Incoming communiqué 23.8923.b from Sylvana.

Received Galactic Standard 0730

To: Tegan Jovanka Undar

"Tegan?"

"Johan, Thank God."

Johan smiled widely. "I take it that you thought I was dead."

"Well" Tegan sighed and slid into the seat in front of the videophone. "You were lying rather still and were injured terribly. Cripes, if I had thought there was even a chance"

He shook his head. "No. You did the right thing. You had to move the group on. And as you can see" he held his arms wide, his movements a little pained. "I'm alive and well."

"It's truly wonderful," she nodded. Then she leaned forward. "You sent this communiqué to Tegan Undar. Johan"

"You and Peri adopted me; I adopted you. On Sylvana, you're known by the family name of Undar."

She lifted an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. "All right. But it's your dime, Johan."

"What?"

With a self-defeating shake of her head, she frowned. "Never mind; never mind. I have the meeting with Supremo in an hour; I suppose you have something you want me to take in to him."

"He's your friend you told me about, right? The Doctor?"

She glanced over at Peri who smiled back. With a slow nod of her head, she agreed. "Yes, he is the Doctor."

"Are you sure you want to be an envoy? For us?" he asked, urgently, sitting forward.

Tegan sighed and lowered her eyes. She had been thinking about that very topic for the last day. A love of Sylvana had grown in her over the last year; she was in this situation, a situation with a deadly war. She could do something helpful. "Yes," she said quietly. "For once, I want to help people live instead of shooting them."

Johan looked in her eyes for a long silent moment and then nodded. "I'm sending a private communiqué to you with our needs and what we can offer. Wear the official clothes I sent you."

Tegan glanced down at the pile of papers that filed out of the machine. She glanced at them and up to Johan's eyes. "We're counting on you," he said quietly.

"I won't let you down," she replied. The communication ended silently.

She glanced down at the papers again and her eyes widened.

**

"Good heavens."

Tegan squinted at Peri and shook her head. "I don't look that horrible, do I? Do you think I ought to take it off?"

"Good grief, no," Peri muttered and then came towards Tegan again to tuck in a stray tail of material. "You look like royalty."

Tegan felt subconscious and frowned. "It's the stubborn chin; my dad always told me I had one."

Peri clucked her tongue and disagreed. "No, it's the costume and your body. Definitely look like a diplomatic envoy. You'll command respect, I dare say."

With a sigh, Tegan picked up the hem of her dress and stepped down towards the mirror. She eyed the dress with a critical eye. It was floor length and was the color of dusky lavender a shade lighter than her air hostess uniform had been. Her mother would have called it a peasant cut dress. It was off the shoulder and showed a fair amount of skin; the flares at her mid-calf allowed her to be able to take steps. "Well," she sighed, louder. "It'll have to do. I feel like a trumped up peasant girl in this. You haven't told the Doctor who the envoy is, have you?"

"Good Lord, and ruin the fun?" Peri laughed. "No. He was a little surprised that I had been fighting in the Force with you."

Tegan smiled. "You're the back-up diplomatic envoy, you know. Johan is sending up a dress for you as well."

"Great," Peri muttered. "I'll officially hate it, of course, but between you and me, I'll love it."

Tegan's smile grew and she laughed freely. Then, quite happily, she reached out and hugged her friend. "I've got to get to this meeting. Do you want to come along?"

Peri frowned. "I need to tally the final numbers for the relief force. When that's done, I'll bring them in to you."

Tegan groaned. "Maths."

Both women laughed at the harsh sound of her complaint.

**

Tegan paused outside the door. Her hands were sweaty, but she couldn't tell why. The papers she held outlined what needed to happen; she wasn't on her own. She had been holding guns to people for the last year; a simple diplomatic meeting with a friend surely shouldn't unnerve her. It had to be the dress, she decided.

His lips at her neck, the feeling of the console, cold, harsh, sharp, cutting into her back. The strength of his arm under her, lifting her, placing her gently on the edge of the hexagonal shape. She had gasped out about Peri; he had answered with a quiet moan. "Just a little while longer," she had chided, nearly having her breath stolen from her as he pressed his lips against her. "You've driven me crazy half the night," he chided in return, holding her hard against him as his lips plundered hers. "This damnable dress" "I thought you liked it" she breathed, her hands pulling at his hair.

He had liked it. He'd liked it enough to leave it neatly folded on the chair when he helped strip it off of her later that evening.

"Lady Tegan?" Vidal breathed, leaning close to her. "Are you all right?"

She shook her head and pinned her sight on Vidal. He was wearing a very ornate uniform and Tegan found that it quite matched his personality, the little of it she had had the pleasure of knowing. She frowned and looked at him back. "You're a Time Lord, aren't you?"

"Very astute, my dear," he replied with a nod. "And you are a diplomatic envoy. Ethics would have dictated that you shouldn't have had dinner with Supremo last evening."

She straightened her spine and fixed her stare completely on him. "I would never use my friendship with the Doctor to my advantage like that. Besides, I don't feel I owe you an explanation." With a firm shake of her head, she shifted the papers between her hands. "And you. You've been sent by the High Council to keep tabs on the Doctor, haven't you?"

Vidal straightened his back and nodded. "I've been sent to be his ally, his"

"Spy, you mean," Tegan nearly barked before she recovered her composure. She drew back her shoulders. "I've seen enough spies in the last year that I can smell them a mile away."

The Time Lord was taken aback by the force in her voice. Then he released a small laugh. "A human woman the protector of a Time Lord?"

"We've been through a hell of a lot," Tegan warned quietly.

"And you've been separated from him for what? A Terran year?" Vidal frowned, contemplating her. "I hadn't realized that human friendship was that strong."

"You'd be surprised what human friendship is capable of," she said back so lowly that it almost made her throat ache. "Does he know you're a spy?"

"I have made him aware"

"Spoke in riddles you mean," she shot back. "That doesn't surprise me."

"And I suppose that he will be wonderfully happy to find out that you are the Sylvana representative," Vidal pressed.

Tegan frowned, but Vidal held up his hand. "We've talked enough; Supremo awaits." Without giving her another moment to gather herself, he turned around and pushed open the door.

She lifted her chin and entered the room.

**

He had risen from his chair behind the desk at the sound of the door opening. Immediately she was struck by his completely tidy and militaristic appearance. He wore a crisp new black uniform with insignia on the arm. His trousers were proudly pressed and his shoes were spit polished. He made it around the edge of his desk before he stopped, staring, at her.

"Is it wrong?"

"Is what wrong?"

"Wanting you."

His spine straightened quickly, almost snapping him to his full height. His eyes became hazed, gray, and stormy. She held his gaze as she neared the desk, both daring him to say something and condemning him to say nothing. He swallowed harshly. She could hear the sound at the distance.

"Tegan," he croaked. "Are you well this morning?"

"I'm fine," she replied, quietly.

His gaze left her eyes and lowered to quickly glance over her dress. She felt warm as she saw his sight lingering on her legs, hips and chest. Then he met her eyes full on with a force that left her rocking, weighted where she stood.

"You look different," he said, and she couldn't put her finger on the emotion that radiated from him. It sounded a struggle to keep his voice calm.

"A ringing endorsement," she joked, recalling their last evening together.

His eyes avoided hers and she saw the 'great General' reduced to an uneasy, unsure man. "Tegan"

She closed her eyes, sighed and shook her head. "Rabbits, I haven't changed, have I? How are you this morning, Supreme Coordinator?"

He rolled his eyes. She could see tension building in his shoulders; she knew enough of his body to know the set of his chin, the squaring of his chest, the way that he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Quite well, although I do have meeting. Could I ask you to meet me for dinner later-?"

Tegan sighed. "That won't be necessary," she frowned and steeled herself for his ire. "I am your meeting, Doc. I'm the envoy from Sylvana."

He stopped all movement and frowned. In an effort to fend off the explosion she knew was coming, she put down her papers on the meeting table and put her hands on her hips. "I hadn't made my mind up to do this until this morning. Johan is asking me to do this"

"Johan Undar?" he asked, as he pulled his hand out of his pocket and stepped to the side to consult the papers on his desk. "He is the head of the temporary government on Sylvana," he glanced up at her, somewhat accusing. "And you know him personally?"

"Johan was the man that adopted Peri and I when we crashed on Sylvana," she replied. "He was the head of the Fighting Force."

The Doctor frowned and pulled the paper towards him. He slipped his hands into his pockets viciously. "Ah, I see. I had thought that this man that had adopted you was known as the Scourge, but it's mentioned that the Scourge was known as the heart. Peri also said that the Head and the Heart worked closely together." He pulled his hands out of his pockets and put them down on the desk, leaning forward to face her. She felt her insides flop as she realized that his steeled gaze was completely and utterly intent on her. "The paper I received this morning from Sylvana informed me that the Scourge was the liaison I was to meet. TeganI do believe there is a great deal that you haven't told me of your time on Sylvana."

"A bit."

"Just a bit?" he asked quietly. She could feel his irritation growing.

"Hell's Teeth," she grunted. "Doctor" She patted the air with her hands as if trying to beat information back into the background. "I'm here for a meeting."

"A diplomatic meeting with me about the status of an army on a planet to which you aren't native," he remarked. He raised his eyebrows and contemplated her; the rocking forward on his toes was calculated to her practiced gaze.

"A planet that adopted me," she shot back. "And one that I owe a great deal to, Doc."

With a grunt, he lowered his head.

"What bothers you more," she bit out. "The fact that we're now in way over our heads interfering, or that I am your meeting?" She leaned forward, her hands clenching on the edge of the table. "As far as I can see it, you can't ask me to be anything less than what I am. If it had been anybody else in this position, you would have to deal with them as you do me. You're interfering; I'm interfering, but if it wasn't you or me, it would be someone else, Doctor."

She recognized the nearly unfocused gaze in his eyes. She had seen it when Adric died and when Nyssa had left. It was pain, she realized quickly. "But it's you and me, Tegan. And if you hadn't been lost, I wouldn't be in this position."

"It's not my fault you were drafted, Doc," she crossed her arms over her chest. He approached her, his eyes heavy lidded. "Don't blame me for situations. It wasn't that I could do anything about the situation once the ball started rolling downhill. When we landed on Sylvana, Peri and I both thought it was our home. We didn't know about you, or what had become of you. And we decided to have some initiative for ourselves and live. What was happening down there was wrong. We weren't on the outside looking in; we couldn't make a judgment call."

He rounded the table, hell-bent and upset. "How much fighting did you see?"

Tegan reared her head as he approached. "That isn't the point. Hell's Teeth" she reached for the papers and held them up between them, bunched in her fist. "These papers contain what is the point, Supremo. I am to negotiate with you for medical supplies and pledge to you arms and food."

The Doctor waved his hand dismissively in the air. "Yes, yes. That's all quite normal, Tegan. I can guarantee that anything Sylvana needs will be delivered to the best of our ability; the arms and food will be quite acceptable. I've negotiated at least seven times in the last month for exactly the same things. Odds are: the needed medical supplies are already on their way planetside."

"Well thank bloody God for that," she quipped.

His eyes, now a heated blue, swept over hers, searing her. "Would it help you if I were to look over the offerings? Would it allow us to have a conversation?"

"Business before pleasure," she returned, holding up the papers to him. His eyes darkened so much in anger that she swore they were black. "And yes, Doctor, I do know how to use your own words against you. I thought your first issue was to deal with this war."

He took the papers, his half-moon glasses appearing out of his breast pocket like a magician's rabbit out of a hat. His eyes skimmed the lines. "The offerings of arms aren't needed. Sylvana's armament is several centuries behind the current military science offerings," he said, and she shivered from the complete change in his voice from just moments before. Somehow his voice had become colder than his body temperature. "The food is more than adequate. Sylvana is, after all, known as the bread basket of the galaxy." He whipped off his glasses. "Are you authorized to negotiate trade?"

"Quite," she rocketed back. "You wish to negotiate a trade route for food, don't you?"

"The peripheral of the Intergalactic Force is unable to adequately feed their soldiers and the supply lines are getting stretched from the home planets," he quietly stated his voice tight. "We need one hundred metric tons per week."

She frowned. "That's a high order. Seventy-five percent of the commercial agricultural farms were decimated. We might be able to give fifty and that only at a high price."

"Ah, quite. You'll need to jump start the economy once more," he approved, his voice rising in timber and decibel as he turned away to walk back to his desk. "And I can guarantee that taxation isn't the best way at this point." He tapped his fingers against the desk. "Eighty, Tegan."

"Seventy-five," she replied as she glanced at another couple of papers.

His voice could freeze hell when he turned back around and faced her. "Eighty, Tegan. I have soldiers dying of hunger."

"And I have a planet where soldiers have been dying of hunger themselves as they fought for freedom."

"Eighty. I'll go no lower."

She lifted an eyebrow. "Is this negotiation separate from the medical supplies?"

"I'll not withhold medical help to those in need just as Sylvana has seen fit to feed my soldiers that are here, but once we leave, that negotiation is null and void. No, it is not separate."

"Very well," she nearly growled. She pulled back the chair and sat down. With a sigh, she began to do a series of standard equations, easy and basic accounting. He leaned against the desk and watched her. Eventually, she rose and presented him with a pad. "Eighty. Bread, grains and legumes. At this price. Do you accept?"

"We need dark leafy vegetables," he replied, glancing at her work. "And at that price"

"At that price, you could afford to buy half the bread, and only add on possibly 10 metric tons of vegetables," she responded. "If we are to ship out most of our food to you and will have to conceivably transfer vegetable production to grain and legume production, we'll need to be able to buy what we need to replace what is gone."

"Eighty-five with three metric tons of vegetables," he stated.

"Eighty with five metric tons of vegetables," she shot back.

He lifted an eyebrow and contemplated her in silence. "Have you the negotiation treaty paperwork?"

"No. I shall radio Johan and the new minister will draw up the needed forms."

"Very well. I agree," he nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. "Radio the information and I shall sign it upon completion. You have my word."

She sighed, nodding. "Thank bloody God for that."

The Doctor gave her a stare she couldn't interpret and turned to press a button on the desk. At the beep, he gave an order she was surprised to hear. "Vidal? I require another basic diplomatic meal served tonight. The envoy from Sylvana will be joining me. I think the main meeting hall shall do. Four hours, if you please."

There was a hesitation on the other end of the line and then Vidal's clipped voice responded:
"Very well, Supremo."

"Oh, and I shall require your attendance to serve as a witness to a diplomatic treaty signing. Please bring along one more representative."

"As you command, Supremo."

As the line went dead, Tegan gave him a look. "Dinner?"

"Oh yes," the Doctor said and leveled his gaze at her once more. "You and I have a great deal to discuss, Tegan."