Wolf Pact

Chapter Nine: Whitepoint Star

by Lumendea

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who.

…..

The Doctor could do nothing but pace in the scavenger ship he found himself in as his mind raced. Jenny and Rose were safe for now, but the TARDIS would hold out forever against the Master's knowledge and brutality. He shuddered at the memories that came rushing back with that thought. He'd been able to restore her after the Master had twisted her into a paradox machine, but the Doctor knew that there was still damage lingering in the TARDIS's soul from that horrible event.

Donna was safe for the time being, but if this went on too long, the Master would find his way back to her. The thought of her tragic fate gnawed at him. At least, she had found happiness now. At least, she had Wilf, her mum, and this bloke of hers even if she'd lost a brilliant part of herself.

Wilf was watching him, waiting for the Doctor to come up with a brilliant plan, but the Doctor wasn't sure what he could do at the moment. Addams and Rossiter was off trying to fix their engines after he'd broken most of their ship. He felt a little bad about trapping them in this mess, but if they thought the "local politics" would affect them, they were wrong. The Master….

"Doctor?" Wilf called gently.

"I'm thinking," the Doctor said. He wished he had better news for the man, but he didn't.

He turned his attention to a control panel, using the low lights to begin fixing some wire and reconfiguring a few things. Now that the threat of missiles was hopefully past, he needed to find out what was happening on Earth. His adopted home world hung in space out the window and Wilf was staring at it in awe. That was something at least. His musing and his work were interrupted when a bright light sped past the ship, illuminating the room, and crashed down on Earth.

…..

The Master stood in the center of the room, his eyes bright and hopeful. It was a strange feeling. The drumming was louder more, but his other selves were working on linking Earth to the source. Finally. His breath caught as the sound of a Time Lord's heartbeat echoed in his head, finally he would know. It was coming. It was finally coming.

The Doctor was gone. He'd be back. The Master knew his old friend well enough for that. There were other loose threads to deal with of course, the young Gallifreian, the Time Vortex girl, and the metacrisis freak, but right now they could wait. Right now there were more important things to contend with. Something tugged at him. One of his other selves was excited, awed, and eager over something that had just happened. The Master reached out for the information.

"It's a diamond, sir," he heard pushed back at him across their link. "Oh. The most impossible diamond. You won't believe this." Giddiness soared in the Master's chest. "It's a Whitepoint star."

…..

Wilf wasn't sure what was going on, not on the ship and not on Earth. All he had was faith. The Master had been right angry over Donna so the defense system the Doctor left her with must have done the trick. That was a relief. He was glad that his granddaughter wasn't one of those… things, but his daughter was and Donna was down there sleeping somewhere.

He wandered down the corridor of the spaceship, torn between his worry and giddiness over being on a spaceship. His Donna had been on such ships. She'd done amazing things on them. Suddenly the low light switch off, leaving him alone in the darkness.

"Doctor? Hello? Hello? Is that you? Doctor? Anyone? Anyone?" Wilf called into the dark. No one answered.

And then he wasn't alone. Someone was before him. It was a woman. She was about Sylvia's age, dressed in a neat off white dress suit. It was the same woman from the television, from his dreams and nightmares. Pearls hung around her neck and she was calm. Far too calm for the craziness of what was happening. He had so many questions, but all of them deserted him all at once.

"Oh, I think I'm lost."

"And yet you are found. Events are closing. The day is almost upon us. But tell me, old soldier. Did you take arms?"

Wilf blinked at her, but pulled out his old service pistol. He'd taken care of it over the years. The weight was familiar and distressing.

"I brought this," Wilf said softly. "But what am I supposed to do?"

"This is the Doctor's final battle. At the end of his life, he must stand at arms, or lose himself and all this world, to the End of Time."

"But he never carries guns. He doesn't do. Who are you?"

"I was lost, so very long ago."

Then she was gone and Wilf could only stumble forward back to the Doctor. His mind was numb and a cold weight had overtaken his heart. He hated it, feared it. The Doctor glanced over at the Doctor and then around the room. It was brighter and warmer now.

"Aye, aye. Got this old tub mended?"

"Just trying to fix the heating."

"Oh. I've always dreamt of a view like that. Hee, hee." Wilf smiled a little at the gleaming vision of Earth. "I'm an astronaut. It's dawn over England, look. Brand new day." He pointed towards the large island that he knew so well. His amusement faded and Wilf swallowed. "My wife's buried down there. I might never visit her again now." A darker through occurred to him that he hesitated to voice, but couldn't keep hidden inside. "Do you think he changed them, in their graves?"

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said gently.

"No, not your fault."

"Isn't it?" the Doctor asked. Sitting down beside Wilf by the window.

"Oh, 1948, I was over there. End of the Mandate in Palestine. Private Mott. Skinny little idiot, I was. Stood on this rooftop, in the middle of a skirmish. It was like a blizzard, all them bullets in the air. The world gone mad. Yeah, you don't want to listen to an old man's tales, do you?"

"I'm older than you."

"Get away."

The Doctor almost smiled. "I'm nine hundred and six."

"What, really, though?"

"There abouts," the Doctor said. He curled up his nose. "Not completely sure of the count anymore, but around that."

"Nine hundred years." Wilf couldn't hide his unease with the idea. "We must look like insects to you."

"I think you look like giants." The words were soft and reverent.

Wilf struggled. That tone set uneasy on him. Guilt and fear tore at him, but he pulled out his pistol and held it towards the Doctor. "Listen, I, I want you to have this. I've kept it all this time, and I thought-"

"No."

"No, but if you take it, you could-"

"No. You had that gun in the mansion," the Doctor said. "You could have shot the Master there and then."

"Too scared, I suppose."

"I'd be proud," the Doctor said softly.

"Of what?"

"If you were my dad."

"Oh, come on, don't start," Wilf scoffed. "But you said, you were told he will knock four times and then you die. Well, that's him, isn't it? The Master. That noise in his head? The Master is going to kill you."

"Yeah."

"Then kill him first," Wilf said urgently. "Before he hurts your family!"

"That's how the Master started." The Doctor shook his head. "It's not like I'm an innocent. I've taken lives. I got worse. I got clever. Manipulated people into taking their own. Sometimes I think a Time Lord lives too long. I can't. I just can't.

"If the Master dies, what happens to all the people?"

"I don't know," the Doctor lied.

Wilf didn't believe him. "Doctor, what happens?" he pressed.

"The template snaps."

"What, they go back to being human? They're alive, and human. Then don't you dare, sir. Don't you dare put him before them. Don't put him before your Rose and your daughter," Wilf said urgently. The Doctor flinched at the mention of Rose and Jenny. Wilf reached into his pocket and pulled out the old pistol. "Now you take this. That's an order, Doctor. Take the gun. You take the gun and save your life. And please don't die. You're the most wonderful man and I don't want you to die.

"Never." The Doctor shook his head and made no move to take the gun.

Then the Master's voice cut through the stillness of the room. "A star fell from the sky," it said over the radio.

The Doctor turned and looked at the controls, but Addams was there and glaring at him. "Don't you want to know where from?" the Master taunted. "Because now it makes sense, Doctor."

"It's an open broadcast. Don't reply, or he'll know where we are," Addams ordered.

"The whole of my life. My destiny. The star was a diamond," the Master continued. "And the diamond is a Whitepoint Star. And I have worked all night to sanctify that gift. Now the star is mine. I can increase the signal and use it as a lifeline. Do you get it now? Do you see? Keep watching, Doctor. This should be spectacular. Over and out."

"What's he on about?" Wilf asked. 'What's he doing? Doctor, what does that mean?"

"A Whitepoint star is only found on one planet. Gallifrey." Horror and terror filled the Doctor's face. "Which means it's the Time Lords. The Time Lords are returning."

"Well, I mean, that's good, isn't it? I mean, that's your people."

The Doctor grabbed the pistol out of Wilf's hand and ran.

….

"They've stopped," Jenny said. She took a cautious step towards the doorway. "Mum, what does that mean?"

"It means that the Master has found something he considers more important that capturing us," Rose said. The idea made her cold. "He likely knows that we can't get the TARDIS to move so he's assuming we aren't going anywhere."

She grabbed the screen and looked outside. The Master and Martha Masters were still outside along with at least six others, but they were looking up into the sky. They were too close to the door for there to be any chance of slipping past them. Rose drummed her fingers on the console. No, they were still looking at Bad Wolf. It was the only thing that Rose could think of.

"Okay, sweetheart," Rose called. "It's time to make this work."

"I'm not sure about this," Jenny said. "I mean linking the TARDIS communications to three separate moments in time might be enough to…" She shook her head. "I'm just not sure if it will blow out the system or open the TARDIS."

"She knows what we're up to," Rose said. Touching the central column, she exhaled as a soft thrum sent tingles up her arm. "If she can, she'll help us."

"Why can't she just open herself then?"

"It's likely a safety feature, something she can't just override," Rose suggested. "After all, if something went wrong…"

She shook her head and put it out of her mind. Still, an old sense of guilt from John's confession that taking the vortex out of her had been what killed her first Doctor was returning. Was she again going to be the cause of his death? Rose hoped not, but supposed that there was little she could go beyond try to release the Vortex as soon as possible this time. Hopefully, her greater knowledge and wisdom would make her more cautious than she had been the first time.

Jenny was beside her, making the adjustments to the controls. They resisted, fail safes trying to activate, but Jenny and Rose slowly deactivated them one at a time. The screen flickered and went out, the lights dimmed and Rose hoped that was the TARDIS bracing herself. She didn't fully understand what Jenny did next as the girl inputted a long stream of code into the system. It looked like gibberish to Rose and guessing from the way that Jenny grimaced a few times, it was a mess even to her. But that was the point.

"Here we go," Jenny whispered. She hit the button.

The controls sparked and they both jumped back. A creaking sound echoed in the TARDIS. The humming changed pitch, becoming something high and painful. Metal scrapped on metal and the controls shuddered. Rose gestured for Jenny to get back.

"Close your eyes!" Rose shouted. "Whatever happens, Jenny, do not look!"

"Mum!"

It was a fearful cry and Rose wanted to comfort her, but then the control panel fell open. Golden light spilled forth and Rose's eyes were drawn to the familiar sight like two magnets coming together. She exhaled, her whole body warming with energy and power. It was here. It was here. The drumming began to echo in her ears.