A/N: Thank you and Jelly Babies to my reviewers.
Basia Orci, My Reflection: honestly, that scene with Harley and Toombs was necessary to explain another character by the name of Eva Logan that will pop up seventeen plus five years minus nine months in the future… And yes, they are quite the dysfunctional pair.
You know, only River could get the Doctor to strip off his clothes in zero-g. He's not thinking about it (and their lack of clothes will turn out to be important, I swear).
Kevin reappears later at some point; he does make it off the ship.
I figure with the shocker of the last chapter that you all deserved to see the end of Antonia and Junner in this one. Story's about half way through, I'm guessin'.

Summary: The Doctor, reeling from the effects of the TimeWar as the last surviving TimeLord, stumbled into a situation he could not ignore when the TARDIS landed him inside a ship that was clearly in trouble. After the rescue, he's left with eight survivors that he must somehow get to safety. But the situation is not as cut and dry as he might like. His people may be gone, but the stamp he's made on the universe is still there, and he finds himself caught in a web spun of the choices he's made in the past…

It's 2517. Something in history has prompted humanity to explode out from their home world. Could the events of 2164 be responsible? Was Earth a myth or was it real? In fleeing Earth-that-Was, humanity scattered to the stars across the galactic arm. Initial survey teams targeted likely planets and systems for habitation and not all of them ended up on the same side of the sector. Blue Sun exists on one side, separated by a patch of 'wild space' filled with exotic binary and triple star systems, from the rest of civilized space.

Few ships brave the route. But luck had it that one ship did. Risking a ghost run, the only contact that the two sides have, the Hunter-Gratzner crashed midway through the journey. Original Port of Departure: Eavesdown Docks, Persephone. Mixed Sino-Anglo culture. Original Port of Call: Tangiers-5. Darkside. Mixed Islamic-Anglo culture. Crew complement: Four. Passengers: Forty. Living 'Cargo': Two. Survivors: Eight plus One

So what happens to Dr. Simon Tam, his brilliant but damaged sister, a convicted murder by the name of Richard B. Riddick, and the other survivors from the crash of the Hunter-Gratzner at planet M-344/G-2 now that they are on their way home? They end up slightly out of their own Time, on a ship filled with living sculptures… And just how is this related to the TimeWar?

A Doctor Who / Firefly / Riddick crossover.

Features Doctor 9, Pre-"Rose"; Simon and River Tam, Pre-"Serenity" Firefly episode 1 and the survivors from Pitch Black: Carolyn Fry, William J. Johns, Imam Abu al'Walid, 'Jack B. Badd', Ali Abdullah, and Richard B. Riddick…

Doctor Who and the Ties that Bind.

Part Nineteen

Checkmate

Up, up, up -- he climbs through pristine white halls, ever up. There's no one to stop him. All the fighters are below him. There, there. He sees the door. She's behind this door, in this bay. He can smell her. She thinks she is safe now, so close to her ship. But he smells that the Red Guardian is also here, and she wants revenge of her own. Time is ticking, running, almost out. He can feel it. The universe might unravel if he is too late. And that must not happen.

He has a sacred charge, a sacred duty, tasked to him by Shirah herself, to not let that be reality. Even in his insanity he remembers her voice and her touch and the pain of her compassion. The pulse of her caress burns on his chest, a glowing imprint of her Eternal touch. The maiden of Pain allies her soul, her people, her power, with the Red Guardian. He must not lose.

Carefully he opens the portal and slips inside. The maze that faces him is but a small challenge. Her scent leads him to her. Soon he'll have his revenge and his peace.

Very soon.

Behind him the survivors of this trek leave a wake of bloody footsteps, handprints, smears and drips. A trail of gore to mark the passage of the Tempest. They are caught in his fury, with little mind of their own. But no matter, it is a willing enslavement, unlike the last one.

Red. Like the Guardian they follow.

Red. Like the life in their veins.

Red. Like raging infernos, fires of hell, brimstone.

Red. Like sunsets after an eruption, when the air itself is laden with the particles of fire and has no choice but to bear the opposite color it normally possesses.

Red. Like lava, and rubies, and garnets… the blood of the earth itself.

Red. Like dwarf suns and cool giants, plasma spheres in the void, struggling to cast out heat no matter how feeble.

Red. Like blooming algae over the ocean rift with poison, the stain of water where what would give life brings death instead.

Red. Like blood, the essence of life, the conveyance of the aether, which without every living thing is merely a collection of chemicals.

They are his tools. His instruments. He calls to them like a siren's song. They are red from head to sanguine foot. Silent and deadly they heed his summons.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

They are among a labyrinth of boxes and crates. The TARDIS is here somewhere close. It's fairly dark. The first thing that they note is that Kevin is not with them. But there's no chance of going back for him, so they are forced to let it be. Then the Doctor says that they should try to find a way to the ship, because he knows exactly where she is, but not how to get to her.

They decide that Simon, Bill, Abu and the boys will stay put so that Simon can splint the busted ankle. Carolyn and River choose to check one way, and the Doctor and Riddick check another. For the first ten ticks or so everything is quiet. Just about the point that Carolyn is becoming used to her heart not racing in her chest, River leans out to look around a corner and her head jerks back. Fry goes to call out her name but finds that she's got a gloved hand choking off her air. She puts her hands up on the fingers. "My, my. What do we have here." Junner says in her ear. Her heart goes back into overdrive.

She kicks up with her heel but he counters by pinning her foot. Fry is all too aware that she's half-nude here. She glances over at the dark haired young woman who is slowly sitting back up. Blood is trickling out of River's nose. Fry struggles as best she can, managing to back her assailant into a stack of crates that tumbles apart with a loud racket. Carolyn prays that someone heard that. Junner begins squeezing the life out of her in retaliation.

"Let her go." It is Riddick. Thank God!

"Hmm." Junner thinks about it, turning to look at the man. It might be worth it to just kill her.

"It's me you're after. You want a shot at the title?" Riddick punches his fist into his hand. After a moment's consideration the taller man drops the woman. Then he eyes over his opponent's lack of clothing and strips down to the same level, pulling a sword blade from his gun and discarding the weapon. The ex-ranger waits to see exactly how much twisted honor this sick fuck has before he makes one declaration, "No rules."

Junner knows this means that he could have kept the gun. Too late now. He's aware that the blonde scrambles over to the girl that he slammed in the face and is checking her over as he assesses the broad shouldered tanned figure in front of him. "Where's your Doctor?"

The ex-ranger charges in closer, pulling short, just shy of the taller man's reach. "Where's your Mistress?"

"She trusts me to take care of the likes of you," the green bespectacled man said as he jabbed at his target.

Richard smirks, kicks the blade away, and brings his arm up with the shiv positioned like a back talon. His aim is for the throat, "More like she's fleeing this boat and leaving you to pick up the pieces."

Only his fast reflexes save Junner as he dodges to the side and takes a step back. His opponent presses his advantage by moving in closer. The white skinned man has to dance back even farther just to get enough room to use his longer reach. He's reduced to jabs and thrusts, unable to get in a real swing. Then he miscalculates and is tugged almost off his feet when the bronze man grips his sword hand by the wrist. "It will be your pieces I'll be picking up," he says as he lands several very powerful blows with his off hand. The response he gets is laugher and equally powerful punches, delivered with a metal filled hand. He's left with a series of paper-thin shallow cuts, and Junner realizes that he needs to get the man away from him before he's stabbed. He pushes the shorter form back, brings his sword in line and rushes, intending to just run the bastard through.

"Sloppy," Rich says as he bashes the man aside, spinning to keep him in view. He goes defensive, circling and watching for Junner to make his next move. The taller man keeps trying to use his reach, jabbing out with the sword like it's a fencing blade, which it's not. The ex-ranger kicks it aside and they circle again. "Come on, you're so sure of yourself, what are you waiting for?" The second growls and goes for a low thrust and the con meets it with a body slam. Junner grips the hand with the knife by the wrist. "Girls fight better than you," Riddick tells him as he locks his free arm over Junner's sword hand and squeezes.

The tall man bites off a scream, turning it into a grunt as he struggles to maintain the grip on his sword. They spin, tugging as each tries to get free without letting go of the other, endeavoring to get some, any, advantage. The second in command manages to get enough space to use his feet and lands a fair kick. His opponent stumbles back. "Is that so?" He swings his sword and is surprised to find that Riddick knows how to block with his shiv. He's further stunned when he finds himself blocking with the blade of his own weapon. He needs to disarm his target. It should be easy, catch the curve of the knife just so, and – perfect.

Richard feels the twist of his blade that translates into 'let go or break' and he lets go. Calculated risk. The ex-ranger ducks as the shiv goes flying and then snags the sword hand again this time with enough force and energy to twist the hand in such a way that the longer blade falls to the floor. He moves to kick it aside, "Yeah."

Now with the blade out of reach, because it slides away even as Junner ducks to retrieve it, he's forced into unarmed combat. He knees his opponent in the thigh, dodges a fist, and comes up swinging. He's landing as many blows as he's taking. It seems they are evenly matched at this point. Desperate, he claws and kicks, and Riddick flies back into a stack of crates, causing the entire thing to tumble apart, sending supplies, ship parts, tools, and smaller boxes scattering and clanging away. He ignores the open ceiling panel and trailing cables as insignificant, choosing to retrieve his sword. "I think not," he says as he advances.

Richard assesses the entire situation with a glance. He can't reach his blade, but there's a power cable snaking past his right shoulder and running across the floor. He can use that. The white skinned man swings at him. He rolls to the right, quickly grabbing the cable and making a snap and lassoing motion with it. A wave travels down the cable, translating into a loop that nooses itself around Junner's neck. "I don't give a fuckin' whoop what you think," he pulls the cable tight, then tugs it with both hands even tighter. The man is choking, which is good. "Sick bastard." He puts more pressure on the cable. Maybe his head will pop off?

But Junner dimly remembers the sword in his hand. The most sensible thing he can think of doing right at that moment is cutting the cable. But it's only after the lights have fallen that he realizes that perhaps that was a mistake. He's blind. There's a rustling sound. He brings his blade up, and then hears a crunch. The pressure of his glasses shifts on his face. What? There's something pressing against in his eye, and even more. Oh god! It's agony. He screams. It is the last thing he ever does.

The emergency lights come on. Junner's body hits the floor, Riddick's shiv buried in his eye. "I told you that was coming."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Imam and the boys are near William, who is sitting while Simon finishes up splinting his busted ankle when Riddick comes around the corner with Carolyn and River. The blonde is holding a bit of white fabric up to River's nose and the two women are wrapped in a long, white, oversized coat. "What happened?"

"Ambush," Riddick says. He's holding his left arm like he's injured his shoulder and is keeping it still.

"And the Doctor?"

"Trying to find the TARDIS."

"It'll be good to get the fuck outta here," Johns says.

"Found her!" says the Doctor from the corner.

Abu squeezes Ali's shoulders, "It is over. We have survived." The boy nods in total agreement.

Suddenly everything changes when a figure in white steps out into the path behind the Time Lord. There's no time to shout a warning, no time to get him out of the way, just enough time to register who it is behind him, with white disheveled hair, and twitching limbs. Antonia Chillingsworth looks mad now, her perfection twisted. One hand hangs uselessly down, fingers contorted into claws, stained with dried blood from the still open wound on her arm. River's blade must have done a fair bit of damage. The once luscious lips are garish in their fake coloring, now seemingly too big for her thin face. Her once graceful neck now looks too narrow to support her head and she's permanently tilted to one side as she struggles to keep it upright. Its clear that she's old, with a layer of fake youth applied over the top now.

She cackles like a mad woman, as her remaining good arm raises and levels an ancient double barrel weapon at the Doctor's torso. It's like watching something in slow motion as her gnarled fingers squeeze the double trigger. There's a twin percussion of the hammers echoing through the crate filled bay. The Time Lord goes down. Stunned, all Riddick can do is stare as the bit of leather he can see, frozen in place. "Back to hell with you, you bloody stinking savage!" she aims at Riddick next, advancing past the body of the fallen pale hairless man.

Amadak hears the cock of the gun as she primes the chamber for the next shot. He sees her lift and aim the weapon at him. His heart is frozen. Nothing matters. She blocks his view, and he keeps his eyes fixed on the same spot as if he's looking through her. Nothing –

Her fingers squeeze and he forces himself to take a breath, ready for the pain of it, willing to die right here.

A nude muscular form dives on her from the side sending her flying.

Richard blinks. His eyes track the weapon and her hand through the air, followed by the spray of copper that arcs through the purplish light of the bay. He hears it clatter off in the distance. The scene moments before replay in his mind with the gun going off and Thete falling like a vivid flashback. Over and over. The only thing he can think about is the Doctor. "Thete!" he isn't even aware of calling out the name.

Before anyone can clear the distance to the body a flood of naked, blood and gore encrusted, forms pile on Antonia, all intent on ripping her to shreds. Idly, Bill estimates that there's about twenty or so of the mostly male figures there, all covered with drying red from head to foot. It's no wonder that the fresh layer phases them not a whit. He has to force himself to focus on something else.

Imam turns the boys away, although Jack is morbidly interested in the carnage. River stands there with her eyes closed, not crying, not moving… Simon looks rather green, and Carolyn matches him.

For an eternity there's nothing but the sounds of screams and flesh ripping and the gushing of blood… none of them can stand to watch the savage nature of the unarmed assault as the madness finally reaps its reward.

Then silence falls and the figures slowly begin to get a grip on themselves, clambering back to their feet, swaying slightly. They act stunned, and seem to be waiting for some signal, not advancing at all. The Doctor slowly gets to his feet. He swallows, glances over at the bloody naked people, and nods to them. This seems to release them from their daze. The figures eye the group over, looking at the skin showing and decide as a unit that they are on the same side before wandering away in search of more challenging targets. Only the Furyan remains. He's as shredded as their hostess is. She's dead; he's not, yet. He blinks, "Thank Verity," and the light in his eyes fades. At least he has a smile on his face.

The Doctor knelt down and gently closed the Furyan's eyes, ignoring the shredded flesh around him. I think she knows. Then he stands and turns back to the others, "Well, are we all in one piece here?" Once again, he finds himself covered with blood. Russet, Red, Blue, Green… always blood. It would be nice for once to be covered with something that hadn't been alive at one point at the end of a situation.

Grandfather?

I am fine, River. He's short with her, he knows. He doesn't feel like being comforting at the moment.

Richard steps up to him. He can't even describe the sense of relief he feels. He wants to hug the alien gent, but instead looks at the bodies and says, "Lets go."

Slowly the others move toward him. The Doctor looks at them. They still trust him. These wonderful humans still trust him, even with the blood on his hands, even with the glimpse into his soul, even now; they trust him to keep them safe. He manages a slight smile at them and a nod. And with that the survivors follow the Doctor back to the TARDIS.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The platinum blonde and the scruffy reddish-brown haired pair are standing in the observation port of her private room, where they headed to get her some clothes. After five years of being alone, of being free, she's back to the same shit. Only difference is, she's let her birth control go, because she thought she'd never ever let anyone with a dick get close enough to make a difference. How wrong she was. Harley Logan sighed as she chucked the container. No use cryin' over spilt milk now. The damage was likely already done. And if not, she doubted if Toombs would let her see a doctor on account that a relationship like theirs would land them both in the slam.

He glances at her, as she's sorting through her stuff, packing a bag. He's got standard issue crew garb, because that's what she was able to get for him. He's got stuff on Lupus 5 so it's no loss. She sure is chucking a lot of old pills. There's no sign that anyone's been in her bed, at all, recently. That warms his withered heart. Of course he's not dressed, and neither is she. No. there's not another merc left alive on this boat that's not running around in the buff acting like he's gone native. They will dress once they've jacked an undercutter and gotten off this hellhole.

A shuttle flying away from the mothership catches his eye. Toombs turns and watches it until it flashes away into hyper-space. "Riddick. We ain't done boy. Not by a long shot." He grabs his sister's wrist. Harley sighs. Sounds like they are gonna be chasing that one for a long fucking time. "Time to blow this shit hole, Harley-love. You got everything."

"Yes."

They've managed, working together, to keep themselves from getting killed by the insane groups roaming the blood coated halls. Maybe the fact that they were both nude and carrying weapons made a difference. Who knows? She gave up trying to figure this ship out after the 'Golls set their monster loose. They reach the aft upper flight deck and he heads to the best ship of the lot. About five ticks after he's gotten the door open there's a call of, "Hello?"

Harley spins, levels her gun, realizes who it is, and lets out a breath of relief, "Kevin?"

He blinks at her, having never seen her nude before, "Commander?"

"Stop staring at me and get in here, Kevin."

He scrambles aboard. Toombs looks back, "A fuck toy of yours?"

"No, just one of the men under my command, Toombs. I figure we can give him a lift to Lupus 5, yeah?" Her heart is pounding in her chest over his assumption.

The scruffy man scratches, leans in and closes the door, "Touch 'er and I'll feed you your dick, Ok?"

"No problem Boss." Kevin swallows at the look on the man's face. "Not even looking at 'er. She's all yours."

"I think we'll get along fine."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The TARDIS welcomed them back with relief. She wished she had never stopped here. Her Time Lord waved aside her outpouring and concern with a gruff, Just let me take them home now, Please.

Of course, Doctor. You are strong enough for the moment, until the fire burns out.

The survivors stumble again into the showers, or their rooms, but for Simon and Bill who end up back in the med lab.

The Doctor just gets them back into the Vortex and wanders into his room, hanging his jacket on its hook and sinking to the floor barely ten steps in. His mind is a swirling mass of insane echoes, struggles to move, murderous thoughts… hundreds of human minds brought into his, slowly being shed, leaving tiny ripples behind. Every action, every silent kill, every single-minded pursuit of destruction – all of it, he knows. And now he needs to lock it away inside a compartment where it won't ever get out. If he can. Or cope with it, if he can't.

Back there, on the Kubla Kahn, he reached deeper into his soul and touched a power that he has no idea how to cope with. All those lives, those minds, blank, had taken his suggestion to wipe the entire ship clean of life, to leave it a ghost ship filled with broken bodies, and carried it out to the letter. Eventually the most insane of the lot would kill itself off while the sane ones would snap back to themselves and escape. He felt numb inside, sick. And yet, it had been just, hadn't it? Hadn't he warned her?

Worst still is the heady feeling he got from the ability to reach through the one to the others, like a puppet master. If he locks away the horror of their experiences and deeds then he's left with the exhilaration and nothing to temper it. Then he'd be likely to abuse this power and he can't permit that. He can never ever afford to forget what they chose to do at his bidding. No locking this away.

He swallows, not sure how to cope with the new layer of stains on his soul, or the blood on his hands. He has no tears for them, but he's in agony, like there's a knife in his chest being twisted. He finds himself breathing through his mouth, and it's a struggle, but there's no physical cause. He wants to scream, to rage, and to blot out this pain. He won, so why, why does it hurt so? Because it has to. Because he can't afford for it not to.

Rich follows the man, catching the door with his toe and just peeking in at him as he sinks to the floor. He can tell that the Doctor is in distress. It's not shock, it's not grief, but it's torturous all the same. Quietly he steps into the room. A tear squeezes its way under the edge of the goggles and he takes them off, dropping them to the floor, even though the light hurts like having hot pokers in his eyes, but he's crying already so maybe he can bluff it off on the pain. Thete doesn't move. "Want me to go?" He gets a head shake. "So I can stay?" There's a shrug from the pale man on the floor. The lights in the room are slowly fading or shifting in spectrum as the TARDIS adjusts it to his eyes.

The ex-ranger deliberately settles in close behind the other man and carefully puts his hands on the smooth shoulders. The skin is cool, like it should be. It's not a health issue this time but a personal crisis of some sort. Amadak's never been good with comforting others; he's never known what to say, or what to do. But this time, there are no questions to ask. No prompts are important here. There's only Thete and his pain. Such intense pain. Letting go of his restraint, the bronze complexioned man slid his arms around the Time Lord and held him tight, skin to skin, back to chest, not questioning the tears that he shed, silently, easily, until they both could release guilt and face a new day.