Author's Note: Serious chapter with some violence! Apparently, I am incapable of writing straight fluff.
And here's an audio of a bit of soundtrack from the incredible Eighth Doctor audio dramas from Big Finish Audio company entitled 'There's A Man I Know' watch?v=aae8JHpZV8M (seriously. listen to it. and buy some of the dramas)
Enjoy?
5.
"My Lord Doctor," said the man on the bridge of the massive Iorian flagship, "we have waited on you for a much longer time than anticipated." The man stood taller than The Doctor, and his short, white hair and golden-brown skin marked him as some kind of species related to the Thionic race. He was dressed in a trim gray uniform with several shining golden symbols pinned to its front. Six other white-haired people were arranged around the bridge. All six looked relaxed but were obviously staged as backup for their leader.
Compared to the stark grey of their surroundings, The Doctor and his companions looked like exotic birds in a cage full of pigeons. Tegan and Adric flanked their Time Lord leader with bold stances. The Doctor himself stood as he usually did, in an unassuming pose which somehow still radiated power. His blue eyes shone in the fluorescent lighting of the spaceship. "What an interesting statement," The Doctor said, tightly. "I had no intention of meeting you, but clearly, you were waiting for me."
"Well, how else did a tracking beacon become implanted in a baby?" the man asked, amused. "It certainly didn't migrate there on its own."
The Doctor smiled humorlessly. "No, it didn't. That is my problem with you, actually. I can't find anything in common with a man who uses children as bait. As a matter of fact, I can't find anything good about you, either. So, please, enlighten me: Why did you take this child, and what did you hope to accomplish by doing this?"
"We needed to attract your attention," the man said. "I knew that there was a Time Lord in the next star system over through a data readout from one of our satellite scouting ships. And as for the child: one of them is easy enough to acquire, if you know the right sort of people. Babies without parents go missing every day on Thion. It's a way of life for us. I must say, using the child worked better and worse than I had hoped. I thought that you would neutralize the tracking device on your own. If you had done, it would have detonated into an electromagnetic pulse and left your ship stranded. We would have been able to board you, then."
"I would never kill a baby," said The Doctor, coldly. "Not under any circumstances."
"Is that so? Perhaps our records regarding the Time Lords are inaccurate. A species as advanced as your own seemed more in accord with our own values as a race. Once you discovered that the child was an orphan, I assumed you would remove it from its unfortunate circumstances."
"Time Lord superiority has never been my basis for moral decisions. Do not confuse social norms for personal codes of conduct."
"I never will again," the man said, with a smile. "It hardly matters. You're here, now, and the means are unimportant when there is such a satisfactory end."
Adric and Tegan both swelled up with indignation at these callous words, but before they could voice their displeasure, The Doctor held up a hand to stall them and walked slowly forward. "Oh, that's where you're terribly mistaken, I'm afraid. You see, I consider a man who would put an innocent person's life in danger purely for the sake of personal gain to be beneath my dignity to notice." He stopped walking when he stood before his newfound adversary, then tilted his face to look the man squarely in the eye. "If I had only my own wellbeing to consider, I would return to my capsule and dematerialize it out of this ship. But, because you alone have the technology to safely disable and remove the beacon from a helpless child who you decided wasn't important enough to live—" The Doctor cut himself off, taking a deep breath. "I will give you the privilege of keeping my attention for an entire half hour." Stepping back, the Time Lord folded his arms and tossed his head in a blatantly dismissive gesture. "Now, tell me why I'm here. Do be concise—I don't have all day."
The man's dark bronze lips twisted, but he answered. "Well, I'm not sure my previous offer will be appropriate. You are a very atypical Time Lord, aren't you?"
"I'd like to think so, yes."
"That does make things more hairy." The main put a hand to his chin. "I was going to offer you a Thionic crystal in exchange for a micro-tubule of your blood, but I don't think you'll be interested in such a deal."
"I'm afraid not," The Doctor said.
"Why do you want his blood?" Tegan asked, repulsed. "What's so special about it?"
"Any part of Time Lord DNA is worth a planet's weight in money and technological advances," Adric muttered. "I ran a statistic program on it, once. I was curious."
"You're right," the man said. "A single drop of Time Lord blood is enough to inspire researchers for decades."
"Or to keep you living on a king's salary for the rest of your life," Adric said, disdainfully.
"I think your information regarding Time Lords is about as accurate as that imitation Thionic military uniform you're wearing," The Doctor said, with a smirk. "Even if it wasn't prohibited by our laws, none of us are so foolish as to strike that kind of bargain."
The man straightened. "I am an officer of the Thionic Space Command—"
"It would be better for you if you stopped attempting to deceive me," The Doctor cut across the man's protest with words steelier than a blade. "Thionic planetary resources are incapable of producing gold. When they import it, it goes directly to their computer factories. They would never use it to make military dress. They wouldn't use brass, either, before you try to pull that trick, too. You're not a Thion, so you must be…" The Time Lord studied his opponent for a moment, then snapped his fingers, "Oh, of course! You're Churan, aren't you? A Churan, on an Iorian warship? Well, that narrows it down, doesn't it?"
The man smiled, then dropped a facetious bow. "Vach Undersoil at your service, My Lord Doctor."
"Are you?" The Doctor gave a sarcastic laugh. "Oh, wouldn't that be nice."
"Doctor," Tegan spoke, suddenly, "if they aren't military, then—"
"They're pirates, Tegan," The Doctor said, as if that wasn't bad news, at all, "interspatial pirates who pose as military officials and hoodwink unsuspecting space travelers. Churan pirates have been the bane of Thion, Chura, and Ortorsu for three hundred years."
"It truly is an honor to meet one of the esteemed Time Lords," said Vach Undersoil, with a deceptive smile, "even one who won't sign on to our deal."
"There is no deal, and there never was."
"You might want to reconsider, Lord Doctor."
The six pirates who had hung around their leader for the duration of his meeting with The Doctor closed in on Tegan and Adric. The Doctor's companions made to run, but they were overpowered by the pirates and forced to their knees on the floor of the bridge.
"All I need is a micro-tubule of blood," Vach said, calmly, as his crew members held The Doctor's friends ransom.
"Holding my friends hostage is no way to get it," The Doctor said, his eyes snapping with outrage.
"I won't lay a hand on them, if you'll give me what I need."
"Why don't you just shoot me and take every last drop of it?"
"Because killing a Time Lord is worth more than my life and my ship," Vach said, baring his teeth. "Your people would drop me in a time lock somewhere and leave me there. But, with just a tiny fraction of your blood, I can quadruple my net worth. But, of course, you know all this, Lord Doctor. I don't want to waste your time. So, make your decision: your crew, or my payment. The choice is entirely yours."
"Shoot us, then," Adric shouted, startling everyone on the bridge.
Tegan soon joined Adric. "Yes, shoot us! We'd rather die than let you make profit off The Doctor's body in any way!"
"I think they need more incentive," Vach said. He turned to one of his crew members. "Go to the landing dock. Get inside that ship and find the baby." He spun around to gauge The Doctor's reaction to this new development. When he was met with a stony expression, he laughed. "Maisenni is my very best shipmate, Lord Doctor. She will find a way inside your ship."
There was a tense silence as The Doctor and his companions waited, hoping that the pirates would not gain access to the TARDIS. In ordinary circumstances, The Doctor would not have worried about Nyssa and Peace at all; a stampede of Sontarans had tried and failed to break into the time-and-space machine. However, something about these Churan pirates unsettled The Doctor in a primal way. He felt a nagging feeling throughout his body, as though his very tissues were trying to send him a message. But, being a Time Lord, his mind could not categorize this biological imperative into any recognizable sensation. The disconnect between thought, emotion, and action was too overpowering.
"Whatever you do," The Doctor told Vach, "I will not cooperate."
Vach raised an eyebrow. "I'm quite an imaginative man, Lord Doctor."
"Yes, and to someone besides me, that might sound quite intimidating."
The unmistakable sounds of a shrieking baby echoed through the corridor outside the bridge of the ship. "Are you perhaps re-thinking your bravado, Lord Doctor?" Vach said, and then hit a button on the bridge's control center. "Bring them in, Maisenni."
Tegan and Adric cast one another tight glances. How could the pirates have broken into the TARDIS? Could they have such advanced technology? But, if they did, why did they seem to fear Time Lord powers? As they watched him, The Doctor's posture grew even more rigid. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. Tegan knew that was a classic Doctor move to conceal either shaking hands or clenched fists, and either piece of body language was equally possible in this situation.
The pirate Maisenni and her crew stormed back onto the bridge. Nyssa walked amongst them, clutching Peace to her chest and looking terrified. "Doctor," she said, in relief, "you're all right! They told me they'd hurt you!"
"Nyssa, you shouldn't believe everything people tell you," The Doctor said. His voice was very flat.
"They had a recording of your voice which they manipulated," Nyssa explained. "I didn't realize it at the time, because I was in the TARDIS. I could only hear it, not see it."
"Are you a Time Lord, as well?" Vach asked Nyssa.
Nyssa glanced at The Doctor, who gave her a grave nod. "No," she said, but didn't elaborate on her true species.
"I see." Vach sighed. "Well, then, we have to work with what we've got. Take the child from her."
"No!" Adric and Tegan shouted. They struggled to leap to their feet, but the pirates held them down. The Doctor did not move to stop the pirates as they reached out to snatch Peace from Nyssa's arms. "Doctor, do something!" Tegan cried.
When the first pirate got within half a foot of Nyssa, he smacked against thin air as though he had hit a wall of bricks. He stumbled backward just as his comrades touched the same spot on which he had been standing. As one, they were all repelled in the same way, thrown backwards by an invisible force. Nyssa stood and watched her antagonists punch and prod the space around her until it rippled like a plastic bag full of water. "I came out of the TARDIS," the Trakenite girl said, her clear blue eyes sharp, "but I didn't come out unprotected. Considering the fact that I was travelling with The Doctor, you might have anticipated something like this."
The pirates stepped back and turned to their leader. "Very clever," Vach said, with a hand on his chin, "very, very clever, girl. It's some sort of cybernetic ectoplasm, I think, and most likely connected to the Time Lord capsule. It's virtually indestructible. Yes, you are very clear-headed, aren't you? But, you're not malicious, and that is where we've got you at a disadvantage." He snapped his fingers, and three of the pirates rushed over to seize The Doctor. One forced him to his knees and the other twisted his arm forcefully behind his back, nearly breaking it. The Doctor flinched but managed to stifle his automatic cry of pain behind gritted teeth. "We have no qualms about hurting any of your companions, Miss Nyssa," Vach said, then, to his subordinates, "break his ribs. Or, to prevent lasting damage, just his arm, for starters."
"No, don't!" Nyssa cried.
"Nyssa, don't listen to them," The Doctor said, strongly, even though the pirate behind him wrenched at his arm and forced him to bend backward to avoid a dislocated shoulder.
Vach shook his head. "We've got all the power, Miss Nyssa. It's best to listen to us and not My Lord Doctor."
"Leave him alone, you creep!" snarled Tegan. Vach ignored her as he stared at Nyssa's anguished face.
"All right," the pirate leader said, "since Nyssa's having difficulty deciding, we'll give her some incentive. Do it."
The pirate with a grip on The Doctor's arm put a foot on his back and casually shoved him to the floor, but his arm didn't travel with his body. There was a very definite crack as the Time Lord's elbow snapped out of joint. The Doctor appeared to nearly black out. Nyssa screamed in horror, along with Tegan and Adric. From within Nyssa's protective shield, Peace began to sob hysterically.
The Doctor wasn't giving in. "Nyssa," he said, breathing hard, "do not let down that shield for any reason. Do you understand—" he cut off with a gasp as the pirate twisted his mangled arm further, but then he continued, "—Nyssa, do you understand?"
"You have admirable strength, Lord Doctor," Vach said, "but if you don't stop talking, we'll make sure your young lady friend has even more motivation to change her mind."
"Why don't you just take what you want right now?" The Doctor asked. Sweat fell from his forehead as he tilted his face to stare at the pirate with defiant eyes. "I am in no position to stop you. You don't have to damage anyone else."
"I'm not a fool. Time Lords can control their neurochemicals and bodily substances to a freakish degree. I know that you could render a sample useless to our purposes just by concentrating hard enough. You must willingly give up that micro-tubule of blood, just as Miss Nyssa must willingly surrender the baby to us."
The Trakenite girl cradled the crying baby in her arms, her face full of indecision. A hundred debates rested in the furrows on her brow and around her eyes. Vach Undersoil's deceptively smooth voice cut into her thoughts. "Of course, we have no intention of hurting the baby, at all," the pirate said, "as long as Lord Doctor cooperates with us. We'll disengage the tracking device inside her, once we've concluded our business. You have my word."
"What good is the word of a man who would use a baby as leverage?" asked Nyssa, tremulously.
Vach shrugged. "Currently, it's the only one you've got."
Slowly, oh so slowly, Nyssa pulled a slim, silver oblong from her blouse. She placed her finger over it and depressed the button on its front. With a green shimmer, the protective shield around her and Peace dissolved.
"Nyssa," sighed The Doctor, and flinched as the pirate holding him tugged lightly on his arm.
"I'm so sorry, Doctor," Nyssa said, tearfully, "I've been so very stupid."
"Don't blame yourself, Nyssa," Tegan said. Her murderous glare in Vach Undersoil's direction made it abundantly clear who she did blame.
Peace wailed in terror when a pirate came forward and pulled her out of Nyssa's arms. In spite of the danger to herself and The Doctor, Nyssa reflexively tried to take the child back, but she was stopped by another pirate. "Don't hurt her, please," Nyssa cried, over the sound of Peace's confused fear. "She's just a baby!"
"Don't worry for your little friend's safety, Miss Nyssa," Vach said. "Lord Doctor will give us what we want, now." He looked at The Doctor, who appeared to be struggling to breathe normally through the crippling pain in his arm. "Won't you?"
"You certainly haven't left me with much of a choice, so I suppose I will," The Doctor gritted out.
"Excellent." The pirate captain motioned to one of his crew members, who hurried forward with a tiny tube and a capped needle. The Doctor's companions watched in sickened silence as the pirates pulled up the sleeve of The Doctor's shirt on his broken arm to take the blood sample. The Time Lord nearly passed out again when the pirate with the needle and tube grabbed his arm to steady it, then plunged the needle into his skin without warning or finesse.
"You're being unnecessarily cruel," Nyssa told Vach, her arms stiff at her sides.
Vach did not respond with anything but a careless glance. Peace continued to scream. As the crew member finished up the blood sample, the baby cried even louder. "Captain," the pirate holding the baby complained, "this little mouth's wearing out my ears."
The pirate captain waved a hand. "Kill the tracking beacon inside it and give it back to the guardians. They've paid the price for it, fairly and squarely." Vach stood over The Doctor and smiled down at him as he fought to stand with only one functional arm. "It was a true pleasure to do business with a Time Lord, My Lord Doctor. If you're ever in our system again, do look us up. We'd be happy to trade again."
The Doctor didn't respond in words, but the look he bestowed on Vach clearly stated that if he ever did meet the pirate again, Vach would regret it. The Time Lord's eyes followed the pirate who held the screaming Peace as he crossed to a machine on the far side of the Iorian ship's bridge. The baby writhed in the unkind grip and shrieked as the pirate placed the circular end of the small machine on her belly. As the machine whirred to life, Peace turned her face away from the pirate's chest and strained toward the spot in the room which The Doctor occupied. The Time Lord took deep, even breaths and relaxed his face and shoulders, wincing as his arm moved with the motion. Peace calmed immediately, her shrieks fading to dull whimpers.
"My, my," Vach Undersoil murmured, "someone has gotten attached, haven't they? It's a shame I didn't know that before, My Lord Doctor—I could have gotten even more leverage out of you."
The Doctor didn't answer. He waited with tight lips and stormy eyes while the pirate disabled Peace's tracking beacon. After several tense minutes, the pirate switched off the machine and carried the baby back toward her caretakers. Nyssa reached out to take Peace back, but the infant pulled away and let out a kitten-like mewl of protest. "Doctor," Nyssa whispered, her voice still thick with tears.
"I know." The Doctor walked haltingly over to the pirate and took Peace from him one-handed. He cradled her small body to his chest. "Let's go," he told his companions. Tegan, Adric, and Nyssa surrounded their Time Lord leader and herded him out of the room, casting vicious looks behind them. Vach Undersoil stood in the middle of the bridge and smiled like nothing in the universe could trouble him in his moment of victory.
When the crew reached the TARDIS, The Doctor passed Peace to Tegan, unlocked the doors, and strode into the console room with weary determination. "Adric, help me trigger a spatial stasis pocket around Undersoil's ship."
"Doctor, your arm—"
"Time is ticking, Adric! Help me, now!"
The Alzarian teenager hastened to obey, but he gave his female companions a worried look. Nyssa went to the console and helped The Doctor, as well. Together, the three scientific experts coaxed the ancient time-and-space-machine to do The Doctor's bidding.
"What's a spatial stasis pocket?" Tegan asked, as she rocked Peace back and forth.
"If we work fast enough, we can compress the space around Undersoil's ship and make it impossible for him to leave this particular area of space for up to four hours," The Doctor said. "The sheer amount of energy it would take to propel his ship through a part of space which is five times more dense than regular space will be astronomical, but it won't last forever. Eventually, his ship's engines will overcome the resistance of the compressed space and shoot the vessel into motion again. But, until that time, we'll have four hours to contact Gallifrey and direct the Council of Time Lords to deal with this pirate."
"I thought you didn't rely on your people for anything," Tegan said, surprised.
"Well—" The Doctor broke off, gasping, as the TARDIS tilted slightly and forced him to put out his broken arm to steady himself. "Given the circumstances," he continued, breathlessly, "I can't bring Undersoil to justice, myself, and he must be stopped from taking Time Lord DNA as a commodity."
"Not to mention, he's a terrible person, and someone should stop him from just doing whatever he likes," Nyssa exclaimed.
"You're quite right, Nyssa. And again, under the circumstances, the Time Lords are the best authorities to deal with this infringement of rights."
"Did the stasis work, Doctor?" Adric asked, as he flicked a series of switches on the console.
The Doctor gingerly lowered his broken arm back to his side and used his good arm to adjust a button on the control panel. "I just need to throw this last lever, and then we'll plot a course for Gallifrey."
There was silence in the control room aside from Peace's fussy noises and Tegan's soothing reassurance of, "Shhh, it's all right, little darling." The Doctor twisted a final knob and then sank quite calmly to the floor. Adric and Nyssa both gave cries of concern and knelt next to their older friend.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," The Doctor insisted, as Nyssa clutched at his good hand, "I just need to catch my breath. I've got to get Peace to the infirmary to verify that her tracking device is disabled."
"You need to go to the infirmary for yourself," Nyssa said. She helped The Doctor rise slowly.
"What, for this?" The Doctor twitched his broken arm, then grimaced. "No, it will heal soon enough. I just have to set it and immobilize it for a couple days, then it will be right as rain."
"Surely, you at least need a pain reliever?" Nyssa pressed.
"No, Nyssa, thank you, but I shall be perfectly fine."
"You're a terrible liar, Doctor," Tegan snorted. "Anyone can see you're in a lot of pain." Peace chose that moment to give a pitiful whine of distress, and the Australian woman patted her back gently. "There, there, sweetheart, The Doctor's going to be all right, as long as he isn't too stubborn for his own good."
The Doctor looked offended. "I think I'm old enough to know when I'm being purposefully obstinate, and this is not—" he paled and stumbled into Adric when Nyssa accidentally touched his broken arm as she helped him walk towards the back doorway.
"I'm sorry!" Nyssa looked horrified.
"What were you saying, Doctor?" Tegan asked, sweetly.
After Adric righted him, the Time Lord gave Tegan a mutinous look. "Give her to me," he said, and took Peace in his good arm. "I'll take some pain medication," he told the baby, "but just for you, to smooth out our telepathic exchange. It must be stressful to read my pain through our connection." Peace nuzzled contentedly against The Doctor's collar, sighing. The Doctor smiled. "Yes, I'm happy to see you, too, Peace."