Chapter Nine

Astera didn't sleep at all the night before she was due to marry. By morning she felt like Hell. Her handmaidens and servants ran about, getting everything ready and getting her dressed. She hadn't spoken to the Doctor or his companions for a couple of days and it was driving her nuts. What are they up to? What aren't they telling me? She thought as she was pulled into an elaborate white dress by her handmaidens and then two of them started on her hair. Astera hardly noticed.

The Doctor, meanwhile, had had some moderate success. He had tapped into Abna's private communications and he was, indeed, in contact with the Sontarans and planning to start a war in order to make himself look like a hero. Why would anyone do such a thing? It made no sense at all, not to the Doctor anyway.

"So, now that we know now what Abna is up to, what do we do now?" Rose asked.

"We need to catch Abna in the act of either contacting the Sontarans or doing something related to his plans. We know he plans to deactivate the planetary shields for both Nubia and Olympoid. If we can catch him at it and stop him, Astera won't end up looking the fool."

"Easier said than done," Jack muttered.

"It may not be," the Doctor replied. "From what I could find out, Abna plans to use today to bring down the shields with a computer virus. We need to make sure we stop him before he gets the chance to do this. Once it gets into the system, it won't take him long to get Nubia's systems to talk to Olympoid's systems and pass the virus on."

"No pressure then," Rose added.


Astera walked as slowly as she could get away with, heading towards the marquee that had been step up for the wedding. She felt bad about keeping Prince Izmer waiting but her heart just wasn't in this wedding. I hope you know what you're doing Time Lord, she grumbled mentally. And you so have a LOT of apologising to do for not talking to me for days. Prince Izmer and the many guests turned to look at Astera as she approached. She took a deep breath and headed towards the alter.


Abna decided to sneak off as discreetly as he could get away with whilst the ceremony got under way. Everyone was too distracted to worry about the fact he was about to start a war and kill the lot of them. What do I care? Once they're all gone, I get to run the show. Two planets all for me.

He hurried across the gardens of the Nubian palace, unaware that he was being watched by The Doctor and Jack. Rose had headed off to the wedding as a diversion. The Doctor felt if she was seen at the wedding, the guests would assume that he and Jack were there too somewhere. Abna paused when he got to the main door to the palace. He looked around – nobody around apart from a handful of guards. Happy that he wasn't being followed – or so he thought – he headed to his private communications room, not knowing the Doctor and Jack were closely behind him, keeping to the shadows.

"Why don't we just kill him now and be done with it?" Jack whispered to the Doctor as they followed the corrupt King.

"We'd land ourselves and Astera in more trouble than we can even comprehend, it's better to wait and catch him in the act," the Doctor replied. "If we can get the virus disk from him, we can use that as evidence along with the comms I managed to get. The more proof we have, the better."

Abna disappeared throw a nondescript door, which was the room where he had his private communications systems. Nobody knew about this room's true purpose. They thought it was just a private office that Abna used for private meetings. The room was full of computer and communications systems from floor to roof. Sitting down at his main desk, Abna took out the disk that the Sontarans had given to him and placed it into the reader. Then he worked furiously, hoping to get it done as quickly as possible. He had to get this done before he was missed at the ceremony or, worse, caught out by somebody.

That Time Lord friend of Astera's had seemed very interested in him recently and Abna didn't like it one little bit. He's probably onto me, knowing my damn luck, he grumbled to himself as he programmed the system to download the virus to infect Nubia's systems and then pass it on to Olympoid. He was about the hit the final command and hit the "okay" button to start the virus when the Doctor and Jack crashed through the door. They were accompanied by guards.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Jack said.

Abna laughed. "And I suppose you two are going to stop me?" His hand was dangerously close to the button that would cause chaos.

The Doctor stepped forward. "Why are you doing this? Why destroy two planets just make to look yourself look good? There are better ways you could make yourself a hero."

Abna snorted. "And what would you know? Considering you destroyed your own planet! You're hardly the best one to preach to me."

"That's exactly why I'm saying it. I made that mistake, thinking it was the best thing at the time. Don't make the same mistake that I made."

For a brief moment Abna looked like he might reconsider. The Doctor desperately hoped he would. But, alas, no he didn't. "I'm going to be supreme leader of all I survey and you can't stop me!"

"Maybe they can't but I certainly will!" Queen Evadne appeared in the doorway. She had a face like thunder. She glanced around the room. "So, this is what you had hidden in here."

Abna went white as a sheet. "This is not how it looks my dear."

Queen Evadne looked back at him. "Oh? What does it look like then? Please, do explain."

Abna spluttered and was unable to say anything or explain. Evadne just stared at him and seemed completely unconvinced by him. Waving her hand dismissively, she said "guards, remove him." Abna tried to put up a fight and, at one point, tried to hit the button to start up the virus but Jack's quick reactions stopped him.

Suddenly Astera appeared in the doorway as Abna was dragged away. "What the hell is going on? I'm supposed to be getting married, then I get the guards kicking up a stink, suddenly saying to stop the ceremony because there's something kicking off." She paused as she watched Abna get dragged way. "What's going on? Where's Abna being taken?"

It was the Doctor that answered. "We managed to prove that you were right about your step father all along. We needed to have the guards and your mother here as witnesses to help back you up."

Queen Evadne looked at her daughter. "Maybe I was wrong and allowed myself to be deluded by him for too long. I should have listened to you more."

"Is that an apology?" Astera asked.

"I suppose it is, yes."

The wedding was called off and the guests began to return to their homes. The Doctor, Jack, Rose and Astera returned to the TARDIS with the virus disk. Their intention was to use the Sontarans virus against them. Astera wanted to play them at their own game and the Doctor was pretty sure he would be able to get the virus transferred via the TARDIS's system.

"Are you sure this will work? Will the Sontarans notice?" Astera asked.

"If my calculations are correct, and I have reprogrammed the virus correctly, the Sontarans will hopefully think it's Abna. Once they answer the message, the virus will get in and attack their systems."

The Doctor then proceeded to spend the next couple of hours setting up everything that he needed to do to bring down the Sontarans. Astera felt far too unsettled to concentrate on anything but decided that maybe taking herself on a tour around the TARDIS would take her mind off things for a while, or at least help distract her a little. There were an awful lot of rooms - libraries, gardens, swimming pools, and even a cricket pavilion. Plus two control rooms, a boot cupboard, a very large costume wardrobe and a pink Zero Room. Astera finally settled on one of the libraries. There were so many books she hadn't even heard of, let alone seen. Her natural curiosity got the better of her and she began to dig around, secretly hoping the Doctor might let her borrow some of them.

"Awesome, isn't it." Astera nearly jumped out of her skin and turned around to be greeted by Jack Harkness. "Easy to get lost around here though."

Astera managed to smile. "Not for me. I'm kinda used to it, although it's been a long time since I was last in a TARDIS."

Jack cursed inwardly. Way to go genius, go be insensitive about her father.

"So, how did you end up travelling with a Time Lord?" Astera asked. "You don't seem to be the typical Time Lord companion type."

"We met in 1940s Earth, in London. I was a Time Agent at the time...lets just say meeting the Doctor helped me re-evaluate my life."

"Good to know."

Astera couldn't understand why but being alone with Jack made her feel kind of nervous. He was just too damn attractive and so sure of himself. And trouble no doubt, her mother would probably say. Not the type a nice girl should associate with.

But Jack had helped save her life, so surely that isn't a sign of someone who was nothing more than trouble.

Breaking the slightly awkward atmosphere, Jack asked, "you a big reader?"

Astera nodded. Finally, a subject that wasn't difficult. "Yes, most definitely. The libraries here put the palace library to shame. I love it here. There's just something about books that I adore."

Jack couldn't help but grin. Here she was, still dressed in her white, practically skin tight strapless wedding dress, her red hair flowing down her back, bare foot, getting excited over a huge library full of dusty old books. But at the same time, she looked like she belonged there. She looked so natural and happy. Astera climbed up one of the many ladders and found a handful of books to check out. She came back down and sat on the floor, hitching up her dress a little to make it easier to sit down. He joined her and they passed a good chunk of time discussing all manner of subjects, even those unrelated to books. Astera felt a little disappointed when the Doctor poked his head around the door and told them that their plan was ready to go.