Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. I do not own any of it, nor do I get paid for it.

A/N Thanks for the response to the last chapter. We crossed 300 reviews to this story. Thank you so much for that.

Here is Part 3 of the story and we see the base crew and our team TARDIS implementing defensive strategies.

Happy Reading!

Terror on Marquessa: The Ultimatum

Previously

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."

Thirteen hours later…

"How are we doing?" asked the Captain as he entered the medbay.

Rory looked up from the equipment. "Fine so far," he nodded. "Any word from the others?"

The Captain sighed. "No," he answered. "Where's Bentley?"

"I told him to take a nap," said Rory, rubbing his own eyes tiredly. "Roll up your sleeve please, Captain." The Captain nodded and did as he was told. Rory checked the syringe and carefully injected it into his arm. "That's all done."

"Should keep me going another twelve hours," nodded the Captain as he rolled his sleeve back and stood up. "Thank you, Rory."

"Anytime," he said, giving him a quick smile.

The Captain nodded and left, already trying to get through to Callie via his communicator. Rory picked up his own and pressed the switch. "Hey, it's me," he said.

"How's it going in there?" asked Amy, sounding cheerful despite the underlying tension.

"Quiet," said Rory. "I'm hoping it stays that way. Only Anne to look after." He glanced towards where Anne was hooked to the machines, after suffering from a praxis gas poisoning due to the smoke bomb that had been dropped through the planet's atmosphere. "How're you doing?"

"Alright," she said. "It's been quiet here. Vena and I haven't had a lot to do. The perimeter of the base is still secure and there hasn't been a second attack from the Ice Warriors yet."

"Have the Doctor or Rose been in touch yet?" he asked.

"No," she said. "Not since we lost communication three hours ago. Did the Captain have news?"

"No," said Rory, feeling like a broken record. "He was trying to get to Callie…but I don't think he had luck."

Amy sighed. "Yeah, I figured," she said. "Fred and Yuri are still watching the skies but it seems the ship is just hovering in the airzone. They can blast us apart quicker than you could believe but they are just waiting."

"For what?" asked Rory, feeling the dread in his stomach.

"I don't know," said Amy.

"Knock-knock," said Juniper as she knocked on the open door of the medbay.

"Amy, I'll check in with you later," said Rory as he put the communicator down and stood up. "Hey, how can I help?"

"Is Bent around?" asked Juniper. "I need my shot of Prep."

"I can do that," said Rory, fetching a clean syringe and a vial of the drug. "Bentley is taking a nap. He was working on stabilising Anne for almost an hour."

Juniper nodded, distressed as she looked at Anne's prone form. "I should have gone with her to man the perimeter," she said.

"Hey, it's not your fault," said Rory, injecting the needle into her arm. "We didn't expect the ships to be here this soon."

"Ship," corrected Juniper. "Fred and Yuri have checked and double-checked. The rest of the formation is coming along at a slower pace but this ship must have entered into warp to get here so quickly."

Rory nodded as he gestured for her to roll her sleeve back down. "You will be fine for 12 more hours," he said. "If you start getting fatigued though, come see me."

"Thanks, Rory," said Juniper gratefully. "It's nice of you to help out."

"I'm a nurse. That's what I do," he shrugged.

"And is Amy a guard?" asked Juniper. "She volunteered to man the perimeter with Vena."

"Close enough," nodded Rory with a chuckle.

"So what about the Doctor and Rose? Why did they volunteer to go with Callie to the surface?" asked Juniper.

"Because that is what they do," said Rory, truthfully.

"And what exactly is that?" asked Juniper curiously.

Rory gave a melancholic smile. "Jump into the unknown without caring about themselves."

"Are the communicators still down?" Rose asked, keeping pressure on Callie's wound.

Callie nodded as she panted slightly. "Yeah," she said. She pressed the button again. "Yeo to base. Come in, please!" There was just static on the other end.

"We must be too far away, or the foliage is blocking the signal," said the Doctor. "Callie, this is going to sting just a bit."

"Aargh," she yelped as the Doctor dropped some disinfectant on her ankle wound.

"Sorry," he said sincerely. "This is the best I can do with the equipment we have."

"I know," nodded Callie, pain still evident on her features. "Damn my lack of foresight."

"You couldn't have predicted a giant tentacled plant grabbing your wrists and ankles," said Rose. "None of the crew have travelled this far from the base yet."

"Yeah, but I should have been on the lookout either way," said Callie, looking pale. "If you two hadn't cut me down as quickly as you did, I would have done a lot worse than a bleeding ankle and dislocated shoulder."

"There," said the Doctor as he finished bandaging her ankle. "Now, the shoulder."

Callie sat up straighter with Rose's help and the Doctor put one hand near the shoulder joint and held her arm with the other. "On three. 1…" He popped the joint back in place and Callie screamed a few choice words that the TARDIS didn't translate.

"I thought…" she panted. "You were going to count to three."

"Better to do it when you are not expecting it," said the Doctor, searching through his coat. He found nothing that could be fashioned into a sling, so he tore his vest off and used it cradle Callie's injured shoulder. "That should hold," he said, tying the knot behind Callie's neck.

"I can't walk though," she said. "You and Rose have to go on without me."

"We are not leaving you here," said Rose, at once.

"You have to," said Callie. "I will start making my way back to the base. It's a mostly downhill journey and I can use a branch as a walking stick."

"It's still too risky," said Rose. "What if you get hurt?"

"Look, we know that I get a comm. signal about half a mile down. I'll signal for help from there," said Callie.

The Doctor looked reluctant but knew that Callie was right. "Alright," he agreed.

"You can't be serious," said Rose, astonished.

"Rose, we have to find the point of origin if we want to activate this planet's defence systems," said the Doctor. Rose didn't look happy as she helped Callie stand. The Doctor gave Callie a sturdy branch to use as a walking stick. "Call for help as soon as you have a signal," he told her seriously.

Callie nodded. "Be careful. Both of you," she said.

"We will," said Rose with a small smile. "You be careful too."

"I'll watch out for grabby plants," she joked as she started to hobble away slowly. "See you soon."

The Doctor and Rose kept an eye on her until she got lost in the foliage and they couldn't see her anymore. "We should keep going," said the Doctor.

Rose sighed and started to climb up the path. "Are you sure it's up this hill?" she asked.

"Yes," said the Doctor. A loud whirring noise emanated from his pocket and he glanced at the core in astonishment.

"Why is that lighting up?" Rose asked.

"We must be close to the segment," he said.

"Do you think it's close to the source?" asked Rose.

"Must be," he said. "Come on."

Rose hurried after him as they both climbed the steep path through the trees. Some of the trees cleared and Rose chanced a quick look down at the valley, a decision she regretted instantly when she was hit with a feeling of vertigo.

"Whoa there," said the Doctor, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," nodded Rose. "Shouldn't have looked down. It's beautiful…but…"

"Yes, quite understandable," said the Doctor, stroking her cheek in comfort. "We must be several miles up from the sea level."

Rose chuckled weakly. "Yeah, trying not to think about that too much," she said. She looked ahead at the path and the sun glinted off something shiny. "What's that?" she asked.

The Doctor followed her gaze and saw the glint too. "Oh," he said, in a voice full of awe. "That, Rose Tyler, is the most beautiful thing in the universe."

Rose looked at him in confusion as the Doctor led her through the thick undergrowth towards the glinting object. It was a transparent sphere about the size of a basketball with golden rims around the circumference. "What is it?" she asked as the Doctor picked it up and looked at it with a look akin to reverence on his face.

"It's a globe," he said.

"I can see that," said Rose.

"No, I mean it's the most important globe there is," he said. "When new star systems are formed, Earth government drops off a handful of these around the new planets."

"What for?" asked Rose.

"Terraforming," said the Doctor with a wide grin. "Some of these globes create a land worthy of colonisation and this is what this beauty here has done."

"All this?" asked Rose, waving at the thick, lush greenery around them. "Came from that?" she asked, pointing at the small globe.

"Indeed it did," said the Doctor. "Quite a miracle it has done. The terraforming has been successful, all thanks to this."

"How does this help us now?" asked Rose.

"Not directly it doesn't," said the Doctor, setting the globe down. "But if the globe was dropped here then the origin must be close by. Hang on," he said, looking at a small clearing through the foliage. "I think there's a cave here."

"Doctor, wait," Rose called as she hurried after him. "Doctor?" There was no sign of him. "Doctor!"

Her own voice echoed back at her, as she found herself quite alone in the thick forest on the hill.

"Rory!"

Rory jerked awake and answered his communicator. "Hey, what happened?"

"Callie got in touch. She's heading back but she is injured," said Amy.

"What about the Doctor and Rose?" he asked frantically.

"They're fine. They just kept moving. Vena and I are meeting her halfway. Do you wanna come along?" she asked.

"Yeah, give me a second to pack some supplies," he said.

"Alright, meet me up front in five minutes," she said and buzzed off.

Rory took a bag and dropped essential supplies into it. He woke Bentley and told him to keep an eye on Anne and the medbay, and left to meet Amy and Vena outside the base. "Hey," he greeted. "Which way?"

"West," said Vena. "Come on."

Rory kept a brisk pace as he followed Amy and Vena through the trees and growth. This planet was fascinating. It reminded him of the Amazon, except it was slightly cooler here. He glanced at Amy and saw her lips quirked in delight, despite the grave situation that they were in. Working like this just felt so natural.

They heard a rustling through the bushes and Vena put up a hand to bring them to a stop. Amy kept her gun trained towards the bush while Vena went forward slowly and moved the shrubbery out of the way.

"Just me," said Callie, looking exhausted but not seriously injured. Nevertheless, Rory ran to her and quickly assessed her injuries with a medical scanner. "Okay, so do you want me treat you here or can you wait until we are back at the medbay?" he asked.

"Medbay will be fine," she said. "The Doctor did a good job of patching me up."

Rory nodded and slung her uninjured arm over his shoulder. "Lean on me as much as you want," he told her.

Callie looked relieved as she used Rory for support. The four of them arrived at the base and Rory immediately helped Callie into the medbay. Bentley was already waiting and between the two of them, they had Callie patched up and resting within minutes.

"Amy, Vena!" called Bentley. "When was the last time you two took Prep?"

"Ten hours ago," said Vena, and Amy nodded the same.

"I'll still give you one now," he said. "Amy, if you are more comfortable with Rory…"

"Yeah," she nodded and gave Rory a smile. He indicated the seat and Amy sat down and took off her jacket before rolling up her shirt sleeves.

"This won't hurt much," he promised as he filled up the syringe and quickly injected her. Amy winced lightly and Rory apologised quietly as he took the syringe back out. "All done."

"Thanks," smiled Amy, as she put her jacket back on. "You really miss this, don't you?" she asked in a low voice.

Rory nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I do."

Amy smiled understandingly but the moment was interrupted as it suddenly went dark outside. "What's going on?" Bentley asked, alarmed.

"Earthlingssss." A chilling, throaty voice echoed from the skies, magnified several times.

"The Ice Warriors," Vena said, looking terrified.

"You have one chanccce to ssssurender. Lower your defenccccessss and we will show merccccccy. You have until the new rotation ccccycle of thisss planet before the Ice Warriorssss will launch an offenssssive attack."

The voice went quiet and the darkness dissipated, leaving the evening sky as before. The base was deathly silent before the Captain's voice came over the PA system. "All personnel to Bridge. At once."

"What was that?" Rory asked as they hurried towards the bridge.

Amy frowned grimly. "An ultimatum. And we have until the morning to decide."

Rose had heard the ultimatum too but she was much too concerned about the Doctor right now. She couldn't understand where he had gone off to.

"Doctor!" she called again, trying to look for the cave that he said he had found.

A cold sharp claw bit into her side and Rose screamed in pain as a tall, intimidating alien came in sight. It was wearing hard, green armour and had big orange guards over its eyes.

"Come with usssss," it hissed.

A second alien grabbed her other arm with its claw like hand and pulled her through the trees. A slab of rock slid open, revealing a cave inside. Rose watched with wide eyes as she saw a second door through the cave, this one made of metal.

"Where are you taking me?" she demanded, trying to struggle but not being able to move too much without hurting herself severely.

"You are our prissssoner," hissed one of them as it touched the claw to an opening mechanism towards the door. The door opened slowly and Rose had to squint because of the bright, flashy lights of the inside of a spaceship.

"What?" Rose wondered, confused by what she was seeing.

"About sums up what I was thinking," she heard the Doctor say, from where he was being held captive. "Have you met the Ice Warriors, Rose?"

"Yeah," said Rose, trying not to grimace in pain. "Can't say I care much for their hospitality."

"Neither can I," said the Doctor.

"Sssssilenccccce," hissed one of the Ice Warriors. "Resssstrain the Earthling."

Rose tried to struggle again but the Doctor shook his head subtly as she was restrained in a chair just like the Doctor's.

"Open communication to basssssse Marquessssssa," hissed the one that was definitely the leader. "Thisssss time, we have hossstagesssss."

A/N End of Part 3. Thank you for reading.

If you are confused by the 'ssssss' sounds, have a quick look at the classic!Ice Warriors. They really did sound like that.

The next part will see them trying to defeat the Ice Warriors as well as figuring out what the hell they were doing hiding in a secret cave. It will be up soon. See you then!

~ Phoenix