ECHOES PART 2.5

"You're Dying?" Barbara looked at the wizened face, and stared deep into the Doctors eyes. She could still see the flames in there, they had always been there. Bright and glowing with great intelligence.

"It's a fire that never fades my dear," the Doctor said as he looked back at Barbara with smile on his lips and in his eyes. "I have lived far longer than I had any right to. I have thrown myself, deliberately in harms way so many times, I thought I would have gone down this final path so long ago. Just goes to show, even I don't know everything eh?"

Ian still stunned by the Doctors sudden reappearance and almost physically struck by his announcement, just said, "but you look so... well." He knew instantly it was the wrong thing to say, the Doctor always hated glip platitudes. As the doctor turned his gaze on him, he knew he was in for a rant.

"Why thank you Chesterton, that is perhaps the nicest thing anyone has said to me in a long while." The Doctors smirk was unnecesary, the sarcasm was clearly marked in his voice. "Now come on, even I don't have time for dilly dallying, I have to find my Granddaughter, and a few others, before the ceremony begins." He began walking away, turned his head slightly and said simply "Well, are you going to let an old man go on a potentially dangerous trip, all on his own?"

Ian and Barbara looked at each other "Barbados can wait I suppose." Said barbara, as she stepped behind the Doctor. Ian shrugged and followed suit.

After a few hurried goodbyes to friends and excuses about "early flights, you know how it is?" Ian, Barbara and the Doctor set off out of the suite, rented for their special occasion. When they reached the lobby, there was a commotion. Someone had called the police to report the sudden appearance of a police telephone box right next to the check in desk, Ian smiled, "Always did land in the most inconspicuous places, good to see that hasn't changed." As the trio approached the Tardis one of the police officers tried to stop them, the Doctor glared at him, and the man stopped dead in his tracks. "Thats a new trick Doctor, could have used that when we were travelling together regularly." The doctor half snorted, half laughed at the comment, as he put the Tardis key in the lock and opened the door.

You've re-decorated Doctor!" Barbara said as she entered the console room. She looked around, awe struck at the Gothic architecture and apparently endless cloisters that ran off in all directions, and there in the middle of it all, was the console, not exactly how Barbara remembered it, now it was aglow with blue light like captured lightning pulsing around the console. "Wow" was all she could think to say.

As the Doctor approached the controls and started pushing the pressure sensetive controls, Ian, who had just finished a complete scan of the room (if it could be called that) "Uhm Doctor, just one question. If you're taking us to a ceremony where it is your intention to die, how will we get back to where and when, we belong?"

"Hmmm?" Said the Doctor, as he hit another switch and the familiar noise of the Tardis Dematerialising filled the air. "Oh don't you worry about that! The Timelords will make sure you get back hale and Hearty for your 'second honeymoon'"

"The who?"

End of 2.5

Earth

New London

"Why didn't grandfather come himself?" Was all that Susan could ask as she walked beside her one time teacher. Then she realised, "Is something wrong? Is he regenerating? No, that would come naturally, there could be no problems with the regen proccess, and even in the unlikely event of regen crisis, there's the zero room in the Tardis. I'm yammering aren't I? I know I am, it happens when I get nervous now."

Barbara smiled, but the smile never quite reached her eyes. "The Doctor's... Well he's fine, at the moment, he's just a little tired, so I volunteered to come fetch you. He can't wait to see you again, you've become such a beautiful young woman." Susan blushed, she couldn't help herself. "How's David?" The question, THE question, she had been dreading since she saw Barbara again, how does she tell one of her dearest friends...

"He left me last year." Blunt and to the point. "He couldn't handle the fact that some time in the not so distant future, he would die, and I at worst would regenerate 12 times and outlive him by millenia."

"Oh! Right. Sorry Susan, I truly am. I know you loved him. You still do don't you? Otherwise you wouldn't still be so hurt by it? Ah here's the Tardis" Barbara silently thanked any Gods who were listening for the reason to change the subject, she took the Tardis key out of her pocket, but Susan put her hand on hers to stop her.

"Allow me? I went back the following day and got my own key back from where I dropped it, I called it a memento of a former life." Susan turned the key in the lock and entered the craft. The darkness of the console room caught her a little off guard at first, but her eyes quickly adapted. There was the console, glittering with moving lights and throbbing with controlled power. There too was Ian, she practically ran to embrace another of her teachers from the past. As she pulled away from Ian she noticed the frail form in the high backed chair, he looked so old, not just his form, but his spirit as well. How much time had passed for him? A hundred, a thousand years? She really didn't care. She was home, with the only real family she had.

"Grandfather. She knelt beside the chair, the old man opened his tired eyes and let them rest upon his granddaughter. She smiled, as did he. "Oh Grandfather, how are you? You don't look at all well, we need to get you to your room and you can rest properly." The Doctors gaze intensified, as Susans began to go out of focus. The telepathic communication was made so fast, Susan could barely catch her breath. Then, as quickly as it had begun, it was over. Susan knew everything now, she knew where, and more importantly, when, the Tardis needed to be. Who to collect and why and then, well, then, not even HE knew that.

Susan hugged her Grandfather tightly and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She stood up and turned towards the console and began deftly manipulting the controls.

"Where are we headed now? Susan? Are you all right?"

Yes Ian, I'm fine. My Grandfather just told me everything I needed to know, we have a few more trips to make, and then we will be heading to Galiffrey, our home planet, where before he dies, my Grandfathers memories will be downloaded into the Pantropic net, where in essence at least, he will live forever. But first we need to make a stop a few hundred years ago, to pick up another old friend, just in the nick of time."

"What do you mean, 'just in the nick of time'?"

"Well, we're going to pick up a young highlander, from an English encampment, on a little field called Culloden..."

Part 4

Welcome to Scotland

A lone Highlander approached the English encampment, he moved not stealthily as if ready for an attack, but loudly as though to attract attention. It worked. Four redcoats approached him, pistols drawn and aimed straight at the highlander. "I am Jamie McCrimmon of the clan McCrimmon, and I have come to talk to your commander." The Englishmen were shocked to say the least at the savages grasp of the english language, but still they stood their ground.

"Why, do you want to see the Captain?" One of the Redcoats ventured, "to kill him?"

"Of course!" Jamie laughed. "Honestly would I walk in here without even a claymore, ask to speak to your captain, if I had any intention of killing him? Well would I? I'm no as daft as I look ye' Ken. I've come to discuss terms for surrender."

The redcoats were again taken aback by the highlander, "surrender? Is that even a word you people understand?"

"I understand a lot o' things yah eejit. Like starvation, and cold and, well, Peace." The redcoats looked at each other, not sure what to do.

"Bring him forward" a voice boomed from further inside the camp. "I want to talk to the intelligent savage, and of course, discuss the terms of his surrender." A tall man was sillhouetted against the flames of the fire. "I am Captain Tonbridge, welcome to our camp, Mr McCrimmon. come sit, talk with me."

Jamie approached and took measure of the man. He was a full head taller than himself, but Jamie had taken down bigger and better in his time. "Oh aye, captain. Thank you, I know you;ve no reason to trust any o' us, but I am here in a sincere attempt to find peace. Myself and five others in this area want the fighting to stop. Now."

"Well, sit then and we shall talk, May I call you Jamie or must I call you Mr McCrimmon all night?" Jamie nodded. "Very well Jamie, what terms do you propose?" Jamie reached his hands over the flames of the fire and crouched down.

"I think, the best way to bring peace back to my country is for everyone who does not belong here to go home!" Jamie said pointedly at the captain. He smiled when he saw the look on the face of Captain Tonbridge, as he pulled his skien dubh from it's traditional position at the top of his sock. Before the captain could move or say a word, the knife was in his chest. The other redcoats ran raising their guns as they came and suddenly there was thunder all around. "right on time" said Jamie. There was a battle cry rising around the camp as twenty highlanders stormed the camp trampling everything, and everyone in their way.

The fight, if you could call it that was over swiftly and the highlanders were victorious. They began ransacking the camp, for weapons, food, blankets. Anything they could carry. They stopped when they heard the noise. Like a distressed cow in labour, but it got louder and louder. Panic gripped them, but Jamie felt a surge of excitement. A memory he couldn't quite grasp of times that never happened. "Could the dreams have been true after all?" As silence fell, a shape had appeared in the middle of the camp. A shape that Jamie remembered well. A friend had returned.

The Tardis door opened and an unfamiliar figure appeared. A woman, Jamie grabbed the pistol that once belonged to Captain Tonbridge. "Who are you? Where is the Doctor? What have you done to him?"

"Easy Jamie, I'm right here." An old man exited the Tardis after the mysterious woman. "This is my granddaughter Susan. Susan, this is Jamie. Now Jamie, I don't want to panic you, so just put the gun down. You know how much I dislike them. Now be at peace." And all of a sudden Jamie was. He was so relaxed in fact, that the pistol slipped from his hand and fell to the ground. The old man reached his hand out to Jamie and touched his temple with his index finger and said "Remember". And Jamie did. He remembered everything, Daleks, Cybermen, yetis, and Sontarans.

"Doctor? Ye've changed again? Can ye no choose a face and stick to it? It's getting awffy confusin' ye know?"

The Doctor smiled, "come on Jamie, we have one last trip to go on."

End of Part 4...

London
The Dorchester Hotel
2004

"I do hope I'm not boring you?" The man spoke in a brusque but strangely warm tone. All heads in the room turned to look at Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart (retired), former head of the UN's ultra top secret 'alien fighting force' as one home secretary had been heard to joke, just before he was mysteriously demoted in a cabinet reshuffle.

"This reunion is such a fine affair, so many old friends here, with whom I have lost much contact through the years, Mr Yates, General Benton, Miss Shaw, Miss Grant all of you, and those who could not attend today, Miss Smith sends her apologies, but she has a story to follow in South America, and well, Who knows where The Doctors are, with his knack for changing appearance, he could be one of the waiters and we'd never know." This comment brought waves of laughter from the group. "Well, we're all here now, and thanks to the freedom of information act, damn it to balzes, we are all celebrities. I don't know about any of you, but I'd rather be in a shopping mall full of Autons, than face a rampaging horde of media halfwits." Again laughter..

"Here here," came a voice from the middle of the room, Lethbridge Stewart didn't need to see the owner of the voice, to know it was...

"Thank you Doris for your contribution. My lovely and patient wife Doris, She make look timid, but let me tell you about the time she met a reporter from 'the Sun, raking through our rubbish, she grabbed a garden rake and..." He could feel the heat from Doris's glare, that he could pinpoint her in the group even with the lights so dim. "Ah well, thats a story for another time, when Doris isn't around," More laughter, even from Doris, he could hear her with such clarity, through the crowd and the background noise. ""Well, you probably have heard all you want to of my voice for the night, so lets get on with this party eh?" As he walked down from the stage he was slapped on the shoulder by old friends, and compatriots, and received a hug from miss Grant.

"That was a great speech, Brig. Brought a tear to my eye." she joked as she hugged him. She released him and the look on his face must have let out what he was thinking, "sorry, i meant Brigadier." She smiled again

That was when it all started. The ground shook under them, and a thunderous explosion filled their ears. Windows shattered, walls tore like paper, and all Lethbridge Stewart could think of was...

"Doris!"

Heathrow Airport
England

"Miss Jovanka? This way please." The tall man led the way into a small office, there was another man at the other side of a desk, leafing through some papers. "Please, take a seat." Tegan sat, on the chair in the middle of the room, facing the two men. "So Miss Jovanka, you are applying for the position of head steward? May I just ask, why?"

Tegan was ready for this one, "I feel, I'm ready for the challenge of being in charge of a flight crew. I think you'll find I have an exemplary record for handling both staff and passengers with a high degree of tact and professionalism."

"Tact and professionalism? Yes, I see your last two senior attendants have stated that you managed to defuse potential air rage incidents on three seperate occasions. Yes, your record over the past couple of years has been exemplary... But, I can see from our records that you disappeared on two occasions, for periods ranging from 8 months on the first occasion, to 3 years on the second. We have a report though, from a former concorde pilot that your assistance was vital, when, when..." He stopped, he actually started reading the report, and couldn't believe his eyes. "You have been granted alpha 4 clearance by the united nations intelligence task force? How did? No don't tell me, I probably wouldn't want to know. Well, we have your resume, and we will be in touch. You are staying with a friend in London, yes?" Tegan nodded, "fine as I said, we will be in touch."

Tegan took that to be a dismissal, as she stood up she smiled, it was a wan smile and she knew it. She wasn't going to get the job. "I'll get a call when you've reached a decision?" One of the nameless interviewers nodded. His colleague grunted as he continued to read through the classified report. As soon as Tegan was out of the office she started to fume. "Bloody idiots! If I get a call or a letter saying I'm unreliable, I'll be back here to deck somebody," She continued walking until she almost walked past her car. She climbed in and turned the key in the ignition, as she drove off, she thought about the contents of the report the pencil neck was reading right now and smirked.

Some time later she pulled into the driveway of her friends house, it was good to be 'home'. "Welcome mistress." K9 said from inside the small garage. "Did your attempt to gain more challenging employment go well mistress?"

"No K9, I don't think it did. They were a pair of idiots. Is Sarah home yet?"

"Negative, mistress Sarah, has not returned, but she has left a message on the telephonic recording device."

"The what? Oh the answering machine? OK." Tegan, walked past K9 through the adjoining door from the garage to the main house. She hit the play button on the answering machine as she passed.

"Tegan? Are you there, it's Sarah. There's big trouble. I can't get through to any of my UNIT contacts, I don't know, they might all be dead already." Tegan stopped pouring herself a drink and focussed on the message. "I've found out, there is something big going down. The terrorist cell I infiltrated was contacted by some kind of Mastermind, they're trying to bring down UNIT, get to the reunion, I left the invitation on the coffee table, go warn them..." The message ended. Not that Tegan was there to hear the end of it anyway. She had picked up K9 and and was jogging to the car...

to be continued