A/N: Thanks to everyone who reads this. I hope the story has been good so far. I've got no reviews for the last chapter, so I can't thank anyone in particular, but I do hope you all enjoy.

Summary: The Doctor, reeling from the effects of the TimeWar as the last surviving Timelord, stumbles into a situation he cannot ignore when the TARDIS lands him inside a ship that is clearly in trouble. His people may be gone, but the stamp he's made on the universe is still there, and he finds himself caught in a web spun of the choices he's made in the past…

It's 2517. Something in the past has prompted humanity to explode out from their home world. Could the events of 2164 be responsible? Was Earth a myth or was it real? In fleeing Earth-that-Was, humanity scattered to the stars across the galactic arm. Initial survey teams targeted likely planets and systems for habitation and not all of them ended up on the same side of the sector. Blue Sun exists on one side, separated by a patch of 'wild space' filled with exotic binary and triple star systems, from the rest of civilized space. Few ships brave the route. But luck has it that one ship is. It's a ghost run, the only contact that the two sides have. Port of Departure: Eavesdown Docks, Persephone. Mixed Sino-Anglo culture. Port of Call: Tangiers-5. Darkside. Mixed Islamic-Anglo culture. Crew complement: Four. Passengers: Forty. Living 'Cargo': Two.

So what happens when a passenger by the name of Dr. Simon Tam and his cargo get on the wrong ship? And just how is this related to the TimeWar?

Doctor Who / Firefly / Riddick X-over.

Features Doctor 9, Pre-"Rose"; Simon and River Tam, Pre-"Serenity" Firefly episode 1 and the cast of Pitch Black…

Doctor Who and the Great Eclipse

Part Twenty-Seven

Wonderland

Riddick was scanning the tall shelves with their core samples, up high, looking for signs of life more than anything else. His eyes darted back and forth, the light he kept with him turned off so that it didn't interfere with his nightvision. Everything was a wash of pinks, purples, and navies, with the occasional white highlight. He could read the dates on the shelves and the scientific notations that indicated possible ages and depths of each sample, if he concentrated on it. But right now he needed to detect life signs, heat, movement, and if possible do it with enough advance warning to get his light turned on while remembering to not look at the bright pain it would cause.

As he walked, silent as can be, eyes scanning about up high, he failed to notice the carcass on the floor until he set foot in it with a squish. He paused, frozen, and waited, almost feeling the approaching creature across the upper shelf where it is slinking his direction. The ex-ranger lifts his head, to look into the 'face' of an adolescent predator. He dares not to breathe. The hammerhead squats atop the shelf, momentarily distracted by a hatchling body half draped over the edge of the upper surface. It began eating the carcass. A heavy bone-blade crowns its skull, and it's odd three fingered hands end in very sharp bony talons. It's a thin limbed beast, but powerfully built for one thing: Killing.

And as much as Richard B. Riddick knows about Killing, he knows that right now, moving would be inviting death. Last thing he wants is to become dinner.

There are sounds of confusion because he's taking so long. "Riddick?" comes Fry's voice through the darkness.

"Stay. By. The. Wall." He orders. He just hopes they listen.

The creature above him pauses in it's munching and makes a pass of noise that oddly reminds Richard of a curious mongoose after a snake. He maintains his frozen stance as if he's one of them, just bigger, tougher, meaner, with a different physical form. It's worked for him before, after all. It might work now.

Only it doesn't because of two factors. One is the arrival of Hassan, sans his glowing sweater, and the other is the second hammerhead that is peering down at them. The pilgrim is totally oblivious to the danger he's in, and Rich would tear him a new one if it were safe to do so. Instead he catches the lad with a vice like grip around the back of his neck and hisses, "Don't move."

The first predator was curious but not that bold. This second one however is quite forward with its investigation. Instead of going for the free meal ticket on the shelf it reaches down with it's talon-tipped hand and gently pokes, first at Riddick who gives no reaction, then as Hassan who is shivering in fear.

The touch of the bony dagger-like claw is enough for Hassan to empty is bladder. Riddick tightens his grip, "Just. Don't. Run."

The other hammerhead began copying its peer, making the encounter a battle of sheer will as razor sharp talons move over the two like surgical instruments, poking at first, then making experimental slicing motions. One cut forms a hole in Riddick's shirt, on the left side, just deep enough to sting but not enough to bleed freely.

Imam's voice hisses, "Someone is missing. Where is Hassan?" Then with rising panic, "Have you seen Hassan?"

"Imam? Calm down, you aren't helping here," Carolyn cautions. "No, don't wander away, too. Riddick? Do you have Hassan with you?"

The con wants to protect the boy, but he's seconds away from doing something very stupid. He calls back, "Yes." He tries to will the kid to stay still as another blade-like claw slices across his cheek, the only skin the boy has exposed. Hassan hisses in pain as the blood wells up along the deep cut. The constant clicking the two creatures had been making suddenly stop. It all happens so fast, one moment the boy is there, the next he's twisted away out of Richard's grip driven by blind flight responses coursing through his blood. "No!" He tries to catch the kid by his clothing, to drag him to the floor and misses.

The attempt puts him in a crouch as the first two hammerheads take off like blurs after Hassan's retreating form, but the ex-ranger freezes again as a third one of the same age group hones in on his location. A horrible scream pierces the darkness and sound of rain. He makes a choice. He can't wait for the other two to come back. He dives for the end of the shelving unit and sprints toward the others.

He can hear the sharp clawed beast following, down low, unable to get its wings fully spread. He's not thinking, at the moment, just reacting. Suddenly there's light in his eyes. God the pain! Riddick screams in spite of himself, diving for the floor. The bioraptor behind him echoes him with a howl and swerves up into the ceiling struts somehow managing to get air into its leathery wings enough to lift it away from the burning brightness. The shotgun goes off over his head. More than once. Riddick does not move. He can feel the cool of the Doctor step up besides Johns and put a hand over the man's trigger finger to keep him from firing off again.

"Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!" Carolyn screams at the marshal.

The blue-eyed-devil blinked at her, "'Sokay, 'sokay. I killed it." He's totally oblivious to the cool fingers over his and the incredulous stares that everyone but Riddick is giving him. But even the con jumps when the carcass of the predator that had been chasing him lands hard on the floor next to where he's flattened out. The sudden arrival sends him into a fast crouching twist that ends up with his back to the wall and his shiv out.

The carcass has landed point on in the headlight beam of the makeshift spot, and is smoldering, smoking, bursting into blisters, and charring as they watch. "Look' it!" Jack says pointing.

"Like the light is scalding it," Olgivie says in wonder.

Simon adds, "Interesting, severe photo-reaction. Light actually causes physical harm."

Fry forgets her anger at Johns as she stares at the decaying flesh, "It hurts them. Not just phobic."

On the other side of the room the other two adolescent hammerheads begin loudly fighting, likely over the remains of the pilgrim. Imam blinks rapidly, "Is that – Hassan?" The Doctor puts a hand on the holy man's shoulder as Riddick gets to his feet and nods.

"We'll burn a candle for him later. C'mon," says Johns, tugging the spotlight along to keep any others that might think of trying anything far, far away from them.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

They bypassed the main room for the safety of one of the still sealed lower ceiling storage rooms. The idea is to take a moment in safety to gather their wits, confirm that no one else is going to pull a stunt like the middle pilgrim pulled, and eat something, if they can. Jack is shaking, wet through to the bone. It's not fear, but cold that is the problem. Ali is slumped against Jack's shoulder, sobbing.

"We got the cable made up into a ladder, so there's a way down. O'course tyin' it off means we lose it. Same with the headlight. I can't see any way of using it to cover our climb down and still have it with us. And I don't know how to lower it down. We don't have enough cable to do both the ladder and the spotlight." Carolyn is pacing as she talks.

Abu watches her go back and forth for a moment, "Please, try to eat something."

She nods and accepts some dried fruit and freeze-dried nuts. A moment later she is handed a hot mug of something that smells like hot coca. The Doctor then makes cups for each of the others, although he prefers tea for himself and Riddick requests it instead of the coca. Ali sniffles a little and manages to blink his tears away because of the warm rich liquid. "I promise, Ali, that I will do everything I can to make sure as many people as possible survive this. But you must do as you are told." The boy nods at the Time Lord quite serious. "That's a boy. Go on, drink up before it gets cold."

"Thanks Doctor," Jack says and is happy for the beaming grin he gets back in return.

Johns is shaking too, but it has nothing to do with the cold. He swallows and moves over behind some furniture. He knows he won't make it without a hit. These folks are just going to have to live with that. It feels like he's stripping himself naked and jerking off in front of people, even though he's not. He decides to not think about it. He preps his needle with a capsule and then blinks at Simon who is kneeling down right next to him. "You are far too shaky to that safely. Let me clean the needle." He's not sure why but he lets the Tam boy take the hypo out of his hand and clean it. Then he watches, mesmerized, as the elegant hands expertly raise a vein and give him the shot. He closes his eyes. "Where do you normally shoot up, Mr. Johns?"

"Eye duct."

Simon makes a face at that, "I'm surprised you can still see. I've got several anti-morphine drugs in my bag that could be used to ease you off the addiction, providing we survive."

William frowns, "You offering to help me?"

"Yes. I'd like to take a look at your old injury. I'm a trauma surgeon not a spinal specialist, but highly trained and the top of my class. I might be able to remove the rest of the fragment."

"Why? Why you offering to help me?"

"I'm a doctor. That's what doctors do. I've only got one condition: keep your promise and let Riddick go free."

Johns blinked, "I'll let you know." Simon closes his bag and nods, moving away to let the man ride out his high. Once he settles Johns reloads his shotgun and puts one red shell in his chest harness.

Carolyn peeks around the edge of the stack he was hiding behind, "Ready, Johns?" She's holding his glow-vest-thing. He takes a deep breath and nods.

But once he gets close to her he says, "He'll lead you over the first drop off. You know that, don't you?"

She shakes her head; "We've been over this. He says he tried to save Hassan. He's not lied before. Just give it a rest, huh?"

"He's gonna pick y'all off one at a time, strand you into situations you can't get out of. And you're playing right into his game. Why don't you get that?"

Carolyn sighs, "We're just burnin' light here."

The marshal stares at her, "He will leave you. He will leave you all out there to die."

"I don't get it, Johns. What is so goddamn valuable in your life that you're worried about losing? Huh?" she leaned in and looked at him, "Is there anything at all that you care about besides dragging him back to slam? Anything that makes this worth surviving, besides your next hype?" Johns looks away but says nothing, "Got no right to be so scared. Neither one of us. We're both responsible for these people, one way or another. So you can decide to help us get off this rock and make up for the bad choices you've made, or you can die trying."

"Thought you'd be pissed with me, Fry."

She smiled, "Don't let the calm fool you, Johns. I am pissed with you, but survival comes first." She steps away, leaving him with the vest. The others are sounding like they are making to leave. He broods, grabs his fiber optic top and struggles into it and begins coiling up the lead. The others are waiting for him. He can see that the spotlight is hoisted up to light the way down and that the ladder is ready. Everyone is spaced out and prepared to do this.

"I'll go first," The Doctor announces. "I'll keep the sonic pulse going until we are all down."

Riddick was next in line, "I figure this way, Johns, you don't have to worry about me cutting the cable. I'll follow the Doctor. Remember we have to stay 3 steps apart, but no more than that or the light will go out."

"Ali, ready?" The boy nodded. "Jack? Paris?" They nodded too. "Keep the light going. That's all we have to do to live through this. Just keep your light burning," Carolyn finishes up.

The Doctor steps on to the ladder, "One, Two, Three," he calls as he goes down. Riddick steps on and the count continues, "Four, Five, Six." Ali starts his climb down and after three beats Imam joins them. Three beats later Jack gets on, and is followed by River after a count of three. Simon gets on after that, then Paris. The last three are Suleiman, Carolyn, and William to the count of thirty-three. They don't stop moving on the count until Johns is off the ladder.

In spite being down with thirty skeletons in a core-shaft, things are looking slightly brighter. They have made it this far and have only lost one person. And it is dry down here for the most part. They decide to use Paris's lamps for the moment, and to save the battery power on the hand lights. Only Riddick and the Doctor decline them, leaving Paris with one extra.

"Ok, the Doctor and I will take the lead again," Riddick says taking his fiber optic shirt back. The majority of the light is safely on the back of it, so he can see. "Keep less than ten paces, try to not stray too far out to the sides. We don't know what might be down here, or what the ground might do. If it looks wet don't step into it. Might suck you straight down. If you have any scrapes, let Doc. Tam here hit you with the Derma-heal. These bad-boys know our blood now."

Jack chews on his lower lip.

From Simon's healer's bag replacement spears make their appearance. "These all have rounded shafts and River made grips. They should work as walking sticks as well as weapons. Those of us on the outer edge should use one." He passes them out as he checks everyone over for cuts.

Carolyn walked up to Richard, "You know, someone should look out for Jack if we make it."

"Not me. Nobody's gonna turn a murderer loose. I fuckin' knew better." He looks over at Johns.

She frowns, "I told you, I made that deal, I intend --"

His silver eyes get a look in them that she's never seen on his face before, one that is soft and awestruck, "Been a long time since anyone's trusted me, Carolyn. That's somethin' right there."

She gives him a slight smile; "We can, can't we? Trust you?"

His face morphs into a humorous smirk, "Actually... That's what I been askin' myself." Rich walks back over to the Doctor leaving Fry wondering again who exactly the bad guy is here.

They take on the formation of a thin ten-legged, glowing spider with very large feet. Jack once again is in the middle. Imam walks in front of the children, with Ali on one side and River on the other. Suleiman and Simon walk behind them, flanking Jack. Carolyn and Paris follow them with Johns taking rear guard. The Doctor and Riddick are walking side by side, both very alert as they lead the others into the first passage, following the pull of the TARDIS key.

Their light manages to illuminate a totally alien cave-scape, filled with circular spouts of water from above, oddly formed chambers, worn into curved shapes by countless generations of bioraptors inhabiting them. There were weird sloping pillars, many of which ran miniature rivers from the rain above them, and tracks along the walls for the water to flow, occasionally the trickle would disappear only to start back up once they passed the next pillar or downspout.

The hammerheads are not in evidence, as of yet. Perhaps it is the light that drives them off, concentrated as it is by the yellowed walls. Perhaps it's the fact that the locals don't expect this tactic. But whatever the reason they have a clear route until they peek from a cave alongside the canyon and realize that something is causing the hammerheads to track them from above, following their progress like a pack of hyenas. Riddick pulls a large piece of bone into the opening to keep the creatures from coming in behind them and they backtracked slightly to take a route that diverges from the pull of the key.