Hi, everyone! I'm really sorry it took so long to upload this, but I've been quite busy with a lot of stuff. Anyway, here we are: Chapter Three. Or Chapter 4. Or we could just call it The Chapter After the Last One.
Read, enjoy, and please review! Nothing belongs to me.
Group Marshal Skorrox was feeling pleased. The Fifteenth Sontaran Legion was well prepared for the attack on Kamino. The foolish humanoid scum would never know what hit them. Nothing could possibly stop them.
Of course, it's never a good idea even to think that phrase. Especially when the Doctor is around.
Skorrox was disturbed from his pleasant thoughts of warfare by a sound that was more disturbing than any he'd ever heard before, even that time when one of his human prisoners, no doubt driven mad by interrogation, had begun singing. It was the sound of the materialization of a Type 40 TARDIS. Skorrox swung around, bringing his rifle up to bear as the blue box appeared in the staging area, next to a control console set there for the commander's use. The other Sontarans all raised their blasters, forming a ring of weapons around the TARDIS. After a moment, the door creaked open, and a human-like being matching the files of the Sontaran enemy and Time Lord known as "the Doctor" stepped out, followed by two more humans in brown clothes. They had the impudence to appear unworried, even though they were outnumbered a dozen to one and wearing no protective clothing.
"Intruders!" snapped Strein, his second in command.
"Yeah, we got intruder window," grinned the Doctor.
Obi-Wan looked at him and raised an eyebrow sardonically. "You're still doing that one? It was old even before your time."
Anakin snorted.
"Master, nothing is before the Doctor's time."
They shared a grin.
"True."
Skorrox cleared his throat. "Explain why you are here or die, human scum!"
"Um, hang on, sorry, correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't you going to kill us anyway?" the Doctor pointed out.
"Oh. Yes. Well. Tell us or die sooner!" Skorrox blustered.
"Okeydoke," said the Doctor. In a moment, the jovial, insouciant face dropped, to be replaced by the visage of the Oncoming Storm. He strolled forward, hands in his pockets, and stared down at the Group Marshal.
"You have one chance to turn around and leave this galaxy. This is it."
"Sontarans never capitulate!" snapped the Sontaran. "Your mercy is a weakness. Execute him!"
This last was to his troops, all of whom snapped back the safeties on their weapons. The Grand Marshal backed up until he was standing just in front of his troops. Obi-Wan and Anakin jumped forward to stand back-to-back in front of the Doctor, who stepped back, discreetly pulling his screwdriver from his pocket.
"Fire!" snapped Skorrox, pulling the trigger. Over three dozen packets of galvanized energy flew towards the three men. Not one hit them. After all, they were two of the most skilled of all the warriors in that galaxy, and standing back-to-back made them even more effective. A storm of red energy shot towards the two Jedi, but a screen of blue energy repelled each and every one of the bolts. Meanwhile, the Doctor slipped around to the console, ducked underneath, and began to fiddle with the controls underneath. The two men covered him, and he soon finished his alterations, just about invisible to the Sontarans, distracted as they were by the two lightsaber-wielding Jedi, did not notice him. He jumped to his feet and backed up into the TARDIS. Anakin jumped in first, followed by Obi-Wan, who pushed the Sontarans backwards in a massive Force Wave. By the time they'd gotten to their feet, he'd turned off his 'saber with a flourish and shut the door. Over at the controls, the Doctor pulled down a lever, and the ship began to dematerialize back into the Vortex. Skorrox turned to his troops.
"Full speed to Kamino," he ordered. "Nothing can be allowed to stand in our way!"
Onboard the TARDIS, Anakin and Obi-Wan watched the Doctor circle the console, the time rotor continuously rising and falling. Occasionally, he would reach out and tap at a dial, poke a button, or just stroke the ship's surface. Neither Jedi was alarmed, however: Obi-Wan was no stranger to his friend's eccentricities, and Anakin was well acquainted with the bond someone could share with machines, especially one that was nearly sentient. Thinking of this led him to remember the Doctor's tinkering with the Sontaran machines.
"Doctor?" he asked.
"Hmm?" asked the Time Lord, staring at a screen showing weird circular symbols.
"What'd you do to the Sontaran machinery?"
"Me? Do something to the Sontaran machinery? What makes you think that I'd do something to their systems?"
He grinned suddenly.
"Do I look like the sort of man who would hack into their navigation systems, insert a thingy that'll let me re-hack them from any computer, and take a small bit of their machinery so that I can set up a directional boomerang override command, causing them to, when I send the signal, shoot halfway across the universe and thus probably cause no more trouble to anyone, at least for a while?"
Anakin gave the Time Lord a long look, from pointy-haired-head to sneaker-clad feet.
"Yes," he said definitively. The Doctor made a face, and Obi-Wan hid a smile in his beard.
"That doesn't mean much," the Jedi Master said, smirking. "Both of you actually look intelligent and mature, whereas in reality…"
"In reality, our intelligence more than makes up for our maturity, or lack thereof. After all, as I've said before, what's the point of being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes? And here we are."
This last was added as the TARDIS's central column ground to a halt.
"Allons-y!" he called, pulling the control to open the doors, grabbing his coat, shrugging into it, and running outside.
"You were right about one thing, Master," commented Anakin as they followed at a slightly more sedate pace. The elder man lifted an eyebrow.
"The negotiations were short."
Obi-Wan Kenobi smiled and waved his former Padawan onward, just as Qui-Gon Jinn had done to him many years ago. As they exited the TARDIS, just for a moment, he could have sworn he heard the gentle laugh of his mentor, as clear as if he stood at his shoulder. But, of course, that was impossible-wasn't it?
Ooh, a cameo from Qui-Gon's Force ghost! :D I figure that since the TARDIS is telepathic and all that, it'd probably be easier for him to manifest himself in there, if he so chose. Anyhoo, next chapter will be the BIG battle. Until then, may the Force be with you. :)