Chapter Nine: The New Doctor

The Doctor was a bit disoriented. His tenth regeneration had been exceptionally powerful. He had no idea what kind of man he was, as per usual, but he also didn't really know how to do anything except stand there for a moment.

"Doctor! Come on!"

The Doctor knew that voice. It was Jennara Oswin, his Padawan. His mind began running through everything he knew about her. Human. Female. Twenty-seven years old. Trained as a Sentinel. Didn't like to talk about her previous Master, Coleman Kcaj, possibly because she felt responsible for his death.

Before the Doctor could finish jogging his memory about Jennara Oswin, he was pulled by the arm into a ship he quickly recognized as the Millenium Falcon. He got into the main hold before the grip on his arm slackened. The Doctor heard a scream and was yanked back into reality.

"Who are you?!" screamed Jennara Oswin.

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor answered immediately. "Sometimes called the Caretaker. Sometimes called Get Off This Planet, which, to be fair, isn't really a name."

"You're the Doctor?" asked a young woman he quickly recognized as Leia Organa, Princess of Alderaan and unwitting twin sister of the man standing next to her, Luke Skywalker. The Doctor almost covered his mouth to keep from blurting it out, but he kept a lid on himself and resigned to answering her question.

"Yes. Yes I am."

"You look a bit, um...different than my father described you," said Leia carefully.

"Well, I did just regenerate," said the Doctor, not even pausing to let Leia or anybody else comprehend what he had just said. "Oh, and that reminds me. I've got to check myself real quick."

The Doctor immediately turned around and began examining his body to see if everything was there.

"Okay, legs," he said as he checked them. "Good. Still got legs. Arms. Hands. Fingers. Ooh," he added as he examined his ten fingers. "Yes. Lots of fingers. Ears? Yes. Eyes? Two. Nose?" The Doctor felt his nose and grimaced for a moment before accepting it. "I've had worse. Chin?" When he got to his chin, he marvelled at the size of it. It was huge!

"Blimey!" he exclaimed. "Hair?" The Doctor felt his long, thick hair. It came down to his neck and he realized something quite terrifying.

"Oh no!" he shouted. "I'm a GIRL!"

The Doctor was terrified. Had he really regenerated into a girl? He had to check for certain. Gripping his throat, he felt the size of the lump in his throat and determined that he was definitely not a girl.

"No. No. I'm not a girl," he said with a sigh of relief.

"Doctor, what's going on?" asked Luke.

"Well, you know what happens when people die?" asked the Doctor to which Luke nodded his head. "I don't."

Jennara was having none of it.

"Where is the Doctor?" she asked him angrily.

"Right here," said the Doctor, pointing to himself. "I'm the Doctor."

"You're not the Doctor," scoffed Jennara. "The Doctor died on that massive space station. Darth Vader killed him! You're just some imposter!"

With that, she stormed out of the main hold, leaving a tense silence so thick that it could be cut with a lightsaber.

"Hey, we just lifted off, but they won't let-" began Han Solo as he strode confidently into the main hold. He took one look at the Doctor and immediately drew his blaster.

"Does everyone like pointing guns at me?" asked the Doctor to nobody in particular. "Because it seems like everywhere I go, there are guns everywhere and they're all pointed at me."

"Who the hell is this guy?" asked Han. "Where's the Doctor?"

"Hello," said the Doctor, waving at Han.

"What happened to you?" asked Han.

"Well, I died, for starters," answered the Doctor. Everyone looked at him curiously, even Obi-Wan. "That big old blast of golden light and energy? That was me dying."

"I believe I can explain," said Obi-Wan. "When a Gallifreyan such as the Doctor is mortally wounded, he can choose to save himself by changing his appearance."

"And just about everything else, too," said the Doctor. "And I'm only minutes out of my regeneration. I don't know what kind of man I am yet. I'm still cooking."

"You're cooking?" asked Leia. "What does that mean?"

"It means I need to figure out soon who I am, or I'll be pretty useless when we go to blow up that station," said the Doctor.

"What?" barked Han.

"What, you didn't get it?" asked the Doctor. "Princess Leia over here certainly knows, don't you? Oh, come on, I worked it out as soon as I sensed her. Great big space station, Princess in another cell block, Empire going haywire over two droids? Princess, you said that the key to saving the Rebellion was stored in R2. I'm thinking it has something to do with that Death Star."

The rumblings of blasterfire raining down on the hull of the Millenium Falcon shook the entire ship. The Doctor fell completely down, unable to keep his balance in his post-regeneration state.

"I knew they weren't going to let us out without a fight!" cried Han. "Luke, you're with me. Chewie's flying us. Come on!"

"Where are we going?" asked Luke as he followed Han.

"To the guns!" barked Han.

"What is it with guns? Seriously," said the Doctor.

"Doctor, I think it's best that we sit down," said Obi-Wan, taking the Doctor's arm and moving him towards the seats where R2 and 3PO were sitting.

"I'm going to the cockpit," said Leia. "I'll help Chewie navigate."

"I'm going with you," said the Doctor.

"Doctor, you're not in a good state," said Leia sympathetically. "Maybe you should stay here."

"Nope, that's okay," responded the Doctor, standing up immediately and running into the cockpit, where Chewbacca was sitting.

"Hello, Chewbacca," said the Doctor. "I'm the Doctor. Well, the new one, anyway."

"Hello, Doctor," said Chewbacca in Shyriiwook. "I like your new chin."

"Thanks. It's a bit big, but I'll grow used to it, I think."

"He knows about regeneration?" asked Leia, who had just come into the cockpit and sat down.

"Yep," said the Doctor. "Two regenerations ago, I saved his village from a terentatek. Nasty business. Then, he met my previous regeneration. So, yeah, he knows."

"Okay," said Leia, not really seeming to want more explanation.

"Here they come," said Han over the communications system.

The Doctor heard the sound of TIE Fighter engines, like the ones they had heard when they first came in. The fighters themselves swarmed around the ship, firing at it when they had a good line of sight.

"How many do you count?" asked the Doctor.

"The computer says four," responded Luke over the COM.

"Lovely," said the Doctor. "Thank you."

"What are you planning, Doctor?" asked Obi-Wan, who had apparently just come into the cockpit.

"Oh hello, Obi-Wan, I didn't see you there," said the Doctor. "Well, if I can get a line of sight on them, I think I might be able to hold them down long enough for the boys to shoot them."

"A sound plan," commented Obi-Wan.

"Only problem is that they're coming in too fast," said Leia.

"Way too fast!" shouted Luke over the COM. "I can't hit any of them!"

"It's okay, Luke," said the Doctor. "I'll help you in a minute, just as soon as I can see them."

An explosion rocked the Millenium Falcon, and the Doctor definitely heard C-3PO cry out in terror. The console alarm beeped rapidly. They had lost something.

"We've lost lateral controls," called Leia.

"Don't worry about it," called Han. "She'll hold together."

The next few moments were tense. The Doctor was trying to get a lock on even one of those fighters for Han and Luke to shoot down. In his state of post-regeneration, his reflexes were dulled. He couldn't get a grip on his senses, but he had to help somehow.

"Luke," said the Doctor suddenly. "I've got one of them. I've slowed him down for you. See if you can finish him off."

"But Doctor, you haven't-" began Obi-Wan.

"Shhhh," shushed the Doctor, covering Obi-Wan's mouth and beard with his hand. "He doesn't need to know that."

A moment later, Luke shouted out, "I got him! I got him!" and the Doctor smiled. Luke had done that without his help, even though he thought he had it.

"Great, kid!" called Han. "Now don't get cocky!"

The Doctor, Obi-Wan, Leia, and Chewbacca watched as three more TIEs continued to swarm around the ship, firing at every chance they got. Han and Luke were doing their best to shoot back, but the enemy fighters were too fast for them. They couldn't hit them.

"Doctor, perhaps we can work together to stop those fighters," suggested Obi-Wan.

"Good idea, Benny boy," said the Doctor. Obi-Wan stared at the Doctor for a moment, perplexed at the new nickname, but outstretched his hand along with the Doctor and caught one of the TIE Fighters.

"He's mine," said Han as the top gun on the Millenium Falcon fired relentlessly at the second TIE. "YEAH!" he shouted when he scored a direct hit.

"Nice work, Han," called the Doctor.

"There are still two more fighters out there," warned Leia.

"We'll get them," said Han quickly, although he didn't sound too sure of himself.

The Doctor and Obi-Wan tried their best to grab at another ship, but the TIEs got smart and avoided the cockpit so that the two Jedi Masters couldn't get a line of sight on them.

"They're avoiding the cockpit, boys," reported the Doctor. "You're on your own for now."

"Great," said Han irritably.

"You can do it," said the Doctor encouragingly. "I know you can."

Han and Luke had their work cut out for them. Without assistance from the Doctor and Obi-Wan, Han worked especially hard to shoot down those fighters. Luke had trouble as well, though not nearly as much as Han.

Luke finished off one of the fighters fairly quickly, a testament to his potential in the Force, no doubt. The Doctor remembered what his previous incarnation had thought about Luke's potential, and he had to say that he had been right. To hit two swarming TIEs within a minute of each other with no assistance from the Force was no small feat for a farm boy just off his home planet. From Han, he expected the ability to shoot down TIEs, but not from Luke. The boy was a natural fighter, and his skills needed to be honed properly. The Doctor had a feeling that Obi-Wan could do that.

All that remained was one lone TIE. With nowhere else to go, he fell quickly to Han's cannon. The smuggler breathed a sigh of relief into the COM. Their fight was over. They had won.

"That's it! We did it!" shouted Luke.

"We did it!" cried Leia, jumping up out of her seat and hugging Chewbacca tightly.

"An admirable battle indeed," said Obi-Wan, though something else was on his mind.

"And perhaps now we can get back to the discussion at hand," suggested the Doctor, looking directly at Leia. The Princess nodded her head, and the crew, minus Jennara, who was unwilling to come out from wherever she was hiding, gathered in the ship's main hold.

"So, what's this all about, Princess?" asked Han. "What did the Doctor mean when he said you were going to blow up that station?"

"It has to do with the information stored in R2's memory banks," said the Doctor.

"Well, what's he carrying?" asked Han.

"The technical readouts to that battle station," answered Leia. "The Death Star. I only hope that the information we have can pinpoint a weakness."

"You're going to attack that thing?!" cried Han. "Why?!"

"So other systems won't suffer the same fate as Alderaan," answered Leia sadly. The Doctor placed a hand of comfort on her shoulder. He knew what it was like to lose one's homeworld.

"Well, count me out, sister!" said Han. "I ain't in this for your revolution. I'm in it for the money."

"You know, I wonder if you care about anything," said the Doctor accusingly.

"Well, as soon as we drop you loonies off to wherever you're going, I'm getting my reward and getting out of this mess," said Han defensively as he left the main hold to go to the cockpit.

"Princess?" asked Chewbacca. "Might I ask where we're going?"

"He's asking you where we're going," translated the Doctor. He knew she couldn't speak or understand Shyriiwook.

"The Yavin system," answered Leia. "Fourth moon."

Chewbacca nodded, then left to tell Han where they were going, leaving the Doctor, Luke, Obi-Wan, Leia, and the droids in the main hold.

In the silence that followed, the Doctor had a terrifying thought. He kept his face as neutral as he could, but the idea still scared him quite a lot.

"Does anybody else think that escape was a bit too easy?" he asked suddenly.

"Easy?" asked Luke, perplexed at how that could possibly have been easy.

"I was wondering the same thing," said Obi-Wan.

"I don't follow, sir," said C-3PO. "Could you explain?"

"I'd be happy to," said the Doctor, clapping his hands together, eager to show off his new mind for a little bit.

"First off, the number of TIEs was considerably lower than I had thought it would be," said the Doctor. "There were only four. I was expecting forty."

"Forty?!" burst out Luke.

"If they really wanted to kill us, they would have sent more than that," said the Doctor. "No, I don't think they want to kill us at all. I think they let us go. They're probably tracking us with some kind of fancy Imperial homing device right now."

"We're leading them right to the Rebels!" cried Leia.

"Not to worry," said the Doctor. "It just means that we'll have to move quickly to interpret that data that R2 is carrying."

"You said 'we,'" observed Leia. "Does that mean you're going to help us?"

"Yes, of course it means I'm going to help you," said the Doctor. "I mean, if Luke wants to join, then so will I."

"And I," said Obi-Wan.

"So, Luke, what's it going to be?" asked the Doctor.

"Are you kidding?" asked Luke rhetorically. "Of course I'll join the Rebellion!"

"Good! Brilliant! Excellent! Lovely!" exclaimed the Doctor, one phrase after the other. "So, that takes care of that. Now all we have to do is hope that that great big moony-woony thing doesn't get here too quickly. Otherwise, big lasers and explosions and pow, bang, boom, and that would just be a Health and Safety nightmare."

And so, the Millenium Falcon entered hyperspace for Yavin, taking its occupants closer and closer to their ultimate destiny. For that, the Doctor was extremely excited.

And there you have it! The Eleventh Doctor's first outing as this story's new doctor! Woohoo! I'm really happy with this one, mainly because I included more than a few Eleven references in it!

So, what did you think? Let me know in a review your thoughts. I'm eager to know!

Also, I just saw The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, with my dad. It was quite excellent! Highly recommended!

Nothing else to say, really. Nice and short author's note! Just the way I like it!

Next Friday: The Doctor and crew meet up with the Rebel Alliance and set R2-D2 to work.

And that's about it for this author's note. Until the next chapter, my friends!