Diplomacy
As gas engulfed the world, the Doctor crawled under the car, trying to turn off the ATMOS. He wouldn't be able to stop all of them, but he'd be able to save Donna's grandfather. Caroline wanted to help, to do anything, but she had never understood cars. Out of everything in the entire universe, Sontarans had to go and use the one thing she had never understood.
"He's going to choke." Donna cried, still trying to open the door as she watched her grandfather go unconscious. "Doctor!"
"It won't open."
Donna's mother strode back over with an axe and, without waiting, smashed the windscreen. The Doctor slid back out from under the car, everyone gaping at her. "Well, don't just stand there. Get him out."
Caroline and Donna hurried to help him, though Caroline was quickly forced to pass him off to Donna's mother. "I can't believe you've got an axe," Donna told her, still in shock.
Her mother shrugged. "Burglars."
"Get inside the house. Just try and close off the doors and windows."
Ross drove up behind them in a black cab. "Doctor. This is all I could find that hasn't got ATMOS."
He and Caroline ran towards it. She wasn't going to let him leave her anywhere, not when the sky was filling up with gas and aliens were attacking earth. "Donna, you coming?"
Donna turned, her grandfather just entering the house. "Yeah."
"Donna. Don't go," her mother pleaded. "Look what happens every time that Doctor appears. Stay with us, please."
Her grandfather just gave her a little push. "You go, my darling."
"Dad!"
"Don't listen to her." Donna had reached them by then, climbing into the cab after them. "You go with the Doctor. That's my girl." He waved. "Bye."
The Doctor glanced at her as they started back on their way to ATMOS. "They'll be alright, I promise."
Donna only nodded.
Once they reached the factory, Ross ran off to find any way he could help, the three of them reaching the front of the factory. "The air is disgusting," Donna half gagged.
"It's not so bad for me. Go on, get inside the Tardis." Donna moved to go, but then the Doctor stopped her. "Oh, I've never given you a key." He pulled one out of his pocket and, for all the world, it looked just like a normal key. "Keep that. Go on, that's yours. Quite a big moment really."
"Yeah, maybe we can get sentimental after the world's finished choking to death."
The Doctor nodded. "Good idea." He turned to Caroline. "Caroline, go with her."
Caroline nodded. She wanted to stay and help, but she was almost certain the Doctor was not going to simply abandon them in the TARDIS. "Where are you going?" Donna asked.
"To stop a war," the Doctor called after him, running back to the factory.
Donna and Caroline, in turn, made their way back to the TARDIS. At one point, just before the TARDIS, Caroline leaned against the wall. "Go. I'll be there in a moment." Donna eyed her, but she kept going.
The gas wasn't that bad, but it was enough that Caroline needed to stop just to cough for a little. Not long, since it wouldn't be safe to stay out in the gas, but she did need to stop. It probably also didn't help that she was attempting to breath less, which meant her lungs were hurting from that as well.
She was looking down, twisting the ring on her finger, and thus didn't notice when two soldiers walked up to her. In a very short second, she was hit across the head and crumpled to the ground, as they couldn't risk her warning the Doctor.
That was how he found her a few seconds later and he rushed over, cupping her head and quickly waking her, not taking quite the same care he would normally, since they were being surrounded by a gas cloud. Caroline awoke quite quickly, jerking and rubbing her head. "What happened?"
"The TARDIS," she breathed.
"Where's the TARDIS?" Martha asked that exact moment, and the Doctor leapt up to see the TARDIS was, indeed, missing.
He ran over to stand in the spot it had once been, sticking his tongue out. "Taste that, in the air. Yuck. That sort of metal tang. Teleport exchange…It's the Sontarans. They've taken it." He hurried back over to Caroline, helping her up and letting her rest on him. "I'm stuck on Earth like, like an ordinary person. Like a human. How rubbish is that?" Caroline raised her eyebrows at him. "Sorry, no offence, but come on."
"So what do we do?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Well, I mean, it's shielded. They could never detect it." He stared at Martha, making Caroline do the same, though she couldn't see anything was wrong. She didn't really need to hold onto the Doctor any more, she was feeling better, but he seemed quite adamant to keep holding onto her.
"What?"
"I'm just wondering, have you phoned your family and Tom?"
Martha frowned and Caroline wondered if the Sontarans, as a clone race, could clone other species too, because the Martha she'd been speaking to earlier would not have reacted like that to that question. "No. What for?"
"The gas. Tell them to stay inside."
"Course I will, yeah but, what about Donna? I mean, where's she?"
He shrugged. "Oh, she's gone home. She's not like you. She's not a soldier. Or a scientist." He glanced down at Caroline. "Right. So. Avanti." They went back to the main control, bursting through the doors. "Change of plan."
Mace nodded. "Good to have you fighting alongside us, Doctor."
"I'm not fighting. I'm not-fighting, as in not hyphen fighting, got it? Now, does anyone know what this gas is yet?"
Martha rushed past them, taking one of the stations. "We're working on it."
"It's harmful," a woman at one of the computers informed them, "but not lethal until it reaches eighty percent density. We're having the first reports of deaths from the center of Tokyo City."
He had gone forwards to stand behind the people, Caroline standing at the back closer to Mace. "And who are you?"
"Captain Marion Price, sir." She saluted.
"Oh, put your hand down," he groaned. "Don't salute."
"Jodrell Bank's traced a signal, Doctor, coming from five thousand miles above the Earth." Mace brought up a map. "We're guessing that's what triggered the cars."
Caroline glanced at the Doctor. "The Sontaran ship."
"NATO has gone to Defcon One. We're preparing a strike."
"You can't do that. Nuclear missiles won't even scratch the surface. Let me talk to the Sontarans." He began to work a few controls, Caroline stepping back to let him.
Mace looked over at him. "You're not authorized to speak on behalf of the Earth."
"I've got that authority. I earned that a long time ago." He stuck his sonic into the control system, likely connecting UNIT to the actual Sontaran fleet. "Calling the Sontaran Command Ship under Jurisdiction Two of the Intergalactic Rules of Engagement. This is the Doctor."
A Sontaran appeared on the screen, most likely the one they had met earlier. "Doctor, breathing your last?"
"My God," Mace breathed, "they're like trolls."
"Yeah, loving the diplomacy, thanks. So, tell me, General Staal, since when did you lot become cowards?" he went over and sat at one of the computers, putting up his feet.
"How dare you!" Staal looked quite offended.
"Oh," Mace scoffed, "that's diplomacy?"
"Doctor, you impugn my honor."
"Yeah, I'm really glad you didn't say belittle, because then I'd have a field day." He glanced back and winked at Caroline. "But poison gas? That's the weapon of a coward and you know it. Staal, you could blast this planet out of the sky and yet you're sitting up above watching it die. Where's the fight in that? Where's the honor? Or are you lot planning something else, because this isn't normal Sontaran warfare. What are you lot up to?"
"A general would be unwise to reveal his strategy to the opposing forces."
The Doctor nodded. "Ah, the war's not going so well, then. Losing, are we?"
"Such a suggestion is impossible."
Mace frowned. "What war?"
"The war between the Sontarans and the Rutans," he informed them. "It's been raging, far out in the stars, for fifty thousand years. Fifty thousand years of bloodshed, and for what?"
"For victory. Sontar-ha." The other Sontaran began to repeat the chant. "Sontar-ha. Sontar-ha. Sontar-ha. Sontar-ha. Sontar-ha."
The Doctor just sighed. "Give me a break." He flashed the television with his sonic, switching to a cartoon.
"Doctor." Mace moved to approach him. "I would seriously recommend that this dialogue is handled by official Earth representation."
The Doctor only flashed the television again. "Finished?"
"You will not be so quick to ridicule when you'll see our prize. Behold." Staal gestured behind himself, where the TARDIS was quite obviously parked. "We are the first Sontarans in history to capture a TARDIS."
Donna. They had Donna.
The Doctor shrugged. "Well, as prizes go, that's…noble. As they say in Latin, Donna nobis pacem. Did you never wonder about its design? It's a phone box. It contains a phone. A telephonic device for communication. Sort of symbolic. Like, if only we could communicate, you and I."
Staal laughed. "All you have communicated is your distress, Doctor."
"Big mistake though, showing it to me. Because I've got remote control." He held up his sonic.
"Cease transmission!" The screen went blank.
"Ah, well." The Doctor stood.
"That achieved nothing."
"Oh, you'd be surprised." He pat Mace on the back and went over the Caroline. "Thoughts?"
She glanced at Martha. "Can Sontaran clone species other than human?"
"Very good." Together, the Doctor's hand on her back, they went over to where 'Martha' was flipping through papers, scanning the canister of gas. He pulled the clipboard from her hand for the two of them to read.
"There's carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, but ten percent unidentified. Some sort of artificial heavy element we can't trace. You ever seen anything like it?"
The Doctor shook his head. "It must be something the Sontarans invented. This isn't just poison. They need this gas for something else. What could that be?"
"Launch grid online and active," Price called behind them, making the Doctor turn.
"Positions, ladies and gentlemen, Defcon One initiatives in progress."
"What?" The Doctor strode over. "I told you not to launch."
"The gas is at sixty percent density. Eighty percent and people start dying, Doctor. We've got no choice."
The launch continued. "Launching in sixty, fifty nine, fifty eight, fifty seven, fifty six… Worldwide nuclear grid now coordinating. Fifty four, fifty three…"
"You're making a mistake, Colonel," the Doctor warned. "For once, I hope the Sontarans are ahead of you."
"North America, online. United Kingdom, online. France, online. India, online. Pakistan, online. China, online. North Korea, online. All systems locked and coordinated. Launching in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five…"
Mace sighed. "God save us."
"Four, three, two, one…zero." And then the screen went blank.
Mace frowned. "What is it? What happened? Did we launch? Well, did we?"
Price shook her head. "Negative, sir. The launch codes have been wiped, sir. It must be the Sontarans."
"Can we override it?"
"Trying it now, sir."
The Doctor made his way over to where Martha and Caroline had been standing. "Missiles wouldn't even dent that ship, so why are the Sontarans so keen to stop you? Any ideas?"
Caroline had quite a few, but she knew he was asking 'Martha', the Sontaran clone. "How should I know?"
"Enemy within!" Ross's voice came from the radio. "At arms! Greyhound Forty declaring absolute emergency. Sontarans within factory grounds. East corridor, grid six."
"Absolute emergency," Mace confirmed. "Declaring Code Red. All troops, Code Red."
"Get them out of there," the Doctor said, and Caroline wondered if humans actually stood any chance against a Sontaran fleet.
"All troops, open fire!"
There was the sound of clicking, but no gun shots. "Guns aren't working. Inform all troops, standard weapons do not work." There was quite a lot of shouting and screaming then as, most likely, all of the soldiers died. The Doctor turned and took Caroline's hand. They had dealt with a little death before, but nowhere near this much. She'd never heard this many people dying at once. "Tell the Doctor it's that cordolaine signal. He's the only one who can stop them."
And then only static.
"Greyhound Forty, report. Over." Nothing. "Greyhound Forty, report. Greyhound Forty, report."
The Doctor grimaced at him. "He wasn't Greyhound Forty. His name was Ross. Now listen to me, and get them out of there!" he was gripping Caroline's hand quite tightly as he shook with anger.
Mace actually did look a bit upset. "Trap One to all stations. Retreat. Order imperative. Immediate retreat." More reports of soldiers dying. "They've taken the factory."
"Why? They don't need it. Why attack now? What are they up to?" He sighed. "Times like this, I could do with the Brigadier. No offence."
Mace shook his head. "None taken. Sir Alistair's a fine man, if not the best. Unfortunately, he's stranded in Peru."
"Launch grid back online," Price announced. But this time, only a second later, the screen went black. "They're inside the system, sir. It's coming from within UNIT itself."
"Trace it. Find out where it's coming from, and quickly. Gas levels?"
"Sixty six percent in major population areas, and rising."
Mace turned to the Doctor, though the fact Caroline was there with him meant he had to acknowledge her as well. "Why are they defending the factory only after we were inside?"
"Because they wanted UNIT here," the Doctor said slowly, working through it. "You gave them something they needed. Something now hidden inside the factory. Something precious."
"We've got to recover it. This cordolaine signal thing, how does it work?"
"It's the bullets. It causes expansion of the copper shell."
"Excellent." Mace left. "I'm on it."
The Doctor sighed. "For the billionth time, you can't fight Sontarans." He turned to Caroline. "Phone?"
She pulled hers from her pocket, handing it to him. They went into what must have been Mace's private office, given its location, and Caroline stood close enough that she could hear what was being said on the other end of the line. They had closed the door, but it was better to be safe.
Donna answered. "What's happened? Where are you? What happened to Caroline?"
"Still on Earth. She's fine, she's here. But don't worry, I've got my secret weapon."
"What's that?"
"You."
"Oh. Somehow that's not making me happy. Can't you just zap us down to Earth with that remote thing?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Yeah, I haven't got a remote, though I really should. I need you on that ship. That's why I made them move the TARDIS. I'm sorry but you've got to go outside."
"But there's Sonteruns out there."
"Sontarans," Caroline corrected.
"But they'll all be on battle stations right now. They don't exactly walk about having coffee. I can talk you through it."
"But what if they find me?"
"I know, and I wouldn't ask, but there's nothing else I can do. The whole planet is choking, Donna."
Donna was quiet for a second. "What do you need me to do?"
"The Sontarans are inside the factory which means they've got a teleport link with the ship, but they'll have deadlocked it. I need you to reopen the link."
"But I can't even mend a fuse."
"Donna," the Doctor interrupted, "stop talking about yourself like that. You can do this. I promise."
A few seconds of silence. "There's a Sonterun…Sontaran."
"Did he see you?"
"No, he's got his back to me."
The Doctor nodded. "Right, Donna, listen. On the back of his neck on his collar there's a sort of plug, like a hole. The Probic vent. One blow to the Probic vent knocks them out."
"He's going to kill me."
"I'm sorry. I swear I'm so sorry, but you've got to try."
Another bit of quiet and then a thud. "Back of the neck."
"Now then, you got to find the external junction feed to the teleport."
"What- what's it look like?"
"A circular panel on the wall. Big symbol on the front, like a, like a letter T with a horizontal line through it. Or, or, two Fs back to back."
"Oh. Well, there's a door."
"Should be a switch by the side."
"Yeah there is. But it's Sontaran shaped, you need three fingers."
"You've got three fingers."
"Oh, yeah." A whooshing sound. "I'm through."
The Doctor kissed the phone, making Caroline smile. "Oh, you are brilliant, you are."
"Shut up. Right. T with a line through it."
Caroline glanced through the window, pulling on the Doctor's arm as had Mace returned. "Got to go. Keep the line open."
"Counter-attack," Mace announced, ignoring the Doctor's worry.
"I said, you don't stand a chance."
"Positions. That means everyone." He tossed them each a gas mask.
'Martha' strode over. "You're not going without me."
"Wouldn't dream of it," the Doctor mumbled, checking that Caroline had properly secured her mask.
A/N: Thankfully, Caroline wasn't taken with the TARDIS, giving her the chance to help the Doctor in any way she can. I wonder if she'll really think about what Martha had warned her about, and how she'll react to what the Doctor does.
