Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. I do not own any of it, nor do I make any money from it.

A/N Thank you so much for your response to the last chapter. This is Part 2 of 'Terror on Marquessa' and the proper start of the new adventure.

At the end of the chapter, I have the face claims for the base crew that you will read about in the chapter.

Happy Reading!

Terror on Marquessa: Arrival

Previously

"Hey," said Rose as she came into the console room, dressed and ready. "Do we have a destination yet?"

There was a beep and the Doctor read the coordinates quickly. "Yes," he answered. "A space base named Marquessa. 47th century."

"Never heard of it," said Amy. "Where is it?"

"Milky Way, close to home," said the Doctor with a grin at Rose and Rory. "It's a sanctuary base on Nimbus Prime."

"Is that a planet?" asked Rose.

"Yes," answered the Doctor. "A sanctuary base is used for deep space exploration. The Earth government is most likely trying to determine if it is ideal for colonisation or a mineral-rich planet."

"Isn't 47th century when the Terra-Aresian Cold War took place?" asked Amy.

The Doctor nodded. "But we should be fine. It's been five years since an official truce was enacted by both governments," he said.

"Who are the Aresians?" asked Rory warily.

"Martians," answered the Doctor. "Ares was the Greek equivalent of…"

"God of war, Mars," nodded Rory. "So, little green men?" he asked, only half-joking.

"Well they are green," nodded the Doctor. "But definitely not little. Get dressed, we'll be landing soon." He flicked a lever to direct the flight of the TARDIS while Amy and Rory went inside to change.

"Why was there a Cold War between humans and Martians?" asked Rose curiously.

"The solar flares of the 29th century almost destroyed the Martian race," said the Doctor, without looking up from the controls. "They thrive in a cold environment which made Mars an ideal place for them. But after that, they clashed continually with the Earth government about the sharing of technologies. Both sides started to prepare for war, and the goal was Mutually Assured Destruction. It was only a matter of who would fire the first shot."

"And who fired it?" asked Rose.

"No one," said the Doctor, looking at her with a smile. "It was just a Cold War. Several intergalactic organisations intervened to bring about peace but it is said that a traveller sat down the contingent from Mars and calmed them down."

"A traveller?" Rose asked with a grin.

The Doctor winked at her. "Yep, absolutely anonymous. He was not acting on orders, you see. So he chose not to make his interference public," he said, his eyes twinkling mischievously. "But that was a long time ago. Quite a few lifetimes ago, as a matter of fact."

Rose shook her head, grinning madly. "Only you, Doctor," she said, amused.

"I'll remind you, Miss Tyler, that the alternative was too ghastly to contemplate," he said.

"You don't have to tell me," agreed Rose. "Only thing worse than an actual war is the fear of war. People would have been panicking."

"Economies are unstable, people are frightened and irrational. More likely to lash out," nodded the Doctor.

"It's funny that even after twenty-seven centuries, the effects of a Cold War are the same," said Rose with a sigh.

"That's because human nature is the same," said the Doctor wisely. "People may change over time but instincts are primal, and they function to survive."

"Did you just imply that all humans are primal apes?" asked Rose, raising her eyebrows.

"Well they are," he said and then smiled sheepishly at her angry glare. "It is who they are. Makes them one of the races in the universe who have always managed to surprise me. No other species is as diverse in their nature as humans."

"I think that was a compliment," said Rose, wrinkling her nose at him.

"Hey, waxing philosophical, are we?" Amy asked as she emerged into the console room. "And where's Rory?"

"Right behind you," he answered as he walked in after her. "Have we landed yet?"

"Yes, almost," said the Doctor, as he initiated the landing sequence. The TARDIS engine noises started up as it began to materialise in the new place. The Doctor pulled the handbrake and checked the scanner quickly. "Here we are," he said. "Space Base Marquessa. The year is 4672."

Rose was the closest to the door, so she opened it and stepped out into a poorly lit room. She squinted through the darkness and guessed that it was a storage room guessing from the tightly packed boxes and cargo around it.

"A bit dark, isn't it?" Amy asked as she looked over her shoulder. "Think there'll be a light switch around there."

Rose nodded and navigated her way through the boxes to the far wall. She ran her hand across it blindly and fumbled with the switch when she found it. Instantly, a bright light flooded the storage room.

"It sure is packed," whistled Rory as he walked out of the TARDIS and looked around at the large number of boxes.

"They need all of this," said Amy rationally. "Out here in deep space, you'll be lucky if one transport ship can make it every five years. And judging from this hold, it is still a small crew."

"Eight of them, to be exact," said the Doctor. He had stepped out of the TARDIS last, having been busy getting the core, but he was already studying a holographic screen on one of the walls.

Rose walked up behind him and read the names. "Captain Finley Roswell, First Officer Vena Martin, Medic Demarcus Bentley, Head of Security Calliope Yeo," she read. "Who are the other four?"

"Must be regular personnel," said Amy, having heard their conversation.

The Doctor pressed a command and the screen shifted to reveal the four other names. "Juniper Vargas, Fred Llewellyn, Anne Minton and Yuri West," he read out. "Small crew."

"And very lax on security," commented Rory. "Why hasn't anyone come running to arrest us?"

"That is a good question, Rory," said the Doctor, frowning. "Someone should have…ah…"

"What?" asked Rose.

"We are being watched," he said and pointed at a moving black sphere with a single lens as its 'eye'. "I have seen one of these before," he murmured. "Hello!" he said loudly, waving at the sphere. "Having a ball, are you?"

"Ugh, I can't believe you just said that," said Rose, making a face.

The Doctor grinned at her and back at the sphere. "Hello? Is anyone there? Or am I talking to myself? Again."

His companions shot him amused looks but they all jumped when a loud voice echoed through the room. "State your name, rank and purpose," the male voice ordered.

"Ah, Captain Roswell, I presume," said the Doctor, smiling at the camera. "I'm the Doctor and these are my companions: Rose, Rory and Amy. We were here exploring and accidentally landed our ship in your storage hold."

There was silence on the other end before Captain Roswell spoke again. "Yes, we saw it happen. Quite a trick you got there," he said, heavy sarcasm evident in his voice. "Are you armed?"

The Doctor looked at Amy who rolled her eyes and pulled out her sonic blaster. "Just me," she answered and set it down on one of the boxes, clear in the line of sight of the observers.

The storage room door slid open, the invitation clear. The Doctor grinned brightly at the sphere and started to walk out. "Come on you lot," he called, and the three humans hurried after him.

The corridor outside was lit brightly and had big glass windows along it. "Whoa," gasped Rory. "This place is beautiful."

"Beautiful and deadly," came the Captain's voice and they saw a tall, broad-shouldered man with dark skin and a grim countenance approach them slowly. "I'm Captain Roswell. The one pointing her gun at you is my head of security Calliope Yeo." The four time travellers whirled around to see a woman with dark hair and almond shaped eyes pointing a gun at them, just as the Captain had said. "Put it down, Callie," ordered the Captain.

"Aye, sir," said Callie and lowered her weapon.

"Take them to the conference room. I'll rally the troops and see you there," said the Captain.

"This way," said Callie, nodding down the corridor.

The Doctor nodded politely at the Captain and gestured to his companions to follow. Callie led them down the corridor and they were treated to a glimpse of Nimbus Prime as they walked. The planet outside was lush and green, with trees and shrubs growing on almost every surface.

"What do you think he meant when he said it was deadly?" Rory asked Rose in a low voice.

"Might be poisonous plants or something," shrugged Rose.

"Among other things," said Callie, without turning around. "Here," she added, pressing a button to slide open the door. Inside the room was a long conference table with chairs arranged around it. Four people were already inside: two men and two women. "Meet more of our team," said Callie in a bored voice. "The medic Demarcus Bentley," she pointed at the handsome curly haired man with the sharp jaw. "…this is Yuri West." The other man nodded at the visitors.

"I'm Juniper," said the younger woman with a friendly smile, before Callie could do so. "And this is Anne."

"Well, you already know who we are," said the Doctor with a smile.

"How did you get here?" asked Yuri, looking a bit suspicious. "We didn't see your ship on any of our radars until you were in the storage hold."

"I'm sure the Captain will investigate that, Yuri," said Juniper reassuringly.

"I'm just saying…" shrugged Yuri, looking more distrustful of the unexpected guests. "They could be spies. Could be Aresians."

"You think we are Martians?" Rory asked incredulously.

"Martian spies, maybe," said Yuri, narrowing his eyes.

"Pipe down with your conspiracy theories, Yuri," said the Captain as he walked in with the last two members of the crew. "My second in command, Vena Martin," the Captain introduced, indicating the pretty brunette. "…and this is Fred. He was on duty when your ship arrived."

"I checked and double checked the radar," said Fred in a thick Welsh accent. "No sign of your craft before it landed."

"Yes, the TARDIS is rather special," said the Doctor.

The Captain sighed at the non-answer. "Listen Doctor, you haven't been able to give a straight answer so far to anything we have asked. I have done the courtesy of giving you the benefit of doubt but I'm losing patience," he said squarely.

"Why the hostility?" asked Amy, narrowing her eyes. "Thought this deep into space you'd be eager for company."

"This isn't even the beginning of hostile," snapped Callie, standing up.

"Everyone calm down," said the Doctor in a quiet voice. He looked at the Captain. "You are right, we do owe you an explanation. The TARDIS is my ship and we are travellers. We are freelancers you could say. But we do not mean you harm."

The Captain stared at the Doctor for a long moment and nodded. "Fair enough," he said. "So long as you don't harm my crew or sabotage us, we should get along fine."

The Doctor smiled. "Thank you, Captain. Now, is there any chance of a tour of the base?"

"Juniper, you and Yuri show the Doctor and his friends around," ordered the Captain.

"Why can't Fred do it?" Yuri asked grumpily.

"Fred's on duty and you will not question my orders again," said the Captain firmly, fixing Yuri with a look.

Yuri nodded grumpily. On the other hand, Juniper was far happier to be showing the visitors around. "Come on, this way," she said. "We'll start with the recreation room…"

Fred Llewellyn was back at his work station. The arrival of the four visitors had come as quite a shock. The last exciting thing in the past month had been the man-eating plant that Anne had discovered on one of their trips onto the planet's surface.

Fred snorted to himself and returned to the controls. He had three more hours before he could go back to his bunk but he was positive that there would be no more incidents during his shift. A boring day as usual. He wondered if the redhead with the Doctor's crew was single. Or the blonde, for that matter.

A proximity beacon lit up, drawing Fred away from his daydreams. He pressed the button for the viewing screen and nearly screamed in surprise when he saw the blips on the radar. Several ships in a fixed formation were approaching the star system really quickly. They were still far off for a proper identification but Fred recognised the formation.

"Captain to bridge. Captain to bridge," he said quickly, flipping on the communicator.

The door slid open behind him and the Captain strode onto the bridge. "What is it, Fred?"

Fred pointed wordlessly at the screen and the Captain went still as a statue as he took in the sight. "Oh God," he murmured. "What's the ETA?"

"At this rate? A day, maybe less," said Fred.

"Sound the alert," the Captain. "Vena, we got a situation," he spoke into his communicator. "Get everyone to the bridge."

"What about the visitors?" asked Vena.

"All of them too," said the Captain. "We have an Aresian invasion on our hand."

The Doctor sighed in frustration and tucked the core back into his pocket. Nothing on the base had given off a strong signal yet. Yuri was still regarding all of them with suspicion but Juniper was friendly enough as she showed them around.

A loud alarm rang through the corridors and the Doctor looked at Juniper quizzically. "Something wrong?" he inquired politely.

Juniper took out her communicator. "Vargas to bridge. Fred, what's going on?" she asked.

"Junie, you and Yuri need to get here now. Bring the visitors," said Fred, sounding uncharacteristically tense.

"Why?" asked Yuri.

"Captain's orders," said Fred. "Hurry!"

"We better do as he says," said Juniper. "Come on, through here."

"What do you think has happened?" asked Rose.

"I don't know," said the Doctor.

"Any luck with the core?" Amy asked in a quiet voice.

"Not yet," said the Doctor. They passed an exit hatch and the core in his pocket made a faint sound.

Rory looked at the Doctor and then towards the exit hatch. "It's outside?" he asked.

"Appears so," said the Doctor with a frown.

They arrived on the bridge and all thoughts of the Key were driven from the time travellers' mind when they saw the approaching fleet. "Oh dear," murmured the Doctor.

"Who are they?" asked Rory.

"Martians, Aresians, whatever you wanna call them," said Demarcus quietly.

"Or as they call themselves," said the Doctor. "The Ice Warriors."

A/N End of Part 2. Thanks for reading.

The base under siege was a common theme back in the 2nd Doctor's era and I wanted to do one of these for a long time.

I have face claims for each of the crew member if you wanna get a visual picture. Captain Finley Roswell: Idris Elba; First Officer Vena Martin: Bellamy Young; Medic Demarcus Bentley: Adam Scott; Head of Security Calliope Yeo: Lindsay Price' Personnel - Juniper Vargas: Alexis Bledel, Fred Llewellyn: Iwan Rheon, Anne Minton: Cristin Milioti, Yuri West: Richard Madden.

Part 3 will see the base crew and the TARDIS team fight to survive against an Ice Warrior invasion. Bound to be fun. It will be up soon. See ou then!

~ Phoenix