(Chapter 26)

Lethbridge-Stewart Station

...VWORP...VWORP...VWORP...

A 1950s British Police Telephone Box materialised in the corner of the room. Two of the three occupants barely gave it any attention, and went back to whatever they were doing with the bench full of computer terminals. The third person, a human girl, with light brown hair, stopped hugging the lilac-haired girl from behind, sighed, and picked up a telephone handset from a nearby wall-console.

"They left their handbrake on," commented the green-haired girl, from under the bench. "Is the LAN cable to terminal three hooked in?"

"Mmm," commented the lilac-haired girl. "Maybe it's stuck. Terminal three looks good. Let's move on to four."

"Miss Smith," said the girl on the phone. "We've got visitors in the new section. What am I doing here? Kanna's here. Where else would I be?"

"Kanna, you've got yourself a good one," commented the green-haired girl.

"I'm sure yours is good too, Fern," replied Kanna. "She's just not as clingy."

The door to the room slid open, and Smith walked in. "You called me for Harmony?"

"It's not Harmony," commented Kanna. "Her re-materialisation isn't that loud."

The door on the Police Box opened, and Mizuchi backed out. "-on't need weapons, Jack! The locals aren't going to bite ...hard... Doctor, talk some sense into him."

"Miss O'Reilly," Smith called out. "It's been two days. Harmony arrived with Hikari's friends yesterday. What have you been doing?"

"Hi, Aunt Kuroko..." she got a sharp look. "Sorry. Good afternoon, Miss Smith. We overshot the jump slightly." She handed Smith a USB-drive, with a data-crystal fused to it. "Here's that Operating System I was asked to fetch."

"Who are your friends?" Smith asked.

Jack took one look at the ICEP coordinator. "Hey gorgeous. Captain Jack Harkness. Love the 'Man in Black' look."

"Jack..." warned the Doctor. "Don't."

"I don't mind," replied Smith, a blush forming on her cheeks.

The Doctor turned to face Smith. "I'm the Doctor. Pleased to meet you."

"Not the Doctor from the British branch of UNIT?" Smith asked.

The Doctor looked surprised. "How would you know about that?"

"ICEP has access to all of the old assets,' she replied. "Welcome to Lethbridge-Stewart Station."

"Fern!" Mizuchi jumped into the green-haired girl's arms, and looked deeply into her eyes.

"You look like you haven't seen me in weeks," Fern commented, before both girls locked lips.

After a few minutes of small-talk with Smith, the Doctor noticed the girls were still kissing. "Even I would have needed to come up for air by now, and I have a respiratory-bypass."

"They'll be there for a while," Smith commented. "Fern is a Dryad. She inhales carbon-dioxide, and exhales oxygen, so they're recycling each others' air." The phone console rang. "Saikawa, could you get that, please?"

The Doctor noticed that Fern's 'hair' was actually leaves.

"Miss Smith," she called out. "They're about to test Cassiopeia's docking abilities. Do you want to go watch?"

"I do!" Mizuchi briefly stopped kissing her girlfriend, before proceeding to kiss her neck, a quiet moan coming from the dryad. "I'll carry you there," she whispered, as numerous vines wrapped around the dragon's body, and Fern's legs wrapped around her hips.

===/===

The Doctor and Jack looked in awe at what looked like an airport's arrival/departure terminal. Even though it was currently empty, barring construction crew, they could see the station was being prepared into a 'proper' commercial retail centre. "Hey, Miss Smith!" called a winged woman, near a luggage carousel. "They're towards the terminal six observation window."

"Thanks, Calliope!" she called back. They headed towards where she indicated.

"From the look on her face, you mispronounced her name" commented Jack. "And not for the first time."

"It can't be helped," commented Kanna. "Lucoa, Freya, Hikari, and Mizuchi are the only ones who can get the accent right."

"Oh, wow!" The Doctor took in the view from the observation window. In the distance, they could just see NASA's International Space Station towards the left side of their field of view. However, it was dwarfed by another, star-shaped, space station on the right side. "What is that?" he pointed towards the larger station.

Mizuchi, having finally stopped her make-out session, looked where the Doctor indicated. "That's Mum's ship, the Irish Rose. She doesn't usually have the docking-nets out. I suppose it's a precaution for Cassiopeia's manoeuvrability tests."

"Woah!" Jack startled. "Is that a fighter jet? I thought we were in space."

:::DOCKING BAY 6 OPEN::: appeared on the display, above the window.

"Mama-Erika!" called Mizuchi. "Coming to see how my brother drives?"

"Actually, Galadriel is piloting at the moment."

A small spacecraft came into view. It looked like a giant flying insect, bulbous 'abdomen' included, but with bulky thrusters where the wings would be. The name Cassiopeia was painted along its hull, along with an image of the constellation.

"Is that a Firefly cargo ship?!" Jack exclaimed. "Someone actually built a real one?"

The Doctor's face had a number of emotions going over it. "What did they do to you?" he whispered. He turned towards the rest of the group, anger on his face.

He doesn't even get this angry with Daleks, Jack thought.

Smith slowly raised her phone, and pressed a button. "Cass," she whispered into the phone. "There's a situation here, that only you can resolve."

The Firefly suddenly spun around, and moved towards the docking bay to the right of the window.

:::DOCKING BAY 7 OPEN::: appeared on the display, above the window.

A blonde 16-year-old woman, of average-build, came running into the terminal. "What's wrong?" she panted. "Tight manoeuvring like that still puts a strain on my systems. Ventris is still trying to rebuild a lot of my damaged components."

"Doctor, this is Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia, this is the Doctor" Smith introduced the woman to the timelord. "I'm you you know she's that TARDIS."

"Hang on!" Mizuchi looked at the woman. "I can't see the refresh-flicker. Did my brother improve on Hikari's designs, or was it Ventris?"

"Neither," replied Smith. "Hiroshi and his little harem are scary geniuses, when they put their heads together. Cassiopeia decided to take advantage of the damage to her structure, and reconfigured herself. A lot."

Cassiopeia took over the explanation. "My original hull was massively damaged, so my new external hull needed to be somewhat larger than the average TARDIS. We decided to integrate my salvageable components into a starship capable of landing on a planet, without looking 'too science fiction'. The Firefly looked like the best choice, seeing as my internal dimensional stabilisers are shot. The only parts of me that are bigger on the inside are a couple of storage compartments in the engine room, and another in the galley."

The Doctor scanned the woman with his sonic screwdriver. "She's not a hologram."

"No, I'm not," replied Cassiopeia. "I used the remote projector components, and took advantage of my chameleon circuit. I made myself a body out of my primary console and time rotor."

"By the way," Smith whispered to Mizuchi. "She's already joined the 'knocked up' club."

"Oh em eff gee! My brother is Captain Kirk!" Mizuchi exclaimed.

"Doctor, stop drooling!" Jack called out. "I don't think yours would agree to that sort of relationship."

"How are your systems?" Erika asked. "Are you alright for the jump?"

"What jump?" Mizuchi asked.

"Just after you left, your paternal grandfather's organisation made another attempt to kidnap you and your brother," said Smith. "They opened a Gate in the the nursery at Hiroshi's house in Asaka, and nearly crushed Ventris's eggs, as they came out of it."

"They startled Renata, when they broke in," Erika continued. "She was feeding Sally at the time. Luckily for them, we make a point to have antivenin for both Renata, and Ventris on hand."

"I'm sure they learnt a valuable lesson about the maternal instincts of venomous demi-humans," Mizuchi commented.

"We also know about your little secret," said Smith.

"Which secret would that be?" Mizuchi replied, feigning ignorance.

"Don't try that on me," said Smith. "I taught you that."

"She knows about L-space," Fern whispered in her ear. "We're prepping for an extended trip, to a set of coordinates your mother found in her great grandmother's will."

"I'm sorry to do this to you, Mizuchi," apologised Erika. "We're going to need you to act as a psychic decoy. Freya is going to drop Fern, Hiroshi, and the girls off at the Dragon's homeworld, where they'll make a series of small jumps. We need you to use a mix of L-space travel and your Gate spell, and go via a different route."

"Because you can only traverse L-space on foot," Fern added. "It might be a good idea to make your gates exit at high altitudes. It will make it almost impossible for any pursuers to tail you."

"Why can't I just go with the rest of you?" she asked.

"We need multiple trails, so they have to split their resources," Erika explained.

"How long are we going to be hiding out?" Mizuchi asked.

"Unfortunately, it will be until we arrest both your father and grandfather, and dismantle their organisation," apologised Smith.

"Or until they drop dead from old age," Fern muttered, so only Mizuchi could hear.

"We should be ready to go within the next few days," said Cassiopeia. "Hikari can take your friends back to their home reality, once they're done sightseeing. …Doctor, my eyes are up here."