanadevoralundar was not quite a child, but despite her mostly grown appearance, she was far from an adult. She was at her browsing for several minutes before a voice from behind her made her jump.
"If you're stuck, I can give you some recommendations."
Aliyanadevoralundar turned to see a boy who physically matched her age - though that told her nothing about his true age. His dark green eyes were watching her with friendly curiosity from underneath his slightly shaggy dark hair.
"Oh, uh, I think I'm probably okay, I'm just having a look, I'm sure I'll find something," she said, somewhat shyly.
"Are you sure?" She nodded, and he smiled before giving her a slight bow, as was tradition upon first meetings.
"Theta Sigma of Lungbarrow."
She frowned. "That's an odd name."
"Well, it's a nickname - variation on my proper one. But I like it much better."
"Oh."
"So, what's your name?"
It was her turn to bow, so she did. "Aliyanadevoralundar of Arpexia," she said, with a hint of pride. Long names were almost always a sign of status, so it was a name to be proud of. Though, for all she knew, his birth name was in fact long too.
"Blimey. That's a mouthful. Do you mind if I called you something more manageable?" He suggested.
The girl frowned in confusion. "But why?" She asked, not familiar with the concept of nicknames, other than the one her mother had used for her in her childhood.
"Because it's easier, that's all. Not to mention it saves time and energy," he explained, shrugging.
Unsure of what to say, she just decided to appease him for the moment. "Okay then."
"Good," he said with a smile. "I was thinking...Aliya."
"Al-ay-a?" The girl repeated it, testing it on her tongue. "Aliya. Okay." Theta Sigma grinned at her.
"You look worried."
"My parents said that it was wasn't proper to change one's name, that I should be proud of the name I have."
"Coming from Arpexia, I'm not surprised. But you need to have your own opinions," Theta told her, before tilting his head and looking at her with curiosity. "How old are you, anyway? I don't think I've seen you around this part of the school before, which means you must be quite new."
"17," she said, "I know, I'm a baby."
"Just a little bit." He didn't try to hide his smirk, but it was not unkind.
"What about you?" She seemed wary of the answer, and with good reason.
"216," he admitted, and she frowned.
"Shouldn't you be out of here by now?"
"I'm on my second try," Theta winked at Aliya, showing her that he didn't mind it one bit. "So is Koschei, sort of." He saw the questioning look on her face and led her over to a table where a blond boy had his back to them. Theta hit him over the head lightly with a book he was carrying before swinging around the table to sit opposite him, gesturing for Aliya to do the same. The blonde boy's eyes flicked up long enough for him to glare at Theta before returning to the pages of his book. One of his hands tapped on the table in a continuous drumming rhythm.
"Making friends?" The blonde Koschei asked, not sounding remotely surprised. When his friend answered in the affirmative, he just sighed. "Must you?"
"Be friendly for once," Theta suggested, "This is Aliya. She's a new junior."
"Hello. Koschei, was it?" Aliya smiled at Koschei, who looked at her long enough to nod politely before going back to his book. Theta just ignored him.
"He'll come around eventually, he just doesn't like bothering with strangers," the brunet boy explained to his new acquaintance. Within a few hours, however, the three of them were conversing normally, and within a few weeks were joking like the best of friends, which in the end they were.
Upon her thoughts returning to the present, Aliya remembered what they had been talking about before her name came into the conversation. "Stop avoiding my question, Doctor. Are we going to see Jack or not?"
"Of course we are. Just not straight away," he said, entering co-ordinates that she couldn't see.
"In that case, you better have something good up your sleeve," she told him, and he grinned.
"When do I have anything but?" He asked her, rotating the atom accelerator and pulling down the engine release lever with an over-exaggerated flourish. "You're properly out in the universe now, and you haven't even seen the tourist spots. Thought I'd cover those first."
"Well," Aliya said when the TARDIS began to shake during takeoff, "I suppose I can give you benefit of the doubt."
That flashback scene is direct from the prequel, which shows their story from Academy up until the Time War (though it is still in progress, sorry!).
Academy nickname reference:
Theta Sigma = The Doctor
Koschei = The Master
Ushas = The Rani (bonus for later)
