Thank you to those who have reviewed, favourited and followed! It's very much appreciated and I'm happy to see people are enjoying this! I understand it has been some time since I have done anything with this story. This chapter is a rewrite as I wasn't happy with the original, so I completely rewrote the chapter and then meshed some of the old stuff in. I hope you enjoy. Also...
This is the Doctor speaking.
This is the Captain speaking.
Thank you and enjoy!
The Doctor felt relief course through him as the Time Lady recognised him. He had been worried that she would not know his identity, given how long it had been since they had last laid eyes on each other and he was now in his tenth regeneration, a face she had never seen. A silly thought, of course, given that he had recognised her the moment he saw her. It was part of Time Lord nature to recognise each other's presence and identity. Still, the spark of recognition in her gaze comforted him and he grinned at her, drinking in her appearance.
Her hair was a rich chocolate brown and cascading in waves over her shoulders, framing her fair-skinned face. Her brilliant green eyes focused on him, and her pale pink lips parted and her voice, soft and slightly hoarse from disuse, whispered, "It really is you…"
With a warm smile and a gentle squeeze, the Doctor nodded and replied, identifying her to the others in the room, "Yes, Captain, it's me."
Carefully, he helped the Captain to her feet. She was weak and unsteady, and her limbs felt as though they were made of gelatin. With his gentle guidance, she rose from the floor, leaning on him for support. The Doctor's familiarity with post-regeneration disorientation allowed him to offer just the right amount of assistance, allowing the Captain to regain her balance as she adjusted to her renewed form. She looked to be taller than her previous incarnation, judging by the fact that her jeans were now too short for her. She was only a touch shorter than himself.
"I'm sorry to interrupt this touching moment," Yvonne's voice cut through his thoughts and his eyes flashed with anger as he looked at her. "As I said, there is an itinerary."
His eyes blazed with anger as he addressed her, "You kept her from me. Ten years, in a stasis chamber. You could have killed her! Do you think I care about your itinerary?"
His words carried a weight of righteous indignation, a deep-seated frustration at the human tendency to exploit and control the extraordinary without understanding its consequences. His anger was further stoked by the injustice of it all as he glanced at the Captain.
The Captain, who had been taking in her surroundings, allowing the newfound sensations of her regeneration to settle, suddenly fixed her gaze on Yvonne. Recognition dawned as she vividly recalled that fateful moment when she had been shot down and had crawled from the wreckage of her ship. The memories rushed back, of a time when she was defenseless and struggling for her survival, dying. The Captain's expression darkened with a mixture of resentment and understanding, as she recognised Yvonne had been the face behind that hostile operation.
"I remember you..." the Captain murmured. "You were there, when I was captured, at the wreckage of my ship."
The Doctor's fury surged like a tempest within him as the truth unfolded. Yvonne's arrogance in the face of his wrath only fueled the flames, the woman not showing an ounce of regret, though he could see her bravado wavering. She attempted to maintain her façade, folding her arms as she shrugged and repeated the Torchwood motto, "If it's alien, it's ours."
Her voice trembled ever so slightly, betraying a deep-seated fear of the Time Lord's wrath. The Doctor's rage was palpable, a force of nature ready to unleash its fury upon those who had recklessly meddled with the unknown, as he confronted the woman responsible for the Captain's decade-long captivity.
He advanced closer, his eyes locking onto Yvonne's with an intensity that sent fearful shivers down her spine. The Doctor's voice, tinged with a chilling calmness that belied the storm raging within, cut through the tension in the room, "If you think for a moment that your motto grants you ownership over everything 'alien,' you are sorely mistaken. It is not yours to claim; it is not yours to control. The universe is not yours to conquer. You have clearly forgotten one fundamental truth: there are some things in this universe that are not meant to be controlled or possessed. The universe is vast, full of wonders and mysteries that should be explored, not exploited. You have not only violated that principle but also held one of my own people captive, the last of my people, subjected to a decade of torment."
Yvonne's tone remained defiant, despite the tremor of fear still present in her voice. "Doctor, it is curious how you so conveniently ignore your own situation. You are our prisoner now. If you're so bothered by our methods, perhaps you'd find it more beneficial to teach us. You could be part of something extraordinary, harnessing alien technology for the betterment of humanity and the British Empire. Rest assured, I will do my best to keep you and the Captain together but your cooperation will be required."
With that said, she turned and led the way out of the room, her posture still holding a hint of arrogance. The Doctor hesitated for a moment but then, with a reluctant sigh, he took the Captain's hand, unwilling to let her out of his sight. With his free hand, he gestured for Jackie to follow him.
Jackie's face reflected a deep sense of confusion, her eyes darting between the Doctor, the mysterious Captain and Yvonne as they followed her out of the room. She had witnessed an intense exchange between the Doctor and Torchwood's leader, but the particulars of what had happened, and who the Captain was, remained a baffling puzzle to her. She also couldn't help but be fearful of the Doctor as she observed his ongoing rage. Jackie knew that she was treading in unfamiliar and perilous territory, but she couldn't help but seek answers in the face of this surreal and threatening situation.
As they walked through the dimly lit corridors of Torchwood, she turned to the Doctor and asked, "Who is she, Doctor?"
The Captain, still somewhat weakened from her recent regeneration, offered a faint but warm smile. "I'm the Captain, a Time Lady, like the Doctor here," she introduced herself.
Jackie's brow furrowed in confusion. "How is she here? Rose told me you were the last-"
"Evidently not," he interrupted, stopping for a moment to allow the Captain to catch her breath. Despite having been regenerating for ten years, she was technically still too early in her regeneration cycle for all of this. He needed to find his TARDIS and get her to the medical bay as soon as possible. Of course, all that was easier said than done. Then again, things often appeared that way when it came to the Doctor and the situations he managed to get himself into.
"How did you end up here?" he asked the Captain as they started walking again, ignoring Yvonne's annoyed looks.
"I was orbiting the Earth," she murmured, moving a hand to adjust the clasp around her neck. The cloak no longer fit quite right in this regeneration. "They shot me down, as they have done so many others."
"Doctor!" Yvonne called from a little way further up the corridor, having stopped in front of another set of doors. "Enough catching up. Time to focus. There is so much you can teach us. Starting with this…"
Yvonne smirked at the trio, pressing her ID card against the digital lock which beeped in approval and the door slid open, Yvonne leading the way in to the chamber. It was identical to the one they'd been keeping the Captain in though, thankfully in the eyes of the Captain and the Doctor, they weren't keeping another creature in here.
"Now, what do you make of that?"
Noticing their arrival, Rajesh straightened his posture and his jacket and approached the Doctor and the Captain, a sense of excitement coursing through him. The scientists who he had left in charge of the stasis chamber had informed him of the Captain's recent regeneration and her altered appearance, sparking his scientific curiosity and admiration for the mysteries of Time Lord physiology. Rajesh had studied the Captain for years and now, the prospect of meeting her face-to-face and conversing with her, filled him with wonder of a Time Lord's enigmatic abilities. He knew that this meeting could offer a unique opportunity to learn from two of the most extraordinary beings in the universe.
"You must be the Doctor. Rajesh Singh. It's an honour, sir. How do you identify, ma'am?"
He held out his hand, for either one of them to shake, however both ignored him. The Doctor and Captain's attention was focused solely on the suspended sphere. Rajesh lowered his hand, embarrassed.
"What is that thing?" Jackie asked, looking uncomfortable being in the sphere's presence.
"We've got no idea." Yvonne shrugged and shaking her head.
"But what's wrong with it?"
Interested by the question, Rajesh turned to Jackie whilst the Doctor and the Captain moved forward towards the sphere, the Captain not having much choice in the matter as the Doctor still had tight hold of her hand and did not seem to be looking to let her go without good cause. "What makes you think something is wrong with it?"
"I dunno…" Jackie replied, averting her gaze from the sphere to look at Rajesh instead. "It just feels weird."
The Doctor and the Captain followed the steps up to the sphere, the Captain's gaze narrowed in thought whilst the Doctor's free hand searched through his pockets.
"Well, the sphere has that effect on everyone. Makes you wanna run and hide, like it's forbidden." Yvonne explained. Jackie's discomfort in the presence of the sphere was nothing new to the scientists nor herself.
"We tried analysing it using every device imaginable." Rajesh explained, turning back to watch the Time Lords, frowning a bit when the Doctor slipped on a pair of 3D glasses, looking at the sphere through them. He continued, "But, according to our instruments, the sphere doesn't exist. It weighs nothing. It doesn't age. No heat. No radiation. And, has no atomic mass."
"But I can see it!" Jackie exclaimed, making Rajesh look at her. How could something that doesn't exist be visible in front of her very eyes.
"Fascinating, isn't it?" Rajesh grinned as he removed his glasses, looking back at the sphere. "It upsets people because it gives off… nothing. It is… absent."
"Well, Doctor?" Yvonne asked him, feeling that they had allowed him sufficient time to analyse the sphere.
The Doctor bristled slightly when Yvonne addressed him, unwilling to assist her and Torchwood with anything, given their treatment of the Captain. Nevertheless, his insatiable curiosity towards the Sphere in front of him and how Torchwood had managed to obtain one, led him to inform them all, "This is a void ship."
"And what is that?"
"Well, it's impossible for starters," he confessed, folding his 3D glasses away and choosing instead to look at the Captain, frowning in thought. It made him easier to look at her while he was talking. He could pretend, for a moment, that he was only talking to her. "I always thought it was just a theory…"
"It's a vessel, designed to exist outside of the boundaries of time and space, granting it the unique ability to traverse the void," the Captain continued, squeezing the Doctor's hand, trying to keep his attention on her and temper his rage. She knew how unwilling he was to assist Torchwood in their learnings, given her captivity, however Torchwood needed educating, hoping that understanding the significance of what they possessed might deter them from meddling with forces they didn't comprehend.
"And what's 'the Void'?" asked Rajesh, pleased he was finally getting some answers in regards to the enigmatic sphere he had been studying for such a long time. Today was a day for discovery!
"It's the space between dimensions," the Captain continued. "An intangible space that exists between all parallel universes and dimensions, a barrier between the realms. An empty expanse, devoid of time, matter, energy… it contains nothing."
"Imagine that – nothing," the Doctor took over, still contemplating the sphere as he looked back at it. "No light, no dark, no up, no down. No life. No time. Without end. Our people called it the Void. The Eternals called it the Howling. But some people call it Hell."
'Bit dramatic, don't you think?' The Doctor heard inside his head and he looked at the Captain again, eyes wide and a grin on his face that made everyone else look at him a bit oddly. This was too serious a situation to be grinning like a madman. Rajesh tried to bring his attention back to the sphere instead of the Time Lady.
"But someone built the sphere. What for? Why go there?"
"To explore. To escape. You could sit inside that thing and eternity would pass you by. The Big Bang… end of the universe, start of the next, wouldn't even touch the sides. You'd exist outside of the whole of creation," the Doctor explained, however the Time Lords' goal in deterring Torchwood from messing with it clearly failed as Yvonne's face took on a smug grin.
"You see, we were right. There is something inside it."
"Oh, yes," the Doctor said, Yvonne's smile falling at his tone, the weight behind his words.
Rajesh, however, was undeterred. "So how do we get in there?"
The Doctor's frustration was palpable at hearing Rajesh's eagerness to tamper with the void ship, oblivious to the potential dangers it posed. He couldn't comprehend their lack of understanding when it came to the delicate balance of the multiverse and the risks associated with meddling in the unknown. The safety of the Captain, who had already been subjected to a decade of captivity, was his utmost concern. He feared that their reckless actions might once again lead to her being taken away from him, a prospect that he could not bear. The Doctor's furrowed brow and intense gaze reflected not only his frustration but also his unwavering resolve to protect the Captain and prevent the calamity that Torchwood's ignorance might unleash upon the universe.
The Captain scanned the faces of the Torchwood team, feeling a sense of both curiosity and caution. She couldn't help but understand the humans and their seemingly unquenchable curiosity and their willingness to take risks in the pursuit of knowledge. The indomitable human spirit, always striving to uncover the mysteries of the universe, resonated with her on a fundamental level. However, while she shared their thirst for discovery, she also felt the weight of her own responsibility to safeguard the fragile balance of the multiverse.
"We don't!" the Doctor exclaimed, pulling the Captain with him as he descended the steps. "We send that thing back into Hell!"
The Captain looked back at it, frowning. There was one thing still unanswered and therefore, she asked, "How did it get here in the first place?" When she'd been captured by Torchwood, they certainly hadn't had a Void Ship in their possession.
"Well, that's how it all started!" Yvonne exclaimed. "The sphere came through into this world, and the ghosts followed in its wake."
'Ghosts?' the Captain asked the Doctor privately.
'All over the world, about two months ago, these 'ghosts' started appearing. It's what brought me here. I traced the signal from one of them to here. They're pressing themselves into the surface of the world…'
'But?'
'But a footprint doesn't look like a boot.'
"Show us," the Doctor demanded before striding off, the Captain following. Yvonne exchanged a look with Rajesh and proceeded to also leave the room, Jackie falling in step with her. Seeing the Doctor turn to the left incorrectly, she called, "No, Doctor!"
The Doctor, still frowning and keeping a tight hold of the Captain, turned back on himself and went to the right instead.
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