I appreciate any support I can get!
Chapter Four:
"I've always wanted to play with a jetpack," Ryan said. "But I wish it was under different circumstances."
"They're good for a quick getaway," River said. "We're lucky my supplier had a sale going."
River addressed the group.
"Once I deactivate the censors, we'll use rope to climb down the shaft and then use the jetpacks back up."
"How long has it been?" Yaz asked.
"Nine and a half hours," River said. "We don't know what we're facing so we do need to be cautious if we want to save the Doctor."
"Caution is for cowards!" Strax said. "Let us blow up the shaft and show the Bilua how powerful we are!"
"Enough, Strax," Vastra said. "Or we'll send you back to London."
The Sontaran groaned.
"Remember to keep your comms activated," River said.
"I'll be in your ears the whole time," Graham said.
"Everybody ready?" River asked.
Everyone nodded.
River pulled a lever. They were entering Biluan space.
…
The ground was greenish brown where they landed. They were using a special microfiber rope being pulled from the TARDIS.
"You okay?" River asked Yaz as she, Martha, and Jack deactivated sensors.
Yaz kept watch.
"Let's just find the Doctor."
"So far, so good," Jack said and carefully lifted the grate.
Jack looked down.
"In honor of the Doctor, Allon-sy!"
He dived down.
Martha shrugged.
"Allon-sy," she said and climbed down.
"I never heard her say that," Yaz said.
"Different face dear," she said and climbed down the shaft.
"We're coming Doctor," Yaz said as she climbed down.
The place reminded her of a sewer in shades of green and arched halls.
River found an alarm and put a small device next to it.
"A handy tool for deactivating alarms," she said.
"The nefarious things you've done with it," Jack said.
"You could never imagine," she said cheekily.
Yaz rolled her eyes and Martha checked her equipment. She knew they were keeping it light to stave off nerves, it still felt wrong.
They traveled down two halls and found no doors. By then the other team, had arrived and headed off in the opposite direction.
A greenish cat figure was walking down the hall with lab coat covered in blood. When it saw them approaching, it pulled out a gun. Jack was quicker and used a gun that vaporized the alien.
"Dalek retrofitted tech," Jack said. "Works silently and effectively."
"Whose blood was that?" Yaz asked with a shiver.
"Try not to think about it," Martha said.
They kept moving. A few tense minutes later they found a set of double doors. Standing out of sight, they silently opened the doors.
It was an amphitheater like something out of a medical school. Biluans were taking notes as the one enclosed in a glass observation room at the base took a bone saw the chest of a bald nude woman. Yaz realized it was the Doctor.
Someone covered her mouth just as she was about to scream. It was Martha.
"We need to get to the lower level," she whispered as Jack and River closed the doors. "They'd kill her before we could get there if we tried to get her now."
Yaz nodded as tears fell.
"Let's get going," River said.
"Vastra, we found the Doctor," Jack said. "Come to this level and watch the doors while we find another entrance. Keep an eye Strax's trigger finger."
There was an added level of quickness to their steps now. They found a stairwell and deactivated the sensors. Yaz was careful not to run.
Meeting no one else in the spookily quiet halls, they opened the door and found nothing but menacing equipment. She tried to keep her mind on rescuing the doctor and not what they were used for.
Jack silently opened another door and saw a Biluan holding one of the Doctor's hearts. Jack nodded to Martha.
Jack vaporized the Biluan holding the Doctor's heart and Martha dove for it. She reached it just in time.
"Help Martha," River instructed as the Biluans began to shoot back.
"What can I do?" Yaz asked.
Martha didn't respond. She was busy putting the Doctor's heart back in place with the precision of a surgeon using soldering equipment instead of stitches and clamps. Then she sealed her chest with a laser and pulled out a scanner for the rest of her body. Yaz winced when she shot a tiny laser at her vaginal area. It was terrifying to imagine what she had been through.
A door opened and a Biluan emerged. Yaz shot it, but not fatally as she hoped. It laughed.
"As our only test subject in a decade, she was the best! Her screams were beautiful. She'll never be the same," it said. "She's not your timelord anymore!"
"Shut him up Yaz!" Jack shouted.
Yaz shot him in the throat to shut it up and then in the head for good measure.
"Vastra's team is stopping more from coming from above," Jack said. "Let's jet out of here to the upper level."
River snapped her fingers above the Doctor, and she was now covered in a light blue nightgown.
Martha activated her jetpack and picked up the Doctor. Yaz, Jack, and River did the same. The jetpacks were easy to use as they were controlled by thought. Together they glided through the amphitheater, shooting occasionally.
"How is she?" Jenny asked.
"Stable for now," Martha said. "Let's get out of here."
The building was tinted in red as someone had reactivated the emergency lights. Vastra's team shot from behind as Jack and River led in the shooting. Yaz noted the grim expression on the Doctor's face and winced.
"A new grate is on the shaft," Graham reported. "They're firing at the TARDIS, but the shields are holding up for now."
"Time for a bigger gun then," Jack said and pulled what looked like a miniature rocket launcher.
A rocket flew up the shaft. The explosion shook the ground briefly. Everyone activated their jetpacks and they flew upwards.
"Shields at fifty percent!" Graham shouted.
"Almost there!" Jack shouted.
River and Jack were the first out and started shooting. Yaz shot wide and Martha entered the TARDIS with the Doctor.
"Everyone, fall back!" River ordered. "Yes, that means you too, Strax!"
They all floated into the TARDIS. Martha had rested the Doctor on the floor.
"Strax, don't all Sontarans, carry planet-leveling devices?"
"Yes," he said. "It is our most precious method of total annihilation. They only give one to each Sontaran."
"Use it," she said firmly.
For once Strax was at a loss for words.
"The Doctor was impregnated with a parasite that was going to eat away at her slowly and painfully from the inside. That is just one thing I could find on a cursory examination. USE IT!"
No one stopped him from pulling open the doors and tossing out a pink bomb the size of a tennis ball. They all stepped forward and watched as the planet on which unspeakably horrible things were done to the Doctor was obliterated.
There was a moment of silence. Ryan then looked around.
"Where's the Doctor?"