Chapter 2
The TARDIS spun through the vortex.
The Doctor was in his study with Nita. He was unhappy about all this.
"Carolyn and I don't want to work with Ensign Forbes, Doctor."
"You'll have to learn to live with it."
Nita reacted, she had rarely seen her husband with this edge. "I intend to demand the highest standards of performance from her."
"I would expect nothing less."
There was a knock on the door. The Doctor did not immediately acknowledge it. Softer – "It won't be for long, Nita."
They shared a look. Then to the door – "Come in."
Michelle entered.
"Yes, Ensign Forbes, please have a seat…"
"Ensign Michelle, Doctor."
"I beg your pardon?"
She sat. "The Blowfish custom has the family name first, the individual's second. I am properly addressed as Ensign Michelle."
The Doctor glanced at Nita. "I'm sorry, I didn't…"
"No reason you should know. It is an old custom. Most Blowfish these days accept the distortion of their names in order to assimilate. I do not."
A beat. Already Michelle has them on the defensive. "I wish to be candid with you, Ensign."
"Please."
"I am fully aware of your Earthforce record, your problems on other ships, the incident on Galsec Seven that led to your court martial. I feel it only fair to inform you that I am personally concerned about your presence on this most critical mission…"
"I don't want to be here any more than you want me to be here. Sir."
"Then why did you accept this assignment?"
"If I may be equally candid… it's better than prison."
Nita was galled. "Better than prison. Ensign, there are officers who would would wait years to serve aboard this…"
"…being called back into Earthforce wasn't my idea…"
"…Nor ours…"
"…and I'm not exactly happy about it."
The Doctor was frustrated by all this… she didn't fit, she didn't want to be here, she had an attitude…
"Nevertheless… we are going to be working together and I think it would be wise for Nita and me to clearly voice our expectations and…"
She rose. "Doctor, I know the routine. You don't have to worry about me. We're stuck with each other. Let's get this over with as quickly as possible and we'll go our separate ways, okay?"
She left. Pointedly after the fact, the Doctor muttered, under his breath… "You may go."
The Doctor and Nita exchanged a glance…
The TARDIS came out of the vortex. They were approaching the Vola system on the outskirts of Carrionite territory, where many Blowfish had resettled.
The Doctor, Nita, Carolyn and Michelle were in the TARDIS lounge. Carolyn was giving a mission update. "There are dozens of Blowfish camps on the three M-class planets. I suggest we may want to begin on Vola Three, where an ad hoc leader named Haz Jolza lives. The Alliance has had several dealings with him… I met Jolza at a symposium a few years ago…"
"What can you tell us about him, Carolyn?"
Carolyn thought back. "I found him to be a very concerned leader and a good spokesman for his people… And a terrific dancer… Really… at the reception afterwards…"
"At least this man has genuine experience in diplomacy…"
The Doctor acknowledged. "That is not a small advantage on this mission… Very well… Carolyn, contact Jolza, arrange a meeting… set co-ordinates for Vola Three."
"Ensign Michelle, you're familiar with this star system; you can direct us."
Michelle looked down, unhappy…
"Is there some problem, Ensign?"
"You're wasting your time."
All eyes turned to her.
"Jolza is nobody. He's the token Blowfish that 'respectable' people…" (unsaid: like you) "… invite to symposiums and diplomatic soirees. But he has no real influence among my people."
"Whom do you suggest we talk to, Ensign?"
"Don't you understand? These are desperate people. Ready to martyr themselves. They don't want to talk…"
"We can find a way to defend ourselves if necessary."
"It will be. Don't fool yourself. This mission will end in bloodshed."
A silence.
"Well. Let us hope you are mistaken, Ensign. Now… perhaps you could point us in the right direction as Carolyn suggested."
And there was something they could notice in Michelle… a mixed feeling about what she was doing… chalk it up to tracking down her own people if you like for now… but there was a certain inevitability, a certain regret in her tone here… perhaps she knew more than she was telling…"
"I would go to the camp on the southern continent of Vola Two… find a man named Scott Marlowe. He has no diplomatic experience. And he won't ask you to dance."
The TARDIS materialized near the Blowfish camp. As the Doctor, Carolyn, Michelle and Nita stepped out into a plain desert background, they began to move forward into the camp… and it was a devastating sight. A collection of several dozen ramshackle huts lined the barren ground… built from bits and pieces of junk and wire and coloured tarps… small chicken-like animals roamed freely… clothes hung on lines that strung the camp together…
The Doctor had read about the achievements of the ancient Blowfish civilization at the Time Lord Academy… they seemed to have a weakness for human pleasures and on Earth they often committed a wide variety of crimes. They were considered to be entirely self-serving.
The Doctor took in the scene before him. "Now I see how history has rewarded them…"
The children saw them. Dirty, ill-clothed… they ran to the exciting visitors… surrounded them with curiosity and hunger, touched their clothes, made an uproarious noise… the Doctor glanced over and studied Michelle as she looked at these young ones with warmth and pain and identification, and one three-year-old child who was stark naked looked at her… and she took off her Earthfleet jacket, kneeled down and wrapped it around the child. She caught the eye of the Doctor watching her and there was a vulnerability in her he hadn't see before as she simply explained….
"This used to be me."
"Baleekam… Balleek… balleek!" Scott Marlowe chased off all the children… he was a male in his forties, proud, honest, plain-speaking. Like all the Blowfish, he was dressed simply, and had large tendrils on both sides of his red face.
There was something critical in his tone to Michelle, and she was a bit uncomfortable. "Michelle Forbes, it has been a long time. We welcome your return."
"Scott Marlowe. The Doctor. Carolyn Seymour and Nita Llewcots."
"Thank you for meeting with us, Mister Scott."
"You honour me by the proper use of my name, Doctor."
"Ensign Michelle has educated me."
"Has she. Good." He turned to Michelle. "I'm pleased you still remember."
And she could hear a prick of criticism… suggesting that she was not truly one of them at all anymore.
"Let me show you our camp."
The Doctor and Scott walked together… Michelle a step away. Carolyn and Nita walked behind.
"We are not a violent race, Doctor. Just passionate about our cause. And that passion has led some to take up arms."
"Do you know where we can find Hayenga?"
"I'm afraid not."
"Might you be able to help us locate him?"
"I'm sorry. I don't wish to help you."
The Doctor reacted.
"Don't misunderstand. I for one believe the raid on the Galactic Alliance outpost was poor judgement. You are innocent bystanders, and I cannot condone violence against those who are not our enemies."
"Then I don't understand why you are unwilling…"
"Because you are innocent bystanders."
They paused to watch as people washed clothes in water falling from an open pipe…
"You were innocent bystanders for decades as the Carrionites took our homes… as they violated and tortured our people in the most hideous ways imaginable… as we were forced to flee…"
"We were saddened by those events… but they occurred within the designated borders of the Carrionite Empire…"
"…and the Alliance is pledged not to interfere in the internal affairs of others. How convenient it must be for you. To turn a deaf ear to those who suffer behind a line on a map."
"I'm not here to debate Alliance policy. I am prepared to offer assistance…"
"Simply because of one terrorist attack? Then perhaps I have been wrong. We should have attacked the Alliance long ago. What do you think of that, Michelle?"
"I think you are a small man who feels a rush of power in his belly and enjoys it far too much, Scott. Stop talking and listen."
He eyed her coldly.
"We have had our own problems with the Carrionites… now that there is a treaty, we are in a position to help. Your people have been forced to resettle all over the quadrant. We can make a legitimate case with the Carrionites that this is no longer an isolated problem. We will work diplomatically on your behalf… but first the terrorist attacks must end."
Scott considered, then… "We live in different universes, you and I. Yours is about diplomacy, politics, strategy. Mine is about blankets. If we were to exchange places for a night, you would better understand."
"Carolyn – see to it that our replicators provide blankets for every man, woman and child here before nightfall."
"Yes, Doctor."
"Nita, you will determine if these people have any other emergency needs and provide whatever we can…"
"Ok, Doctor."
They moved off. Scott nodded his appreciation. "Return to your ship. I will contact you when I have any information that might be of assistance. Ensign."
He bowed to Michelle and left. The Doctor and Michelle were left alone… he studied her and nodded and hand to tell her… "You were helpful."
"The blankets were helpful… nothing I said mattered."
And although it was said in a self-effacing way, it was a way to blow off the compliment, to avoid bonding… In fact, she was a female who could not easily accept a compliment.
The Doctor moved to take in this setting. "In an age when their technology should be able to feed and clothe all of them… that they should have to live like this…"
"I couldn't. And I wouldn't. That's one reason why I ran away. They are lost… defeated…"
And he looked at her with new measure as she studied her people's camp…
"I will never be."
The two of them looked over the camp…
