Martha woke with a start and found herself looking at Ianto's back. She went to move but found she couldn't.
"I would not move, your bonds will only grow tighter the more you struggle," Ianto said in a tone of voice that did and didn't sound like Ianto.
She ignored him and tried to move again and cried out when she felt something bite into her arms.
"I told you not to move. Why do you little mortals never listen?"
Fired up by the fact that whatever had possessed Ianto called her little mortal, she kicked hard at the back of his seat.
"I don't know what the hell you are but you better get the hell out of Ianto's body or you're for it!"
Ianto just laughed. "Little mortal, your threats are like the bite of a small insect. Now hush and you will soon be free of your bonds."
Martha went to speak again but found herself staying quiet, the will to speak suddenly gone. She knew somehow that whatever had taken over Ianto had stopped her talking. She sat back and tried to relax, not really wanting whatever was holding her to tighten any more.
She tried not to move as the fighter suddenly descended and a small thump told her that they had landed.
"Isn't that better?" Ianto suddenly said and turned in his seat. "All that struggling and all it gets you is nothing but pain. Now why don't we talk in a civil manner, without the shouting and the insults?"
Martha glared at him. "I won't talk to the puppet master, only the puppet!" she spat.
The white in Ianto's pupils glowed brightly and a look of annoyance crossed his face. "I would be careful with your words mortal. I only saved you from the enemy because you are useful to me. However, you can quickly become of no use."
Martha was quiet then, she knew a veiled threat when she heard it. She had the awful feeling that things had just got worse, if that was possible.
She allowed herself to be hauled out of the fighter and only cried out when she was dumped painfully onto the floor. She was about to throw an insult when Ianto collapsed to the floor and there was nothing she could do.
"Ianto!" she cried and tried in vain to loosen her bonds but they just tightened. She let out a scream of frustration and wished for a miracle.
A breeze suddenly lifted her hair and she started to wonder if the dust it picked up contained a hallucinogen...was that the Doctor appearing out of the dust?
She decided it must be a hallucination as the Doctor was almost transparent. It stopped in front of her and crouched down on its haunches.
"Martha Jones, do you know how hard it is to be in three places at once?" the hallucination said. "If you keep struggling, they'll just get tighter. Relax your muscles, it's the only way to break them."
The hallucination stood and moved over to the unconscious Ianto but after a few seconds moved away. "So, the Light has chosen its host."
The hallucination turned back to Martha and the look he gave her almost convinced her that it wasn't a hallucination.
"I'm sorry Martha, sorry that you've been dragged into this. But you have and I can't help you."
The hallucination stopped talking and seemed to look into the distance. "Have to go...Jack needs me. Don't fight the Light Martha," the hallucination said as it faded.
She stared at the spot where the hallucination had been for a few seconds but the groan that told her that Ianto was coming round broke her stare.
It was then that she remembered her bonds and knew she needed to get out of them. Although she believed she'd been hallucinating, she relaxed her muscles and was surprised to find the bonds fall away.
"You may have been a hallucination but thank you," she said and crawled over to Ianto, who was just sitting up.
"Don't move, just sit," she said.
"Martha?" Ianto said and looked round him in confusion. "Where?"
"I don't know," she said as she looked around her. Then she spotted something in the distance and she was pretty sure it wasn't a hallucination. "But I think it has something to do with that."
Ianto looked to where she was pointing and blinked.
In the distance, shimmering in a heat haze was a building that looked suspiciously like a...
"Is that a?" he said.
"Looks like it," Martha replied.
Ianto pushed himself of the floor and went to move, but was stopped by Martha. He pushed against her.
"We need to go there," and pushed against her.
"No, we have to get back to the base," Martha said, pushing back.
"Get out of my way," Ianto snarled at her and pushed harder and she overbalanced and stumbled away.
She righted herself and stood in his way once again. "No!"
Ianto snarled again and this time he grabbed hold of Martha and pulled her close. "We are going!" he growled and began dragging her.
She tried to resist but he was too strong and she found herself being dragged towards the building and to an uncertain fate.
Jack and Gwen sat in silence as the fighter sped towards its target. Jack had tried to speak to Gwen but she had snapped "Shut the hell up!"
She was angry at him and he couldn't blame her. They'd left the rebels behind, rebels who were now either dead or turned into Dalek soldiers. But Jack hadn't been given a choice, knowing what he knew.
The Darkness was driving them forwards, using the Daleks as his enforcers.
"You should have stayed," Gwen suddenly said. "You know how to fight those things."
"Gwen, I..." he started to reply but was cut off when the fighter lurched violently and the cockpit filled with red light.
"What the hell!" Gwen yelled as the fighter lurched again.
"It's the Nebula, we're caught in one of its storms!" Jack yelled back and tightened his grip on the steering column as the fighter lurched again.
They looked at each other when the engines stuttered, tried to re-start and then died. They felt the ship starting to fall and both of them stared out of the screen as the fighter began plummeting towards what appeared to be a large asteroid.
Jack tried to wrench the steering column but to no avail, they were going to crash and burn.
The lone Dalek cruiser glided to a halt and hung like a silent predator.
On the command deck the Supreme Dalek watched its Emperor. It was starting to question the actions of its leader, but it would not voice them. The mutant inside still squirmed when it looked at him and that feeling of fear that was so alien to it flooded through it.
It would watch and wait and if it found that its Emperor was not following the Dalek Imperative, then it would strike.
"Supreme Dalek, how long until the rest of the fleet joins us?"
"Another sixty Rels, there is a storm on the edges of the Nebula. They have to proceed at half-speed."
The Emperor let out a breath. "Very well, inform me when they arrive. I will be in my private chamber."
"I obey!" the Supreme Dalek replied, but it was beginning to listen to that little nagging voice of doubt.
The Darkness entered the chamber that he'd taken as his own. He rubbed absently at his host's temple. He looked in the mirror; he saw not the pale black-veined skin of the hybrid, he saw behind that and staring back at him was the face of the Time Lord and it was mocking him with that sanctimonious smile.
"It won't be long, your time is short. The Light is coming and you know what will happen then," the reflection said to him.
The Darkness snarled and smashed his fist into the mirror, fracturing the reflection.
"Yes, the Light is coming, but I will defeat him and then I will finish you."