The five of them burst through the doors to reception with Astrid at the head. Inside they found a number of Host lying in wait for unsuspecting survivors. Their hands hadn't even made contact with their halos before Astrid held up the EMP and fired. The bluish light shot out from the device and through the robot, frying their circuits. They collapsed to the floor in fizzing heaps and the Stoans and human breathed equal sighs of relief.
Rickston stepped through the door with Rose in his arms. Her eyes immediately fell on the blue box standing in the corner and she smiled in relief. Everyone else, however, had fallen victim to the perception filter.
"Alright, now, where is this ship of yours?" Rickston demanded.
The door to the TARDIS swung open and Martha Jones raced out, dressed in dark jeans and a very warm-looking burgundy sweater, with a cry of, "Rose!"
As one, all the Stoans noticed the TARDIS for the first time. Mr. Copper stumbled in shock. Foon gasped.
Martha cleared a Host with a single leap and ran over to Rose. "What happened?" she demanded.
"Hey, Martha." Rose greeted, beaming despite the situation. "I kicked a Host off a ledge."
"How bad is it?"
"Bad breaks and a shatter. Right along those middle bones in the foot—what are they called?"
"Metatarsals." Martha sighed. "I swear, if it wasn't breaking the Hippocratic Oath, I'd probably smack you."
"I missed you, too."
The corner of Martha's lip twitched upward.
"Sorry to break up the reunion," Rickston interrupted haughtily. "But we're almost out of time here. And you're getting heavy."
"Yeah!" Rose blurted. She looked around for the podium she hoped was still there. "Foon, I need you to grab like six of those teleport bracelets."
"Why?" She asked but did as she was told.
"Just do it, okay? Rickston—" she looked up at the man "—get me inside."
"This way." Martha beckoned. She ran back to the TARDIS, leaping gracefully over the fallen Host without fear while everyone else skirted around them.
"We can't all fit in there!" Foon protested as they neared.
"Inside," Martha ordered, pushing the door open and holding it for them. Astrid went first, then Rickston with Rose, followed by Copper and Foon last. Every single one of them stopped dead on the ramp, gawking at the ship's interior.
Rose didn't have time to help them process their shock. There was a 22nd century hoverchair waiting for her at the top of the ramp. It resembled a wheelchair from her time with a seat, back, armrests, props for leg, and handles on the back, except instead of large wheels there was something beneath the seat that enabled it to float.
She tapped Rickston on the shoulder and he jerked his awestruck gawp away from the console room to her. She pointed at the hoverchair. "That's for me. …C'mon, you act like you've never seen a dimensionally transcendent ship before."
He blinked rapidly for a moment then strode purposefully up the ramp. He was careful as he set her down into the chair but then Martha was pushing him out of the way to adjust the leg rests for Rose. She wouldn't say it out loud but it was a relief to be out of his arms. There was only one alien she liked holding her, thank you very much.
"Are you healing?" Martha asked. "We need to get this wrapped properly and iced."
"I'm fine, don't worry. The Doctor wrapped it up earlier."
"Where is he?"
"He…went below. Whoever's responsible is still onboard and he means to catch 'em."
"Alone?" Martha demanded. "You let him go—wait. Never mind." She glanced at Rose's foot. "Still, we gotta help him."
"Uh, excuse me?" Astrid piped up. Rose and Martha turned, the latter having forgotten for a moment that they had company. "But, um, aren't we supposed to be towing the ship or something?"
Rose inclined her head towards Astrid. "I want to help but I can't walk and I can't risk the Titanic falling while I try to pilot the TARDIS around this ship to find him. Our first priority is to keep the Titanic in the sky."
"How?"
"Tether and tow." Rose grabbed onto the joystick sticking out of the right armrest that controlled the chair and steered herself over to the console. Settling the chair in front of the monitor, she flipped the switch that the Doctor had added years ago to change the keyboard from Gallifreyan to English and began typing in the command that would transport the ship five thousand yards to the right and out of the Titanic.
Martha, meanwhile, scoured the room for the medkit they used to keep lying around. It wasn't in any of its usual places, leaving her to wonder if they hadn't returned it to the infirmary in the intervening time. She didn't know how long it had been since she'd seen them and since Rose had kicked the aging thing it was impossible to tell from just looking at her. Though her hair hadn't been that long or that particular shade of blonde when Martha had seen her last. But the way Rose's face had lit up when she'd first come running out of the TARDIS, Martha guessed it had been a while.
The survivors seemed to have gotten over their shock and had moved into the console room proper. The older man was staring at the console in fascination. The blonde woman slowly spun in a circle, taking in every detail. The younger man in the tux was feigning disinterest but she saw him glancing at the doorway leading into the rest of the ship every so often. The larger woman in purple sat down near one of the coral struts, glassy eyes fixed on the rotor. She looked like she'd been crying a lot and very recently.
Two dead.
"Alright, here we go!" Rose warned, her hand over the dematerialization lever.
Martha had never seen Rose pilot the ship by herself before and, no offense to her, but she didn't quite think a human could drive the TARDIS better than a Time Lord. Her eyes widened and with a squeak she dropped to the floor, covering her head with curling her arms around her head protectively. Approximately half a second later it occurred to her that the poor aliens had no idea what was about to happen.
The ship shuddered like a pebble on the road as a lorry drove past. Several of the aliens screamed and she heard at least one of them fall. It only lasted about two seconds before it was over.
"Where the hell did you learn to drive?" the man who'd carried Rose in bellowed. He was half-dangling, half-kneeling from the railing where his arm was looped precariously.
"Right here," Rose replied, shoving the monitor around to the left. She moved her chair around towards the steering controls, pausing to give the monitor another push in the right direction.
"Are you even certified to pilot this vessel?" The elder man asked, on his hands and knees.
"Define 'certified'," she retorted without missing a beat. She checked something on the monitor then began pushing one of the levers forward. The room remained upright, fortunately, but Martha felt the pull of inertia as the ship rocketed forward through space. This part Rose seemed quite exceptional at. She remembered it was just navigating a toy plane. She could probably do it herself.
Deciding it was safe to move about the cabin, Martha picked herself off the floor. It was then she spotted the medkit waiting for her on the jumpseat. She smiled to herself.
The ship slowly came to a standstill and Rose reached for the monitor again. "Let me," Martha said, circling the console. "Where do you need it?"
"By the keyboard." Rose navigated herself back around to where she'd been before. "Almost done. I brought us to the bow, now I just need to activate the tether and we'll be good."
Martha guided the monitor back around to the keyboard. "When did you learn to do all this?"
Rose hummed thoughtfully as she typed. "About…three years ago. I think."
"Three years?!" Martha blurted out. She glanced around quickly then lowered her voice. "Rose. How old are you?"
"Er…about 29? Maybe?"
Ooh, that stung. She'd seen them once not too long ago during the brief time she'd worked with Torchwood and Rose had told her then that it hadn't been very long at all for them. Four to five years had passed for them since that day. Four to five years they'd only just now contacted Martha, and only because they needed her help. "I see."
Rose must've heard the hurt in her voice. Her fingers stilled on the keys and she cocked her head to the side. "This isn't the first time I've seen you since. Not even close. Torchwood was the first time. Remember that? And we've visited you loads of times since."
Martha felt herself relax, the pain fizzing out to relief. "Oh. Yeah. Bit of a risk, then, calling me up."
"Not really." Rose resumed typing.
"What about timelines and all that?"
"You just can't tell us about this until—um. Er. Tell you what. Next time I see you, I'll let you know it's safe."
"Got it. Now I want to have a look at your foot."
Rose shook her head in refusal. "Not yet. Titanic first, Doctor second, foot third. Foon! Could you bring those teleport bracelets?"
All eyes turned towards the heavy woman who hadn't moved from her previous position. She seemed to be in shock. The blonde alien muttered something then walked over to the woman and plucked the silver cuffs from her lap.
"No," Martha insisted. "You've broken several major bones. At least let me get you some pain medication."
Rose shook her head adamantly. "No. I need to be able to focus. The pain isn't so bad."
"Liar."
The blonde woman appeared on Rose's other side, her hands full of the strange silver bracelets. "What do you plan to do with these?" the woman asked.
Rose flicked a switch beside the keyboard and the room shuttered. She smirked victoriously then sat back in her chair. "That's the Titanic sorted. Can't risk sending you all back yet, not with those Host still about." Rose explained. "But in the mean time—Martha?"
Martha knew what she was going to ask even before she said it. "You want me to go back for him."
"It's gonna be dangerous and I know it's a lot to ask of you…" Rose glanced upwards. "But I trust you more than I trust any of them and I know you can handle it."
"I…" Martha trailed off. Part of her wanted to jump at the chance to do some rescuing, live the adventure once more but the more rational side reminded her that she had a home, family, and boyfriend waiting for her down on Earth. What would happen if she got hurt or worse? How could she possibly explain anything to Tom? Tom, who took every hint of alien mentions with far more than grain of salt. Tom, who thought a job with UNIT was one of the riskiest things she could be doing.
"He's not answering," Rose added quietly.
"What do you mean?"
"Aaand you don't know about that yet." Rose made a face. "I've been trying to reach him telepathically but he's not answering. We could just be out of range but…"
"I'll go." The words slipped out of Martha's mouth before she could change her mind. "But I don't know my way around the ship."
"I'll go with you," the petite woman said. "I was staff. I know my way around."
"You sure, Astrid?" Rose asked.
Astrid nodded. "There could be Host. I know how the EMP works. I can help."
Rose exhaled and Martha half-expected her to puff out her cheeks when she did it like the Doctor did. "Okay. Make sure you take an extra one for the Doctor."
Astrid nodded again and held the bracelets out to Martha. She selected one, Astrid took another, and the others were discarded onto the console for the time being.
Rose started typing on the keyboard more slowly than before, tongue clamped between her teeth. "Do you know what frequency Titanic used for the comms?"
"No, sorry," Astrid replied, sliding her bracelet around her wrist. Martha followed suit and tucked the spare in her pocket.
"'s alright. I think there's…another way to… got it!" Rose beamed, proud of her accomplishment, and flipped the button that controlled the speakers. "Hello? Midshipman Frame, you there?"
"W-who is this?" a young man's voice replied a moment later.
"My name's Rose. I'm the Doctor's wife and—"
"Wife?" Martha blurted out.
"—the person who's currently keeping the Titanic.iafloat." Rose glanced at her briefly and gave her head a small shake.
"How? The engines are almost gone."
"Long story short, we have our own ship that's currently got the Titanic tethered, and we're towing you out of the planet's gravitational pull." Rose said briskly. "So, we're safe for the time being. But the Doctor's still onboard and he's not responding. A friend of mine and one of the survivors have volunteered to go back to get him with these teleport bracelets from Reception. I need you to teleport them to Deck 31. Can you do that?"
"I can't. All the remaining power is keeping the engines going."
"And you don't need to worry about that. Our ship can keep you in the air without them. Can you work the teleport from there?"
"Are you within ten thousand kilometers of the ship?"
"Well within."
"T-then yes, I should be able to. Just give me a second to…lock on…" His voice grew fainter and then Martha heard a tiny grunt of pain.
She frowned and walked around Rose's chair, leaning in closer to the speaker and microphone. "Are you injured?"
"I'm fine."
"I'm a doctor. A proper doctor, a physician," she added hastily. "Are you injured?"
"The captain shot me."
"Is there a medkit near you? Any sort of first-aid supplies?"
"Yes."
"Once we find the Doctor, I'm coming to you." Martha told him, giving Rose a look that dared her to contradict her. Her friend simply nodded, unsurprised.
"Are your teleports activated?" Midshipman Frame asked.
"Oh!" Astrid slid the bracelet around her wrist and it hummed to life. Martha did the same. "They are now."
"Alright. Here goes…"
Rose caught Martha's eye in the brief second in between his words and the teleport activation. "Be careful."
Martha was mid-nod when a cold sensation washed over her. The world blurred around her before disappearing. There was a moment of utter darkness and then the world reformed. She shuddered at the sudden teleport and silently thanked her lucky stars that it wasn't like one of the rougher sort she'd experience.
"Are you okay?" Astrid asked.
"Yeah. It's just been a while since I've teleported." She explained as she turned slowly, sizing up their location. Between her year on the run and time with UNIT, the action had become a habit borderline necessity. They were in a room that had probably been nice before the collision. There were no windows or air vents, the only way in a single door a few feet in front of them.
"You don't have teleports on Earth?"
"Not yet." Martha rolled her shoulders. "Let's go."
Astrid opened the door, looking around carefully, then motioned for Martha to follow. The door led into a service hall that looked rather worse for the wear. Pipes split and spewing steam and in one case, liquid; wires dangling precariously, debris everywhere, and at one point…the body of a crewman. Astrid let out a tiny cry at the sight and Martha simply looked away. It sickened her how easily she could just dismiss a dead body but she'd seen so many. Though it did strike her as odd that the man was dressed like a character out of James Cameron's Titanic. Astrid, too, looked like she could've been an extra in that film. She'd have to ask Rose later what the deal was so as not to risk offending Astrid.
"So you travelled with them?" Astrid asked.
Martha hummed in confirmation, carefully stepping over a fallen pipe.
"For how long?"
"It's complicated. A year or two."
"You don't know?"
"It's complicated." Martha repeated. The woman glanced at her and Martha saw something in her expression that brought her up short. "You want to go with them."
"I asked. The Doctor was going to say yes, I think, but then some Host caught up."
Martha inhaled slowly through her nose. She'd known they'd probably pick up a new travelling companion eventually but she always thought she'd meet this person well after their journey began. There was an opportunity here she hadn't expected to have. She did not regret her time with them. She'd loved it—well, before the Master came into the picture, at least—but it had changed her. And not necessarily all for the better.
She would have to warn the girl of what she was in for later. Someone had to. Knowing the Doctor and Rose, neither of them would mention exactly what their life entailed until it was already happening.
They continued on their way in silence for about another minute before Martha heard the distinct tones of a certain Time Lord. They followed the sound of his voice down a side corridor, sliding along the wall as they neared the corner from around which his voice originated.
"Hold on! Hold on! Wait wait wait wait wait wait! I can work it out. It's like a task."
The two women peeked around the corner carefully. The Doctor stood, half-bent, with his fingers held aloft in front of him. He was flanked by several Host, all of whom were facing some sort of…cybernetic block on wheels with a bald humanoid head protruding from the top surrounded by glass panels.
"I'm your apprentice. Just watch me." The Doctor said. "So…business is failing and you wreck the ship to make things even worse. Oh, yes! No… Yes." His tone darkened the way she remembered it sometimes did upon discovering the dirty truth behind some bastard's villainous plan. "The business isn't failing, it's failed. Past tense."
"My own board voted me out." The bald head agreed. "Stabbed me in the back."
Astrid gasped quietly. "Oh my Vot. That's Max Capricorn."
"Who?" Martha hissed.
"He owns the cruise line."
This was a cruise liner? Martha frowned. She hadn't the faintest idea what was going on here but she knew that, for whatever reason, that thing there was the enemy.
"You scupper the ship," the Doctor went on, "wipe out any survivors in case anyone's rumbled you, and the board find their shares halved in value."
"What is he?"
"A cyborg…apparently."
She licked her lips, pursing them thoughtfully, then glanced down at the EMP in Astrd's hands.
"Oh, but that's not enough," the Doctor growled. Capricorn smirked and shook his head slowly. "No, 'cause if a Max Capricorn ship it's the Earth, it destroys and entire planet. Outrage back home. Scandal!"
"And…" Max rolled towards him. "The whole board thrown in jail for mass murder."
He was going to wipe out the entire planet? Just for some revenge scheme? Martha's fists began to shake with rage. That was her home, her family, her people. Her entire race. Her planet. That was mum and dad, Tish, Leo, and Tom. Tom. Tom. Tom.
"While you sit there, safe inside the impact chamber." The Doctor gestured over his shoulder with his thumb.
"I have men waiting to retrieve me from the ruins and enough off-world accounts to retire me to the beaches of Pentaxico Two. Where the ladies, so I'm told, are very fond of…metal."
Martha grabbed the EMP but Astrid didn't let go. "How does this work?"
"He's a person!" Astrid protested as loudly as she dared, trying to pull it back.
"Two thousand people on this ship, six billion underneath us, all of them slaughtered." The Doctor snarled. "And why? Because Max Capricorn is a loser!"
"I never lose!"
"You can't even sink the Titanic! "
"Oh, but I can, Doctor. I can cancel the engines from here!"
Alarms began to blare around them but beyond that, absolutely nothing happened. No rocking or shuddering or any other indications that the ship should be about to lose orbit. The TARDIS was magnificent.
"I'll do it," Astrid said. "Just let go, and I'll do it."
Martha hesitated. "Are you sure?"
Astrid lifted her chin and nodded. Martha stared at her for another moment before releasing the EMP. Astrid readjusted her hold on it then began creeping forwards. Martha followed.
"What's going on?" Max Capricorn demanded. "We should be falling!"
The Doctor laughed. It wasn't one of his nice laughs, either, but hollow, dark, and mocking. It gave Martha chills just hearing it.
"Yeah, but, see, there's one thing you didn't count on." The Doctor stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Me. Right now, the Titanic is currently being towed by a ship far superior than anything you can come up with. Courtesy of my wife. She was injured earlier trying to escape from your little robots. I'm holding that against you as well. The Titanic isn't going anywhere, Mr. Capricorn. You lose."
Martha and Astrid ducked down behind a forklift just a precarious ten feet from the confrontation. She felt the blonde woman trembling beside her.
"Oh, do I?" the man screamed. "HOST! Kill him!"
The two angels closest to the Doctor reached forward and seized him. Alarm flashed across the Doctor's face for a brief moment before being replaced by sneering defiance. Martha tensed as the other angel reached for its halo, obviously a weapon of some sort.
Astrid straightened up and moved from their hiding place. "Mr. Capricorn!" she shouted.
Capricorn looked up in surprise. The Doctor twisted around as best he could in the Host's grip. "Astrid, what are you doing here?!"
Astrid held up the EMP. "I resign!" Then she pressed a button on the cylinder and a bluish light burst forth from it. It expanded, encompassing everything as it flew outwards, passing through the Host, the Doctor, and Capricorn. The Doctor flinched but was otherwise unharmed. The same could not be said for the rest. The Host sparked and fizzed, their limbs spasmed, and the Doctor was able to pull himself from their grasp.
Mr. Capricorn's end wasn't as neat. His robotic cart body sparked and let out streams of smoke. Panels popped and parts flew, lights flickered out, and other bits clattered to the floor. But worst of all was his face: watching it contort and grimace as everything keeping him going systematically failed. Then it simply slumped forward and he did not move again.
Next chapter should be the last one :D