"Are all your needs met? You only have to ask, and we will provide it."
The silky voice was matched by an equally attractive body. The Second Priestess of the temple was a woman named Rahenon, dark of skin and hair. She was curvaceous and seemed strangely bold for a native.
Jack grinned at her suggestive tone.
"Well," he drawled, "There is something that I would like…"
He trailed off, looking at her intently. She tilted her head, watching him with her own brown eyes. Jack shifted closer and put an arm around her waist. She did not resist, but gave him an amused smile.
"And what would that something be, exactly?" she asked huskily, leaning in towards him.
Her hand was quick as a viper's, but Jack was even faster. He blocked her attempt to strike the back of his neck with a small needle, sending the diminutive weapon flying away. She backed away from him and drew a pair of small daggers from under her robes.
"It wasn't that," he grinned, "Aw, come on, am I such bad company?"
"Such a pity," she said, "I was going to drug you and keep you for myself. But Rahenos has ordered your death, so do be a nice boy and stand still while I cut your throat."
That made Jack laugh despite the very sharp daggers.
"I guess a date's out of the question, then," he quipped, "Well, it's been a blast, but I have to go find my friends now."
The fight was very short. Rahenon was fast, and the daggers very sharp, but Jack's training as a TIME agent included several thousand years of martial arts distilled into a very effective and efficient set of skills. As she lunged at him, he stepped aside and parried her stabs with his forearms. Grabbing one of her arms as it went past, he pulled her off-balance and gave a very precise chop to the base of her neck. Rahenon went out like a light. Ever the gentleman, Jack laid her out on the long chair, though he did pocket the daggers and the needle.
As he slipped out of the room, a pair of guards were walking up the corridor. Jack guessed they were not natives either; the blasters tucked into their belts were a dead giveaway. They looked at him for a moment. He grinned, gave a brief salute, turned and ran.
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"What the hell are you doing?" Rose said, her voice rising.
A pair of priestesses - dark of skin and hair like Rahenos - had entered and pulled Aranea towards a wall opposite the throne. A pair of manacles hung on chains attached to the wall, and Aranea's wrists were locked into them. One of them walked towards a section of a wall, pivoted it to reveal a small alcove and pulled out a crystal javelin.
"A hundred years ago, this was used to assassinate a despotic king," Rahenos said, as the priestess took his staff and handed him the javelin, "It was considered a holy object, and used for human sacrifices."
He hefted the javelin in his hand, and sighted along it, pointing it straight at Aranea.
"Of course, we don't do such barbaric things anymore," he went on, "Such a waste of lovely young flesh, besides. They're much more profitable to me alive and healthy."
"You've been posing as priests and doing what? Selling the young people off?" Rose shouted, irate, "To who? Rival countries?"
"Oh no," Rahenos said, "Off-planet. The religion of the Goddess has just about covered the entire planet. You won't believe how much money one of these apes can fetch."
"You wanker," Rose said coldly, rankling at the "ape" comment, "You're worse than pond scum. Any of these apes is worth ten of you."
Rahenos laughed, though he was no longer looking amused.
"Let's see if this will change your mind," he said.
He threw the javelin straight at Aranea. She was jolted back against the wall when the javelin hit her, but did not cry out. She only looked calmly at Rahenos, then her head drooped down, and her body hung loosely from the chains.
Rose screamed out, and ran forward, but Rahenos caught her and threw her to the floor. As she tried to get up, she found the staff pointed straight at her neck.
"I could crush your neck like a twig with this," he said, "Now that the demonstration is over, are you going to tell me how you got here?"
Rose glared up at him with tear-streaked eyes.
"Go to hell," she said.
"Fine," Rahenos replied, "Perhaps your other friends might be more cooperative - after I make a demonstration of you."
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Jack lost the guards in fairly short order, as he ran further into the centre of the temple. He remembered being told that the inner sanctum was forbidden to males; that suited him fine, as long as they stopped the guards from chasing him.
Time to find the others. He looked cautiously into every room he came across, but they were all empty. Finally he came to an impressive arched doorway, and the floor was definitely paved in a superior grade of marble than the corridor. He looked inside. Empty. Except…
He sprinted to the wall, his face pale in horror.
"Nya?" he whispered. The javelin must have gone right through her, but there was no blood. Her head was hung down, and Jack tenderly touched a lock of hair.
"Oh god, I'm so sorry," he said, his voice almost breaking, "I should have been here."
There was no time for grief, he realised. Rose and the Doctor would be in danger, and he could not afford to delay.
"I'll come back for you," he breathed into her hair, "And I'll get the bastards that did this to you."
He turned away and almost swallowed his tongue when a cool hand grabbed his wrist. He turned his head slowly to see Aranea's facing him with a smile.
"Where are you going, handsome?" she said, her voice shaky and weak.
"You're alive," Jack laughed out, "I thought… are you all right?"
His jubilation turned to concern when he saw Aranea's body shaking. Her other hand, still confined, melted and shrank for a moment, and formed back when she slipped it out of the manacle.
"I'll be all right," she assured him, "Just trying to assimilate the javelin."
"You can do that?" Jack asked incredulously, as he watched the javelin start to melt and layers of it peeled away towards her.
"Not for normal crystal, but this was a stroke of luck," Aranea said, "The javelin's actually a part of me. My puppet, to be exact."
"So, this is the source of the distress signal?" Jack checked his wrist computer.
"No, the puppet must have made it, used it, and had to abandon it," Aranea said, "The High Priest was carrying a staff made of the same crystal. I'm wondering how much of the puppet is left after all these."
The last of the javelin disappeared into sashes of white silk-like material, which melted and melded with Aranea's robes.
"Do you know where they took Rose?" Jack asked, the sense of urgency coming upon him again.
"Rahenus is going to use her to make the Doctor talk," Aranea said, "Where's the Doctor?"
"Don't know," Jack said, "We got separated when the Second Priestess wanted a chat with me."
"Let's go find them then."
As they walked out of the sanctum, Jack grinned at Aranea.
"Do you really think I'm handsome?"
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AN: I promise, this is actually going somewhere….