I.
Qoud Invenitur
What is found
"You be you and I'll be me, today and today and today, and let's trust the future to tomorrow. Let the stars keep track of us. Let us ride our own orbits and trust that they will meet. May our reunion be not a finding but a sweet collision of destinies!"
― Jerry Spinelli, Love, Stargirl
"Eh? What are you doing?" the Doctor looks up with a frown as the TARDIS suddenly shudders. A moment later he rushes into the console room, a deep hum vibrating under his hands as he reaches the controls.
"Oh, now-Orion! Orion, I said!" he moves around the console, flicking the zig-zag plotter and then pulling over the monitor. "There, now. What were you-" he is pitched back against the guard rail as the ship rolls again. The Time Lord straightens himself out, smoothing his lapels as the deep thump announces their arrival. He marches for the doors, turning to scowl and wag a finger before stepping out.
"You…why you contrary…" he mutters, gazing at the city below him. It is Orion, but two hundred years earlier than when he had wanted.
He suddenly pauses then, one foot in the TARDIS and one out. For a moment, there was-he frowns. Just for a moment he felt...something.
"What have you found for me this time, Old Girl?" he murmurs. He whirls in place to pull the doors shut, then revolves again. These adventures she dropped him in were always the best. Beaming, the Doctor strides off down the hill.
"I'm looking for parts for my ship-a new Thermo cooler." Jenny approaches the desk. The person behind it has very large, dark eyes and cobalt skin. The face is quite human, but sharp cheekbones and pointed ears. The first 'alien' Jenny saw was a red-scaled Salaman woman on Trika, and nearly started a row with her partner when he saw her stares of astonished horror.
"What model?" a distinctly male voice asks. He looks up with a smile of pointed teeth.
"Xeno 568."
"Origin?"
"Messaline."
"Messaline? Long way from home then. Travelling around?"
"Yeah…I'm taking a post here, actually." Suddenly remembering that she has no currency as she watches him pull out the parts list.
"Right-you have a grade One, Two, or Three. Three is the best, but it requires a bit more know-how and maintenance every so often, but it will last you."
"One is fine, thanks…eh, do you take concessions?"
"..I do," he says a bit more warily "But it depends on time period, amounts-"
"I'll pay it back as soon as I can-I'll get monthly pay from my posting, so.."
"Monthly should be alright-but I need character references."
"What?"
"People to vouch for you-you are who say you are, reliable, pay your debts…"
"But why-I mean-" she corrects herself "I don't know anyone, I've just arrived-"
He huffs "Don't have to be here-anyone who knows you well; friends, family, colleagues. Let's say by the start of Vanirl."
"When?"
"3 weeks time…it's the Siddian calendar-you ever been to the west Arm at all before, girl? He frowns at her.
"Travelling, like you said. Could you point me to the Barracks?"
"And what previous military service experience do you have?" Colonel Rabdin looks at her across the desk. Jenny left the Shuttle depot realizing that it would have been far better to go to barracks first and make sure she was actually going to be getting a monthly pay from her posting-and now here she was, being interviewed by Colonel Rabdin, one of the few human-looking people she has seen so far.
"I received my training on Messaline, sir and served for two years. Then I travelled to Trika and served with their Civil Guard for 6 months." She really hopes he doesn't ask for details of her 'training'. All her military knowledge she has is thanks to the Machine. When she had tried to explain this on Yihran, a small planet she went to after Trika, hearing of prospects for a posting, everyone reacted with disbelief. When she proved it, they told her to leave, looking decidedly uneasy.
"I see…And how old are you?"
"….Nineteen, sir." Jenny lies. On Trika, she was refused when she said she was seventeen, and then was eventually accepted when half a squadron suddenly vanished on patrol. She then discovered seventeen was considered very young on this human colony, and that the legal age of adulthood was nineteen.
"Service age was seventeen on Messaline?" he looks at her a little harder.
"Well, eighteen sir, but my whole family was involved in one or another, and I was inducted as the youngest recruit."
"I see. Last name?"
"Cobb." It was the first name that had popped into her head on Trika, and she can hardly use 'Doctor'.
"Well, you seem sharp enough and you have received good training. I'll give you a preliminary posting for two weeks. Prove yourself, and you stay."
"Yes Sir. Thank you."
"Dismissed. You'll be shown to your quarters. Present yourself to me at 800 hours tomorrow."
Jenny salutes him and leaves, unable to stop herself grinning as she walks away.
Colonel Rabdin nods to her as he leaves his office and Jenny falls into step beside him as they go down the corridor. The barracks is large and sprawling, made of a pale yellow stone. The wooden doors are reinforced with metal and the windows are protected by grating. Conflicts here in the past, Jenny thinks. She shares her small matchbox room with two other female soldiers. One has ridged cheekbones and black eyes, and is beautiful in a distinctly dangerous sort of way. The other is blue skinned with pale hair.
"We have over three hundred active soldiers on duty currently. You will be posted at Fradden Gate, near the outskirts of the city, eight miles East of here, with five others."
"Seems like a lot of people for a gate. Is there hostility at the location?"
Rabdin turns to glare at her and Jenny realizes she spoke aloud.
"I'm sorry sir, I'm not questioning your orders-I didn't mean to speak out of place-"
"See that you don't, " he growls "and watch your tongue, you seem clever enough to be able to think before you speak-anymore of that and you are dismissed. This isn't your family gathering on Messaline. Understood, Cadet Cobb?" he barks, and Jenny snaps her heels together in reflex.
"Yes sir." She tells him sharply, kicking herself for not being more careful.
"Good." They have a reached a large, open parade ground. An idling truck and soldier stand to their left. "Ibron will see you to your post. Report back here in seven days." The colonel nods to both soldiers sharply as they salute him and turns on his heel.
"Hello….what's this then…?" the Doctor's deep set green eyes sharpen, and he takes the sonic screwdriver from his pocket. The buzz resonates strangely in the vast empty space he is stood in; an old warehouse, closely resembling an Earth submarine bunker built by humans during one of their many wars. He spotted it because it was on a hill, and while this didn't seem out of the ordinary, assuming it to be important or a place of worship, when he reached it he discovered that there were guards and wire and keep out signs. A flash of the psychic paper and he found that inside, it was empty except for broken packing cases in a corner and a creaking, rusty elevator. On five of the six floors he got out and investigated, all were empty.
Now he is down on the bottom floor. The air smells like acid and metal; the building has been reinforced with steel the deeper he has gone and the sonic vibrations rebound off the surfaces, echoing around him, and the readings inform him the soil is acidic due to a natural mineral.
"ooh…" he makes a hum of delighted curiosity and holds the sonic close to his face as he reads it.
"Vibrations…" he hums, and holding the sonic before him, sets off in a bent walk. The entire length must have been at least half a football field, he realizes, impressed. He comes to a far dark corner.
"Aha!" there is another elevator shaft, lit by a dim red bulb. The Doctor notices that the lift is in the same condition as all the others, but there is black electronic pad with a red light, requiring some sort of electrical scan or key. "A remote activation….?" He aims the sonic and the door slides open. He steps in, eyes taking in each detail, and descends into musty darkness. Unlike the others, he notices, this lift works smoothly and more quietly, as if oiled or frequently used.
The green pinprick from the sonic the only light. He can feel vibrations himself now, through the soles of his boots. There is a deep, churning roar coming from somewhere.
Stepping out, he moves towards the noise. "Deeper base vibrations should…ooh-" he aims the sonic towards the source of the sound, and the noise is amplified.
"That's a heck of a piece of machinery.." he mutters, as the grinding of pistons and mechanics becomes clearer.
Eeeeeee-An alarm suddenly splits the silence, shatteringly loud.
"-oh." Says the Doctor. He turns, and there is a guard coming towards him. They don't have their weapons armed, but they don't seem pleased either.
"Sir, I'll have to escort you out." It's the commanding officer he duped at the entrance. He has to lean in and yell to make himself heard.
"Oh-not to worry, I was just making sure that your alarm is functioning properly!" the Doctor says cheerily in a shout, due to the obvious functioning of said alarm. Behind his back, he touches a switch on the sonic, and the alarm shuts off.
"Marvelous, all in perfect working order. I will still need to inform your…the head of-" his is interrupted.
"-All the same, sir. You shouldn't be down on here, we require advance notice, to accompany any personnel."
"Now listen, I'm the –"
"This way, now, please." And the soldier shifts his gun pointedly in his grip.
"So, how long have you been posted here?" Jenny asks Ibron as she switches her Compact Pradiz gun to the other shoulder. It's a good weapon, lightweight carbonic alloy, very durable, firing twenty three millimeter rounds a second.
"A year."
"What is this location?"
He glances at her sideways. "Fradden Gate." He says slowly, as if she is stupid.
"I know, but why post five soldiers? It doesn't seem hostile."
"Mind your work." He frowns at her and moves away.
Jenny looks after him, wondering why everyone seems reluctant to disclose information. She is standing at the bottom of hill, in one of a number of sentry boxes. There is a large, imposing stone building on the hill and wire fencing all around creates a sort of compound. The only entrance appears to be a broad road curving away from where she is stood. Everything points to high security measures, yet she has seen nothing in the six days she has been here. The sky is deepening and the sun sinking as she looks out.
"Swapping to Nights soon." Ibron tells her, as he returns from a patrol of the perimeter.
"Yeah. I can-" she is cut off by the sound of engines and a moment later a heavily armoured truck appears around the bend.
"Open the gate!" a faint shout drifts up as Ibron and another soldier hurry down down the steps from the wall to the gate house. The shadows of armed men are faintly silhouetted in the yellow wash of headlights as the darkness gathers. As Jenny watches, two hop out of the truck and stand facing the dark beyond the floodlights. A moment later, three people suddenly barrel into the light. They pull up short, then are joined by three more, until there is a large crowd. They are holding posters and billboards and yells of anger begin rising. More movement to Jenny's left, and three of her fellow sentries go clattering down the watch tower steps. She watches them re-emerge a few moments later at the bottom and run tape out, cutting off the protesters from the gate, just outside the circle of light, then stand with their weapons drawn.
"It's called the Invicxia Project."
"What?" Jenny turns as Ibron comes up beside her. It's well after midnight, and they are on the pre-dawn Night watch.
"This, Fradden Gate, it's the entrance to Invicxia Headquarters. It's a mining project, for Creimand, a valuable mineral. They started about a year ago, everyone was trying to stop it happening, but…" he sighs and knocks his fist against the railing.
'Why?"
"They come in, extract everything without care for the environment or local people and infrastructure and then leave. And usually the town is just…left, because everyone moves out when a company like this comes in, it causes so much friction."
"But what about jobs? I mean, you're here."
"Yeah, not like most of these people have a choice though, is it? after this, I don't know what job I'll be able to find. Most people are bribed to co operate, turn a blind eye to unlawful things, and then most people don't care, because they profit."
"That's awful."
"See that building? That's not actually HQ, it's just to keep the protestors away. That's why they have us here, to make it look important. But there's nothing there, it's just a decoy."
"What? But they can't do that!"
He laughs mirthlessly "Oh, they so can."
"-They can't-People should know! I'm going to tell the Colonel, and-"
"No! No, Jenny, you can't tell anyone! Didn't you sign that contract?"
"Yeah, so? They're lying-"
"We're not allowed. If you tell anyone, they'll Court Marshall you and probably execute you."
"What?" Jenny stares at him.
"The Government is corrupt, has been for years. There was already unrest but this project has tipped it over the edge. If you go against the Project, you're going against your Government, and that's treason." He nearly sounds like he's reciting it.
"But they can't execute people!"
"They can," Irbron says darkly, then more quietly, "they have."