XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 25 – Everyone's Problem

The Doctor and Lewis walked into Tony Stark's workshop on the Doctor's Ship. Legate, the adult Genie, the bearded Tony Tyler, Pete Tyler, and Lartius the King were all there. Tony Stark stood with Soli in front of him, his hands on the small boy's shoulders.

Lewis threw his arms out, "Are we late?"

Poltious ran up behind them. "No. I am. My apologizes."

Lartius clapped his hands together and rushed to greet his old friend. "Poltious! The only man I have ever met who can break both legs, and still run to someone's aid!"

They embraced one another and laughed.

Tony Tyler nodded and rubbed his beard.

Pete smiled at him, "I like the beard, son."

He grinned, "Yeah?"

"Yeah. It suits you."

Genie giggled, "Red Beard the Pirate!"

Tony crossed his arms and laughed.

Tony Stark looked around the room. "Alright! Well, everyone, thank you for coming. I'll try to keep this brief. Some of you, I've already spoken with, but there are certain things that need to be addressed that's just…easier to do all at once."

The Doctor crossed his arms and looked confused. "What's going on?"

"A lot actually. First let's begin with a bit of personal history. A little over a month ago, Pepper and I exchanged the Life Promise to one another on the Quauthin homeworld with King Lartius as our witness."

There was a general air of shock and excitement that rushed through the room.

The Doctor laughed, "Ha! I knew it! Lewis, you owe me some money."

Lewis laughed, "Yes, I do."

Tony pat Soli's chest as he continued to stand in front of him. "During the ceremony, I named my Ten. Most of you are here now in this room. My Soli is 'One'."

Genie smiled. "I've always loved that."

The Doctor, thrilled with this news, rocked on his feet. "Soli? That's brilliant!"

Soli laughed. "I'm 'One'."

Tony continued, "Lartius is 'Two', and then you are 'Three', John."

The Doctor smiled, "It is my honor."

"Lance is not present, but he is aware he's 'Four', then Lewis, Pete, Legate time two, Poltious, Mr. Tyler times two and finally…."

The room looked around to see the only remaining person there was Genie. Legate gripped her hand tightly.

She pointed at herself. "And I've always wondered why, Uncle Tony. I'm a girl, you know."

"Blame your Mom for giving you a boy's name, kid." Tony insisted.

Genie rolled her eyes. "It's not a boy's name."

Lartius smiled, "A woman can be named as one of the Ten. I have two myself."

Poltious nodded, "Yeah. And Martiea still doesn't appreciate that-"

"That we had slept together had no bearing on that decision. Oh yes. They still stand out in my mind." Lartius grinned.

The Doctor swore in Gallifreyan.

Legate shook his head. "Are you serious? You can't do that!"

Lartius tossed up his hands, "You sound like Martiea. I'm King! I can do whatever I want."

Lewis grinned, "Except, have a dog, huh?"

Lartius sighed. "She has forbidden it."

Genie smiled at their argument and crossed her arms. "Whatever. It's my honor, Uncle Tony."

Tony knelt behind Soli, "Would you zoom to Pepper and make sure she's alright? I don't want her to be by herself, even if she's working. All of us have to talk about something."

"Do you want me to make her my Primary?" the little boy asked.

Lewis grinned. "Pepper is always your Primary. Off with you."

"Yes, Primus." Soli laughed, tapped his bracelet, and disappeared in a streak of light.

Lartius smiled proudly, "My youngest Quauthin."

Tony stood up and sighed. "And if you didn't know why Soli is such a hot target, now you do."

Lewis nodded, "He's gotten a lot better at controlling that."

"You should see him fire. He's dead accurate." Tony continued. "I'm gathering you all together because I have a rather large problem. I have taken this child as my son. His father has entrusted him to me. A woman named, Kazimir, has claimed she is the mother of this child. She is demanding that he is to be returned."

The Doctor shook his head. "Kazimir? Queen Kazimir of Cromia?"

Lartius groaned and shook his head. "There's no way that's true."

Tony continued. "She's the one behind all of these Vesuos attacks, and as anyone in this room realizes…they will never stop as long as she has any hope that he is still alive."

The Doctor sighed. "Damn. So, she didn't fall for our ship explosion."

Lewis stood with his arms crossed. "It's been the subject of a lot of debate on Cromia as it turns out. They sent investigators out and when they didn't see any evidence he was there, they knew it was a trick."

The Doctor groaned. "We're dealing with smarter people than I thought. Wait, how the hell do you guys know this?"

Poltious grinned, "Oh, we had a very interesting chat with someone on Plentitude."

"Interesting? Meaning you broke his arm?" Legate asked.

Poltious chuckled and shook his head. "Nah. A rat is a rat. He was looking for information to sell. So, he just wanted some money."

Lewis grinned, "And he sung like a dove."

Genie grinned, "It's a canary, Papa."

"A canary. What is a canary?" Lewis asked.

Genie crossed her arms. "This didn't happen, did it? Or was it something I wasn't told because I was so young?"

Legate shook his head. "No, it didn't happen. There was never any question that he was an orphan."

Tony pointed at them. "And this woman has a whole lot to gain by having a Khlere as a …..son."

"But, what if it's true?" Pete asked. "Who are we to deny a woman her child?"

The Doctor shook his head. "It's not. The Legend of Magneer named another woman as his mother. A simple DNA test could prove it."

"Do you think she would agree to that?" Tony asked.

Lewis asked, "Would you?"

Tony groaned, "I don't feel as if it's true for a very simple reason. Magneer told me to take care of him. Wouldn't he have told me to deliver him to his mother if he knew this was her?"

The Doctor shook his head. "There's no way it's her."

Lewis tapped his lip. "They were trying to deliver Samuel to her, alive-"

"Even though they had no idea they nearly killed him." Genie insisted. "I'm right, aren't I?"

The Doctor looked at her and nodded that she was.

Tony Tyler pointed out. "There is another possibility. What if she's gathering these Vesuos to be like her Quauhtin."

"How do you mean?" Lewis asked.

"Well, think of Ancient Rome. Back on Earth. The thing that you need to build an empire, is a strong army. I remember the stories, John. They would send men out into battle on the backs of elephants to make them appear more frightening, but also to keep them up high from the battle, to keep them from being hurt. What if this Queen has recruited these Vesuos as her personal army?"

Lartius nodded and looked back at Lewis. "That makes since. Cromia has some very large people who are known to train as Vesuos."

Lewis sighed, "Thugs."

Poltious nodded, "Tony Tyler and I got some information that she's recruiting any Vesuos she can to come to Cromia. That would make sense."

Tony nodded, "That's true. I just was looking over the transmissions of the Vesuos that had Sam and me. They were all speaking to Cromia. That's where we were headed."

Lewis groaned and rubbed his face. "Oh, this is possibility a much bigger problem than we originally thought."

The Doctor asked, "You think she is building an army?"

"And she wants a Khlere at the center of it." Lewis realized. "Oh, that would be bad."

Tony nodded. "And what I thought was my problem, ended up being everyone's. How about that? So, what are we going to do?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX