Kara sat in a large leather chair in the library in the Station. The room reminded her of the console room aboard the Curator's TARDIS. The Curator sat next to her and the Warden opposite her. She was trying to take everything in, but there was so much to see. The Stationmaster walked into the library holding a bottle of some kind of green drink and four glasses. He handed each of them a glass before pouring Kara a glass first.
"What is this? I've never seen anything like it!" Kara said.
The Curator and Warden gave a little chuckle.
"This Kara is a drink called Chroonhal. It's from Gallifrey. This is one of the only bottles left in the known universe. We always drink this when we get together. The closest thing to it on Earth is probably whiskey." the Stationmaster replied.
Kara lifted the glass to her nose and smelled the drink. It was very sweet and delicate.
"Don't let the smell fool you," the Warden said, "It's very very strong."
"I think I'll be able to handle it," Kara replied, "I've had the home brew some of the sergeant's used to make and you could clean an engine with that stuff." she laughed.
As the Stationmaster sat down he poured himself a glass before putting the cap back on the bottle and placing it on the table next to him.
"Firstly I'd like to make a toast to new friends," the Stationmaster said, "Kara I'm glad you've been brought into our unorthodox family. We always need good people and Curator certainly needed a good person to keep him in line."
"Here here!" the Warden said.
"And also I'd like to make a second toast to the Messenger. He may have been an irritable angry old bastard, but he was a good man to have at your back." he downed his drink in one as he finished speaking. The Curator and Warden both did the same with their drinks.
Kara downed her drink too. Her eyes widened as it hit the back of her throat and the burn all the way down to her stomach was unlike anything she had experienced in her life. She coughed but no sound came out. The Time Lords all chuckled to themselves, they'd seen this before many times.
"Are you okay?" the Curator asked.
"Water." Kara managed to say.
Moments later the TARDIS interface appeared with a glass of water for her which she downed quickly.
"Wow that's got a kick." she said with a laugh once she had composed herself.
"Another?" the Stationmaster asked with a grin.
Kara nodded, "Yes please, I'll just sip this one."
"So to business." The Warden said.
The Curator took a sip from his second glass and took a deep breath, "The Tzeraat again. They brought back Jack the Ripper, while we were dealing with him they murdered the Messenger."
"How did they get to him? I thought he only left that place of his on rare occasions." The Warden replied.
"They got to him in his workshop. When we got there one of the Tzeraats was still there." Kara said.
"But how did it get in?" the Stationmaster said, "I thought only the nine of us could get in there."
"There are two possibilities I can think of," The Curator replied, "Either he let it in or one of the others is working with them."
The Library went silent.
"Surely none of them would help them to kill one of us?" the Warden said.
"You're forgetting about the Keeper. He did say he'd make us pay for not letting him die on Gallifray." the Stationmaster replied.
"He's not capable of murder though surely?" the Warden replied.
"You're forgetting the time he pulled a gun on me after he started a fight with me and lost," the Curator replied, "If you two hadn't come back when you did, I'd be dead."
"I can't help but think that what happened with us was a distraction while they got to him." Kara replied.
"I hate to be the one who sounds uncaring, but did he manage to get all the boxes?" the Stationmaster said, "Remember they're our most important goal at the moment."
"There are two left to find." the Curator said.
"I have leads on one of them." The Warden said.
"Do we know where the other is?" the Stationmaster asked.
"No but I did download all of his hard drives. You know the Messenger, he had to keep hard copies of everything." The Curator said taking his sonic screwdriver out of his jacket pocket.
"This regeneration did have a habit of being quite forgetful," The Warden said, "I told him he should be keeping copies of everything."
"If there is any information about it at all, it's on here." the Curator said holding out his hand.
Suddenly the small hand of the TARDIS interface appeared and took the device out of his hand, taking the Time Lord by surprise.
"I will download all of the Messenger's files." the little girl said before turning and walking into the console room.
"If there is information on there," the Stationmaster said, "I'll volunteer to go find it."
"Kara and I don't mind going for it." the Curator replied.
The Stationmaster looked at his friend in silence. Kara could tell something was wrong without anything being said.
"You're not going to start this again are you?" the Stationmaster asked.
"No I was just thinking..." the Curator said.
"I know what you were thinking. You can't treat me like some kind of doll that will break under pressure. I've had my last regeneration, I'm not dying." he said.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean anything by it." the Curator said.
"Good. Remember Kara doesn't have any regenerations but you'd never think of telling her she couldn't go anywhere dangerous because of it.?"
Kara looked over at the Warden who looked as uncomfortable as she felt.
"I didn't mean anything by it, I'm just enjoying taking Kara to new places." the Curator said.
"Good," the Stationmaster said with a smile, "Then it's settled, if there is any information on your sonic, then I'll check it out."
"If and it is a big if, if the Keeper is helping the Tzeraat, do you think we should warn the others?" The Warden asked.
"I think this is something that should stay between the three of us," the Curator replied, "What if it's more than just one of us working for him and we tip them off?"
"That's a good point," The Stationmaster said, "We'll have to try and keep a closer eye on the others."
"Stationmaster, we haven't been in a room with the all the others for nearly 45 years. I have no idea where most of them even are!" The Warden said.
"Then the Curator is right, we keep this between ourselves for now. We should all try to at least get a fix on the Keeper." the Stationmaster said.
"I'll send words out with my contacts." the Curator said.
"Are you sure?" the Warden asked.
The Curator finished his drink, "I am. Lets face it, no one finds other people quite like Serena Targer."
"Just make sure she doesn't steel your TARDIS again." the Stationmaster replied with a chuckle, the Warden joined in.
"I get the feeling I'm missing a very funny story?" Kara said with a smile.
"I'll tell you all about her when we get back to the TARDIS," the Curator said to her, "If we're going to have to meet her I'd better warn you all about her."
"I can't wait!" Kara replied.
"Another question, when we do go into the Time Bubble, who are we going to take with us? I was thinking because of her background as a soldier Kara could be very useful." the Curator said.
"I may be able to bring along some of my companions too." the Warden replied.
"There's definitely strength in numbers." the Stationmaster said.
"I was thinking of asking Madame Vastra and her companions if they would come with us. They helped me to save Kara. Vastra said to me to tell you, you both have an alliance with her."
"That's good help to have," The Warden said, "To meet her would be quite the honour. She's a legend in any time."
As the Warden finished speaking the TARDIS interface walked back into the room and handed the Curator his sonic screwdriver.
"The Messenger had 10,793 different files. 983 files about the object you are seeking. I believe I have located the location where the Messenger planned to go in order to find the device." the little girl said.
"It's a good enough place to start." the Stationmaster said.
"Could you really be going to the bubble soon?" Kara asked.
"It will still be some time, but yes." the Curator replied.
"But we need to get this trouble finished here first." the Warden said.
"We need to go from here as we discussed and locate the Keeper." the Stationmaster added.
"But we do have one thing we need to do before we part ways. The Messenger's body is back on my TARDIS."the Curator said.
"We should go back to where all this first stared, give him a send off." the Warden said.
"Well then I suggest we all reconvene there?" the Stationmaster said.