Disclaimer: I don't in any way own the series Doctor Who . Those are the sole property of the BBC.
Return to Satellite 5 AU: "Bad Wolf", "The Parting of the Ways" and "Born Again".
Note 1: Once again, I want to thank everyone who has made this story a favorite or put it on a story alert and I very much appreciate the reviews.
Note 2: This chapter has not been betad'.
Note 3: For those of you who've read my previous story 'The Quest for Damara' the chapter where the Doctor cures Rose I was listening to Maroon 5's song 'Daylight'.
Chapter Thirteen: Apart But Not Separate
The Dalek's in the main saucer ship were screaming for the Doctor's extermination, to Rose it sounded more like panicked fear rather than vengeful hatred.
The high pitched Gold Dalek as panicked as his fellows rounded on Rose advancing with its eyestalk trained on the human female. "You associate of the Doctor! You know him! You will anticipate the Doctor's plans!"
"What? No." Rose, with her mostly bare back against the cold smooth wall of the ship, stood stunned that these metal monsters thought she would willingly help them.
The Dalek glided further into Rose's personal space plunger shifting menacing.
Rose shivered both with fear and cold. "I can't. It's not possible. I wouldn't tell ya anyway, even if I could."
Rose flinched as the Dalek began screaming in a hysterical fashion. "Anticipate! Anticipate! Anticipate!"
Another Gold Dalek interrupted the other's panicked cries. "We have detected the Doctor's ship! It is in flight towards the fleet!"
The agitated Dalek turned away from Rose its high pitched electronic voice raised further. "Exterminate the Doctor! Missiles launch!"
At hearing the Dalek's command Rose became frantic. She wanted to smack the metal pepper pot. "You're gonna kill him! The TARDIS isn't a warship there's no defenses on her. Stop!"
"Your knowledge is correct!" The Dalek seemed to crow with glee at the blonde woman's obvious torment.
Rose shivered again, the cold interior of the spaceship she could stand but the thought of the TARDIS under fire was grating on her conscious. The Doctor was in danger and it was because of her.
"Ah, Doctor there's something coming at us from the blip on the monitor." Lynda cried out as she tightened her hold on the console in hopes of staying up right. "Agh, Make that two somethings."
Lynda Moss had been so caught up in the excitement that she'd rushed right into the blue box after the two men. She hadn't thought at all... just followed, that was until she found herself inside. The blue box had looked like it couldn't hold too much... but inside she'd stood amazed at how very much bigger it truly was. Lynda had a momentary thought to rushing back out to see if it really was smaller on the outside. The doors had slammed shut almost immediately behind her.
"There's the last hook-up. We should be ready for... Well almost anything." Jack's voice filled with adrenaline high excitement.
The Doctor danced around from one side of the TARDIS console to the other, pressing buttons, flipping switches and pulling on levers. "Well the first test in now."
The whole ship was shaking considerably, and Lynda wasn't sure it wouldn't just shake apart without it being hit by heavy artillery. The mauve round blips were now right on top of the blue square on the screen, which was the TARDIS, there was a loud concussive sound that reverberated inside the large vaulted chamber, the monitor that Lynda had been concentrating on went orange like fire.
The outside of the blue police box, the ship was engulfed in yellow and orange flames. The Dalek ships lost track of the TARDIS in the process.
Jack bumped shoulders with Lynda as he gave an exalted whoop. "Yeah, the extrapolator's working. Doc, that was a great bit of ingenious ingenuity with using Margaret's toy for a fully functional forcefield. Try saying that three times fast and drunk..."
"Oh Jack, I'm bursting with ingenious ideas, me." The Doctor replied absently as he continued piloting the space-time ship, twisting a few knobs, the TARDIS hummed louder, chorused by the grinding sound of dematerialization. The time rotor brighten and slide up and down rhythmically. "Now for the hat trick."
The wheezing, whining noise was the first sign that the Dalek's had been unsuccessful at destroying their enemy.
Rose glanced about, trying to anticipate where the TARDIS would show up as she wanted to be able to sprint to the old girl once she was fully solidify. The breeze that came whipped the blonde woman stylized hair and flimsy dress about.
The wooden form of the blue space-time ship began to coalesce around her. Rose stood very still not knowing if movement would have any adverse effects while the TARDIS materialized from the Time Vortex. Unfortunately, the blonde woman could see that she wasn't the only one that would be appearing inside the Doctor's ship, one of the Dalek's had been sitting too close and was going to be joining her inside the TARDIS.
As the ship became completely sold, Rose turned to see the Doctor standing next to the console staring directly in her direction. The TARDIS gave a final shudder and a surrounding thud as she came to a stop.
The Doctor's hearts were pounding a staccato rhythm in his chest as not only Rose appeared inside his TARDIS but one of the metal beings of his worst nightmares. "Rose! Get down!"
It was as if the relief of seeing the Doctor alive and well had momentarily made Rose a bit dim. The blonde could hear the Time Lord but she couldn't seem to understand the words.
The golden Dalek swiveled its eyestalk focusing in on the new threat. It processed the information instantly changing its aim to the alien man.
"Now, Rose get down!" The Doctor moved forward frantic, as his companion struggled with what was happening. If he had to the Doctor would tackle her, to get the blonde woman out of harms way.
Rose finally managed to comprehend what it was that the Doctor wanted her to do. The former shop girl let her body go limp and she collapsed to the grated floor.
At that same moment the Dalek found its voice. "It is the Doctor! You will be Exterminated!"
The metal pepper-pot aimed its weapon arm at the alien man before being distracted by the other man standing slightly behind, brandishing a large weapon. The Dalek shot at Jack, the energy, absorbed into the gun. The weapon converted it adding more power to its reserves. Jack immediately returned fire, the laser exploded the Dalek's outer casing. The being let out a terrible scream of pain. Black smoke billowed out leaving behind a smell of charred metal and Dalek flesh.
Rose scrambled up, racing towards the Doctor, she held out the urge to vomit as the odor permeated the air. The blonde woman couldn't help feeling a small amount of pity for the creature. At that second though she was immensely happy to be enveloped in the arms of the Doctor. "You're here!"
The Doctor stood holding on to Rose. It had been a near thing, the Time Lord's grip tightened for a few minutes as the universe righted itself. The tentative connection he'd initiated on Sarkios was back, but that wasn't all. There were three other presences surfacing in his mind. They were indistinct but very familiar to the Time Lord's brain. The Doctor closed his eyes for a moment basking in the warmth of the non-silence. His blue eyes widen in disbelief, it shouldn't have been possible, the Doctor pulled back and anguishly consider Rose.
"Feels like forever, since I last saw you." Rose smiled up at the alien man. Her brow furrowed a little, for she was perplexed by the look the Doctor was giving her. The man's face always showed so many differing emotions at once that it was sometimes hard to tell what exactly the Time Lord was thinking.
"Hmm, forever's a very long time. Beside didn't I tell you I was coming to get you." The Doctor replied forcing his mind to retreat from the information that only confirmed his suspicions but expound on them. The fear he been controlling was now much harder in fact it had grown exponentially.
Rose knew something was wrong but she figured that it was the thousands of Daleks outside. "Doctor, there was never any doubt."
"Glad one of us was so sure!" The Doctor joked, running his hands over Rose's partially bare back he realized at that moment the blonde woman's temperature was several degrees lower than it should've been. "Blimey, Rose you're frozen."
Rose gave a half laugh. "Yeah, well the Dalek's aren't really big on making their guests comfortable." Burrowing into the Doctor, the blonde asked the question she most wanted to know. "But seriously, Doctor how are you?"
The Time Lord pulled away taking off his leather coat and putting it around Rose's bare shoulders. "Good at the moment. Could always be better."
Rose couldn't contain the joy she felt as she was enveloped in the Doctor's too large black jacket. The smell, that of worn leather, grease, the Doctor's aftershave and a spicy scent that was uniquely him, surrounded her making the last vestiges of queasiness vanish. She wrapped it around herself for comfort as the Doctor abruptly distance himself, moving off to the destroyed Dalek.
No matter that, the Doctor had just discovered even more consequences from Sarkios, the main problem at the present was the massive Dalek armada that was waiting to takeover the Earth. The Time Lord's mind shifted fully onto that as he approached the trashed metal monster. He examined the remains of the Gold Dalek, and if he opened a small section of his brain to periodically assess Rose, he excused it as easier than asking her outright, and not that at with so brief a time the presence of the blonde woman's mind and that of the time tot's, which were growing in her womb, had become addictive.
Jack made himself known at that moment, "Well, how do you like that? Giving the Doc all the credit. Where's my reward?"
"Oh, Jack sorry." Rose immediately went to the 51st century man and drew him into a hug. She been a bit worried at first about being so close to him, since she'd been so ill being around men at the Game Station. Jack though was too irresistible, that she couldn't not give the man a hug to show her affection. The blonde was extremely relieved when none of the symptoms came back. Rose gave the blue-eyed man an extra squeeze before separating from him. "I didn't mean to leave you out."
"That's good, but I was hoping to get that reward from him." Jack teased, gesturing in the Doctor's retreating back. He wrapped his arms around Rose enjoying that she was alive and well. He said a prayer of thanks to whatever deity was willing to listen. He had a brief glimpse of life without her and for both his and especially for the Doctor he was very grateful that she was still with them. Rose Tyler was their faith, conscious and compassion.
A subdued cough came from behind them by the console monitor. Jack laughed in embarrassment that he'd forgotten about the cute, newest member of the TARDIS crew. "Oh yeah, Rose. This is Lynda with a 'Y' Moss. She was a tremendous help in your rescue... twice."
Rose gazed at the new person... woman and felt a twinge of unease... honestly it was pure jealously at having to share and it wasn't just the Doctor and Jack but the TARDIS as well. However, Jackie Tyler hadn't raised an ill mannered daughter, cheeky but not ungrateful. She gave the blonde woman a tight smile holding out her hand. "Rose. Rose Tyler. Thanks."
"Oh, you're welcome. Believe me I didn't do so much." Lynda said quickly rambling on as she took hold of Rose hand and gave it an enthusiastic shake. The Doctor and Jack's friend was so pretty that Lynda felt very dowdy and not at all sure how to talk to the other blonde woman. The blue-eyed woman thought they were about the same age but somehow Rose seemed older. Lynda thought it was the eyes they were like an ancient golden brown, though they weren't nearly as old looking as the Doctor's.
"Anyway, Jack where'd you get that?" Rose was vastly aware of the Doctor's dislike, if not outright hatred, of guns.
Jack glanced over where he'd dropped the useless weapon then back at Rose. "Yeah, well it's part laser gun and defabricator that I cobbled together. Pretty much a piece of junk now it was a one shot wonder. Only enough energy for that lucky shot."
"Well, I'm glad of that lucky shot." Rose smiled taking Jack's hand and giving it a squeeze before pulling him where the Doctor was still prodding the lifeless Dalek. Lynda followed still a little unsure about her place in the groups dynamic.
In the ship, the Dalek's monitored the TARDIS. There was a heaviness in the air that dragged on the more time past and no active came from the blue box. The Dalek's shuffled with anticipation and foreboding.
Into that tense atmosphere, a deep raspy voice thunder, "My brethren, patience the fiend will emerge soon."
Rose stood behind the Doctor not want to tempt fate, she'd finally stopped being queasy. "Doctor, I thought the last one was destroyed in Utah, two thousand and twelve."
The ex-time agent had no problem with getting closer to the metal casing with the corpse of the actually Dalek inside. It was the first time he'd ever seen what one looked like without the armor. "Utah, huh. They used to be every where and when. They gave no mercy because they had none. Then out of the blue they disappeared."
"Their insides look scary then the outside." Lynda commented as she looked closer to the mangled mass.
Rose stared at the blonde woman amazed that that was her first observation. Okay maybe, the cyclops eye and tentacles were more off putting than the shiny metal exterior. Really though the eyestalk, plunger arm and the loud cries of exterminate made up for it.
"Their outsides don't have to be scary if the insides are rotten." The Doctor stated. His next words held a trace of the horror and buried hatred he had for the Dalek's. "The reason they took off was they had a bigger opponent to defeat... and a war that was far bigger... the Time War."
"Doc, that's just a story fallen under myth or legend maybe even a fairy tale to some. It was meant to frighten or inspire small kids." Jack said as he stared in amazed realization that he should have known it was all real.
"Nothing inspiring about it. Billions upon billions of sentient beings dying, planets wiped from existence. I was right in the middle of it. I tried, but in the end both sides were destroyed. The Time Lords in the end took the Daleks with them." The Doctor's face went through myriad of different emotions. He was so frustrated, angry and sad at the waste and his part in the whole thing. He felt Rose's hand rubbing up and down his back. Her human warmth radiated through the fabric of his jumper. He almost broke from the comfort and love that wash over him from Rose.
Clenching his jaw, the Doctor stood straighter. "It was all meaningless. Everything... all the death... my planet dead for nothing." His voice was so soft that the three barely heard him.
Rose glanced quickly from Jack to Lynda before stepping closer to the Doctor. She didn't deny that she was terrified but Rose had every confidence in the alien man. "Doctor, you have a plan yeah?"
"Nope." The Doctor said cheerfully as he squashed down the urge to run. "Well we can't just stand here gossiping like Jackie Tyler on a free line. Won't get answers in here." He pulled away from Rose and skirted around the lump of metal, rushing down the ramp towards the doors that were keeping the monsters at bay.
Rose couldn't believe what she was hearing. The blonde woman knew that the Time Lord was spur of the moment type but he didn't have any ideas. Rose took a moment to realize that the madman was going out unprotected to face the horde of Daleks. "No. Doctor stop it's not safe..."
Rose raced after the Doctor followed closely behind by Jack and Lynda.
The Doctor paid no attention to Rose's urgent cries. He opened the door with a flourish and walked out to face one of his most deadliest enemies.
TBC...