Incoming

Many thanks for your reviews. Fallen sorry about the gender mixup, but once again - thank you for relieving my very urgent writers block. This is a shortie to fill in the void whilst I work on the main epic. By void, I don't mean THE void... although the space between mye ears could be explained away by that reference, still you know what I reckon? We should all pop over to Pete's world instead... and here we go.

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"Who is this?" Demanded Romana.
"This is a restricted frequency, you will identify yourself." She repeated.

The Doctor, standing at the CVE controls was gobsmacked and for a second couldn't answer.
He finally managed to make some sort of reply to her, his brain telling him all the while it wasn't his Romana, this was another Universe and another Gallifrey, and he was not speaking to his dead wife but a stanger.

"Umm... I'm um... Im contacting you from another Universe, a Parallel Universe. I'm... I'm Korcheshcialofroan, from ... from another universe and I request assistance with safe passageway from my current Universe and into yours. I have vital information that will save your Universe from a plague.. a plague.. well we'll discuss that when I'm across." He said, lying about his name and never mentioning his race once.

"This is highly irregular, what race are you?" She requested, running through checks and research on parallel universes.
"Extremely advanced Human." He lied again, hating himself for it.
"I will relay your request to the High Council." She said primly.
"You are to stand by communications." She instructed.
"You're not the President of the High Council then?" He asked her, before he could stop himself.
Romana snorted with derision. He must be from another universe, if he thought that a lowly second technician could ever hope to rise to such a high rank.
"Stand by." She repeated, and signed off.

Back in the other universe, the Doctor signed off as well, mentally kicking himself for showing his surprise. What if she wondered how he knew about the High Council and its Peerage? He expected his cover to be blown anyway when he finally arrived - a simple scan of his physiology would reveal the truth about him - but by then he'd be in Rose's Universe. And able to do something to help her against the Daleks.
Sighing, he rested his forehead against the cool metal of the CVE control panel. Why was it never easy for him?

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Rose was sitting at her desk, her new desk, at The Torchwood Institute sipping tea which her secretary had just made for her, and sifting through reports of suspected alien infilitrations of the last twenty or so years.
From shop girl to time traveller to pencil pusher, not exactly the career curve she'd ever envisioned for herself.. but she wouldnt change it.
She glanced at the photo beside her on the desk - a photo Mickey had made up digitally... using the Doctor's image taken when he'd popped back to the Institute, the day she'd lost him forever.
Not an actual memory, but something to hold onto, like her photo back at home beside her bed.
If only...

Her musing was interrupted by a ping from her desk, and she reached out and pressed the switch.
"Rose Tyler." She answered perfunctionarily.
"Hey Rose, it's Pe - Dad. How's it going up there?" He asked her.
Rose smiled, Pete was stil getting used to her being his daughter.
"Fine, bit spacey up here though. And the tea isn't as good as downstairs. What is it? It's not mom is it?" She asked, suddenly afraid.
Jackie Tyler was very close to her due birth date, and was often to be seen complaining about it not being soon enough in her opinion, and how her figure was going to pot and Pete wouldn't love her anymore... to which everyone who knew her would answer with a simple 'Shut up Jackie' - in the nicest possible manner of course. After the first 200 times, it became less funny and more irritating. Family.. what could you do with them though Rose. Can't shoot them, can't leave them on an asteriod belt somewhere.

"No, Jackie's fine. I just called to invite you to lunch. Even super Executives need to eat." Joked Pete.
Rose bit back the smartalec reply that sprang to mind.
"Sure thing, and the Super Executive's buying. Burger and Chips do you?" She hit back.
"Only if I get ketchup thrown in." He hit back.
"'Kay. Deal. Gosh you drive a hard deal, sir. Lunch it is."
He laughed at the other end, and signed off.

Rose returned back to her reports. After an hour of studying lights in the sky which were exactly that, lights in the sky, she skipped forward to the current 6 month reports. God, had she been here that long? It seemed longer, much longer. Too long.

Then she saw something that caught her eye, a photo snapped by a satellite probe - long distance, and her blood rang cold.
"That can't be." She murmured to herself, telling herself it wasn't, not really. She was jumping to conclusions thats all.
She rang down to Photographic Division and requested a blow up of the photo in question.
It was on her desk inside of forty minutes, enhanced and marking the object of Rose's fear all too clear.
She wasn't wrong.

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Rose threw the offending photographic evidence down onto her desk and felt like screaming.
The probe had snapped a starfield, of no particular significance, save for the detail in the lower right hand corner - grid Alpha9032B - a circular blob which wasn't a circular blob at all.

To anyone who had EVER seen a ship of that particular design, it was obvious what it was. Horrifyingly obvious.

Picking up the phone she dialled Mickey and when he picked up uttered a single sentance.
"The Daleks are coming."