Chapter Sixteen: Where to go from here
Rose grinned excitedly. "Yeah?"
He grinned back just as enthusiastically. "Yeah."
"And you want me to come back with you? You and me on the TARDIS together?"
"Did you really think that I'd come all this way to stop the Master, have some chips, catch up on old times, and travel a universe away without you?" he chuckled. "You know me better than that."
She wrapped her arms around him. "I never stopped thinking about you, Doctor. Not once. I always wanted our old life back."
"You knew I'd come back if I could, didn't you?"
"I hoped, but I know you. I didn't think you'd risk it."
"Well, normally I wouldn't. I couldn't. But, this was a special circumstance. You're here."
She pulled back and put a hand on his face. "Here you are. Burned up a sun to say goodbye and risked two worlds to get back. What a romantic you are."
"Oh yes. But…if you don't mind me asking…you are the Master's girlfriend. Are you going to stay with him?"
Before she could answer, there was pounding on the door. It was in beats of four, so they knew that it was the Master and Donna. The Doctor let them inside and they jumped in. Blobs were in pursuit and the Doctor had to speed up the doors closing with his sonic screwdriver. He wiggled it at the Master for emphasis. He sneered and kissed Rose on the cheek.
"Well, that was fun. What now?" he asked the room.
The Doctor went to answer, but he stopped when he saw Donna. "Weren't you an inch taller before you left?"
"No shoes," she explained. "I used one to stop the alien downstairs."
"Brilliant!" the Doctor laughed as he embraced her.
The Master gave a shrug. "Not bad for a ginger. When's the wedding?"
"We're not a couple," Donna and the Doctor grumbled in unison.
Alarms began to go off and the Master as well as the Doctor ran to the consoles. They each worked on a different angle in the hopes that they'd think of something. Donna gently pulled Rose aside to the corner to warn her about the Master's obsessive personality.
"Look Rose, I know that you love the Doctor. That new spaceman of yours is sick in the head. He says that he isn't going to let you go even if you want to. I just wanted to tell you so that you're ready for that battle once we're through with this one."
Rose smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "Thanks, Donna. I'm glad the Doctor found a friend like you."
"Getting anything?" the Master asked the Doctor hopefully. "I've hit a wall."
"My idea isn't going to work either. Even though I called off the reinforcements and blocked further communications, this one ship could destroy Earth with just a few blasts. If we can't disable the ship or reverse the energy flow from their weapons—"
"Or use Earth's defenses to safely disarm the ship," the Master added.
"Well, that leaves only one other option…" the Doctor sighed. "We'll have to set it to self-destruct."
"Fantastic! I think that I know a way…" the Master agreed as he went to do it. The Doctor grabbed his hand with daggers in his eyes. "Getting cold feet, Doctor?"
He didn't flinch. "We have to give them a choice. They always get a choice. Open a feed."
"Oh, right. You and your pathetic attempts to save people."
"That's what you're doing right now, mate," Donna called from the back of the room.
With a glare, he nodded to the companion. "I liked her, but now I don't anymore. Your channel will be open in a few seconds."
The feed opened and Halmono appeared on the screen. He laughed at the four defenders of the Earth mockingly. "Is this your surrender?"
"No. Actually, I was thinking that you could turn this ship around. Let us and our planet go peacefully and no one has to get hurt. If you don't accept, I have no choice but to destroy you and your crew," the Doctor informed him darkly.
Hal shrugged, as much as a blob could shrug, and chuckled once more. "We never back down. Your planet will be taken over. If they—or you—resist, we will blow it to shreds and harvest the materials. I suggest you tell your people that we are in power now."
The feed was cut and the Master smirked. "Some good that did."
"At least we tried," the Doctor snapped. "We will set the ship to destruct and then transport to your ship using their system. From there, we'll have a few minutes to escape the blast radius. Can the ship handle it?"
"How dare you doubt my ship! Yes, of course it can. Blimey. Let's get this over with before I vomit. Good deeds. Uck."
Together, the Master and the Doctor began to prepare a self-destruct protocol. Just as they got through the first half, the room turned black. All of the equipment was shut down and their progress was stopped. They scrambled to find an explanation or solution.
"Well that's just bloody brilliant," the Master growled as he kicked the console in anger. "They found a way to isolate the room's power and cut it off. Must have been the transmission that we sent. They tracked it. Good job, Doctor. Spot on."
Before the Doctor could answer with a clever retort, pounding noises filled the air. The door screeched as it began to open. The enemy was closing in. Almost instinctively, the Master pushed Rose behind him and the Doctor did the same with Donna. The slow moving aliens would take a moment, so the Doctor hatched a plan. He turned to the Master, tossing him a teleportation device.
"Program it for the dungeon. We'll throw it on them and I can activate it with my—"
"Sonic screwdriver, I know. Just get it done."
They reprogrammed the devices as the aliens came inside. They threw the devices together, but one of them missed the alien. Without thinking, Rose ran forward and slid towards it. She retrieved the device and slapped it on, triggering it. The Doctor triggered the other from afar.
"Brilliant!" the Doctor grinned excitedly. "Now, is there anywhere on this ship that can't have its power cut by the control room? Anything with its own supply?"
Donna came up with an idea. "These puddles, they need their own spaces, yeah? Would the captain's quarters have its own supply? For security or whatever."
"The ginger might be onto something," the Master hummed. "It's worth a shot. If anything, it will be the most reinforced next to the control room. Getting in there might be difficult, but I think we're up for it."
The Doctor nodded in agreement. "We travel together. We should each take a point position, front or back of the group. It'll protect Rose and Donna."
"Fine. I'll take the front. I know where we're going. C'mon then."
With caution, all of the time travelers wandered into the hallway. The Master led them quietly towards the stairwell. All of the living quarters were in the top of the ship, which made them very close to the control room and most of the activity. The first floor up was not too challenging. However, once they moved up another floor, they encountered a bit of trouble.
"Down!" the Master hissed as they crouched behind a wall. "There must be twenty aliens over there."
"As long as we are fast enough, we should be all right…" Rose shrugged. "Not like they can run."
The Doctor bobbed his head from side to side with hesitance on his lips. "Well, I don't know about that. They can call an alarm. And, these aliens appear to be very, very armed."
It was true. The aliens were wielding large guns and smaller lasers. It appeared that the entire ship was on alert, which was completely justified. However, such a thing did make their task that much harder. After a silent moment, Donna was the first to speak.
"We should figure something. I don't think it's very wise to be sitting here just waiting to get shot at."
"I think Rosie had the best idea. There's no other way around. We have to use the maintenance stairwells to move about. They just transport, given their size, so our choice in getting upstairs is rather limited. If we really run, they won't have time to shoot. If they do, those are mostly stun guns. Unless someone is hit more than once, the guns can only maim a person, not kill them."
"Isn't that a lovely thought? I'd love to get maimed today," Donna snapped.
The Master glared. "Great, you go first."
"Stop it," the Doctor snapped. "We go together. On the count of three."
"Four," the Master corrected. "On the count of four."
He rolled his eyes with a scoff. "All right. On the count of four. One two three four!"
Everyone leapt out at once. In a second, they were seen. Motion detectors were had been placed on the floor. The shots began flying left and right. They looked like a white ball of energy, but they left black clouds on the metal walls of the ship. Several of these white balls began moving towards Rose and Donna. They were going fast enough that there was no avoiding them. Without missing a beat, the Doctor pushed Rose and Donna towards the Master and took the shots to the chest.
Time seemed to stop. Rose pulled away from the Master and dropped to his side. She pulled him into her lap, inspecting the singed edges of his tie and suit. Sleepily smiling, he looked up at her like she was something from a dream. His voice was only loud enough for her to hear over the guns.
"A perfect rose."
His eyes came to a close.