Chapter Eighteen – Holy Macra!
"She'll be fine, Doctor," Jack said to Alex. He could see the tension in Alex's shoulders as she left the TARDIS.
"I know. He won't let anything happen to her and down there is far safer than where we're going," he replied. "Now, take one of these masks. Their whole ship is going to be flooded with toxic gas and this will give you breathable air. Macra are very strong and very dangerous, but they don't see very well, so we should be able to sneak our way through the ship and disable either the system pumping gas into the dome or knock out the whole ship if we have to."
"Sounds like a plan," Jack replied as he attached the respirator over his nose and mouth. "Not my best look, but I'm not very helpful when I'm repeatedly choking to death."
"Too right," the Doctor said as he affixed his own mask and headed for the door.
When they left the TARDIS and entered the Macra space ship, they found themselves in a corridor filled with a thick, white fog. The Doctor looked at Jack and without saying a word, they both nodded and Jack moved to follow more closely than usual. The Doctor had his sonic screwdriver out immediately to figure out which direction would take them to the engine room.
They quickly discovered that movement seemed to catch the attention of the imposing aliens and froze whenever they were in sight. This slowed them down considerably, but they eventually found the engine room and slipped into an auxiliary control room that seemed to be empty.
The panels and switches were enormous and difficult for the Doctor to reach. He studied the screens and switch labels carefully before planning his moves because considering their size and strength, every control he moved was likely to take a significant effort.
When he was relatively sure that he had found the right switches to shut off the required system, he decided that he'd have to climb on top of the control panel to get to them.
"Jack, I need you to boost me up," Alex whispered through the respirator mask.
Jack interlaced his fingers and held his hands out for Alex to step up onto the panel. Just as he was crawling up to steady himself, he felt some 'help' pushing him from behind. He shot a glare back over his shoulder at Jack, who smiled innocently. "Only trying to help!" Jack said with a smirk.
"Yeah, you can keep that kind of help to yourself, thanks. I don't think your SISTER would appreciate you feeling up her husband," Alex replied.
"Can I help it if I want to check that she isn't exaggerating in her descriptions?" Jack asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"Desc..." Alex sputtered with wide eyes. "No! No, no, no... I don't want to even hear it."
Shaking off all thoughts of what his wife was sharing with Jack about their sex life, he rushed over to the required switches and wrestled them into their new positions. They heard a shift in the hum of the engines before an alarm started to sound and several lights started flashing on the screens and controls. Alex used his sonic to short out the systems he had just shut down and stumbled over several other switches on his way to shut down some security protocols as well.
The door to the room they were in sealed shut and Jack looked towards the Doctor nervously.
"That was me," Alex told him reassuringly. "Locked us in here for now while I try to lock them out of the controls."
"What can I do, Doctor?" Jack asked, looking nervously between the large doors and the even larger panel of controls with far too many dangerously flashing lights.
"Climb up here and watch these screens for me," the Doctor said as he reached down to help him up. "If these levels here go into the orange section move this slider down, or if that system controlling the gas starts up at all, let me know. I'm trying to shut down their engines and navigation so that they can't move before we can get the authorities here."
"And which authorities would those be?" Jack asked as he adjusted one of the controls Alex had shown him.
"The government here doesn't have a military force strong enough to hold them back, but all of the moons in this system fall under the protection of the Shadow Proclamation. If we can get word to them, they should be able to get a force here fairly quickly," he said as he pushed his feet against one of the screens to shove another large switch he had braced against his shoulder. Why did the Macra have to be so big anyway?
~'I think I have things mostly shut down here for now,'~ Alex thought to his spouses. ~'When you have a minute, do you think you could get in touch with the Shadow Proclamation? Not sure I want to unlock the door before there's some help on the other side.'~
~'Just as soon as we get these fans running,'~ Evander replied.
~'Don't worry, I'm done with this part. I'll go find our friend that was here earlier to get communications going,'~ Rose added. ~'Please be careful up there!'~
~'We're fine, love. As long as I can keep Jack's hands off of my backside!'~ Alex replied, trying to lighten the mood a little.
~'Tell him those goods are taken, thank you!'~ Rose told him with a mental caress.
"Right!" Alex said as he jumped up from wrestling with switches. "I've just spoken to the other two. They are working on getting the air cleared down there and Rose is going to find someone official to set up communications with the Shadow Proclamation. Until then, we just need to hold down the fort and keep them from doing anything nasty. Oh, and stay alive... that would be helpful too. Incidentally, Rose says that my goods are taken, so hands off," he added with a wink.
"How in the world you managed to get enough air for that ramble while breathing through these stupid things is beyond me," Jack said as he shook his head.
They kept a careful watch on the screens in front of them for any sign that the Macra were reversing their efforts, but everything stayed ominously static. It also seemed like the Macra hadn't discovered their location yet. They should have been able to scan for intruders, but there were no obvious attempts to open the door.
"Does all this seem a little too easy?" Alex asked Jack after 22 minutes of inactivity. "They can't be so stupid as to not know what we've done or be able to find us. This is boring," Alex added, frustratedly jumping off of the control panel to the floor.
"Ugh! You had to go and say that, didn't you?" Jack asked and threw his hands into the air. "It wasn't hard enough getting this far that you want to ask for more trouble now that it's fixed?"
Alex had landed on the floor in a crouch and hadn't moved since. Jack watched his back as his shoulders tensed and he started to tremble slightly.
"Doctor? What is it, what's wrong?" Jack questioned nervously.
"C-can't ... fff... fffloor," he forced out in a choked stutter.
Jack glanced between the Time Lord and the floor as he came to a terrifying realization. The Macra WERE trying to do something to them this whole time. Based on Alex's reactions, he guessed that they had electrified the floor. That would freeze all of his muscles from moving since electrical impulses were what controlled them. He was likely only alive now because of his superior biology. But how the hell was Jack going to help him?
"Oh my god! What do I do, Doctor? I don't know what to do!" Jack exclaimed as he started tugging on his hair in frustration of his brain not coming up with a solution fast enough.
"T-t-t-teleport," Alex finally spit out with obvious strain.
"Right!" Jack agreed as his brain latched onto what Alex was suggesting. He immediately used his vortex manipulator to lock onto the TARDIS and hopefully materialize them inside it. Then, braced himself for what would likely be painful and difficult. He leapt off of the console to land on top of Alex and as he wrapped his arms tightly around him, grabbed the manipulator tightly so that his spasming muscles would make him push the button.
In a flash of blinding light, they both collapsed onto the floor of the TARDIS console room. Gasping for air, Jack ripped the respirator mask off of his face, then reached over to do the same for Alex. The Doctor's breathing was fast and shallow as he tried to shake off the electrocution that would definitely have killed Jack, had he experienced it for longer than the second that it took to get them out of there.
Alex could feel the panicked concern that was coming from his spouses, but he couldn't quite focus on the questions they were asking. He couldn't even quite focus on what Jack was saying right next to him. Was Jack saying something? Then everything went black.
Jack was definitely out of his depth now. He had an unconscious Doctor lying on the floor of the TARDIS and he could feel how upset Rose was about THAT situation, but he had no way of contacting Rose and Evander, and he definitely couldn't fly the TARDIS himself. He had helped fly it several times, but never solo and usually with significant direction.
He had his vortex manipulator though and Alex would be safe inside the TARDIS. He quickly used the manipulator to scan for Time Lord bio-signs on the planet below and locked onto them. With a flash of light and a few gasping breaths, Jack suddenly found himself in the trembling arms of Rose.
"What happened?! Where's Alex?" she asked as she pulled back to see Jack's face. She was obviously terrified for her husband.
"He's on the TARDIS where it's safe, but I couldn't fly it. So, I came to get one of you," Jack explained hurriedly.
Rose grabbed his hand and pulled him along behind her as she ran back to where she left Evander. Jack stumbled after her, still a little shaken from the shock he had received in his rescue and having teleported twice quite recently. It did still take a moment to reorient himself after that, even though he'd been doing it for centuries.
When Evander saw the two of them enter the room, he immediately went into interrogation mode. "What happened? Where's Alex? Why is he unconscious?" he asked as he clenched his fists and glared at Jack menacingly.
"Ok, both of you, calm down," Jack said as he met the eyes of each of his friends. "We were standing on top of the control panel because they were really big. It was the only way to reach everything. Alex had shut everything down and we were just waiting for it all to be over. He got bored and I guess, decided that he needed to move around a bit, so he jumped down onto the floor, but they'd done something to it. He couldn't move; could barely force himself to talk. So I set my vortex manipulator to get us to the TARDIS and jumped on top of him to get us out of there. He's in the TARDIS right now, but he passed out almost as soon as we got there."
Evander quickly turned to Rose; she could handle this crisis while he took care of Alex. "Darling, I need to go make sure that he's alright. The program is already running on the environmental controls and you are more than capable of explaining things to the Shadow Proclamation if they need help with it. Jack, I'll need you on the TARDIS to monitor that the Macra don't get their systems back up and running," he explained as he held her hands tightly, running his thumbs back and forth across her soft skin in an effort to calm himself as well as Rose.
Rose nervously nodded in agreement with the Doctor's decisions on how to handle this, but she desperately wanted to be with them. It made sense for Evander to be the one to go. She would never know what needed to be done to help Alex and she still couldn't fly the TARDIS solo. She could, however, handle this planet's crisis on her own, as long as she could manage to keep her head in the game. She wrapped her arms around Evander's neck and kissed him passionately before pressing her forehead to his and silently wrapping them both in a blanket of love and confidence.
Jack had already set his manipulator to return from where he had just left. Rose nodded to each of them as the Doctor placed his hand on the vortex manipulator and in a flash, they were gone. Rose allowed herself a moment and crumpled into a nearby chair, letting her tears fall. Her worry for Alex was almost overwhelming.
She could feel Evander sending her some reassurance through their bond, but he was focussed on what he needed to do, and reassurance wasn't exactly this incarnation's strong suit. She was used to being the one that needed rescuing. She was sure of herself and her own capabilities, but the last time that she had needed to rescue him had been in an alternate universe where he had died.
Rose took a deep breath to calm herself. Alex would be fine. Evander and the TARDIS were looking after him. She had a job to do, and he would be fine. She wiped the tears from her face, took another breath to centre her thoughts, and after a quick glance at the environmental systems, walked back towards the communications room with all the confidence she could muster.
The instant they materialized inside the console room, Evander dove to Alex's side. He quickly checked his pulse and breathing before doing anything else. Jumping back to his feet with an agility unexpected from his physical appearance, he ran to the monitor and set up a scan of the Macra ship's systems. They couldn't control them from here, but they could see what was active.
"Jack, watch these systems here. If any of them come back online, come and get me from the medbay," Evander ordered, then ran to pick up Alex's limp form from the floor and carried him deeper into the ship.
The TARDIS moved the medbay as close as she could to the console room and Evander sent her silent thanks as he placed Alex on the nearest bed. He rushed back to the cabinets to retrieve a scanner and tried to concentrate on taking care of Alex. Rose was more than capable to handle the other situation without him.
There didn't seem to be a lot of damage. Some minor burns on his left hand and his feet, but that seemed to be all that was wrong on the surface. Leaving that to take care of later, he moved his attention to why Alex was unconscious. Alex had touched the floor, then he couldn't move and had burns on his skin. Probably electrocuted, then. He could withstand quite a strong shock. He had once survived a lightning strike on top of the Empire State building. But this wasn't just a shock; this was sustained.
Alex's hearts were both beating, but they were a little erratic and his brain activity was odd as well. Alex wasn't in a healing coma as he should be after something like this and Evander decided that he needed to help him get there. Placing his fingers on Alex's temples, he dove into his mind and found chaos.