CHAPTER 23

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DRAGON WAR

The Doctor sat at the console of the slowly drifting TARDIS and watched George, the newly hatched space dragon, through its front doors with a huge frown on his face as he let out an occasional sigh from time to time. It was clear to everyone that he was very, very upset.

"I haven't seen him this sad since River shot his favorite fez," Rose said to Shareen.

"Stand firm, Rose. He can't keep George and you know it," Shareen said.

"I just feel so guilty. Maybe I could let him keep George in the White Guardian's dimension. No one stays there much so he wouldn't be much trouble," Rose said.

"Rose, stop trying to give in and stay strong. I know you hate to make him unhappy but it's necessary. That dragon is a living creature, and it deserves to be free," Shareen said.

"It's also a baby and it needs someone to take care of it until it's grown. Are there any other dragons out there?" Polly asked.

"I thought of that already, but I couldn't find any. They're pretty much extinct in this time. I think George may be the only one left. It's too bad we can't take him back to the past where there were plenty of them, but I know the TARDIS won't go through with that. She'd probably kick us all out if we tried it, and she'd be absolutely right to do it. I have been trying to find a time fissure or a rift that might lead back to the right time though, but so far I haven't had any luck. Any other time some crazy villain would rip open a hole somewhere by mucking about with time but not now when you really want them to. It's too bad, yeah?" Rose said sadly.

"Not from my point of view. Then again I don't love trouble like you and the Doctor do," Mikaela said with a grin.

"I don't love trouble. I just want to help George," Rose said.

The others looked at her skeptically as she smiled wickedly and said, "Yeah, even I don't believe that."

"Maybe I could call the Symmetry of the future and get them to rip open time and space for you," Mikaela joked.

"Don't even joke about that, Mik. You're not going anywhere near the Symmetry, got it?" Rose said.

"Yes, Mum," Mikaela said with a smirk.

"Don't be smart with me, young lady. I'm just trying to look out for you because I worry about you, and this is the thanks that I get? You're completely ungrateful. That's what you are," Rose said.

Then her mouth opened wide in horror and the Doctor cringed as Shareen started laughing and said, "Well, hello, Jackie! I didn't know that you were on board."

"Shut up!" Rose said as she too burst out laughing.

"You're becoming your mum," Shareen teased her.

"Shut up!" Rose said as she playfully punched her in the arm.

"It could be worse. She could be becoming Lily instead," the Doctor said.

Rose turned to see him with a small smile on his face now. She was glad because she had been feeling lower than a Dalek for a while there.

"Are you alright?" Rose asked as she quickly crossed the room to him and kissed him.

"I'm fine. I know that you're right, Rose. I just hate to admit it because I've already grown attached to George. He really does need someone to look out for him though because he's going to be in a lot of danger until he grows up especially if he's by himself," the Doctor said with a worried look in his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked.

"I mean that as possibly the last of his species he's going to be worth a fortune to whoever can sell him on the universal black market. There are all kinds of supremely uncool people out there who will want him for their private collections," the Doctor said ominously.

"Like Van Statten," Rose said with a frown remembering the ruthless billionaire who had tried to do that very thing to the Doctor once.

"Exactly and I think that one of them may be after him already," the Doctor said as he brought up a sensor sweep of the area on the monitor.

It showed a large blip not far away from them that was slowly following them at a safe distance. Rose knew that they probably weren't there for any good reason whoever they were.

"How could they know about George already? No one knew about him but us. The people on the surface never even saw him," Rose said.

"We have been drifting for quite a while now. Someone even in this remote area of space was bound to spot something as huge as George sooner or later. I'm hoping that they're so busy concentrating on him that they still haven't spotted us yet," the Doctor said.

"Do you have any idea who they are? You don't think that they could be the Viyrans do you?" Charley asked in a nervous voice.

"No, I don't think so, Charley. Don't worry. I'll know if they're around or not," Mikaela said instead of one of the two Time Lords.

"How exactly?" Charley asked in surprise.

Mikaela smiled as she brought a small device out of her pocket that had a blank screen at the moment and said, "With this. It's a little tablet I created in the future that's kind of like my own version of the sonic screwdriver. It does a little bit of everything too. I found a special energy signature that the Viyrans give off whenever they're around that this will definitely pick up on it when they return so don't worry about it, okay?"

"Thank you, Mikaela. I really appreciate that. I have to admit that I've been a little bit on edge worrying about them at times," Charley said.

"Really? I didn't notice," Mikaela teased her with a warm smile on her face.

Rose smiled at her in approval and was grateful that she was looking out for Charley that way. She really would miss Mikaela when she left because she had grown extremely attached to her and was very fond of her now. She knew that the others were too especially the Doctor. She could at least look forward to watching the young version of her growing up now that she knew just how very special that she was going to turn out to be one day.

"Is that Symmetry technology?" The Doctor asked as he looked at Mikaela's tablet closely.

Mikaela was suddenly nervous now and felt like kicking herself for showing it out in the open like this because this was tech the Doctor probably shouldn't see just yet especially considering his dealings with the Symmetry's much more violent cousins in the future when he became the Old Man. She was really treading on a fine line here if he looked too closely at it and found out more than he should know at the moment.

"Yes but it's nothing important. I'm just using it to scan the immediate area around the TARDIS right now," Mikaela said in an uncomfortable voice.

"It's okay, Ella. I know better than to look at something of yours too closely. I was just curious if you could maybe pick up some information about our mysterious ship with it that the TARDIS can't right now. Her sensors aren't working at full capacity because so much of the console was damaged," the Doctor explained.

"Oh," Mikaela said with a sigh of relief.

Then she began to smile as she said, "So you admit that Symmetry tech just might be better in some way than your mighty Time Lord technology, huh? I love it."

The Doctor looked confused at first as he asked, "When did I ever put down Symmetry tech? Oh, you're talking about Eyebrows aren't you? I so look forward to becoming him. I'm sure that I won't be any fun at all to be around anymore."

"You'll be alright," Mikaela said smiling at him encouragingly.

She then reconfigured her tablet for a wide scan of all types of technology instead of just that of the Viyrans and used it to pick up information on their pursuers. She immediately frowned as she recognized exactly whose ship it was.

"Sil. I hate that guy so much. He was always hitting on me plus he's just so creepy and disgusting," Mikaela said with a gag.

"Who's Sil?" Polly asked.

"An old enemy of mine. He's from a race called the Mentors who are basically like humanoid slugs and who run a lot of large businesses throughout the universe not all of them legal. Sil is the worst of the lot. He doesn't care how he makes his money as long as he has plenty of it," The Doctor said with a look of distaste on his face.

"I remember my mum and Amy telling me about running into him. Sounds like a real wonderful bloke he does. So he would definitely be interested in selling George on the black market then," Rose said.

"Yes, he'd do it without a second thought or even a first. He'd sell anything even his own mother. Do you know that I heard he actually got a million credits for her?" The Doctor said in a completely serious tone.

Rose wrinkled her nose in disgust as she said, "I can't believe it. I may have actually found someone even lower than Jimmy Stone."

"No, I'd still say Jimmy wins the title of biggest piece of scum in the universe hands down," Shareen said.

That was when the entire ship was suddenly shaken violently as something rammed into it. They could all guess what it was as the Doctor said, "Be prepared for anything. Sil could have hired anyone to work for him including the worst of the worst."

The Doctor started to close the TARDIS doors, but he didn't want to leave George completely at Sil's mercy. He just hoped that he didn't regret that decision later.

He found himself glad once more that Clara wasn't there. Maybe she had had a point after all about the danger that he had constantly put her in all the time.

The others looked worried as they waited for what was coming next even as Gwyneth struggled to hide a smile. She knew exactly what was coming or more specifically who was coming, and she couldn't wait to see that particular person again.

She knew that the Doctor and Rose would feel exactly the same if not more so.

Everyone braced themselves now as Sil's ship pulled up directly in front of the TARDIS. Moments later, Sil was brought inside on a stretcher carried by several handlers and with a group of alien mercenaries holding huge guns standing in front of him protectively.

Rose immediately placed herself in-between them and the others with her eyes and hands glowing with power as Sil looked her up and down with an approving smile on his face.

"You must be the Doctor's wife, the fabled Bad Wolf. I've heard many wonderful tales about you, but none of them do your great beauty the slightest bit of justice," Sil said as he continued to leer at her with covetous eyes.

"I take that back. He is worse," Shareen said with a grimace.

"Tell me about it. At least he isn't doing that to me this time," Mikaela said.

"Oi! No hitting on my wife!" The Doctor warned.

Sil smiled as he said, "So you've changed once again, Doctor. I must say that your choice in clothing remains as appalling as ever but is a marked improvement over the way that you dressed at our first meeting. Then again anything would be. That multi-colored travesty of a coat that you wore back then was probably the one thing that I've ever come across in all of my travels that I'm absolutely sure that not even I could sell."

"You didn't come here to make fun of my superior fashion skills because you're so incredibly jealous of what a clotheshorse that I am, Sil. You came here for the dragon, and you're not about to get him. He's under my protection," the Doctor said defiantly.

"Really, Doctor, and what protection is that? Your ship is adrift in space and almost lifeless, and I currently have you surrounded by several of the most dangerous hired guns in the universe. I'd say that I have the advantage, wouldn't you?" Sil said with a grin of triumph.

"You obviously don't know as much about me as you think if you think that, mate," Rose said as she began to glow even brighter now and prepared to fight.

"Oh, but I do, Rose Tyler. I know that you always think of the welfare of your family ahead of your own, and that's why I brought a bargaining chip to ensure that you will stay out of my way until I have what I came here for," Sil said.

He gestured to some of his men behind him, and they immediately moved back to reveal a group of mercenaries holding a gun to the head of a bound and gagged young woman. Both the Doctor and Rose gasped as they recognized her instantly.

It was their daughter, Cassiopeia, who they had last seen traveling the universe alone in her own TARDIS. They couldn't help but be terrified about what had happened to her to bring her to this state.

"If you've hurt her, I swear to you that I . . ." The Doctor started to threaten Sil.

"There's no need for threats, Doctor. She remains mostly unharmed. We found her near my ship while we were on our way here after hearing about the dragon and took her by surprise. I couldn't believe my good fortune after we realized exactly who she was. Apparently she had tried to sneak onboard our ship to stop us after she heard about what we were going to do. She failed miserably however as you can see. Now if you want to have your daughter back alive and well then you will allow us to take the dragon without trying to interfere with us in any way. Once we have it safely back home with us then I will release your daughter and you will be safely reunited with her," Sil said with a sinister smile on his face.

"How do we know that we can trust you, a bloke who'd sell his own mum?" Rose asked skeptically.

"You don't but you really don't have a choice in the matter do you? My mercenary is holding a stolen staser that was smuggled off of Gallifrey to your daughter's head. You know that even one shot from it will kill a Time Lord instantly without any chance of regeneration, and even you won't be fast enough to save her in time, Bad Wolf," Sil said as his smile became a smug one now.

Rose and the Doctor looked at one another in indecision as they silently debated with themselves on what to do next. They didn't want to leave their daughter at Sil's mercy, but they also didn't want to watch her die right in front of them either. They had already seen that happen once when she was a child, and they never wanted to see it again. They had absolutely no idea what to do next.

Then they saw Cassiopeia wink at them.

Rose took a deep breath and looked at the Doctor who nodded before she said, "No deal, Sil. You're not taking George and you're not about to leave here with my daughter either."

Sil looked at her in absolute shock as he said, "What?!"

Rose couldn't help but smile at that. He had been so sure that he had her where he wanted her, and he had been so wrong.

While Sil and the others with him were still surprised, Cassiopeia finally made her move at last as she suddenly broke free of her Vortex shielded bonds with an escape technique that she had once learned from Harry Houdini himself. She then quickly disintegrated the staser before the man holding her could use it.

She smiled now as she threw the man out and straight back into the other ship and began to make quick work of the other mercenaries. Even as they started to fire on her with their massive weapons, she quickly absorbed or deflected their blasts with a single gesture.

"No, this is impossible! She was completely helpless," Sil said in disbelief.

"That's exactly what I wanted you to think. I'm never helpless, Snail Boy. It's about time that you knew that," Cassiopeia said proudly as she continued to fight with Sil's mercenaries singlehandedly while the Doctor, Rose, and the others watched and laughed in amusement.

"Get me out of here! Hurry!" Sil shouted to his bearers as he realized which way that the wind was blowing now.

"Oh, no you don't," Rose said as she suddenly teleported across the room and appeared right next to Sil with a furious expression on her face while she stood there glowing at full power.

Sil's bearers immediately fled back to their ship in a mindless panic and left him all alone there as he looked up at Rose in terror.

"I – I wouldn't have actually harmed her. I was going to release her alive. I promise!" Sil said in a quivering voice.

"Why do I not believe you?" Rose said in a venomous voice as she levitated Sil off the floor with a gesture.

"No, please!" Sil begged.

"I wonder if that's what your mum said when you sold her?" Rose asked in disgust.

"I made that story up just to scare people. It's not true. It's not true!" Sil said in absolute fear.

Rose frowned as she said, "You know you really are pathetic. You're not even worth wasting my time or my breath on you. Get out of here and take your mates with you."

She then tossed Sil and the mercenaries out of the TARDIS and straight back into their ship. Before they could make a move to stop her, Rose suddenly flung the ship several light years from the TARDIS as she teleported it away in a display of pure anger!

The Doctor looked at her in shock as he had never seen her display such a level of power before. It seemed that Rose's powers were far greater that even he realized whenever she became extremely angry. Apparently intense anger could actually give her a temporary power boost of incredible proportions at times. He wasn't sure that Rose even realized what she had just done, and he knew that she didn't care.

At the moment all she cared about was Cassiopeia. He smiled as he watched her immediately check her over for injuries and then hugged her tightly when she was sure that she was alright.

Cassiopeia grinned happily as she said, "Mum, I'm fine. I tricked them into thinking that they took me by surprise so that I could get them to bring me along with them. I knew that it had to be you two who were protecting the dragon because, well, who else would it be? Dad always talked about wanting a pet dragon when I was growing up."

"Why didn't you use your TARDIS to get here instead?" Rose asked.

"Well, um, about that," Cassiopeia said sheepishly.

"What did you do to it?" Rose asked with an exasperated sigh.

"It wasn't my fault, Mum. Honest. I was actually saving Sil's world, Thoros Beta, from an attack by the Sontarans who wanted something from the Mentors they couldn't afford to pay for at their sky high prices when the Potato Heads got lucky and hit my TARDIS. Then it, uh, kinda blew up. I was just about to use my powers to leave the planet when I overheard Sil talking about the dragon. Apparently even after a massive invasion by the Sontarans that shook up his whole world, he was still conducting business as usual. Nothing fazes that guy at least not until he met you anyway. Way to go, Mum!" Cassiopeia said with a chuckle.

Rose however was not happy in the slightest as she glared at her daughter and said, "That's it. You're traveling with me and your Dad for a while until I'm sure that you can be trusted with another TARDIS."

"Mum, it wasn't my fault," Cassiopeia protested.

"Maybe so but you did just place yourself in a highly dangerous situation just now that scared me and Dad to death. I know that you're very good at what you do, Cass, but there is such a thing as being overconfident and a little bit too reckless no matter how good you are. I know it's treating you like a kid and I'm sorry about that, but I want you to stay with me for a while until I'm sure that you're not going too far and taking too many risks when you fight," Rose said.

"I – I – Argh!" Cassiopeia sputtered before she finally screamed out in frustration and anger.

"Cass, I just want to see you again and make sure that you're okay, alright? It's just for a little while. Then I'll get you another TARDIS I promise," Rose said in a calmer voice.

"Fine. It really wasn't my fault though," Cassiopeia protested.

"I believe you," Rose said softly as she kissed her forehead.

The Doctor smiled as he knew that while Cassiopeia might be one of the most dangerous people in the universe being a former assassin that even she couldn't win an argument with her mother. Come to think of it he never could either.

How did she do that?

"Well, now that that's settled we just have to figure out what to do with George. I think that I have an idea though. There's a small rift not far from here that I just detected with the newly fixed sensors that I'm going to start slowly guiding the TARDIS toward with what little power that I can get from her. It leads straight back in time to the early days of the universe. If I can get George to go through it, I'm sure he'll find plenty of dragons just like him there. Then I'll just close up the rift behind him, and he'll be safe and sound," the Doctor said confidently.

"Sounds like a plan. After this, I really hope that we have a nice long quiet week for once, Doctor," Rose said with a small grin.

Mikaela looked at Gwyneth who silently shook her head causing Mikaela to roll her eyes at her. Why was she not surprised by that in the slightest?

Things never slowed down with the Doctor in her time so why should the past version of the Doctor be any different?

Next: Victoria, Jamie, and Zoe are back just as an old enemy of the Doctor's returns that will be a real blast from the past for both Polly and Jamie: the powerful mind controlling beings known as the Macra. What are the mysterious crab-like aliens up to and what does it have to do with one of the Doctor's companions? Maybe the newly revived Handles can help the Doctor figure it all out in time before it's far too late to stop them.