I know, I know, it's been aaaages. Writing is hard on vacation, okay? Especially in Paris; there are so many other things to do!
Anyway, this wouldn't have been brought to you without the help of orchids117. So, thanks for that.
And if its been so long that you don't even remember the last chapter, here's a *RECAP*
We meet Kallias Roberts, a mission coordinator, and Neal Douglas, a 'charming' Zorron spy posing as a weapons expert.
The Doctor has a nightmare about the time war, he begins to (falsely) think that he no longer has the right to call himself Gallifreyan because he's not a full Time Lord anymore.
He and Rose go to Koor to watch the sunsrise and eat waffles. They discover solar flares that shouldn't be there and go to snoop around. They see a giant spaceship take off from a military base and decide to go back to the TARDIS and land in the spaceship.
*end recap*
Chapter 6
Rose pushed the TARDIS door open, only for it to hit a wall.
She turned. "Doctor? Did you land us in a storage closet?"
He scratched the back of his neck and poked his head out. "Er… Maybe?"
She sighed, "Wouldn't be the first time."
"Oi! You try landing her in a small moving space next time. Just be glad I didn't rip a hole in the wall!"
There was just enough space for them to barely squeeze out of the doors and wiggle their way through the TARDIS-wall sandwich… and step out into the giant cargo room.
Rose giggled while he frowned at his awful parking job. "Did you just land us facing the corner of a room that could probably fit twenty TARDISes?"
He folded his arms and frowned. "Well, we're here so what's it matter?"
She mirrored his stance and held his gaze. "I dunno; are we here? For all I know you've just landed us in some poor Koorian's cellar."
He huffed and pushed some of the crates out of the way. On the wall in black cursive letters was the word Falcon.
He pointed at the word in triumph. "Ha! See? I do know how to drive."
Rose scrunched her nose. "That's what you said before you crashed Dad's sports car into the fence."
He threw his arms up in the air exasperatedly. "I apologised for that! Besides, no one told me the 'R' meant reverse."
Her eyes flashed with amusement. "Well, what did you think it meant?"
He pulled his ear awkwardly and looked away. "Uh… 'vroom, vroom'?"
She turned and leaned into his side, stifling her laughs on his shoulder. "Oh, what am I gonna do with you?"
He grinned down at her and raised an eyebrow. "Well…"
She hummed and pulled him with her as she examined the room. It was nothing interesting, mostly just food crates and spare parts. There were two doors, one small and at the opposite end, the other very large and black– probably a loading door.
Suddenly, the far door opened to reveal a short, frazzled, balding man in a white coat. His eyes widened and he rushed up to them. He struggled with the stack of paper in his hands for a moment, before reaching for the weapon strapped to the side of his belt. It was obvious that he had absolutely no experience with it and had no intention of actually using it.
"Who are you?! What're you doing?! How did you get on this ship?!"
The pair being yelled at raised their hands in surrender. "Well, Mister…?" the Doctor started.
"Roberts. Doctor Kallias Roberts."
Seeming to forget the severity of the situation he found himself in, he began to extend his gun-wielding hand towards them, accidentally setting off the blaster. The bright blue shot whizzed right past Rose's side, just missing her, before hitting one of the plastic food crates behind her, disintegrating it.
Kallias jumped and dropped the gun. "Oh, dear me! I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed while rushing forward to inspect Rose's side.
"Don't worry 'bout it. No harm done!" she reassured him with a soft smile, putting him instantly at ease. "I'm Rose, and this is the Doctor."
Kallias clapped his hands in delight. "How wonderful! A doctor of what, may I ask?"
"Oh, this and that," he dismissed.
Kallias' eyes wandered to the blue box sitting behind them. He looked at it in awe. "That's new. Is that your transportation?"
The Doctor grinned proudly. "Ah, yes. That is the TARDIS."
Kallias pushed his glasses further up on his nose. "It exists in two dimensions, does it not?" The Doctor blinked. "The inside must exist in another dimension for there to be enough room for at least two. If I'm correct, then it must be larger on the inside." The Doctor nodded – eyes wide. "I've been doing intensive research into the science of containing a universe within another, and I have concluded that it can only be done when sustained by incredible organic power. This is, of course, a theoretical analysis, although it seems that you have succeeded. You have done an impossible thing, Doctor."
Finally coming to his senses, the Doctor grinned and stepped forward, hands in his pockets. "Oh, you are brilliant! What are you a doctor of?"
"This and that," he repeated the Doctor's words with a smirk.
They continued to smile at each other in silence until Rose cleared her throat.
Kallias took a deep breath. "Right. You're intruders. May I ask what you're doing here?"
"Well, that all depends. What are you doing here?" the Doctor countered.
"What? I… oh, you mean the mission? Haven't you heard the press conferences and news announcements?"
"We aren't really from around here…" Rose supplied with an apologetic smile.
He nodded in consideration. "Okay, walk with me."
Kallias lead them out the door he came from, heading in the direction of the control room. The hallways were made of a dark grey metal and were split into smaller sections by thick black slates which required a code to open. Kallias explained that they were in case of a breach in the outer shell; the compromised section could easily be sealed off and, if necessary, ejected.
When they reached the section right before the control room, they stopped and Kallias directed their attention to a large clear screen. He tapped on it a few times and the ship's schematics appeared on the left, a planet on the right.
Kallias pointed to the specific areas as he spoke of them. "The storms on Koor are getting stronger, as you must have noticed. The shields have not lost their strength against the radioactive wind, but the atmosphere has. Sun K17-L, or as most know it, the Golden Giant, has been moving towards the planet at an exponential rate. The closer it comes, the more of the atmosphere its radiation strips away.
"The Falcon has been designed to not only fly through space, but to tunnel through the earth. She is equipped with a powerful laser drill. Once we reach K17-L, we will drill our way to the core and plant two atomic detonations, one on either side, intended to reverse the sun's momentum, propelling it away from us as opposed to toward us."
The Doctor stroked his chin in thought. "How will you get out before the detonations hit? Won't the waves caused by the first blast crush you before you plant the second?"
"Yes, which is why we have designed the Flacon to split in two. Each half will go to each of the sites and plant its own bomb. The splitting point has been reinforced with the same Algronian steel as the emergency doors, which will protect the ship from the explosion and absorb the energy released to push us out again."
The Doctor gave an appreciative whistle. "Wow. Who designed that?"
"That would be –"
"My brother," a voice said from behind them. They turned and saw a young, petite, Asian woman in overalls. "Hi, I'm Angela. You must be the cargo hold's code green."
The Doctor shook her hand. "Sort of, yeah."
"Anyway, Kallias here planned the mission, but my brother Stephen designed the ship. He's only nineteen; complete genius, that one."
"Ooh, I love geniuses. Can I meet him?"
She hugged herself and looked down. "He's not… that is to say, he…"
Kallias put a comforting hand on her shoulder and finished for her, "Stephen was only Angela's half brother. His father was part Gran'nik. You know how picky those genes can be. He lived just long enough to see his ship built."
Rose gasped and took a step towards her, wanting to give some sort of comfort. "That's awful!"
Angela gave her a tight smile. "I'm alright. I'm surprised he lived as long as he d –"
Through a small speaker in the corner of the room, there was a loud crackle before a deep voice called out, "Dr. Roberts, did you resolve the code green yet?"
Kallias' eyes widened and he pressed a small button on the wall. "Yes, sir. Be right there, sir." He pushed his glasses further up on his nose and turned to Angela. "You'd better leave us; you know how Captain Owens can be. I'd hate for you to get caught up in that."
She nodded in understanding and gave the travellers a warm smile. "Good luck."
She left and Kallias stood in front of the closed control room door fidgeting nervously. "Uh, Capitan Corey Owens is going to be… well, he's going to be quite angry. It'd probably be best if you let me do the talking."
With a deep breath, he pressed the button to open the door. They entered and it swished shut behind them.
It was a fairly small room. The walls on either side had two chairs each, equipped with strong safety restraints. The two pilot's chairs were at the rounded front, facing a myriad of controls. Above them was a large glass viewing screen. The sun could be seen in the distance, surrounded by little white dots – distant stars. On the glass were all the flight information and ship status reports.
Sitting in the co-pilot's chair was a fit middle-aged woman with her brown hair pulled up in a tight bun. She turned to face them when they entered and her eyes narrowed suspiciously. Her thin lips were pressed together tightly, accentuating the faint age lines on her face.
"Finally, Dr. Roberts," Capitan Owens' deep voice said. He was still facing his controls and only the back of his large head could be seen. His blond hair was cut short and neat in a way that immediately distinguished him as a military man. "What was the problem?"
Kallias gulped. "Well, the thing is, sir, there was – and they're – you see, I didn't really know – and with you not being there, I just assumed… and they're really nice so…"
The Doctor rolled his eyes. Sure, great idea, have the nervous, stuttering man do all the talking.
"Dr. Roberts," Corey sighed, "I don't have time for this. Speak straight with me."
Rose smiled encouragingly at Kallias.
"The – the code green, sir, was – there were some people and –"
Capitan Owens spun in his chair. "People?" That's when he saw them: the Doctor leaning casually against the closed door and Rose waving shyly. He stood, his eyes turning cold and hard. "Roberts!" he commanded, his voice low and threatening. "What the bloody hell have you done?" His voice began steadily rising in volume. "Have you forgotten the emergency procedures you implemented? Why aren't they bound and sitting in the bloody brig?! I have half a mind to throw you in there with them! And while I'm at it, why don't I shove that –"
The co-pilot reached over and grabbed his hand, pulling him back to his seat, but he didn't sit.
"Corey, Dr. Roberts must have had a good reason for keeping them onboard. Just take a minute to calm down and let's talk about this like reasonable people. Besides, we have guests," she said in a soft yet commanding voice.
The captain reluctantly took a deep breath and clenched his teeth, obviously trying to hold in his anger. "Fine, Kallias, may I speak to you in private?" he ground out.
Kallias gulped but nodded affirmatively. Corey took the lead and stomped out the control room door, purposefully shoving the Doctor's shoulder as he passed him.
The Doctor let out a relieved breath when the door closed again. "I think that went… well." He extended his hand towards the co-pilot and grinned. "Thanks for that by the way. I'm the Doctor."
She looked from his hand to the rest of him, studying him. He seemed nice enough. She took his hand and returned his smile with a hesitant one for her own. "Lieutenant Marian Owens. I apologise for my husband, he can be quite intimidating when he wants to be."
He scrunched his nose. "You're married to him?"
Rose elbowed him in the ribs as Marian's smile grew and her posture relaxed somewhat. "Rude, Doctor!"
He rubbed his side and sent her a small glare then turned back to Marian. "Erm… sorry. I can be a bit rude, forgot to mention that. Need Rose here to remind me sometimes."
"That's quite alright," she smiled, now more at ease. "It's nothing that I'm not used to."
"Speaking of your husband, you guys fly this thing together?"
"We're more of a backup, really. Stephen Wong designed the ship to be self-flying for the most part. It's the best ship I have ever had the privilege of piloting. It has such a smooth flight that you barely feel like you're moving."
The Doctor flipped out his glasses and took a closer look at the controls. "Wow. That is pretty amazing. Is that a 42 mm attitude control subsystem actuator?"
"Oh!" Rose exclaimed. "That's the thing that keeps the ship from going upside down, right?"
The Doctor grinned proudly at her. "Rose Tyler, when did you become such an expert in mechanics?"
"You'd be surprised at how much I learned while you were away." And for the first time, neither of them cringed at the mention of his absence. "And that right there," Rose continued, pointing to a specific string of numbers on the large viewing screen, "is the CDH's controlling algorithm, which is currently set to… uh… forty eight?"
The Doctor looked at Rose with complete, unrestrained awe. He had never been more attracted to her than in this moment. Her mind was absolutely beautiful.
"Yes, it is. And over there is its sensor," Marian commented.
The Doctor slowly pulled his attention away from Rose and examined the small device. He sat down in the empty chair to get a better look. "Do you mind if I…" he said, pointing at the controls.
Marian looked at him long and hard. This was it. This was the moment when she either decided to trust them, or push them completely away.
Finally, she flipped the ship off auto-pilot. "Go ahead."
As the Doctor took the controls, the ship jostled them a little, but all the automatic adjustors compensated and the ride evened out.
Leaving him to his fun, Marian turned to Rose. "So, where are you from, then? If you don't mind my asking, that is."
Rose thought for a moment, trying to remember if at this time period and in this part of space, if her home planet would be a realistic answer. After some deliberation, she said a hesitant, "Earth…"
"Oh, that's nice."
Rose breathed a small sigh of relief that she hadn't slipped-up. "Have you ever been?" she asked.
Marian rolled her eyes, trying to hide her smile. "Corey dragged us out there for our tenth anniversary. I would've been perfectly happy with a quick trip to some costal city on our continent. But no, he insisted that we absolutely had to go to one of Earth's Sub-American beaches. What was the name of the country again? Puerto Ecuadoria? And then he had the audacity to suggest that we move there! I mean, don't get me wrong, it was absolutely beautiful, just not…"
"Home," Rose finished for her.
"Yeah."
They sat in comfortable silence before Rose spoke again, softly with a small smile. "You know, Earth isn't my favourite place either – especially in this time period. Cities are too big, too much pollution, life is too rushed. There's no applegrass. The sunrise is decent, but compared to some I've seen, it could use some work. But when it comes right down to it, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else."
Marian returned her smile with an understanding one of her own. "It's where you belong."
Rose's grin widened. "Exactly."
Silence came down upon them again, and the Doctor, who had been half-listening from his seat in the pilot's chair, decided to speak up. "So how did you guys end up married? The captain doesn't seem very…"
Marian grinned; this was one of her favourite stories to tell. She spun back around in the chair, putting the ship back on autopilot, and then turned around to face them again. "Looks can be deceiving. I was in my second year at the academy in Ricoss when…"
Rose listened to the humorous story, but she couldn't shake the sudden feeling that she was being watched. She peered around the room without actually turning away from the Doctor and Marian. There was nothing out of the ordinary from what she could see.
It was while she was looking to her left that her observer came up behind her and murmured in a smooth, vaguely Russian – or at least what sounded like Russian – voice, "Hello, Beautiful."
Rose jumped and whipped around, her hand steadying her rapidly beating heart. Behind her stood a tall man with ink black skin and striking blue tattoos that made his veins look like ice. She naturally was inclined to trust him, just as she was with all people, but there was something about him that unsettled her. She glanced back at the Doctor and saw him still animatedly talking with Marian; he hadn't noticed the addition to the room.
Rose pushed a piece of hair away from her eyes and extended her hand to the man. "Hello, I'm –"
"Rose. I heard you earlier. What a lovely name for such a lovely woman." He winked and took the hand she had offered, placing a soft kiss to its surface. Rose blushed. "I'm Neal."
It was when there was a lull in the conversation the Doctor was having with Marian that he noticed the newcomer – the newcomer who had his lips on Rose's hand. The newcomer who was somehow making her cheeks turn that wonderful shade of pink he loved.
"Pleasure to meet you," she said politely.
"Believe me, the pleasure is all mine," Neal purred and took a way too big step towards her. "I do hope this isn't too forward, but you, lovely Rose, have the most gorgeous eyes I have ever seen."
The Doctor clenched his fists. That Neal was going to need a talking to. A 'hands off the blonde' talking to.
However, before he could take a step in their direction, the doors burst open and Captain Owens came in, still angry, towing a slightly relieved Kallias in behind him. Everyone turned to look.
"Alright Doctor, you can stay." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "On one condition!" he added quickly. "If you cause any trouble at all, and I mean any, you will be thrown out the airlocks."
Marian gasped. "Is that really necessary?"
"Yes, it is. So you'd better hope that they don't cause any problems. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir," they all said in unison.
The Capitan straightened. "Good. Roberts, find them somewhere to stay."
Kallias pushed his glasses further up his nose. "But sir –"
Corey walked back to his chair. "Not my problem. Now, piss off."
Kallias inclined his head towards the door, signalling that the Doctor and Rose follow him. On their way out, the Doctor put a hand on Rose's back, pulled her towards him, and sent a very pointed glare at Neal.
He smirked back, unperturbed.
Once the doors had closed, Neal took his chance. The two pilots were busy navigating and didn't even notice when he slipped out of the room. He walked as quietly as he could along the metal grate flooring. He followed one of the passages breaking off from the main corridor until he reached a small closet situated between the cargo hold and the secondary control room.
He checked his surroundings, before ducking inside the dark room. He felt around blindly, pulling on wires and moving panels until he felt the rough edges of his communication port. This was the only place on the ship that the signal would be untraceable.
He strained his eyes to find the small 'on' switch, and the screen flickered to life. He entered his password and waited impatiently for the connection to go through.
Finally, the device beeped and the grainy picture of a Zorron official appeared.
"Something's happened. We're going to have to move up the schedule. I know you wanted to wait until they were inside the sun, so that they couldn't turn back, but there's someone else here, another doctor. He seems too cleaver for his own good. I'm requesting authorisation to begin the attack now."
The red-skinned man looked aggravated as he answered, "Do whatever you need to. Don't contact me again until it's done."
The screen went blank.