II
Almost instantly, the Doctor was surrounded by armed guards. That, he expected. He expected to be shot to pieces, to be honest. What he didn't expect was the leader to motion to him, and speak in a curt voice.
"Ambassador. This way."
The trooper then turned without another word, and left the Doctor to follow, which he did. The trooper led him into a lift, through corridors, and finally into a massive room, filled with control panels, scurrying Zagrites, and one superior-looking Zagrite was standing, presiding over it all.
"Ah, Ambassador," he said softly, turning and giving the Doctor his first look at an unarmoured Zagrite. Pale purple skin, slicked back silver hair, and ceremonial armour in jet black. "So glad you could join us."
"Well, I try not to disappoint," the Doctor replied. "I'm the welcome wagon for all alien visitors, and so... welcome!"
"Alien visitors..." the Zagrite Admiral repeated. "Yes, I suppose you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?"
"Dunno what you mean," the Doctor said, innocently.
"Don't play dumb, please," the Zagrite said. "We know the difference between a local and a – whatever you are. We scanned you the moment you came on board."
"Well," the Doctor said, "in that case, I suppose I should just ask – what are you doing here?"
"What we do everywhere," the Zagrite Admiral said. "Conquer, conscript, strip and vaporise. Although we might leave the last one out here."
"You don't fool me," the Doctor replied, shaking his head and leaning forward slightly. "I know Zagrite tactics back to front and sideways. This isn't your usual thing. You usually go for orbital strikes, vaporise the major population centre's, and mop up any resistance in a mass ground assault. Then, to finish off, you enslave the survivors, and blow the planet up."
The Doctor narrowed his eyes, the sheer anger in them so intense that the Admiral stepped back.
"Huh," the Zagrite grunted. "No fooling you, it seems. Ah well, it's not like you're going to get out of here alive, so telling you won't cause any damage, in the long run."
He turned to his control panel, and a hologram came up, showing a detailed map of Earth, complete with little Zagrite warships.
"This is the Earth," the Admiral said, unnecessarily. "These are our ships, in all the strategic locations, and from here, they go down into the atmosphere."
"Nice hologram," the Doctor commented, before immediately slapping his hand over his mouth. "Sorry, that is what you call it, isn't it?"
"Well, we actually call it a projector-view," the Admiral responded, "but your name sounds good."
The Doctor nodded comprehendingly, and then leaned over the projector-view, which was showing Zagrite troops landing in a burning city. He put his hands in his pockets.
"It all seems very new," he observed. "A bit of the old stuff, what with the blowing cities up, but land assault as well, leaving more survivors for... conscription?"
The Admiral nodded, and the Doctor continued his assessment.
"Plus a bit of a demoralising effect on the troops who are fighting back, if they can see your ship right above them, shooting bolts of death," he said, before leaning back and running a hand through his hair. "But it is markedly inefficient, and not something that seems to have been tested – you're taking baby steps with it, I can tell, attacking the less important cities like this one."
"Well, this is a new tactical stratagem," the Admiral explained. "We acquired it recently. The Quintrix Stratagem. It seems to work quite well, in its own fashion, albeit – and you're quite right to have said this – markedly inefficient, although I think with time that our forces will have perfected their use of it, and it will be our most effective assault weapon."
"More practical too, here," the Doctor added. "There are absolutely loads of big cities, and little cities, and in between cities to look for, it'd take you ages to blow 'em all up."
"Hm," the Admiral grunted in a noncommittal fashion. "There is that."
"Anyway," the Doctor continued, "you say acquired. Who did you acquire the Quilty – whatever strategy from?"
"What do you mean by that?" the Admiral asked.
"Who did you get the Quantex stratagem off of?" the Doctor repeated, speaking slowly as if to an idiot. "The TARDIS translator may be getting old, but it still works perfectly. I checked it last Tuesday."
The Admiral's eyes blazed.
"I think, Ambassador –"
"Doctor," the Doctor interrupted.
"- Doctor, whatever," the Admiral conceded. "I think you've outstayed your welcome – and your life."
He motioned to the troops standing guard. They raised their weapons.
The Doctor narrowed his eyes slightly, and leaned his head forward, gazing intently at the Admiral. He said one word, just one word.
"Don't."
The Admiral smiled at him.
"Just Don't," the Doctor said.
"Fire," the Admiral ordered his troops.
The troops fired.
--
Jack ran through the city under fire. He herded people to safety, he guided the soldiers defending the city, and he shot down Zagrites with his pistol. All the time, Eilidh stayed behind him, keeping out of the line of fire, and offering help to a few injured people. Doing her bit, the Captain conceded to himself, though he would never say it to her out loud. She was too stuck up and bigheaded to ever get that out of him.
One of the army Lieutenants, a short man with glasses, soon briefed Jack on the situation – the American always seemed to have authority when it counted.
"They're all over us, thousands of them," he said. "We can't hold them back much long –"
Another wave of fire from the Zagrites landed, and killed the Lieutenant and several of his men. Jack returned fire with is pistol, and the battle continued.
"You're pretty good with that thing," Eilidh commented.
"I've had a lot of practice," Jack replied.
Jack dispatched the last Zagrite troop with a head shot. Unlike many alien races, Zagrites weren't bulletproof by a long shot, something Jack found enormously refreshing. Having done that, he proceeded to run down an alleyway, scouting around for any stragglers. Eilidh followed him, cautiously, muttering something Jack didn't care to listen to.
"Eilidh, keep close to me," Jack whispered. There was no response from the girl, her mutterings ceasing.
"Eilidh?" Jack whispered again. He turned around, but Eilidh wasn't there.
"Eilidh?!" he yelled desperately. "Oh no..."
He ran off into the maze of alleyway, looking for a girl he hated. If anything happened to her, though, the Doctor would never talk to him again. He'd dump him on Earth, like last time. Jack had found a way to adapt on Earth, but he couldn't go back. He'd left the team after he'd promised never to do so again. He could never go back. Not really.
Could he?
"Eilidh!" he called yet again. Where could she be? He turned another corner, desperately seeking her out.
And there she was, being aimed at by two Zagrite troopers. They were speaking to her in a harsh language. Jack could've sworn she was answering in the same language...
"Alright, back off!" he yelled, aiming his pistol at them.
They turned faster than he could react, aiming and firing. He tried to move out of the way, but they were too fast, and they blasted him. He felt a sharp burning pain, and then nothing.
He hoped Eilidh would be alright, but then, nothing was certain anymore...