A/N: The Neo Proclamation is from the 5th in this series, Echoes, where the Shadow Proclamation were found to be hugely corrupt and the Doctor and Leah's clones, Zak and Leya ended up being put in charge of forming a new Proclamation. Jack and Zak are a pairing of the long distance sort :p

And you know it's freaky, I wrote Echoes two years ago but I came to realise that in this timeline it only happened a few months ago :o Wibbly wobbly timey wimey.

Chapter 3 - The Neo Proclamation

At 9am the next day the Doctor was roused by Rose's obligatory alarm clock,. He got up, got dressed and walked into the kitchen only to find Leah awake and eating her breakfast with Jackie sitting next to her. They both looked up when he entered, and immediately collectively giggled.

'What?' he asked seriously, checking himself.

'Did ya have a dream last night?' Jackie wondered, grinning like she knew something he didn't.

The Doctor stared at her. 'What did I do?'

'You were walkin' 'round,' Leah told him through a mouthful of Cheerios.

'Really? What happened?'

'I heard this big crash in your room so I went in and you were sittin' at Rose's make up table brushin' hair you didn't have,' Jackie told him. 'It was weird. Then I tried to get you back into bed but you were mumblin' things that didn't make much sense. Then Leah came in and we managed to get you in bed then.'

The Doctor frowned. 'I was sleepwalking?'

'Either that or it's an alien thing,' Jackie replied, somewhat facetiously.

The Doctor closed his eyes to address Rose. 'Did you see any of this?'

No, you were dreamin' though. I can't remember what it was about.

The Doctor opened his eyes again, shaking his head at Jackie and Leah to indicate Rose's reply.

'Is that not right?' Jackie wondered, taking in his expression

'I have absolutely no idea,' the Doctor admitted.

Leah, bored of it, jumped down from the table and looked up at him. 'When are we going?'

'As soon as everyone's ready,' the Doctor told her.

'I'll hurry 'em up,' she replied, turning and shooting out of the door. The Doctor shook his head in bemusement, and went straight to the food cupboard.

'Are you feelin' okay?' Jackie wondered.

'Fine,' he answered, pulling out a packet of chocolate chip biscuits and proceeding to eat them straight from the pack.

'I know this is somethin' you 'ave to do to fix 'er, but can't you do it any other way?' she suddenly asked nervously.

'Don't worry, we'll be fine. We're always fine.'

Jackie scoffed. 'Yeah, so what 'appens if you don't find this woman? What if Rose ends up stuck in there? What'll happen to you; to Rose?'

'I don't know,' the Doctor admitted. 'But we will find this woman.'

'What kind of answer is that?' Jackie asked seriously, her arms akimbo. 'What if she's stuck in there, eh?'

'Jackie, it doesn't matter because I'm fixing it,' the Doctor told her patiently.

'You're not answerin' the question! What 'appens if Rose is stuck in there?'

'Jackie, I honestly, seriously and really don't know. She could be fine, she could be dying, she could end up damaging my brain or a million other things, but none of that matters because I will fix her,' he said, emphasising the last few words.

Hug her.

'What?'

'What?' Jackie echoed, looking at him strangely.

Please hug her, from me, yeah?

The Doctor contained a sigh, and leant forward to wrap his arms around Jackie. For a moment the woman was a little startled, before she hugged him back.

'Thank you,' she suddenly said over his shoulder.

You're welcome.

'Rose says you're welcome,' the Doctor replied.

'That wasn't for 'er,' Jackie said, before finally drawing back and gazing up at him. She leant forward, and placed one, deliberate kiss on his cheek. 'I want you to be careful, sweetheart.'

'I'm always careful. Dainty little fairy, me,' the Doctor assured her with a grin.

Jackie rolled her eyes, picked up her tea and left just as Jack came in.

'You ready for today?' he asked the Doctor.

'Just about,' the Doctor replied, turning his attention back to his biscuits.

'What's the plan?'

'We'll get Brax to drop us off at the Neo Proclamation with Zak and Leya,' the Doctor told him. 'They should be able to get us into a prison. We'll make some contacts, escape and get to Sirrus.'

'Which prison are we going for?' Jack asked, as though they were discussing a menu at a restaurant.

'Not sure,' the Doctor confessed. 'We'll see what Zak and Leya can do for us.'

Jack nodded. 'I'll meet you in the console room.'

Jack stepped out of the kitchen into the corridor, intending to go to his bathroom to smarten himself up when Brax almost walked into him coming the other way.

'Sorry,' Jack said, but was surprised to find the Time Lord just leant in close to Jack's ear, conspiratorial.

'Meet me in the tech lab,' he said, and with that he walked off.

Jack paused momentarily, slightly confused before he turned and followed Braxiatel up to the tech lab.

He reached the lab to find Braxiatel at a computer. Jack moved forward, peering over Brax's shoulder only to nearly get knocked over when the Time Lord suddenly turned, holding an implant gun.

The sight of it stunned Jack a little as he eyed it. 'What you doing with that?'

'I need to keep an eye on Thete, but I cannot do that without you.'

'An eye?' Jack echoed, still looking at the gun.

'This implant is a communicator, invisible to scanners,' Brax said, gesturing to the implant gun. 'I just put it in your hand and I can keep in direct contact with you. Just press your palm and speak.'

Jack slowly nodded. 'Okay,' he said. 'Why all the secrecy?'

Brax looked a little nervous. 'There's a second part to this you won't like.'

'What?'

'I really need to keep an eye on Thete,' he said, urging Jack to catch on. 'In an electronic sort of way…'

Jack widened his eyes as the penny dropped with a masty clatter. 'Wait, you're not talking about...'

'Just precautionary.'

'You want me to vit chip him!?'

'I need to know he's okay,' Brax insisted, pulling a vitchip out of his pocket. 'Just stick it on the back of his neck and I can monitor him.'

Jack's eyes narrowed. 'No.'

'Jack, please,' Brax stressed. 'He would never let me.'

'Wonder why that is?' Jack asked sarcastically, quite angry now. 'You're asking me to stick a chip on him so you can monitor him without him knowing!'

'Jack, I am asking you as his brother, please. I need to know he's okay.'

'No!' Jack said, standing up. 'I'll use your communicator but I'm not vitchipping him, it's what owners do to slaves; it's illegal; it's wrong!'

'Jack...'

'No!' Jack reinforced, holding out his palm. 'Gimme the implant.'

Brax at least had the decency to look ashamed. Silently he reached forward, pressed the barrel to Jack's palm and fired. It was painless. Jack quickly drew his palm away and turned straight to the door.

'Wait, Jack.' Brax asked quietly.

Jack turned. 'What?' he spat.

'Please don't tell him I asked.'

Jack gazed at him, but didn't reply before he turned and left.

Twenty minutes later, everyone was gathered in the console room. Brax, Gwen and Ianto were fully equipped with all manner of guns and technical devices, collectively ignoring the looks that the Doctor was giving them. Thankfully his little girl hadn't expressed an interest in wielding a gun, though she was practising her karate moves that Jack had been subtly teaching her since she was two-years-old. The Doctor knew he should probably disapprove, but secretly he was glad that she had a defence.

'We're all set then,' Jack said finally when the initial chat had died down. The Doctor was looking at him - he seemed a little tense, continuously glancing at Brax and Leah. He even had a small word with Gwen when he thought the Doctor wasn't looking.

When the time finally arrived to leave, the Doctor gave Jackie a hug of his own accord, letting Rose exchange a few words with her before they parted. He then knelt down and simultaneously hugged Alex and Leah for two solid minutes. Alex had become quiet again, just looking at his father with his big blue eyes - so innocent. At least he'd be safe, the Doctor mused.

'Daddy, stop worrying, you worry a lot,' Leah chastised him mid-hug.

'I like worrying about you,' the Doctor told her honestly, kissing her forehead. 'I love you.'

'Love you too,' she said.

Tell her to be careful.

'Mum says be careful,' the Doctor told her. 'And so do I.'

'We'll be fine!' Leah told him happily, shrugging on her backpack.

The Doctor looked at Brax, and nodded. Brax immediately set the TARDIS into motion towards the Neo Proclamation. Everyone gripped onto an appropriate surface until they landed with the familiar bone-jolting clunk, and all was still.

The Doctor took one final look around, before looking down at Leah and dropping to his haunches in front of her. 'Take this,' he said, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out his sonic screwdriver. He held it out to her.

She looked stunned. 'But that's yours,' she told him, mystified.

'I'll only have it taken off of me where I'm going,' he said, holding it out to her. 'I want you to use it.'

After a moment's hesitation, she took it and held it in both hands, as though handling a very expensive and delicate gossamer artifact. She gazed at it for a moment, then looked up at him, her eyes wide in wonderment.

'Really?' she asked.

'Really,' the Doctor confirmed, kissing her again. 'Do me proud,' he told her.

She beamed a beautiful little smile, nodding enthusiastically. He adjusted her hair again, and once more kissed Alex goodbye, before finally standing up. Jack took his arm, coaxing him away from his small children and out of the doors.

They emerged into a corridor of the Neo Proclamation Headquarters, but the Doctor ignored it. He was looking back at the TARDIS. Slowly and with groaning engines, the blue box churned, faded in and out and blew a light wind across his face as she disappeared, taking everyone inside with her to Hunfrid on Colossus Major.

After a moment, he felt Jack rest a hand on his shoulder. 'She'll be fine,' the immortal assured him.

The Doctor didn't answer that, he just nodded and gave a shrug. 'I don't see the Tardis pilot away from me often.'

'I s'pose you don't,' Jack mused, before the Doctor finally turned around and put the matter of his little girl deliberately out of his head. Instead he focused on what was in front of him - the Neo Proclamation Headquarters, located on what had been the perfectly average inner planet of Haxun One before the Shadow Proclamation massacre just a few months previously.

The corridors were all metal and brand new - so new there was still a little building work going on, which explain the distinct lack of security in that they should have probably been arrested by now for breaching the security field. But no alarms were flashing nor sirens wailing. They'd have to locate Zak and Leya for themselves.

The Doctor led them to the nearest door, pressing his palm on the lock. The lock politely beeped and slid open to reveal yet more corridor, which they continued to pass through. It wasn't for a good few minutes and a good few corridors did they sight their first Judoon, patrolling through a hall.

'S'cuse me!' the Doctor called, bounding up to him.

The Judoon turned abruptly, raising his gun to point it straight at the Doctor's head. Then he pause, faltered, and immediately bowed.

'I apologise, Zak, I was startled,' he gruffed.

'Oh yeah, the face,' the Doctor realised, pointing vaguely at his own. 'Sorry, bit lost. Where's my office?'

'Office?'

'Err… Bedroom? Quarters? Chamber? Cubicle? Sleeping pod?'

'Are you well, Zak?' the Judoon asked, highly confused. It was quite possibly the first time the Doctor had ever encountered a confused Judoon.

'Dandy,' the Doctor assured him. 'Where is it?'

The Judoon pointed to a lift near them. 'Level thirty-three.'

'Thanks, err…'

'Jarred,' the Judoon informed him politely.

'Jarred! Thanks, Jarred,' the Doctor said, offering him a smile and ignoring Jack's slightly boggled-eye expression from the side as he skipped off to the lift and hit the button, the immortal two paces behind.

Wait, Judoon have names!?

'Jarred?' Jack queried as the lift doors shut. 'That judoon was… Hell, that wasn't a judoon… Was it?'

'Must be Zak and Leya's work,' the Doctor mused, before grinning. 'I think I like what they've done with the place.'

'It's different,' Jack pondered, just as the lift doors open and the Doctor immediately found himself staring at his own reflection. Of course, it wasn't his reflection, but rather Zak, his clone made by the Shadow Proclamation illegally just a few months previously. He was a perfect mirror of the Doctor before he had regenerated, just with slightly longer hair and no sideburns. He double-taked, before realisation eventually dawned and he beamed from ear to ear.

'Doctor! Jack!' he enthused, pulling them both into a three-way hug. 'Why are you here? How? When? Why didn't you contact me? Never mind! Let's grab a coffee! Leya! Oh wait, she's downstairs, let's go!'

Neither the Doctor nor Jack had a chance to say anything before they were all in the lift, heading down again.

They went to a lounge of some kind, where Zak disappeared only momentarily, returning with four steaming hot cups of uruvulian coffee and placing it on the table before he finally got to the important business of snogging Jack. The Doctor rolled his eyes and tried to avert his gaze, focusing instead on the ceiling, a mirage displaying space beyond their atmosphere. The Doctor could just make out the three asteroids of the Shadow Proclamation in the midst of being disassembled by droids under the orders of Zak and Leya; after the corruption of the Shadow Proclamation had been unveiled and the Doctor had placed his clone and the clone of his daughter in charge of the remade Shadow Proclamation, they had instantly made the decision to destroy it. He couldn't blame them. He still had very vivid memories of having to sacrifice everything and spent twelve years in solitary confinement in order to get his clone to Earth into the care of Jack and Torchwood and complete a timeloop. It had almost cost him his sanity.

Don't think about it.

'Sorry,' the Doctor muttered to the woman in his head.

It's not gonna be like that again. I've got you, yeah?

He smiled at that. 'Yeah, you've got me.'

'Are you alright?' Zak asked, finally having pulled himself off of Jack to look at the Time Lord, apparently talking to himself.

Jack nudged him, grinning. 'Rose is in his head.'

'What?' Zak asked, confused.

'There was an accident and Rose is stuck in his head, chatting inside it,' Jack explained.

Zak opened his mouth to say something, but eventually frowned and close it again.

'Don't worry, we don't understand it either,' the Doctor told him.

'Doctor! Jack!' a new voice called, and they all turned to see Leya advancing towards them. Her long brunette hair was in a long ponytail swept over her shoulder, her brown eyes sparkling with utter joy. She was taller than he remembered, having aged just slightly since he'd seen her last.

He got up, and smiled as she greeted him with a hug. At the touch of his daughter - even though she was a clone - he was suddenly mentally assaulted by images of his real daughter, standing there in the TARDIS holding his sonic screwdriver. He quickly forced them out again. Brax would look after her.

'Why are you here?' she asked, moving to hug Jack next before taking the fourth cup of coffee.

'First, what have you done here?' the Doctor asked.

'We met Jarred,' Jack added.

Zak and Leya exchanged a look, laughing as if sharing an inside joke. 'Oh, Jarred's great,' Zak said. 'He's such a laugh. He's one of our full-timers.'

'Full-timers?' Jack echoed.

'We thought we should probably hire the Judoon again,' Leya told them. 'But we managed to actually contract a few full-time to us.'

'You gave them permanent jobs?' Jack asked, somewhat bewildered.

Zak and Leya nodded in sync. 'It was horrible how the Shadow Proclamation use to treat them,' Leya said. 'They didn't even call them by their real names. Since after the Shadow Proclamation fell their contract to them was over, they went home. We wanted to rehire them, but we didn't have much money so we just advertised individual positions on their home planet. We weren't expecting any of them to contact us.'

'But they did,' Zak continued, grinning. 'We had a whole job interview thing and had to turn away loads.'

'You did job interviews for judoon?' Jack asked, still stunned. He looked at the Doctor, who just laughed.

'Brilliant,' the Time Lord said, absolutely delighted. 'Just brilliant…!'

Leya beamed at him. 'We take them when we're doing planetary relations.'

'How's that going?' the Doctor wondered.

'We're officially the police of fifty-six solar systems in the immediate vicinity,' Leya said.

'That was fast,' the Doctor commented.

'Doesn't feel fast,' Zak admitted. 'No one trusts the name Proclamation after what they did. You have no idea how many rallies and interviews we've done to convince them all we're different.'

'I wouldn't have picked you for the job if I didn't think you could do it,' the Doctor told him and Leya. 'And sounds to me like you're doing a pretty good job so far.'

They both grinned.

'So why are you here?' Leya asked. 'Where's everyone else?'

Jack looked at the Doctor, who gestured for him to explain. He did, telling the story from beginning to end as the Doctor watched Zak and Leya's faces, slowly becoming more and more confused.

'... So basically we need a quick route into prison,' Jack finally finished.

'Oh, this is heavy,' Zak muttered, hand in his head. 'And there's no other way?'

'No,' the Doctor confirmed.

Zak and Leya exchanged a glance, before Zak nodded and looked back at them. 'What prison are you looking to get in?'

'One of your most notorious,' Jack told him. 'We need high criminal status.'

Zak thought for a moment. 'There's New Shada.'

The Doctor froze. 'Shada?'

'New Shada,' Zak corrected him. 'It's the most secure criminal containment planet in the universe. For the worst criminals. It was created after Volag-Noc fell.'

'Perfect,' Jack said, glancing at the Doctor - but he wasn't looking so complacent. 'Problem?'

A million old memories stirred up, but the Doctor quickly got rid of them and - eventually - shook his head. 'We're just going to need a very good plan.'

Jack nodded, and looked back at Zak and Leya. 'How quick can you get us in?'

'Straight away,' Leya replied.

'Then let's go,' the Doctor said, already standing up.

'Wait,' Zak said, gazing at Jack. 'Stay the night? I know you're both in a hurry and everything but please, stay.'

The Doctor and Jack looked at each other only momentarily.

'Okay,' the Doctor said. 'First thing tomorrow, then.'