Journey Amongst the Stars

By Lumendea

Chapter Forty-Four: The Death of Spock: Silent Ships

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 space the Doctor, Rose, and Jack stepped out onto was dark and felt empty. Rose exhaled slowly and extended her hands to try and find the walls. Only the light from the TARDIS illuminated their way at all. Before Jack could close the door, she dug down into her shoulder bag and found the small torch she kept in one of the pockets. Using the light, she checked the area and found that they were in a large room. There were stacks of metal crates secured together here, and there are large containers bolted to the walls several feet away.

"Cargo hold," Jack suggested.

"Pretty empty," the Doctor replied. He moved to one of the crates and tilted his head to check the side. "Not labeled."

"At least no alarms have gone off," Jack offered with a smile. It faded quickly, and he squared his shoulders. "So how do you want to do this, Doc?"

"We're here as diplomates first and foremost," the Doctor said firmly. "Find out what is going on and get these ships to turn."

"This seems very dark," Jack said. He reached over and touched the wall. "I can feel the vibrations of the ship, but…"

"Species might not need much light," the Doctor replied. "Stay together." He held out his hand, and Rose handed over the torch so he could lead. She was tempted to summon her sword, but decided to wait until a threat presented itself.

With a sigh, Jack closed the door of the TARDIS, leaving them only with the light of the torch until Jack pulled out his mobile and used it as a torch. He grinned at Rose when she raised an eyebrow.

"What? It works!"

"It kills the charge fast," Rose said. "Be careful of that."

"You should just give us some of those transdimensional pockets, Doctor," Jack said. "That would help."

"And yet he didn't have a torch," Rose pointed out.

Jack shook his head gravely which helped lighten the mood. None the less, they headed down the corridor, leaving the TARDIS glowing faintly behind them. Rose glanced back and was reassured to see the light on top glowing faintly and some light spilling out of the window. The TARDIS was a beacon in the dark.

They were no sound save the steady hum of the ship's engines through the metal walls and floor. Rose's memories of being an engineer pushed faintly at her, taunting her with information that she couldn't quite process properly. But it seemed like the ship was running on too simple a system. But they also had oxygen. That was something, even if the air did taste stale. It gave her a bad feeling.

"Up here," the Doctor said. He shined the torch on the walls which had bright markings on them. "System and power lines meet up nearby. We must be getting close to a bridge or a control room."

"There's no guards," Jack said. "And no security system. Yet the ship is firing at an unknown vessel. That doesn't seem right."

"Let's just see what's up ahead." The Doctor's tone was calm and even, but there was a hint of suspicion in it already.

They came to a doorway that had a panel beside it. The Doctor flicked the sonic screwdriver at it and the panel flashed blue before sliding open. Rose peered around the Doctor, expecting light and someone on board, only to be disappointed. The control room was small with a large machine in the center shaped like a large cube with small flashing sections. A steady hum from it and the different lights shifting colors assured Rose that it was working, but there was no one here. The room was dark, the air stale, and no sign that anyone had been here in a very long time.

The Doctor stepped inside the room and shined the torch around. Tubes and wires ran across the wall and joined up with the central computer at its top, creating a dome of machinery. As far as Rose could see, there weren't any screens or any other easy way to view information and see what was going on. She glanced around, and Jack stepped away from her, checking the room himself.

"No security," Jack said. "Still."

"I don't think we'll be seeing anyone," the Doctor said. He was moving around the main machine. "This is the center of the ship, but there's no one here yet. This wouldn't go unguarded or unmonitored if they were going to have anyone for that function."

"Then is the ship empty?"

The Doctor didn't answer right away. He turned the light around the room and found another doorway. Without saying anything, he headed for it, leaving Jack and Rose to exchange a look and hurry after him. The Doctor's silence was making Rose uneasy, and she was tempted to call Spock and report in but knew it would only distract him.

"Doctor, do you know a way to deactivate the weapon's system," Jack suggested. "So that at least this ship can't keep firing?"

"No," the Doctor answered. He stopped walking and shook his head. "That machine is deadlock sealed. The sonic screwdriver won't get me in."

"There weren't any screens or obvious controls," Rose pointed out. "Unless I missed something."

"You didn't. I think this ship was given instructions and set to fly without anyone changing anything," the Doctor replied.

"But that sounds like…" Jack trailed off, and the Doctor turned to walk out of the room.

They followed. Jack was tight-lipped now, and Rose was glaring at both of them. She was missing something and didn't like it. Now they were in another dark corridor that was clean and far too silent for Rose's nerves. There was only the hum of the ship's engines and small shudders whenever it fired. No voices, no breathing, and no movement except for them.

"Are we dealing with droids again?" Rose asked softly. "Are we going to find organs in the ship's systems?"

"Don't think so." The Doctor reached over and grabbed her left hand, squeezing it tightly.

"I don't think I've heard that story yet," Jack said softly.

She could hear the smile in his voice and was grateful for it. This place… it felt like death. Rose wasn't sure how that was possible, but it too silent, too still, and something in the air promised her that there was nothing alive except for them aboard. Rose shuddered and stepped closer to the Doctor.

They found a door, and with the flick of the sonic screwdriver the Doctor opened it. Darkness loomed in front of them. Rose got the impression it was a larger room than the control room before they even stepped inside. The light from the torch offered them only a bit of a view, but it was enough.

The wall was full of pods larger than Jack, hung closely on the wall. Their smooth domes caught the low light, but the material was too dark for Rose to see inside. The Doctor released her hand and immediately went to the wall. With the sonic screwdriver, he scanned the first pod and then the second. Lifting the screwdriver, he scanned all the way to the ceiling of the room.

"Nothing," the Doctor said. "No life signs other than the three of us."

"Are you sure you're scanning around the slumber system?" Jack pressed. "Maybe-"

The Doctor shook his head slowly. "These were colonizer ships," the Doctor said softly. He touched the dark pod with a reverent hand and a frown. "Lost power to the pods."

"Yeah," Jack sighed. He shook himself like a dog. "I noticed."

"These poor people," Rose whispered. Her eyes tracked the long wall of pods. "Do you think it's like this on all of the ships."

"That's right," Jack said. "There could be living people on some of the others ships!"

"There's twenty-six ships in total," the Doctor said. "Some of them should have their systems intact." He pushed away from the wall of death. "But they are headed to a planet that has already been colonized and judging from their biology," he nodded at the pod. "They'd need to terraform the planet."

"And if the ships try to do that automatically, it'll kill the humans living there already," Rose finished, thinking of the Sontarans.

"Yes. We need to find the computer system that's keeping the fleet together and get more details. There isn't much time."

"But it's deadlock sealed," Rose pointed out.

"On this ship." The Doctor extended a hand to her. "Let's try another. If we can find the master ship then maybe we can stop their programmed flight."

"Back to the TARDIS then?" Jack asked.

"Back to the TARDIS."

Rose paused and looked at the dark pods. There was no time for a ceremony of any kind or a speech, but she could spare them a moment. She had to. Their alien forms were blurry beneath the covers of the pods so she couldn't see them well, but their sizes were different enough to tell her that there had been children amongst them. Families had come onboard full of hope and died in their sleep. At least, she hoped that it had been in their sleep.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. It wasn't enough, but it was all she had. If there was anyone alive on the other ships, she'd fight to save them as well as Athena.

The Doctor led them back to the TARDIS with his perfect sense of direction and navigation. Well, almost perfect. Rose had seen him get turned around before, but his link to the TARDIS always seemed to guide him back to the ship. She didn't know if it was on his end or if it was the TARDIS. Maybe someday, she'd be strong enough telepathically to find out.

"Now that I know what I'm looking for, I can have the TARDIS help us narrow things down." The Doctor was a rush of energy as he moved around the controls and adjusted them. Rose and Jack glanced at each other, but stayed out of the way. "She can't get through the deadlock, but the energy signatures might be enough to identify the command ship."

"Any chance it would be larger or look different?" Rose asked. That was how it usually worked in movies. And flagships in real life sometimes had special markings. "Anything that identifies it."

"Take a look," the Doctor said. He gestured at the door. "We're in the midst of the fleet. The TARDIS hasn't detected anything special, but maybe you will."

Rose didn't think much would come of it, but she went to the TARDIS door and opened it. Her breath caught. There were so many ships with rough exteriors that were floating through space around them. Pockmarks and burns marred several of them and Rose swallowed, wondering what they'd gone through that caused the damage and if was the same thing that had caused the loss of the people in the pods.

Her eyes searched the nearby ships, but the light from the TARDIS wasn't nearly enough to see any helpful details. Leaning out, Rose kept a tight grip on the doorframe and tried to see the plant. Athena loomed beyond the fleet, a brilliant orb of green and blue with unfamiliar continents. She could see one indistinct shape of gray against the bright colors and knew that it was the Enterprise. They were getting too close.

Coming back into the TARDIS, Rose closed the door and went to join the Doctor.

"Didn't see anything helpful. Some show signs of either a fire fight or some kind of explosion. There are burn marks and pockmarks."

"Maybe solar flares…." The Doctor muttered. "No, the pockmarks wouldn't have been formed by that. Radiation burst in space. Maybe a star went supernova close by." His hands moved over the controls. "For all we know this is just the survivors of a much larger fleet."

"Then I don't want to know how many people were lost," Jack muttered. "But are we sure there is a control ship then?" The Doctor stopped what he was doing. "I mean, if the ships are damaged like that, then the control ship might not even be here anymore. The ships might be functioning in a network now rather than a hub. That could explain the issues."

"Yes, it could."

The screen lit up and pinged, showing all of the twenty-five ships. Eleven lit up with thousands of green dots, giving them a brilliant color on the screens. Two had a few dots, and the rest stayed dark. For a moment, the three of them stared at the screen as what they were seeing sank in.

"Life signs on thirteen of the ships," Jack said softly. "Thirteen out of twenty-five. More than half, but…"

"Okay, we need to know if there is a command ship," Rose said. "Can you see if there is a hub? Would it show up on a frequency scan?" She was grabbing at anything that sounds remotely possible. "Or something like that."

The Doctor obeyed, adjusting the controls again. The screen pinged again and zoomed in on one ship. It was one that still had life signs, and Rose felt both relief and terror.

"Okay, we need to go there," Rose said.

"But there's multiple ships," Jack insisted.

"They're all tethered to the same master control system," the Doctor said. Then he shook his head. "And it's gone wrong."

"More than half of the passengers are dead, the ships are headed to terraform a planet with living people on them, and there isn't time to reprogram this computer," Jack summarized. "Doctor, the Earth ship can't stop all of these ships. Not with their defense systems still active."

"Maybe Spock can wrestle control," Rose suggested. "If we help him get into the system."

"Maybe," the Doctor said softly. "But…" He shook his head slowly. "He's a Xylok, Rose. He's able to control one ship with help, but this is a fleet."

"The ones without life signs can be destroyed," Jack pointed out. "If we self-destruct them, then there's fewer ships to worry about reaching Athena or Spock having to take over."

The Doctor's expression didn't change. Rose could tell that he was doing calculations in his head and did not like the figures he was coming up with. The way his eyes kept glancing back to her told Rose that she was missing something. There was something about the solution with Spock that worried him.

None the less, the Doctor adjusted the controls, and the TARDIS shivered. Rose gripped the edge of the console, and Jack put a hand on her shoulder to help keep her steady. She realized as they landed with a gentle thump that she was shaking. A very bad feeling that taken root in her gut, and Rose didn't know how to shake it.