Sorry, it's taken so long for me to upload this.
Enjoy.
A New TARDIS, at last.
Buccaneer?
Why did this Time Lord call him that, but Clegg quickly guessed from the look of recognition on the other Time Lords' face that the pair of them were acquainted with, and that meant the other and he had met before? But Clegg had to admit the title 'Buccaneer' suited him better - he had considered calling himself 'the Doctor', but he had to admit 'Buccaneer' was a lot more exciting. It had a bit more panache that the name 'Doctor' lacked.
Clegg nodded, filing the name away for the future, and he followed the other Time Lord into his TARDIS, but he didn't dare let his guard down. The moment he stepped over the dimensional threshold, he looked around the console room.
Unlike the TARDIS he had waiting for him in London, which the latest top of the line model, this TARDIS was much much older. A lot older. Clegg could tell this TARDIS was well travelled like the Time Lord was. The console room was massive and fairly roomy with the walls made entirely from wood, while there were columns made from a gleaming marble that supported the ceiling, and the room was dotted with tables, chairs and shelves crammed full of books, Bric a brac and pieces of art from various times and places. The console itself featured the traditional hexagonal shape, but the controls looked fairly low tech, but Clegg knew what each control did even if this console was missing some of the features he himself was familiar with modern day TARDISes. One of the most interesting things in the console room was the stuffed alligator suspended from the ceiling between two columns. That was unexpected.
"Interesting decor," Clegg commented as he looked around, studying the TARDIS; the jewels, scrolls shoved into bookshelves and wall racks and cupboards crammed with all kinds of stuff. It was like being in the presence of a hoarder with a dimensionally transcendental living space.
The other Time Lord sent him a sharp look. "You know, that is the first time you have ever commented about the Desktop of my TARDIS," he said conversationally. A thought was entering his mind about the reasons why his old associate was suddenly interested in the decor of his ship, when in the past he had always believed the Buccaneer had seen it before, and as a result wasn't really impressed. "Often during our business arrangement you just ignore the decorations, but this is the first time you have taken any notice."
Kicking himself for saying the wrong word when it had occurred to him already that he and this other Time Lord had met each other in his future but in the other's past, Clegg licked his lip as he tried to work out the appropriate thing to say. He was prepared to attack the other Time Lord in case he didn't co-operate, and after recent events, since the betrayal of his crew he didn't care anymore about things like fair play just to get back to the TARDIS he had waiting for him in London, but the other Time Lord chuckled to himself. "I always wondered how you were able to find me, and make the business arrangement sound appealing," he said to himself, "but now I think I understand. You knew me when we first met, but you don't seem to recognise me at all."
The old Time Lord laughed suddenly. "I have gone back in your timeline," he cheered as if it was the funniest thing he had ever heard as he figured it out for himself, but Clegg didn't say a word in case his jeopardised so much. "What happened, you're usually very careful? You may as well tell me."
"Alright," Clegg told him, "but first tell me who you are. You've got me at a disadvantage."
"Ain't that the truth?" The Time Lord replied satirically. "I am known as Astrolabus."
That name certainly struck a chord with Clegg. "Why are you here?"
"I've been coming to this little world for centuries. It has so many things, things I need to claim as my reward."
"Reward? What reward?" Clegg asked him curiously.
Astrolabus speared him with a look. "For helping our fellow Time Lords break free and explore the cosmos."
Clegg looked around the control room of the TARDIS thoughtfully before he finally recognised the name. "Astrolabus. The thief of time," he whispered, looking at the ancient Time Lord with recognition. "You pioneered the exploration efforts of the Time Lords, made us use our time travel ships to actually get out into the universe. But you wanted more than simple accolades. You wanted to plunder the pasts of thousands of worlds. You began by stealing the Book of the Old Time."
"It was a reward, Buccaneer," the old Time Lord retorted sharply to his infinitely younger counterpart before heading for the TARDIS controls, but he accepted the younger Time Lord's statement with grace, and more than a little pride about what he had spent his lifetimes doing.
"Anyway, we're not so different - you and I; both Time Lords, both adventurers, both piratical thieves."
Clegg had to accept the old Time Lord had a point there even if he had never actually stolen something as precious as the Book of the Old Time. "True enough," he said before looking around. "I have to admit, you've got an enormous amount here."
Astrolabus nodded proudly. He had been plundering and exploring the universe out of kleptomaniac greed for thousands of years now, claiming his 'reward' as he saw it for charting time's meridians and freeing Gallifrey from the bonds of the present. But when he did plunder the past…. his TARDIS had massive rooms containing his collections, and he would often admire them. But as he grew ever closer to his next regeneration, Astrolabus was hoping his next body was young and strong, much like the Buccaneer's current incarnation. He knew the younger Time Lord had regenerated - he could see it.
But as he looked at the other Time Lord - Astrolabus had encountered other Time Lords over the centuries of course, never once saying hello to them though whenever he had wanted to, he would reach out with his mind and touch theirs ever so slightly - he was delighted at the chance to have a chat, especially with the Buccaneer, even if this Buccaneer was not like the ones he had encountered before. It was a risk of course - making enough psychic contact with the Time Lords he'd encountered distantly over the years while back on Gallifrey the others were content to sit and watch, but he had not spoken to another of his kind for centuries. The Buccaneer didn't really count, of course.
But even when he encountered this particular Time Lord whenever the two of them met up and agreed to plunder ships and worlds for their treasures, their relationship was all business.
Maybe-.
"Yes, yes indeed," Astrolabus proclaimed proudly with a wide grin, gesturing at some of the things scattered around the room as though he and his guest were at an auction house seeing what was for sale. "Some of these items go back thousands of years, but tell me something - how is it you need my help?" he finished and sat in a very old and worn out armchair.
Clegg began to speak. He told Astrolabus about arriving on the planet, describing how he and the other Time Lord had been exploring the local culture before the mugging, and how his partner had been murdered. He described how he himself had been critically injured and how, in order to escape his attackers, he had leapt onto the back of a coach and had regenerated on the road.
Astrolabus listened silently as his old partner and ally and accomplice described how suffering from post-regenerative confusion he had wound up being press-ganged into service onboard a naval warship. The old Time Lord listened without much surprise at how Clegg had led a mutiny onboard the ship, but when the younger Time Lord noticed his reaction, Astrolabus said, "Naval mutinies are commonplace in this time period."
Clegg described his earlier exploits as the captain of the pirate ship, Seal. He described the frustration he had felt with the primitive technology he had been forced to work with, and Astrolabus couldn't blame him. Finally, Clegg described the second mutiny his crew had taken part in - with him being the general target after a string of bad luck until he had managed to escape.
When Clegg was finished Astrolabus looked at him with a certain admiration. "Now you need me to help you return to your TARDIS, am I right?"
"Yes," Clegg replied.
"Tell me the coordinates," Astrolabus ordered, moving towards the console and preparing to input the controls into the directional unit. Clegg stepped closer towards him, keeping an eye on both of his hands, telling him the coordinates of the TARDIS. Finally, Astrolabus engaged the drive units and the TARDIS dematerialised.
Clegg closed his eyes as he felt his senses hit by the timelessness of the Time Vortex. It had been years since he had been outside normal time and space, and it felt wonderful. The distance was a short one, and Astrolabus went over to the keyboard where the chameleon circuit was programmed by manual via machine code. He studied the computer for a moment, and then he punched in new instructions. Finally, Astrolabus's TARDIS materialised in London, and the older Time Lord checked the readings on the scanner, then he grunted in satisfaction. "We've arrived," he proclaimed grandly.
Clegg checked the readings and the view on the scanner screen. It had been a long time since he had been to London, and he had problems with the geography of the city still. Worse, thanks to the regeneration he had gone through, his mind had been shaken up, but he knew that he was in the right place where the TARDIS was located, he had spent a while triangulating the coordinates thanks to the key.
"Thank you," Clegg said to Astrolabus.
"You are welcome," Astrolabus replied. "I must admit, I am surprised that I have helped you, a younger version of my most frequent partner."
Clegg wished he would stop talking about this future - he still had no real idea about this so-called future he was meant to have with this man. Astrolabus pressed the control on the console and the doors opened. "I shall look forward to meeting you again, Buccaneer, until next time…."
Clegg bowed his head and poked his head out through the doors to make sure he was in the right point of space-time, using the TARDIS key to be sure, and he nodded in satisfaction after a moment when he was sure the TARDIS was here.
But he wasn't expecting a hand to shove him out of the TARDIS. "Ooomph!" he groaned as he landed on the cobbled ground.
"Beam me up, Scotty!" Astrolabus shouted, "DIVE, DIVE, DIVE! Sorry Buccaneer, but I've got places to go, places to plunder!"
Bemused by the gibberish being spouted from Astrolabus's mouth, Clegg glared at the TARDIS door as the mad Time Lord left Earth, promising himself to get him back for that. He picked himself up before looking around in case that gang which had attacked him the last time he'd been in this filthy city were lurking around, but if they were then he would be ready for them - he had come too far to be brought down by a bunch of humans.
Walking away from the landing point Astrolabus had brought him too - Clegg wondered more about this partnership the pair of them would be having, but until they met again he wouldn't care, but he would still get the old bastard back for pushing him out of his TARDIS like that, but for now all Clegg wanted to do was escape this hostile century, and begin his travels through time and space.
And resume his life as a pirate. Clegg paused in his tracks as he thought about the name Astrolabus had given him. Buccaneer. It was quite catchy, he thought to himself, more exciting than Clegg, or the Doctor come to that.
Yes, he thought to himself, that name does sound right, though I don't like the idea of a self-fulfilling paradox - Astrolabus telling me about the name instead of leaving the choice up to me. There's nothing I can do. I know there isn't.
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Inside his TARDIS, Astrolabus was rushing madly around the console to set the controls for the next adventure. He knew he had just placed a self-fulfilling paradox into the timeline of the Buccaneer, but if his future partner was going to meet him in the future then he would need to have the right name.
His mind may be fogging - a sure sign he was getting old in his current incarnation, but Astrolabus remembered the first meeting he had with the Buccaneer very well indeed. He knew the Time Lord pirate had been travelling through time and space for a long time by the time they'd met each other, knew that the Buccaneer had garnered a very big reputation for himself as a pirate.
The two of them had not hit it off well at first, but that was natural. Astrolabus was older, more experienced than the Buccaneer, but the younger Time Lord was sure of himself and had only expended one regeneration whereas Astrolabus was in his eleventh life (he had been careless during his sixth, seventh and eighth lives - he had been very careless and he had gotten into a lot of trouble before his ninth self-had only come about because his eighth had made a truly terrible mistake that deeply affected him through the regeneration), and he was experienced as a pirate himself.
But he had seen the Buccaneer in action, and he knew that it would only take a few centuries before the other Time Lord reached his level (or so he thought), but he would reach it.
The Buccaneer….. sometimes that Time Lord reminded him of the Corsair, but while some of the Corsair's incarnations always varied like other Time Lords, the Corsair had been proficient every time Astrolabus had seen him in action.
In the end, after a number of clashes, the two had reached an agreement to plunder together, but it didn't always work out the way others would expect, but Astrolabus had never imagined that the reason the Buccaneer knew him so well was that they had met further into the older Time Lord's timeline. It went against the law that stated you were meant to meet each other in a linear progression, but while it was annoying there was nothing Astrolabus could do about it.
Soon, in a roundabout way, Astrolabus, the first true Time Lord, would meet the Buccaneer.
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After the final echoes of the outdated dimensional stabilisers of Astrolabus' TARDIS faded away leaving him once more in London where it had all begun a lifetime ago, the Buccaneer headed for the TARDIS that he had arrived in many years ago with Annar, but unlike the last time when he had approached this world with wide eyes, and a complete lack of caution, he knew better now. He had spent too long at sea, either seeing the brutality of humans, seeing how they fought with primitive projectile weapons, or the way they murdered people for their possessions.
But he was wiser and older now; granted, by Time Lord standards he had not spent too long in his current incarnation, but that was a formality in his mind.
Ever since he had learnt for himself that the Time Lords had agreed with the "observation mission" he and Annar had been sent on, he had been worried that his people would simply come to snatch the TARDIS away, but it just surprised him that they hadn't bothered. He had been checking the TARDIS was still on Earth and strangely enough, it was, but the Buccaneer was only relieved. He had spent more than enough time in this hostile century and he just wanted to leave. Oh, he knew that with the right knowledge and the right technology, he could have effortlessly built a more primitive time machine like a vortex manipulator, and he could have used that to return to Gallifrey to steal a TARDIS of his own, but it would have taken hundreds of years for Earth to even come close to the type of technology he would need to make one.
As he walked through the streets, the Buccaneer was unsurprised by the lack of actual change to the city as he reached the TARDIS at last, and he was relieved that the humans hadn't touched it, though they wouldn't have been able too. The outer shell of the ship was disguised as a door set in a wall, but the perception filter had been turned quite high when the Buccaneer and Annar had first arrived to stop the humans from touching it.
The Buccaneer opened the door after a brief touch on the surface. When he entered the TARDIS, he found that nothing had changed in the console room. Carefully, he headed for the controls on the console and checked the displays. Hmm, he thought to himself, the TARDIS hadn't been touched by anyone or anything.
That was the problem with the Time Lords - they were so good at dispensing judgment on someone, but they completely failed to make sure they covered every loose end. The Buccaneer headed to the controls and after closing the door, he shielded the ship and set the navigational system to a random destination and engaged the drive units.
With a wheezing groaning sound, the door leading into the TARDIS dematerialised vanished from Earth completely. The Buccaneer checked the systems of the ship. Everything seemed to be working perfectly, but the Buccaneer was more pleased with the fact he now had a TARDIS.
Everywhere was open to him, now he could plunder wherever and whenever he liked.
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The End.