A/N: Now, I know this chapter is delayed a bit. I have a valid excuse. My birthday was on the 15th of March and because it was a momentous event (I turned 40! Oh, my god, can you believe it?), I was dragged away from my computer. Anyhow. I want my reviewers and readers to know that I do appreciate you. If you are insane enough to spare time to read the product of a demented now 40-year-old-possessed-by-a-1000-year-old-time-lord writer you deserve it. If you leave reviews I'll give you a virtual bag of Jelly Babies. Thanking My Reflection, OtherMeWriter, and cassikat for the thoughts on the last chapter.
Yeah, I thought the planter idea was cute. Another one of those 'Dream Inspired' scenes. I think I'm gonna be scarred for life though. There's a planter just like I described at the school where I work and now I wonder if any missing children are hidden in there… I didn't know about it because I normally don't muck about in the building where it is located. But I had to sub over there for two days after the chapter was written and lo' there it was! 0.o
Cassikat, I'm glad to see you review. I needed a reason for Rose to be involved, and a reason for the TARDIS to reach out to her, and so the parasite was born. It's one of those things that bugged me about her story line in the show, so I'm fixing it. Now the Doctor's cure… that's still up in the air. I know how they are going to contain the energy, but not who is the critical element to kill it, yet. I've got a few ideas buzzing around though, so we'll see when we get there.
And I'm glad you got your 'net back, My Reflection, I was about to call in the Cybermen Search Team to try to find you! ;-D
Firefly bits here are from "Serenity" Part one, the initial pilot episode for the TV show, not the BDM.
PS, Mei-Gui means 'Rose or red-pink flower' in Chinese.

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 his past…

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 in 2517 to Dr. Simon Tam, his brilliant but damaged sister, a convicted murder by the name of Richard B. Riddick, and Jack B. Badd 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 then a 'quiet' trip to 2005 London brings them face to face with living sculptures of another kind… And just how is this related to the TimeWar?

A Doctor Who / Firefly / Riddick crossover.

Features Doctor 9, companion Rose Tyler; The cast of Firefly; 'Jack B. Badd' and Richard B. Riddick…

Doctor Who and the Ties that Bind.

Part Twenty-Six

Hasten

Now today was a momentous day, sort of. Today marked the start of the sixth year, fourth month, and third week since the Independent leadership had destroyed Malcolm Reynold's faith in everything but his own self. Not that he was counting or anything. He wasn't even sure that this job was one that he'd not be screwed over by. Most of them ended up being that way. Jaded, that's what he'd become. Realistic. The 'Verse didn't give a rat's ass about him and he mostly returned the favor. So to be in space, trawling through a husk of a ship for someone else's ultimate profit, risking his skin just so he could keep his boat in the air was par to the course. At least he had a space suit. "The vault's sealed," he says. This is promising. It means that no one else has been stupid enough to try this yet. "Okay. I'm gonna boil it. Jayne, give me the sticky." Another thing about today that is good is that he's not alone. He's got Jayne Cobb and Zoë Warren née Alleyne with him. Should push come to shove and hell come a' callin' at least he'd be in good company. The other man hands him the 'sticky', a gel held in a caulking type dispenser, that is a mighty powerful 'explosive' that doesn't actually explode. He applies the gel around the door's locking mechanism, connects the wires to the control box, and lets it heat up to the point that the metal under it is eaten, or boiled, away. Sticky is great stuff, expensive and restricted to all manner of degrees, but great all the same. They just don't want to get caught with the gel nor waste it. "Okay. We get the goods; we're off this wreck and back on the ship. No worries." He could use a single job without a hitch; it would make for a nice change of pace.

Back on Serenity, Wash was in the pilot chair, doing as he normally did while waiting… Playing with his toys. Those toys consisted of a fine set of dinosaurs, some plastic palm trees, and a few other unknown bits that had seen better days. He had a vivid imagination and could come up with an endless number of themes to play out with his 'characters'. There was the kindly Stegosaurus that wanted to see the best of everyone, the sinister T-Rex who acted like the good guy until the right moment came to backstab everyone, and the stupid Brontosaurus, with his simple habits. Not to mention the other assorted characters he assigned to the other plastic figures.

Currently he's acting out the 'new fertile valley' spectacle. He can see it in his mind as the Stegosaurus leads the group of survivors from some past devastation into a better area where they can thrive. Like any small-brained dinosaur the benevolent leader announces that the area is a good one and that they should settle here. At that moment the evil T-rex shows his true colors and they begin to fight. Of course the evil mean fellow will win this first battle – Wait, what is that light? Switching into pilot mode, he sweeps his toys aside and studies the sensor screen. Something big --Alliance Cruiser, he quickly identifies -- is closing in on their position very quickly. "Oh, motherless son of a b–"

Down at the vault, the locking mechanism flies out of the door, "Full pressure. The goods must be intact," says Zoë. She hopes so, at least. She's never trusted this particular source of work, and little could make her change her mind about that.

Mal swings the door open and shines a light inside. There are three crates inside, "Okay. Looking good."

This is the exact point that Wash manages to get his act together enough to contact them, "Captain, we got incoming! Alliance Cruiser, bearing right down on us!"

"Ta ma de," swears Mal. It is exactly how they all are feeling at the moment, "Have they spotted us?"

"I can't tell if—"

Mal cuts Wash off, "Have they hailed us?"

Even while he's trying to think Jayne decides to make commentary that is less than helpful, "If they're here for the salvage, we're humped."

"If they find us at all, we're humped. Thievin' ain't exactly—"

Jayne cuts Zoë off, "I don't like this."

Aggravated Mal barks, "Bizui," silencing them both, "Shut it down, Wash. Everything but the air." Really they should have done that from the start. Now it was likely that they'd be spotted no matter what they did. He doubted that they had enough time to go totally cold, but perhaps the fact that there were no lights would keep the purplebellies from doing a scan in the first place.

"Shutting down," the pilot says as he sets to work, flipping switches and cutting systems off systematically, "Kaylee! KAYLEE! Go to black out! We're being buzzed!"

Less than a second later he hears, "Shi," as the engineer taps the coms on her way to carry out instructions, "Going dark." He imagines that she backs herself into a situation where she's stuck up someplace and can't get down, just like last time. Regardless, the last of the systems shut down leaving him in darkness that quickly begins to cool. His eyes glue to the Alliance vessel that looks like a city in space, huge skyscrapers towering into the stars, totally dwarfing everything around it, including the husk that Serenity is currently attached to. There's a long, long tick of a moment that passes ever so slowly.

"Wash, they slowing down?" comes Mal over the coms. He sounds about how Wash feels watching the huge ship approach like predator. Panicked and scared.

Wash rips his eyes from the ship and to his readings, "That's a neg. Don't think they're interested in us. We should be eating wake in a minute or two." Oh, please, please, please... After seeing exactly how inhumane these bastards can be all Wash has ever wanted is to be free of them, with a good ship to fly and a his wife at his side. Only the purplebelly threat just won't go away.

Barely breathing, Mal finds himself captivated by the sheer danger that the huge hulk of a ship that the Alliance cruiser represents. It's not a handsome ship by any means, being overly streamlined and large, built to impress but with all traces of humanity stripped away. He hates it with a passion born of soul rending passion. Beside him, standing just as still, is Zoë. She knows this body language. It runs deep, this hate. She's made herself cool to it, although she can't totally push away the feeling. The Alliance leaves a sickly taste in her mouth too. But Mal – he's lost everything to the monster that this ship represents, his home, his family, his livelihood, his faith, and most of all, his joy at being alive. It's as if his very soul becomes tattered and stained from the last battle all over again and the years since vanish just at the sight of the ship. She at least has him and a new family. For her it's enough. Even Jayne is quiet, although the reasons are different than the other two. He waits, not wanting to get shot for interrupting them, eager to get the goods and flee.

It looks like they are in the clear. Wash almost breaths a sigh of relief and then an alarm bleats at him and lights twinkle across the dash, telling him that they are being scanned, "Aiya! Huai-le!" he screams before contacting Mal, "Captain! We're humped!"

Suddenly he doesn't care if they've been seen, he's not leaving without what they came for, "Prep the ship now," he orders. Turning to Zoë and Jayne, "We move these in, double-time." They scramble for a crate each.

Wash follows orders, fingering the ship back to life, "Kaylee, fire it up."

Mal knows this was always possible, always. Now they had to use the backup plan to draw the Alliance away, and he hated to do it because that meant another expensive bit of gear that they'd use up on this might-not-get-paid operation. "Cry, Baby, Cry," he orders as he floats through the ruins of the ship toward his own hold.

The pilot knows what he means, "Make your mother sigh. Engaging the crybaby." The fake transmitter dropped off on their way there goes off, just like it is supposed to, sending out a faked distress call that should make the Alliance leave.

Reaching the airlock of Serenity after what seems like forever, Mal feels his stomach clenching as he bothers to hope that the crybaby is enough to make the bigger ship leave. Zoë and Jayne float in past him. Pushing it aside it pops his fist against the controls three times, sealing the ship, turning on the artificial gravity and pumping atmo into the bay. He unlocks his helmet and toggles the com, "Wash! We're on. Go!"

Giving just a bit of a warning Wash says, "Hang on, travelers..."

The three in the bay grab various bits of webbing. Jayne removes his helmet, "Let's moon 'em." And they do. Serenity turns and flashes her engine's exhaust at the larger ship as she puts distance between them.

Now they have to hope that the crybaby is enough to keep the Alliance ship busy. Wash keeps his eyes on the readings, "We look shiny, Captain. They are not, repeat, not coming about."

The second in command deflates from her readiness to fight, "Close one."

"Anyone you walk away from, right? Long as we got the goods, I call this a win," Jayne says.

Mal doesn't feel it. He knows better. Every little thing has major ripples, "Right," he finds something else to focus on besides the sinking feeling in his gut, "We win." Only they can't. They never do. There's no 'win' only 'live another day' and right now he's not sure that's enough.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Lightyears away and over five hundred years in the past there's a Time Lord echoing Mal's thoughts as he ushers his companions, five in number now, through a kitchen while a headless plastic body smashes things behind him. Of course, the Doctor is wondering a bit about the 'live' part too. Ahead of him the shop-girl, Rose screams, "Get out!" at the workers who do the sensible thing and flee or dive for cover. That alone might be worth keeping her around for. People seem to follow her instructions. Things are crashing behind them as the body flails blindly. Richard has whipped a napkin over the head, blocking its eyes, something the Doctor wouldn't have thought to do. The sight of it makes Thete grin. His Amadak is so very clever.

Jack leads the way into the back hallway that bisects the storage area with Simon and River close behind. Rose is holding onto the dark-headed girl's hand, half being pulled and half pulling as they run. Richard and the alien are in the rear, but still within a half step of the front. The body doesn't waste time in the kitchen, instead taking the most direct route though. Jack throws the backdoor open and takes off into the alley. The others pile out behind him, not stopping, all but the Time Lord. He runs out, sure enough, but then the Doctor slams the door closed with a kick, spins and thinks better of leaving the portal unlocked, "Go! Take it back to the TARDIS, Richard." He digs for the sonic screwdriver to seal the door closed as the fake Mickey body hits the door and starts hammering at it with a steady rain of resounding blows.

Meanwhile Jack and River have caught Rose to keep her from running right past the TARDIS, which has moved to meet them. The blonde is in a state of panic and not quite believing that this blue box is the same one as before. "She's already here. Come on Doctor, you've got the key," Riddick calls back to him. Thete takes out the gold key and tosses it to River who neatly catches it.

"Racing time here, people. As soon as the Nestene realizes what we're doing it will take whatever measures necessary to stop us. Simon, get it hooked up like I showed you."

River puts the key in the lock and lets the others inside. Richard and Simon both quickly cross to the center console, while Jack helps River tug Rose inside. "It's safe," she tells the other panicked woman.

The fake Mickey is quickly making scrap out of the door. "He's gonna follow us!" Rose screams.

"Nah," says the Doctor as he places a calming hand on her back, steering her further inside as two men work on hooking up the head. River closes the door. He's guiding her closer to the central column, "The assembled hordes of Ghengis Khan couldn't get through that door and believe me, they've tried."

"Sonic screwdriver?" Simon asks. The Doctor pulls it back out of his pocket and hands it over to the lad who begins to use it as he helps the ex-ranger.

Jack is watching the two work, "This gonna do it?"

"It should. You see; the arm was too simple, but the head is perfect. We can use it to trace the signal back to the original source," the Time Lord stops and looks over the shorter man's shoulder, "How's it going?"

"Almost there," says Richard. "It would help if you'd shut up a tick."

Beside him Rose finally breaks, her eyes glued onto the fake Mickey head tilted oddly as wires are stuck into it's 'brain'. Sobbing, she begins to press questions into the air, "Did they kill him? Mickey? Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?" The Doctor pats her shoulder and gets a slightly thoughtful look, River? The ebony-tressed reader moves over to Rose and puts her arms around her, concentrating. Oblivious, the blonde continues to sob, "He's my boyfriend. Richard pulled off his head --"

River takes Rose by the face and makes her look into her eyes; "He's alive, Mei-gui. Calm down. We'll get him back for you." Rose throws herself into River's arms and hugs her. "Shush. It's ok."

"It's melting!" Jack says.

That snaps the Doctor's attention to what Rich and Simon are doing, "Melt--?" He jumps in and starts helping, "Ah, no, no, no! No!" He's zipping around the controls now, as he tries to salvage this situation. "That knob, Jack," he points.

The boy darts in and turns it as indicated, "Got it."

"What are they doin'?" Rose asks River as the sounds of the TARDIS engines start up.

"Tracking the signal before the Nestene can stop us, I hope."

The Doctor pauses as the ship makes a groaning sound that isn't overly nice sounding, his attention focused on a screen, "Oh, no you don't," he toggles a switch to enhance the readings, just like he did with the arm, "Come on, ol' girl, you can do this." He strokes the console.

"It's fading." Simon observes.

"No shit," says Richard.

"The switch there," the time lord indicates, and Simon flips it. "Wait – almost… No! No! No, no, no, NO!" The ship lands with a thump. "Ah! We were almost there. Right back to the source."

"How close do you think we got?"

The Doctor sighs, "A few blocks. If we are lucky the transmitter will be visible from here and we'll know which way to go." He opens the door. "Let's see where we are, shall we?"

"But – No." Rose says as River and the others leave the melted slag from Mickey's fake head on the console in favor of heading to the door. "You can't go out there! It's not safe!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Mei-gui," says Simon. "Come on, let's rescue your boyfriend."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

After putting some massive distance between themselves and the close encounter with the Alliance ship Mal decides that they had better make sure the goods were what they were supposed to be. Jayne helps eagerly, and everyone else just has to be there for the reveal. Closing his eyes, Mal lifts the top off the first crate, half expecting it to be empty. Only it's not, "Well that, sure enough, don't hurt to see." He's relieved to see the golden bars inside just like they are supposed to be.

Behind him the engineer says, "They're awfully pretty..." She, like most times, sounds cheerful and excited. Every day is an adventure to Kaylee Frye.

"I'd say worth a little risk." Wash sounds factual, but not overly smiling. He knows that they are still in the thick of it, as long as these bars are in the hold.

Jayne doesn't think much of the pilot, "Yeah, that was some pretty risky sittin' you did there."

The strawberry blond doesn't let his anger overwhelm his charming wit, "That's right, of course, 'cause they wouldn't arrest me if we got boarded, I'm just the pilot. I can always say I was flying the ship by accident. You know, that pretty –"

"Bizui," Mal orders, as he looks over the bar in his hand, very quickly dropping it back into the case.

That gets Zoë's attention more effectively than anything else might, "Problem, sir?"

Besides the fact that Badger lied to them? Hell no. They can unload these imprinted-down-to-the-molecule bars anyplace. Not. He relaxes his jaw, "Couldn't say." He closes the case before anyone else gets nosy, "But we'd best be gettin' rid of these before we run into another Alliance patrol."

Not seeing that Mal's dark mood has taken a swing to absolutely void black, Jayne goes right on with the talking, "What the hell they doin' out this far, anyhow?"

Kaylee, who is much more in tune with Mal's moods steps in to keep Jayne from meeting his end right there, "Shining the light of civilization."

"Doesn't do us any good..." the gun-for-hire grouses.

"Well," she shrugs, "we're uncivilized."

Mal pushes them out of his mind and focuses on the problem and how to solve it, "How long 'til we reach Persephone?" he asks Wash.

"Three or four hours."

"Can we shave that?" Mal wants this cargo off his boat, as soon as humanly possible. Sooner if he can profit by it. He wishes he'd never looked at the bars up close.

The light haired man shakes his head at the captain, "We're down to the wire on fuel cells. We run hot, we might not even make it."

Mal feels that old tick in his forehead that precedes an excessive ache in his temples starting. He takes a deep breath and tries to stay calm. This is not Wash's fault. " 'Kay. Play it as close as you can. This catch is burning a hole in my hull."

Concerned Zoë looks at him. She can see the stress written over his face. Trying to find out what has rattled him so she asks, "Think that cruiser could've I.D.'d us?"

Being honest, he replies, "Let's hope not." Actually it hadn't occurred to him that they might be able to. He'd been careful to not keep up the codes on the hull in an effort to make it difficult for the Alliance to do that. Meant he'd be fined if they were caught, but it also meant that the waves wouldn't automatically deny him port because the ship's ID was plastered on it. "Contact Badger, tell him the job's done. Don't go to mentioning the cruiser, though. Keep it simple."

"Sir, we're sure there's nothing wrong with the carg—"

Mal cuts her off, "It's fine. I just wanna get paid." The second in command looks at Wash but doesn't voice her fears. He knows them already, she can tell by looking into his blue eyes. Her husband turns and heads up the ladder and she follows him. Mal switches his focus to the crates, "All right, let's get these crates stowed. I don't want any tourists stumbling over them." He opens a secret compartment.

Delighted, Kaylee asks, "We're taking on passengers at Persephone?" Everything makes her happy.

"Yeah, that's the notion. We could use a little respectability on the way to Boros. Not to mention the money." He and Jayne work to move the first crate.

"Pain in the ass..." Jayne complains.

She huffs a bit, "No, it's shiny! I like to meet new people. They've all got stories..." Kaylee pitches right in to help, sliding the next crate into Jayne and Mal's reach.

The mercenary turns to catch the box, "Captain, can you stop her from bein' cheerful, please?"

Almost snickering Mal looks at the man, "I don't believe there is a power in the 'Verse that can stop Kaylee from being cheerful." He then flashes her a genuine smile so she knows he's teasing her, "Sometimes you just wanna duct tape her mouth and dump her in the hold for a month."

After a beat she grins in that angelic way of hers and kisses his cheek, "I love my captain."