Donna woke with a start- the feeling of cold metal on her back was very unusual, she usually slept on a nice cot made of leaves since she had been imprisoned on this ship. But wait a minute… The redhead tried to wiggle her wrists and ankles, and they hardly budged. Lifting her head slightly, she could tell that she was tied flat to a cold surgeon's table of some kind, and her feet and hands were bound by light but sturdy fabric cuffs.
She looked to her left and saw Xena, who had not yet awoken from her tranquilization. "Psttt…." Donna hissed at the brunette, "Psssstttt- Xena! Wake up." Xena reluctantly awoke, shaking her head as she tried to lift her face to her hands to wipe her eyes. The realization that she couldn't sent her into a bit of a panic, and Donna watched as the warrior went through the same thought process and realizations that she had experienced for herself only a minute ago.
Then, Donna felt it- the cold stare of a Dalek. The redhead was almost supernatural when it came to knowing if one of those demonic, robotic, freak-shows were near. Any time she had been around them, she could tell when they were nearby, and whenever they were looking at her. The air would become stiff, and the woman could always feel the intense urgency of anger ripple through the atmosphere, as if all of the Daleks were on the same wavelength of hate and destruction.
Donna stiffened, and watched out of the corner of her eye as one rolled by. Several were forming around Xena's table, and one of them had the strange, gold and silver weapon that the Doctor had showed Donna before their journey. "What was that thing called, now?" Donna thought to herself, watching as they approached Xena with the weapon, "Oh, yes, Shak-ey. No, that isn't right…" She found herself brainstorming possible names for the weapon instead of paying attention to what was going on around her, but immediately snapped back to attention when the leader of the group of Daleks spoke.
"THIS IS YOUR WEAPON," It boomed in its soulless, metallic voice. The statement was neither an explanation nor a question, but the Dalek remained focused on the warrior as if he expected her to respond. Instead of a yes or no, the warrior just stared up at the Dalek with nothing but hatred in her eyes. Donna marveled for a second at the warrior's lack of fear- the Doctor had explained to Xena when she first arrived in their prison what a Dalek was and what it was capable of doing, but if the long track record of atrocities committed by the race had phased the brazen warrior princess at all, she didn't show it one bit.
The Dalek was getting agitated without her response, so he began to speak again, his voice getting higher in pitch and louder than before, "YOU ARRIVED WITH THIS WEAPON. IT IS YOURS." This time, he took the warrior's silence for a confirmation, "YOU DO NOT DENY IT? THE WEAPON IS YOURS."
He rolled right up to her, next to where her head was lying on the surgical table. Donna was a tad jealous to know that they had afforded her a pillow, when all she got was cold bump in the surface of the table, but she decided to save that bit of snark for later in case they needed a distraction.
"YOU ARE THE DESTROYER OF NATIONS. YOU HAVE KILLED A RACE- YOUR "GODS"- FROM PLANET OLYMPIA WITH GENETIC PATTERNS SIMILAR TO THOSE OF GALLIFRAE AND TRISTAR GALAXY." The lord of the Daleks was becoming increasingly excited, the light on his head had begun to flash rapidly and more Daleks where joining the crowd around the prisoners. "YOU ARE THE KEY TO DALEK SUPREMACY OVER THE UNIVERSE!"
All of the Daleks joined him in a loud cry in some strange, metallic language. Donna wished desperately that she could cover her ears- the noise was the worst sound she had ever heard. She closed her eyes, tight for second, and then she was pricked by a needle. She twitched and looked around and realized that Xena was being prodded, too.
"What are you doing?" Xena asked. Her tone was cold and demanding. She didn't flinch away from the needle, as Donna had, but looked at the Dalek through skeptical eyes. The Dalek was at least kind enough to answer her question as he drew a 10 mL tube of blood from her using his strange suction cup that appeared to be able to double as any worldly device (including a syringe and blood tube). He replied in a monotonous but not booming voice. "Your-Genetic-Code-Will-Tell-Us-The-Secret-To-Oper ating-The-Ultimate-Weapon," The light atop his dome like head flickered excitedly, "Daleks-will-kill-our-enemies-and-rule-the-univers e."
"Wha-wha-wha- WAIT!" Donna interjected, confused. She couldn't be as stoic as Xena, who didn't ask any additional questions even though she probably didn't know what a 'genetic code' even meant. "What's this got to do with me and the Doctor? Why do you have me on this table right now if you want her genetics?"
"REPRODUCTIVE EXPERIMENT." The leader boomed, seemingly annoyed that the other Dalek had blabbed about the plan to Xena. "OFFSPRING OF DALEKS, TIME LORDS, AND WARRIORS WOULD BE AN UNSTOPPABLE FORCE. WE HOPED THAT YOU WOULD NATURALLY BREED TO THE MALE DOCTOR. YOU, MERE HUMAN, WILL NOW SIMPLY BE A VESSEL FOR OUR EXPERIMENT."
Donna scoffed, unsure of where this was going but sure that now was a good time for a distraction. "Well," she began, ignoring the death glare from Xena that surely said, 'Shut up Donna, and let me handle this.' Donna took a deep breath, and began her rant of complaining. "All of this poor, harsh treatment sure doesn't put me in much of a a mommy-ing mood." She would've crossed her arms and tapped her foot if she could've, for emphasis, but instead she settled for a frown, "I mean- you give that cold warrior bitch" –She looked at Xena as if to say 'sorry I promise I don't actually mean this,'- "A nice pillow to rest her head on, but I don't get anything at all? It seems only fair that if I am to be made into a glorified experiment that you should at least take care of your investment. And you wanted me to mate "naturally" with the Doctor? Is that why you left us alone for so long? HA!" She snorted, "You'd have to wait a few million years if you think THAT would ever happen- sheesh. For a genius race you really have dung for brains, I mean-"
She was cut short by the booming of several Daleks, who were obviously fed up with her antics. 'Oh great, here we go…' She thought to herself, as she heard the closest one yell; "THE ARGUMENTATIVE HUMAN WILL BE TRANQUILIZED. TRAQNQUILIZE THE ARGUMENTATIVE HUMAN."
She could see motion all around her, and felt another cold and sharp injection dig deep into the meat of her shoulder. She tried to hang on for consciousness for as long as she possibly could, mumbling out as many complaints as she could muster to try to buy them time, but in the end darkness overtook her like a warm blanket. "Doctor, Xena, No," was the last thing she managed to mumble before slipping away, but before everything went black she could hear the humming of the TARDIS- the sweet, electric, distinctive call of 'home.'