Chapter 3:

POV: Jenny

Date: May 1916

As so often happens with Dad, the immediate concerns about Mum being present for this adventure and Mara and I running from the Time Lords were pushed aside in favor for a new mystery to solve. In fairness, we had apparently crash landed in the middle of said mystery unraveling and were just as prone to be distracted as Dad was.

"Woah," Yaz said as we stepped out onto the planet from the Dalek's coordinates. Far in the distance, we could see mountains covered in trees and light dancing in the waves of an ocean, but before us a glittering landscape stretched far and wide.

Dad used her sonic to gather information about the planet. She quickly glanced at her readings. "Organic life, converted to metal. On a planetary scale."

"Cybertechnology," Yaz rasped.

"Are they capable of this?" I asked as my eyes nervously darted all around us.

Dad shrugged. "I wouldn't know. What I do know is that there will be Cybermen everywhere we go right now. But those ones on the train Yaz and I responded to, the Cybermasters, they were created by the Master on Gallifrey. And if the Master is involved…"

Yaz's head whipped off to the side. "Doctor, look."

We all followed where Yaz pointed. My breath caught in my throat as my gaze locked on to what she was seeing. Far in the distance, just peeking up from out of the ground, was another TARDIS. My stomach turned as I stared at it. It felt wrong somehow, and that was reflected in the way it looked. This TARDIS was all black with white lettering and a white light bulb on top. Dad's TARDIS would never look that way.

As we approached this TARDIS my eyes noticed that the white lettering was even more wrong. Rather than the familiar "Police Box" sign, the words had been replaced with a string of the letters "H" and "A".

"Who would do this to such a beauty?" Mum asked as she stepped closer to the TARDIS. "And her song…Doctor, what's wrong with her?"

I hadn't yet noticed, but Mum was right. This TARDIS' song was discordant and groaning. It reverberated around my body and made me shiver. I did my best to tune it back out.

Dad's face was grim. "All of you stay here."

"Nope," Yaz said.

"Not a chance," I exclaimed.

"Absolutely not," Mara agreed.

"As if," Mum said.

Dad let out a heavy breath. "Fine," she said, and pushed her way into the dark ship.

Mara and I shared a glance. "What do you make of this?"

I shrugged. "Not a clue."

Mum let out a small, pained gasp as we entered the console room. The feeling of wrongness was nearly unbearable here surrounded as we were by mist and a dark interior that looked like a nightmare version of Dad's current console room. I briefly recalled another console room that had felt wrong—a console which had held our dad's grave at the time. This was far more eerie than that.

Dad stopped in her tracks just inside. "I feel like I'm being taunted."

"Is this him? Is this the Master?" Yaz asked.

Before Dad could respond, the cloister bell began ringing. I felt another deep shiver as the sound echoed in my chest. On the console, the readout screens began to light up with a map. Yaz and I rushed forward to look at the map as Mara and Dad pulled off one of the console panels to get a better look at what had happened to this TARDIS. Black noxious smoke poured out, and Dad's feelings of concern deepened.

"The core of this TARDIS has been lashed into the center of the planet's metal structure—why?" Dad grumbled as she waved her sonic about.

"There's another energy source on the surface of this planet," Mum said as she tapped one of the screens. "Although it doesn't look anything like something the Cybermen would create."

Dad abruptly rushed out of the TARDIS, and we moved to follow. She ran across the desolate landscape until she came close to the spot where the energy reading was coming from and skidded to a halt. We all came to a stop behind her, and my eyes widened in horror. Just ahead of us there was a child chained down to the ground to, I could only assume, keep her from floating away. As it was, she was already floating a few feet off the ground.

My skin prickled as I sensed the power coming off her.

"Dad, what is she?" Mara asked.

Dad ignored her as she stepped closer. "It's okay, I'm here. I saw you on the train. You're safe."

Mum walked closer to Dad. "Doctor, I can feel the power coming off of her. How is that child an energy source?"

Without missing a beat, Dad whirled around to face her with bright eyes. "Oh, Rose, of course! Always asking the very best questions, you're brilliant. You're brilliant and I'm stupid. Consciousness shield." She turned back towards the child. "Should've spotted it earlier. Something trying to evade capture, hiding behind a visual projection shield. And this one shows us what we instinctively want to protect as a defense. Nice. So, what are you?"

She flashed her sonic across the child, and we all took a small step back as she morphed into a small dazzlingly bright ball of energy which hovered just above the ground.

"Doctor, what is it?" Yaz breathed.

Dad had a similar look of wonder on her face. "A Qurunx. One of the great mysteries of the universe. Never seen one before."

"Sentient energy," Mara said in an equally reverent tone. "The rarest kind. But where did they even find it? How could they have captured one?"

Dad checked her sonic. "This one is connected to this planet and in control of that TARDIS—"

"Which probably belongs to the Master," Yaz supplied. "Who else could have done this?"

"Gold star, Yaz," I chuckled, and she granted me a brilliant smile.

Dad shifted on her feet as she thought. "A metal planet with a Qurunx at its heart, on the edge of Earth in the second decade of the 20th century. Why? What could they Cybermen be up to?"

I opened my mouth, but was interrupted as Cybermen dressed as the Time Lords once had been materialized behind the Qurunx and aimed their weapons at us. Instinctively, we all took a step back while both Mara and I reached for our own sonics.

"Desist!" they commanded.

Dad leaned forward, and despite her bravado I could feel the fear rolling off her in waves. She angled herself between us and the Cybermasters. "Ah, decided to show your faces, have you? Where's your boss skulking? Is this planet your doing, or his?"

Their leader, who was clearly a general given the markings on its casing, took point in answering Dad's questions. "This structure is the zenith of Cyber conversion. It encases and converts entire planets."

Dad's eyes widened in horror, and I felt a similar dread pool in my stomach. Mara was first to recover with a snort. "Planetary conversion? You lot thought that was a good idea to try when Dad is still kicking?"

"Neither the Doctor nor her progeny will not be able to stop it," the Cyber General droned.

Dad bounced on her toes, and the sight made me want to smile. "Oh yeah, and why's that?" she asked. "Cos I'd say we have a fair chance. Don't know if you've noticed, but my girls are pretty brilliant."

The Cyber General raised its weapon again. "Your Master awaits, Doctor."

The pit of my stomach dropped out as we I turned on my heel back toward the TARDIS. "Run!" I shouted and pushed Mara forward. I winced when I felt that my shove tore at her injury but didn't let that stop me from rushing back toward safety.

Dad reached the TARDIS first and opened her doors with a shout to the TARDIS for help. I was briefly impressed that their communication had clearly improved as we hurried into the waiting console room and slammed the doors back shut.

Mara, Mum, and I rushed to the console and began helping Dad start up the flight sequence. Yaz watched us with wide eyes. "You lot know how to fly her?"

Mum laughed as she turned knobs. "Different console, same old TARDIS. You pick up a thing or two over the years."

Mara tapped her head. "And she helps us, remember?"

We narrowly managed to evade the blasts coming from the Cybermasters as we left the planet. I let out a laugh as we all twisted and turned around the console in a familiar dance, but froze when I felt the chain of the necklace around me fly out from under my shirt. I quickly shoved the crystal back under my garment and darted a glance at Mum. She seemed not to notice my movement, and I let out a sigh of relief before allowing myself to rejoin the efforts around the console.

We were all startled by the sound of a phone ringing.

"Who could possibly be calling you?" I asked.

Dad picked up the phone. "Yes, what!" She paused. "Bit busy, Kate! Can it wait?"

Mara and I exchanged a glance. "Kate, as in Kate Lethbridge-Stewart?"

"I guess we can only assume so."

Dad let out a sound of frustration as she hung up the phone, and the TARDIS lurched as she abruptly changed course. "Change of plans, everyone. Hold on!"

We landed with an ominous thud. I pulled in a shaky breath. "What was that phone call about?"

"Kate called for help," Dad said as she headed toward the doors. "When people ask for help, I never refuse."

We followed her out of the TARDIS into what appeared to be a high-end office building complete with chrome surfaces and marble floors. And in the middle of it all, Kate, rushing to meet us. "Thank goodness you came." She stopped in her tracks when she saw Mara, Mum, and I. "Doctor…?"

"Later," Dad said with a wave of her hand, and breezed past Kate to the stairs. "Tell us what's happened."

Kate recovered fairly quickly and began to lead the way. "A dozen of the world's leading seismologists have gone missing in the past two weeks. Plus, fifteen of the world's most valuable paintings have disappeared from view."

"Always the paintings with you, Kate," Mara chuckled.

Dad stopped in her tracks. "That's what you called us here for? Have you got any idea what's going on in outer space in 1916 right now?"

I had to give Kate credit, after years of working with our family she didn't even bat an eye at Dad's statement. "Strangely enough, no." She paused as we arrived at the door of what was apparently our destination. She glanced over at Mum, and then Yaz nervously. "Oh. Also, we have new freelancers. Don't be cross." She opened the door then and entered the room, expecting us to follow.

I nearly plowed into Dad when she abruptly stopped in her tracks. Not far in the room, two middle aged women stood staring at us with expressions filled with excitement and nervousness. I cocked my head to the side. One of them was wearing a bomber jacket filled with patches and a baseball bat attached to her. The other was of slight build and wide eyes.

"Oh wow," the woman with the bomber jacket said.

The other turned to Kate. "You said a woman. You didn't say young." Okay, so someone who knew Dad.

"That is a good look on you, Professor," bomber jacket said with a smile.

"Companions," Mara said through our connection without taking her eyes off the two women. We didn't need to go further than the complicated feelings we were getting from Dad for confirmation.

"Tegan," Dad said in a muted voice. "Ace. What're you doing here?"

"I brought them in," Kate supplied. "I'm rebuilding our intelligence network with people who know the problems Earth faces from personal experience. It was pretty clear where to start."

"But you didn't think to find me?" Mum asked. "Granted, I should be on the TARDIS with this lot, but clearly I haven't been for a while. You haven't tried to contact me?"

Mara and I exchanged panicked glances. Even without our connection to her, it was pretty clear that Mum was getting increasingly worried that she was absent from our current lives.

Kate's eyes widened a bit. "I—" She looked to Dad for help, but Dad wasn't listening.

"So," she said without ever taking her eyes off of Ace or Tegan. "How've you been?" It was so clear she was uncomfortable, she couldn't even make herself stand still.

Tegan snorted. "Like you care."

I felt Dad's flinch at the bitterness in her voice, and Ace turned to her fellow companion with a laugh. "Tegan, we discussed this—"

"Thirty-eight years," Tegan said with her head held high and sharp eyes.

After an awkward moment, Yaz stepped in. "I'm Yaz," she said. "The only one who doesn't really know what's going on here."

"They were companions," Mara supplied.

Tegan snorted and waved a hand toward Yaz. "That's right, darling, we used to be you. Decades back." She turned toward the rest of us. "And you three. Who are you?"

Mara and I shifted uncomfortably, but Mum easily stepped forward. "I'm Rose Tyler. I'm the Doctor's wife."

That got Ace and Tegan's attention. Their mouths dropped open. "Her what?" Tegan demanded.

Mum nodded and waved a hand toward me and Mara. "And these are our daughters, Jenny our oldest, and Mara."

"Your what?" they both demanded with a shriek.

Dad abruptly turned to Kate. "Yes, well, now that we're all acquainted. What was so urgent, Kate?"

Neither Ace nor Tegan took their eyes off of Mara and I as Kate quickly moved to end the awkward conversation. "This is why I called you," she said as she brought up pictures of famous works of art. My eyes snapped to Dad when I felt her reaction to the defacing of the paintings as Kate went through each one.

"Oh no." Yaz's tone was ominous.

Kate turned to her. "You know your history. The face of Rasputin."

Dad stepped closer to the screen and shook her head. "That's not Rasputin. That's the Master."

I could barely hear Tegan and Ace's reaction over the sound of the blood rushing from my face. I reached out for Mara, and she quickly took my hand. Her reaction matched my own, and I saw Mum take a step closer to us. This version of her may not remember Missy yet, but she still had her own history with the Master.

"Well," Mara said. "Here we go again."