Space Dock orbiting Meta Sigma Polia
The glass shapes inside the Time Rotor stilled, indicating the TARDIS had arrived at its destination. Ace was standing across from the Doctor taking readings to see where they were. With her help, the Doctor had managed to hit his desired location within six months. "Not bad, Professor," Ace muttered as she swung the scanner back into position.
The Doctor grabbed his tweed jacket off the railing and put it back on. Walking down the catwalk, he called out over his shoulder. "Hermione… Ace, you coming?" he asked. Hermione looked at Ace who just winked.
"What about us?" the twins asked in unison. They started to walk towards the door as well.
The Doctor held up his hand to stop them. "We are in a space station 200,000 kilometers above the planet surface. The only thing between the occupants of this station and the cold, life ending emptiness of space is a small bit of technology and some thin metal," he lectured. "It's not that I don't trust you boys, but I don't think the station will react well to any of the products from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes," he added. The Doctor turned his attention to Lady Vastra. "If they try to leave, you have my permission to tongue them," he stated.
The twins smirked as his choice of words until the Doctor pulled a banana out of his larger–on-the-inside pocket and threw it in the air. Vastra's tongue shot out over six feet and sliced the banana in half before it had a chance to fall to the ground.
"We'll be…" George started to say.
"…looking around the TARDIS if you need us," Fred finished with a gulp.
Once they were outside of the TARDIS, the Doctor motioned for Hermione to go to one of the viewing ports on the far wall. She walked up to the "glass" slowly, transfixed by what she saw below her. The space station was orbiting a planet twice the size of Earth. Some freak combination of atmospheric pressure and chemical compounds in the air caused the sky below them to look like oil swirling around on the top of still water. She watched the rainbow currents silently for a few moments, taking everything in. Eventually she realized the Doctor had joined her and put his arm around her waist. She looked up into his eyes. "Thank you, Doctor," she whispered. In heart, she knew that after this first taste of what lay beyond Earth, she would never be satisfied with remaining on just one planet. Lucky for her, her boyfriend spent his life traveling through Space and Time.
Hermione let her gaze drift to a spaceship docked below and to the right of them. She couldn't tell its size because she had nothing to compare it with for scale, but her instincts told her it was huge. The side facing her was painted in white and gold and she could make out what she thought were windows all along the hull. A series of whistles sounded over the intercom, startling her. "What's that about?" she wondered aloud.
The Doctor pointed down to the ship. "That's a brand new ship down there waiting for its maiden voyage," he told her. "The whistles are a traditional way of informing her captain that she is ready for his first time onboard," he explained. He grinned as he thought about his timing. "Looks like we got here just in time," he said in his typical hyper fashion.
The Doctor went over to a black glass panel set in the nearest wall. The wall itself was painted a dark green. The Doctor was sure the color scheme signified something to those living on the station, but he never kept track of fads that didn't last for more than 200 years. He pointed his sonic screwdriver at the interface panel and manipulated its programming, bringing up a schematic of the station. He traced a path on the screen with his finger, determining the quickest way to get to the living quarters. He chose a path that would intersect with the loading tube to the ship below them. "Right, this way then," he said suddenly and made his way down the gray colored passage that led into the main hub of the station.
When they reached the loading tube that led to the ship, a different series of whistles came from the intercom. The Doctor motioned for Ace and Hermione to stop. "That was the signal to announce the captain would be arriving shortly," he relayed to them. He straightened his bow tie and turned to face the end of the tube opposite of the ship. Within moments, a baby faced man with blond hair in a dark blue naval uniform walked towards them. The brand new captain's bars sparkled on his shoulders. Once he reached them, the Doctor stepped out and offered to shake the rookie captain's hand. The captain obliged with a smile. "Congratulations, Captain Frame," the Doctor said warmly.
Captain Alonso Frame cocked his head to the side as he sensed there was something familiar about this man, even though he didn't recall ever meeting him before. "Thank you," he replied. "I'm sorry, have we met?" he inquired politely.
The Doctor smiled cryptically at him. "Yes, but it was a lifetime ago," he replied and stepped back to give the captain room to pass by. Captain Frame nodded in thanks and made his way down the rest of the tube. The Doctor waited until he entered the lift that would take him to the ship. Frame looked down at the floor, trying to calm the butterflies in his stomach. Right as the lift doors started to close, the Doctor called out, "Allons-y Alonso!" The captain's head shot up when he remembered who had said those words to him years ago. He started to walk forwards, but the doors to the lift closed, taking him to his first command.
"Friend of yours?" Ace chuckled.
The Doctor stared at the doors for a moment longer before speaking. "Yes he was. We kept the Titanic from crashing into Buckingham Palace together," he replied.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Doctor. Everyone knows the Titanic crashed into an iceberg," she said before thinking about it.
"Yes, one of them did, but the second one was almost a much bigger disaster. It's why I retired that particular tuxedo," he replied. Even Ace had a hard time following that train of thought. On their way to the living quarters, the Doctor told them an edited version of his adventure on the Titanic 2 and why he had begun to think his old tuxedo was bad luck since he had worn it on both Titanics. The only thing he left out of his story was the bit about his snog with Astrid Perth.
The Doctor finished his story before they entered the living quarters. The walls in this part of the station were painted a calming, neutral beige. Trusting his instincts, the Doctor led them through several twists and turns until they arrived at a room with an open door. Hermione looked in and saw a tall, well-built man with dark hair standing next to the bed. His back was turned to them as he tossed a pile of blue dress shirts into a bag. He was wearing a similar shirt tucked into a pair of dark slacks. Brown suspenders held up his pants. When he was finished packing, the man put on a blue, vintage WWII era overcoat.
"You can leave all of that stuff here, you won't be needing it," the Doctor told the man, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. The man kept his back turned to them, but Hermione saw him slowly slide his hand to his waist where she guessed he had a weapon stashed. She started to draw her wand, but the Doctor stopped her with a gentle hand on her arm. "Well, everything except the coat… I know how you love that coat," he added.
The man slowly turned around, scared to hope that the strange voice behind him belonged to who he thought it did. When he was finished turning, Ace shook her head. She should have known there was only one person in all of Time and Space who looked that good in an overcoat.
Jack looked first at Ace and winked at his old co-worker. He then looked at Hermione, his brow creasing slightly. She looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place her. Finally, he looked at the "young" man with brown hair cut so that it fell in his eyes. He was wearing a tan tweed jacket, cream colored shirt, brown suspenders, and a bow tie. Jack smiled his million watt smile at the odd mix of clothing on the man. "Let's see -anachronistic clothes and beautiful companions… there's only one man who can pull something like that off. Well… other than me I mean," he pronounced. Without warning, Jack rushed forward, put a hand on either side of the Doctor's face, and kissed him soundly. "Doctor!" Jack exclaimed.
Hermione's jaw dropped. She had no idea what to think about this handsome man kissing her boyfriend. Not knowing what else to do, she cleared her throat. Jack stepped back and smiled at her.
"I'm sorry, that was rude of me. Would you like one too?" he offered. Hermione's cold glare was the only reply he got.
"Jaaaack!" the Doctor warned. He had no real hopes Jack would lay off, but he tried anyway. As far as the Doctor knew, there were only two constants in the Universe. The first one was Jack himself, which was still unnerving. The second was Jack's desire to flirt with anything that moved and some things that didn't.
"What? I was just saying hello," Jack joked, repeating part of their little greeting ritual. He held out his hand to Hermione. "Captain Jack Harkness," he said, introducing himself.
Hermione smiled back despite herself. She shook his hand and responded, "Hermione Granger."
"Hello, Jack," Ace said. "And no, I don't want a kiss either," she added hastily. He chuckled and pulled her in for a hug instead.
The Doctor pivoted on his heel and started walking back to the TARDIS. "Come along, Jack. We have work to do," he stated quickly. Hermione hurried over to catch up with the Doctor, leaving the two "Black CATs" to bring up the rear.
While they were walking, Jack nodded his head towards Hermione. "New girl, huh?" he asked.
Ace leaned over and whispered, "Girlfriend actually."
Jack stopped dead in his tracks. "Now, I am embarrassed," he stated. "I thought that was the Doctor," he added, not able to see the Doctor in a romantic relationship. He knew all about his friend's secret love for Rose, but the Doctor had been too scared to act on it. Ace punched him in the arm, hard. "Ouch!" Jack complained.
"It's him, trust me," Ace said sharply. "And yes, she really is his girlfriend. They've even shared a snog or two," she told him. Her words where confirmed when Hermione slid her hand into the Doctor's as they walked along in silence.
"I can't believe it," Jack muttered. He pointed to the Doctor's back as he and Ace continued walking. "What number are we up to?" he inquired.
Ace chuckled again as she thought that only a longtime companion or friend of the Doctor would understand that question. "Number 11, or so he says," she replied.
When Jack had first met the Doctor during his 9th life, the Doctor looked like a man in his early forties. When they met again, the 10th version looked like a man in his mid-thirties. Number 11 looked to be somewhere in his late twenties. "At this rate, his next regeneration will be a teenager," he commented.
Ace thought about it and realized from the pictures she had seen of the 8th Doctor, he had been getting steadily younger since her Doctor - his 7th life. "And I thought he was hyper now. I can't even begin to imagine him as a teen," she joked. Their shared laughter was cut short when the station rocked violently. "What the bloody hell was that?" Ace demanded.
The four Time travelers pressed their face against a "window" and looked out into space. Two spaceships had suddenly appeared in orbit near the station. They looked like long, silver cylinders with two giant wheels spinning around the cylinder in different directions. Even from far away, The Doctor and his Companions were able to see the scorching and missing segments that spoke of some kind of disaster. One of the ships had a steady stream of ice particles jetting from one side, a sure sign they had a breach to their life support systems. They could also see the ridiculous amount of large guns spread out over the entire surface of both ships.
The Doctor pressed his nose against the glass and let out a low whistle. "That's not good," he muttered. As he spoke, a second low powered volley of charged plasma lanced out from the fore guns on the lead ship and rocked the station again.
"Doctor, those look like…" Jack started to say.
"Cybermen ships," the Doctor finished, interrupting Jack. "Those are what remain of the 12th Cyber Legion," he told no one in particular. "My guess is since they haven't hulled this station yet, they're here for spare parts," he said a bit squeamishly. The Doctor took Hermione's hand and started to jog back to the TARDIS. "It would be best for this station if the Cybermen not find me here," he stated.
Ace and Jack hurried to catch up with the Doctor. "Apart from the fact that you're really not well liked among Cybermen, is there any special reason this Cyber Legion wants to kill you?" Ace asked.
The Doctor hesitated before answering. "Um… I was sort of responsible for the destruction of the rest of their Legion," he admitted.
"Why did you do that?" Jack asked. He was no fan of the Cybermen, but he couldn't see his pacifist friend destroying an entire Cyber Legion.
The Doctor stopped at an intersection to get his bearings. "I wanted to get a message across to them and emailing them with the CAPLOCKS on wasn't getting the result I wanted," he explained before heading off down a different passage.
Jack stared at the newest version of his old friend. It was so unlike the Doctor, he began to wonder if it really was him, despite what Ace said. "What was so important that you had to blow them up to make a point?" he pressed.
The Doctor stopped again and reached up to gently stroke Hermione's bushy hair. "The 12th Cyber Legion knew where the people who kidnapped one of my Companions were hiding. The woman they kidnapped is Hermione's mother," he explained.
Now that's the Doctor I know, Jack thought, relaxing immensely. When they got to the TARDIS, Jack stopped the Doctor by putting his hand on the other man's shoulder. "Those Cyber ships are going to try and convert everyone aboard this station, including those on Alonso's ship," he pointed out.
The Doctor nodded in agreement. "Yes, but if they find out I'm here, they'll just end up destroying both the station and the ship," he countered.
"So what's the plan?" Ace asked.
"We're going to hop over to their command ship and politely ask them to surrender," the Doctor told them, sounding like he was suggesting nothing more complicated than asking noisy neighbors to keep it down.
Hermione looked into the Doctor's eyes. "And what if they refuse?" she inquired, wanting to know the rest of the plan.
The Doctor's eyes grew colder than the Void itself. "If that happens, I suppose we'll just have to repeat the message I gave them before," he said softly.
The Doors to the TARDIS opened and the Doctor ran to the control console to start the process of a jump over to the Cyber command ship. Ace followed and started to give him a hand. Hermione stood by Jack who took a long look around the new control room. "I like the new décor," he muttered. Jack gestured to the room and said, "It used to be smaller, and had a lot of organic looking pillars ringing the control console."
Motion from the hallway that led to the wardrobe drew Jack's attention. The twins had been rummaging around the huge, warehouse sized closet and found two identical, reddish brown suits. They had chosen light brown dress shirts and red ties to finish off the look. Jack drank in the sight of the twins like a man dying of thirst who suddenly found a crystal clear spring. The twins had no idea that Jack had a thing for guys in suits. Jack forced his eyes away and looked up at the Doctor. "Thank you, Doctor," he said. "Ginger twins… and it isn't even my birthday!" he exclaimed joyfully, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.