Chapter Five: Just Like Old Times
Jack found them sometime later in the TARDIS' kitchen sipping tea with the remains of a meal scattered about the table. His keen eyes easily spotted that their hands were entwined and he grinned. 'Just like old times,' he thought. "Save anything to eat for me?"
"Jack," Rose's smile was bright as she looked at him, "I'm sorry about earlier..."
He waved his hand dismissively, "Eh, I figured I deserved it." He rummaged about the cabinets before coming up with something that was partially edible, "You know, Rose, I'm glad you're back. The Doctor can't cook to save his life – nor can he get groceries that are actually edible." He threw the can of SPAM back into the cupboard with a grimace.
"You're hopeless without me," she grinned, and the Doctor turned to look at her, his thumb gently caressing her hand.
"Yes, I am," he agreed.
Jack cleared his throat. As much as he wanted to watch, especially since this was literally years in the making, he had questions of his own. Questions that he felt needed to be answered. Pulling out one of the chairs, swinging it around and straddling it so his chest was pressed against the back of it, Jack folded his arms across the top and looked at Rose, "So, Rose, what's going on? What happened over the three months we were gone and how did you get to Centauris? And what was going on with the Raxacoricofallapatorian?"
"Ah," Rose replied, swallowing nervously. She wasn't certain what her friends would make of what she had done, let alone what they would think of her afterward. Taking a deep breath and pulling as much comfort as possible from the Doctor's hand in her own, she began, "After you left me in London, I looked for any aliens that might be stopping through on vacation or whatever. I found an old Mixiri couple who agreed to take me to their next destination, and when I got there I started looking for a ship. I had to find you two and the TARDIS, and I thought the best way would be to look out here – in space. And, it wasn't three months for me, Jack. It was three years."
Jack pulled in a hissing breath as he looked into her eyes. He had seen eyes like that before – eyes that reflected a chaotic mix of despair, longing, and hurt because of all the things that she had been forced to do while on her own. He looked into eyes like that every morning in the mirror.
Rose sighed as she looked at the tabletop for inspiration before she continued, "I ended up buying a ship after a while. Named her the Millennium Falcon, just 'cause that's what I essentially became. I'm Han Solo." She laughed quietly before continuing, missing Jack's slightly confused expression and the Doctor's indulgent one, "I did some things that I'm not proud of, but I managed to save a planet once. You taught me well," she smiled at the Doctor and sighed, "I was on Centauris because my ship got attacked by pirates. I was running after having stolen the Fil-fot Orb from Raxacoricofallapatorius for Ral-fot. I needed the money to continue searching for the TARDIS, but since my ship was banged up I had to get a job. You know the rest after that. I don't know how Ral-fot found me, though. I didn't have enough money to call him."
"Oh, Rose," the Doctor sighed, squeezing her hand tightly, "I'm sorry."
"You've already said that," she pointed out, "So no need to repeat yourself. You're forgiven, yeah?"
"Yeah," the Doctor agreed and a familiar crooked smile worked its way across his face, "So, you don't mind that we're leaving your ship behind?"
"This is home. There's nothing there that I need; I have everything here," Rose nodded, meeting his eyes with a small grin.
"Fantastic. So, where to next Rose Tyler?"
"How about..."
They were interrupted by a high pitched chime. "What's that?" Rose asked.
"I added an audio chime for when we receive distress signals. It's a mauve," Jack replied, leaving his chair and half eaten meal behind to run towards the control room. The Doctor and Rose were only seconds behind him.
The Doctor stood in front of the display on the console and fiddled with several switches, ordering Jack and Rose to hit one switch or another before the alert came through the speakers with a crackling hiss.
"Is it audio?" Rose asked curiously.
"It does have audio attached to it. Mostly it's an automated signal. It's cycling through again," Jack replied, leaning over the Doctor's shoulder.
The audio came to life with a crackle, and Jack twisted a few dials to clear up the signal, "Talween to any ship in the vicinity. This is Captain Jistera Celaani. We have encountered an unknown alien vessel in distress. If there is anyone in the vicinity, please, we need your help. Message repeats."
"Jistera Celanni," Jack repeated thoughtfully, his tone curious as he attempted to search his memory for just where he had heard that name before, "Jistera. I know that name and the Talween."
The Doctor turned towards him in askance, "The Talween? You say that as if it means something to you."
"It does," Jack confirmed, recalling all too well the tales that had been shared over campfires in his youth. "Over two millennia ago, a small Daan Imperial cruiser called the Talween disappeared somewhere between the Daan Core worlds and the then newly discovered 'Outer Rim' worlds. They were carrying supplies bound for the Rim worlds. Back then, travel took many months at a time to reach what by today's standards would be a short trip. It took a year before the Daan sent out a search party, following the same path that the Talween took. But all that they found when they arrived almost half way between the sectors of the galaxy was a transmission from an unidentified source. The transmission was supposedly from the Talween, and it was full of moans of pain and the voice said that everyone else had been killed. It ended with a scream. The Talween was never found again."
Rose felt a shiver of apprehension crawl its way down her spine, but she ignored it. She had heard of the Talween from some of the spacers that had frequented Slimey's. It had been a popular tale to swap over a pint or two of local brew; it, and dozens more like it. Rose spoke up quietly, "I've heard of that story. There are millions like it. 'Here there be dragons' and the like. There's a region of space near Centauris called the Haunted Corridor because of the frequency of ship disappearances among spacers and from other races with histories around here. Surely you don't believe in that."
"The Captain of the Talween was named Jistera Celaani."
"So what? That was two millennia ago. It's possible that some descendant got named the same thing in tribute," Rose replied.
"Justin Celaani, Jistera's only brother, died a year after the discovery of the transmission, unmarried and no survivors. However, there was extended family that survived them. It is possible that a descendant was named after Jistera."
"There, see?" Rose responded, strangely relieved.
The Doctor spoke up with a thoughtful expression on his face, "There are other species that have had ships disappear in this region. Sure, some of them are probably pirates, but even if you can explain away most of them, there still are 3 of the disappearances that cannot be explained by any piracy or mutiny or science. Some think that there is some sort of creature that lives out here that has destroyed the ships."
"Right," Rose said, shaking her head, "And there's such a thing as the Loch Ness Monster."
"There is," the Doctor said, and Rose's eyes widened in shock.
"Really?"
"Remind me to take you to the plesiosaur habitat the next time we're in 25th century England," the Doctor smiled before he turned towards Jack, "It's a mauve, we have to answer it. Check the scanners and try to locate the source of the signal."
"Right," Jack grunted as his hands drifted over the controls, expertly manipulating the sensors as he searched for the proverbial 'needle in the haystack.' Space, contrary to what many people assumed, was actually alive with signals. Pulsars and Quasars emitted signals that could confuse starships, black holes emitted signals from the matter that they consumed; even the smallest particle of dust emitted a signal that in the end resulted in a cacophony of interference. Separating one source of sound, specifically the transmission from the Talween, was delicate work. Here he skirted over the radio broadcast from a pulsar, here he dismissed the interference of a black hole located over fifty light years away, there he ignored the vibrations from a nebula until he came upon the signal itself. Using the signal, which was now locked into the computer's memory, he ordered the sensors to trace the path towards its origin.
The screen in front of him flashed a 'Signal Source Detected,' and Jack grinned. Success. "Found it!"
Feeding the coordinates that Jack read off to him into the TARDIS controls, the time ship came to life with its familiar wheezing groan. With a manic grin, the Doctor looked at his companions as the ship shuddered beneath them, "Let's find this Talween."