Chapter Eleven
When they entered the Valeyard's office, he was sitting behind his desk. A blue forcefield surrounded him and to Rose's astonishment, he appeared to be speaking but she couldn't hear anything.
"What's going on?" Rose said to Jasmine as she pointed to the Valeyard.
"The master is having a private conversation. He has a noise cancelling forcefield around him."
Rose nodded. They stood side by side as the Valeyard glanced at them and held up a finger before he started speaking again. Two minutes later, he finished speaking and pressed a button underneath his desk. The forcefield vanished and he cleared his throat.
"Forgive me. I was speaking with Kraag and informing him about you. I didn't want anyone hearing what I had to say so I had a privacy barrier up. You look lovely."
"Thanks," Rose said. "Listen, may I ask something? A request?"
"You may ask but as for fulfilling the request, that depends. But what is it?"
"I like Jasmine and I was wondering if she could be my personal servant?"
Both the Valeyard and Jasmine were surprised by the request.
"Oh! Um…well, yes, that is doable," the Valeyard said. "You don't mind owning a servant then?"
"I don't own her but I'd like to have her with me. I'd like to pay her as well if you don't mind."
"No, Rose, I'm happy to serve you," Jasmine said quickly.
The Valeyard was intrigued by this. He guessed the reasoning behind it was Rose liked the girl and wanted to protect her and that included from him. He didn't mind if Rose had a servant, in fact it made things easier for him but he felt the need to add a little warning to all of this in case Rose had any ideas.
"I will grant this request and to make you happy, I will give her a small stipend. Although, as I told you, I basically provide all her needs so what she'll spend it on is beyond me. But…I warn you, this better not be an attempt to ally yourself with people because not only will it not work but you'll end up seeing Jasmine suffer for it. Are we clear on this before I agree to it."
"Crystal. And I have no intention of using her against you," Rose said.
"Very well. Jasmine, I need you to dress in an outfit similar to Rose. You will accompany her on this trip."
"As you wish, master," Jasmine said.
"No. You belong only to Rose. I am not your master anymore so call me, Valeyard."
"Yes, Valeyard," Jasmine said, bowing.
"Very good. Hurry and get ready and meet us here."
Jasmine bowed again and quickly left the room.
"Thank you," Rose said when she shut the door behind her.
"I told you, I can be fair and I'm willing to accommodate you as long as you don't try to start a rebellion and overthrow me. Hence, the paying of the stipend to her. Now…please sit, I need to go over a few things with you while she changes her clothes."
Rose sat in the leather seat in front of the desk and for the next half hour, the Valeyard went over key points in the paperwork and also shared the itinerary with her and coached her on how to behave. Rose thought it strange that they were prepping for this trip, especially since her Doctor usually just landed and played it by ear. But then her Doctor wasn't trying to hold an empire together. She wondered privately just how tenuous his hold really was, especially on some of the more distant planets of the empire.
As the Valeyard was giving her a little quiz on what she learned, Jasmine entered the room. She was dressed identical to Rose except her clothes were made of satin instead of silk. Rose thought she looked beautiful though and she was glad that the Valeyard let Jasmine be her servant so she could watch over her.
After they finished, the Valeyard gathered up some paperwork in a folder and ushered the women outside for a moment. He told them to wait in the hall and ten minutes later the door opened and Rose made a face when she saw he was dressed in his robes and skullcap again. He told them to come back inside and he shut the door and locked it. He gathered up the folder and a small wrapped gift and clicked his fingers. The TARDIS door opened and Rose frowned when Jasmine suddenly gasped and stepped back in awe.
"You didn't know that was there?" Rose said to her.
"Perception filter, Rose. I told you that I disguised the TARDIS and not many people know it exists. When I drew attention to it, she suddenly realized it was there. Hence her shock."
Rose nodded and took Jasmine's hand. She explained what was going on as they walked inside but the moment she entered, it was her turn to be shocked when she noticed the interior had changed from being mainly coral to steel. She and Jasmine both looked around at the interior before the Valeyard became annoyed and told Rose to shut the door so they could leave. Rose apologized, shut the door and she continued to explain the TARDIS to Jasmine and ease her fears while the Valeyard powered his ship up and prepared to leave. Rose stood by the console with Jasmine, smiling as the familiar hum of the ship entered her ears and her mind. Despite the personality and name change of her Doctor, being in the TARDIS felt right to her like she had truly come home.
And even though the Doctor had changed appearance, it also felt right to see him flying the TARDIS as they headed towards Mabok. Rose glanced at Jasmine and noticed she looked a bit frightened but she wasn't freaking out and seemed to be calming down and accepting what was going on.
After ten minutes, the TARDIS landed and powered down. The Valeyard checked his monitor and nodded.
"Should be on the landing pad near the spaceport," he said to them. "That's where we're supposed to meet them. Come."
He opened the doors and they stepped out into a large domed room that was about two hundred feet wide and one hundred feet long. The floor looked like polished steel but the walls and domed ceiling looked like they were made of packed Earth. At the far end was a large rounded opening and on the other end was a small rounded doorway. Scattered around the room were an assortment of large and small spaceships. As Rose stood with Jasmine, she watched as a humanoid lizard came through the small doorway into the spaceport. Its skin was read with yellow stripes running down the back of its head. It was wearing a black flightsuit and black boots. A hole was cut in the back of the flightsuit for the tail and it had the same stripe pattern down the length of it to the tail. It was wearing no gloves and she could see talons on his fingers as it held a small black clipboard in its hands. Its attention was on the clipboard so the Valeyard had to call to it to turn its attention to him. The reptilian froze, it's yellow eyes focused on them while it flicked the air with its tongue.
"Pardon me," the Valeyard said to the lizard. "Is Kraag nearby?"
The lizard continued to flick its tongue as it walked over to them. It gave everyone the once over before focusing his attention on the Valeyard.
"And who might you be?" the lizard said in a deep voice.
Rose gasped when the Valeyard suddenly jerked his hand out and seized the lizard's flight suit.
"I'm the fucking owner of this backwater planet and I fucking own you and you will show me the proper respect," he snarled at him. "Now go and find Kraag now before I skin you and turn you into boots!"
He let go and the lizard ran off while the Valeyard sighed wearily and muttered under his breath about how late Kraag was for their meeting. Rose was shocked at hearing the Valeyard swear like that but she kept silent since his rage was quite evident on his face. The Valeyard looked at Rose and sighed again.
"Punctuality should be a priority here, unfortunately the Mabokians aren't known for it," he said to her. "For all I know, Kraag is probably sunning his fat arse on some rock somewhere and forgot about our meeting. I know he probably thinks I don't have anything better to do but I actually do have other things that need my attention in addition to this."
The lizard entered the room followed by an extremely portly lizard who was dressed in a large brown robe. This lizard was green with brown stripes and he was so huge, he waddled as he and Flightsuit Lizard headed towards them.
"Like I said, fat arse," the Valeyard whispered in Rose's ear before straightening up.
"Dear God, Jabba the Hutt does exist," Rose said softly.
The Valeyard heard Rose and bit his lip and put his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing as Kraag thanked Flightsuit Lizard and told him to carry on with what he was doing. Flightsuit Lizard glared at them before he turned and headed towards a ship near the front of the hangar. By now, the Valeyard had managed to still his urge to laugh and he had dropped his hand away from his face. Kraag waddled up to him and tried to bow, although with his girth he barely accomplished it.
"My Lord Valeyard," he said in a voice that sounded like gravel. "Thank you so much for visiting my humble planet."
"It's MY planet," the Valeyard said, glowering at him.
"Of course, Your Excellency, my mistake," Kraag said, trying to bow again.
Rose took an instant dislike to him. Despite her disgust at the way the Valeyard treated people, he was still the Doctor to her and she still had her loyalty to him and she sensed that what the Valeyard had said was true, that these people acquiesced to him but just barely. There was a sneer inside the smile that he was giving them and she could sense the Valeyard bristling at that. Then he turned his attentions towards her and Jasmine and Rose could just see the lust pouring out of his eyes and she felt like she was being mentally undressed.
"And these ravishing beauties are…" he said to the Valeyard as he kept his eyes on Rose.
"This is my consort, Arkytior, and her servant, Jasmine."
Rose frowned, never hearing the word Arkytior before in her life. She wanted to ask what it meant but Kraag chuckled and waddled closer to them.
"So, My Lord, you have made this beautiful one your mate?" he said to the Valeyard.
"Not yet but I wish to in future and I'm letting her accompany me in order to see what her duties would be," the Valeyard said.
"How wonderful, she is a radiant jewel in your kingdom."
Rose fought back revulsion when Kraag took her hand and put a slimy, wet kiss on the back of it. She noticed the Valeyard was trying not to laugh when she practically jerked her hand away. Kraag seemed not to noticed, although Rose swore the lust had intensified as he gazed at her and she was glad the Valeyard was nearby to protect her from the fat lump of scales and sweat. Not to mention he had a foul stench and she wondered when he last bathed…or if he ever did."
"Welcome to Mabok," Kraag said. "Please come with me and I will show you to your quarters."
The Valeyard waited till Kraag turned before he put his arm around her.
"Very good, my Rose, you did an excellent job," he whispered to her as they and Jasmine followed Kraag out of the hangar.
"Yeah, well, I need some hand sanitizer to get his slimy germs off my hand now," Rose muttered back.
The Valeyard chuckled softly.
"That was masterfully done as well," he said to her.
"What does Arkytior mean? I never heard it before."
"Arkytior means rose in Gallifreyan. I thought it was more impressive sounding to his ears."
"Oh," Rose said.
"Is that alright?"
"Um…yeah, I like it actually. It's beautiful."
"I agree," the Valeyard said. "So…just keep calm and keep plenty of hand sanitizer at hand, Arkytior, this is going to be a long inspection."