Author's Note: The last few chapters are really, really long. It just seemed like such a shame to break up the action here.

And yes, we are on the last few chapters.

Jenny opened her eyes.

She had a splitting headache. Where was she? What was happening? Why had she just blacked out like...?

"You call that fighting back?" came the Apos'alu's voice from the central console. There was a grunt of exertion from Yimi, followed by another smack and Yimi's cry of pain. "Come on! Put some backbone into it! I thought your people were supposed to be bloodthirsty."

Jenny jumped to her feet. "Yimi?" She ran to the central console, eyes on the scanner screens. "Oh." Rubbed her head. "Oh, that must be why the Apos'alu is out of my head. Yimi's blocked the Apos'alu's influence from effecting the inside of this TARDIS."

She cringed. Poor Yimi... All this, for...

"The plan!" Jenny ran around the central console, looking for the controls she needed. "Right. Next time I get brainwashed — spend less time cleverly making it tamper-proof. More time actually finishing it." She found the correct controls, and began frantically pushing buttons and flipping switches. The TARDIS beeped a snippy error message at her in fractured Gallifreyan. "Oh, you have to be kidding me!" She flipped the switch the other way and slammed down a lever. The TARDIS gave her a groan that might have been a snicker, and a snippier error message.

"'Stop grammaphoning the orange peel; apply variable parmesan'?!" Jenny thudded a fist down on the console in irritation. "I'm trying to save everyone's lives here! Zeera's included! Can't you cut me a break?"

The only sound from the central console was a smack of skin hitting feathers and a grunt of pain from Yimi.

Jenny threaded her hands through her hair. "No, Jenny, don't freak out. People are depending on you. Especially Yimi." Oh, but why couldn't she have grabbed that Oxford Gallifreyan dictionary before she'd left room 78B?! Who in their right mind would know...?

Wait.

Room 78B. Lantro's lifeline.

Jenny could feel new memories flashing inside her head, left over from when the Apos'alu had taken her over. "The lifeline. It wasn't set up for Lantro, at first. It was for Zeera. It was designed to grab onto Zeera!" She dove for the controls, inverting what Yimi had done. "The lifeline was modified to lock onto Lantro's vortex manipulator instead — but I can switch it back. Pull her out one last time! And with everything destabilized, it should work." She adjusted a knob, and then yanked up a lever. "She can be my dictionary! She knows...!"

Jenny hesitated, as she suddenly thought of one part of the plan Zeera really, really wouldn't like.

From the central console, the Apos'alu's voice rang through the punches and smacks and grunts. "Here's the thing, Yimi. The Doctor's back under my control. And you might have saved Seo in the short run, but I'm going to make sure the Doctor drains every last scrap of power out of her before I let him go."

"On second thought..." Jenny slammed down the button.

With a flash, Kardeni suddenly appeared in the center of the room. She spun around, dazed. "What? But I...!" She blinked, then rubbed her head. "It's gone." Her eyes lit up, excitement flooding through her. "I can't believe it! Finally, it's...!"

"I know! I know!" Jenny ran over, grabbed her by the arm, and tugged her back over to the central console. "And we'll throw a party later! But right now, I need to make sure everybody doesn't die." She kicked the central console, scowling. "And without Yimi, I can't figure out your faux-Gallifreyan setup well enough to program in the tablecloth part."

Kardeni blinked, then seemed to come to her senses. "Oh. The tablecloth." She began to run around the central console. "Why are you having trouble with the tablecloth? The tablecloth should be easy." She began flipping switches around the console as she ran, each flicked carefully timed and precise. "One up, one down, three middle. First vault layer secured." She kept racing around the console. "Second vault layer. Up. Down. Middle-middle-middle. Secured. Third vault layer..."

There was the sound of another punch.

"What is that punching sound in the...?" Kardeni grabbed a scanner screen and slid it towards her. Skimmed her eyes up and down it. "Oh." Cringed. "Oh, poor Yimi." She got back to her work. "I guess we need to save her people, then."

Jenny used the distraction to slip away from Kardeni and dart over to the third row of consoles. She still had to program in the part she knew Kardeni wasn't going to like. She was just hoping she knew how to do it.

On the holographic projection, the Doctor had already stopped the chameleon arch from draining the Apos'alu and had already pried off the back of it, reconfiguring the machine to undo what Bivazeer had done all those centuries ago — and increase her power tenfold.

"Tenth layer," Kardeni continued, still running around the console, speeding up now, a smile lighting up her face. "Eleventh layer. Twelfth layer!" She paused, then glanced up at Jenny. "We do have a place to put all these, right?"

"Taking care of it!" Jenny insisted. She made a shooing gesture with her hands. "You do the tablecloth thing. I'll give you a call if I need help."

Kardeni hesitated. "Jenny, about this place you're sending..."

From the console came another pained groan from Yimi and a cruel laugh from the Apos'alu. "Is that what you call a punch? How sweet. But you can't save cute little Seo, any more than the Doctor can stop my plans for Bivazeer." Her voice dropped. "I'm going to hunt down all her kids, her friends, her husband — and make her watch as I skewer their eyeballs and..."

"Never mind!" Kardeni threw up her arms in the air, spinning round and running to the second console. "Anywhere is great. Let's do anywhere. Nothing wrong with anywhere." She shook her head and altered one of the settings that Jenny had set earlier. "No, no, no. Double conjugation for present tense, Jenny. Otherwise, it doesn't mean anything." She ran over to a keyboard and began typing in a series of settings. "First conjugation for relative present tense. Then a noun to anchor the relativity. Second conjugation to define the..."

"Can we save the grammar lessons for after we save everyone and seal up the prison?" Jenny snapped, struggling to program things correctly on the third console. "Some of us have to concentrate. And learning impossible Gallifreyan grammar rules..."

"They're not impossible — they're easy," Kardeni dismissed, fixing several more errors in Jenny's code. "I made my kids learn it before they learned to tie their shoelaces. You can sing the rules to the tune of 'Baby Shark'." She finished inputting the code, checked it over, made one last tweak, and shoved down a lever. "There. Vault layers secured."

"So that's the plates and cutlery taken care of," Jenny muttered, struggling to remember the Gallifreyan computer codes she needed to finish this off. She was seriously considering just yanking off the paneling and rewiring it by hand. "I've got the destination. Kind of."

Kardeni mimed the symbol Jenny wanted in the air, mouthing the Gallifreyan word at her.

"Oh, right." Jenny tapped in the code she needed, the rest of it rolling off the fingers with ease. "Table was programmed in ahead of time. I'd have thought it'd be here by now."

"I'll double check," Kardeni offered, leaping over to the other side of the 3rd console. She tapped each spot on the console where a button should have been pressed, then matched it against the display. "You know, Jenny — all grammar nitpicking aside — you're really good at this."

Jenny looked up, surprised. "What?"

"Gallifreyan is a fiendishly difficult language to learn," said Kardeni. "I mean, my kids can sing the song and tell you all the rules, but that's about it. You — well, once you learn the song, you've got most of the rest down solid." She pat the console affectionately. "And when it comes to programming this TARDIS...!" She laughed. "Let's just say you're not doing too badly."

Jenny looked down at the console and returned to her work. "Thanks."

"I mean it. You should have seen the others!" Kardeni imitated Stenman's big frame. "Mr. Stenman." She made her eyes go wide and terrified, then ventured a ginger poke at the console before yanking back her hand and saying in a scared voice, "Zeera! Help!" She laughed again. "Mr. Hoyer used to just shove down all the buttons at random to see if anything happened. At some point, the console started electrifying him to keep him away. And Andrew..." She paused, then glanced back at Jenny, her laughter dying away into concern. "Where is Andrew, by the way? We're not — are we leaving him there?"

"I'm sure we won't," said Jenny — who had absolutely no idea, but wasn't going to shed any tears or anything if they did.

"I mean, I'm furious at him," said Kardeni. "Don't get me wrong. But..." She sucked in a sharp breath. "I don't know. He's been so important to me for so long. I just want him safe."

Jenny couldn't help but think Kardeni should take a little bit of advice from Branden — just keep in mind that you've got yourself a bad group of friends, and the next time they drag you into something, you may not be able to get out of it.

But she didn't say that.

"We'll save everyone, even him," Jenny said, instead. "I mean, assuming that the table part actually starts working..."

As if on cue, a wheezing, groaning sound echoed through the console room and a gust of wind blew back Jenny and Kardeni's hair. A blue police box faded into and out of existence at the far end of the room, its doors open.

Faye Mutajar's body lay lifeless on the floor of the other TARDIS.

"I didn't think she'd look like that," said Kardeni, her voice trembling. She swallowed, hard. "I feel almost sad for her."

The sound of a punch, a cry of pain, and harsh laughter cut Kardeni off. From the central console, the Apos'alu's voice echoed out, "And then, just as her first kid is screaming, then I'll turn to the second one and tear the wretch's vocal chords...!"

"And — sadness gone," said Kardeni.

Around them, the console room and the entire Battle TARDIS seemed to come alive in the presence of the Doctor's TARDIS. Systems that had been offline for millennia came back online. The dull lighting of the console room flared into a warmer, more energetic lighting.

Kardeni spun around in wonder. "This is just...!" She ran to the central console, adoration and enthusiasm running through her as she watched the ship revive around her. "Beautiful. Perfect. Like the day Anna was born. Or Sam. Or..." Her enthusiasm suddenly dropped, as she stroked the central console lovingly and realized — this would be the last time she was ever here.

This wasn't hello. It was goodbye.

"Are you going to be all right?" Jenny asked, coming over to her.

Kardeni blinked. "What? Oh, yes. Fine." She gave the console one last affectionate pat, then made a few adjustments. "Hand me the Re-Partitioner, would you? Tool kit, third row, second to the back slot." She threw down the dematerialization lever, feeling the ship roar into life around her, her smile so wide and so sad as the Battle TARDIS sang its joy inside her mind.

"The most beautiful thing in the universe," Kardeni whispered, "and I have to let it go..."

Kardeni closed her eyes, sucked in a sharp breath.

Then forced the thought out of her mind.

"Table's on its way," Kardeni said, getting back to work. "Cutlery and plates are locked down. Let's just check on the tablecloth really quick..." Kardeni adjusted a few knobs and switches. Squinted at the display screen. "Chameleon arch data fully integrated. Vault configuration de-authorized. Prison configuration re-initializing. Swarm still on the surface of Galia-4 — exactly where we want them. The moment we materialize around them, they'll be trapped." She stroked the console again, her hands caressing every button and lever upon its surface. "And this ship will disappear — and all of Galia-4 — will disappear forever."

Jenny looked up from where she was knelt down beside the toolbox. "Uh, Zeera...?"

Kardeni turned, and Jenny shoved the toolbox forwards.

The place where the Re-Partitioner should be was empty.

"What?" Kardeni ran to the toolbox and rooted around inside it, frantically. "No, it can't be. It must have just been misplaced. Who else would...?" Then she froze, thinking about what she'd found out about Lantro and her own past. "The Re-Partitioner. It can be used to partition any data anywhere, to make sure no one can ever find it." She shuddered, as she realized she knew exactly who had taken it. "Andrew. He must have stolen it and taken it with him to cover up my past." She jumped to her feet and ran back to the central console, frantically pulling up different holographic screens of the vault worlds. "We have to find him. He might still have it on him."

"In the twenty seconds it'll take to materialize?!" Jenny leapt to her feet and grabbed Kardeni by the arm, forcing her away from the controls. "We don't have time for this, Zeera! We've got to do the tablecloth thing. Otherwise, the moment we materialize, everyone's going to get stuck inside a prison we're yanking out of the universe!"

"If we don't partition the Apos'alu, she'll take over the TARDIS!" Kardeni insisted. "She'll undo everything. Gain powers she never even dreamt of. Cause untold slaughter and misery for countless races out there."

"Sounds like it's right up your street, then," Jenny snapped. "And Lantro's." She pointed at the central console. "Yimi died so we could save her people, Zeera! Do you really want all of that to be... in...?"

Jenny trailed off, as a laugh came up from the console.

It wasn't the Apos'alu's.

It was Yimi's.

"What?" said the Apos'alu. "Don't laugh." She slammed down another punch. "I'm beating you to death. There's nothing funny about that."

"You still think we're in the Doctor's TARDIS, don't you?" came Yimi's voice. "You think you've won."

"I have won," said the Apos'alu, pointedly. "And we are in the Doctor's TARDIS. I mean, look around us."

"I don't need to look," said Yimi. "I know where we are. I can feel it, running through every fiber of my being. I can manipulate it."

A hundred screens around them suddenly blazed with red warning lights and roared with the blare of sirens and alarms, as the whole Battle TARDIS shuddered.

"No, no, no, no!" Kardeni grabbed at one of the screens. "Oh, God, what is she doing?!"

"It's funny — you never know what kind of mental influences you're born with inside your mind," said Yimi. "Your species was linked to Nitvenah. My species was linked to a TARDIS — myself more strongly than most. And that's why I can feel where we are: uploaded and stored inside that very TARDIS. And you know, a TARDIS seems so complicated and confusing out there; but it seems really quite simple in here."

"She knew," Jenny breathed. "Somehow, Yimi knew the tool we needed was missing. She knew we'd have to choose between saving her people and destroying the Apos'alu."

"She's deleting the link between ship and pilot!" Kardeni cried. "She's deleting...!" She yelped, doubling over, her hands on her head, sorrow and deep pain on her face. "It burns!"

"She's giving us the seconds we need." Jenny sprang forwards, attacking the central console. "Vault layers secured — plates. Materialization imminent — table. All beings inside the vault that aren't supposed to be imprisoned..." Jenny grabbed a final lever. "The tablecloth."

She yanked the lever.

The entire TARDIS convulsed around them, and Kardeni almost collapsed. Tears were streaming down her face.

"Because that's the thing — I've now seen inside both Zeera Kardeni's mind, and this TARDIS' mind," said Yimi. "She only knew where all these weapons were because the ship called out to her. And who's to say she doesn't come back and do it again? And again? And again? Well, I say no more. No more Bivazeer returning. No more Apos'alu nearly escaping. No more weapons. No more mining."

The Apos'alu screamed.

Reality twisted and bent around Jenny and Zeera like a piece of cloth, as Jenny struggled to remain upright for long enough to flip down the last few switches and flip them to their destination.

Kardeni looked up at Jenny, as if the loss had only just begun to crash down on top of her. Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Please," she begged in a whisper. "It's all I have left."

"Goodbye Zeera — or Bivazeer, or whoever you are," came Yimi's voice. "Goodbye, Apos'alu. And — Jenny?" In a softer voice. "Tell Iporil I love him. And tell Seo I'm sorry."

"Goodbye, Yimi," said Jenny, as she flipped the final switch. "I wish I'd known you better."

And she and Zeera Kardeni vanished from the console room, as all the lights went dark — the reconfiguration finished — and Yimi, the Apos'alu, and the telepathic link between Zeera and the ship were all deleted.

Gone forever.

All across the surface of Galia-4, reality shifted and wobbled. Stenman tried to grab onto something, but found the only thing he could hold was a fellow employee. Iporil, Yimi's little brother, who'd been smashing his way through computer equipment on the second floor, yelped and tried to dive for cover — but found himself crashing through the floor. And Branden, groaning awake for the first time since he was stunned by staser fire, lunged for the earthquake alarm — but cried out as his hand ghosted right through it.

Above them, the sky went dark and a wind whipped up from nowhere, as a wheezing groan encompassed the planet.

But just before the materialization was complete, Branden, Iporil, Stenman, and all the others were whipped out from the rest of the planet — like a tablecloth yanked suddenly off a table without disturbing anything above or below it — and shoved somewhere else.

Stenman, Branden, and all the other human employees looked around themselves, utterly bewildered. They appeared to be back at the main complex — except that it looked completely empty and vacant.

In a separate location, Iporil and his fellow Patasi looked around themselves, surprised, as they found themselves back in their village, with everything pristine and new-looking.

And in yet another location, a group of badger-beaver children scurried around, utterly bewildered, as they found themselves back in the home they assumed they had lost.

Jenny put her arms around Kardeni, who was sobbing as if she had no more tears to shed. Jenny could feel her shaking. It was clear — when Kardeni had agreed to all this, she had no idea what she'd really been giving up. One final connection between herself and Bivazeer — gone forever.

"I'm sorry," Jenny whispered to her. "I'm so sorry." She pat her on the back and gave a long sigh. "But I'm afraid it's about to get worse."

The stomp of boots.

A shadow fell across Kardeni and Jenny.

"Who the hell are you," demanded the Director of the Time Agency, "and how the hell did you break into the most secure facility in the whole universe?!"

Kardeni stiffened with sudden fear, as she realized where she was. Jenny just kept a tight grip on her — in case she wanted to make a run for it. She shot the Director her most winning smile. "Hello, again! Sorry we dropped in unexpectedly like this. It's just, well, we were sort of invited."

A wheezing groan echoed through the building, as a blue box materialized behind Jenny.

"Isn't that right, Dad?" Jenny asked, without looking back.

"Quite right!" the Doctor announced, strolling out of the TARDIS door with a grin on his face. He grabbed the Time Agency Director by the hand and shook it firmly. "Hello, Director. Sorry we didn't stick around earlier. Busy day, really. You know how it is — exposing corrupt Time Agents, fighting ancient monsters, saving sentient species that aren't supposed to exist."

The Director's jaw fell open. "What?!"

"That woman over there — Zeera Kardeni," the Doctor said, nodding at her. "She's the one with all the info. I'm sure she'll be happy to tell you everything and cooperate in any way possible, in exchange for a lighter sentence." He leaned in a whispered, "Sick husband. Eight kids. Bit of a sticky situation there."

"No, wait, you said exposing corrupt...!" the Director began.

One of the Time Agency employees came running up, breathlessly. "Director, sir. Galia-4 has completely disappeared. I mean, it's just gone! No survivors, no ships, no...!"

Another Time Agency employee came running from the other direction, equally breathlessly. "Director, sir. All our temporal vaults are full. I mean all of them. And I think — I mean, it sounds crazy — but I'm pretty sure one of them is just full of Plate Crackers from Galia-4. And another's just full of incriminating documents."

Kardeni wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up. "Edmund Hoyer, real name Eddy Watkins of the Agency's top ten illegal time tech smugglers, is still on the loose. I can give you precise details of his whereabouts, the illegal wares he's selling, and the Mafia family he's meeting with. But I want a plea deal and a lawyer first." She slumped, as she found herself escorted away. "Then, I'll tell you everything."

The Director began to go after her, but the Doctor grabbed him by the sleeve and tugged him back.

"One more thing, before you go." The Doctor glanced back through the doors to the inside of his console room, where two dead bodies lay on the floor. "I didn't want to leave them both behind, seeing as Galia-4 was about to disappear and all, and you'd probably need them for your investigation. Just..." He shoved his hands into his pockets, his eyes fixed on the body of Andrew Lantro. "Break the news gently to Mrs. Kardeni, would you? It's been a difficult day for her."