Journey Amongst the Stars
By Lumendea
Chapter Forty-Two: The Death of Spock:
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.
AN: One, I'm sorry for the people who worried about me not updating this story in two months. Next time, I'll try to communicate better that I'm working on a Christmas special, but the messages checking to make sure that I was okay were super sweet and thoughtful.
Two, huge thanks to emmett2 who did a ton of work on this series' fanlore page. They added character briefs, a family tree and a timeline of the Doctors different incarnations meeting Rose! I was stunned when I checked it and saw how much information it had! Thank you again and if you get lost, go and check it out.
…
The Doctor's voice rolled over Rose as he read from Dombey and Son, a Charles Dickens book that Rose had never even heard of. When she'd said as much upon spotting it in the Doctor's reading pile, he had immediately determined that he would read it out loud while she worked on a painting. A calm feeling filled the library, and even Jack, who was usually a bundle of energy, was dozing contently in a chair by the fire. Every so often, his eyes would open, and he'd find Rose at her easel, and the Doctor stretched out on the sofa before slipping off again with a smile on his face.
Rose reached for the tube of red paint and eyed the color she already had mixed. It was close, very close, but it wasn't exactly what she wanted. On the easel was an almost finished painting of the Rings of Akhaten that she had been working on forever. She kept getting stuck on the tiny details and putting it away to work on something else and then bringing it out again. There was nothing for it; she had to try.
The Doctor and Jack didn't notice her frustration, or if they did, they wisely didn't comment on it. There was nothing they could do to help. Opening the tube, Rose put a bit of the vibrant red pigment from a shop in the 23rd century to the side of the pallet. She used her pallet knife to slowly mix it with her already potential red. It was closer, but not exactly-
Her phone beeped. Rose jumped a little. She had forgotten that her phone was nearby. The Doctor stopped reading, and Jack's eyes opened. Flustered at disturbing the peace, Rose reached for her phone and caught the Doctor's eyes. He was relaxed and watching her with both amusement and hint of concern.
"Probably just a friend calling to chat," Rose said.
But she opened the phone, and there was instead a message with a long string of numbers. They were followed by a simple message. "Please come, Spock."
"Doctor," Rose said as she stood up. "Does this mean anything to you."
Walking over to him, Rose turned the phone so that he could see the screen. The Doctor's amusement faded; a slight frown appeared on his face as his eyes darkened. He nodded and swung his legs down and sat up. Rose backed up as he stood up.
"Those are time and space coordinates."
Jack was on his feet in an instant and crossed the room quickly to peer over Rose's shoulder. "Middle of space," he said out loud. "Doesn't match up to a planet."
"I'm impressed you know that at a glance," the Doctor remarked.
"I recognize the first part of the space coordinates," Jack said with a grin. "It's near the Sol system, so." He shrugged. "About three hundred years into your future, Rose."
"Really?" Rose frowned, but there wasn't time to dwell on it as the Doctor and Jack were already heading for the console room.
"Spock's the computer, right?" Jack asked as they asked.
"He's a Xylok," Rose corrected. "He's a living being, not really a computer. He just has to use an interface to communicate properly with humans." That wasn't the complete truth, but it was close enough. "Three hundred years in the future…. I suppose that Spock would still be around." She swallowed, unease hitting her like a lorry. "Is it- should I- is it safe for me to see Spock so far in the future?'
The Doctor looked up from the controls. His expression was neutral, giving nothing away, and Rose desperately wished that he would give her a straight answer. In the past, things had happened that had forced her to recognize that either by time travel, medical intervention, or something else, she was going to outlive her friends. Sharon and Shireen had confirmed in the past that older versions of her occasionally visited them. She was part of the Doctor's life in future incarnations and was certain that he wasn't regenerating every decade. Still… this was the first time that she'd be the young visitor to a friend in their future.
"You can wait on the TARDIS if you want," the Doctor said carefully. He adjusted a control and frowned. "I'm not picking up any distress signals from the time-space coordinates."
"Are you sure that the message is from this Spock?" Jack asked. Leaning over, he looked at the phone again. "It could be a trap."
"I can't say for sure," Rose admitted. "But three hundred years in the future, Spock probably isn't calling from Sarah Jane's attic." Shaking her head, Rose shoved down the nervous laughter, trying to rise in her throat. "And in three hundred years, I guess more people would know about him, but given that my phone isn't constantly ringing off the hook, then my phone number hasn't been passed around."
"Good point," Jack agreed. "Doctor?"
"Let's check it out." The Doctor's gaze moved back to Rose. "If you like, Rose, Jack, and I can check it out while you wait in the TARDIS."
"I'm not waiting in the TARDIS."
The Doctor didn't sigh or argue; instead, he nodded and tapped the screen. Rose peered at the image, but they were in a corridor of some kind. It looked futuristic, but there weren't any details that told her anything useful. Without any additional information to go off of, the trio opened the door of the TARDIS and stepped out carefully.
The corridor was wide and had slightly curved walls, creating a tunnel effect, but it wasn't dark. In fact, it was brightly lit with light sets into the walls and ceiling. In the distance, Rose could hear voices shouting, but they were alone. Overhead, the lights flickered suddenly, and the ground they were standing on quaked.
"I didn't like that," Jack said. He closed the door of the TARDIS tightly, letting his hand linger on the side of the box. "We're on some kind of ship."
"Yes," the Doctor agreed. "A nice one at that." He took a step away from the TARDIS and peered down a corridor. "Hello?"
A figure came rushing into view only to stop and nearly trip once they saw the trio. It was a woman, and she quickly recovered her footing and stared at them. The woman's hair was long and black, coming lose from a bun and leaving strands framing a shocked face. She wore an unfamiliar uniform of rich royal blue with a few emblems on it. At first glance, Rose pegged her as human or, at the very least, a near-human being.
"What the-" the woman started to ask. Then she straightened her shoulders and narrowed her eyes on them. "Who are you? How did you get on board this ship?" Her right hand twitched as if she wanted to reach for something, but Rose noted with relief that she didn't seem to be carrying a firearm. "Identify yourselves!"
"I apologize, Lieutenant Dejan," a familiar voice said. "This is the Doctor and Rose Tyler. I summoned them to assist."
"Spock?" Rose glanced around for any sign of a speaker or interface.
"Hello, Rose, I am linked through the entire ship. I apologize for not greeting you immediately, but my attention is a bit torn at the moment."
"The Doctor-" the woman's eyes widened even further before swinging to Rose. "And Rose Tyler." A strange giddy smile replaced her alert frown, but only for a moment. Then clearing her throat, she took a careful step back. "Are you sure that this is them, Spock? We can't afford any mistakes or spies right now."
"I am certain. Rose Tyler is very familiar to me, and my records indicate that this man matches the Doctor in a prior incarnation that I met on a few occasions. Please, Lieutenant, there is not much time, and the sooner we can bring them up to speed, the better."
"Yes, of course." Lieutenant Dejan nodded and seemed to quickly recover from her shock. Her eyes landed on Jack.
"I'm Jack Harkness," Jack said with a charming smile. "It's very nice to meet you, Lieutenant Dejan. I love a woman in uniform."
Lieutenant Dejan blushed and was flustered once again. Rose tried not to read into it too much that Spock hadn't bothered not to introduce Jack and noted with a bit of alarm that he wasn't speaking anymore. Usually, he interjected himself into conversations.
"No flirting, Jack," the Doctor said firmly. "Now, what is going on?"
"You'd be better off speaking with Captain Li," Lieutenant Dejan said quickly. She gestured for them to follow and started walking back the way that she had come. "She's on the bridge and can give you the big picture."
The three of them quickly followed. Rose glanced back at the TARDIS and grimaced as she noted that the ship was blocking about half of the corridor. Hopefully, no one would need to get anything large through or run into it. She searched the hall for any markings that could help her find her way back. There didn't seem to be anything that she could see, which was a bit insane.
A door slid open in front of them, smooth and silently. A twenty-seven was marked just beyond it, and Rose committed it to memory. They stepped through the portal and headed further down the corridor with the door sealing behind them. She glanced back, confused as to why it was there.
"It's like a bulkhead," the Doctor explained softly. "Ship seals itself at certain points to prevent a whole level losing oxygen in the event of damage."
"Ah." Rose swallowed. "That sounds wise."
"They aren't always active," the Doctor said. "So if they've been activated then there's-"
The ship shook again. Lieutenant Dejan swayed with it while Rose nearly lost her footing. The Lieutenant didn't panic and gestured them on. More crew appeared ahead of them, rushing through small side doors that branched off the main one. A few glanced their direction, and while surprise showed in their faces, they didn't stop to question.
When they came to the next door, the word bridge was clear on the wall beside it. The door slid open to reveal a mid-sized room stuffed with control consoles and chairs bolted to the floor. It was sleek but screamed efficiency without any sharp edges. It was one level, but there was an almost complete circle of railings set at different points. At the very center of the room was one larger chair that faced a 3D holographic display.
Rose would have stared longer, but there was movement beside them. An armed human with what looked like some sort of armor was standing beside the door.
"Lieutenant Dejan." The man's eyes took them in. "Who are they? We don't have any passengers." He raised the firearm, and Jack started to move, but Lieutenant Dejan blocked the security officer's path by stepping in front of them.
"Stand down. I know it is unusual, but they were called upon by Spock."
"Indeed," Spock said. "Now, there is little time Sergeant Bates so please stand down."
The man obeyed and shifted back against the wall, but did not leave the door. Lieutenant Dejan moved further into the room, and they were spotted by a woman standing beside the holographic display, watching the image of dozens of ships. Rose swallowed. She didn't know exactly what was going on, but that image said a lot.
"Lieutenant Dejan," the woman greeted. She frowned at them and moved to join them quickly. "Who are these people that Spock summoned."
"Rose, Doctor, this is Captain Natasha Li of the Enterprise," Spock said pleasantly. Rose could hear the amusement in his voice. "The spaceship that you are currently on."
Captain Li was a short woman with pitch-black hair tied up in a bun and wearing a similar uniform to the Lieutenant, but there were extra emblems on it. Rose finally noted that there was a patch with a ship and the name "Enterprise" on the right shoulder of the uniform.
"Rose Tyler," Captain Li said. She exhaled and shook her head. "This is an honor. I wish it was under better circumstances." Turning her attention to the Doctor, she almost smiled. "And you, Doctor, it is a great pleasure. Though, Spock summoning you speaks to how bad the situation is."
"I apologize for not discussing it with you, Captain," Spock said through the speaker system.
"That's fine." Li shook her head. "That's your job and your right as far as I'm concerned."
"Is Spock part of the ship?" Rose asked. She glanced around at the various computers.
"Heart of the ship would be more correct," Captain Li replied. "He runs a lot of the systems with the help of the computers and crew. You are onboard the Enterprise, the flagship of the United Earth Fleet."
Rose had questions, she had so many questions and was feeling a bit giddy. There was a United Earth which had a fleet, and the flagship's name was Enterprise. It was far from the strangest thing she'd ever come across, but it was certainly amongst the most satisfying to her inner geek.
"What is the situation?" Jack asked. His expression was calm, and he was eyeing a readout screen.
"We are attempting to prevent an unknown alien force from reaching the planet Athena," Captain Li answered. "And I am afraid to say that our reinforcements are still three days off, so it is just us against a dozen ships. They opened fire yesterday and aren't replying to any of our communication attempts. Even Spock can't identify the ships." Her gaze settled on the Doctor. "We cannot abandon the planet, but we have no chance of winning with those odds. Our weapon systems have been doing damage where we can, but we can't keep falling back. We need help."
"Right," the Doctor said. He moved around Captain Li and headed to the holographic table. "Let's see what we're dealing with."