Journey Amongst the Stars
By Lumendea
Chapter Forty-Three: The Death of Spock: Out of Options
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.
…
The Doctor didn't speak as he went over the files. Captain Li shifted uncomfortably beside him, clearly hoping for information that he wasn't providing. Rose didn't blame her, sometimes that intense, thoughtful silence was too much, especially when you were worried.
It was Jack who dared first, "Doctor?" he called. "What's up?"
"Getting familiar with this ship," the Doctor said shortly. "I need to understand the basics of how it was built."
"And here I thought you always just knew," Jack teased, trying to lighten the mood.
"No, studied for over a century and still have to do review," the Doctor retorted with a small smile.
Whatever he was worrying about, he finished only a few minutes later as the ship was shaking. "Right, the first thing is to try and figure out how and what we are dealing with. For all we know, this could be a misunderstanding."
Captain Li frowned. "A misunderstanding," she repeated dangerously. "Doctor, we are one ship, and we've been trying to communicate while they have opened fire. They've been firing since yesterday."
"And yet you're still here," the Doctor pointed out. "You're using what is essentially a powerful WIFI signal to communicate," the Doctor said. "For all we know, their computers could be registering that as an attack. And as for one ship, well, they may be lacking sensors good enough to tell them that or might think that you are a highly advanced ship armed to the teeth. All that fire without destroying you might be them trying to scare you off." The Doctor set his gaze firmly on the Captain. "I understand you're worried, but I won't help you destroy blindly."
Then Captain Li nodded. "I know your reputation, Doctor. I am not trying to be a pushy, but I have a planet that does not have enough ships to evacuate and backup too far to help. I need to protect the planet."
The Doctor nodded. "And I will help you," he promised. "Spock," he called suddenly. "Let's switch communications over to base radio signals. Try frequency 42, and let's see if we can talk with them."
"What about using the TARDIS?" Jack suggested. "We could jump over there."
"Given we don't know what is going on, that kind of technology might escalate things," the Doctor said firmly. "That's the last thing we want."
"I am beginning transmission on the new frequency, Doctor," Spock said.
"Good, keep adjusting every five minutes if you don't be an answer. Work your way through the entire spectrum." The Doctor paused and then turned to Captain Li. "Now, let's take a look at your shield generation system. I should be able to bump it up a bit."
The ship shuddered again, and Captain Li gave the Doctor a truly grateful look. "Yes, this way."
"Jack, with me," the Doctor said. He looked at Rose. "Stay on the bridge and call Jack if anything changes, in case internal communications go down."
Rose tried not be irritated at being left behind but had to admit that a ship shield system centuries in the future would be a little beyond her ability. Unfortunately, that left Rose on the bridge with the six remaining officers glancing at her every few seconds before snapping their attention back to their screens. She was torn between amusement at their curiosity and frustration that they weren't focusing on their work. The ship shook again, and Rose frowned. She saw what the Doctor meant about the shots not destroying the ship. It was really easy to believe that they might be warning shots.
"Is it weird being so far into the future?" one brave officer asked. Rose wasn't sure of the rank.
"A little," Rose admitted. "I've been further into the future, of course, but there is always something surreal seeing the close future. A couple of centuries isn't that much." She shrugged and chuckled softly. "But it's the past for past. He's from the 51st century, so this is nothing to him."
There were looks shot amongst the crew, and Rose smiled. On a ship under attack by an unknown force and humans still couldn't help but gossip. The Doctor would have rolled his eyes and muttered something about apes, but Rose knew it was a way of trying to build connections. Right now, they were stressed and likely exhausted. She didn't begrudge them that.
"Which Doctor is that one?" another officer asked. "Nine, Ten, Eleven, or-"
"Ninth," Rose answered. "How did you know to start with Nine?"
"It's in the files." The young woman flushed brightly. She had short brown hair and freckles that made her look more youthful than the others, but her uniform had the same insignia as the man next to her. "That you started traveling with the Ninth Doctor."
"How public are those files?"
No one answered here immediately, and Rose started sweating.
"Not very," Spock finally answered. "Those in service to the fleet can access them at different levels. They are not available to the general public and not to be discussed with the general public."
"Good." Rose grabbed onto the railing and gripped it tight. "It's just odd," she said to those on the bridge. "People knowing so much about me."
There were sheepish nods, and all of them focused on their screens. Rose watched them for a moment. They all seemed human, but then only a couple centuries in the future there likely wouldn't be a lot of mixed-species births yet. Jack had mentioned once that some species mixes took a lot of genetic manipulation to be viable. Most of them were around her age or only a little older.
"Any change on the scanners?" she asked, needing to turn the subject back to the situation outside the ship.
"No, they're still coming towards us. Slowly, but moving," one of the young men who hadn't spoken yet said.
"Power levels throughout the ship are holding up stable," the young woman with freckles added.
"That's good." Rose inhaled slowly. "What are your names?" They all froze as if confused. Rose smiled. "You all know me; I'd like to know your names. Nothing formal, just sound off." She pointed to the nearest young man who was short with dark hair. "Starting with you, please."
"Thomas Mokoena," the man answered. "Engineering officer."
"Rachael Rosales," the woman with short hair and freckles answered. "Communications officer."
Rose nodded as one by one, they named themselves and their positions. Some positions were very Star Trek and made her smile while others were very alien to her. Their accents were varied, but all of them were comfortable hearing each other. Rose held back asking if there was a shared language. This wasn't the time.
"Nice to meet all of you," Rose said.
"The ships just passed the ten-mile mark," one man named Edison Parker said urgently.
They went back to focusing on their work, and a strange silence filled the bridge. There was a hum of machines and the occasional soft beep from a control station, but there was no gossip any longer. Tension filled the crew, and there was nothing that Rose could do about it. She sat down at an empty station to wait.
Sometimes silence was the worst thing. Rose sighed and lowered her gaze from the view of space. The Doctor's plan was solid and might just prevent more bloodshed, but the waiting was so sharp and hard that it might as well have been a knife to her chest. She was sitting in a chair in front of a strange empty control console. There were a few things that she recognized. Similar to the Enterprise of her home time, there was a touchscreen area, but also solid-looking buttons and a few switches. Probably the most dangerous controls were not touchscreen to avoid horrible accidents.
"Ma'am," a voice called, drawing her attention. "I'm sorry, but I need…"
Rose jumped up and moved away from the station. Hamz Abbas gave her an apologetic look, but immediately pressed a series of commands and the screen changed. Rose could see the ships outlined on the screen and sucked in a sharp breath. In that format, they looked so close and so big. Ten miles was nothing in space. Was it ten miles from the planet or ten miles from this ship?
Rose opened the bridge door by stepping up next to the sensor and stepped out into the corridor. It was empty of people, and she exhaled. The silence here was less unnatural, and it was colder here without the machines. Putting a hand on the wall, Rose breathed slowly and gave herself a moment. She needed some way to be useful, and her fingers twitched to call Jack's phone and check on their process.
"Rose?" Spock's voice was warmer now, and Rose glanced up at the ceiling. There was a soft chuckle. "I'm not actually in the ceiling, Rose."
"I know." Rose shook her head and chuckled. "I get that, Spock, but I'm used to you having an interface."
"Are you alright?"
"Worried and frustrated," she admitted. "I need something to do. I don't want to get in the way, but…" She shook her head. "Anything new?"
"Nothing. Changing the communication frequency has yet to result in contact, and my attempts to communicate directly with the ship's computer have been fruitless I'm afraid. I've reached out to nearby computers and network relays to see if I can find any information on these ships, but so far I have found nothing."
"How is that possible?" Rose asked softly. "Nothing is ever a complete secret." Horrible thoughts were taking root in her head. "Unless no one survives seeing them."
"I doubt that," Spock said gently. "I've been transmitting data. You will be happy to know that all possible evacuations are taking place on Athena. Everyone won't' be able to get off, but children are all being evacuated."
That didn't make her feel much better, but it helped a little.
"How did you come to be here anyway?" Rose asked.
"It is a long story." Spock sighed a little himself. "And not one we have time for. The short version is that eventually, I passed out of the hands of Sarah Jane's descendants and agreed to help on this vessel."
"A military vessel?" Rose tried to keep the judgment out of her voice.
"Not exactly. It is rather like a United Nations peacekeeping force of your time. They patrol trade routes, aid ships as needed, transport diplomats an scientists, and only use the weapon systems when needed to protect a planet. You'd like it," he assured her.
Rose got the impression that her approval was important to him and swallowed as his earlier words hit her. Sarah Jane's descendants. This was hundreds of years in the future, and she was long gone. Rose knew that would happen, of course, but she'd never considered what it would mean to Spock. She licked her lips and tried to find some words that might help.
"It's alright, Rose," Spock said gently. "You should not imagine that you have not visited me often over the years. For a long time, I was with UNIT when Sarah Jane retired from investigating aliens. The leadership will continue to shift further and further into a diplomatic framework. I think- I believe that she would be pleased."
"I'm sorry, Spock. I didn't think about your lifespan when compared to humans."
"I did. I was always prepared for this." Spock's tone had softened. "But that is not the point. I am here now, and I am grateful that you and the Doctor came to help."
Rose nodded, confident that Spock could see her, and her mind went back to the main issue at hand. She couldn't help but worry what this armada might be capable of. If they were lucky, maybe it was some kind of automated colony ship that had lost communications. But they were rarely ever that lucky.
….
"I don't think there's much more we can do down here, Doctor," Jack said as he slid the panel closed. There was grease in his hair. It never failed to amaze him how no matter when or where you went, machines needed some kind of oil, and it always got everywhere. It was a unifying theme of ships. "The ships are fully charged up. It's a question of tactics now."
"Thank you," Captain Li said. She was hovering nearby with her chief engineer running numbers on a nearby terminal. "But this doesn't address the real issue. Those ships are still coming."
"I get that you don't want to take the TARDIS over," Jack said. "But what about a transmat beam? You've got to have one abroad?" He looked at the Captain and the engineer.
"We do of course, but they also have shielding," the engineer replied. His name was Thomas, and he was attractive with salt and pepper hair. Jack smiled at him. "We can't get anyone through. Security looked at that option earlier without any luck."
The Doctor was glaring at the wall, and Jack could see the instant that he came to the conclusion there was no choice. "Fine, we'll use the TARDIS to jump over."
"How many men do you need?" Captain Li asked.
"None." The Doctor shot her a look but quickly tempered his growing frustration. "Just Jack, Rose, and I."
"That's suicide," the engineer gasped.
"No, it isn't. For all we know, those ships are empty, and only the computer is online," the Doctor snapped. "We need to know what is going on, well that's the best way." He grabbed a rag and cleaned of his hands as best he could. "Jack, call Rose and tell her to meet us at the TARDIS."
"I have passed on the message, Doctor," Spock's voice said from the ceiling.
"I forgot you were there, Spock," Jack laughed, trying to lighten the mood.
"I apologies; under the circumstances, I am having more difficulty than usual dividing my attention."
Captain Li looked like she wanted to argue, to push for a security escort or at least arm them, but she merely exhaled and nodded. Jack was guessing that she knew enough about the Doctor to know when she would lose. That was both nice and disappointing. He had a feeling that Captain Li was a sight to see when she was arguing.
"Are you sure, Doctor? We won't be able to help you protect the TARDIS."
"I'm sure." He nodded in determination. "Spock? Rose at the TARDIS yet?"
"She just went inside, Doctor. You will need to call her to speak with her now."
"We're heading up." The Doctor looked at Captain Li once more. "Hold your position, Captain. Don't fire, and we'll see what we can learn."
"Be careful." Captain Li said. "And good luck."