It was just on daybreak when Vera finally managed to stumble into the med bay, mental cursing at the TARDIS as she entered for shifting the corridors on her while ignoring the amusement she could feel coming from the ship.
She paused just inside the doorway, finding the Doctor frowning at a screen as he looked over the results of the scans his ship had taken of Aries, and she shook her head at the sight of him still wearing the dressing gown and pyjama's. Though the blonde had a fair idea that the Time Lord hadn't even realise he was still wearing it, so focused on making certain that his Nesdra was a hundred and fifty percent fine that any thoughts on what he was wearing - or even his recent regenerational changes - hadn't even crossed his mind.
Though when she glanced to the bed that the red head in question was slumbering in, a smile appeared on the blonde's face before she turned her head back to the Doctor. Seeing that her presence hadn't been noticed, Vera's grin grew as she stepped into the room asking, "What's up, Doc?"
The Time Lord jumped in surprise, his head swivelling to see Vera standing there with a very satisfied grin on her face, and a frown appeared on his lips. "How did you get in here?" he demanded, suddenly feeling unsure as to what to make of the blonde. Out there, outside his ship, it was fine to hear that she knew him, understanding that there were quite a lot of people that he hadn't had the pleasure of meeting yet that possibly did. But here in the sanctuary of his TARDIS – with his resting Nesdra no less! – the Doctor found that he wasn't comfortable with the blonde's presence.
She was from his – no - their future, and he didn't like the thought of that one bit.
"I have a key," the blonde remarked as she pulled out the silver key she had used to enter the TARDIS from a pocket. She approached the Doctor as she tucked it back away, looking at the screen he'd been so focused on when she'd entered and stopped dead in her tracks. "Is that... Oh, wow!" she breathed, her eyebrows shooting upwards in surprise at what she was reading and seeing on the monitor.
The Doctor continued to frown at her before he shook his head, deciding not to question not only how Vera had a key to his ship, but was also somehow reading and understanding Gallifreyan. He had far better things to worry about and as he focused back onto the screen, he once again tried to wrap his mind around what he was seeing was possible. The TARDIS having scanned Aries this time - and actually revealing the results to him as well - had given the Time Lord a far better image of his Nesdra's DNA than his sonic had done during the Blitz. But the results he had gotten had only provided him with more questions than answers.
"Doc?"
Vera's voice once more cut through the Time Lord's thoughts and the blonde rolled her eyes when he shot her a glare. She'd faced far worse things than a scowling Time Lord.
"Fine then. Doctor," she corrected with a huff before pointing to something on the monitor. "That shouldn't be doing that, should it?" she questioned.
Continuing to scowl at the blonde, the Doctor found himself bristling at the familiarity the young woman seemed to hold towards him. It was bad enough to know that at some point in the future she'd somehow learn his Academy name. But to shorten his chosen name like they were the best of friends – a familiarity that he didn't even share with his soulmate yet! – irked him to no end and had the Doctor wanting her gone as soon as possible. He wanted to demand her to tell him who she was, how she knew both himself and Aries, but refrained from doing so knowing that he couldn't.
Despite how he felt about the entire mystery that came with one Vera Bourn, the Time Lord knew when he'd have to wait to get his answers.
He just hoped that he wouldn't be waiting too long.
Shaking his head and getting his thoughts back onto track, the Doctor frowned as he turned his gaze to what Vera was pointing to. "No, it shouldn't be," he reluctantly agreed as he watched the blown-up scan of a strand of Aries' DNA.
It wasn't the strand itself that either were truly looking at, though. It was the red energy that seemed to be pulsating from within that strand, along with a secondary golden energy that was slowly intertwining - merging - itself with the strand. The Doctor couldn't help but notice that the two different energies were similar to what he'd seen when Aries used her abilities the night when she stopped the cup from falling the night before, but he wasn't too sure what to make of either of them.
He could haphazardly guess – with a large notion of worry – that the golden energy was new having only seen such a thing once before; surmising with heavy hearts that some of the Time Vortex had lingered within his Nesdra despite his earlier thoughts. But what the vortex meant for the red head... it remained to be seen, and the Doctor swore to himself that he'd be keeping a very, very close eye on Aries in the coming days.
The red energy, however...
It seemed to be a part of her very DNA; woven into the very makeup of Aries' being, and it reminded the Doctor of what he had seen during the Blitz when he had examined the scar that had been on the back of her hand.
Though it also reminded him of something else.
Something he had seen that had been made up of a completely different colour, and the mere possibility of there being a connection between Aries and Ly had the Doctor's stomach churning.
He really hoped that he was wrong, but the energy was looking far too similar to what he'd witnessed back on Satellite Five when he'd first met the brunet.
"I'm having the TARDIS try and identify it," the Doctor muttered, almost to himself as a line appeared between his brows. "But it's not the only thing that shouldn't be there," he continued as he got the monitor to bring up another screen; this one showing the ship trying to identify a secondary type of DNA the scans had picked up. "I'm also have her compare Aries' DNA against the databank to try and identify what she is," his frown deepened.
Vera raised an eyebrow at the Doctor, surprised to hear the uncertainty in his voice. "I'm sure that Akorthar will figure it out," she soothed before making her way over to the chair besides Aries. She could feel the Time Lord's eyes on her as she did so, knowing that he was probably watching her like a hawk, as well as trying to work out who Akorthar was, but the blonde ignored him as she sat down. A smile appeared on her face at seeing how relaxed Aries looked while the red head was sleeping.
The Doctor's thoughts were mixed as he watched the blonde get comfortable in the seat beside Aries' bed, though his frown won out as he asked, "What did you mean when you said that you found Aries unconscious in the TARDIS?" unable to stop but bringing up the words Vera had said when she'd given him the tea.
Glancing back over her shoulder towards the Time Lord, Vera shrugged. "It was originally why I was sent here," she told him, "I was informed that Aries would need some help getting to Jackie's flat." Looking down to her wrist where her manipulator lay, the blonde frowned, "Though now I find that I can't leave until I know that the both of you are safe."
"What do you mean, 'safe'?" the Doctor asked, "Safe from what? Is someone coming after us? After Aries?"
"Not exactly..." Vera begun, only for the sound of a beeping to fill the air and the pair turned their attention back to the monitor. The blonde stood up from the chair and made her way back over to the computer to see what the TARDIS had found - only to pause when she noticed a flash of light in the corner of her eye and she turned to the bedside table with furrowed brows.
Looking to the screen and missing what Vera had seen, the Doctor stumbled away from the computer as if he had been physically hit when he read the results from the DNA scan. He felt his breath escape him, his eyes widening in shock as two words seemed to burn into his mind. "Im-impossible," he exclaimed, feeling his hearts pounding away within his chest, "That's not possible."
Vera looked up from the necklace she had picked up from the table and to the Time Lord, worry and concern written all across her features as she realised just how deep she was involved in everything that was going on around her. Why no one had told her what she should be expecting after she got there... the blonde was seriously going to be knocking some heads together when she got back to her own time.
"Everything okay, Doc?" she asked carefully as she slowly approached the Time Lord, knowing that he would either explode or quite possibly break down. Either would have been a reasonable response in her book after the sudden realisation he'd just had. Though even Vera couldn't escape the breathless 'Oh' that left her when she saw what the monitor was showing, having known that it had been true but never having seen the results firsthand.
The Doctor didn't even notice the blonde's approach, his mind still trying to wrap itself around what he had just read. His eyes darted left to right rapidly, almost as if he was reading something only he could see as he muttered, "No, that's not possible. She's human. The scan proved it. How could I have not realised?" to no one before his gaze went to his Nesdra. "How didn't I sense her?" he questioned, though the answer hit him like a freight-train and it had his eyes widening.
His Nesdra being part Time Lord would explain how Aries had such control over her emotions, as well as the defences he had glimpsed in her mind before he had regenerated. The scan result answered some of the questions he had, and his mind was reeling at the knowledge that he hadn't been alone as he had once believed.
But he still had so many questions.
Vera snapped from her thoughts, her head turning back to the Doctor as she realised what she needed to do. Oh Theta, she thought sadly as she realised what she had to do. "Maybe Aries is too human," she said as she fought back a wince, knowing that the Doctor knew she was lying – if the glare he was giving her was anything to go by. Though Vera was quick to raise her empty hand in placation. "I'm just saying it could be why you didn't know," she defended herself before asking the question that she already knew the answer to. "Has there ever been a Human-Time Lord before?"
Her question had the Doctor frowning, unable to help but concede that she had a good point. The results were showing that Aries was only part Time Lord, and despite his earlier thoughts on how Aries could be controlling her emotions and protecting her thoughts, he realised that his Nesdra could be doing it without even knowing that she was.
"No many, no," he finally admitted after a moment, his frown deepening as he turned his gaze back to the screen. "It was considered forbidden to have a child with another species," he finished sombrely.
Already knowing that, Vera nodded. "So if there have only been a few, would you know who her parents could be?" she asked. Her hand tightened ever so slightly around the necklace she was holding when her question had the Doctor turning a narrow-eyed glare in her direction.
"I would have thought that you already knew all this," he stated rather harshly, trying to work out what the woman was doing. "You somehow claim to know me and my Nesdra, and yet you won't tell me how!"
"I was just sent here to make certain that Aries was okay," Vera told him honestly, all pretences of lying flying out the window when she realised with dread that the Doctor's anger over the entire situation he had been thrown into was being directed towards her.
And in all honesty, she couldn't really blame him.
He took a slow step towards Vera. "And Shenin?" he questioned, causing Vera's eyebrows to shoot upwards. "I heard you, Vera. Who is she?"
"She shouldn't have been there. She couldn't have been. I don't even kno-"
"Do. Not. Lie. To. Me!"
The Doctor's words cut through the air like a knife; cold and sharp.
"You said my name. No one alive knows that name; let alone anyone on this planet!"
"I-Shenin's dead! I wasn't told she was going to show up!" Vera exclaimed defensively before adding with narrowed eyes, "And how I know your name is between me and your future-self."
"You expect me to believe that I would tell you my name?!" the Time Lord questioned dangerously. He jerked a hand towards the bed where Aries was still sleeping, "There is only one person who I would ever tell my name to, and she is currently asleep right there."
Vera shook her head quickly as she took a step away from the irate Time Lord.
She had to get him to stop – to think!
"I-it wasn't you who told me your name," she suddenly stated, and it had the Doctor finally pausing.
"Who?"
Raising both hands and forgetting that she was holding the necklace, Vera told him.
"Lydeth."
The name never registered to the Doctor as the Time Lord found his gaze drawn to the necklace that Vera was holding. Within two long strides, he closed the distance between them and snatched the item from her hand the moment he saw the writing on the back of the pendent that hung off the fine, silver chain.
"Where did you get this?!" he suddenly demanded as he looked at the pendent, his whole body going rigid when he read the name that was etched on the back.
Vera watched the Doctor cautiously for a moment as she caught her breath. Having the wrath of the Oncoming Storm breathing down her neck was not something the blonde had thought she'd ever experience again, however as she watched the Doctor's face shift through so many emotions as he continued to stare at the necklace, Vera was reminded as to why she had agreed to come back. "It belongs to Aries," she told him quietly, and seeing that he wasn't about to blow up again, she continued, "I was told that it was the only thing she had left of her parents –" it wasn't a lie. "- She never takes it off, so I was surprised to see it on the table beside her bed. I..." her eyebrows furrowed, "I thought you had taken it off her while she was resting."
The Doctor shook his head. "Aries wears two," he muttered as he ran his thumb over the writing inscribed on the back of the pendent. He lifted his head so his gaze met Vera's and sighed; his earlier anger gone. "But this can't be hers," he denied, his voice barely above a whisper; not wanting to believe what he saw written on the pendent. "The Alchemist wa- is nothing but a story; a fairy-tale whispered throughout the universe." A mirthless chuckle left the Time Lord, even as his eyes glazed over with memories untold. "She was supposed to be a Time Lady who travelled the stars. But then one day... she just vanished." He shook his head again as his gaze dropped back to his hand, unable to wrap his head around the prospect of what he was currently holding meant.
It can't be hers, he continued to deny, his hand tightening around the pendant until his knuckles turned white.
The blonde took a tentative step towards the Doctor, hesitating briefly before she let her hand rest on his arm. "Maybe that's what she wanted people to believe," she said quietly as she looked down to the Doctor's hand and the necklace he was holding, missing the Time Lord's gaze narrow. "And maybe there was a reason for her to disappear," Vera added as she turned her head in Aries' direction. "If it was forbidden to have children with someone from another species... maybe the Alchemist vanished to protect someone she found far more precious than her own people."
The Doctor followed Vera's gaze, staring at his Nesdra with furrowed brows. His mind continued to try and accept what he was hearing, though he was finding such a thought difficult to swallow.
Could it really be true? he asked himself, Could the Time Lords' have driven one of our own out, forcing her to travel the stars before having to disappear to protect her child?
Though his train of thought stopped abruptly when another question appeared in his mind, and the Doctor frowned.
But the Alchemist was always known to travel alone...
The Doctor sighed as he shifted in the chair beside Aries' bed; his thumb absentmindedly tracing over the engraved name on the back of her necklace. He was still trying to wrap his head around the possibility of his Nesdra being the Alchemist's daughter, as well as trying to dredge up every little titbit of information he had once gathered about the Time Lady. He had never heard of the Alchemist until he'd left Gallifrey and had begun traversing about time and space.
But then the whispers had started.
He never put much thought into the stories he'd hear, finding them entertaining but overly childish. But that thought had been proven wrong after he'd became Lord President and found evidence that there could be far more to those tales than he had first imagined.
Quite by accident, he'd stumbled across a hidden archive dated all the way back to the Eternal War while searching for the Alchemist on a whim one day. It had been secreted amongst so much trivial information and political garble from the time after Rassilon had risen to power, but it was where the Doctor had come across a record of a nameless Time Lady who had been exiled. He'd been curious to see that they exile had been granted over something as simple as disobeying orders, having found the idea rather outlandish that Rassilon would result to such a punishment for something so trivial. But as he had tried to look further into the unknown Time Lady, his search had come up empty.
But it had planted the intriguing thought in his mind that there had been an exiled, rouge Time Lady out there travelling the stars.
And the more the Doctor learned, the more he wanted to find her.
It was only after searching for possibly close to three decades solid, following both stories and rumours throughout time and space, did the Doctor reach a dead end.
Quite... literally.
He should have known as he delved deeper into the mystery that was the Alchemist to leave her well enough alone...
The further he searched for the renegade Time Lady had shown him that she was just rouge; but ruthless. The Doctor had visited planets where the mere mention of her name had civilisations trembling in fear. Entire species had cursed her name, wanting nothing to do with her while others had just solemnly handed him a list of her crimes - and of their dead.
Other planets had been left in nothing but ruins.
What the Doctor had stumbled upon when he had visited Jon-Flor however...
A shiver trickled down his spine, recalling what he had witnessed to all those lifetimes ago.
The planet had been blooming, on the cusp of a technological advancement that humans hadn't seen since stepping out of the Stone Ages. But instead of thriving and evolving like so many species before them had, Jon-Flor was now a perpetual wasteland petrified in time. Nothing had survived; not the vegetation, the animals, the people. Nothing had survived but the very stone the planet had been turned into. It had almost been akin to walking through a grim, horrifying natural history exhibition - except on a planetary scale.
He'd been told when he'd received permission to visit the planet that Jon-Flor had been petrified overnight, though how a Time Lady had rendered an entire planet to nothing but stone and dust in such a short period of time was beyond him, and the Doctor had not looked into the woman any further.
It had been the one question he had never pursued.
Though as the Doctor looked down to the necklace in his hand; his thumb still trailing over the ridges that made up the name of the Time Lady he'd once searched time and space for, came to fear, and then had given up on ever finding; worry gripped him. What would happen to Aries - his Nesdra - if people were to find out who she was? He was certain that there were many, many civilisations out there that would use her - harm her because of her mother's wrongdoings. And he felt cold fists curl around his hearts; terror scorching through his veins at the mere thought of Aries coming to harm because of her lineage.
"Will you tell her?"
Vera's voice had the Time Lord jumping; breaking from his wild thoughts and rolling emotions and almost causing him to drop the necklace. His head turned quickly towards the blonde, and seeing the concerned expression on her face had his eyebrows furrowing. He cleared his throat, mentally giving himself a shake as he asked her, "You know the Alchemist?"
"I have... heard of her, yes," the brunette nodded slowly, though a frown tugged at her lip as she looked to Aries. "But despite what I've heard of her, I also know that Aries has one thing that the Alchemist never had," she said, her gaze returning to the Doctor.
"What's that?" he asked curiously, though his eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion. He had a feeling she knew far more about the Time Lady than she was allowed to tell him... or wanted to tell him.
Vera smiled. "You."
Her answer had the Time Lord blinking in confusion.
"What do you mean, 'me'?"
"In all those stories, in all those rumours you heard," Vera raised an eyebrow at the Doctor, almost as if challenging him to deny her words and he frowned. "Did you ever hear her travelling with anyone?" The Time Lord opened his mouth to say something, but Vera shook her head. "In all her travels, the Alchemist had always been seen alone. A renegade Time Lady doing whatever she liked with no responsibilities tied to her. She never had a companion to worry about, a friend to turn to." Her lips pursed, "And don't think that I am trying to make up excuses for what she had done, but the Alchemist had just been exiled from her home planet - cut off from her own people and left to wander the universe alone for gods know how long." She looked at the Doctor seriously, "Could you imagine how devastating and lonely that would have been for someone who's species shares a telepathic bond? Cast aside with nothing but a sentient ship as her only companion."
The Doctor frowned, his gaze dropping to the necklace he was still holding. "I don't have to," he muttered, his mind going back to just after the Time War when it sunk in what he'd done. The emptiness in his mind - the heaviness in his hearts - knowing that he was the last of his kind. The weight that bore down on his very soul knowing that it was all because of what he had done, and having done so with the knowledge that there would be no way to ever bring them back.
He startled when he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to Vera to see her watching him with a look that only spoke of having experienced something similar.
"I lost the love of my life because of someone I had once trusted," the blonde admitted quietly and causing the Doctor's eyes to grow wide, "And if it wasn't for you and Aries, I'd have never gotten him back." She gave his shoulder a squeeze as she looked to the red head resting on the bed. "Aries has always been a smart woman, Doctor. It's up to you whether you tell her, but know that if you don't tell her, she will figure it out."
The Doctor swallowed as Vera dropped her hand from his shoulder and moved back over to the monitor, leaving whatever choice he would make solely on his own shoulders. It wasn't the best pep-talk he'd ever been on the receiving end off, though as his gaze went to his slumbering Nesdra and the memories of everything they'd been through since meeting in Cardiff all but a week ago flooded his mind, the Time Lord stood.
"You may figure it out one day," he said quietly as he carefully placed her necklace back around her neck, being mindful not to wake her as he did so. He brushed his hand lightly over her cheek as he finished, "But I can't put you in danger."
He didn't see Vera let out a silent, worried breath as she listened, though the blonde quickly composed herself as she looked away from the monitor and back to the pair. "I can't figure out if the TARDIS has identified what that energy was," she said, "Do you know if the TARDIS figured it out yet?"
Sighing, the Doctor straightened, running a hand through his rather thick hair as he tried to dispel his sombre thoughts. Aries was safe and resting and he'd be damned if he'd let her go through anything like that ever again. But all that mattered to him right now was that she was safe.
"No," he replied, looking to Vera tiredly, "The results are still coming up as inconclusive." He could admit that his regard towards the blonde had shifted slightly. Not by much, but enough to no longer find her presence on board his ship irritable. If anything, her ability to not only read Gallifreyan but understand it as well had helped the Doctor with sorting through everything that had been dropped into his lap since before he'd sent Aries away, as well as allowing him to watch over his Nesdra while Vera continued to keep checking her vitals and how the progress was going with the scans.
Whoever the blonde was, the Doctor had to admit that even his ship seemed to like her.
Though the woman's gasp had the Doctor blinking when he realised that she was no longer looking at him, but the monitor. Her eyes were wide, a hand covering her mouth, and the Doctor's own eyes widened in shock when he saw what the TARDIS was showing them.
On the roofs around the Powell Estate were hundreds of people standing on the edge of the buildings, looking as though they were about to jump at any moment.
Before either could say anything, the screen changed again.
Harriet Jones was sitting in a panelled room at a desk with a picture of Her Majesty on it. On either side of the Prime Minister were two Union flags.
"Ladies and gentlemen, if I may take a moment during this terrible time. It's hardly the Queen's speech. I'm afraid that's been cancelled," the PM said before turning to an aide off screen, "Did we ask about the royal family?" she questioned. "Oh. They're on the roof." She turned back to face the camera, "But, ladies and gentlemen, this crisis is unique, and I'm afraid to say, might get much worse. I would ask you to remain calm. But I have one request. Doctor, Aries, if you're out there, we need you. I'm issuing a State of Emergency. I don't know what to do. If you can hear me, Doctor, Aries. If anyone knows them, if anyone can find them, the situation has never been more desperate. Help us. Please, Doctor, Aries. Help us. God help us."
Vera and the Doctor shared a worried glance, and before either could find a response fit enough for what they'd just witnessed, Mickey burst into the med bay; his face pale and eyes wide with fright.
"Doctor!" he shouted, "There's a spaceship!"
"Shit!" Vera cursed under her breath.
It seemed her waiting was finally over.
None of the trio noticed a pair of silver-grey eyes flicker open in confusion as the TARDIS once more tugged on their link to rouse Aries; a flicker of gold passing over the red head's eyes as she watched the group rush out of the room.
The Doctor and Vera followed Mickey down the corridors and towards the console room, none noticing the shadow following them. And when they entered the room, the Time Lord brushed right passed Rose and threw the door of his ship open and stepped outside.
Just like Mickey had said, there was a massive spaceship that looked like a large, floating chunk of land hovering above London, and the Doctor would have kicked himself for having forgotten that the pilot fish had been leading something to Earth. But he knew that Aries would come first; that she would always be his first priority.
Now that she's safe and resting inside the TARDIS however... the Doctor mused as he re-entered his ship and quickly closed the door. He turned back to the console, only to jump about a foot in the air.
"Aries?!" he exclaimed, half scared to death from not having expected her, and half guilty with the sense of having been caught doing something he shouldn't be. "You should be resting," he quickly added as he approached her.
"I've done enough resting," the red-headed witch remarked, and the Time Lord couldn't help but notice that she was withdraw from him; barely meeting his gaze as she continued to watch whatever was on the monitor. The sight brought memories of when he'd first met her and he found that he wasn't too sure he liked seeing her acting as such. "There's a Sycorax ship that's just breeched the Earth's atmosphere."
There had been a time when he had found such control Aries held over her emotions rather mind-boggling and intriguing. But after getting to know her, even if he still felt as though he still didn't know her given what he'd just discovered about her, he now found the change in her unsettling.
"How do you know it's a Sycorax ship?" he asked, giving himself a mental shake.
Without saying a word, Aries just swung the scanner around so that they all could see, and the Doctor's eyebrows raised.
"Oh, right then..."
On the screen was a recording that had been broadcasted worldwide earlier that morning.
"...possess your land, your minerals, your precious stones. You will surrender or they will die. Sycorax strong, Sycorax mighty, Sycorax rock," the Sycorax leader told them, clearly speaking English this time around for Mickey and Rose.
"Did he just say they rock?" Mickey asked with a bemused expression, taking the fact that he could now understand the aliens in his stride. He was standing in the Doctor's TARDIS, which was both alien and sentient.
Aries nodded, although she was frowning as the screen flickered to black. "This isn't good," she muttered to herself as she padded herself down, her frown deepening when she couldn't find her mobile. "The device they're using... any civilisation primitive enough to know what it is will take the threat for what it is. And it wouldn't surprise me if the Cabinet had already tried to intervene without consult-" The red head cut herself off when there was a sharp pain burning her wrist and she winced, realising what she had been about to say. She looked up and found that the others were watching her, Mickey and Vera being the only two who understood her discomfort as she rubbed her wrist.
Holding her hand out to her nephew, she pursed her lips. "Mouse, I need to use your phone. If this isn't contained, it will get messy very quickly and I won't let that happen."
Without hesitation, Mickey pulled out his phone and handed it to his aunt. The moment he did so, Aries looked to the Doctor as she quickly dialled the number she knew off by heart. "Before I make this call, Doctor," she begun, causing the Time Lord's expression to grow confused at her tone. She sounded... apologetic. "I want you to know that I never wanted to keep this from you. There are so many rules I have to follow, and until now you were never to know."
The Doctor took a step towards his Nesdra. "What are you saying?" he questioned, concern written all over his face in response to what he was hearing.
Aries' gaze dropped to the mobile in her hand, her thumb hovering over the call button. She could feel the pain in her wrist lessening, and she knew that what Harriet had said was true. The Sycorax had threatened not only Britain, but the entire world, and she knew that it was time to hide behind false titles and lies no longer. And besides, she had always known that this day was going to happen... otherwise she wouldn't have agreed to make the damned vow so that she wouldn't tell the Doctor.
But now that the time was actually upon her, and the last remnants of the vow she'd begrudgingly agreed to the day she'd started working for UNIT disappeared along with the pain in her wrist, Aries found herself feeling nervous. She wasn't able to meet the Doctor's gaze as she muttered, "I'm not just a Scientific Advisor," before pressing her thumb down on the button and turning away from him. She placed the phone to her ear, not giving him a chance to say anything, though could feel his gaze boring holes in her back.
"She really wanted to tell you, Doctor," Mickey spoke up from beside the Time Lord who's gaze snapped to the young man before narrowing. "Aunty hated not telling you. She even ended up in an argument with the entire Cabinet after they told her that she couldn't reveal who she was to you. She's hated not being able to say anything."
"Prime Minister," Aries' said as the call connected, and the Doctor's furrowed brows shot upwards as he turned his gaze back to her.
That had not being who he'd been expecting her to call, though yet he did hear Harriet ask for not only him, but his Nesdra as well. It made him even more curious to know just what her real position within UNIT was, as well feeling confused as to why it seemed to be such a big thing for her not to have been able to tell him.
"Oh, my God. Aries, where have you been?" Harriet breathed on the other end of the phone almost loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. She sounded rather relieved to hear the red head's voice, and a brief flicker of surprise appeared on Rose's face at hearing Aries still stayed in contact with the PM. "Is the Doctor with you?"
"Affirmative, Prime Minister," the red head confirmed, giving the Doctor a quick glance before averting her gaze once more. "Can you tell me what's happened. What are their demands, and where are the negotiations taking place?"
Two sets of eyebrows shot upwards at her words; the Doctor nor Rose having thought they'd ever hear someone other than the Time Lord himself ordering a leader around - let alone the current Prime Minister. And it being Aries that was doing so had the Time Lord seeing a very different side of his Nesdra.
She hadn't just been a solider...
"I-we're on the ship. We were teleported up here," Harriet quickly explained to Aries, her voice taking on a panicked and frantic tone as she continued, "They're saying that they're going to kill one third of the population unless we agree to surrender."
Mickey, Rose, Vera and the Doctor watched as Aries' eyebrows creased, her lips pursing as she made her way back to the console.
"I need you to listen to me, Harriet Jones. Do not do or say anything that would lead to an agreement," she ordered as she ran her free hand over the console. I need to get to that ship, she whispered mentally to the TARDIS and her lip curved upwards into a small smile when she felt a responding hum in her mind. "I will be with you momentarily, Prime Minister," she added as the scanner changed, an odd pattern appearing on the screen.
"What did you do?" Rose asked as Aries hung up, her eyes going to the scanner as the pattern continued to repeat itself.
"It's a broadcast," Vera piped up from behind the group, causing all but Aries to jump; the other three having forgotten that she was still there.
"Just a small, alien signal that will notify the Sycorax that we're here," the red head added, her eyes narrowing slightly as she seemed to stare off into space. She knew that the TARDIS wasn't the only advanced piece of technology on Earth, but shook the knowledge away. It wouldn't do her - or the world - any good if the Sycorax realised just what the Black Archives contained.
"But... what will that do?" Rose questioned with a frown as Aries handed the mobile back to Mickey.
"It will get us abo-"
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no," the Doctor cut his Nesdra off, shaking his head as he took a step towards her, "You are not going anywhere near them," he told her, knowing that it was the last place he wanted her to be.
"It's too late, Doc," Vera piped up before Aries could say anything to defend herself. The blonde looked up from her wrist, raising an eyebrow at the very dark glare the Time Lord was shooting her, "We're already on board."
"And anyways," Aries added, successfully drawing his attention back to her. "I need to be there."
"Why?" the Doctor demanded, probably a little harsher than he had intended, but he was confused and angry that his Nesdra - his bloody soulmate - thought it was okay to walk out onto a Sycorax ship and - Well, he wasn't even sure what she was going to do. "Why do you need to be there?"
"It's her job," Mickey spoke up and was rewarded with a glare himself from the Doctor, though his gaze returned to Aries when she squeezed his hand.
"I told you, Doctor. I'm not just a Scientific Advisor," she told him quietly, her gaze on their joint hands, "When there is a threat that puts the welfare of the United Kingdom at risk, both human or alien, and the Prime Minister declares the situation to be 'State of Emergency', I am... elevated to the position of Royal Commander to either try and negotiate, or..." Her hand dropped from his as she trailed off, turning to the doors. "Eliminate the threat."
The Doctor's other hand froze in its attempt to get Aries to look at him, shocked and surprised by the words that had left her mouth. So many thoughts begun to crowd his mind; questions he'd been harbouring ever since they'd met being answered while new ones were being born.
But the moment he noticed his Nesdra heading towards the doors, the Time Lord was quick to stop her.
"Don't," he said as he grabbed her arm, not wanting her anywhere near the aliens. "You knew what they're like," he continued, letting her arm go when she stopped and turned to him, "The Sycorax are a warrior race. They can't be negotiated with."
"Even if they don't listen," Aries grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers before giving it a squeeze. A small smile had the corner of her mouth lifting as she added, finally meeting his gaze, "Everyone deserves a chance," before letting his hand go and stepping through the door as it swung open for her.
The Doctor watched her go, feeling as though a weight had settled in his gut at the same time his hearts skipped at the expression that had been on her face when she'd spoken those last words.
Three... two... one... Vera counted down, and the moment she hit one and the door closed behind Aries, the Doctor spun on his heel to face Mickey with a glare that had possibly once sent armies running from the Time Lord in the past.
By the Gods, she felt she would have if she didn't know the man.
"You knew!" the Time Lord exploded, causing the young man to take an alarmed step back away from him.
"Not the time, Doc," Vera cut in as she brushed passed between the pair and headed towards the scanner to see if she could get some sort of video link to what was happening outside. The Doctor turned his glare onto her, his mouth opening to say something possibly very harsh, and very angry, though the moment he heard Aries' voice come through the scanner's speaker, his rage towards the people that had been lying to him vanished and he quickly made his way over to Vera's side.
"Aries Prince, Royal Commander of the British Empire," the red head introduced herself to the Sycorax with a formal - if a bit stiff - bow in greeting. She continued speaking as she straightened, her eyes on the Sycorax leader. "And as of this moment, the only person you will be conversing with. So, by Convention Fifteen of the Shadow Proclamation, I hereby politely request to parlay with you."
"What is sh-?" Rose begun to ask, but was shushed by the Doctor as he continued to watch the screen; his eyes locked on the form of her Nesdra who was standing tall surrounded by a Sycorax army.
They watched as the Sycorax leader moved to respond, though Aries cut him off.
"No!" she shouted, her voice echoing through the ship and causing the humans inside the TARDIS to jump in surprise at her sudden outburst. "You have already broken Galactic Law by killing not one, but two inhabitants of a Level Five planet," she gestured to something off screen, her expression dark. "And you have also threatened to use banned technology in an attempt to slaughter millions more," Aries stated furiously and the Doctor couldn't help the swell of pride he felt as he watched her, "It is also against Galactic Law to reap any part of an ecosystem of a Level Five planet, which we both know is you intention."
"How does she know that?" Rose cut in again, only for the Doctor to shoot her a look. Though the Time Lord was rather curious himself, the library his Nesdra had told him about flashing across his mind, but he brushed the thought aside as he continued to watch the scanner.
"I'm asking you to forget about this conquest of yours. I will not see this planet fall into ruin and slavery," the red head continued, her tone losing its bite but still firm as she continued, "And if you think that we will just hand it over on a silver platter, let me tell you that you will be sorely mistaken. Let those people go and just leave."
Silence reigned in both the TARDIS and the ship outside as they all waited for the Sycorax leader to say something.
"Such big words from such a small child..."
Confusion marked the features of all but the elder blonde in the console room as they watched the Sycorax leader scowl before stepping aside.
Though eyebrows shot up when a familiar - and somewhat surprising figure stepped out from amongst the surrounding aliens.
"Ly?"