The TARDIS crew looked around the second ship. "Sir," said Stern. "What is this? I thought your ship was unique."
"I thought it was," said the Professor. "The TARDIS were supposed to be extinct after the time war. I guess this one must have…fallen out before it was sealed. Not impossible, but highly unlikely." The Time Lord stepped up to the console, which had been torn apart and clumsily put back together. Carefully, he pushed several buttons, looking to the monitor screen, which displayed odd text.
"Oh my," said the Professor, reading the words on the screen. "The poor thing crashed several centuries ago. I don't think it can fly on its own power anymore."
Rosie stepped next to him. "What language is that," she asked. "It looks familiar."
The Professor looked at her. "Yes," he said. "That is old High Gallifreyan. The written language of the Time Lords. If you can keep up, one day I might teach you." The girl glared at him, but didn't say anything.
"Now," said the Time Lord, walking around the tattered console. "What we need to do is disconnect this thing from the rest of the ship. The last thing we need is to leave Time Lord technology in the hands of businessmen. Could you imagine it, they'd tear this galaxy apart. So, basically, just tear out any wires you see going out of this ship. Everything. I might be able to disconnect the time vector generator after that so that it seals itself."
The crew nodded and set to work, completing their task fairly quickly.
Drake awoke in a strangely high-tech looking room, the group who had attacked him rushing about, pulling cables out of a console in the center of the room. He reached for his sword, and was relieved to find it still in place. There were ropes strewn about him, as if he had been tied up, but the knots had simply undone. The S.O.L.D.I.E.R. stood up cautiously, drawing his blade.
"Freeze," he shouted. The entire group spun, all of them pointing something at him. "Look, I don't know what you people think you're doing but I have a job to do and that means you can't go destroying company property. Now lay down your weapons." The armored giant stepped toward him, his chainsaw like weapon pointed at Drake.
"You don't seem to see the disadvantage you're at, do you, boy," asked the giant. Drake gripped his sword tighter, swinging it in a quick arc, slicing the weapon in half with a smirk.
"No, not at all," he replied. "Now step back unless you want that to be your head." The giant stood his ground; Drake readied his sword for a second strike but the blonde man yelled,
"Stern! Give him room." The giant looked over his shoulder with a look of the slightest disobedience, but bowed his head slightly, stepping back several feet. The S.O.L.D.I.E.R. looked at the leader of the group.
"This isn't what you think," said the blonde. "I'm the Professor and these are my friends. This," he said, motioning around the room. "Is an alien craft. Type 87 mark 3 TARDIS to be precise and this technology is far too dangerous to let your company have. Look what they did to your planet! Could you imagine the damage they'd do if they could access all of time and space? I can't let that happen."
"I'm sorry," said Drake. "But I have a job to do and that's that."
"Then I'm really sorry about this," said one of the girls; the one in silver and green. She pointed a small wand at the S.O.L.D.I.E.R. Drake swung his sword instinctively, releasing the pent up mako energy in the form of a single bolt of blue light that rushed at the girl.
Had the energy impacted the girl, it would not have killed her, but as luck would have it, the girl in yellow and black robes pulled her conspirator to the floor, leaving the energy to crash into the control console.
The Professor ducked as the console exploded into life, the time rotor cracking in half. The Time Lord looked up at the controls, panic sweeping his face as he read the text rushing across the screen. He spun to look at the S.O.L.D.I.E.R., rage and fear painted on his face.
"You idiot! You've overcharged the Eye of Harmony. It's going to slip its bounds and go wild. This world is doomed unless we can figure something out!" The Professor ran around the console, pushing several buttons.
"Doc," yelled Rosie. "What is going on?" The Professor spun, looking at the girl.
"The Eye of Harmony is overloading, which means that a black hole is about to swallow this ship and everything around the planet for several light years. And I have no idea how to stop it!" He looked down at the console, thinking for an instant before springing up.
"Right," said the Time Lord, pulling out the underside of a panel. "There's exactly enough time to get things in order and send this thing into a supernova on the other side of the galaxy before the whole thing goes slurp!" He pulled a small crystalline object from the underside of the panel, running to the doors. "Come on," he said, motioning to the rest of the occupants of the ship.
Rosie followed the Professor into their TARDIS, watching as the Time Lord plugged the crystal into the console. "Right," said the Professor. "Rosie, I need you to come over here. Hold down that green button over there." She did as he asked, watching the Professor as he ordered the others to pull levers or press buttons.
"Ok," said the Professor, running to the doors, the crystal in hand. "Stay there and keep the controls in that position; I need you to keep the energy channel open so that I can set that TARDIS to moving. I'll be right back." He darted out the doors.
Rosie sighed internally, glad that everything was under control. She jumped as the TARDIS motor started, letting go of the button she was supposed to hold down.
"Rosie." It was the Professor's voice, resonating from the console. "Athena, Billie and everyone else." An image of the Professor appeared between the console and the doors; a crackly but distinct hologram. "This is emergency protocol one. The TARDIS is going to take you all home. This means I'm dead or about to die." Rosie ran to the doors, trying to open them. "And now I'm sure you're whining and moaning, but listen; I'm not going to let you go down with me." The hologram Professor smiled slightly. "But I want you to all do something for me; have a good life. Do that for me. I know you'll make me so proud."
The Professor sighed as he pushed a button on the TARDIS console. There was a low rumbling, but the ship was moving at least. He leaned against the console, pondering his fate. He didn't want to die, but he really saw no other way. Hopefully by now they were all at home and living their lives. With a pang, his mind turned to Rosie. She was as homeless as he was and now, she didn't have the TARDIS. Still, she had her keyblade, and could travel space and time at her leisure.
Somewhere in the depths of the ship, the cloister bell sounded, and the Time Lord sighed again.
Rosie banged her fist against the door, trying to fight tears. "That idiot," she said, stepping to the control panels. "What makes him think he can just do this? It's not fair!" She pulled out her keyblade, swinging it wildly.
"Stop," said Athena. "Rosie, he wouldn't do this unless there was a good reason." The Slytherin sighed. "I mean, we need to figure out how to steer this thing so we can go get that moron and you'd know better than the rest of us how to do that, right?"
"Actually," said Rosie. "I don't really know how to do much with the TARDIS. I can't override the programs." She sighed, looking around the room.
The Professor jumped at the sound of another TARDIS. The Time Lord stared as his ship appeared, a sleek silvery sphere in the control room. The Professor stared as Rosie exploded out the doors, her keyblade glowing slightly golden.
"You moron," said the girl, grabbing the Time Lord by the neck of his shirt. "Get in the TARDIS!"
"How did you do this," said the Professor. "The TARDIS should have – "
"Yeah, yeah," said Rosie. "I spoke to the heart of the TARDIS and she agreed to bring us back here. Now get in the ship!" The Professor followed the girl into his ship.
"Right," he said, smiling as he stepped into his fantastic ship with his amazing friends.