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2519-10-25; 1050 - The Academy
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Jack looked up at Mr Cole, glaring in a very threatening way, "Deactivate the disruption field." he ordered.
"I- I can't do that!" Mr Cole said, terrified at the idea, "The subject, he-"
"Now!" Jack snarled, and it was more than simple anger that turned his tone. He bit back the rage and looked away from the infuriating man.
"If you say so, sir." Mr Cole replied, "Don't say you weren't warned." and he turned to a control panel.
Several tense seconds passed, then the Doctor looked up sharply, staring right at the other alien in the room. Jack no longer needed to support him, as he quickly stood up and stepped forward, towards the cage, "Koschei." he said, his tone disbelieving.
The alien stood and walked over to the wall of his cell, staring at the Doctor in amazement. Then he smiled, "Theta? Have you come to take me home?"
The Doctor nodded slowly, "Yes."
"Wait." Jack said, "Who is he?"
The Doctor scowled, but didn't answer that. Not directly, anyway, "He's a friend."
"Why'd he call you Theta?" Jack continued.
"It was my nickname at school." the Doctor said, smiling distantly, clearly remembering something Jack could probably never understand.
The alien looked at Jack, "This a friend of yours, too?" he asked.
"Yeah." the Doctor answered.
"You keep dangerous friends." Koschei noted.
The Doctor snorted with laughter, but bit back whatever retort was on his mind, "Why do you say that?"
"I can smell the Pax in his blood."
Jack rolled his eyes and stepped away from the others in the room, fully expecting everyone to take that in the worst possible context. The Doctor did a double take at those words, however, staring at Koschei in surprise. "You know this, how?"
"Guess."
The Doctor frowned, staring now at a point in thin air which was unoccupied by anyone else, as he processed this information. According to Mal, it was an accepted theory that Reavers could smell their own, but the Doctor hadn't been able to tell that Jack had that chemical in his blood. Why should someone else from his world be able to, unless... having been on Miranda at the time the Pax was released. "This makes all kinds of sense. And I really wish it didn't."
Something in the Doctor's demeanour made it clear that he wasn't upset by the news. Sad, maybe, but not angry or afraid. Still, Jack watched warily, waiting for the inevitable fallout of this revelation.
Finally, after the silence had gone on for far too long, it was Mal who broke it, staring at Jack in shock as he asked, "Is that kid saying you're a Reaver?!"
"Based purely on blood chemistry, techncially, yes." Jack answered honestly.
"Reavers don't talk, or think clearly." Simon pointed out to Mal, "He's been doing both since we met him." he gave Jack a bemused smile, "'Sides, Reavers don't ask, nor take no for an answer if they did."
Jack laughed coldly at that, "No gorram kidding."
"So how is it, you're thinkin' clear, then?" Mal demanded.
"Couldn't tell you." Jack said, shrugging.
"Golden eyes." River said, staring right through Jack.
"That would be it." he said to her, smiling faintly. Mal just glared, waiting for an actual answer, "I'm sure Inara told you already, even though she told us she wouldn't."
"You can't die. Got that." Mal said, nodding in a way that said 'continue'. "Might test it if you don't explain yourself, right quick."
"My ship was taken by Reavers." Jack said, "They killed one of my crew, and I ordered the three survivors to leave without me, 'cause I couldn't get to them in time."
"You were captured?" Mal asked bluntly, knowing that had to be it.
"And with not being able to stay dead..." Jack continued, allowing the rest of that sentence to the imagination of the others in the room. Their imagination wouldn't come close to the truth of it.
"Ai yah tien ah." Simon whispered, horrified.
"Pretty much, yes." Jack growled at him, "And the odds are the curse that keeps my body from dying has a similar effect on my mind, is likely why I'm still relatively sane."
"All relative." River put in, innocently.
"I'm surprised you can't see his 'curse', Koschei." the Doctor noted.
"I knew something wasn't right about him, but the sort of temporal perception I'd need to know what was wrong with him is tenth year stuff. I've been stuck in this cage since I was sixteen."
"How old are you?" Simon asked.
"You know maths, right human?" Koschei asked coldly, "Twelve years since Miranda."
"You don't look twenty-eight." Mal pointed out, apparently no longer too suspicious of Jack, since his admission about the Reavers.
"Looks can be decieving." Koschei said, tilting his head to one side, "You look like an idiot... but you aren't. For a human, at least."
"Thanks." Mal said, grinning, "Good to know, will use that to my advantage."
The Doctor turned to glare at Mr Cole, "Let him out, now."
"I can't do that." the scientist said, fearfully, "You must understand, he's got the Pax in his blood. The last time he was allowed in the same room as a human, he sent the poor man to the hospital for two months!"
"Aww, he survived?" Koschei asked, pouting slightly.
Mr Cole glared at the alien, but the Doctor was the one who spoke, "What did he do to deserve that, Koschei?"
"Killed an entire planet." was the answer. The Doctor flinched noticeably, but Jack guessed it was for the fact that he had done so himself, rather than the idea of the human's crime. Koschei either didn't notice, or misinterpreted this, and continued to speak, "I could have undone the damage on Miranda, but he stopped me, just to save his precious Alliance's reputation."
Mr Cole stared in shock, "Why didn't you say something?" All he recieved as an answer for that was a cold stare.
"I don't think he wants to talk to you." Jack pointed out, "Don't blame him."
The teenager smiled, though there was very little genuine emotion behind it, "I think I like you." he told Jack.
Jack nodded, then turned to Mr Cole again, "Let him out, that's an order." he smiled dangerously, "I think we can handle him."
"But-!"
River stepped forward, "Rather let him out or see what you made me?" she asked innocently.
Mr Cole backed away from her, then quickly pressed the button to release the locks on the cage, having to turn to enter an authorisation code, but immediately returning his full and fearful attention to River as soon as he had done so.
Koschei stepped out of the cell, and looked around as if wondering what he should do with his new-found freedom. After only a second of thought, he turned and walked over to one of the control panels along the wall, passing Mr Cole, who edged away from him, as he did so. Without a word, he began typing commands into the console.
Everyone in the room watched, warily. The Doctor moved to stand behind Koschei, looking over his shoulder at what he was doing. Occasionally, the Doctor whispered a suggestion to him, to which the younger alien would either respond with a nod, or instigate a whispered argument. At one point, River joined them, and simply pointed to one thing on the screen, before turning and wandering away again.
It took half an hour for them to finish, whatever it was, during which no one else dared to speak.
Finally, River grinned brightly, "That'll work!" she shouted across the room, startling everyone.
Koschei glanced up at the Doctor, who nodded, "I think she's right." the Doctor agreed.
"Science stuff, better to stay out of it." Mal said, grinning as he picked himself up from where he'd been sitting on the floor, and stretching. Jack, who had been standing the entire time, offered Simon and hand to stand as well, which the human nervously accepted.
As if by some silent agreement, they all moved to the centre of the room, and Koschei spoke, "I think we have a cure." he looked to Mr Cole, "I know you've been trying to come up with a way to turn the Reavers back to humans since the conspiracy was broken, but I'd not advise it. It should only be for those who retained some concept of decency, and they're both in this room."
"I know I'd rather be dead permanently than have that on my conscience." Jack said, scowling, "Pretty sure, if you got a percentage discrepancy again, those who turned back to human would accept the remaining Reavers' treatment as karma."
Mal shuddered, but nodded, "Hate to say it, but that's as may be true."
"We have some subjects to test the cure on, back down the corridor." Mr Cole offered.
"Better off dead." Jack growled, glaring at the scientist, "Or do you not have a conscience of your own to understand what we're talking about?"
"I think we should try it." the Doctor said, his voice was quiet but determined, "Give them the choice."
"Choice?" Koschei asked, confused.
"Some might choose to try to atone for it." the Doctor suggested, "Help the families of victims."
"Sounds like something Book would say." Mal pointed out, "Maybe you're right, ah- what do we call you, right now?"
"For his benefit-" he indicated Koschei, "-you should probably call me Theta." he smiled as if this was some sort of big cosmic joke.
"You two went to school together, then?" Jack asked, eyeing the young alien, obviously a Time Lord in training, from the information he'd got so far.
The Doctor nodded, seeming to see where Jack's mind was taking him, and answered the question before it was asked, "You know him."
Jack half-smiled, but the other half was a scowl. A morbid sort of expression that said he thought it should be funny, but not in a particularly pleasant way, "I think I understand."
There was only one other Time Lord that he had ever met, in spite of his best efforts to learn of more, somewhere, anywhere. Anywhen. This child was going to grow up to become the Master.
x x x
They were just leaving the room in which Koschei had been imprisoned. It was the plan, now, to try and use this cure on one of the caged Reavers. Mal had ranted for some time about the idea of keeping the three Reaver prisoners in- as Mal had worded it- "The heart of rutting Londinium!"
None of them really expected a positive result from this test. Oh, they expected the chemical to reverse the Pax, but they didn't think the prisoners would be grateful.
But just before the door closed behind them, a voice came through on an internal comms channel. "Captain! Captain, this is urgent!"
Jack turned around and ran back into the room, activating the comms terminal and being greeted with an image of Derrin's face, "Better be." he pointed out. Derrin knew perfectly well that when they spied on other organisations, the only reason to admit to doing so was in a life-or-death- and preferably apocalyptic- situation. Anything less, and it just was not worth the paperwork.
"I think we have a situation." Derrin said. It looked like he was paying more attention to some readout on his own screen than to Jack, "Y'know, the kind you need to shoot at."
"Helpful." Jack said sarcastically, then snapped the order, "Details!"
"Security's picked up a long-range one-man ship. It's not answered their waves, and it's dodged all the planetary defenses. It's headed right for the roof of your building, and it's painted in Reaver colors."
"Mi tian gohn." Jack hissed, "Why would it do that?"
"I'm guessing 'cause of the tracking signal we're picking up from- if the security footage I've hacked into, and our tracing software are both working right- your right arm."
Jack stared at the screen for several seconds, eyes wide with shock, "That's why-" he hesitated, not wanting to mention the incident on Lilac to Derrin. Instead he started swearing, "Cheong bao ho tze kuh wu wei shian dohn wu huen dahn!"
"Just what I wanted to hear." Koschei sniped from the doorway, "Accurate, too." he added, earning a glare from the Doctor.
"Roof, now!" Jack ordered, turning and running out of the room. Koschei just managed to step out of the way in time to avoid getting knocked over.
The Doctor started running just as Jack passed him, and kept pace easily.
"Always comes to this, doesn't it?" Jack asked him, "Running to or from danger."
The Doctor laughed, a sharp bark of a laugh that somehow still showed he found the thought amusing on some level, even with the particular danger they were running towards right now.
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The running hadn't lasted long, though. Once they got to the lifts, they had to stand and wait while they ascended to the roof level. There was, thankfully, no music playing, though. One good thing, in the Doctor's opinion.
Then River began to hum. She had a very good voice, and it wasn't unpleasant to listen to, until Jack asked, "Where did a good little twenty-sixth century girl learn a song from Rocky Horror?"
"From your mind, most likely." the Doctor offered.
She began to actually sing the words, eyes now locked on Jack as she did so, "When Eddie said he didn't like his teddy you knew he was a no-good kid, but when he threatened your life with a switch blade knife! What a guy, makes you cry, and I did."
She tilted her head to one side, smiling softly, then glanced at Koschei for a moment as she fell silent, watching the others for their reaction.
Jack looked uncomfortable, rubbing the side of his neck as if remembering something probably best not asked about. Koschei was watching Jack, and seemed to have guessed what River might be referring to. Either way, the Doctor was left completely out of the loop, and he did not like it.
When they reached the roof, the ship had already landed. It was painted like a Reaver ship alright, but it hadn't been damaged like the other one the Doctor had seen. Nor was it decorated in the repulsive and macabre way, using the bodies of their victims as ornaments. Just the paint... or was that blood?
When its pilot emerged, however, all doubt as to whether or not it was a Reaver was removed. It snarled like a wild animal, with a violent rage in its mind that literally hit the Doctor like a physical blow, even at this distance.
"Looking for this?" Jack asked, stepping forward in front of the others, and revealing the bladed weapon from his arm. The creature snarled again, and charged at him. It ran into him at full speed, hitting him with its shoulder. But it hadn't been aiming for him, as it continued its charge. Jack was thrown far enough away from the Reaver that he only just caught the railing at the edge of the roof with one hand, as he tumbled over it.
The Reaver hit the Doctor with full force, knocking him to the ground and snarling in his face. Luckily, the Doctor had better reaction times than any human, and caught the Reaver's shoulders with his hands, keeping it at arm's length so it couldn't bite him. But it was very strong, and quickly got its bony hands around his throat.
He concentrated on holding it back, instead of trying to free himself completely- wasn't like he needed to breathe that much, anyway- and managed to keep it from doing any serious harm to him, long enough for someone else to attack it. Turned out to be River, who kicked the Reaver square in the jaw with a boot that looked too heavy for her delecate frame.
The Doctor quickly scrambled to his feet, backing away from the Reaver, as River pinned it down. She had caught its wrists and now held them to its chest, her knees on its legs to stop it from trying to kick at her. Everyone else was frozen in shock, except for Jack who had only just managed to return to the safer side of the railing.
River looked up at Koschei, and the Doctor got his second telepathic shock in as many minutes. He heard River's mind literally shriek the younger Time Lord's real name, startling him into giving her his full and undivided attention, instead of just staring dumbstruck at the scene before him. "Little help?" she added, her voice soft as if she's only drawn his attention by nothing more than politely clearing her throat.
Koschei stared at her for half a second, before clearly deciding that the imminent violence should be dealt with before the probing questions. He ran over and knelt next to the struggling Reaver, then- very cautiously, careful to avoid being bitten- pressed both its temples with the tips of his fingers. His eyes closed, and he frowned. "Not going to work."
River stared at him, as if her stare could be seen through his closed eyes, and held some meaning he should interpret. When this failed to work instantaneously, she informed him, "Yes it will."
Jack appeared at the Doctor's side, now, and asked him quietly, "What are they doing?"
"I don't know." the Doctor answered. Technically true, though he did have a guess. It really did look like Koschei was trying to affect the Reaver's mind. The fact River was certain it would work was actually a bit disturbing, he had believed these creatures were no longer capable of intelligent thought.
Finally, Koschei let go of the Reaver, which stopped fighting. River gave them both the briefest of glances to confirm what she had probably already sensed, before picking herself up and taking a step back from the Reaver. It didn't move.
"If it weren't for the Pax in my own blood, I think I'd want to be sick." Koschei said, so quietly that he was barely audible at this distance, "You really did not need to fight me."
The Reaver slowly picked itself up into a sitting position, turning to glare at Koschei, who was still kneeling on the ground, watching the creature with undisguised curiosity. It seemed to think for a moment, before retorting, "You did to my mind what I've done to others' bodies." Its voice sounded more like a snarl than speech, but the words were definitely intelligible.
Koschei pulled a face that was half amused half disgusted, "I dragged you kicking and screaming to where I wanted you to be, but I didn't cause you any lasting harm." he snapped.
The Reaver bared its teeth at him. They had been filed into sharp jagged fangs, completely inhuman, "You knew it wouldn't last. Last time."
Koschei nodded, "True."
"You didn't tell us." it growled.
"What the hell is going on?" Jack demanded, loudly enough for everyone to hear him.
"Very good question." Mal agreed.
"I'll explain, later." Koschei said, turning to glare at both humans who had spoken, before speaking directly to the Reaver once more, "We have a cure. If you want it?"
It growled at him, before snapping, "Took you long enough."
"I'll explain that later, too." Koschei said, obviously impatient, "I'm guessing you have less than half an hour, this time. Do you want the cure, or not?"
"Do I have a choice?" it asked.
"Yes, the alternative is death." River answered, causing it to turn to look at her.
Once again it showed its teeth, although this time the Doctor got the feeling this was the closest this creature could come to smiling. There was no emotion behind it, but it was clear the creature was eyeing River up. Whether as a potential threat or victim was unclear.
"Try it." she offered, smiling coldly, "Any body part of yours touches me, gets ripped off."
"You better believe her." Mal warned, "And soon as she's ripped you apart, I start shooting you."
The Reaver looked from one of the other, then tilted its head to one side, "Not afraid." it pointed out, "But not going to try it." it then looked up at Jack and said, "You decide."
Jack frowned, "Why?"
"You have the right to pass judgement." the Reaver said calmly. It showed no fear, no emotion at all. Its words were coming from whatever remained of the formerly human intelligence- possibly completely undamaged by the Pax, there was no way to be sure- which Koschei had drawn to the front of its mind. But it didn't feel.
Jack folded his arms defensively, and only now did the Doctor notice that those blades had been concealed again, "Take the cure." he said, frowning, "Then tell us if you want to live with it."
Slowly, the Reaver nodded, "As you wish."
x x x
"The chemical inhibits emotions, and the brain's ability to interpret sensory input. Taste, touch- including pain, pleasure, or even heat and cold- and smell, so the only thing you really can smell clearly is the Pax itself." Koschei explained calmly.
Theta, Mal, River, Simon, the Captain, and that infuriating human that had kept him locked up like a lab-rat and experimented on him for the last twelve years, were all present. Everyone was listening to him, and most were avoiding looking at the disturbing scene in the middle of the room, probably grateful of his words for a distraction. Koschei was watching with morbid interest as Simon Tam removed the blades from the Captain's arm.
It had been the immortal's own request; remove the blades, then he would take the cure. The disturbing part- to the rest of those present, because Koschei understood why it didn't bother the human in question, and in turn wasn't concerned by it himself- was that the Captain was fully conscious and hadn't been given any form of pain relief beforehand.
"There are two reactions to it, as far as I observed on Miranda." he continued, "To accept death, just lay down and stop living. Or, to fight back, the instinctive desire to live and to regain what was lost through any means necessary. Those who fought back, ironically enough, were the ones who had higher levels of the same chemical that the Pax was designed to inhibit."
"So how come Captain unkillable here didn't go all crazy-like, way the Reavers did?" Mal asked bluntly.
"My initial reaction was to lay down and die." the Captain answered simply, looking up at Mal with a cold smile that suggested he knew that it should be funny, but just didn't feel it in his current state.
"That's a big problem with being immortal." Theta pointed out. Unlike the humans, he watched what Simon Tam was doing, but he did have a slightly disgusted look on his face as he watched.
"I can think of worse problems with it." the Captain said bluntly, "Like resurrecting to discover first-hand that Reavers are necrophiliacs."
Strangely, only one person reacted especially badly to this statement, and it was Simon, who choked, his hand slipping as he heard it, "That-" he informed the Captain, pointing to the large and unnecessary gash on his arm, "-was entirely your own fault."
The Captain just grinned, not even trying to make the obviously false expression look entirely real, "Can't hurt me, right now." he pointed out.
Mal shook his head, "I think your Captain friend did that on purpose." he muttered to Theta, who nodded.
"Yes, I'm sure he did."
"Didn't see you cringing?" the Captain asked Mal.
"Heard worse Reaver stories." Mal said bluntly, "Though I gotta say, that's one of the more disturbing mental pictures."
The Captain shrugged, unconcerned, "I've flirted with Davros, and Reavers are noticeably prettier."
Theta laughed at that, "When did that happen?"
"Um... forget I said that." the Captain said evasively, giving Koschei the distinct impression that he was implying he'd met this Davros person- who Theta clearly knew- at some point in Theta's relative future. It also seemed pretty clear that no one else in the room knew there was time travel involved at all.
"Are we quite finished talking about Reavers in that context?" Simon asked pointedly.
"I could talk about anything in this context." the Captain said, grinning, before turning to meet Theta's eyes, a spark of malice there as he added, "There is much to be discussed on the subject of sink plungers."
And at that, Theta fell out of his chair, laughing almost hysterically. "I'm going to kill you!" he shouted up at the Captain, in-between fits of laughter.
x x x
Translations:
Ai yah tien ah: merciless hell
Mi tian gohn: excrement
Cheong bao ho tze: monkey raping
Kuh wu: despicable
Wei shian dohn wu: dangerous person or animal
Huen dahn: bastard
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