Sorry for that little break! My job has been getting super rough lately, so it's been a bit harder to write. Anyways, the first chapter of Deviant Strain is up! Per usual, I recommend you read the book first to get the fullest experience. Deviant Strain is... very long. There's a good chance I'll skip quite a few things, simply because I myself can't get into it, but that doesn't mean you won't!
the-apple-seed said: Ahhh loved this! First of all, so cool how she got beamed after the Doctor (poor Rose too). And OH BOY. Was all that stuff true? Is she made from the Moment? The beacon of Gallifrey?
Ohma answers: It's complicated! I've already made the mention she's aware that Bad Wolf was the Moment, which means in turn, Songbird will also be the Moment, but she doesn't know how far back her influence reaches. That's all I'll really say. I plan on 9's Day of the Doctor scenes being soon, after Deviant Strain at least.
That bit on Chloe's ability to destroy worlds at the end was great too. Fantastic stuff!
Haha, thank you! Because, let's be honest, with how Chloe's going right now, she really could just do one thing and the planet might as well be gone.
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, any affiliated books, or comics
The TARDIS was baring beeps throughout the halls, and as Chloe skidded to a stop just before the metal turned to grate, she could see the Doctor and Rose just in front of her, the blonde grinning.
"What's the fuss?" Rose asked.
"Just a distress call," Jack said, moving as the Doctor tried to elbow him out of the way. "Nothing much. Happens all the time on the high frontier."
"Not with the TARDIS," she cut in.
"This is serious," the Doctor continued as he stared at the scanner, the beeping going from a pulse to violent cacophony. "That shouldn't happen." He turned towards Jack. "You haven't done anything stupid have you?"
"What, me?" Jack scowled. "You think I don't know the standard operating procedure?"
"There isn't a standard procedure," Chloe cut in, moving to stand beside the Doctor, eyes swimming the second she saw the circular symbols. She wasn't sure when the switch was, but she couldn't look at the symbols without a brainstorm most days now. "Someone respond to it yet?"
"They did," the Doctor answered. "Looks like we're having a slow day today." Chloe raised a brow at that, remembering how the last slow day went.
"Is it?" Rose questioned.
"Yeah. Whoever it was will go and help. Sorted."
"They will?" Why did Jack sound so hesitant when he asked that?
"Bound to. Morally obliged. They get first dibs. No one else'll bother now there's been a response, will they? Automated systems broadcast for help, someone responds and they start streaming all sorts of location data and details. Signal strength's gone up 500 percent, probably using the last of their back-up emergency power. Though after so long it'll be a waste of someone's time, I expect." The Doctor explained, and she watched as Jack cringed more and more.
"Oh Jack," she sighed. "You didn't." The Doctor whipped around, causing the demi-human to scratch his neck and whistle.
"He did." The Doctor said dryly, turning back to the scanner. "They're getting pretty frantic now, thinking they're about to be rescued from whatever godforsaken lump of rock they're stuck on. Well, they needn't think I'm going to…" he trailed off, frowning.
"Morally obliged," Jack murmured.
"We should go and help," Rose agreed. "Where are they?"
"Some barren wilderness that's good for nothing?"
The Doctor was grinning, right at her, making her groan as he spoke. "It's Earth, early twenty-first century."
Chloe shivered on instinct as she stepped outside, her khakis and flats not at all prepared for the seven inches of snow that had been outside the TARDIS. "Rose, Jack, go get something warm on!" She yelled towards the TARDIS. They had ended up on a cliff, sending the womens' hair into a frenzy as the overlayer of snow was dusted across the landscape.
"Interesting, don't you think?" the Doctor asked her. To his left, there was a tree, bare of leaves, but full of icicles. To his right were a line of standing stones, glittering in the sunlight as if quartz had been hidden within it.
"Similar to Stonehenge," she noted, a foul taste in her mouth as her hand drifted to her watch. "Can't be a coincidence." Because she knew what laid under Stonehenge, she knew it's history. It was alien, which meant anything like it in any manner had to be alien influenced, at least in this universe.
A sudden roar of noise came, causing wind to blow up and kick even more top snow in the air. It was a helicopter, military grade, hanging in the air, and as a door on the side opened, she saw khaki colors, making her groan as the soldiers ran out around a circle.
"Welcoming party?" the Doctor wondered.
"I'm guessing no," she said as the circle was completed, and guns were leveled at them. The first man out of the helicopter walked towards them, and Chloe knew even an idiot could see he was furious.
"What are you doing here, near the village?" he snapped. "If they call it that."
"What would you call it?" the Doctor asked.
"Community." Chloe looked at the man a bit more. Broad and tall, but most likely lacking in stamina. If these were local troops, they wouldn't be wearing such a color against the white snow. "Dockyard. Institution."
"You make it sound like the madhouse," Rose said.
"I'd be surprised if they aren't all mad by now. Twenty years abandoned and forgotten out here. Even with the base."
"They?"
"I'm sorry?"
"You said 'they'," the Doctor reminded. "As if you think we're not from this community dockyard institution village. Whatever we settle on calling it."
"Settlement," Chloe suggested.
"Settlement, yes! You think as if we're not from this settlement."
"You two are not dressed for this climate," he motioned towards Chloe and the Doctor, eyeing Rose and Jack.
"Neither are you," Jack countered. "You aren't equipped for near-Arctic warfare, are you? Khaki is no camouflage out here in the snow, and I bet you haven't winterized your weapons."
The soldier's eyes narrowed as he looked over at Jack. "You speak like an American."
"Thanks,"
"It wasn't a compliment,"
"Russian," the Doctor murmured. "So what brings you to the Novrosk Peninsula, Colonel?"
"I have my orders," the man answered.
"Yeah, well, we've got ours too. You think you've been yanked out here short notice, you should see what happened to us," the Doctor kept his movements slow as he pulled out the psychic paper, holding it out for those who could see it to read it. "Like I said, we've got our orders."
Slowly, the man nodded, glancing between her and the Doctor. "I hope you don't expect me to salute, Doctor Nightingale, Doctor… I'm sorry, your thumb is over your name,"
"Yeah," the Time Lord just stuffed the wallet back into his jacket. "Doctor is just fine. This is Rose Tyler, my number two. Captain Jack Harkness is from Intelligence." Jack had a devious grin on her face as she tried not to smirk.
"You don't need to know which branch. I'm sure you can make a very good guess."
"So we're all mates then, eh? And no need to salute, just so long as you do what I need you to do, we won't get in your way, fair enough?"
"Who are you then?" Rose asked, and the colonel motioned for the men to lift their rifles. Some moved towards the woods, other towards the stone circle.
"It seems you have been as well briefed as we have. I'm Colonel Oleg Levin. Like you, we are here to investigate the energy spike the satellite picked up. Like you, I would rather not be here, so perhaps we can make this as quick and easy and straightforward as possible?"
"Sounds good," Chloe agreed. She saw the Colonel's gaze go to the TARDIS. "Our equipment."
"We got dumped here, like you," the Doctor tacked on.
"Shambles," he muttered. "You have Geiger counters?"
"Think we'll need them?"
"Don't you?" Levin laughed, and Chloe's fictional stomach dropped.
"Did you check?" she asked quietly.
"No readings much above background," he murmured back. "I think."
"Think?!" Rose muttered.
"Is there still that cure from Skaro in the TARDIS somewhere?" she asked, and the Doctor flinched violently, but it was a question that had to be asked.
But it wouldn't be answered as Levin snarled, hand dropping from where it was under his helmet. "I'm sorry sir,"
"Just Doctor."
"Doctor. I think we may have a problem?"
"Define problem," Jack snapped.
"A body, in the stone circle."
"Have you seen much death?" the colonel asked the Doctor as they walked towards the circle.
"Think I'm a wimp?"
"No, but this body is… interesting. I think the fairer folk should not see this."
"You have something to say, Colonel?" she snapped. The group stopped walking as the colonel wheeled around towards them.
"I resent being here," Levin said levelly. "I resent you being here. You interfere, you slow me down, and I don't care what your notional rank might be or who your intelligence officer really is. I have a job to do and I'm going to do it. So cut the wise cracks and the inane grins. If you're good at what you do, prove it and we'll get along fine. If you're not, then keep out of the way and you might survive with your career intact. Clear?"
"As the driven snow," the Doctor said, but didn't move as the Russian started to walk away. After a few moments, the human came back. "I know how you feel; I didn't ask to come here. But now I'm here, I've got a job to do as well. Am I good at what I do? I'm the best. That's why I do it. Chloe, Rose and Jack, they're the best too – so you don't give them any hassle, right?" He didn't wait for a reply. "You want to know if I've seen much death? I've seen more than you can ever imagine. So cut the tough‐guy bit and prove to me that you're good at what you do. Clear?"
"As the driven snow," Levin murmured. "Sir."
The Doctor grinned once more and clapped Levin's shoulder. "I told you, it's not 'sir', it's just 'Doctor'. They told me you're the best, you and your men, so we should get on famously. Let's do the job and get home for tea."
Rose and Jack stayed where they couldn't see the body as Chloe and the Doctor went to investigate it, the redhead having donned gloves and was ignoring the putrid stench as she was gently poking at the corpse. The soldier who had found it, Sergeyev, had rushed away to vomit outside of the scene, but hopefully they'd be able to speak to him soon.
"What do you think?" he murmured as she gently raised a sleeve of the coat, where a frail, withered hand emerged from the end. A single touch had her wanting to vomit, but all it did was give her a minor brainstorm.
"No bones," she murmured back. "Jellified, sucked out, dissolved, it's anyone's bet. The clothes are recent, couldn't've been here more than a few days, but this amount of decay suggests weeks, if not months." Probably alien, she thought as she glanced up and met his gaze before purposefully flickering it over to the Russian soldiers. Instead, her gaze caught the way the stones sparkled. "The stones aren't weathered."
She was quick to dispose of her gloves and marched to the nearest pillar where Rose and Jack were. The stone was smooth to touch, as if it were polished. "Interesting composition," the Doctor murmured. "How long have these been here?"
"They were here twenty years ago," Levin answered. "They looked as new and felt as smooth then as they do now."
"How do you know?"
"Because I was here twenty years ago. When it all ended, or maybe when it began, at least for the poor souls they left behind. For Barinska and the others."
Twenty years, she frantically thought. Thanks to Repple and his stories of little Freddy growing up, she spent months learning of Russia's history. "The Cold War?" she questioned, getting an odd look from the three she travelled with. "Repple told me what happened with Freddy and his family. I got curious after that," she answered before turning back to Levin. "You look a little young to have fought in it."
"It was one of my first assignments after training. The Cold War was coming to an end, Russia was disarming. We couldn't afford to keep the same level of military spending. There were two installations here at Novrosk." He pointed across at the squat, squared‐off buildings round the harbor. "The dockyards and barracks." Then in the other direction, towards a low‐lying concrete complex. "The research station."
"Research?" Jack asked.
"Secret, of course. Everything here is, was, secret. The submarine base and the Organic Weapons Research Institute."
"Organic?" Rose's nose wrinkled as she said this. "I take it that isn't like organic vegetables."
"That's what you're left with after deployment probably," Jack added
"Let him finish," the Doctor shushed.
"They kept the research institute open. There are only a few scientists still there, but at least they have funding, they get supplies, and they appear on some paperwork. They exist."
"And the docks?" the Doctor prompted.
"They closed it down. Left the submarines to rot. We were supposed to decommission them. Rip out whatever was of use and take it away. Same with the community – we took the sailors and the troops and the higher‐grade workers. Left the rest. To rot."
"You mean people?" Rose said.
"People. There was a whole civilian infrastructure built up round the base. Mechanics and caterers, fishermen and farmers. They relied on the docks and the military for their livelihood." Levin explained.
"So the military pulled out and left them… left them what?"
"Just left them." Levin shrugged. "I don't imagine they'll be grateful for our return." Chloe looked out towards the docks, where she could see a cluster of people gathering around two soldiers at the edge of the docks.
"And the submarines?" Jack asked. "You said they were supposed to be stripped and decommissioned, only you mentioned radiation."
"It's expensive to completely close down nuclear reactors. We've 'decommissioned' about 150 subs in the last ten years. Not a single one has yet had its reactor removed."
"Nuclear radiation, topped with a possible biohazard, what a wonderful place," she muttered, not taking her eyes off the crowd. "How many submarines?"
"Fifteen," he paused for a moment. "And there are the missiles too, of course."
Two kids were apparently missing, both 19, and it made both her and the Doctor hyperaware of Rose's age not for the first time since they met her.
"We should help," Jack said.
"Probably dead," Levin said, making her scowl.
"Even so, we should help," the Doctor said. "How many men have you got?"
"Now? Thirty-six, plus me."
"Thirty-seven then. Plus us, so that's forty-one."
"You really a captain?" he asked Jack.
"Born and bred," he answered.
"Then go with Sergeyev and his group – they're checking the woods. Doctor, you and Miss Tyler can go with Lieutenant Krylek – he's heading towards the institute."
"I'll help you talk to Barinska," Chloe offered. "We need locals on our side, and offering to find their missing kids might help." Levin nodded, and as he left them, she gave Rose and Jack quick hugs, turning towards the Doctor as the two started walking separate ways away from them. "Something's wrong, I just… can't put my finger on it."
"You're doing well," he murmured, and pressed their foreheads together.
"Be safe," she demanded. "I don't like being in the dark like this."
"Now you know how the rest of us feel," the Doctor joked, pressing a quick kiss to her temple before going off to join Rose.
Despite her argument, Levin had commandeered Barinska's car. Rather than taking the missing boy (how? The body looked to be 90, not 19!) back to the settlement, Levin was taking it to the research institute.
As Rose and Levin argued the fight she knew Rose was losing, one of the soldiers yelled, pointing to the woods, and Jack slowly came into view, helping someone walk as if they were learning to walk for the first time. Something in her chest lurched as she realized it was the missing girl and she quickly rushed forward, freezing as she saw a face of an old woman, rather than a teenager.
It wasn't until she almost fell and dragged Jack with her that she jumped into action again, grabbing her other side and encouraged her alongside the demi-human. As they sat down, she could see the girl was breathing, but she wasn't responsive. "What's her name?" the Doctor asked Barinska.
"Valeria Mamentova," the policewoman answered, crossing herself and murmuring.
"What happened to her?" Rose asked.
"Same as happened to the boy, Pavel, I'd say. Only a less extreme dose,"
"What could do this?"
The Doctor didn't answer Jack, instead turning towards Barinska. "What do you think?"
"Some disease or infection," she shrugged.
"Yeah, right," the Doctor nodded. "But what do you really think?"
"Vourdulak," she answered, but in Chloe's mind, she heard a different word. Vampire.
If you see something wrong, have a question, or just want to let me know what you think, please, leave a comment!