A.N. Striking the iron while it's hot in the fandom. A couple of things to note regarding this fic so no one is confused. 1. This is a Female presenting Doctor (in my canon, 8 had an encore after 15 for a short run similar to 14. 2. I imagine Daniel Brühl as the Companion (a certain leader may have been locked in a closest a second time, rightfully so). 3. I watched Monarch Legacy of Monsters, this should make sense to anyone who watched that show (and it'd you haven't, you should).
"My name is Jason Kinsley Ritpher, Captain of starship 749027, Canadian Cruiser. I have killed everyone on this vessel."
36 Years Earlier, 17 April 2630
The baby lay swaddled by the door, sleeping and warm. No cameras turned in the direction of the stranger as they placed the baby down in their carrier. Only 45 seconds passed before the front door slid open, the silent metallic hiss gave way to warm air creeping out from the singular apartment on the ship.
Kinsley had heard shuffling by the door as he attempted his exit unseen. He didn't need to alert his companion he needed to be alone, most never woke before he left. Ice cold blood run through his body, shuddering at the realisation of what day it was.
The baby was for him.
9 August 2634
"Buddy," Kinsley leaned over his son's bed, seeing the boy's blonde head move subtly. "I know you're awake. Time to get up."
The boy groaned and shuffled under his dark blue covers further. His father laughed at him before shifting the blankets down and kissing the top of his head.
"Isn't your friend Jacinta having her birthday party today?" Kinsley heard a mumbled response. "You need to give her the present you picked out."
Jason pouted but slowly sat up in the bed to see his father smiling at him. "She's being mean to me."
"Maybe she'll be nicer to you after you give her the present." Kinsley pulled the rest of the covers back as he stood up, spun on his heel and picked his son from the bed. "Maybe she likes you."
"Why would she be mean to me if she likes me?" Jason was deposited into her chair. Kinsley moved through the kitchen to put together their morning cereal, juice for Jason and black coffee for himself.
"I once pulled the pigtails of a girl I liked when I was your age." Kinsley placed the cereal and spoon in front of Jason, repeating the action with his own. "She didn't like that, though. Told the teacher on me, I wasn't allowed PopTarts for a week."
"PopTarts? What are they?" Jason began shovelling food into his mouth, Kinsley counted his blessings the cereal was softened enough that there was little choking hazard for the boy.
"Food that is very sugary and unhealthy. Which is why you don't eat them." Kinsley shovelled his own food into his mouth, draining his coffee in two large gulps when his food was finished.
24 December 2655
"You have no idea who my mother is, do you?" Jason, standing as the very mirror or Kinsley at the age of 25 said straightening his tie.
"What's brought this on?" Kinsley moved into this reclining chair to slide his shoes on. Both men had agreed to spend a couple of hours at the cruiser's Christmas Party and return to Jason's new rooms. They would celebrate Jason passing his flight training quietly.
Jason shrugged, adjusting his tie clip and buttons on this jacket. "Everyone on the ship is finding out tonight that I am moving to the flight deck. You're not worried someone would say something?"
"No, I'm not worried."
Jason's mother was on board a different ship, Kinsley learning the baby had not been born on the ship. Two cruisers had been trading cargo and refuelling when Jason had been born; the mother had been unable to care for him once widowed. Her friend carried the baby to the Canadian ship during the trading time and snuck back on-board unseen.
19 April 2636
"Where are we Doctor?" Reign asked his voice full of curiosity. His new life started with The Doctor after settling in with UNIT for a month in 2024. He had never been on a trip with The Doctor from the beginning, she had taken him on board when he fled his post with Germany during the 1940s.
"TARDIS says we are onboard craft 749027, currently in view of Saturn's rings for a pleasure cruise." Reign tried to make sense of the screen from over The Doctor's shoulder, but the language was entirely foreign and rather resembled geometric patterns than a language.
"We're in space?" Reign asked incredulously, his brain catching up to speed on The Doctor's explanation.
"Did you forget we have been in space the entire time you have been in the TARDIS?" The Doctor calmly turned to face her companion with a smile on her face. "You forgot about the 'In Space' bit in TARDIS, didn't you?"
"Why would I need to remember with the pretty Doctor around, hm?" Reign leaned down behind his friend to press a kiss to The Doctor's right cheek. The Doctor breathed out loudly through their nose moving sideways and around Reign. Reign, clever and kind, seemed to easy to love.
"Well come on, haven't got all day!" The Doctor exclaimed rushing to the exit from the TARDIS with their key in hand and sonic in their leather jacket pocket. If they ever ran into their previous self, The Doctor noted to thank the revisit to their 8th regeneration for the sense of style.
Reign followed The Doctor out of the TARDIS, nearly tripping over with excitement until he saw the high curved steel walls and narrow hallways barely big enough to fit the TARDIS. No windows showed the view outside and the air felt still, smelling slightly stale.
"Huh," The Doctor locked the door on their way out, depositing the key in their other pocket and zipping it shut. "Wonder where everyone is."
A loud bang and the ship pitching to one side, knocking Reign into The Doctor felt like an answer to the travellers.
"There's that sense of adventure!"
"Does this happen a lot, stumbling into deathly situations?" Reign asked following The Doctor as the Gallifreyan walked closer to a cold part of the ship.
"To be fair, the trouble usually finds me. I'm kind of a magnet for it." She stopped abruptly, making a gesture for Reign to be still and quiet.
"I can't hear anything." Reign whispered after a few seconds of silence that made his ears ring.
"Exactly, no sirens or alarms. We shouldn't be able to even think right now."
"You said this was a cruiser, where is everyone?" Another question The Doctor couldn't answer. They grew frustrated; not knowing felt like a horrible sinking feeling in their stomach.
"If there's a ship, there's a captain. How about we go find them." It wasn't a question, but Reign nodding in response following the footsteps of his friend only a few paces behind.
Painted signs showed the way to the crew deck for the ship. The Doctor just followed the restricted signs until they walked down a corridor with painted white lines on the floor and several doors on the walls labelled "Janitors Closet", "Staff Break Room", "Medical Bay" and finally reaching an elevator at the end. Three buttons adorned the panel with a retina scanner above. The Doctor darted their eyes to the top edge of the rounded elevator, to their surprise spotting no cameras. More than likely the camera was the scanner itself.
They grabbed their sonic screwdriver in their left hand, flicking the switch for the emitter crystal to glow a lovely emerald green amongst the palm sized silver handle and gilded accents in Gallifreyan. Pressing the Botton they assumed would be the crew deck, The Doctor swiftly activated the sonic into the scanner, overriding the system. A feminine robotic voice replying "Access Granted" followed as the scanner folded back into its storage.
Reign grabbed The Doctor's hand feeling the force of the elevator nearly bring him to his knees. The ship was large if the high-speed elevator was needed, which meant a highly skilled captain would be on-board.
"Hello!" The Doctor called out when exiting with Reign in tow. "Anyone in here?"
"What are you doing?" Reign hissed looking concerned at the back of The Doctor's head. The dark limp strands fanned out as they turned to their companion.
"Finding out if anyone is alive still? Any time you feel like helping would be great!" The Doctor hissed back, their jovial mood evaporating as another jolt rocked the vessel.
A rounded corridor led the pair to the crew deck. All of the walls were triple reinforced glass with vacuum sealed metal alloy doors to be deployed in case of dire emergency, Reign admired the 360-degree view of space and the planet they passed. The Doctor noticed they were not in the middle of an asteroid field and saw nothing on any discernible angle to determine what was causing the damage.
"Hey!" The booming voice called from the furthest window. Tall, blonde and a strong straight posture exuded respect. 'The captain!' Thought The Doctor triumphantly. "The ship is on lockdown. The crew deck is restricted to any visitors."
"Yeah sorry, never been that good about taking the word 'Restricted' seriously. It's where people hide the fun stuff!" The captain confidently strode to The Doctor and Reign, taking in both of them quizzically.
"Who are you?"
"This is Reign," Reign waved sheepishly, understanding saluting in a Western style would have been inappropriate even if it had been his first instinct. "I'm The Doctor."
"Doctor who?"
"I love it when people say that!" The Doctor cheerfully replied, suppressing their smile by biting their lip. They did belatedly realise it may have sent the wrong signal when the captain flushed pink across his cheeks and ears, but they did admit it looked nice on the captain.
"What are we dealing with here Captain…?" The Doctor trailed off as they moved to the centre of the open space, clinging to the back on the Captain's deep blue leather chair.
"Captain Jason Kinsley Ritpher, but please just call me Jason." Jason held his hand out to Reign to shake while the other man kept his eyes trained on The Doctor. When his attention turned back to Jason, hand clasping his, Reign noticed the sharpening in the captain's eyes. Reign's hand tightened in the shake. 'Challenge accepted.'
"Do you know what's hitting the ship?" Reign asked as his hand was release. Both he and Jason moved to stand by The Doctor who made themselves comfortable in the chair and was using their sonic on various sections of the wide double console around them.
"Short range ion beam. It's only casting enough heat to penetrate the first layer but they can work their way through for some real damage." The Doctor answered, a holograph projection of a large ship with four very small red dots near the bottom of the ship clustered around the centre.
"They're targeting the main thruster that I deploy for cruisers, but this ship has six rear thrusters for speed that haven't been fired at." Jason explained, pointing to the back end of the ship in the image. "The escape pods are back there too; my security team is working on loading everyone in them. The pods are preprogrammed to jettison to the nearest space port, we have enough for everyone on board and unaccounted stragglers."
"Do you know who is firing at you or what they want?" Reign questioned.
"This group is suicidal in its attempts to get people out of space. Before you say anything, I see the irony." The Doctor sealed their lips into a straight line. "They use the resources from destroyed ships to upgrade their fleet. Legends say they started from the edge of space collecting scrap and are working their way in. Apparently, they want order."
"Any means to their end." Reign mumbled quietly. Jason saw the sadness in his eyes.
"I was about to send out a distress signal when you both showed up."
"That's not a very smart idea, son." The trio turned to the back of the room, standing at the top of the stairs leading to the shallow floor stood a man with a striking resemblance to Jason. With the attention directed at the man slowly making his way down the steps, The Doctor scanned Jason's face, just as they had scanned River all those years before. Nothing unusual fed back from the reading.
"Dad, where have you been? None of my team were able to find to you."
"I know where to hide." The older man replied coyly. When he reached the group, The Doctor stood, rounding the chair to extend their hand.
"Pleasure to meet you, I'm The Doctor. You are?"
"Kinsley Ritpher." His measured gaze met The Doctor's as he shook their hand. The Doctor moved their sonic screwdriver in front of his face, irritation evident as he stepped back. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Scanning you, I'm old. Can only remember so many faces these days." The Doctor never tried to forget a face, not that everyone needed to know what a Timelord could remember. The Doctor frowned at the scan results.
"Something wrong Doctor?" Jason asked, side eyeing his father.
"Nothing, sonic must be in the fritz. Do people still say that? Aw well, doesn't matter."
Opting not to have an awkward conversation, The Doctor grabbed the wrists of Jason and Reign after pocketing their sonic tugging them back to the elevator. The door shut tightly behind them when The Doctor pushed the button to get them back to the lowest floor they could reach.
"Why did you leave my father behind?" Fear laced Jason's voice as the elevator went down. His stomach twisted at the thought of his father being left alone.
"Make sure everyone is evacuated. I'll explain on the TARDIS."
Jason tapped the small earpiece in his left ear and gave the order for the escape pods to be filled promptly and released. The response in his ear affirmed 7 of the 10 had already been filled as the remaining passengers filtered into the eight safely. The crew refused to leave until they knew Jason was safe; loyal and unwavering was a strong trait in most circumstances, but Jason quietly argued back his head of security was disobeying his orders.
"My name is Jason Kinsley Ritpher, Captain of starship 749027, Canadian Cruiser. I have killed everyone on this vessel." Every screen played the same image, echoing down the corridors. The pace of the trio picked up.
"That isn't me!" Jason panicked and couldn't keep it down. No one was dead, he was here, with The Doctor and Reign, not talking on a screen. His Head of Security frantically yelled in his ear.
"I called for help when my ship came under attack by The Empties, terrorists who consider space only their territory. But I was unlucky, The Cybermen picked up the signal and invade both ships, managing to get by the stealth tech of The Empties like it was a child's toy. They killed every living thing in both ships, except for me."
Jason, the Jason on the screen, ran a hand through his blonde hair as his face contorted trying to hold back his tears. The Doctor pieced together what that Jason was about to say, pulling the current Jason along to get him into the TARDIS faster.
"I created a cloaking tech that masks heat signatures, I buried myself in a hatch near my post and waited. They left after 3 hours but I didn't leave for a day. I was scared, alone and completely at fault. The blood here is on my hands, I didn't get everyone to safety the minute the attacks started, I was arrogant and had my team use the few weapons we had to start firing. We got hit harder by The Empties. They knocked out off of our engines.
"The truth is, I'm scared to die."
Jason, now holding the hands of The Doctor and Reign – he didn't know when he had grabbed Reign's hand – halted feeling tears now down his face. "That isn't me!" He cried brokenly, his voice cracking. His knees gave out on him.
The Doctor noticed the TARDIS was in view, but the corridor was long and the ship rocked more. Additional layers of the ship were being targeted, Jason had to give the order to get the escape pods out and sprint to the TARDIS.
"Captain, you need to move. We're going to die if you don't!" The Doctor knew the time for any joking was done. Jason looked up, tears making his eye bloodshot and recolouring his irises from blue to a bright green.
"Give the order for everyone to be evacuated." Reign knelt down to be level with Jason, gripping the hand already holding his tighter. "You can change this, don't let innocent people die over inaction."
"What do you know about inaction?" Jason returned bitterly, knowing the other man was right.
"I was pretty much forced to fight for 1940s Germany. The Doctor showed me that doing the right thing can be hard, but sometimes even walking away from your post is what's best." Jason looked shocked at the confession, then softened. His jaw visibly relaxed.
"Need someone to catch you up on the 700 years of history you have missed?"
"Are you offering? I can't get anything out of The Doctor." Reign quipped – flirted – back.
"Standing right here, fellas." The expression on their face hurried them along to scrambling back onto their feet. The Doctor threw the key from their pocket to Reign.
"She doesn't leave a lot of time for pleasantries in these situations." Ruefully Reign held the key tightly in a fist. "She can be intransigent at the best of times; she never does feelings well."
"Do you?"
"I've had no time to really feel anything for other people. The Doctor said she can't return anything I feel for her." Reign felt his face burn under the sudden cradling from Jason's hands.
"For a second, take a moment to feel." Jason swiftly ducked his head to press his lips to Reign's. On autopilot – and feeling – Reign responded in kind, leaning away from Jason's lips to rest their foreheads together.
"I don't think I can come with you." Whispered Jason, sound rushing back to his ears as alarms blared. The sound of shuttles taking off roared in his earpiece.
"Says who? Just run with us."
"I need to deal with the situation, I'm sure my father has something to do with it."
Jason shoved him back, Reign stumbling for a second before his feet took the hint and started running. The Doctor stood halfway between the TARDIS and Jason.
"You still think that? Bit slow to catch on, but I did put gaps in your knowledge."
Kinsley stood with his hands in front of him crossed at the wrists, an older image of Jason. Proud, strong, feeling and capable. Determined in that very moment. A laser gun hung loosely from his right hand, the whirling of heat inside was heard as loud as a hammering heartbeat in the now silent corridor.
"Jason," The Doctor started, their two hearts straining against the rationale of their brain. "He's not your father."
"He raised me!" Tears in his eyes, Jason turned his head to see The Doctor in his periphery. "If he isn't my father, then who the hell is he?"
"My name is Jason Kinsley Ritpher." His voice, changed slightly from being nearly 40 years older, matched the loop the video found itself in at that moment.
"I went back in time to fix my mistake. I was raised by a very loving couple, but knowledge can be a tool and a weapon. Going back and grabbing you before my parents could, keeping you on this ship for your entire life, educating you myself minus a few technological capabilities, it was going to stop the massacre that happened on this day.
"My biggest regret is that you never had kids of your own. That Jacinta woman was very nice and my wife in my timeline."
"My scans showed you two were the same person." The Doctor supplied, taking a step closer to Jason. "But you don't need to be him, you already have diverged from his timeline. It was never a fixed point. Anything could have changed; he could have everything too."
"I would never want to be him!"
Reign turned the lock and looked up as the door to the TARDIS swung open. He screamed when The Doctor lurched forward. Looking down, feeling his stomach, Jason felt nothing. Heat spread through him with tears and a gasp taking over him. The Doctor caught his falling body with a grunt, sweeping loose strands from his forehead as she rocked him.
"Teach him, Doctor."
Jason closed his eyes, lips forming into a smile. In a blink, the older Jason vanished from the hallway. Reign rested his weight on the other closed door of the TARDIS seeing The Doctor lay Jason on the floor. His friend pulled him in, closing the door behind them and punching in something on their console. That lever used to take off didn't look appealing to Reign and The Doctor didn't bother to ask if he wanted to shift it down.
The Doctor sat below the console, being compact enough in their shorter feminine body to fit into smaller places. Reign sat beside them, his head moving to rest on their chest. The Doctor kissed his head then ran their slender fingers through his sandy hair.
"Lesson 1 from The Doctor; I can never love you like another human can."
"Maybe it wouldn't hurt so much if you loved me. I thought he liked you."
"He liked me but knew I can't be held. You deserve it more than me."
"I was his second choice."
"You're someone's first choice." Reign never looked up at The Doctor; his first choice. He never saw how sad The Doctor looked. In those eyes, he had been their first choice.