Unto the Universe
Chapter Fifty-Four: The Legend of the Sea Devils: Stormy Attack
By Lumendea
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any spinoff material, and I gain no income from this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.
AN: Early update this week because I'm off to help my brother move! Have an awesome weekend.
….
Webbed hands were the first sight Rose caught of the Sea Devils as they hoisted themselves over the sides of the junk. A large head that reminded Rose of a slightly humanoid turtle or maybe a plesiosaur rose above the rail, showing off a turtle beak-like mouth and large, almost bulbous eyes. Fins grew on either side of the heads, and its long neck was covered in what looked like armour crafted out of shells. In the light of the storm and from the lanterns placed around the ship, Rose thought it had greyish green skin.
It looked slightly different from the grainy photos she'd found in a UNIT file after hearing about them from Jo, but it was close enough that Rose knew they were indeed the Sea Devils. More rose above the rails, all of them dressed in armour that shimmered shades of green, blue, and red. They carried strange-looking spears, and a faint humming sound reached Rose, warning her that strange technology was nearby. Five boarded in total. A small group, but Rose took note of their confidence in taking the ship to only send five people.
"Abalone armour," the Doctor whispered. Before the pirates could move, the Doctor stepped forward. "Greetings, I'm the Doctor. I wish to speak peacefully with you."
"What are you doing?" Zheng Yi Sao snarled.
"Please," Rose whispered.
The crew, to her surprise, hadn't drawn back but were holding their ground with their weapons at the ready. None had fired their firearms or attacked with their swords yet, and she was grateful for that. "Please, if we can communicate with them, maybe this can be resolved peacefully."
The retired Pirate Queen gave Rose an irritated and doubtful look, but she didn't attack. The Doctor's approach and, in theory, his use of their language had given the Sea Devils pause.
"Land parasite," one of the Sea Devils snarled.
The Doctor ignored the obvious insult. "I am the Doctor," he repeated. "I am here as a third party, and I seek a peaceful end to the conflict between you and the humans of Earth."
"This is our world. We will not be deprived of our waters."
The ship suddenly lurched as the waves caused by the storm threw it high and sent Rose and a few others stumbling. Most of the pirates, Jack, and the Doctor adjusted quickly while her stomach heaved. Zheng Yi Sao barked an order that was almost lost to the wind, and several of the sailors hurried back to posts around the ship. She stayed near the Doctor, sword drawn and watching the creatures that had boarded her ship.
"Why are you attacking this ship?" the Doctor asked, trying again. "What do you need? I don't want any more people hurt, so I'll help you if I can."
"You and all mammals like you can help us by dying!"
With an odd chirping sound, one of the Sea Devils launched itself at the Doctor, raising its spear. It was Zheng Yi Sao who reacted first, swinging her sword and cutting off the arc of the attack's swing. Rose was seconds behind her, bringing her sword down against the spear. This time, she let her desire to destroy the weapon fill her mind, and the sword responded. Sparks flew as the spear's shaft was sliced in two. It hissed and withdrew, but in its haste, it dropped something. Rose glanced toward it but stayed on the defensive, destroying another weapon before the boarders had time to use it.
The Doctor scooped up the small device as it slid along the rocking deck. Rose heard him shout something to Zheng Yi Sao, but the captain ignored him. One of her crew fell to the ground when one of the Sea Devils activated its spear before Rose could stop them. A cry of rage escaped Zheng Yi Sao, and she twirled around a spear thrust to swing her sword into the head of the Sea Devil. It was its turn to hit the deck.
"Enough fighting!" The Doctor barked at Zheng Yi Sao.
She ignored him. "Focus on forcing them back!"
The ship lurched, and the Doctor grabbed onto the railing to stay upright. Rose gasped softly, but he steadied himself quickly and looked over the side of the ship. She hoped that he had learned something useful. One of the Sea Devils tried to flank her, only for Jack to outright punch it so hard that it staggered back. If not for the crewman on the ground, Rose might have laughed.
"Fall back!" came a shout from a Sea Devil. "Back to the waters!"
Rose held her ground as the Sea Devils hoisted themselves back over the sides of the ship. The Doctor shifted back to her relief to get out of their way. Casting her gaze around at the corpses, Rose noted there were two humans dead and two of the Sea Devils. She released a small sigh of regret though she couldn't blame the sailors for defending themselves. Though, the Doctor was not going to be happy.
Hurrying over to the side of the ship once the last of their attackers were gone. Rose leaned over to see what was still casting the strange green glow. Large waves illuminated by green light crashed against the ship. There was no sign of obvious unusual technology close to the surface, so the Rose couldn't be sure of the depth of the Silurian technology. A few moments later, the odd green glow from both the waves and sky began to fade. Rose's stomach was still churning, and she pressed her lips together tightly, not trusting her system yet.
"Check the ship!" Zheng Yi Sao shouted. "Make sure they're gone and left nothing dangerous behind!"
The sailors rushed off at her command, and Rose took a moment to study the woman. Some of her hair was now hanging loose in her face, and her gaze was distant as she stared out over the water. Her sword was still gripped tight in her hand, and Rose doubted that Zheng Yi Sao would sheath it anytime soon. The woman stepped closer to the two human corpses with an expression of grief and maybe a touch of guilt. It reminded Rose that she had called them back to the ocean, either as a favour or as a job.
"We need to talk," the Doctor said. He stepped towards the captain. "Things are only-"
"I must check with my men," Zheng Yi Sao interrupted. Her eyes darted between the three of them. "Wait here. Do nothing. When I return, we will make plans." She glanced at Rose, and her expression softened. "I was right," the former pirate said with a hint of a smile. "You're very good with a blade."
"Well, I'm not much for waiting to be rescued." Rose chuckled, and the thick tension around them eased.
Zheng Yi Sao nodded and shifted away, calling to one of the men who rushed to meet her. Rose glanced at the bodies and shook her head, moving to the other side of the ship where Zheng Yi Sao would still be able to easily see them.
"Could you not flirt with the Pirate Queen in front of me, thanks," the Doctor grumbled.
"Sorry, Doctor." Rose grinned up at him. "I love you, but well…" Rose shrugged and nodded towards Zheng Yi Sao. "She's a bit impressive."
The Doctor grumbled something under his breath, and Rose almost laughed out loud. It was silly how pleased him being a bit jealous made her. Trying to make him jealous was more juvenile than Rose was willing to be, but she was enjoying this.
"She's married," the Doctor informed her firmly. "To her adoptive son, in fact."
The last part had clearly been added to get a reaction from Rose, and it worked. "She married her son?" Rose asked with a hint of horror.
"Adopted son," the Doctor stressed with a chuckle. "And it was complicated. He had been adopted by her late husband as a teenager, and…" he trailed off. "Let's not go into it, but his relationship with Bao was not paternal." He shuddered, and Rose got his meaning. "Bao and Zheng Yi Sao are only eight years apart." He chuckled softly. "According to some records, Zheng Yi died going overboard. I've always wondered if he was helped with that. Her first husband was key in establishing the confederation and building the pirates into the mercenary navy they were, but she was key in organizing the business side of things after they married. She helped with the strategizing that made them all rich, and after Zheng Yi's death, Bao supported her in her claim to leadership."
"You sound impressed by her," Jack said. He was eying the crew and the ship casually, though Rose knew he was watching for threats. "I know you aren't big on authority but wasn't sure you'd go for pirates."
"Well," the Doctor shrugged. "Most impressive thing about her in my book is that she managed to do what few military commanders ever do."
"What's that?" Jack asked with a smirk.
"Know when to stop," the Doctor said seriously. "When the tides started to turn, she saw it coming and used the threat of her fleet to dictate terms for her retirement. Gained a pardon, kept her loot and even some of her ships. Her crews retired with her and were mostly recruited into the navy. Including her husband, Bao." The Doctor grimaced and shook her head. "But yeah, she also oversaw a lot of violence and a lot of raids of unarmed villages. Left a lot of death in her wake. Don't like that at all, but right now… she is probably one of the few people in the entire region who has a chance if the Sea Devils are plotting something."
"Can't the Chinese navy stop it?" Rose asked.
"China's navy in this era is soldiers loaded onto junks just like this one," the Doctor said. "Even after the threat of the pirate confederation, they haven't worked to build a proper modern navy. Her former pirate crews are the only competent ones, but they're dealing with a government that doesn't take proper care of the ships or see the navy's importance." He smirked at Rose. "And in a few years, the British will take advantage of their failure. She exposed a weakness in China, and the Emperors didn't fix it. The Opium Wars are just around the corner."
"Of course, it's the British," Rose sighed. "It's always us."
"Not always," the Doctor teased. "Sometimes it's the Spanish, French and Portuguese."
"But it was usually us." Rose sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "What now? We've repelled the Sea Devils, but they'll be back. Any thoughts on what they're planning?"
"Well, they're manipulating the weather." The Doctor gestured up to the clearing sky. "That could mean a few things, but in general, the Silurian species have been most interested in reclaiming the surface from you lot."
"Which humans aren't going to go for."
"No." The Doctor glared out at the waves. "I keep hoping that someday you lot will all get along, but that's the issue of evolving in separate eras and then being thrown together. None of you have context for living with the others."
"So they're causing storms and controlling the weather," Rose said. "That could translate to a couple of things, right? Killing humans or shifting weather patterns." She sniffed at the air, noting the salty smell and the lingering scent of ozone. "Suppose the green gives it away."
"Actually, the sky can turn green naturally just before a tornado," the Doctor said. There was a hint of a smile on his face. "But not that shade." He leaned over the side of the ship and looked into the waters below. "No, they have something down there."
"Why attack ships then?" Jack asked. "Are they looking for materials? Fuel?"
"Might be." The Doctor nodded slowly. "Depending on what they've built, they may still need materials. Sinking ships in this era would get you a lot of things, especially metal."
"Gold is used for computer components," Rose said. "With the trading, is it being transported?"
"Silver is the primary way the British are currently paying for their tea habit," the Doctor answered. "But there could be some gold as well, iron in the construction of ships, even wood could be what they're after. Attacking ships with storms could seem natural, ships sink, and with the weather patterns of the South China Sea, it wouldn't stand out to most."
"Except to the most experienced sailors," Jack said. "Why'd she come, though, if she's retired?"
"Because my husband's ship is out here," Yi Sao announced. They all jumped and turned to face the retired pirate queen. "As is much of my former navy. My sailors, the ones I led and fought beside, are the best in the Chinese navy. But the Emperor is not listening to them. Their concerns, their reports are ignored, so for their sake, I return to the sea."
The Doctor hesitated and tried not to think of the year or their location. There must have been a hint of something on his face because Rose gave him a questioning look but said nothing. Good, he didn't know enough yet to worry on that front. But it did confirm that Zheng Yi Sao believed her husband to still be alive.
"What's the last communication you received from him?" the Doctor asked.
"Storms were battering his ships more frequently," Yi Sao replied. "They had already been forced to repel Sea Devils boarding the vessel a few times. When in port for supplies, he sent a message to me, but I knew by the time I replied, his ship would be gone."
"Did he report the attack of the Sea Devils to the capital?"
"No." Zheng Yi Sao shook her head. "He knew it wasn't something the bureaucrats would believe. They can only run a navy because of my sailors." There was both irritation and pride in her voice. "He alerted me and asked me to warn the sailors that used to be within our fleets. I did so as much as possible, but Bao gave no indication that he had a plan. After that, I checked in with a couple of officials, but they knew nothing of any attacks or the location of his ship. So, I rallied my crew that was on land and still able to return to the sea and brought one of my ships out to look for him."
"You said that there've been stories for a long time," the Doctor said. "Has the number of sightings increased so much?"
"Yes. At least three-fold, and that's just the ones that survive. I don't have officially confirmed numbers, but there have been more wrecks lately. More than should be occurring with so many experienced sailors."
"You retired over ten years ago," the Doctor said. "1810, correct?"
"By the European calendar, yes."
"Did the Sea Devils play any role in that?"
"No, they weren't so active then. I'd seen them from time to time in the waters, but there were no strange storms or such blatant attacks."
The Doctor nodded his understanding. He wasn't sure if that was good or bad. Probably good as it meant that this behaviour was new and might indicate the Aquatic Silurians were just getting started. But he wasn't sure of the point of it. Jack's idea had merit. The Silurians had never been big on mining, and processing was almost impossible at the bottom of the ocean. If more of the population had come out of hibernation, then this could simply be a way of gaining new materials now that their land-based counterparts, the Reptilian Silurians, weren't available for trade.
"What do you know of them," the captain asked him bluntly.
He debated for only a moment. "They are ancient beings," he said. The Doctor chose his words carefully. "Born in a time before mankind. They lived in the sea in cities that are long buried in the sediments or destroyed by earthquakes." He was very grateful that he was speaking to an Asian woman and not a European. In this era, they were still very attached to their notions of humans being created at the dawn of Earth and all of that. "But as the world changed, it grew difficult for them to live, and they went to sleep. They planned on waking up when the climate better suited them, but things didn't go according to plan."
Zheng Yi Sao was frowning at his words, but she hadn't started arguing yet. "Do they want control over the seas?"
"Probably…" he hesitated. "But I doubt they will stop there. The seas they knew were… different. They may want the whole world, and they defiantly want something from the ships?"
"What?" the captain pressed. "Spices? Metal? Weapons?" Her eyes were sharp. "Humans as food?"
"Probably not that last one," the Doctor assured her. "You're a bit too similar to them in appearance. It's unusually uncomfortable to eat something too much like yourself."
"But they can't be seeking slaves," Zheng Yi Sao said, almost more to herself. "Humans die beneath the waves."
The Doctor wasn't sure of that. Depending on what had happened, there might be a base under the waves if the Sea Devils had been active for so long. This wasn't a newly awakened group. No, this lot had been awake for a while and was working on something. He eyed the sky, grateful that the artificial storm had eased. But he doubted the calm would last.