Chapter 12- The Importance of Shields
Voyage of the Damned pt. 2
Rose POV
We were back in the dining room where the party was in full swing, people eating, dancing, playing games were all around us. I spotted Astrid half way across the room eyeing the Doctor with a flirty smile that he was completely oblivious to as he looked around the room smiling at all the merriment.
"You know, I think Astrid fancies you. Of course she probably thinks you fancy her as well." I said casually.
"Is that so," he said turning towards me and quirking an eyebrow. "I mean I can see that she would fancy me," he said with a sniff and a tug to straighten his jacket, "but why would she think I fancy her?"
"Cause you're so cheeky in this regeneration and you don't even notice it. Also, you're completely oblivious when people have feelings for you, like when you were traveling with Martha. She told me she was being completely obvious about it and you had no idea." I told him with a giggle.
"Well, that's because I love you Rose, I didn't notice because I didn't care, not about her, not about Astrid, just you," he said turning to face me fully.
"Is that so," I said raising an eyebrow skeptically.
"Yes it is," he said as he leaned closer. "You gave me all the things I never dreamed I would have again. A hand to hold, someone to love, a person I can finally spend my forever with. You also gave me a child, a little boy who I love to death, and you nearly tore the multiverse apart to get him to me." He leaned in the rest of the way and pressed his lips softly against mine and wrapped his arms around my waist.
I moaned quietly into the kiss but pulled away after only a few seconds. "Plenty of time for that later," I told him placing one hand flat on his chest. "So what do you think is going on here, strange power fluctuations, creepy malfunctioning robot' s."
"Not sure, lets investigate, shall we Lewis?" He replied with a cheeky smile and walked over to the wall where there was another information screen with Max Capricorns face on it. On his way he pulled out the sonic then glanced around to make sure no one was looking. I stood beside him as he ran the sonic along the edge of the faux frame and then pulled open the compartment. I stood next to him keeping watch as he reached inside and flipped a switch. He looked at me so see if the screen had changed and I just shook my head. He turned back to the compartment and flipped another switch and I gasped at what came up on the screen.
"Doctor? Why would the shields be offline?" I asked looking at the flashing words on the screen.
"I don't know," he said looking at the radar, then running over to the window, "but there's three meteors headed straight for us."
"What? Meteors, and the shields are offline?" I practically shouted as he made his way back to the screen. He reached in and pressed another button making a sound and the screen flash 'Coms On'.
"Is that the bridge I need to talk to the captain, you've got a meteor storm coming in West zero by North two," he shouted frantically at the screen.
"Who is this?" Came a stern voice back through the speaker.
"Nevermind that your shields are down check your scanners captain you've got meteors coming in and no shielding," he shouted in a rush. As the Captain began to reply about us having no authority I began looking around and saw two crew members coming our way.
"Doctor we've got company," I said to him over his shoulder as he said to the man, "Yeah? Just look starboard."
The crew members reached us then and I recognized one as the head steward, "If you two will come with me," he said in an authoritative voice as he grabbed the Doctors arm and the other man grabbed mine.
"You've got a rock storm heading for the ship and the shields are down!" He said through clenched teeth as the two men pulled us through the dining room. The man just ignored him and as we reached the door leading to reception he turned to me and whispered, "Rose run!" He grabbed my hand as he pulled out of the stewards grasp and ran through the dining room towards the stage. He ran up onto the stage leaving me standing beside it. He grabbed the microphone from the singer and shouted, "Everyone listen to me this is an emergency get to th-" he was cut off my a host robot coming up behind him and clasping a hand over his mouth.
Everything happened quite quickly after that one of the crew members grabbed me by the arm and began pulling me away as the other two from before grabbed the Doctor one on either side and pulled him off stage stuggling the whole way. When they reached the bottom of the stairs the chief steward grabbed me from the other crew member and pulled me along with him towards reception, as we passed a group standing near the door I leaned over and shouted to them "LOOK OUT THE WINDOWS!"
"If you don't believe me then check the shields yourself," he told the men still struggling making the stewards grip on my arm twist and turn, I was sure to have a lovely purple bruise tomorrow. I could hear the clack of Astrid's heals coming up behind us them along with Morvin and Foon.
"Sir, I can vogue for him," Astrid said and I rolled my eyes, yes just him of course let them take me away; Not that they would listen anyway.
"He's just had a bit too much to drink," I heard Morvin shout trying to justify his actions as a bit of drunken misconduct, even though neither of us had anything since I couldn't drink anyway. As we passed the shore leave station I also heard Mr. Copper shout something about the teleport not working, to which he received an irritated 'not now.'
We continued to be pulled through the ship into a sort of maintenance hallway more people we had met joining the group along the way, everyone shouting. As we rounded a corner the Doctor shouted "the shields are down, we are going to get hit." After which everyone in our little group of followers started shouting over each other. Suddenly there was a loud sound of running footsteps rounding the corner.
"Oi, steward," shouted a man who I recognize from standing in the group I had shouted to, "I'm telling you the shields are down!" To which the grip on my arm loosened.
"Listen to him, listen to him!" My husband shouted at the man. A moment later there was a large crash causing the stewards to lose their grip on both of us. I was tossed to the side as the ship began to quake and sparks rained down from wires overhead. The Doctor somehow got his footing and grabbed me around the waist, then pushed me so I was practically crouching and he was bent over me protecting my practically bare back from the sparks and the rest of me from anything that may fall. There was another large crash and then an explosion that sent us both flying and crashing to the floor. Then suddenly everything stopped.
The Doctor picked himself up off the floor pulling me with him, "Shh," he said listening, "it's stopping," then he turned to me, "Rose love, are you alright?" he asked visually checking over me.
"Yeah I'm fine," I responded turning to Astrid who had landed on the floor near us and helping her up, "Are you okay Astrid?"
"Yeah I think so," she said breathlessly.
"Terrible name for a ship," I groaned.
"Either that or this suit is just really unlucky," the Doctor said looking down at his attire, I turned and saw one of the stewards laying on the ground and crouched down beside him checking for a pulse and finding none. I looked up to see the chief steward looking at me expectantly and simply shook my head sadly. He turned away sadly then cleared his throat and straightened up.
"Um, Everyone," he said turning to the others with us, "ladies, and gentleman and Bannakaffalatta, I must apologize on behalf of Max Capricorn cruise liners, we seem to have had a small collision," he told the group.
"Small?!" Morvin shouted in disbelief, then everyone began shouting over each other again and I could not understand any of it.
"If I could have silence ladies," the steward began but quickly gave up, "Quiet!" he shouted with authority, "Thank you. I'm sure Max Capricorn cruise liners will be able to reimburse you for any inconvenience, but first I would like to point out that we are all very much alive." He said as the Doctor noticed Mr. Copper dabbing his head with a handkerchief and rushed over to help him. "After all a fine and steady ship. If you could all stay here while I um, ascertain the exact nature of the situation."
As he spoke he had made his way over to a door and we hadn't noticed as we checked over Mr. Copper. The Doctor looked up and saw him as he reached for the wheel to open it, "Don't open it!" He shouted as the steward cranked the wheel then paused to look back at the Doctor. There was a large suction sound and the door was completely pulled off its hinges and the steward was sucked out into space.
Quickly the Doctor grabbed my wrist and pulled me to the wall of exposed pipes that he was hanging onto himself. Everyone else reacted quickly and did the same thing. As the Doctor looked around for a solution all I could think of was Canary Wharf, almost being pulled into the void only now if I was pulled out I would die in the vacuum of space. I was pulled out of my thoughts as the Doctor let go of what he had been holding onto and panic seized my chest. He threw himself across the hall and over to where Bannakaffalatta was holding onto and he pulled out his sonic putting it do some sort of keypad. 'Oxygen shield stabilized' came a robotic voice and the suction stopped.
"Everyone Alright?" The Doctor asked turning to the room, "Rose? Astrid? Foon? Morvin? Mr. Copper? Bannakaffalatta?" He shot off receiving short answers or hand signals from everyone as he went, "You what was your name?" he asked the man who had joined the group to tell the steward the shields were in fact offline.
"Rickston Slade," the man said pulling on his bowtie.
"You alright?" my husband asked.
"Yeah," the man nodded, then added, "No thanks to that idiot."
At that moment I knew I wasn't going to be able to stand that man, "The steward just died!" I shouted at the insensitive man.
"Then he's a dead idiot," the man said sneering at me as he removed his bowtie. Little did he know that was a big mistake, you don't upset a cornered wolf and at the moment I was feeling as cornered as you could get. I stepped towards the man without realizing it in my anger and the man flinched back. I felt an arm wrap around my waist then pulling me back.
"Alright everyone calm down, just stay still, all of you hold on," said the owner of the arm and then he walked off to where the door had been. I began to walk after him but was intercepted by Astrid.
"What happened?" she asked her face the picture of worry, "how come the shields are down?"
"I doubt it was an accident," was all I could manage to say before continuing on to the Doctor with her following after me. I got to the opened doorway and looked out at debris and bodies floating in open space.
"How many dead?" Astrid asked sounding horrified.
"We're alive, focus on that," he told her, "We'll get you out of here Astrid I promise." He said putting an arm around my shoulder as I reached out and rubbed the other woman's arm comfortingly.
"We should get back to reception," I said turning to the man standing behind me, my back to the open doorway. "Back to the TARDIS, we can all get away on there," I said with a small hopeful smile. The Doctor just looked over my head at the things floating around in open space.
"No, we can't Rose," he said in a choked voice still looking over my head into open space.
"What is it what's wrong?" I asked then turned around to see our wonderful blue box floating through the debris and bodies, "NO!" I shouted and my knees gave out only to be caught around the waist by my husband, "no, no, no, no, no, Doctor this can't be happening."
"What, What is it?" Astrid asked confused looking around for what we were talking about.
"That's our ship over there," the Doctor told her as tears began to roll down my cheeks.
"Where?" she asked looking around for our ship that was straight ahead.
"That box, that wonderful, little blue box over there," I said through my tears.
"It's a bit small," she said obviously wondering how we would all fit.
"Don't dis the TARDIS," the Doctor said and I could practically hear the scowl in his voice.
"It's a bit distant," I told her and then panic began to set in making my chest tight, I could feel the adrenaline begin to pump through my veins. "What are we gonna do Doctor? How are we gonna get her back, that's our home and she's just gonna drift through space forever. What about Oliver? How are we gonna get back to Oliver Doctor? He's on Earth with Jack, how are we gonna get there. He doesn't have that much milk and he can't have formula Doctor." I began rambling as my breathing became ragged.
"Rose you need to calm down, the TARDIS will be fine. Once she's set adrift she's programed to lock onto the nearest center of gravity and that would be the Earth. Now I promise you I will get you back to the Earth, back to Oliver, then back to our home and we will take a bit, maybe go to a resort planet and stay for a week to just relax and spend some time with each other and Oliver, alright?" He finished holding onto my shoulders so I would look in his eyes. I just nodded tears still falling down my cheeks. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders then pulling me to him in a tight hug and I watched as the TARDIS began falling towards the Earth.
The Doctor made his way over to the coms a few moments later and I stood close by listening in and also checking to make sure everyone was alright. "Deck 22 to the bridge, deck 22 to the bridge is there anyone there?" He called into the microphone.
"This is the bridge," came a much younger voice from earlier a few moments later. A bright smile lit the Doctors face when he heard the voice.
"Aw, hello sailor good to hear you, what's the situation up there?" he asked the intercom.
"Uh, we've got air, the oxygen field is holding, but the captain he's dead. He did it, he took down the shields. There was nothing I could do, I tried," said the voice through the intercom sounding more and more panicked.
"Alright, just stay calm. Tell me your name, what's your name," the Doctor coaxed the panicking sailor.
"Mid-shipman Frame sir," the young man said.
"Nice to meet sir, what's the state of the engines?" he asked. I moved so I was standing behind him to listen to this crucial answer.
"They're um, hold on," said the young man, we heard movement and then a pain filled scream. I felt the Doctor tense at the same time I did at the sound.
"Have you been injured?" he asked.
"I'm alright," came a quick answer. "Oh my god, they're cycling down, the powers gone."
"That's a nuclear storm drive, yes?" he asked.
"Yeah," came the response.
"And the moment they're gone we lose orbit," he stated flatly.
"The planet," said the Mid-shipman with realization.
"What about the planet Doctor, what will happen to the planet, Oliver's down there." I said wanting to know what they realized.
"If we hit the planet the nuclear storm explodes and wipes out life on earth." He said as calmly as possible.
I felt a gasp escape my lips as I covered my mouth, "Oh my god."
"Mid-shipman I need you to fire up the engine containment field and feed it back into the core," he said with a tone of authority.
"That's never gonna work." He replied in a strangled voice.
"Trust me it'll keep the engines going till I can get to the bridge." He said.
"Oh my god we're gonna die," came Foon's voice from beside us. Suddenly everyone started talking over each other as they began panicking. The Doctor began to try and quiet everyone with no success, I stepped up beside him then.
"Everyone be quiet!" I yelled with the most authoritative voice I could manage. Everyone practically snapped their mouths shut and just stared, I turned to the Doctor and gestured for him to speak.
"Thank you love, now, first things first. One we're gonna climb through this ship. B no two, we're gonna reach the bridge. Three or C we're gonna save the Titanic and coming in a very low 4 or D, or that very little i-v in brackets they use on footnotes," he began distractedly rambling and I jabbed my elbow into his side, "right then, follow me." With that he grabbed my hand and pulled me along the hallway until we were interrupted.
"Hold on," said the man who was already testing my patience, "who put you in charge? Who the hell are you anyway?" We both turned around hand in hand as the Doctor strode confidently towards the group. I could already tell this was going to be good.
"I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm 903 years old. And this is Rose Tyler, the Bad Wolf. She destroyed the Dalek Emperor as well as an entire fleet of Daleks with a single sweep of her hand. We are the ones who are gonna save your lives and all 6 billion people on the planet below. Do you have a problem with that?" He finished and I just smiled. Everyone in the group was looking at us in awe, except for Rickston who was staring at me with fear in his eyes.
"No," was the only reply we received from him.
"In that case Allonsy." I just smiled and strode over to Rickston to have a bit of fun first. I stopped directly in front of him and stared right in his eyes.
"Tell me Mr. Slade are you afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" I asked and as I said those last words I could feel a bit of the power surge through me just to make my eyes glow golden. I heard him swallow and just smirked before turning and following after my husband before he got himself into trouble. I could hear the clack of Astrid's heals as she tried to catch up with us as well as the slower footsteps of the others as they followed behind us. I caught up with him and grabbed his hand in mine. He turned and smiled at me then frowned.
"Um, Rose, your eyes are glowing, it's just a bit. Barely noticeable but are you alright?" He asked looking nervous.
"Oh yeah I'm fine, just whenever I say Bad Wolf, my eyes tend to glow. Well when I say it with a purpose anyway." I said he didn't reply but seemed unconvinced. I was sure there would be a full set of tests in the med-bay later, well once we got out of this mess.
We reached the end of the hallway to find a large heavy door. The Doctor and I pushed it open with some difficulty since there was debris in front of it. We found ourselves in a large stair well, perfect I thought to myself. Hopefully we would be able to get to the bridge from here since it didn't seem like a guest stairway. There was fallen railings, beams and other debris everywhere.
"Careful everyone, follow me," the Doctor said as he continued walking up the stairs, moving pieces of railing as he went.
"Rather ironic, but this is very much in the spirit of Christmas," Mr. Copper began, "it's a festival of violence. They say human beings only survive depending on whether they've been good or bad, it's barbaric." He said and I had finally had enough.
"Ok stop, I've had enough of this. That's not true at all, that's basically the opposite of what Christmas is about. It's about peace and family and thanks giving. It's a time you spend with your loved ones and exchange gifts. Also, Turkey is not only a country but a large bird, we eat the bird for Christmas dinner, not the people from Turkey." I said as I felt myself begin to get more and more irritated about what he had been telling people about my home and its traditions.
"Calm down Rose," my husband told me as we reached a landing full of metal and fallen beams. As he crouched down I did the same beside him and helped lift a large sheet of metal revealing one of the gold host robots. "We've got a host, the strength of 10 men. If we can mend it we can use it to fix the rubble."
"We can di robotics, both of us." Morvin informed us gesturing between him and his wife.
"We work in the milk market back on Stoh, it all robot staff." Foon said nodding her head.
"See if you can get it working." The Doctor told them then looked up the rest of the flight, "let's have a look," then he started climbing more of the stairs. We soon came to a large wall of metal beams and other debris.
"It's blocked," I said eyeing my husband waiting for his next brilliant idea.
"So what do we do?" he asked and I could tell he was testing Astrid by the way he was side-eying her.
"We shift it," she said in a voice that was much too chipper.
"That's the attitude," he said with a grin at the young server, "Rickston, Mr. Copper, and you Bannakaffalatta. You know what, can I just call you Banna, it's gonna save a lot of time."
"No, Bannakaffalatta," said the small red spikey alien.
"Alright then Bannakaffalatta," he said and I snorted and thought, not having that conversation would have saved a lot of time, and felt an irritated mental jab in return. Most of the time I was good about not voicing my thoughts across our marriage bond since we never had a use for it, but sometimes I forgot to shield my thoughts from it. "There's a gap in the middle, see if you can get through." He told the small red alien gesturing to a small gap. He fit through with ease and continued on to the other side.
"Easy, good," he said from the inside. Suddenly the ship began to shift and shake again and we were all thrown about as we heard the large pile of debris begin to shift.
"This whole thing could come crashing down at any minute," Rickston said as if we were stupid and didn't realize that little fact. I rolled my eyes that the man still thought it was a good idea to act like that towards us.
"Rickston, did you not get that message?" I asked him.
"What message?" he asked again as if I were an idiot for asking.
"Shut up and stop being a twat!" I shouted causing him to look completely taken aback. As if he had no clue why I would be irritated. I could hear the Doctor trying to hold in a laugh beside me.
"Bannakaffalatta made it!" We heard a shout from the other side pulling us back to the task at hand. I crouched down and looked at the size of the gap. I could probably just fit through crawling.
"I'm small enough, I can get through and help clear it from the other side for all of you." I said, then kissed the Doctor's cheek and began to crawl into the debris wall.
"Careful," he said his hand sliding down from where it had been resting on my back as I crawled away from him. It finally dropped off my backside as I crawled away from his reach and through the treacherous tunnel of debris.
"I can fit too, I'll help," I heard Astrid say and the sound of her dropping down to crawl.
"The thing is, how are Mr. and Mrs. Fatso gonna get through that gap," I heard Rickston say as I continued to crawl. I was tempted to turn around and crawl back to give him a Tyler slap, that might teach him some manners.
"Simple, we make it bigger so start," I heard the Doctor tell him. I finally reached the other side and saw Bannakaffalatta resting against a pipe. I turned around and began surveying this end of the debris wall as Astrid came through.
"I can clear it from this side, just tell me if it starts moving," I said and started picking up large sheets of metal.
"Bannakaffalatta what's wrong?" I heard Astrid ask and began turning around until I heard him shush her, figuring he didn't want to tell me. I just continued working as they had a whispered conversation. Only half noticing that I should not be able to move the things I was moving, also I wasn't straining my muscles doing it. I heard parts of their conversation, like that Bannakaffalatta was in fact a cyborg, I decided to store that information in case it was important later. I smiled as I picked up half of a metal beam and heard the end part of their conversation. Astrid walked back over to the wall where there was now a large opening, her mouth dropping open.
"Wow, how have you gotten all that done by yourself?" she asked.
"Oh, I didn't really realize how much I'd actually gotten done." I said practically frowning at the wall.
"What's going on in there?" I heard the Doctor ask through the wall of metal.
"We've cleared a lot," I told him picking up another piece of railing and putting it on top of the pile I had made.
"I think Bannakaffalatta and I just got engaged," Astrid added. I giggled and we continued working to get more of a path cleared.
A few minutes later there was a commotion on the other side of the wall of debris. I could only make out a turn it off and other yelling. A few moments later Rickston came through looking panicked.
"Doctor! What's happening!" I shouted, "what's wrong! Someone tell me what's happening!" A few moments later Mr. Copper came through followed by Foon who got stuck for a moment. Whatever was happening on the other side was causing things to shift cause she should have been able to get through what I had cleared. As Mr. Copper and Astrid tried to pull her through I noticed a pull holding a metal beam up come loose and rushed forward to grab one end of the pole and bracing the other side on something.
"Rickston, help us," I shouted at the man. I could tell he saw that I couldn't move and chose to defy me even though he feared me.
"No" he said and then finally they pulled Foon through.
"Whats going on Mr. Copper?" I asked him as I continued to hold up the beam for Morvin and the Doctor.
"It's the host, they got it working and now it's trying to kill us," he told me as I saw Morvin heading towards the opening. I lifted the beam more as high as I could manage and heard the Doctor say something about I know we've just met as he tried to push Morvin through. Finally he pushed Morvin through the gap then he turned around and faced the approaching host.
"Come on Doctor, get through," I shouted as he moved closer to the murderous robot.
"Information override you will tell me the point of origin of your command structure," he shouted at the host which stopped momentarily.
"Information, deck 31," it said and then resumed its attack.
"Thank you," my husband shouted and then jumped through the gap. As the host tried to come through I pulled the pole out from under the beam and let it fall and crush the host.
"Doctor, are you okay?" I asked rushing over to him and checking him for injuries before wrapping him in a hug. He pulled away slightly only to grab my face and kiss me.
"I'm completely fine, come on let's go and find out what Deck 31 is." He said and grabbed my hand to continue on through the ship.
A/N: Thank you for all the views, follows and favorites. Its so great that people want to follow me on this journey of writing and experience this story myself. This episode will be separated into 3 parts since its an hour ten minutes long instead of the normal 40-50 minutes. If you have suggestions or things leave a comment or p.m. me i love feedback.
