Cold War- Part 1

The Doctor was running around the counsel of the Tardis while Clara and I walked into the control room. Clara was in a blue silver evening dress with silver high heels while I was in a smoky red dress, with thin straps that went over my shoulders, that seemed to shimmer in the light and a light black shawl draped over my shoulder and black flats. My hair was pulled back into a single, thick, braid.

"Ready for Vegas?" Clara asked me, smiling.

It was a bit more than a month after Akhaten. During that month, I had continuing nightmares about the sun god that we faced. In those dreams things didn't… go well for us and I would always wake up with a sweat. Thankfully I seemed to be having the dreams less. The Doctor had no idea about the nightmares and I wanted to keep it that way.

"Hell yeah." I replied, smiling back, "Drinking and gambling. What could be better?"

"You'd better not say that in front of your mother, Amelia Rose. You're not twenty-one yet." The Doctor called to us from the other side of the room.

Clara looked at me, "You're not twenty-one? How old are you?"

"Seventeen." I replied, "In The Doctor's eyes, I'm still a time-tot."

"You're a Time Lord as well?" Clara asked me.

"Well, part Time Lord and part human. It's very complicated and since my Dad is immortal, I have no idea what I actually am."

Clara's mouth dropped open, "You're father's immortal?"

I sighed, "Yeah. I didn't find out until I was fifteen. Let me tell you, I was not happy at finding out the way I did."

"What happened?" Clara asked as the Tardis landed.

I shrugged as The Doctor walked to the Tardis door, "You know, the usual. Being kidnapped by Daleks and then hurled at a planet full of prisoners." I speed walked over to The Doctor.

"The who?" Clara called after me and ran to catch up, her heels clicking on the floor.

"Viva Las Vegas!" The Doctor cried, spreading his arms out dramatically. When I stepped out next to him, I concluded instantly that it was NOT Vegas. It looked like a very tight control room. People in uniforms were staring at us. Water filled up about to ankle hight.

The room suddenly gives a lurch and The Doctor, Clara, who had only just gotten here, and I go flying across the room. I twisted and turned, landing as my Mom had taught me and stood up fast.

"Stranger on the bridge!" Yelled someone.

"Who the hell are you?" Another soldier asked.

Clara sighed, "Not Vegas, then."

The Doctor stands up and rings his hands together, excitedly, "No. No, this is much better."

"A sinking submarine?" Clara asked, glaring at The Doctor.

The Doctor smiles, "A sinking Soviet submarine!"

"Break out side arms. Restrain them!" The person in charge yelled.

"Four ten. Four twenty." A person shouted out, looking at an instrument, "Turbines still not responding!"

"They've got to." The person in charge said.

The Doctor has the sonic screwdriver switched on. "Ah! Sideways momentum. You've still got sideways momentum!"

"What?"

"Your propellers work independently of the main turbines. You can't stop her going down but you can manoeuvre the sub laterally. Do it!" The Doctor yelled.

"Get these people off the bridge now!" A person yells.

"Just listen to him, for god's sake!" I yelled. "Please!"

"Geographical anomaly to starboard. Probably an underwater ridge." The Doctor said.

The leader glares at The Doctor, "How do you know this?"

The Doctor glares back, "Look, we have just a chance to stop the descent if we settle on it. Do it!"

"Six hundred metres. Sir, six ten!"

"Or this thing is going to implode." The Doctor says.

"Lateral thrust to starboard, all propellers." The leader says.

"Sir?"

"Now!"

"You're going to let this madman give the orders?"

"Lateral thrust!"

"Aye, sir! Six sixty, six eighty." The sub hits the ridge just in time, "Descent arrested at seven hundred metres."

"It seems we owe you our lives, whoever you are." The person in command said.

"I'll hold you to that." The Doctor says, "Might come in handy."

"Search them. Yes, I know." Another man says. When nobody moves, "Yes, it's women! Now search them!"

"Are we going to be okay?" Clara asked as three people came up and started patting us down while I stood silently.

"Oh, yes." The Doctor says.

"Is that a lie?"

"Possibly. Very dangerous time, Clara. East and West standing on the brink of nuclear oblivion." The Doctor has a Barbie doll in a pocket. And a ball of string, "Lots of itchy fingers on the button."

"Isn't it always like that?" Clara asks.

"Sort of, but there are flash points and this is one. Hair, shoulder pads, nukes. It's the Eighties. Everything's bigger. I would like a receipt, please."

The sonic screwdriver is handed to the leader. "What is this?"

The submarine shakes, and I lost my footing and I stumbled away from The Doctor, trying to keep upright.

"Lia!"

"Doctor!" I yelled back.

"Lia!"

The Tardis dematerialises. The Doctor runs to where the Tardis used to be, "No! No, no, no, no, no, no. No, not now!"

I fell over into the foot of water on the control room floor, hitting my head on the way down.

I drifted in and out of conscious.

After some time, I slowly woke up to find myself resting my head on Clara's lap as she sat in the water, watching The Doctor be interrogated. I found that someone had put a uniform jacket around my shoulders.

I groaned and Clara whispered, "Oh thank the stars you're awake!" She helped me sit up, "The Captain, Captain Zhukov, has been interrogating The Doctor for over an hour. That's Professor Grisenko, the one over there," Clara pointed to a man, out of uniform, wearing a grey hat over his head and earphones hanging around his neck.

"Captain, we didn't attack of your ship out here. Now we need to get the pumps working to get her afloat." The Doctor says as Captain Zhukov grabs his shirt and pushes him into the wall.

"Yeah, we'll last till the rescue ship comes." Captain Zhukov says.

"If it comes."

"Oh, the sinking is just a coincidence, is it? Who are you?" Zhukov yells.

Clara helps me stand

"All right, Captain, all right. You know what? Just this once, no dissembling, no psychic paper, no pretending to be an Earth Ambassador. "Doctor, me, Clara and Amelia Harkness, time travellers. Lia, you okay?"

I rubbed my head. I think I felt a headache come on, "Think so." I responded.

"Time travellers?" The Captain said suspiciously, not believing him.

"We arrived here out of thin air." The Doctor points to Professor Grisenko, "You just saw it happen."

Grisenko shakes his head and says fast, "No I didn't."

"Your problem, mate, not mine."

"We were sinking." I said.

"Yes."

"What happened?"

"We sank."

"No, what happened to the Tardis, I mean."

"Never mind that. Listen. Captain, breath's precious down here. Let's not waste it, eh?" The Doctor said.

Captain Zhukov stepped back, "You're right. Maybe I can save a little oxygen by having you both shot!"

"What does it matter how we arrived?" I yelled at the men, "The important thing is to get-" I trailed off staring at the large stone creature, that I recognized as an Ice Warrior from school, behind The Doctor. It breathes very loudly, "out." I finished.

"Exactly!" The Doctor exclaimed, not noticing what was happening, "Number one priority, not suffocating." Zhukov spots what everyone else is staring at, too, and releases The Doctor. "Eh? Ah. Oh, thank you. Finally seeing sense. Now, what sort of state is the sub in?"

The Ice Warrior is directly behind the Doctor now. "Um, Doctor." Clara says in a small voice, staring at the alien along with the rest of the crew.

"What about the radio? Can we send a-"

"Doctor!" Clara yells, cutting The Doctor off.

"What!" The Doctor yells. The creature hisses. The Doctor looks around everywhere exept for behind him, "What is that? Gas? Could be gas." Then he turns around and looks up at the Warrior, "Ah. It never rains but it pours."

Professor Grisenko stepped forward, "We were drilling for oil in the ice. I thought I'd found a mammoth."

"It's not a mammoth."

"No."

"What is it, then?" Clara asked.

"It's an Ice Warrior." I said, staring at it in awe. We only had pictures in school. The teachers had taught us of the Ice Warriors as legends.

"It's an Ice Warrior." The Doctor said, a second behind me. He glanced back at me, "Lia?"

"School." I said. "Though only as legends.

"You're correct. The Ice Warrior is a native of the planet Mars. And we go way back. Way back." The Doctor said, staring at the Warrior as if he couldn't believe he was seeing one again.

The Captain scoffed, "A Martian? You can't be serious."

"I'm always serious. With days off."

"Doctor." Clara says.

"Just keeping it light, Clara. They're scared."

"They're scared? I'm scared." Clara hissed.

Stepashin points his pistol at the Ice Warrior, who raises his weapon arm and powers up.

The Doctor blocks him, "No, no, no, no, no, no! Please, please. Wait, just. There is no need for this. Just hear me out. You're confused, disorientated. Of course you are. You've been lying dormant in the ice for, for, for how long? How long, Professor?"

"By my reckoning, five thousand years."

"Five thousand years? That's a hell of a nap. Can't blame you if you've got out of the wrong side of bed. Look, nobody here wants to hurt you." He pushes Stepashin's gun down, "Please, just. Why don't you tell us your name?"

"What are you talking about? It has a name?" The Captain asks.

"Of course it has a name. And a rank. This is a soldier, and it deserves our respect." The Doctor says.

"This is madness." Zhukov says, looking around wildly at his crew, "That is a monster!"

"Skaldak." The Warrior says.

The Doctor froze and when he did that I held my breath. Anything that makes The Doctor scared is very, very bad, "What did you say?" The Doctor whispered.

"I am Grand Marshal Skaldak."

"Oh, no." The Doctor whispered. Then electricity plays over Skaldak's wet armour. He roars before collapsing. Stepashin has used a cattle prod on him from behind, "You idiot!" The Doctor yells at him, "You idiot. Grand Marshal Skaldak." The Doctor says, trying to calm his breathing down so he doesn't explode.

"You know him." Clara says.

"Sovereign of the Tharsisian caste. Vanquisher of the Phobos Heresy. The greatest hero the proud Martian race has ever produced."

"So what do we do now?" Zhukov asks quietly.

"Lock him up." The Doctor hisses.

The Captain's Cabin contained a large desk in the center of the room with papers scattered across it and a chair behind. Zhukov had taken out a glass of wine and was slowly sipping it while The Doctor explained to us what Ice Warriors are. Stepashin and Professor Grisenko are standing off to the side. Stepashin is leaning against the wall, arms crossed.

"The Ice Warriors have a different creed. A different code. By his own standards, Skaldak is a hero. It was said his enemies honoured him so much, they'd carve his name into their own flesh before they died."

"Oh, yeah. Very nice. He sounds lovely." Clara says sarcastically.

"An Ice Warrior?" Captain Zhukov says, taking another sip of his wine, "Explain."

"There isn't time." The Doctor says.

Zhukov narrows his eyes, "Try me."

"Martian reptile know as the Ice Warrior. When Mars turned cold they had to adapt. They're bio-mechaniod. Cyborgs. Built themselves survival armour so they could exist in the freezing cold of their home world, but a sudden increase in temperature and the armour goes haywire."

"Like with the cattle prod thing." I said.

"Like with the cattle prod thing. Bit of a design flaw. To be honest, I've always wondered why they never sorted it. Oh look, you've got me telling you about them and I said there wasn't time."

"Is he that dangerous?" I asked and swallowed.

"This one is."

Professor Grisenko puts his headphones back on.

Stepashin pushes himself off the wall and uncrossed his arms, "Why are we listening to this nonsense, Captain? These people are clearly enemy agents."

"Huh?" Clara says, her eyes widened.

"Spies, Captain."

"Pretty bad spies, mate. I don't even speak Russian." Clara says and I sighed.

Stepashin blinked, "What?"

"I don't." Clara lowers her voice and rushes over to The Doctor, "Am I speaking Russian? How come I'm speaking Russian?"

In the same quietness as Clara, The Doctor says, "Now? We have to do this now?"

"Are they speaking Russian?"

"Seriously? Now? It's the Tardis translation matrix." The Doctor hisses back to Clara.

"In my opinion, Comrade Captain, this creature is a Western weapon." Stepashin continues.

"Are they?" Clara whispers.

"Yes, they're Russians." The Doctor whispers back.

"A weapon?" Zhukov asks, looking at Stepashin.

Stepashin nodded, "Survival suit. What is the alternative? The little green man from Mars?"

"Correction. It's a big green man from Mars." Grisenko put in, taking his headphones off.

Stepashin stared at him, "I don't appreciate your levity, Professor."

"Why does that not surprise me? Maybe they're telling the truth."

"The truth?"

"Yes, a revolutionary concept, I know."

"It's essential that we inform Moscow of what we have found."

Zhukov sighed, "The radio's out of action, in case you hadn't noticed, Stepashin."

"They have our last position. They will find us. When they do-" Stepashin trailed off.

"Yes?"

"Well, the Cold War won't stay cold for ever, Captain."

"For God's sake, Stepashin, you're like a stuck record. We have other priorities right now. I want you back on repairs immediately. We need to keep this ship alive. Dismissed."

Stepashin stiffened, "Sir?"

Zhukov glares at him, "Dismissed, Stepashin." Stepashin leaves.

The Doctor runs his right hand through his hair, "All we needed to do was let Skaldak go and he'd have forgotten us. But you attacked him. You declared war. Harm one of us and you harm us all. That's the ancient Martian code." Suddenly I could hear beeping from Grisenko's headphones, "You hear that? Skaldak has sent out a distress call. He will bring down the fires of hell just for laying a glove on him."

"Unless you talk to it?" The Captain asked.

"I'm the only one who can."

Zhukov shook his head, "No. Out of the question. We're not losing you. I'll do it."

"What?" The Doctor asked, stunned.

"You can talk to it through me."

The Doctor shook his head, "Skaldak won't talk to you. You're an enemy soldier."

"And how would he know that?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "A soldier knows another soldier. He'll smell it on you. Smell it on you a mile off."

"And he wouldn't smell it on you, Doctor?"

"Just let me in there before it's too late. It can't be you or any of your men."

Zhukov crossed his arms, "Well, it can't be you."

"Ahem. Well, there really is only one choice, isn't there. I don't smell of anything, to my knowledge."

"I will go with Clara." I said, moving to stand next to her.

"You two? No! No! No way. You're both not going in there, Clara, Amelia. Absolutely not. No, no. Never."

"Amelia?" Zhukov asked, looking at me. "I thought your name was Lia."

I shrugged, "Lia's my nickname. My full name is Amelia Rose Harkness."

Clara and I slowly walked into the torpedo room, The small circular bulkhead door closes behind us. We each put on a radio headset and pick up an inspection light.

"Ready, Clara? Amelia?" I heard The Doctor say in my ear.

"Yeah." Clara breathed.

"Yes." I whispered.

"Okay."

"Grand Marshal Skaldak." Clara started.

"The salute. Do the salute like I showed you." The Doctor said.

Clara and I clenched our right fist to left shoulder.

"Okay?" Clara whispered.

"Good. Good. Now, like we rehearsed. Sovereign of the Tharsisian caste."

"Sovereign of the Tharsisian caste. By the moons, I honour the." Clara and I said together.

"Good. It's okay, Clara, Lia, go closer."

We cautiously stepped forward. "Grand Marshal, I'm, we're sorry about this." Clara said, taking the lead.

"It isn't what you deserve." Clara repeats from The Doctor. The power goes out and I tensed. "Oh. Oh, great." Clara mutters.

"Hey, it's okay, Clara. Keep going."

Clara puts down the inspection light and switches on a small torch. I do the same, "You're a long way from home. And five thousand years adrift in time. Please, let us help you. You are not our enemy."

"And yet I am in chains." Skaldak.

"Doctor, what do I say?" Clara asks, panicking.

"Yes, Doctor." Skaldak says. "What should she say?"

"I think he wants to speak to the organ grinder, not to the monkey." Grisenko says.

"I heard that." Clara whisper yells back.

"You are restrained until we can trust each other, Skaldak. You would do exactly the same in my position, and don't even think about using that sonic weapon. Not in the torpedo room."

"I was Fleet Commander of the Nix Tharsis. My daughter stood by me. It was her first taste of action. We sang the songs of the Old Times. The Songs of the Red Snow. Five thousand years. Now my daughter will be dust. Only dust." Skaldak hasn't even moved during his whole speech.

"No, no, no. Listen, your people live on Skaldak." The Doctor says, "Scattered all across the universe. And Mars will rise again, I promise you. Just let me help you."

"I require no help." Skaldak hisses. "There will be no help."

"Careful, Clara." The Doctor says as she began to step forward. I grabbed her by the arm.

"I'm okay."

"No, listen, Clara, don't get too close."

"I'm okay. Doctor, something's wrong." Clara says. My eyes widened as soon as she said that. I now saw what she saw.

"She's right. Something's wrong." I whispered.

"What?"

"Something's-" Clara reaches out and touches the helmet and it hinges backwards.

"Shit." I cursed and started looking around the Torpedo room, my eyes wide, looking for Skaldak, "It's not there. It's gone!" The armour opens from the middle outward. It was empty.