Title: Looking Within
Author: Shen
Rating: PG-13
Setting/Spoilers: Post-Doomsday, in my Peril-verse (see my profile). Recap of said 'verse is at http://shengirl dot livejournal dot com/8390 dot html
Characters: Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith, Jake, Jackie and Pete Tyler, OCs
Teaser: Rose has landed in the other universe. Should she hope for a way back or carve out a new life for herself? And what unexpected resources might she find on the way? Action/Adventure Reunion!fic.
Author's Note: So, uh, that last chapter didn't go over that well, but I'm confident you guys'll like this one better. If not, please tell me why so I don't do it again! BONUS: I doodled the alien in this chapter (key word: doodle). If it looks goofy, GOOD! It's an alien. :-p

Chapter 4: Invasion

"I'm going," Rose nearly growled. Surrounded by her team and her sort-of father, she felt very much cornered.

"You're not alright, Rose. What about sleep? You've barely left work." Pete explained gently.

"Neither have you!" Rose protested, taking a high-pitched tone. "It's been just days since we've learned of a full-scale alien invasion. This is Torchwood. No time for leisure. And I do sleep, thank you," she finished with derision.

"Do you?" Pete asked pointedly. He met her glare with his own, and Rose felt a blush creep up on her cheeks. She had thrown herself into work lately, thinking of nothing else until Mickey or Pete dragged her away to the Tyler Manor for sleep. Most nights, she'd let wracking sobs consume her before exhaustion finally took over. Pete must have heard. Still, Rose didn't let any embarrassment creep into her voice.

"Trust me," she insisted, "you want this on the front lines. I'm in the perfect state to fight aliens, and more importantly, you can't send SG-1 out with just three people." Her face was set, and from the slightly disturbed looks on people's faces, Rose thought she must look a little mad. But she needed this. She needed to work and plan and then fight, keep on her toes, do anything but sit still and think. She had yet to really mourn the loss of the Doctor – the second loss, deeper than the first because it was the destruction of hope. And she didn't intend to have time to do so anytime soon.

So, she glared at her boss until he grimaced and sighed, "Fine. But you're no good to me exhausted."

"I agree. As your doctor, I say you don't go anywhere until you eat a proper meal and have a real sleep," said Ingrid.

"Give me pills," Rose immediately demanded.

"What?"

"If you want me to sleep, I would like a dose of something," Rose clarified, voice cracking just a little. She really was shattered, physically run down and an emotional wreck. But natural sleep wouldn't come without reflecting on what she'd lost, and a full night's rest wouldn't be dreamless – the reason she had been getting up bright and early to return to work every day. So, pills.

The plan was as well-laid out as it could be, given limited information. Linnae had said that the krey evolved as cave-dwellers, ill-suited to bright light, so they would most likely attack at night. The British armed forces, as well as the military forces of other countries, had been informed of this and encouraged to supply their troops with bright lamps to catch krey off guard up close. Then, the very night after Rose was argued into a good night's sleep – barely a week since the return from Dårlig Ulv Stranden – the attack came.

A simple nuclear holocaust was undesirable for the designs the krey had for the planet, so they came down the old-fashioned way: bombers and fighters. The main Torchwood building began to rumble with not-very-distant explosions, and augmented British jets blew by it on their way to the fight. SG-1 stepped up, the first to attempt a trip via teleporter. Another team would follow, covering different parts of the alien ship. It was a pretty high-class transmat by Rose's standards; the team was together enough to shoot the technician who met them before he could even set off an alarm.

They stopped a moment to examine the body in the very dim light of the ship. The creature was obviously not a built fighter. Actually, it looked a bit ridiculous. It was about three feet tall at the shoulder and stood on four sturdy legs, using a long prehensile tail to hold tools and, presumably, weapons. Curiously, there was a blaster clearly designed for humanoids hanging from its side. Each foot had scoop-like claws, more suited to digging than fighting, and the front paws had a crude, thumb-like structure that was much shorter on the rear paws. Trailing up the alien with her eyes, Rose saw a longish neck with some kind of breathing hole or scent duct in the middle. The head was truly bizarre; it had a short trunk ending in some kind of toothed mouth. There were spindly appendages on the head, perhaps feelers. Then, there were the expressive eyes, for some reason on a raised brow-like structure on the top half of the face.

[Visual aide at http://userpages dot umbc dot edu/ashr1/Krey20resized.jpg

"It's like... a carnivorous anteater," Mickey reflected.

"Anteaters are carnivorous," said Ingrid wryly.

Jake commented, "It's certainly not cute. Must live in some warm caves; they ain't got fur." Just then, the other team transmatted in behind them.

"Woah, it looks like an ant-"

"We know," Rose interrupted impatiently. "You go this way; we'll go that way."

"Oi, I'm the commander," Mickey protested, sounding injured. Rose managed an apologetic look.

"Sorry."

He sighed and said, "'Sokay, I guess. Do what she said, fellas." The teams split off and traveled in silence. The going wasn't as quick as Rose would have liked due to the low lighting, but they made do. Unfortunately, after about fifteen minutes, there was the schfff of a door sliding open behind them while they traversed one corridor. The whole team spun around in unison.

A whistling noise escaped the necks of the attacking krey as Jake flipped on the high-powered lamp strapped to his chest. Their eyes were still scrunched in pain when SG-1 opened fire. They mowed down around ten, but some krey had remained in the side doorway.

"Aargh!" Jake cried out as laser fire shot through and around the lamp, lighting up his chest and arm. He fell over, breathing through clenched teeth, and the remaining three automatically stepped in front of him. The fight was done, however. More krey trooped out into the corridor, and now the team was half-surrounded by armed aliens. A few stamped the ground impatiently. The message was clear: surrender or die.

"Let's put down our weapons," Mickey ordered regretfully. As they did, one krey walked closer to them. His eyes were wide, and his feelers where twitching tirelessly. He stared intently at Rose before extending his trunk-like appendage and touching her hand. She started. There was something... Just outside of her rigidly maintained psychic barriers, there was a presence. Nothing intrusive, just there should she wish to examine it. Tentatively, she did.

Aha, so you are telepathic, if a bit weak. And to think, the orlicks told us not to bother with psychic weaponry. But look at you! Fascinating. Rose sensed unabashed awe in the creature's "voice," which was puzzling.

"Rose, what's it doing?" Mickey asked, worriedly confused. She glanced to the side and saw that Ingrid was tending to a moaning Jake, while their discarded weapons had been removed by the clumsy front feet of a few aliens.

"It's talking to me, in my head," she answered distractedly, caught up in receiving the next message.

I can't believe it. You're not a true telepath at all, just a mediocre psychic by galactic standards. But you burn! There's a dazzling inferno in your mind; I can barely keep touching you it's so bright. Oh, I would love to study you, it continued, reminding Rose eerily of the Doctor's rambling enthusiasm, but the krapak says I'm not allowed to collect any pets this trip. Still, no use wasting a good test subject. You and the other psychics on this rock are going to find out about our new weapon for us.

Rose resisted the urge to pull away from the rubbery appendage and it's evil owner to respond, But you're a telepath, too! Won't it hurt you? In response, the krey used its tail to tap something near its ear hole. A gleam of metal, probably an implant.

Inhibitor chip. Now, a moment while I contact Krapak Badwulf. Rose froze.

"...What did you say his name was?" she whispered aloud, forgetting herself in shock.

Krapak Badwulf, it answered impatiently. She didn't even have time to process the information before something crashed into her brain. More prepared for psychic attack after the last incident, she nonetheless had no true defense against this. It smacked into her like a Mack truck, stung and stabbed like a thousand needles, tearing apart her barriers. She fell to her knees in agony, clutching the sides of her head.

"Rose!" three voices called out.

"A- weapon-!" she managed before letting out a scream. Ingrid ran to her side, but she thrashed, becoming more unconnected from reality by the moment.

She dimly heard Mickey growl, "You're killing her!"

"Aaaa-eeh," Rose brought it down to a pathetic groan, trying to control herself as memories flashed behind her eyes, all of them horrible, and blinding pain roared beside them in her consciousness. She couldn't think straight; even holding onto her body was too much, and she collapsed forward. Was Ingrid shaking her?

Her eyes flew open, "AAAAHHHH!" She raggedly howled her lungs out, suddenly displaying the eyeshine of a wolf but brighter. The light was in her mind as well, scorching the worst of the attack away, but still she bayed plaintively. She felt possessed, consumed by something that slowly dipped into the calm part of her mind. Then, it extended a paw to the world outside her head and stepped down. Suddenly, all of the krey began to make their agitated whistling sounds. Each one fell over, some rolling on the ground, many scrabbling their claws against the metal of the floor. The picture of near-silent anguish they made was almost humorous. Finally, just as suddenly as it started, the attack stopped. Rose went limp and passed out.

"Rose?!" Mickey yelled, frantic from his position by Jake. He'd been holding his friend's wounds and keeping him awake while Ingrid tended Rose through the attack. Now, she checked her over quickly, and her whole frame abruptly relaxed.

"She's alive. I don't know about 'fine;' I don't like how fast her heart's beating. But she's better off than Jake. And certainly healthier than these bastards," she added, gesturing around at the krey. Most had died, and what few were left stared blankly at the walls or ceiling.

"What happened?" Jake grunted groggily.

"I think... I think she blew out whatever was protecting these guys from the weapon. And then either she overloaded that or someone turned it off," Mickey reasoned slowly.

"That... okay, that can make sense later. For now, let's see what the damage is down below. These two need medical attention badly," Ingrid asserted. It took them two trips, one to help Jake and another for Mickey to carry the unconscious Rose. On the second trip, he even ran into the other team, also limping back towards the transmat. It seemed the psychic barrage had come just in time to save their hides.

Back on Earth, quite a few Torchwood psychics in various stages of lucidity could be found in the infirmary and in the many army medical tents found in the city. It was a disaster zone, a few crashed terrestrial and alien fighters scattered in the city and many more where pilots had managed to draw enemies away from the population zone. But it was over. Every alien had been disabled by the weapon.

Pete was thrilled to hear that the transmats still worked and that the ships would remain in orbit for easy salvage. Jake took lots of pain medication and got proper treatment. And Rose slept on, looking more peaceful than anyone had seen her for weeks.