Sontarans part 2!
Orders rang through the factory as soldiers rushed about to push out the smoking cars and seal out the gas. Buffy followed Colonel Mace into the field base.
"What have we got?" Mace demanded.
"ATMOS is running wild, sir. It can't be stopped, it's everywhere. The whole planet."
Buffy stood back and watched as the officers were compiling data on their individual screens. Buffy noticed Martha enter and move one person from his station on the end of a row. Something about the way she was moving sent Buffy's Slayer senses tingling. Something wasn't right. Buffy tried to reason that she didn't know Martha well, so this could be very typical behaviour. But as part of Buffy thought that, the other part kept insisting that it was very suspicious behaviour for a companion of the Doctor and what she had seen of Martha so far. Buffy decided to make a move when Martha stood and was leaving.
"Everything all right, Martha?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah," Martha replied without so much as a nod and then continued to leave the room.
Definitely suspicious. The world choking to death on alien gas and everything was "all right". Buffy was thinking possession, but with aliens it had to be something else… or did it? Buffy really wished Xander was here with his geek wisdom.
"What's the plan, Colonel?" Buffy asked.
"We follow standard procedures," he said.
"And they are?"
"Don't do anything until we fully understand the situation. In this instance, we wait for the Doctor to see what he has learned in addition to the data we are collecting."
They didn't have long to wait. The radio sounded just moments later.
"Greyhound 40 to Trap 1, I have just returned the Doctor to base safe and sound, over."
"Trap 1, received. Over," Mace replied into his com.
Martha returned just a second after looking anxious… or faking it well. Buffy still had suspicions. "Sir, message from the Doctor, he says Code Red Sontaran."
Mace relayed the Code Red in his com, and soon the Doctor came bursting through the doors.
"Right then, here I am, good. Whatever you do, Colonel Mace, do not engage the Sontarans in battle, there is nothing they like better than a war. Just leave this to me."
Not one to so easily relinquish command, Colonel Mace asked, "And what are you going to do?"
"I've got the TARDIS, I'm gonna get on board their ship."
Out of the corner of her eye, Buffy noticed that Martha was pushing something on what seemed to be a PDA. She tried to get the Doctor's attention, but he went past her to Martha and whispered something. He motioned for Buffy to follow with them. To the colonel's annoyance, the Doctor slapped Mace's back as he passed him. Buffy smiled and just shrugged her shoulders as an apology. As she left, she thought she might have seen a slight smile on the colonel's face.
Buffy ran ahead of Martha with the Doctor and tried once more to speak with him.
"Doctor… there's something off about Martha."
"I know, just leave it to me," he said as they arrived at the exact spot where the Tardis should have been. Martha then caught up with them.
"But... where's the TARDIS?" she asked.
"Taste that, in the air. Yecch. That sort of metal tang. Teleport exchange. It's the Sontarans, they've taken it. I'm stuck, on Earth like... like an ordinary person. Like a human! How rubbish is that! Sorry, no offence, but come on!"
"So what do we do?" Martha demanded.
"Well... I mean it's shielded, they could never detect it." The Doctor spoke quietly, and there was something very vague and left open in the statement.
Martha turned to him, turning abrupt as she demanded again, "What?"
"Doctor…" Buffy started, wanting to question Martha's odd behaviour. Question her in a small, dark room with one bright focused light while Martha was tied to a chair.
But the Doctor signalled her to stop with just a slight gesture of one hand. He looked at Martha with open suspicion that turned to curiosity. "I'm just wondering, have you phoned your family and Tom?"
"No, what for?" she asked with confused attitude.
"The gas. Tell them to stay inside."
"Course I will, yeah, but, what about Donna? I mean, where's she?"
"Oh, she's gone home. She's not like you, she's not a soldier. Right. So, avanti!"
As Buffy followed the Doctor and Martha back into the HQ she wondered what the Doctor was up to. He knew there was something wrong with Martha; Buffy's suspicions were confirmed. But what game was he playing? When was he going to confront the UNIT doctor?
"Change of plan!" the Doctor shouted to the room.
"Good to have you fighting alongside us, Doctor," Colonel Mace said.
"I'm not fighting," the Doctor replied. "I'm not-fighting, as in not hyphen fighting, got it? Now, does anyone know what this gas is yet?"
"We're working on it," said Martha.
"It's harmful, but not lethal until it reaches 80% density," said a woman with blonde hair from one of the stations. "We're having the first reports of deaths from the centre of Tokyo City."
"And who are you?" the Doctor asked.
"Captain Marion Price, sir." She stood and saluted.
The Doctor walked away with annoyance. "Oh, put your hand down. Don't salute."
Colonel Mace then explained to the Doctor more about the Sontarans and their signal to the cars. They argued a bit over nukes and the Doctor speaking with the Sontarans on behalf of Earth, but it wasn't long before the Doctor was hailing them and one potato-shaped alien was on the screen.
"Doctor, breathing your last?" the potato demanded.
"My God," Mace said not so quietly. "They're like trolls."
"Yeah, loving the diplomacy, thanks," the Doctor muttered to the colonel before addressing the Sontaran. "So, tell me, General Staal, since when did you lot become cowards?"
"How dare you!" Staal shouted.
"Oh, that's diplomacy?" Mace asked sarcastically. It reminded her of Giles talking to her about her pre-dusting puns.
"Doctor, you impugn my honour!" Staal continued.
The Doctor was lounging at one of the stations when he answered. "Yeah, I'm really glad you didn't say belittle cos then I'd have a field day. 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 honour? Or, are you lot planning something else? Cos this isn't normal Sontaran warfare. What are you lot up to?"
The potato general looked a bit caught out, but he recovered. "A general would be unwise to reveal his strategy to the opposing forces."
The Doctor smiled. "Aaah, the war's not going so well, then? Losing, are we?"
"Such a suggestion is impossible," Staal said angrily.
"What war?" Mace asked.
"The war between the Sontarans and the Rutans. It's been raging, far out in the stars for 50,000 years. 50,000 years of bloodshed, and for what?"
"For victory," Staal answered. "Sontar-ha!"
Then the potatoes all started chanting and hitting their hands. The Doctor just rolled his eyes and… changed the channel? That would have really come in handy with some of her encounters with Glory. The Hell Bitch never shut up. Mace was then trying to tell the Doctor that "official" representation needed to handle the communication with the Sontarans, but the Doctor just changed the channel back to General Staal.
"Finished?" he asked.
"You will not be so quick to ridicule when you'll see our prize. Behold!" Staal pointed to a familiar looking blue phone box behind him. "We are the first Sontarans in history to capture a Tardis."
"Well." Buffy wondered how the Doctor could sound so calm. "As prizes go, that's... noble. As they say in Latin, Donna nobis pacem." Now she knew how. "But did you never wonder about its design? It's phone box. It contains a phone. A telephonic device for communication. Sort of symbolic. Like if only we could communicate. You and I."
Buffy then realised that the Sontarans were dumb. The Doctor was making it incredibly obvious that one Donna Noble was still in the Tardis and now on the Sontaran ship. But what did the Doctor need her to do up there?
"All you have communicated is your distress, Doctor," Staal said haughtily. Who had ever heard of a haughty potato before?
"Big mistake though. Showing it to me." Buffy was starting to recognise that tone; the Doctor was bluffing. "Cos I've got remote control." The transmission ended abruptly. "Oh, well."
"Oh well, that achieved nothing," Mace said.
"Oh, you'd be surprised."
Buffy wanted nothing more to ask the Doctor what he had up his sleeves (or in his pockets… it's like he stole them from Mary Poppins). But she didn't dare around Martha. Instead Buffy had to stand around feeling helpless. The Doctor was walking around and checking things at stations, Mace was overseeing his responsibilities, Martha was analyzing the gas, and Buffy was just standing around. For the first time in what must have been months, she was actually longing to be in a graveyard after dark with a stake in her hand.
"Launch grid online and active," Captain Price said.
"Positions ladies and gentlemen, Defcon One initiatives in progress," Mace ordered the room. The Doctor came swiftly from his conversation with Martha.
"What?! I told you not to launch!"
"The gas is at 60% density," Mace said with authoritative patience. "80% and people start dying, Doctor. We've got no choice."
As Captain Price started counting the minute down, the Doctor ran his hands over his head and had an angry panicked look.
"You're making a mistake, Colonel! For once, I hope the Sontarans are ahead of you."
Mace let the countdown continue as the different countries coordinated. "God save us."
"4, 3, 2, 1… 0." As Price finished the countdown there was a still moment in the room. Everyone held their breath and waited.
But nothing happened. The screen went blank.
"What is it?" Mace asked. "What happened? Did we launch? Well, did we?"
"Negative, sir. The launch codes have been wiped, sir. It must be the Sontarans."
"Can we override it?"
"Trying it now, sir."
The Doctor was calmer, but it was a carefully contained calm. "Missiles wouldn't even dent that ship, so why are the Sontarans so keen to stop you?" He looked at Martha. "Any ideas?"
"How should I know?" she answered. But Buffy finally had confirmed that Martha was working for the Sontarans. Or at least she did know what they were up to… or could find out. Ok, so not much had been totally confirmed. Something still wasn't right, though.
Moments later a call came across the radio. "Enemy within! At arms! Greyhound 40 declaring absolute emergency. Sontarans within factory grounds, east corridor grid six."
"Absolute emergency, declaring Code Red. All troops, Code Red!" Mace called back.
"Get them out of there!" the Doctor said to Colonel Mace.
Mace seemed to hesitate for a second, but Buffy could see what he was about to order.
"Colonel," Buffy stepped forward. "If there is an army with alien weapons in that factory, even if bullets can hurt the Sontarans your men don't stand a chance. The layout, the weapons, everything is going to lead to a massacre of good men. Men you need!"
"Listen to her, Colonel," said the Doctor.
Again the radio sounded. "The guns aren't working. Inform all troops, standard weapons do not work." There were the sounds of screams. "Tell the Doctor it's that Cordolaine signal. He's the only one who can stop them."
Colonel Mace took the merest second to look at Buffy. "Trap One to all stations. Retreat. Order imperative, immediate retreat!"
As the men in the factory were following the order and the room waited, Buffy approached Mace and spoke so only he could here. "Every good warrior has to know when to stand and when to move to better ground… even if the ground is behind you."
"Better ground and better weapons," he said thoughtfully. Then he looked at the report that appeared on the screen in front of him. "They've taken the factory."
"Why?" the Doctor asked as he moved about the room again. "They don't need it. Why attack now? What are they up to? Times like this, I could do with the Brigadier. No offence," he added back to Colonel Mace.
"None taken," Mace agreed honestly. "Sir Alistair's a fine man, if not the best. Unfortunately he's stranded in Peru."
"Launch grid back online," Price announced, but just as the screen came up it flickered off once again. "They're inside the system, sir. It's coming from within UNIT itself."
"Trace it," the colonel ordered. "Find out where it's coming from, and quickly. Gas levels?"
"66% in major population areas. And rising."
Mace, followed by Buffy and the Doctor, went into a side office just apart from the main control room. The looked over all the information again in hopes of finding answers in something they may have missed.
"Why are they defending the factory only after we were inside?" Mace repeated the Doctor's earlier question.
And just then the Doctor realised the answer. "Because they wanted UNIT here. You gave them something they needed. Something now hidden inside the factory. Something precious."
"Then we've got to recover it. This Cordolaine signal thing, how does it work?" Mace asked.
"The bullets. It causes expansion of the copper shell."
"Excellent. I'm on it." He then got up and left the room.
"For the billionth time, you can't fight Sontarans!" the Doctor yelled after him.
"A warrior has to try," Buffy said quietly.
"He's not a warrior; he's a soldier."
The Doctor glared at her, but then the glare softened and he seemed to relax his shoulders just slightly. Then he walked over to the nearest soldier and took his cell phone. Buffy then decided to go in search of Colonel Mace and see if she could help him.
She found him going over supply lists and talking with a weapons officer.
"Buffy," he said.
"What's the plan?"
"If our weapons don't work, then we need to get better weapons. The Doctor said the signal affects the copper. So we'll just use bullets without copper. But I don't suppose the Doctor will approve."
"No, but it's something I would do." She gave a smile. "In fact there was this one time I faced this really ugly demon that no weapons forged could destroy. No sword, crossbow, nothing could take it out. But then we realised that the 'no weapon forged' line was from before modern weapons, so we stole this really big missile launcher from the army… and I shouldn't really be telling you that."
He smiled. "Perhaps not. But it shows your determination and ingenuity. Did you say demon?"
Before Buffy could put her foot further in her mouth a soldier came up to them and reported that everything was ready. Mace and Buffy then returned to the control room.
"Counter-attack!" he announced.
The Doctor then came from the office. "I said you don't stand a chance!"
Mace ignored it and threw a gas mask to him. "Positions. That means everyone!"
The Doctor stared at the mask for a moment, but then went and grabbed his coat. Buffy was then outside with Mace waiting for the Doctor. He came shortly, followed by Martha.
Colonel Mace held out a large gun. "Latest firing stock, what do you think, Doctor?"
"Are you my mummy?" the Doctor asked with a childlike voice. Buffy wondered where that line came from.
"If you could concentrate," Mace said with frustration. "Bullets with a rad-steel coating, no copper surface. Should overcome the Cordolaine signal."
"But the Sontarans have got lasers!" the Doctor argued. "You can't even see in this fog, the night-vision doesn't work."
"Thank you Doctor, thank you for your lack of faith. But this time, I'm not listening." Buffy watched with admiration as he removed his mask, put on his hat, and addressed the men. "Attention, all troops! Sontarans might think of us as primitive. As does every passing species with an axe to grind. They make a mockery of our weapons, our soldiers, our ideals. But no more! From this point on, it stops. From this point on, the people of Earth fight back and we show them! We show the warriors of Sontar what the human race can do! Trap One to Hawk Major! Go, go, go!"
There was then the sound of engines and a powerful blast of wind came from above. While the air slowly cleared, Colonel Mace stood tall. Buffy couldn't help but see how much of a good leader he was, and how much of a good man.
"It's working! The area's clearing. Engines to maximum!"
"What is it?" Buffy yelled to the Doctor.
"It's the Valiant!" he shouted back.
"UNIT Carrier Ship Valiant reporting for duty, Doctor!" Mace said as everyone began removing their masks. "With engines strong enough to clear away the fog."
"That's brilliant!" the Doctor said with a grin.
"Getting a taste for it, Doctor?" Mace asked.
"No, not at all. Not me," he denied.
"Valiant, fire at will," Mace said into the com. A green blast shot down at the building, and they could hear the explosion of walls. Soldiers soon exploded the doors of the factory open.
They all ran into the factory, guns blazing… for some of them. The Doctor looked to be briefly talking on the phone, but stopped when Martha and Buffy joined him.
"Shouldn't we follow the Colonel?" Martha asked.
"Nah, you and me, Martha Jones," said the Doctor. "Just like old times! You too, Buffy. Alien technology, this way!"
HXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXHXH
They followed him and his outstretched screwdriver down the levels to a dark basement. The lights flickered on.
"No Sontarans down here," the Doctor said quietly. "They can't resist a battle. Here we go."
They walked down a corridor to a door. The sonic screwdriver made short work of the lock and the door opened. The Doctor went running in towards a figure on some sort of alien hospital bed.
"Ooh, Martha, I'm so sorry." He checked the pulse of the other Martha. "Still alive."
The Evil Martha came forward pointing a gun at the Doctor. Buffy wasn't quite in range to take it from her, but slowly moved forward without being noticed. She hoped the Doctor would distract her enough for Buffy to get the gun.
He didn't disappoint. "Am I supposed to be impressed?" He didn't even bother to face her.
"Wish you carried a gun now?"
"Not at all."
"I've been stopping the nuclear launch all this time."
He turned. "Doing exactly what I wanted. I needed to stop the missiles, just as much as the Sontarans. I'm not having Earth start an interstellar war. You're a triple agent."
He circled and Buffy moved in closer.
"When did you know?"
"What, you? Oh, right from the start." Mystery finally solved. "Reduced iris contraction, slight thinning of the hair follicles on the left temple. And, frankly, you smell. You might as well have worn a T-shirt saying 'clone'. Although, maybe not in front of Captain Jack." He paused while standing behind the real Martha. Buffy wondered who Captain Jack was. "You remember him, don't you? Cos you've got all her memories. That's why the Sontarans had to protect her, to keep you inside UNIT. Martha Jones is keeping you alive."
Buffy grabbed the gun right as the Doctor pulled a device from the real Martha's head. The real Martha gasped awake and while the Doctor saw to her, Buffy threw the gun far across the room.
"It's all right. It's all right, I'm here, I'm here. I've got you, got you."
"There was this thing, Doctor, this alien, with this head..."
Then a phone started ringing.
"Oh, blimey I'm busy," the Doctor said while taking the mobile from his pocket. "Got it?" he asked the person on the other line. Buffy assumed it was Donna. "Take off the covering. All the blue switches inside, flick them up like a fusebox. And that should get the teleport working."
"The aliens are called Sontarans," Buffy told the real Martha. "Just in case you missed that bit."
"Thanks," said Martha as Buffy helped her up and on her feet. She then looked over at the fallen clone. "Oh, my God. That's me."
The Doctor put down the phone for a moment. Looking at Martha, he took off his coat. "Here you go. Can't have you walking around like that."
With a hesitant smile, Martha put on the large brown coat. Buffy stood by the Doctor as he fiddled with cords and stuff from the weird, large, round thing and Martha confronted her clone.
"The gas! Tell us about the gas," the Doctor yelled to them.
"He's the enemy!" the clone shouted.
"Then tell me," the real Martha said. "It's not just poison, what's it for? Martha, please!"
"Caesofine concentrate," the clone whispered. "It's one part of Bosteen, two parts Probic 5."
The Doctor overheard. "Clonefeed! It's clonefeed!"
"What's clonefeed?" the real Martha asked. Buffy thought that it was fairly obvious from just the name. It feeds clones, Sontaran clones considering the soldiers upstairs.
But the Doctor explained anyways. "Like amniotic fluid for Sontarans. That's why they're not invading, they're converting the atmosphere. Changing the planet into a clone world. Earth becomes a great big hatchery. Cos the Sontarans are clones, that's how they reproduce. Give 'em a planet this big, they'll create billions of new soldiers. That gas isn't poison, it's food!"
Buffy was right. Point for the Slayer.
Buffy watched, but couldn't bring herself to listen, as the clone slowly died. Martha took back her engagement ring, and then the Doctor flipped a switch and brought Donna back. So the big round thing must have been a teleport.
Donna hugged the Doctor. "Have I ever told you how much I hate you?"
"Hold on, hold on. Get off me, get off me! Gotta bring the Tardis down. Right, now. Martha, you coming?"
"What about this nuclear launch thing?"
"Just keep pressing N, we want to keep those missiles on the ground."
Donna noticed the dead clone. "But there's... two of them."
"Yeah, long story," said the Doctor. "Here we go. The old team, back together! Well, the new team."
As he pushed buttons Donna panicked. "We're not going back on that ship!"
"No, no, no. No. I needed to get the teleport working so that we could get to..." A humming noise sounded while they were covered in bright light. "...here! The Rattigan Academy, owned by..."
There was a boy pointing a gun at them. "Don't tell anyone what I did! It wasn't my fault, the Sontarans lied to me, they..."
The Doctor just stepped forward and took the gun as he kept walking. "If I see one more gun..." He threw the gun to the side. The three girls just looked at each other and walked around the boy.
"You know, that coat, sort of works," Donna told Martha.
"Feel like a kid in my dad's clothes."
"Oh, well if you're calling him dad you're definitely getting over him."
They all followed the Doctor to some sort of lab where he started running around and assembling things while explaining the situation very fast. Typical Doctor.
"That's why the Sontarans had to stop the missiles, they were holding back. Because, caesofine gas is volatile, that's why they had to use you to stop the nuclear attack. Ground-to-air engagement could've sparked off the whole thing."
"What, like set fire to the atmosphere?" asked Martha.
"Yeah. They need all the gas intact to breed their clone army. And all the time we had Luke here in his dream factory. Planning a little trip, were we?"
"They promised me a new world."
"You were building equipment, ready to terraform El Mondo Luko so that humans could live there and breathe the air with this! An atmospheric converter." He grabbed the large tube-like thingy and ran outside. While he started setting up, they all looked out to the fog that was the city.
"That's London," Donna said, not having seen too much of the gas before. "You can't even see it. My family's in there."
"If I can get this on the right setting..." the Doctor muttered.
"Doctor, hold on, you said the atmosphere would ignite."
"You do know what you're doing?" Buffy said with worry.
"Yeah, I did, didn't I? And of course I do… sort of." He pressed the button and a flame shot up into the sky. They all looked up as the sky ignited. "Please, please, please, please, please, please, please."
The sky cleared as the flames dissipated.
"He's a genius," Luke admitted with wonder.
"Just brilliant," Martha corrected.
But the Doctor only picked up the converter. "Now we're in trouble." He ran back into the building and into the room with the teleport. He stopped in the teleport, still holding the converter. "Right, so... Donna, thank you. For everything. Martha, you too. Oh... so many times. Buffy, there was so much I wanted to… Thank you. Luke, do something clever with your life."
Buffy knew this sort of a speech. She could feel herself go pale remembering just how much she knew this sort of speech. She had given it herself before.
Donna figured it out too. "You're saying goodbye."
"Sontarans are never defeated. They'll be getting ready for war. And, well, you know, I've recalibrated this for Sontaran air, so..." He stopped there and paused.
"You're gonna ignite them," said Martha.
"You'll kill yourself," Donna said.
"Just send that thing up, on its own," Martha argued. "I don't know... put it on a delay."
"I can't."
"Why not?" Donna asked.
He looked directly at Buffy. "I've got to give them a choice."
"No, Doctor, I'll…" But before Buffy could finish he hit the button and was gone.
Buffy pulled Donna into a hug, and then Martha. She didn't let the tears fall. None of them did.
Then they noticed Luke fiddling with wires under the teleport control panel.
"What are you doing?" Martha asked.
There was that look again. "Something clever." He pushed the button and was gone. In the flash of light came the Doctor. He fell to the floor panting. He climbed out and sat on the edge of the teleport. Martha rushed to his side and grabbed his arm. Donna walked slowly, slapped his other arm, and then sat down next to him also taking his arm.
Buffy stood there and met the Doctor's eyes.
"Right, I knew it couldn't last forever," he said.
"What do mean?" Martha asked him and looked to Buffy.
"It's time for me to go home," Buffy said.
The end.
Just kidding. It's only the beginning. Buffy still needs to meet Torchwood. But first it's time to find out what has been going on back in Sunnydale. I'd ask you to review, but it seems there is no use in that.
There may be some minor delays as I brush up on my Buffy Season 6 and Angel equivalents.