Chapter 2 – Funeral For A Friend
Nearly three weeks had passed since The Doctor's death and Clara had been trying her best to keep herself busy. Honouring The Doctor's last request, the TARDIS had taken them to Dormentos, the fifth planet of the Abraxia system. The planet was primitive, not even a Class 1 planet according to the Shadow Proclamation's definition. This would be the last place anyone would look for any remains of a Time Lord. It had taken her several hours but Clara dragged the funeral pyre to the edge of the forest before setting the remains on fire. She sat cross legged and watched as the smoke rose high into crystal blue sky, keeping a silent vigil beside her best friend. Several hours passed before the fire burned itself out and even then, Clara stayed rooted in the same position. She didn't want to move, the second she did then everyone would be over, her adventures in time and space, her relationship with The Doctor, everything.
Eventually the sun began to set, forcing Clara to retreat back to the TARDIS. With a heavy heart she flipped the control level, sending her back to the twenty first century. After collecting her personal belongings, she lingered for a few minutes in the console room. She wanted to burn this moment into her memory because it would be the last time she would be inside the TARDIS. Finally she stepped outside and the doors closed behind her. The time rotor lurched into life and the old ship disappeared to begin her final journey.
Clara was surprised to see that she had been returned to Earth on Boxing Day, the day after she had left for Trenzalore. She had printed out a list of The Doctor's former companions from the TARDIS, complete with their last know contact details. She was a little disappointed to see that the list hadn't been kept up to date but then again, The Doctor wasn't one for revisiting his past. Contacting everyone on the list kept her mind occupied and provided good therapy for the school teacher. After calling the first few names on the list, she found it less difficult to talk about The Doctor's death. She almost forced herself to focus on the good times rather than his passing.
She put a call into Kate Stewart at UNIT who found a secure venue to host a memorial service for the Time Lord. The venue was in North London, a city that The Doctor had almost made his second home. A large hall had been decorated with different images of The Doctor's various incarnations. Clara smiled to herself as the group shared stories of their time with The Doctor. Some had travelled with him for years, others had only met him a handful of times.
Clara recognised some familiar faces, the current head of UNIT Kate Stewart and her assistant Osgood. The pair were standing in a small group of other UNIT affiliated people, namely the retired Sergeant Benton and Captain Yates. A couple of others that Clara recognised from the TARDIS' databanks were Liz Shaw and Jo Grant, or Jo Jones now that she was married. Over near a portrait of the Seventh Doctor was the familiar frizzy hair of Melanie Bush. A few greys were sneaking in but her hair was still as vibrant as ever.
Some former companions couldn't make it, Tegan Jovanka sent her apologies but she wasn't available that day plus it was a long journey from Australia. Neither could one of The Doctor's first companions, Ian Chesterton, as he had a hospital appointment today. Everyone else was either in a different time period, off world or physically unable to be there.
As Clara sipped at a glass of white wine, someone tapped her shoulder. She was an older brunette in her mid fifties, "You must be Clara Oswald", she said and held out her hand, "Sarah Jane Smith".
"Oh wow", Clara shook her hand in return, "I can't believe this, I've heard a lot about you".
"Really?" Sarah Jane raised an eyebrow, "that would be a first for The Doctor". He paused and sighed, "He wasn't someone who liked to look back over his past".
Clara nodded in agreement, "Yeah I got that", she pulled out her phone and showed Sarah Jane the list of names she had retrieved from the TARDIS, "but you were a regular contact on his list so I did a little bit of research. Very impressive, running an alien hunting operation from your attic".
Sarah Jane gave the younger woman a little smile, "You remind me myself about thirty years ago". Her gaze fell on a couple of pictures, a white haired man with a velvet coat and a curly haired man with a multi-coloured scarf, "I travelled with both of them", she pointed them out to Clara, "two completely different men but I loved them both equally". She gazed at the ground and bit her lip, "He was such a big part of my life and I can't believe that he's gone".
"You're not the only one", a male voice said from behind the two women. They turned around and saw a handsome dark haired man dressed in a vintage blue Air Force coat, "Nice to meet you again Sarah Jane Smith", he grinned, "I just wish it was under better circumstances".
"Me too Jack", Sarah Jane replied, "Clara, I'd like you to meet-".
"Allow me", Jack took hold of Clara's hand and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles, "Captain Jack Harkness and you must be the lovely host of this party".
Sarah Jane slapped him lightly on the arm, "Jack", she drew his name out in a cautionary tone.
Jack's face fell slightly, "He used to do that", he sighed, "in that exact tone as well".
Clara slowly pulled her hand away from Jack and looked awkwardly between him and Sarah Jane. She waited for a few moments, not wanted to intrude on the private mourning moment. Eventually she coughed, bringing the attention of the pair back to the present, "Yes, I am the host, Clara Oswald", she began, "I travelled with the him", the brunette sighed, "I was the last one". Her eyes began to moisten slightly, saying it again suddenly made it all seem so final.
"Was it at least peaceful?" Sarah Jane asked.
"As peaceful as it could be", Clara replied, "he fought to defend a small town on a planet called Trenzalore. He fought for hundreds of years until old age finally caught up with him and he slipped away peacefully. He knew he was out of regenerations, he could've run but he stayed until the very end".
"Yeah that sounds like our Doc", Jack sighed. Another awkward silence descended on the pair until Jack spoke again, "Perhaps you should say a few words", he prompted Clara.
"Oh, I'm not sure about that", Clara waived him away.
"Nonsense, you're the one who brought us together", Jack placed two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly, "hey a little quiet for our hostess".
"Thank you Jack", Clara muttered and that drew an apologetic smile from Sarah Jane. The brunette swallowed deeply as several pairs of eyes turned in her direction. She took a few moments and began, "Thank you for coming out today, I'm sure if The Doctor were here, he would be touched to see so many people here for him".
A murmur of agreement rolled around the group as Clara took a couple more seconds to compose herself, "I might not have known The Doctor as long as some of you", she glanced briefly at Sarah Jane, "but I knew him well enough to know that he was the bravest, kindest person that I met, both human and alien".
"Normally most aliens were trying to kill us", someone joked from the back of the room, drawing a small chuckle from the group. Clara remembered him as Mickey Smith from earlier introductions.
"True", Clara smiled briefly before turning more sombre, "sorry I'm not very good at speeches", she paused again, "The Doctor put a lot into this planet, if we do a fraction of what he did to then we'll be doing one hell of job". There was silence before a quiet round of applause broke out. Clara brushed her hair behind her ear to cover her embarrassment, "I guess that's it, thank you once again", she added.
"Short but sweet", Jack patted her on the shoulder, "a little like-".
He was about to say something else but Clara cut him off, "Perhaps we'll leave that there", she smiled, "The Doctor warned me about you".
"Spoil all my fun", Jack sulked. Just then he spotted someone else near a picture of the First Doctor, someone he hadn't seen before. It was a woman with long raven black hair, approximately in her mid thirties. She was wearing in a black cocktail dress that skimmed her knees and had teamed it with a matching pair of black heels. The mystery woman was gazing at the picture before moving slowly, almost methodically onto the image of the Second Doctor, "Ever seen her before?" Jack asked.
"Nope, don't remember inviting her", Clara shook her head, "although I've spoken with so many people in the last few weeks I could've done". Clara observed the woman, maybe it was some kind of intuition but she wasn't getting any negative vibes from her. Her body language suggested that she was in mourning as well.
"Something doesn't feel right", Jack began, "maybe someone should talk to her".
"I'll do it", Clara interjected, "if I think she needs investigating further, I'll let you know".
Clara quickly weaved through the crowd until she caught up with the woman. She was inspecting a picture of the Sixth Doctor very carefully, "It took a brave man to pull off that kind of coat", she commented.
"Like an explosion in a paint factory", the woman replied with an upper class British accent, "not one of his prouder moments".
The woman still hadn't turned around but Clara took a few moments to consider her initial comments. The accent sounded like it had come straight out of the nineteenth century and there was a familiarity to the way she spoke about The Doctor. Something wasn't added up so she decided to push further, "Did you know The Doctor well?" she asked.
"Not as well as I would've liked", the dark haired woman stated with a small amount of hurt in her voice. She finally turned around and gave Clara a tight smile, "You must be Clara Oswald", the woman offered her hand and Clara reluctantly shook it. Her skin was cool to the touch and her dark brown eyes appeared to be analysing the young school teacher.
"Yeah that's me", Clara replied slowly, "so did you travel with this Doctor?" she pointed at the blonde haired Sixth Doctor.
"Fortunately not", the stranger began, "he was a bit too loud for my taste".
Clara vaguely registered the sound of a mobile phone ringing but she pushed it out of her mind and focused on the raven haired woman in front of her. She was good at deflecting her questions and getting a straight answer out of her was providing to be difficult, "You're being evasive", she replied, "just who are you?"
The woman laughed softly, "You'll find out soon enough", she pointed her head in the direction of Kate Stewart who was talking on her phone, "you might want to pay attention to that".
Clara looked towards the blonde haired head of UNIT, she had a deep frown on her head. Whoever she was speaking to was giving her some bad news. The look of apprehension from the woman was radiating out to her UNIT colleagues who were hovering near their leader. "Do you know some-", Clara spun around to address the woman but she had disappeared.
She didn't get long to dwell on this as Kate hung up from her call and addressed the group, "Everyone listen up, I've just received word that an alien fleet is heading here".
If this was any other group of people they would've begun to panic but they weren't. Instead everyone was ready to help if necessary, "Who is it", Sarah Jane asked, "Daleks?"
"Sontarans?" Martha added.
"Cybermen?" Captain Jack stated.
"Don't tell me it's Zygons", Harry Sullivan sighed, "they must've heard about the gas I developed".
"It's all of them", Kate sighed, "and many more. It looks like they're aware that The Doctor is gone and are seizing the opportunity to invade".
"It's like Trenzalore all over again", Clara gasped, "all of them attacked the planet at some point. But that was several centuries in the future, how could they know to attack here and now?"
"All good questions for another time", Kate replied, "Doctor Jones, Captain Harkness come with me", she then turned to Clara, "you had better come too Miss Oswald, you've experienced this before".
"Yeah thanks for reminding me", she sighed, it was a combination of these aliens that had cost The Doctor his life.
"What about us?" Mel called out, "what can we do to help?"
Kate thought about this for a few moments, "I suppose it would be redundant of me to ask you to leave this to UNIT?" The defiant looks from several people gave her the answer, "Fine, Sergeant Benton, Captain Yates you're in charge of everyone else, please keep them safe".
"The car's ready to go", Osgood called out from the doorway.
"Good, you three, with me", Kate added and led Martha, Clara and Jack out of the building. An invading Armada of alien ships and no Doctor to help them, this was going to be a tricky one for his old companions.
TO BE CONTINUED
A/N - Thank you for the comments one the opening chapter and to those who've followed this story. The action should pick up from now as the invaders arrives.
As you might've guessed we've just gotten our first glimpse of the new Doctor. I've based her appearance on Jaime Murray (Warehouse 13, Hustle - UK series etc). Ever since she appeared as HG Wells in Warehouse 13, I thought she would make a good choice for a female Doctor. The picture in the story image is taken from Warehouse 13 and the moment I saw that, I knew it would be the perfect outfit for a lady Doctor. Next time, The Doctor makes her dramatic comeback.