Notes: The Doctor inadvertently gets himself on the News (which Jackie thinks is hilarious).

Pete gets a call from the BBC, and the Doctor, Rose, Jack and Gwen go after the stolen samples.

The Doctor gets worried when he finds out who wants the stolen samples.

Oh, and there's another cliffhanger.

Chapter 15

The Odeon Leicester Square is a cinema which occupies the centre of the eastern side of Leicester Square in London, dominating the square with its huge black polished granite facade and 37 metre high tower displaying its name. Blue neon outlined the exterior of the building and a red carpet lead from the street to the doors of the cinema.

It was the premier of a new blockbuster film, and the stars were on the red carpet having their photographs taken, signing autographs and being interviewed by various television crews.

Angelina Jolie, the female lead, was wearing a beautiful designer dress that complemented her figure, and the slit to the hip showed off one of her shapely legs. Her husband Brad was wearing a dinner suit and stood by her side, smiling for photographers as she was interviewed by 'Entertainment Tonight'.

The news camera panned away to a sudden commotion, as four black uniformed soldiers ran up the red carpet and stopped at the doors to the cinema, just behind Angelina. One of them, a pretty blonde, was inspecting the display on a device she was holding.

"Has anyone seen an alien with metallic red hair and red, glowing eyes?" the soldier with brown, sticky up hair asked. The crowd laughed and Angelina turned from her interview to see what was going on.

"Over here John," the blonde called from the doors. The two other soldiers had also reached the doors.

"You're Angelina Jolie!" the spiky haired soldier said with an enormous grin. "Hello. I like the look of your new film."

"Thank you," she said politely.

"JOHN!" the blonde shouted.

"Oops. Got to go. Things to do, aliens to catch. It was nice to meet you." He took a step towards the other soldiers and then turned back and kissed her on the cheek.

"Hope you don't mind? Bit of a fan. Love the dress by the way, the leg and everything. Brilliant!"

"JOHN!"

"Coming!" He ran to the other soldiers and they entered the cinema.

"Jack, you're a bad influence on 'im," the blonde said.

"What? I was only saying hello," the spiky haired soldier could be heard saying as the doors closed behind them.

Jackie howled with laughter as she watched the rerun of the incident on the news, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. Pete and Tony chuckled on the sofa next to her. The phone rang and Pete reached over to the small table to pick it up.

"Hello, Pete Tyler."

"Mr. Tyler, its Christine Faulkner from the BBC. I don't know if you remember me, I'm the production assistant for the Michael Parkinson show. I hope you don't mind me calling you on this number."

"Oh yes, I remember you. What can I do for you Miss Faulkner?"

"Well, I think you probably saw the news item involving your daughter and son-in-law today," she said.

"My wife is still drying her eyes from the laughter," he told her.

"Yes, it was rather amusing. Michael laughed his socks off when he saw it and he'd love them to come on his show. Is there anyway we could contact them to discuss it?"

"I don't know if they would agree to it, they are very private people."

"I remember, you told Michael that when you were on his show. However, I think if we assured them of our integrity and carefully scrutinised the questions, we may be able to convince them."

"Well, I can certainly set up a meeting for you, but I can't guarantee that they will speak to you. Come to my office at Torchwood tomorrow morning and I'll introduce you."

"That would be marvellous. Thank you very much Mr Tyler, I'll see you at nine in the morning."

"Morning people," Andy said to the assemble Blue Watch in the Operations room. "A quiet night last night, with nothing to hand over from Black Watch. I think we would all like to say a big thank you to the Smiths, for an excellent operation to apprehend the Caxtarid fugitive, and some really entertaining news footage."

The Watch cheered and applauded as Andy clicked the remote and the news footage played again on the large media screen. John hid his face in his hands.

"I didn't know the cameras were on," he groaned.

"Okay, quiet down," Andy chuckled. "On the plus side Doc, Director Tyler is very pleased with the PR coverage. The President has already phoned to express her pleasure."

He moved on to Rose's fight with the Commander, the video of which John had uploaded from the TARDIS. Blue Watch whistled and cheered again.

"Now what was this Wife? You could have finished this fight much earlier and without taking so much damage," Andy said with a stern face.

"Sorry Captain. In my defence though, he was alien and had no external genitalia. I had to adapt my tactics."

"Mmm, alright I'll give you that one. Watch and learn lads, a creative use of gymnastics here." They saw Rose drop into the splits and all the men winced in sympathy.

"But this finishing kick…." he started as Rose jumped in.

"I've got no excuse for that one Captain. That was just showin' off," she admitted.

His stern face broke into a wide grin. "Was a beautifully executed finishing move on an opponent who was already defeated. I haven't seen a fight like that since I was in a bar in Singapore."

He clicked the remote. "Now onto the Caxtarid situation."

Andy handed over to Jack. "Yesterday, I did some work on the satellite data and spotted the Jathaa delivering the stolen samples to the Sunglider using a shimmer to cover their movements."

The images of Jack's investigation were displayed on the screen. "When they left Wimbledon, the Sunglider made a stop off in Scotland before heading out into space. I contacted Torchwood Two to see if they could follow up on the Sungliders movements."

Jack handed back to Andy "We had a call from Northern Constabulary in Inverness yesterday afternoon. Archie McTavish at Torchwood Two gave them Jack's information and they found Linda Thomas sheltering in a church in the village of Timontoul."

Andy turned to John for the next part. "Doc, we need your help finding that Jathaa Sunglider and recovering those samples so that they can be destroyed."

"I'll use the TARDIS to see which way they went and catch up with them," John said.

"Good, take a team with you just in case they get a bit skittish."

Andy clicked the remote again. "Ace and Giant, it's your turn for a day at the seaside. An unusual object has been washed up on the beach at Lowestoft in Suffolk. Army Ordnance have asked us to have a look at it. Take a Mobile Investigation Unit and check it out."

Andy ended the briefing and the team dispersed. John and Rose got ready to head back home with Jack, Gwen, Jake and Julia to collect the TARDIS and head after the Sunglider. They were in the Standby Room when Rose's phone rang.

"Hi Dad, what's up?" she asked. John watched her face as she listened to Pete and then she looked at John opened mouthed.

"Okay Dad, we'll be right up." She ended the call and smiled at John. "There's a production assistant from the BBC in his office. She wants us to guest on Parkinson!"

A young blonde lady in a smart suit sat in one of the chairs in front of Pete's desk. She stood and offered her hand as the pair entered.

"Good morning, I'm Christine Faulkner," she announced with a friendly smile. Rose and John shook her hand as they said hello and everyone sat down.

"I'll get straight to the point as Director Tyler has told me you are still on shift," she started.

"Your popularity in the tabloids and the gossip magazines seems to indicate that the public have fallen in love with you, and the incident at Leicester Square yesterday reinforced this view. We feel that the tabloids don't do you justice though. They are just looking for scandal and titillation. Our show would like to show the 'real' you and satisfy the public's curiosity." She smiled at them confidently.

Rose looked at Pete. "What do you think Dad?"

"It's up to you and John," he said leaning back in his chair.

"Like I've said before, the profilers in Psychology downstairs reckon that if the public knew all about you, the tabloids won't be so eager to pester you."

Rose looked at John. "Well?"

John looked first at Rose, who had a look of uncertainty, and then at Ms. Faulkner, who was looking at him expectantly.

"We are very private people Miss Faulkner, we never wanted to be famous or have recognition for what we do," he told her.

"I understand that Dr. Smith, and Michael is very sympathetic to your desire for privacy, but a Nobel Peace Prize winner and recipients of the George Cross are very interesting to the public."

She reached into her briefcase. "I have put together a number of topics based on our standard interview template. You are free to add or remove whatever you wish and then we could meet with Michael and discuss a final draft for the show. What do you say?"

John took the paperwork and looked at Rose. "I don't suppose it would hurt to look over the topics."

"Oh, and one other thing," Christine said. "We may be able to get another husband and wife interview on the show with you."

John and Rose both looked at her and raised their eyebrows in question.

"Angelina and Brad are still in town after the film premier and have agreed to guest on the show."

Pete stood up and walked around his desk. "I'll call HR and get you copies of the public information. One of the secretaries can take you down there now."

Christine shook hands with everyone and left with Pete's secretary. Pete put his arms around both of them.

"You two had better read all that information as well, you'll need to be word perfect," he chuckled.

"We haven't agreed to do it yet," John said.


The Torchwood team entered the TARDIS and dropped their holdalls by the jump seats.

"I still get a kick out of this ship every time I come in here," Julia said looking around.

"So what's the plan Doc?" Jack asked as they gathered around the console.

"Well, we're going to do something a bit naughty, but if we keep radio silence and don't interact with the timeline we should be okay."

Jack nodded, he knew what he was going to do. "You're going to go back three days and watch the Jathaa, aren't you?"

"Not me; Rose. C'mon Love, time to show off what you can do."

Rose had a huge smile on her face. She loved flying the TARDIS. She activated the door lock mechanism and selected the 3-dimensional spatial coordinates that would put them in a geostationary orbit above London, with the temporal coordinates set for 50 hours in the past.

"We're going to be watching the Jathaa as it was when it was parked on Wimbledon Common," Rose explained to Jake, Gwen and Julia. "So there will be earlier versions of you down there, which will be fine as long as you don't interact with them."

She powered up the atom accelerator, released the time rotor handbrake, and activated the inertial dampers.

"So we are actually travelling through time?" Gwen said in wide eyed wonder.

"In a weird way you already are, because the TARDIS hasn't even been built yet," John said.

Rose engaged the harmonic generator, released the locking down mechanism and pulled the engine release lever. She looked up and grinned as she waggled her eyebrows just like her husband did.

Finally, she activated the materialise/dematerialise function, and gradually increased the space-time throttle as the time rotor started to pump up and down, taking them into the vortex.

"Okay, now we materialise in orbit." She gradually decreased the space-time throttle and activated the harmonic generator to stop the TARDIS from drifting as it materialized. She activated the materialise/dematerialise function again and the time rotor stopped.

John activated the view screen and zoomed in on Wimbledon Common. They could see the Jathaa ship with police and bystanders moving around.

"It's like watching the video replay," Julia said. "But it's actually happening now."

"Oh, here we are, look at this," John said. He zoomed in until you could make out the police officers numbers on their lapels.

"Oh my God, it's me and Jack," Gwen said as she saw them walking to the ship.

"Yeah," Jack said. "It won't be long now before they take off. Anyone want a cup of tea while we wait?"

They sat in the jump seats drinking tea and chatting when the Sunglider started to move.

"Ooh, here we go," John said. He walked over and manipulated the viewing controls to follow the ship.

"There's Linda Thomas," Jake said as they saw her being left in a field on the outskirts of the village.

"Right Rose, you're on again," John said. Rose stood at the console and adjusted the 3-dimensional spatial coordinates and 'flew' the TARDIS to follow the Sunglider.

"Oh this is great," she said. "I've not flown her through space before."

"Really?" Julia asked. "You can't tell. You're a natural."

John came beside her and looked at the console. "Anything else you can do to make it easier?"

Rose looked over the controls and heard the TARDIS singing to her, encouraging her.

"Ah, because we're in 3-dimensional space, I can set the TARDIS to track the ship and she'll follow it on her own," she said with a proud smile.

"Good girl." john kissed her on the cheek as she set the tracking device.

"Toast anyone?" John asked as he made his way to the kitchen.

They sat at the kitchen counter, spreading marmalade on some toast and drinking orange juice. The display screen was showing the Sunglider as it travelled ahead of them, scan data showing nothing ahead of them in the near distance.

"This could take a while," John said as he finished his toast. "So I think we should cheat."

They went back to the control room and John stood with Rose at the console. "What we're going to do is jump through space along this course to just inside the limit of the scanner's range until we find something."

Rose gave him an excited smile. "Okay, let's give it a go then."

The TARDIS dematerialised from behind the Sunglider and materialised light years ahead of it. The scanner showed nothing ahead, so Rose jumped the TARDIS again.

This time, there was something behind them. It was big, quite close and heading away from them in the direction of the Jathaa.

"Now this looks promising," John said. "Get us a bit closer Love so I can have a look."

The time rotor pumped up and down as the TARDIS zoomed through 3-Dimensional space. Within minutes, a large spaceship filled the screen.

"Uh-oh. That's not good," John said.

"What is it John? Who are they?" Rose asked.

"That's a Chelonian Battle Cruiser. We don't want to be messing with them. Rose, take us back to the Jathaa."

"What's the problem Doc?" Jack asked as Rose fired up the TARDIS.

"Do you remember the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? The comic books, the cartoon and the movies?" John asked them.

"Oh I remember them," Julia said smiling. "Named after Italian painters and ate a lot of pizza."

"Right. So that's what they look like, but they're three feet tall and more like Adult Cybernetic Alien Tortoises." He stopped and looked thoughtful.

"Doesn't quite scan the same, does it? Any-hoo, they're a war-like race from the planet Chelonia who are hermaphroditic and lay eggs."

"You said they're cyborgs?" Jack said.

"Yeah. Some of their cybernetic enhancements include X-ray vision and improved hearing. Unfortunately, they consider humans to be parasites and often try to eliminate them, which I think explains their interest in the zombie bug."

"And if the get their hands on it?" Jake asked.

"Well firstly, their ship isn't called a battle cruiser for nothing. And secondly, as I said, they're about three feet tall, which means that the rooms and corridors on the ship have low ceilings. That would put us at a distinct disadvantage in any operation to recover the samples, not to mention the strain on your legs and back having to crouch down."

"So we get the samples from the more amenable Jathaa instead," Gwen suggested.

"Exactly," John said.

"There's only one problem with that John," Rose observed. "The TARDIS is taller than the inside of the Sunglider."

"Standing up maybe, but watch and learn Wife. Watch and learn," he said mysteriously as he operated the controls with his usual energetic flourish. The time rotor stopped pumping and he turned to face his crew.

"Now, when I open the doors, you may experience some nausea similar to motion sickness."

He walked down the ramp and opened the usual left hand door (or right hand door looking from the outside).

He wasn't kidding!

They appeared to be 'parked' against the left hand wall of the Sunglider Bridge. The weird thing was, the Jathaa were standing on the wall with their bodies pointing to the right. It just didn't look right.

"Be careful when you exit the TARDIS, gravity out there is at 90 degrees to the gravity in here. It can make you dizzy like that party game where you put your head on a broom handle and spin around."

"Okay. Thanks for the warning Doc," Jack said.

"Face the door and lean against it, you can then roll out onto your back and sit up or kneel. Don't try to stand straight away or you might fall over. Your human bodies aren't designed for multipoint centres of gravity like Gallifreyan's are."

"I'll go first," Jack said. "They've seen me before, Then Jake, Rose and Doc. Gwen and Julia can bring up the rear. Everyone ready? Let's go."

If the crew of the TARDIS thought they had it bad, the crew of the Sunglider had it worse. A long, wooden blue box had slowly appeared on the flight deck, with a flashing light at one end.

The crew backed away from it in fear, this did not look good. Then, a lower panel opened inwards to reveal soldiers in black uniforms standing sideways. The Captain stooped down to get a better look inside, and immediately wished he hadn't. He saw a room that was far too big for the wooden box that was holding it.

One of the soldiers rolled across the panel, onto the flight deck and rose into a kneeling crouch with a weapon pointed right at him. Another soldier did the same and took the same stance by his side.

A blonde, female soldier leapt elegantly from the box, rolled across the floor and sprang to her feet with her gun aimed and ready to fire. The two kneeling soldiers looked up at her with what the Captain presumed was amazement.

"What?" she asked innocently, as she glanced down at them.

A tall, thin soldier with spiky hair rolled out, sprang to his feet and then sprang onto his bottom. He muttered something about inferior human physiology.

"Time Lord brain in a Chiswick Temp's body! Isn't that just splendid. It's like putting a Formula One engine in a Model T Ford," he complained. The blonde gave a single 'tut' and rolled her eyes.

Jack stood and walked forwards. "Hello Captain, remember me?"

"What? The man from Torchwood! But how?"

"You might want to ask why," John said as he recovered his equilibrium and stood up. "We've been watching you Captain, and we know what you've been up to."

Jack described his findings. "We know one of your crew took the place of a laboratory technician. We know they took four phials of a deadly pathogen that could destroy all human life on the planet. They were in a canister about so big." Jack showed the size with his hands.

"Deadly? We were told it was a formula for prolonging life tenfold," the Captain said.

"Yeah, the Chelonians would say that, wouldn't they," John said.

"We know that your crew member morphed into a police officer to cross the cordon. We know, to your credit that you dropped the lab technician off safe and sound before heading out into space," Jack finished.

"Our mission is to retrieve the pathogen and destroy it by any means possible, even if it means the destruction of this vessel," john said.

"NO! No, please. Lieutenant, fetch the canister from the safe. It is not what we were told it was. Please believe me, we meant no ill intent, we are just couriers."

The Lieutenant brought the canister and held it out for his Captain.

"Let these people take it and dispose of it. I will be no part of a conspiracy to commit genocide."

At the mention of genocide, Rose noticed that John went pale and looked nauseous. She walked over and took his hand in hers.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked him.

He wiped his hand down his face and breathed out. "Yeah. It's just the mention of genocide, it sort of brought it all back."

"But it wasn't like you had a choice or anythin', was it?" Rose said gripping his arm. "Not unless you call lettin' all the civilisations in the universe be destroyed, a choice? Because I believe in you, and I know you would never let that happen. So c'mon, let's get this stuff into the TARDIS and destroy it."

John smiled at her and kissed her on the cheek, his morbid mood vanishing as quickly as it had arrived. As long as Rose believed in him, he could live with himself.

"Jack, hold the fort here while we go and verify the contents of the canister and destroy it would you?"

"Sure thing Doc."

They watched them roll into the TARDIS and heard a muffled 'oof' from John as he fell over again.

"This is getting embarrassing," they heard him mutter. "Bloody Model T human body."

A few minutes later, John and Rose rolled out of the TARDIS and sat crossed legged on the floor. He was nothing if not a quick learner.

"Well, that's done," he announced. "All the pathogen is now destroyed, so we can leave you to get on your way. I'd change course if I were you, the Chelonians are heading your way and I don't think they'll be too happy when they find out we've destroyed the samples."

"Helm, set a course for home," the Captain ordered.

The TARDIS crew walked back to the doors and sat down in preparation for entering their ship when an insistent beeping came from a control console.

"Captain, it appears we are too late. There is a large vessel approaching dead ahead."

The TARDIS crew stood and walked over to the console with the Captain.

"Put it on the screen Lieutenant," the Captain ordered. A view of the Chelonian Battle Cruiser could be seen bearing down on them.

"Captain, let me speak to them. I'd like to try and resolve this peacefully," John said.

"Open a channel to the Chelonians," the Captain said and nodded to John.

"Chelonian Battle Cruiser. I'm the Doctor, and I'm here as a representative of the planet Earth."

A face appeared on the screen that looked very much like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, minus the eye mask.

"Doctor who?" the Chelonian asked.

"Just the Doctor. I know what you were trying to acquire, and I can tell you that I have destroyed it."

"Destroyed it! What gives you the right to interfere in our business dealings?" the Chelonian Captain asked angrily.

"I am a defender of the Earth, and that gives me every right to stop a xenophobic sociopath like you. There is nothing for you here now, so turn around and go home."

"We will not be ordered about by a troop of pathetic apes."

"I'm warning you Captain, be careful. You only get one chance. Now turn around and GO HOME."

"Hah! A Jathaa Sunglider is no match for this ship. If there is nothing here for us, then we will sterilize the area and be on our way. Tactical Officer! Prepare forward disruptors."

"Captain, they are powering up their weapons," the Lieutenant said.

On the bridge of the Chelonian Battle Cruiser, the tactical officer acquired the Sunglider target on his screen. Tactical data on size, composition, course and velocity were displayed alongside the computerised image.

"I WARNED YOU!" the spiky haired human shouted on the view screen.

"The disruptors are charged and ready to fire Sir."

The Captain looked from the view screen to the officer.

"Destroy them," he said without preamble.

A beam of intense white light emerged from the front of the Battle Cruiser and hit the Sunglider. A ball of white light expanded outwards, flaring on the view screen. When the glare died down, all that was left of the Sunglider was tumbling fragments of debris, like the embers of an impressive firework.