Author's Note: Well, the Time Lords aren't exactly "back", but they're definitely able to get back to our universe, and interfere here. You'll find out more later.

Thanks for the review, Guest! I hope that you're right, and I can make up the canon. Because I've got a few interesting ideas. I'd love to write a story about the brought-back Gallifrey which involves Braxiatel. He's one of my all-time favorite characters! Maybe I'll throw in Jenny, too...

It's certainly my canon to write, here, though, because this is an alternate timeline in which the Doctor dies, so we'll never see it for real.

Anyways.

Enjoy, everyone!

"This tribunal is now in session," said the Shadow Architect, banging her gavel upon the podium. "We are here today to try the defendants gathered in this courtroom — who've been charged with perpetration of specific acts of targeted terrorism with malicious intent to start a war."

"Objection!" Jenny cried. "If I'd done that, I'd be on trial with my own people, not you!"

"Until the CIA bribed the High Council to keep it hush-hush, pardoned you, then used the situation to their advantage to drastically and immorally alter history," Seo muttered, beneath her breath.

Jenny rounded on her. Glaring.

"I mean... political corruption on Gallifrey?" Seo asked, feigning innocence. "Never heard of it! Perish the thought."

"Objection overruled," the Shadow Architect cut in, before this could go any further. "This is an intergalactic court, following intergalactic crimes that violate the laws of space. Any temporal matters above and beyond that I'll be happy to let your own people handle." She cleared her throat. "Now. May the defendants stand forth."

They stood forth.

"Jenny, Time Lady of Gallifrey," the Shadow Architect announced, "Jack Harkness, human, of..." She frowned. Squinting at her records. "...Earth."

Jack shrugged, flashing her a dashing grin.

"And... Seosyrae Summers," the Shadow Architect concluded, "of Earth, who is on record as claiming her species designation is 'Part-Everything'."

Seo nodded.

"You are hereby charged with the aforementioned crime. How do you plea?"

They looked at one another. Then back at the Shadow Architect.

"Not guilty!" they cried, together.

"Don't we even get a lawyer or whatever?" Seo demanded. "How about a jury of one's peers?" She gestured at the jury, which were mostly Judoon, along with a few other aliens Seo had seen floating around here, before. "These 'jurors' are just Shadow Proclamation guys you had hanging around!"

The Shadow Architect banged her gavel against the stand.

"This is an emergency trial," the Shadow Architect replied, acidly. "Following the attacks on Kylinda and Peroz, and the depopulation of the Arewo Outpost, all available resources at the Shadow Proclamation are being geared up for war. We cannot spare—"

"So you really are at war," Jack realized. "You weren't kidding about this."

The Shadow Architect stood in place. Thunderous. "Does it look like I'm kidding?!"

They all went quiet.

"Prosecution," the Shadow Architect said, sitting back down. Her face still stony and bitterly angry. "Present your evidence."

The prosecution stepped forwards, and did so.

Seo, Jack, and Jenny all stared, as they saw the transmission projected in front of them. An unknown alien species, with three heads on necks that looked like thorny rose bushes, their bodies deathly thin with bulbous hands, appeared before them.

"To all the worlds in this galactic sector," the alien said. "We are the Trothanians. Surrender your resources to us, or we will take them by force."

Trothanians…?

Jack and Seo both turned to Jenny, in unison.

Waiting for her to explain "Trothanians".

"What are you looking at me for?" Jenny protested, raising up her hands. "I don't know everything about everything! I'm just..." She paused. Dropped her hands, her face bending into thought. "No, actually, hang on. Trothanians. I've heard of them."

Seo elbowed Jack. "Told you her Time Lady name should have been 'the Braniac.'"

"Trothanians," Jenny repeated, recalling what she knew. "Yes, in this century, they'd be a great big empire, not all that far from here. Rather interesting biology. They share traits with both oxygen breathers and nitrosyl chloride breathers. Which makes them practically immune to any consequences of smoking or cigarettes. But does cause certain oddities in their system when mixed with certain chemicals found in humanoid..."

Jenny stopped.

Her face going pale.

"...humanoid children," Jenny whispered.

The horrible truth began to sink in. To all of them. All at once.

They'd known the economics of the situation hadn't made sense. All those kids being abducted from across the galaxy, all those different Radiowave Bullies out collecting them, all those shipments of drugs — they had to be going somewhere. Somewhere big, with vast quantities of people depending on those drugs. Somewhere where the economy centered around drug importation.

The Trothanian Empire.

Looked like... even though STP had mopped up nearly all the Radiowave Bullies, the Trothanians still wanted their drugs. And would wage a war to get them.

Then the Trothanian on the recording added, with definite savagery in his voice, "And we demand the destruction of Jack Harkness!"

The recording flickered out.

"Vienna, why didn't you take that one?" Jack muttered. "Much better kill."

"Your honor, as you can see — even from this court proceeding," the prosecution continued, "these three individuals, who operate under the guise of STP, do not take things seriously! They wander around the universe like a bunch of teenagers, causing mayhem without any care about the severity of their—"

"Whoa, wait a second!" Seo cut in. "Are you seriously trying to argue that we shouldn't have saved innocent kids from being turned into drugs?!"

"When doing so provokes a war that could wipe out every single world in this galactic sector, then yes!" the prosecution insisted.

Jenny looked a little stunned.

Jack stepped forwards, in front of the two sisters.

"I'm in charge," Jack said. "And I'm telling you — STP is no laughing matter. It's a mission. To save kids, to save worlds, to save planets who can't defend themselves. We take it very seriously."

"Children from primitive planets," the prosecution qualified. "Children whose highest education would have amounted to... to... banging rocks together!"

"I'll bang a rock into your head if you don't shut up," Seo retorted.

"Those children would never have amounted to anything!" the prosecution insisted. "They'd never have given anything back to the universe. And now children on space-faring worlds, important children, are being taken instead! Just because these three... terrorists... saved those worthless...!"

"Your honor, in terms of temporal analysis," Jenny cut in, "the prosecution's speaking rubbish."

"Temporal law has no place here, Time Lady," the Shadow Architect replied.

"It does when you're arguing about long-term consequences of sacrificing children!" Jenny snapped. "Anyone who knows anything about temporal mechanics can tell you that whether the child is rich or poor, or from a primitive world or a space-faring power, that child could still be significant enough to the overall Web of Time, to the point where—"

Seo elbowed her sister in the ribs. "Save your breath," she said. Gesturing at the jury, who looked bored. "They don't care."

Jenny turned.

Saw that Seo was right.

And nearly screamed, in frustration.

"This is ridiculous!" Jenny shrieked. "Shadow Proclamation or no, I demand to be tried by someone who actually understands the temporal dynamics of this situation!"

"No," said the Shadow Architect.

"Why not?" Jenny insisted. "Why won't you just listen to reason, and—"

"Because they all want our heads on spikes, of course," Seo answered. She gestured at the Shadow Architect. "I mean, look at her! She's freaking out. These Shadow Proc guys think the only hope they have of averting a war is our execution. The trial's a sham."

The Shadow Architect was a little too slow to object.

The prosecution coughed, and looked away.

The jurors all fidgeted.

"It's not gonna work, you know, Jury Guys," Seo continued, swinging around to address the jury. "These Trothanians are on massive withdrawal, and we've just cut off their supply. They're waging a war to get their fix, and they're not leaving until they have it."

"She's right," Jack agreed. "And if the Trothanians coming for the kids — we're your only chance."

The prosecution stepped forwards. "On the contrary," he replied, "STP is the last group we should be asking for help. They caused this war without thinking of the long-term effects this might have upon our galactic sector, over time—"

Jenny threw her arms into the air.

"Oh, for goodness sakes!" Jenny shouted. "'Over time'?! What part of the term 'Time Lady' didn't you understand?!"

"—and they have had some spectacular failures, even on the planets they claim to have 'helped'." The prosecution tapped a button, and his next evidence popped up in the air. 3D images of Erichon, Hershap, Lingsfor. "The planets of Erichon, Hershap, and Lingsfor. Their populations all destroyed. Not a soul left alive. Because of STP's interference."

Jenny lowered her arms.

Seo shuffled her feet.

They both remembered those worlds. Jenny had died on one of them. All of STP might rejoice over their victories, but they still felt their failures very strongly.

"STP claims it helps save children," the prosecution explained, "but it is no more than a terrorist organization, designed to destroy the lives of everyone worthwhile in this galactic sector."

"Better let them take the poorer children," Jack added, "the less fortunate, the ones who don't matter — rather than ours." He shook his head. "Will you people never learn?!"

"We've heard this spiel a thousand times before," Jenny agreed.

"On every planet where the Radiowave Bullies attack," Seo said. "Almost word-for-word."

"And it never works," Jack concluded. "They take some children now. But they're always back for more. You can't appease them."

"When the alternative is war…!" the Shadow Architect began.

Jack strode forwards, his eyes dark and level. "Tell me this, Shadow Architect. Have you ever seen a world when it's ripped apart by these monsters? You ever seen armies beating down desperate mothers, so they couldn't rescue their kids? You ever seen a man shoot his family rather than surrender his children to a fate worse than death? You ever seen soldiers clubbing kids in the head, trying to get them to cooperate, so they can be sentenced to hell?" Jack stopped. His eyes fixed on the Shadow Architect. "Because I have. And I dare you to see that and not try to stop it."

They were cut off by the entire building shaking, violently. The lights flickering, the boom sound resounding across the courtroom.

"Outer perimeter!" the Shadow Architect cried. "Report!"

A Judoon's voice flooded through the air, shouting a situation update in coarse Judoon through the speakers.

"Bombardment has started," Jenny whispered to Jack. "Looks like the Trothanians found out a certain Jack Harkness was here, and came to find you."

"I'm everyone's favorite guy, today," Jack muttered back.

The Shadow Architect banged her gavel, through the flickering lights. "We've wasted too much time! Jurors, cast your votes."

It took them all of about two seconds.

Probably scared for their lives.

"The votes are unanimous," the Shadow Architect said. "Jenny of the Time Lords, Jack of the Humans, Seosyrae of... Whatever-You-Are..."

Another boom, and the room shook even more. The lights flickering.

The Shadow Architect shouted to be heard over it. "This tribunal hereby sentences you to summary execution. No chance of appeal. To be carried out immediate—"

The lights stabilized.

And everyone looked around themselves.

Seo, Jack, and Jenny had disappeared. As if they'd never been there at all.

"They've escaped!" shouted the prosecution.

"Then don't just stand there!" the Shadow Architect cried. "Find them and execute them. It's our only chance of averting a war!"

The jurors all charged up the guns they had concealed.

And raced out of the court room, to chase down the escapees.

"Hate to break it to you guys," said Seo, as they raced along the corridors, "but I sent Oliver back in time to drop off some friends."

"And my TARDIS is light years from here," Jenny agreed. "But Jack's VM should be in an evidence bin somewhere nearby. We can use that to get to my TARDIS. Then—"

"Then we regroup," Jack cut in. "Fight back. Whatever's going on, here, we got these people into it. We gotta get them out, again."

"Yeah, but that only works if we can..." Seo began.

They all fell silent, as they caught sight of the Judoon up ahead, and skidded to a stop.

Turned back, and saw that, behind them, the disperse alien species of the jury, all armed to the teeth, were still pursuing them in the opposite direction.

"We really are popular today," Jenny muttered.

Seo spun to her right, grabbed the nearest door, and forcibly shoved it open. She waved the others inside, then slammed it shut, Jack helping her shove items up against it, to form a barricade.

"Equipment!" Jenny cried, racing over to it. She began frantically trying to disassemble it and reassemble it. "If I can rig it up to trigger just the right psychic frequency, I can summon my ship! Then we can...!"

The barricade gave way.

Seo and Jack tumbling to the ground, under the force of twenty Judoon and numerous other species.

They were trapped.

"Change of plans," Jenny muttered.

Jack sprung back to his feet, raising up his hands. "It's okay," he said. "We surrender."

The Shadow Proclamation looked at one another.

Then fired, all at once.

Three bodies fell to the ground. Dead.

As the bombardment continued.

Jack gasped back into life.

Looked around himself, through the emergency lighting. He could hear a woman's voice counting down to total destruction of this facility — in under a minute, sounded like.

Beside him, the bodies of Seo and Jenny.

Still dead.

"No," Jack said. He felt their skin. Cold. The Shadow Proclamation had known Jenny was a Time Lady. Had they stopped the regeneration process? Would these two ever wake up?

The whole building shook, again.

And Jack decided he didn't have time to take chances.

He raced out the door, down to the area they'd been heading to, originally. Where they'd stashed his VM.

He forced his way into the room, shoving and tearing at the door until it gave.

Then shuffled through the evidence bins, one after another, looking, looking, searching for...

There!

VM!

He grabbed it.

Then dashed back to Seo and Jenny. Their bodies still lying there, on the floor. Took both their hands in his, and placed them on the Vortex Manipulator.

"Gotta be something I can do," Jack said.

As he pushed the button, and they all disappeared.

Just before the Shadow Proclamation exploded.