A/N: This roughly follows "The Train Job". Warning – there's Time Lord / TARDIS sex in here… (smirks)
Doctor Who and the Great Eclipse and Doctor Who and the Ties that Bind are the first two parts to this tale. If you've not read the other two stories then this one might not make sense to you. Go read them first, Ok?
Jelly Babies? Bananas? Mutant Plot Bunnies? :-D
OtherMeWriter, thank you much. I really thought that scene had something else going on in it when I viewed it the first time, and Verity being in the process of budding just seemed to fit how the Doctor was acting there. He really does kiss the console.
Summary: The Doctor, reeling from the effects of the TimeWar as the last surviving TimeLord, stumbled into a situation he could not ignore when the TARDIS landed him inside a ship that was clearly in trouble. But the situation turns not as cut and dry as he might like. His people may be gone, but the stamp he's made on the universe is still there, and he finds himself caught in a web spun of the choices he's made in his past… And there's more than his own existence at stake.
Humanity has exploded out from the home world. Could the events of 2164 be responsible? In fleeing Earth-that-Was, mankind scattered to the stars across the galactic arm. Initial survey teams targeted likely planets and systems for habitation and not all of them ended up on the same side of the sector. Blue Sun exists apart, separated by a patch of 'wild space' filled with exotic binary and triple star systems, from the rest of civilized space. Few ships brave the route. But there are a few that do, and they connect the two sides of human habitation with a tenuous link…
So what happens to Dr. Simon Tam, his brilliant but damaged sister, a convicted murder by the name of Richard B. Riddick, one gal from 2005 London called Rose Tyler and 'Jack B. Badd' now that they are aboard Serenity? And just how is this related to the TimeWar?
A Doctor Who / Firefly / Riddick crossover.
Features Doctor 9, companion Rose Tyler; The cast of Firefly; 'Jack B. Badd' and Richard B. Riddick…
Doctor Who and the Tangled Web.
Part Eleven
Skyplex
Jon had, maybe not so untypically, retreated into the TARDIS after making sure River would take a bit of a nap. Verity had mentioned the desire to create another childe and he was just about fed up with everyone else anyhow. It had taken sixty years to complete the budding process before, and he knew it would take just as long now if not longer. He supposed that this was as good a time as any other was. At least Verity wouldn't treat him as though he were made of china. He knew he could be open and honest with her now, after so many years with her. Entering into his ship, even with the controls assigned to River as they were, eased his frustrations. Thete closed his eyes and reached out for Verity. Do you really want to?
She could feel the tension and confusion built up inside her pilot. So much fear. She brushed against his soul, a caress of her need for him. She couldn't ask River for this sort of contact. Verity craved her Doctor. He was still bonded to her, still imprinted, but she was so used to his need for physical and mental simulation that the cravings had become her own. Calling to him, she led him through her passages, in deeper and deeper, beyond the halls that his companions could comprehend, into the areas where the constant calculations formulated her living, breathing essence. The walls were all coral here, threaded through with clear glowing nerve fibers that were organic in nature. Tendrils reached for him, lazy and vine like. She needed to touch him, as he touched her.
The boots and socks came off first. His cool bare feet slid over the floor surface of warm pulsing coral. Psychic energy swirled about his naked toes and across the curves of his feet raising goose bumps with the touch. Thete paused to reach up and stroke his fingers over the low ceiling and she shivered from the light teasing contact. He'd always avoided this sort of thing when he had companions with him, not out of neglect but because he had no idea what they would do if they tried to follow him into these hidden recesses of his TARDIS. It was fabled that entering this deep into the center of a time ship would drive three-dimensional beings insane. Those of lesser species he chose to keep with him were, as a rule, too valued to attempt checking the myth on. Although he had brought Ace closer to this region than others when he was trying to assess her Time awareness. He and Verity considered then making Ace a time ship much as they had done for Romana but his companion had chosen another route and not the one he pushed her toward and they decided against it.
This was a place he didn't even show to Romana. Although the Time Lady was fully qualified to endure such contact, it felt as though such a thing should only happen between the bonded. Romana had been his friend and his student. Maybe he'd even venture to call her his confidante and sometime lover. But bonded she was not. To have saddled her down with his baggage… not even he could be that cruel. Still when time came for her to go he mentioned his contact with Verity, presenting Romana with a parting gift – a male TARDIS, and he hinted at how the childe came about, the existence of an eternal hyper-loom. He'd wanted to encourage her to look for similar inside the time ship she carried with her when she left him. An immature TARDIS that was as much his childe as Verity's. He would have liked to believe that she bonded to her time ship they way he'd bonded to his for both their sakes. But he couldn't feel Romana, Verity couldn't feel their son, and so they both feared the worse. Unless, of course, Romana had taken her TARDIS and fled back into E-space. If so, she was trapped there.
Verity didn't need to answer or ease their shared fears with words. Life had been very bittersweet. He might have gotten away with bonding strongly with the Time Lady, but they knew that Romana would not stay with him. Indeed the destiny of the pair ran parallel but was never identical. She brushed aside the worries about Romana. Nothing could be done about it. She tugged Thete forward by his belt loops. He chucked and moved to rub his cheek against her, "Tug all you want, impatient randy voyeur, you. I'm not being rushed." She extended tendrils toward him, caressing his head and trying to get under his clothing. No jacket, just a jumper of soft burgundy, a black v-neck tee, and his cargo styled pants. Amused at her efforts he lifted his arms so the vine-like appendages could lift the jumper and tee off. She obliged him, fondling and nuzzling him with as many points of contact as she could manage.
No sooner than the layers of cloth were off, he forgot about them, his own compulsion to be closer to her driving his actions. He twisted and put his back to the wall with his eyes closed, letting the whispers of her desires spark off the new threads of block transfer computations that would call the singularity forming the core of their new childe to them. Verity caressed over his chest, poking at his sensitive nerve clusters, knowing it would make him more responsive to her and tugged again. "Um… I don't think so, luv."
Oh, he was being difficult about this. Teasing. She wanted him deep inside her and he was so close. Verity let more of the psychic compulsion spark off his bare toes and travel a tingling network up his feet, through his ankles, and racing up his nerves under his trousers. Thete moaned. She tugged again and this time he swayed the direction she was pulling. He managed another throaty chuckle. "More than randy, eh? What have you been doing? Watching me with Amadak?" She let another stronger pulse of power surge into his feet at that. It wasn't totally without warning, and he caught a firm grip in the overhead tendrils as he arched upward from it. The sudden firm contact and feedback from her own actions made her keen ecstatically in his head. But it wasn't enough. She backed off and pulled him forward, using the tendrils like cilia to guide, force, maneuver him where she desperately needed him to be.
He laughed and playfully struggled, acting like he was trying to get away from her. She knew better. He wanted this, just as she did. Teasing her like a pro. She snickered as she got the upper hand and his pants slid down because he caught the hem underfoot. Verity paused with him just outside the archway that was at her center. Nothing existed here but for him and her. This was like stepping into her soul, becoming one with her. Clothes wouldn't survive the experience. She could feel the love he had for her flowing out from him. There was stillness about the moment as he caught his breath, pulling the started strands of mathematical formula to the front of his mind, and removing the rest of his clothing.
Verity could feel the gathering power in Thete, the living genius of his mind, active and completely bent to this one task of deliberately seeding her with new life. He stood at the threshold of her soul, the no-time no-place center of her being where she existed. He reached out and captured the enthralled singularity as it approached the glittering light of his mind and entrapped it into the strands of block transfer computations. The seed for her womb, cupped in his hands. They could leave it at this, trusting to chance that the embryo would take. Instead her entire spirit opened to him, calling him into the inner recesses of her physical reality, awash in a calming bluish green light. Rejoicing, he stepped into the abyss of her, becoming one in body and soul, if only for a little while.
And while he was there more singularities were drawn into the outpouring of energy, seeking a chance at life too. Tens of them. She caught them and pulled them to her, placing the potential that they were into her womb so that when the time was right that step would be complete already. But for one, which refused to come to her, choosing instead to dance around the Doctor's mental light like a moth attracted to a flame. And seeing no way to capture it, he created another set of calculations that slowly entwined it. Their joining was as intense and as total as two beings could get while remaining able to separate when it was over. In the no-time and no-place of her core, it might have been forever, or an instant. It didn't matter. The outside world, time included, did not flow while they were occupied thus.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Rose found herself in River's room holding the dark haired teen because every time she let go of the girl there would be screams and tears. That's not restful at all. Rose felt that she was totally out of her element to fix the problem, whatever it was. It seemed to her that the sessions made River worse, not better. All the blonde could do was to hold the dark-haired girl and try to sooth away the nightmares when they surfaced. Really, Jon should be doing this. Or helping her. She looked over to the door as Simon entered. He gave the blonde a smile and moved over to his sister, taking a hand that was curled in blankets. "You think that whatever the Doctor's doing is helping, Simon?" Rose asks.
He gives her a mixed expression, "Sometimes – no. She seems so much more unstable after, but then I wonder if perhaps he's making her deal with things that she's been pushing away. It's my fault, Rose. I convinced him that the fast cure might not cure her at all."
She reached out and put her hand over the top of his, "Maybe what we are seeing is what the wound looks like when it's reopened so that it heals properly. It looks bad, but she's not gonna bleed to death because it's a controlled situation."
"I'm glad you're here Mei-Gui."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world." She gives him a sad smile and they sit with River, soothing away the haunting fears together. Rose was glad for the company because she could feel Verity was occupied... Intensely.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
It was a sated and quietly happy Doctor that set to checking plants. Book was aware of the hidden room, but he'd avoided going inside as it threw his perceptions for a loop and that bothered him. But then he spotted Mal step back into the dining room from the engine area where Kaylee and Richard were working out a safer re-route for the grav thrust heading right for where Jon was like he had a radar on the man. The Shepherd was curious enough to move closer to the ajar door.
"Kaylee's worried about the compression coil," came the captain's voice.
"Should be, yeah. It's pretty worn." Jon's quietly gleeful voice sounds like he's on the other side of the room. Book peeks in and spots Mal picking up a wastebasket before he moves to the opposite side of the row that Jon's tending and starting to help. "I've got someone willing to ship one to the postbox, on my word."
"Been spending a lot of credits for parts, though. I ain't ever gonna be able to repay you for what you done already."
Jon pauses, his face growing serious as he looks at the other man, "Considering what I've asked of you, Malcolm…"
"But that's just the thing. You ain't asked for nothing more than I'd be offering anyhow. Shelter. Safety. Protection. Everyone is entitled to those things."
"Not everyone would place their own neck on the line for a stranger, much less for an alien one. Let me get that compression coil for you. What good is Serenity if it blows, huh? She'd be dead in the water without it."
Mal looked at the pale man and nodded. "We'll be docking at a private Skyplex soon. Fast in, fast out. I don't even want Rich going off boat, so you'll stay here too. This fella that has work for me don't even need to know you are here." Jon nods with a look of worry crossing his face for a moment. They go back to work silently, but it is a pleasant, peaceful quiet. Mal finishes up the row before he leaves. Book moves back to his seat and makes like he's reading. There's something going on between the two, something they are both aware of but neither is admitting. Book knows this much but has no idea what it might be yet.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Wash was thinking about the palm tree when his wife walked in. The pressed one-piece fronds with the hole in the middle didn't look much like a real palm tree, he knew. The trunk managed to convey enough of the texture of the real thing to make up for it though. He wondered what a real palm tree shrunk to that size would actually look like. Hmmm. Now granted, thinking about a plastic miniature tree was likely not the most important thing to be dwelling on, but it did keep him from thinking about things he couldn't change. Like having a serial killer on board, or a pregnant man, or two very wanted individuals, or half a dozen other issues. Not that little palm trees, nor the full-sized real versions, were doing a very good job of keeping him from thinking about those things after all.
Zoë settled down on the edge of his chair and he shifted to pull her into his lap, fighting his worry-meter about her leaving Serenity. She was a big girl, after all. In a gunfight, she'd be one person he knew would come through it. Unless Mal got himself killed, then Zoë would likely do something stupid and go down with him. She wiggled into his lap a bit more, catching his hand and pulling it around her. "This is just a job pick-up, love. No need to worry."
"Sometimes I think you're a mind reader." He kissed her neck.
"I just know you, Wash. You are fretting. Staring at the poor defenseless plastic palm tree like it's wounded you. You didn't cut yourself on it or anything?"
He snickers into her hair, "Nope, not this time. Who's going?"
"Me, Mal, and Jayne. Mal doesn't want this guy knowing Richard is aboard."
"After looking him up, I know why. This fella is leagues worse than Badger. I've got major reservations about this."
Zoë squeezes his hand. "We need the work, and we've hit a glass ceiling. We don't do this and there's a very good chance that we'll stop getting jobs altogether."
"Then Mal needs to stay here to supervise, because anything goes wrong…"
"If it starts to go pear-shaped then let Jon help you." He hugs her. Hopefully they would get a chance to talk about this before the job went down. He looked at the readings and then went back to holding her.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Serenity docked at the Skyplex sooner than they expected too only because the thing ended up being on the same side of Ezra as their approach. Wash performed to his usual very high standards. Mal made sure that everyone knew to stay on the ship but for the two that were going with him. Amazingly enough, none of them argued with him. Mal made sure he looked the part and gathered up Zoë and Jayne. The escort through the station to his meeting was quiet enough. The entire place has an extra coat of gloss that the public Skyplexes lack. When they stop he knocks on the door. Mal is confronted by a neathanderal of a man, tall and brawny, chest bare and covered with tattoos. The broad, black, thick leather belt the man wore almost looked like a back brace or armor. Long stringy brown hair spilled off his head as he glowered at them. Mal took half a step back.
"He's fine. Crow, they can come in." The guard at the door, Crow, stepped aside and let them enter into a plush room that would have looked at home inside a mansion on one of the richer Core worlds. It's all lush polished woods, natural fiber hand-woven rugs, leather-upholstered furniture, stained glass, and state of the art technology. "And Malcolm Reynolds is which?" asks an older man dressed in understated but elegant richly colored clothes. He has a distinct accent that is hard to miss.
Mal steps forward, hands tucked where they could be seen but unable to betray his nervousness. "I'm Captain Reynolds." He indicated the dark skinned woman to his side, "My First Mate Zoë," then he gestured to his hired gun, "this is Jayne."
The man barely gives the others a passing glance, "Very nice." He then introduces himself; "I am Adelai Niska." He moves to his desk and settles casually against it, "You have seen Crow. He likes to stand at the door to say Boo!" This seems to be all the guard that Niska thinks he needs.
"We got word you might have a job for us."
Getting right to business seems to delight the man. He smiles and claps as he gets back to his feet, "Yes! Yes, an exciting job." He walks over to the other side of his desk; "A train has, eh, something I need. You have worked a train before?"
Mal lies through his teeth… "We did a few."
Niska gives him an amused and cunning expression, "Are you going to ask me what it is I need?"
"As a rule, no." Mal knows the question was a test of sorts.
He gets a smile that indicates a 'pass' from the older man, "Yes. Good!" Niska is altogether gleeful. "You have reputation! Malcolm Reynolds gets it done is the talk."
Poker face on, Mal replies, "Well, I'm glad to hear that."
Niska's expression becomes more of a cold glee. "You know what is reputation?" He waits for Mal to nod. He shrugs, "Is people talking. Is gossip," Mal takes a slow deep breath and nods again. "I also have reputation. And not so pleasant I think you know. Crow?" At this the tattooed man slides open a set of panels to reveal a man who is held upside down. He's bloody, battered, burnt and bruised, half skinned alive. Mal's impression is that if the man isn't dead he should be. Mal has to steel himself against reacting. "Now for you, my reputation is not from gossip. You see this man. Eh," Niska waves the corpse off as if it means little to him, "he does not do the job. I show what I do him, and now my reputation for you is fact, is solid. You do the train job for me," He gestures at Mal then to himself, "then you are solid. No more gossip."
"Right," Mal says. The word comes out with a catch in it, and Mal can feel his jaw tighten even though he's trying not to react.
The crime boss picks up on it instantly, "Oooh. You do not like I kill this man."
"Oh, no. I'm sure he was a very bad person."
That amused expression comes back, "My wife's nephew. At dinner, I'm getting earful. There is no way out of that." Then the excitement and glee resurfaces, "So, oh! The train job. Come here!" He motions them forward. As they do so he turns on a display showing the setup for the job. It's touch interactive, changing as he talks and motions to various points, "Here, in fifth car, two boxes. Alliance goods. You don't mind taking from Alliance I think. From your reputation?" He looks up at them and Mal nods. Niska maintains his amused expression; "You get on train at Hancock, headed for Paradiso. You take boxes off, before you reach Paradiso, and deliver to Crow --" he touches another spot which lights up, "-- here. Half money now, Crow give you other half money at rendezvous point." He fixes Mal with a long stare, "Anything goes wrong, then, your reputation, only gossip, and things between us, not so solid. Yes?" The grin he gives Mal makes the captain believe that he wants him to fail just so he has someone new to torture…
They better find a way to make sure nothing goes wrong.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Back on Serenity Mal makes sure everyone is called together. This impacts all of them. Even Inara. They are traversing the region known as the Georgia System for the large gas giant, Georgia, that dominates the space. They are heading from Niska's Skyplex that orbits Ezra, one of Georgia's moons, toward the mining moon of Regina that houses the towns of Hancock and Paradiso. Hancock is a largish town that handles all major imports and exports for the planet. Paradiso is a mining community several hours away by train. They plan on this being an 'in-n-out' sort of deal, and the timeframe they've been given is very tight.
Wash says, "We allowed to give opinions and share data here?" Mal looks at him and nods. "I don't like it. Not one bit. But he's given you money which means we're locked into this."
"Was my impression as well. We'll need to make sure we can carry this out smooth as silk. We can't afford any hitches," Mal says.
Jon says, "Let someone else get on the train."
"Tickets are for a husband-wife team. There's no changing the passes to anything else. I was thinking that it would be Zoë and me on the train, with Jayne doing the pickup. Rich is too noticeable, but he could do the pickup. Jayne might cover on the train, but I'm sure Crow will ask where he is if something does go wrong. Hell, he might ask after Zoë. So who we got that might fit on the train?"
Zoë says, "We can't afford a shoot out situation, at all. It's gonna be either me or Rose for the missus. River is too young and too noticeable. Inara is too rich looking for the situation. We'll need Kaylee here on the controls." Rose raises her head and blinks. "Rich and Simon are both out. Too recognizable. Wash we need piloting, any little atmospheric quirks could make any of the rest of us lose control. The Shepherd is too old, so that leaves Jayne or Jon. My vote is for Rose and Jon on the train."
"Absolutely not." Richard growls.
Rose protests, "I could do it. Jon and me took out an entire shop of living dummies. I take orders well."
"Situation's changed," the ex-ranger fixes her with a glare.
"Oi, that's right. You ain't protesting me on the train. You don't want Jon there. Well, he's not gonna break," Rose stands up and moves over to Jon. "Maybe you should stop treating him like he will."
The Doctor looked up at the blonde with a faint smile. "I imagine that I can't vote for myself there, can I?"
Mal looked over at him; "It might be dangerous."
"Life is, most times. I might be in a better position to help out than you might. I can always use my medical training as an asset to explain why I'm there. No rush to get me and Rose off the train as far as Niska's concerned because he doesn't even know we are here," Jon shrugged, "and aside from certain protests by Richard, no one disagrees with Zoë."
Richard frowned. "Jon, can we talk…" He motioned for Jon to follow him into the hydroponics area and closed the door.
Jayne gave everyone a confused look, "What's with Rich? It sounds like a perfect plan." The rest of the crew just looks at him. "What?"
"It's nothing Jayne," Zoë said.
Kaylee stood up and moved over to Rose, "What you gonna do if Rich talks Jon into not going on the train?"
"Go back to the original plan." Mal looks at Zoë.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Thete, you're talking about--"
The pale man paced away, then turned back, "Pregnant here. Not dying." He gestured angrily, "Why is everyone insisting that I sit with my feet up and let the world pass me by all of a sudden? You wouldn't believe what I accomplished when I was pregnant before. I fought cybermen, yeti, invaders from Mars--"
The ex-ranger came up and put his hands on the agitated Time Lord, "Sure, but--"
"If it were Zoë no one would think twice about her picking up a gun and fighting. If I can get a look at the air processors on Regina I might be able to find the cause of Bowden's Malady there. Maybe even cure it." He looked at Amadak, willing the other man to understand, "How would you feel if everyone started treating you like this. Like you can't lift a gorram feather without breaking? Heaven forbid, actually working up a sweat or even becoming excited might actually cause the entire ship to come to a standstill. I'm about to snatch River and take off in my TARDIS, parasite be damned."
"You wouldn't!"
"I just might!" The Doctor pulled away from him, "I don't think I can stand five months of this let alone another fifteen. What the hell is wrong with you people? I'm not going to burst a vein, or throw out my back. I'm not even showing yet." He paces away from Richard; "Here I thought I could let other people see that I'm happy and in love and what happens? I'm yoked down and told not to fucking move! It's almost as bad as being a lab rat like I was the last time. Nicer environment, true, but still I can almost feel the cold staring eyes looking at me to see what straw will finally be the one to break me…"
Richard frantically comes around and catches him, "What?"
"I can almost feel the cold staring eyes looking at me to see what straw will finally be the one to break me?"
"No, before that." Thete blinks. Rich cups his smooth jaw with his fingers; "You can go do the job, ok? Just be careful." Amadak wraps his arms around his Time Lord; "I don't wanna lose you."