NOTE: I had *no* intention of this chapter working out the way it did...but I'm happy with it just the same. I've never written a story that occurs so 'out of order' the way this one does, it's fun! Enjoy!


Chapter Twenty-nine

Aleena paced around in her front room unsure of what to do. There was still no word from Jackles and that was making her increasingly nervous. Deciding that his lab would be the best place to start looking for the second blade anyway Aleena felt it best to go to him directly. Wanting to ensure that her Time Lady was secure Aleena headed to the bedroom to double check the restraints before leaving.

Stopping short at the door Aleena gasped sharply as she discovered that her captive was no longer alone. Sitting on edge of the bed was a lanky man with a mass of unruly brown hair wearing a white shirt with an unusual piece of blue cloth tied in a bow at his throat. Aleena knew he must have heard her enter, but he didn't even glance in her direction.

Completely focused on Amy the Doctor pressed the back of his hand against her cheek and looked at her with deep concern. He had removed the cuffs from her wrists, placed her under the sheets of the bed and tucked her in. A fine bead of sweat covered Amy's skin as she struggled against a fever in her sleep. The Doctor brushed a stray lock of red hair away from Amy's face and tucked it behind her ear before leaning down and gently kissing her forehead.

"It's going to be okay." The Doctor whispered. "I will get you home safe. Promise."

The Doctor finally turned his attention to Aleena. He slowly got to his feet, but didn't approach her. Instead he stood with his hands held palms out to show her that he didn't have a weapon or any intention of attack. Despite his attempts to look unthreatening in the back of Aleena's mind was a voice was screaming at her to run. However she found herself not moving from her place in the doorway.

"Hello." He greeted softly. "You must be Aleena."

"How did you get in here? Who are you?"

"I'm the Time Lord you defeated." The Doctor replied calmly with a sad smile.

"Wha...what?"

"I know you think it's her," the Doctor gestured back towards Amy "and I can understand the mistake, but I can assure you the power burning through her came from me."

Losing some of her initial fear Aleena raised a skeptical eyebrow as she looked the Doctor over.

"I'll admit I don't exactly look the part, I've had a rough few days." The Doctor reached up and tried to tame his hair but he just made it worse. "Aleena, we need to talk."

"Talk? Or negotiate?" Aleena demanded.

"Perhaps a bit of both. Are you willing to do that?"

"And what if I'm not?" Aleena asked defiantly.

"Then I'll announce to the entire ship who they are, where they came from." The Doctor brought out the sonic and flicked the intercom so that squealed throughout the ship to prove to her that he could talk to everyone at once if he wanted. "I don't know why you fear that, but I know you do."

"You're bluffing." Aleena said confidently. "If you knew who we were, if you had an ounce of power left, we would be dead already. In fact I don't even believe you are a Time Lord, you are just trying to protect the Time La..."

"You are the Minyan."

Aleena turned pale as the Doctor named her people correctly. When he took a step towards her she panicked. Whipping around she bolted into the adjoining room and ran to the door. When the door didn't open for her she pounded on it for moment before going to the intercom panel.

"Ithican!" Aleena cried. "Help!"

"Aleena, there is no point I've cut off all communications, in fact I've sealed this whole area off physically as well. It's just you and me." The Doctor said as he joined her in the room. "You're going to have to deal with me alone."

"So be it!" Aleena snarled.

Aleena went to launch herself across the room towards the table where she had placed the Vale Blade. The Doctor didn't know her goal but he lashed out to stop her anyway. Catching Aleena around the waist he pulled her in tight to keep her from escaping. Twisting around in his grip to face him Aleena struggled bitterly to free herself.

"Easy, calm down, it's okay," the Doctor soothed "I'm not going to hurt you, but I'm not going to let you hurt me again either. Understood? Please, just liste..."

"Let me go!" Aleena screamed. "Help! Help me! Ithican!"

"I am the only one who can help you, and I want to help you, I want to understand..."

"No!"

Aleena continued to fight against the Doctor for her freedom. When she pressed her marked palm against the Doctor's chest she won it. The pattern on the Doctor's skin reacted violently to the ones in Aleena's hand and lanced a breathtaking pain through his chest. The Doctor cried out and reflexively relinquished his hold on his captive. Not expecting to be suddenly released Aleena fell back to the floor.

Sitting up she scrambled back as quickly as she could, expecting the Doctor to be on her again. However he had problems of his own. Dropped to his knees the Doctor was gripping his shirt over his heart as he struggled to get back to his feet. Aleena wasted no time in retrieving the Vale Blade and once in hand she turned ready for a fight.

However she had no challenger to face. The Doctor had lost his battle to stand and was laying on his side labouring for breath with his hand still pressed against his chest. Suspecting a trap Aleena just watched him at a distance. Growling in pain the Doctor looked up at Aleena, catching sight of the dagger in her hand his eyes widened. He tried to speak but failed, taking a deep breath he concentrated harder on speaking.

"The dagger...you can help Amy..." the Doctor gasped.

"Amy? The Time Lady?"

"No, Amy...use the Vale Blade...re...remove my influence from her...please, help her..."

"She is a Time Lady the Blade can only kill her."

"No, she is human...my Companion. Save her...please..."

"You're lying...this...this is a trick..." Aleena said without much confidence. "You are trying to get me to return her heart by sinking the Blade into her."

"The heart is mine...and it's killing her."

The Doctor closed his eyes to take a moment to gather the strength to roll over onto his back. He reach up with heavily trembling hands and tore open his shirt to reveal the complex pattern that was starting to turn gold and glow. Unlike the slight pink that swirls that marked Amy's skin Aleena could see where these raised marks radiated from two distinct points of origin that would have marked the placement of the twin daggers.

"That...that shouldn't have happen." Aleena said fearfully even though she stepped closer.

"None of this should have happened..."

Aleena reared back as gentle gold glow turned to a powerful white flash. The Doctor arched his back and cried out piercingly before falling silent and dark again. Aleena stayed motionless as the Doctor laid motionless and apparently dead on the floor. She jolted with fright when he drew a sharp breath and began moaning quietly as though in pain but too weary to properly express it.

"Doc...Doctor?" Aleena asked in sudden concern. "Wait...how do I know you're called that?"

A knot had firmly tied itself in Aleena's stomach long ago and now it was making her increasingly sick. Putting the Blade down she cautiously approached the prone Time Lord. Locked in his unnatural sleep the Doctor continued to shudder and mewl in torment. It didn't take Aleena more than a moment to guess that he had been telling the truth and was currently suffering from some after effect of Jackles' experiments.

Kneeling down next to the Doctor Aleena studied the marks that now looked like ordinary scars once more. Confused she reached out and traced her finger tip along one of them. The mark she touched responded to her and turned gold for a moment before settling back down. When the Doctor cried out in pain she automatically put her palm against his chest to settle him.

Aleena yelped and jerked her hand back as a searing pain lanced up her arm. She turned her hand over and scrambled back in terror when she saw that her marks were now glowing gold just as the Doctor's had. Aleena tried to run to the door to call for help again, but she didn't make it more than a few steps before the marks flashed white and dropped her to the floor as well.

Waking in the past she seamlessly accepted her new environment. Aleena used the teleporter to take herself from the bridge directly to Jackles' lab. Since only herself and Jackles had teleport access to the lab he was not used to visitors and jumped in fright as she arrived.

"Lady Aleena, you startl..."

"We have him. Are you ready?"

"Yes, but..." Jackles hesitated.

"But what?"

"I'm having seconds thoughts about all this."

"Second thoughts?" Aleena repeated confused. "You think your theories are not sound?"

"They are sound."

"Then why do you hesitate?"

"Because what we are about to put this man through...it...it will be agony on a scale that can not truly be comprehended. The galvanic radiation tears at every cell, the nervous sys..."

"He not a man, he is a Time Lord." Aleena growled. "So don't waste your pity on him."

"I can't help it. I have spent so long on the science that I never took the time to think of the morality until now, this is worse than torture...at least when you torture someone there is something they can say to make it stop, some truth you want, but here there will be nothing he can do since what we want can only be gain through time, stress, pai..."

"Fifteen thousand years and this is the first you've thought of this aspect, why is that?" Aleena asked irritated. "You should have been preparing yourself for this."

"I know, and I was in some respects, but I've obviously never met a Time Lord before, he...he is not what I expected."

"They are masters of concealing their true nature. Do not allow his foolish appearance and easy smile to trick you, Jackles."

"It is more than that. I know you hold secrets that I do not, Aleena, and I know of the atrocities brought on the Universe by the Time Lords. But can one individual ever be held accountable for the acts of an entire race with out any evidence of participation in a crime?"

"Who said anything about holding him accountable?" Aleena asked seriously. "This isn't about crime and punishment, this is about doing what we *must* to survive. One will die, generations will live."

"True, but..."

"If this could be done painlessly, but he would still perish, would you still have these same reservations?"

"No." Jackles admitted.

"Then why should his suffering change anything?"

"I just can't imagine him as a threat." Jackles said timidly. "He seemed just casually curious about us, friendly even..."

"He would have figured out who we are given more time, and then he would have turned on us!"

"Are you sure? It has been such a long time since our war with the Time Lords started, maybe we should try speakin.."

"You would only hear lies!" Aleena snapped angrily. "His arrogance led him to believe that we could not over power him, and now that he finds himself in danger he seeks to use his silver tongue to save his skin."

"But..."

"Do not argue with me. If you understood, if you knew half the danger we were in just having him aboard this ship you would not prattle at me so! Now is everything ready or not?"

"The lab is ready." Jackles conceded with a sigh.

Aleena didn't give Jackles any more time to argue and activated the teleport to take them down to where Ithican was guarding the Time Lord. Standing outside a heavy metal door Ithican was not surprised by his Lady's appearance and bowed deeply to her. Aleena smiled affectionally and return the gesture with a slight curtsy of her own.

"We will take over from here, Master Ithican. Thank you."

"M'lady?"

"You may go."

"He is subdued and restrained, but remains dangerous. I should stay with you."

"This is not the first Time Lord I have slain." Aleena lied. "I will be fine."

"Of course, M'lady." Ithican bowed once again and disappeared with a flash from the teleport.

"Is that true?" Jackles asked. "Have you killed a Time Lord before?"

"That is none of your concern."

"I apologize."

Aleena used her biosignature to open the cell that she and Jackles had specifically designed for this day. The lights flickered to life inside as the door slid open. Aleena was irritated to hear Jackles gasp and regretted the fact that he had met this creature when he'd first appeared on the ship, back before they had discovered what he was. The two both having science and curiosity in common had quickly made a connection with one another.

Laying on his side with his wrists and ankles bound with ion bands the Time Lord was still unconscious. Blood was dried to the side of his face from a gash at his temple and fresh blood dripped from his parted lips. Aleena had worried that Ithican would be a little too aggressive when he had finally been given the permission to take the Time Lord into custody and she had been right. She was just grateful that he hadn't forced the Time Lord into regenerating already.

"Pathetic." Aleena hissed. "You just have to get them away from their technology and they are instantly no longer the gods they pretend to be."

"He certainly doesn't seem dangerous." Jackles lamented.

"That's only because you can't see into his mind, that's where the danger lays."

Jackles just nodded as he stepped closer. The Doctor was breathing heavily in an irregular pattern as he struggled to regain consciousness. Jackles knelt down next to the Doctor and gently pressed the back of his hand against the Doctor's cheek to try to bring him to the surface. The Doctor opened his eyes briefly but didn't seem to be able to focus them. He fought hard to stay awake, but it was only seconds before he passed out again. Jackles stared at the Doctor for a moment before he got back to his feet and went back to Aleena.

"Can we start now, or does he need to regain consciousness first?" Aleena asked.

"Aleena, we can't do this...not to this one."

"Why not?"

"He...he's so young..."

"Jackles, we've already had this argument." Aleena sighed. "This is the Time Lord you are going to have to work with. We don't have another fifteen thousand years to find another one. You have no idea how lucky we were to come by him as it is."

"It's been so long since we've seen one...maybe the Time Lords have forgiven us? Maybe there is no danger in accepting his offer to talk."

"It is not a matter of forgiveness, Jackles. As long as we are in the Age Lock we are a threat to the Time Lords. If we can reverse it, only then will they no longer hunt us. Until that time even this Time Lord will murder us all if he figures out who we are."

Jackles looked down at the senseless Doctor drooling blood onto the metal floor and shook his head sadly. Aleena could see from his expression that Jackles did not have the same enthusiasm for this project that he had back when it was still just a theory. Despite working closely with him over the years she had no idea how to run the device he'd created. Aleena put her hand on Jackles' shoulder.

"Don't loose your resolve on me now, Old Friend. I need you on this, we all do. Don't let fifteen thousand years worth of work go to waste."

"I know it is not my right to know this," Jackles said quietly "but it will help me through the trials to come if I know why we are such a threat to him. Why will he kills us? What are we to the Time Lords?"

"We are evidence. The only evidence of a horrific crime that would finally bring the Galactic Alliance down on Gallifrey and the Time Lords, and they will do anything to rid the Universe of us."

"If we are evidence why don't we go to the Alliance ourselves? We could get help."

"The Time Lords are too powerful, you know that. If we step from the shadows for even a moment we will be erased by them. They have already convinced the Shadow Proclamation and the Alliance that we destroyed ourselves and our own world in the Civil War."

"We were at war with ourselves?"

"Jackles, you must do this." Aleena redirected. "We will never have justice, but we can have peace. If the Age Lock is removed we can find a planet, and get off this damnable cursed ship. We can start fresh, settle down, start a technology free civilization on the edge of some undeveloped galaxy that the Time Lords can't be bothered to care about. Think of it, our children can finally know the joy of living and their parents can finally have the peace of dying. And the only cost is one soul."

"Yes, but..."

"And the cost might not even be that high."

"What do you mean? You'll let him go if he survives?"

"Certainly not. I mean I'm not fully convinced that Time Lords have souls."

"You can't mean that. Just look at him."

"He looks pathetic now the same way a shark looks helpless when stranded on the beach, place him back in the water and none will deny that you are dealing with a merciless killing machine. Trust me."

"I do trust you."

"Then continue without hesitation and become a hero. You have worked so hard, sacrificed so much, suffered for so long. I have faith in you. You are the only one who can save us, Dr. Jackles."

"Are you sure?"

"I've never been more sure of anything in my long life."

"But what if..."

"Think of your daughter." Aleena interrupted. "Think of all the children who will never be born if our children can not grow to have ones of their own. We can't stop now, we are so close to freedom."

"Just the one soul...maybe not even that...not such a high cost at all is it?" Jackles nodded slowly. "He is just a Time Lord after all...right?"

"Exactly, and there are thousands more just like him, millions in fact. A whole planet of them."

"True..."

"The Universe will never miss one less Time Lord."