Future Boy: DW/MGS crossover fic part 2
Title: Future Boy (part 1)
Pairing: Big Boss/Kaz if you squint really hard
Word Count: 6,403
Summary: In this instalment: retro-future space colonies! Space stations! Stupid clothes! Psychic paper! Unpronouncable names! And more!
Notes: Second part reposted from my tumblr complete with little pchat drawings I did
“It’s… BIGGER ON THE INSIDE!” were Kaz’s first words as he stepped into the TARDIS. His neck was craned towards the ceiling, trying to gauge the size of the room. “But… but this is impossible. How…?”
“Oh, just a bit of inter-dimensional jiggery-pokery - Time Lord technology,” said the Doctor, rushing towards the main control panel. “So! Where do you want to go? Forwards or backwards in time?” He stood leaning against the central column with an inane grin on his face, awaiting their answer. Kaz and Snake looked to each other in their indecision.
“Forwards!” Snake said suddenly.
“Forwards? You sure?” asked Kaz.
“Yeah why not.” He shrugged. “I mean, we already know what’s happened in the past - that’s no fun.”
“Well… all right.”
“Let’s go, Doctor!”
“Right - forwards it is!” He started hitting buttons, turning handles and levers on the endlessly complicated control panel. He flipped one last switch and the room began to rumble. Snake was more prepared this time, leaning against the railings that encircled the central area to keep his balance. Still heading towards the middle of the room when the shaking started, Kaz ended up staggering into a pillar when it took him by surprise.
“Is it supposed to do this?!” he yelled over the sound of the TARDIS’s engines.
“Oh it’s fine. This is normal!” The Doctor shouted back. Kaz rolled his eyes and held onto the pillar tighter. “Just a bit more and… There!” A huge jolt shook the room throwing all three of them to the floor. The Doctor was the first to right himself, jumping up excitedly and half walking, half staggering to the door, gangly limbs all over the place. He opened it, took a quick look outside, closed it again and turned towards the two men trying to regain their balance.
“Where are we?” asked Snake, managing to stand again.
The Doctor grinned at him. “Why don’t you go take a look?”
Snake headed to the door, closely followed by a disgruntled Kaz. The Doctor opened the door for them with a childishly expectant smile on his face. Peering outside, they saw a huge room with a ceiling at least thirty feet above them. Every inch of the room was decorated in a beautifully intricate style that reminded them of old Earth palaces and castles. People in lavishly styled clothes as detailed as their surroundings bustled past them completely oblivious to them and the TARDIS that had just appeared out of nowhere. It looked as if they were inside a palace out of a history book. But hadn’t the Doctor said they had gone forwards in time?
“What? Where are we? I thought you said this was the future?” said Kaz, confused.
“It is. This is the Great Empire of Caraferanium in the year 26,739. We’re actually on a space station in orbit around the planet Prith.”
“This is a space station?” Kaz’s eyes widened as he stepped out of the TARDIS and got a good look at the room they were in.
“Yep. One of the largest space stations of this era. It’s a whole city suspended in orbit around the planet.”
“Why build a city out in space though?” asked Snake.
“Well, you know, the usual problem - planet’s too crowded so people have to live somewhere else.”
“Overpopulation huh? Looks like they still have the same problems in the future,” said Snake, also stepping out into the strange world they’d arrived in.
“Doctor,” said Kaz. “Why don’t any of these people notice us or the TARDIS? I’d be pretty shocked if a big blue box suddenly came out of nowhere.”
“Ah… well that’s because of the perception filter.” He tapped the door frame of the ship. “It stops people from noticing the TARDIS. It’s not invisible, it’s like people just avoid looking at it - like camouflage.”
“Camouflage huh… That could come in handy,” mused Snake. “Hey, are we going to go look around this place or what?”
“Ah, yes. But first, we should get you two into some more appropriate clothing. Come on,” he said and gestured for them to come back inside the TARDIS. Snake and Kaz followed him inside, past the control panel and towards the back of the room where there was a set of metal doors. As he walked up to them, they opened onto an odd octagonal corridor with walls of brushed steel. There were several more sets of similar doors along either side. “This way,” he said going up to one of the entrances whose doors opened automatically. The room inside was much like the main control room except that instead of the pillar in the centre, there was a huge spiral staircase leading up to several other floors above it. The rest of the room was filled with dozens of clothes rails straining under the weight of the garments that hung from them. There was clothing in every possible style from every possible era and in every colour one could imagine.
“Hmmm let’s see… 268th Century; Caraferanian,” he muttered as his eyes scanned the room. “Ah yes. That’ll be upstairs. Just one floor. This way!” He dashed up the staircase, taking two steps at a time. Snake and Kaz rushed to keep up with him.
For such a skinny guy he sure has a lot of stamina, thought Snake.
As they reached the second floor the Doctor had already disappeared in among the many racks of clothes. Snake was only able to keep track of him by the constant rustling and moving of feet as he moved about the floor.
“Aha!” came a shout from somewhere in the distance. “These should be all right for you two.” The Doctor suddenly re-emerged from the mass of clothing holding two outfits. They were in the same style as the clothes of the people they had just seen in the space station outside.
“You sure these are going to fit us?” asked Kaz warily.
“You can have my word. Now go on - get changed! I’ll wait in the main control room for you.” He threw both outfits at them and then bounded off again down the stairs.
“Hey! What about you? You’re not changing?” Kaz called after him.
“Nah, these clothes are fine!” he shouted back up the stairs.
Kaz looked after him with a somewhat puzzled expression, leaning over the banister of the spiral staircase.
“Come on, Kaz. We might as well look the part.”
He sighed. “Yeah I guess you’re right.” He turned back to Snake, his expression a little exasperated then looked at the outfit he was holding and raised an eyebrow. “You think red is my colour…?”
-
“Well don’t you two look smart!” The Doctor beamed at the two men coming up the stairs of the main control room.
Snake was dressed in a beautiful iridescent olive green suit reminiscent of old military dress uniforms. The jacket was adorned with gold frogging covering the torso and cuffs, and gold epaulettes with red detailing sat neatly on the shoulders. The trousers were the same shade of green with a single red stripe up the side of each leg and on his feet were a pair of black knee-high boots, also with intricate gold detailing. The only thing that threw the whole ensemble was the 20th century belt and holster he wore around his waist which carried his Mk. 22.
Kaz’s outfit was a three-piece suit in a dark red velvet with a white iridescent jabot adorning his neck. He also wore elaborately detailed boots but this time, decorated in silver. Similar detailing adorned the lapels and cuffs of his suit jacket. And, like Snake, he also carried a Mk.22 in the holster he’d brought with him.
“…I feel a little ridiculous in this,” said Kaz.
“Don’t be silly! You’ll fit right in,” assured the Doctor. “Well then. Shall we?”
The door of the TARDIS swung open and they once again stepped out into the space station. Only this time, something was different. They hadn’t heard it while they were still inside the TARDIS but as soon as they were outside their ears were assaulted by the high-pitched screeching of a siren. The crowds of people from before were frantically rushing about and shouting, adding to the noise. Figures in bright red official-looking uniforms were trying to direct people to various exits around the room, yelling to be heard over the kerfuffle.
“Oh what’s this?” said a largely unperturbed Doctor, craning his neck to see over the crowd.
“An alert? What’s going on?” said Snake, tentatively reaching for his holster.
“CODE MAUVE. CODE MAUVE. ALL UNITS TO BATTLE STATIONS. CIVILIANS IN SECTORS 3 THROUGH 5 FOLLOW DIRECTIONS AND MOVE TO NEAREST STABLE SECTOR. I REPEAT: …”
“Code… mauve?” asked Kaz. “Not red?”
“Yes, mauve - the universally recognised colour for danger. Hm we must be in one of the sectors being evacuated. But why? What’s going on?” He darted around the side of the TARDIS and scanned along the wall behind them. “Come on, come on, where are you? …Aha!” Spotting something on the wall he leapt towards it and whacked it with his fist, causing a small wooden flap to spring open revealing a control panel.
“Doctor? What’s going on?” asked Snake, peering over his shoulder.
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.” He sighed and took out his pair of thick-rimmed glasses from his inside jacket pocket and leaned closer to the display. He began tapping away at various buttons on the touch screen too fast for either Snake or Kaz to follow. Then he gave a grumble of annoyance. “This is going to need some persuading.” Diving into his jacket pocket again he brought out the metal tool Snake had seen him use before. Holding it to the screen the end glowed a bright blue and gave out a high-pitched whirring sound. The display flickered for a second and then showed something different. Clearly this was progress as the Doctor gave a triumphant shout. Then suddenly his face fell. “Oh that’s not good. That’s not good at all.”
“What is it Doctor?” Snake asked again, growing more concerned.
The Doctor gave a sigh and ran one of his hands through his hair. “There’s been a massive hull breach in sectors 3 through 5; that’s why they’re evacuating.” He tapped the map on screen to show their location. “We’re mostly safe here as we’re near the inside of the structure but if they don’t get that fixed soon we’re going to have problems.”
“A hull breach?” said Kaz, his expression suddenly filled with dread.
“But this can’t be right; the damaged area is several kilometres wide! You’d need a ridiculous amount of fire-power to rip a hole that big in a space station this well fortified. What could do something like that? Unless…”
“Unless…?” repeated Snake.
“Come on you two, we’re going to go find out what’s going on.” He darted off into the now diminishing crowd, heading towards one of the men in red uniforms. Snake followed closely behind him.
“Woah! Hey wait!” Kaz shouted after them both, briefly glancing back at the TARDIS. “Where are you going? It’s not safe here; we should just get in the TARDIS and go back!” The Doctor didn’t answer, and just kept on pushing through the crowd. “God damn it. I knew it. I just knew it.”
“What?” Snake shouted back to him.
“I knew there’d be trouble!”
“Well, the Doctor seems to know what he’s doing.”
“Yeah I know that but-!”
“We’ll be fine,” he assured him. “Hurry up! We can worry about this later.”
“But-! Hey! Snaaaake-!” he shouted but his voice was largely lost in all the confusion around them. Cursing, he pushed his way through the crowd to catch up with Snake and The Doctor.
-
“The Doctor and his associates Mr. Miller and uh… Mr. Snake,” he announced, grinning widely and holding up an official-looking piece of paper to the man in the red uniform. Miller and ‘Mr. Snake’ had managed to catch up with him just in time for them to be introduced. Where did he manage to get official documents from so quickly? wondered Snake, eyeing the identification the Doctor had just showed the man. “What’s the situation?”
“Ah, yes sir! Of course, sir!” the man replied promptly and gave a salute at which the Doctor gave a barely-disguised grimace. “At 0800 hours a large group of Reminian pirates launched a surprise attack on sector 4 causing extensive damage. Estimated 200 casualties. We’re currently working on re-routing all available power to the forcefield generators to keep the breach under control. This sector isn’t so badly damaged but we’re evacuating people to neighbouring stable sectors to be on the safe side, sir.”
“A surprise attack? You mean the sensors didn’t pick them up at all?”
“No, sir. We’re still trying to figure out how they managed to go undetected until the attack.”
“So do you have an idea of the strength of their forces right now? To cause that much damage must have taken an awful lot of fire-power.”
“Yes, but our readings are still a little fuzzy. They must have damaged some of our equipment in the attack. Or maybe beforehand - that could have been why we couldn’t detect them. We’re estimating maybe 150 to 200 ships out there. Still no idea what weaponry they’re using though, sir.”
“All right then,” he said with a determined expression. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”
“Lieutenant Hrathnar Kriff, sir!” he replied and gave another salute.
“Well then, Hrathnar, would you mind escorting us to the bridge?” The Lieutenant looked a little stunned at the friendly use of his given name.
“Certainly, sir! This way please.” He gave one last salute and then headed off down a brightly-lit corridor. A few feet into the passage and the style of the interior changed drastically from that of the hall they had just come from. The walls and floor were stark white and clinically plain. It definitely had more of the feeling of a futuristic space station than the last room they were in. Kaz’s pace slowed slightly to take in the disconcerting change in scenery. He was suddenly reminded of that film Strangelove had made him watch that he couldn’t quite remember the name of. A Space Something-or-other… For the first time since they had landed, he removed his glasses to get a better look around. The monochromatic brightness stung his uncovered eyes.
“Kaz? You all right?” Snake had stopped when he noticed him fall behind.
He snapped out of his daze at his Boss’ voice. “Uh. Yeah… ‘m fine.” He quickly replaced his glasses and set off after them again, jogging slightly to catch up.
“Hurry up you two!” shouted the Doctor from several feet down the corridor in front of them. They were almost at the far end of the passage where there was a large door of brushed steel. Hrathnar stepped up to a small panel at the side, put his face close and breathed on it.
“ACCESS GRANTED,” came the robotic voice of a woman from the panel. The door slid open almost silently and Hrathnar and the Doctor went inside. Snake and Kaz squeezed themselves in just before the door closed again.
“Bridge,” Hrathnar announced in a monotone and the room started to move.
We must be in an elevator. Snake looked around them and saw displays similar to what one would find in a lift from the 20th century. The design was much neater than anything he’d ever seen on Earth. Not just the stark whiteness of everything but the clean design of all the writing and the small frosted windows encircling the ceiling showing that they were actually moving through the ship as lights flashed past them. Hrathnar seemed to notice Snake’s wonderment.
“You… not from around here?” he asked warily.
“Uh…” Snake was caught off-guard but was saved his embarrassment by the Doctor chiming in to provide a cover story for them.
“Yes. They both recently transferred from Terripplium on Prith so it’s their first time on Meho.”
“Wow!” Hrathnar looked genuinely surprised. “You don’t hear about first-timers here very often. How are you finding it? She’s a wonderful station isn’t she?”
“Yeah,” Snake replied, looking to the Doctor in silent gratitude. “Really magnificent.” He grinned.
“I’m only sorry that you couldn’t have transferred at a more favourable time. If it weren’t for those damn pirates…”
“BRIDGE LEVEL,” came the voice from the lift. The door opened and the group stepped out onto the bridge which was the same stark white as the section of the space station they had just come from. There was a large display at one end of the room showing several diagrams and what Snake guessed were maps of the station as they were dotted with sections of red, likely indicating the damaged sectors. Several desks spread out from it in a semicircle at which people in uniforms sat hunched over computer screens in heated conversation with others at ends of their comm links. A grey-haired man with an impressive moustache who wore a more elaborately decorated uniform than anyone else in the room jerked his head up suddenly, breaking off his conversation with another crew member, at the entrance of the Doctor and Hrathnar. His uniform was the same brilliant red as Lt. Kriff’s but with a dazzling amount of gold and fluorescent detailing around the lapels and shoulders, presumably indicating his higher rank.
“Lieutenant! I thought your orders were to keep everything under control downstairs; what are you doing here?”
Hrathnar gave a quick salute in recoil. “Yes, Captain Yllian! But Admiral Doctor had asked to be escorted immediately to the bridge, sir!”
“Admiral Doctor? I didn’t know the higher-ups would be here! Besides,” he said eyeing the Doctor suspiciously, “I don’t think I recognise your name, Doctor.”
“Ah, yes, well…” The Doctor stalled as he deftly came up with a cover story. “Just recently promoted so that’s why you wouldn’t, and I’ve been on break hence why I was here. Anyway! What’s the situation?” The Captain gave a resigned grunt and folded his arms.
“As I’m sure the Lieutenant will have told you already, we were attacked by Reminian pirates at 0800 hours causing widespread damage in sector 4. As to where the hell they got that kind of fire-power, we’re still trying to work out. At the moment though, we’re just trying to erect emergency defences in case they try again and we’ve sent fighters out on reconnaissance but there’s been no sign of the pirates so far. We’re assuming they’ve either run for it or they managed to get their hands on cloaking devices and are just laying low under our noses. The latter is a stretch… just as is how they came across their weaponry.”
“Hmm indeed,” mused The Doctor.
“Captain!” A voice came through on the bridge’s comm link. “Viking reporting, sir! No sign of the pirates; returning to base!”
“Acknowledged. Come on home Viking.” The Captain furrowed his brow in thought and absent-mindedly tugged at one side of his moustache. “Where the hell have they gone?”
Snake, who had been hanging back while listening to their conversation, warily came forward to address the Captain. “Captain? Sir?”
“Snake, what are you doing?” Kaz hissed at him and grabbed his sleeve, at which Snake looked back and gave him a look that told him simultaneously to calm the hell down and just trust me okay?
“Hm?” he quickly turned to look at Snake and ceased fidgeting with his moustache. “Who is this, Admiral? One of yours, I presume?”
“Ah… yes. These are Mr. Snake and Mr. Miller, my associates,” he said, gesturing to both of them in turn.
“Hm I see. Well, go on then, Mr. Snake,” he said as he folded his arms, likely to prevent him from fidgeting further, and gave Snake his full attention.
“Yes sir. I just wondered… if you picked up nothing on your sensors right up until the attack and nothing again afterwards and reconnaissance hasn’t been able to find anything, how do you know that it actually was these pirates who attacked you? Lieutenant Kriff said there were an estimated 200 ships but there’s been no evidence to suggest that.” The Captain froze, as if he’d just heard something incredibly offensive, and then suddenly burst into hearty laughter.
“My dear boy!” he bellowed between guffaws. “Under which rock have you been living for the past ten years? Of course it’s the pirates! What other enemies do we have?” He whacked a very confused Snake affectionately on the back as his laughter subsided. “And that estimate was just that! Well, I’d call it more of an informed guess.”
“But- ” Snake managed to blurt out.
“With all due respect, sir, I think Snake has a point,” said The Doctor.
“Whatever do you mean, Admiral? Surely you can’t be suggesting Caraferanium has a mysterious new enemy? An enemy who doesn’t even have the balls to introduce himself!”
“While I understand your suspicion of pirates, I don’t think the idea of a new enemy should be that easily ruled out. Are you quite sure there are no other possibilities to consider?”
“What other possibilities are there? Caraferanium hasn’t had enemies in well over 200 years now: this system is at peace! Well, apart from the occasional annoyance by pirates but… Doctor, do you mean to say that a new adversary has come to disrupt our peace time?”
Kaz leaned towards Snake and spoke to him under his breath. “Two hundred years of peace huh? Must be nice.”
“Mm. No place for us there though,” he replied. “I guess it’s a good thing we showed up when we did huh?” Kaz gave a resigned grumble.
“I’m sorry to say this, Captain but it is very possible,” said The Doctor, masking Kaz and Snake’s conversation. “Wherever there is peaceful, prosperous civilization, there will be those who will try to destroy it.”
“Captain, Sir!” The Captain whipped around. “Urgent transmission from Suheo!”
“On screen!” he said in his booming, authoritative voice, waving his hand towards the main display. The face and shoulders of a woman in a similar uniform to his came onto the screen with a sharp crackle as the image flickered into place.
“Meho? This is Suheo! Shortly after we received your transmission we were attacked with unknown weaponry causing damage similar to that which you described.”
“What?” Blurted the Captain. “When? When did this happen?”
“Around 0815 hours. Just 15 minutes after Meho was attacked. Ah… wait,” she suddenly broke off. “We’re receiving a transmission from Sionma.”
“Yes, we are also. On screen.” The woman disappeared to be replaced by a young man, again in a similar uniform. Presumably these were the respective Captains of the other stations, Suheo and Sionma.
“Meho, Suheo! This is Sionma. We’ve also been attacked by unknown forces and the damage matches that which you described in your earlier transmission!”
“That’s 15 minutes between each attack…” said The Doctor.
“But that’s not possible!” blurted the Captain. He was visibly sweating. “No group of pirates could attack all three stations in this small a time-frame! Not to mention the damage! Wh- what could this mean?”
The woman reappeared onto the screen with a crack and a flicker. “We’ve received word that Prith is seriously considering the possibility of war with another nation although they haven’t disclosed any of their speculation on which nation it could be.”
“Bu- b- but… war?! It… it can’t be!” All previous composure lost, the Captain was fidgeting anxiously. The fear in his eyes was noticeable by everyone on the bridge and it spread like an infection among the rest of the crew. Realising this, The Doctor approached him, spun him around and firmly placed both hands on his shoulders.
“Captain,” he enunciated firmly.“You need to calm down.I know it’s hard, and the prospect of war is a terrifying thing but this crew is depending on you to be a confident and strong leader for them. Right now more than ever. You need to get a hold of yourself for their sake. We can’t allow panic to spread throughout this ship. Do you understand?”
The Captain gave a mute, shaky nod before clearing his throat and replying: “Yes Admiral.” He wiped the sweat from his brow and smoothed his hair back, forcing his face into a determined expression. He then turned to address the crew.
“All right everyone!” He strode down the middle of the room to take up position at the front of the bridge where everyone could see him. “I know a lot of you don’t want to believe it but we must be prepared for war if that is what these attacks truly signify! I know since we’ve been living in relative peace for so long you’ve been used to dealing with very few and minor combat situations. But I know without doubt that you all have the abilities to deal with anything these bastards can throw at us! Right,” he paused, the little cogs of his strategist’s brain turning to choose the best course of action. “Commander Tyrr!”
“Sir!” A short, blonde woman in a blue uniform at one of the desks near the front stood up quickly.
“Go and oversee the evacuation. I want everyone well away from the damaged sectors and to be on the safe side, evacuate anyone in the outer sectors towards the middle of the ship in case of a second attack. I don’t want any more casualties, you got that?”
“Yes sir!” they both said quickly, and dashed off.
“Lieutenant Polnir,” he addressed a dark-haired man in a gold uniform. “I want you to go down to engineering and help get those new shields up and running.”
“Yes sir,” he dashed off in the same direction as the Commander and Lieutenant.
“Lieutenant Thrix,” he said to a brown-haired woman in a red uniform. “Ready all available weaponry. We need to be prepared for if and when these bastards decide to show themselves.”
“Yes sir!” Instead of running off, she remained on the bridge but moved to a different station which was presumably the controls for the station’s weaponry.
Having set his strategy in motion, the Captain gave a small sigh of momentary relief then turned and strode back up the centre of the bridge to the Doctor and Snake and Kaz who were hovering behind him with a slight unease. Kaz in particular, looked very nervous.
“Good work Captain,” said the Doctor.
“Oh no, I would never have managed it if you hadn’t given me that kick up the backside. I’m very grateful.” He saluted, at which the Doctor grimaced slightly and gave a small nod in return. “You know, Doctor… You do a pretty good job at playing the part of someone else, don’t you?”
The Doctor visibly stiffened. He wasn’t too used to his cover being blown this quickly but the Captain’s sharpness in picking it up impressed him.
“…Excuse me?” he asked, trying to see how far he could push this until he was sure that he was completely rumbled.
“Oh come now, Doctor. I’ve never heard of you before, you’re definitely not in uniform,” he said, clearly gesturing to the Doctor’s long brown coat, suit and trainers. “Even if you are supposedly ‘on break’. And your approach to this whole situation is far from proper protocol. I think you’d ought to tell me exactly who you and your associates are.”
Kaz and Snake held back nervously behind the Doctor, not wanting to be subjected to the brunt of the Captain’s judgement. They noticed the Doctor fidget uncertainly before finally answering.
“I’m… no one.”
“No one? Don’t be ridiculous, surely you have a name?” the Captain scoffed.
“Doctor.” His expression was stiff and unreadable.
“Doctor? That’s not a name, that’s just a title. Doctor Who?”
“Just the Doctor. That’s what people call me.”
The Captain paused, regarding the Doctor with a puzzled expression. “And what about your ‘associates’ Snake and Miller here? Are those even their real names?”
“They’re just uh… friends of mine. Coming along for the ride. Are you done?”
The Captain stared him down with a face like thunder before reluctantly answering. “Well I suppose I am. I’m sure you realise that impersonating a military officer is a serious offence but given these exceptional circumstances and you and your friends’ helpful input earlier I think I might just let this slide.” The Doctor’s expression softened slightly, and then fell again at the Captain’s condition: “Providing that you continue to help us through this mess for as long as it takes. Is that a deal?”
“Well, what choice do I have?” He gave a shrug then held out his hand for the Captain who shook it firmly.
“Good decision.” The Captain gave him pleased lop-sided grin. “Now then. Since we’re basically on standby until any further developments, I’ll let Lieutenant Kriff escort you to living quarters for the three of you.”
“Thank you, Captain,” said the Doctor.
“Thank you, sir” said Snake and Kaz, saluting.
Lieutenant Kriff re-emerged from the hubbub of the bridge to escort them. “If you’ll follow me.” He waited until he was sure he had their attention and then headed off towards the back of the room. He stopped at a pair of doors and pressed a few buttons on the keypad to the side. The doors slid open with a whoosh and he stepped inside. The three men followed and the doors closed behind them.
“Deck Q-Alpha,” he announced and the lift began to move.
There was silence save for the whirr of the lift moving through the ship for a few seconds. Noticing the Doctor start to fidget restlessly with something in his pocket, Hrathnar addressed Snake and Kaz.
“You know, you’re awfully lucky that the Captain was so lenient. Obviously, we’re all glad that you were here to give us an outsider’s perspective or we might not have been able to react so quickly.” Snake gave a small smile and a grunt in reply. Unable to continue the conversation from this, Hrathnar continued: “Um… I have to ask: where are you all actually from? I know you said you just transferred from Prith but… you don’t seem familiar with a lot of things.”
The Doctor replied. “We’ve come a very long way.”
“Just how far? If you don’t mind my asking.”
The Doctor laughed. “A distance that can’t be measured in just light-years,” he replied cryptically.
“Come on, what do you mean by that? If you’ve really come such a long way, I want to know where from and what it’s like there! I’ve never even travelled beyond this system, myself.”
“Well,” he said and turned to Snake and Kaz. “Why don’t you two tell him about where you’re from?” The Doctor carefully dodged the possibility of talking about his home planet.
“We’re uh… from a planet called Earth,” began Snake.
“…Earth huh? Never heard of it before.” Hrathnar’s response took them by surprise. If he didn’t even know of the planet they came from surely there would be no harm in telling him about it.
“Yeah. It’s uh…” Snake faltered, trying to think where to start in describing his home.
“Well for starters, it has one satellite we call the Moon.” Kaz jumped in to save the thread of conversation. “And it’s in a system with 9 other planets. Most of the Earth’s surface is covered in water and the rest is land with a wide range of different climates from searingly hot around the equator to sub-zero at each pole. The places in between have the most inhabitants.”
“The Earth spins on its axis, right?” asked Hrathnar.
“Uh… yeah. Oh, and it’s titled slightly so as it orbits the Sun we get different seasons depending on which part of the planet is closer to it.”
“Huh, interesting…”
“Interesting?” asked Snake. “You mean it’s different from your planet? Prith… was it?”
“You guys are pretty clueless aren’t you?” Hrathnar laughed. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll clue you in: Prith is part of a binary system with the stars Zol and Gar. Zol is at the centre and Gar and the planets orbit it, so when Gar is closer to Prith, the planet becomes warmer. When it’s further away, it gets colder. This is how we get our seasons. The cycles are much more complicated than on your Earth.”
“Binary star system? I’ve… never heard of that before,” said Snake.
“Man, what did they teach you guys in school? Learning about your system would have been a breeze!”
“LEVEL Q-ALPHA.” They were interrupted by the same mechanical voice they had heard in the lift before.
“Ah, this is us. This way please,” instructed Hrathnar, leading them out and onto a bright white corridor and they followed closely behind him. “You’ll have to excuse the small size of the living quarters as this is all we had available at such short notice.”
“But what about the evacuation?” asked Kaz.
“Oh, this station was only at seventy percent capacity at the time of the attack so there’s more than enough space to accommodate everyone.” He came to a halt outside one of the brushed steel doors that lined the corridor. “You’ll all need to give a breath sample for the lock. Just come over here and breathe onto the plate; simple.”
Snake expected the Doctor to jump ahead of them but this time he held back. Snake gave him a questioning look.
“Oh go ahead. I’m sure yours and Kaz’s samples will be sufficient,” he said and subtly tapped his jacket pocket where he must have been keeping his sonic screwdriver. He wouldn’t be needing to bother with the usual means of entry.
“Uh… okay.” Snake stepped up to the security plate and did as instructed then Hrathnar came to enter a few more commands before it was Kaz’s turn. Then just a few more keystrokes were entered by the Lieutenant and there came a voice from the panel announcing the success of the configuration. The door then opened and the three of them stepped inside.
Contrary to Hrathnar’s earlier comment, the room didn’t seem small at all to them. They walked into a spacious living area decorated in a deep red with gold details on the various pieces furniture which included a large sofa, perched on claw and ball feet and a very comfortabe-looking armchair in one of the corners. The far wall of the room was made entirely out of glass which enabled them to see far out into the vast blackness of space beyond them. To either end of the room were doors of dark-coloured, panelled wood which presumably lead to their individual bedrooms.
“Make yourselves comfortable. If you need anything to eat or drink, the fabricator is over there.” He gestured to one end of the room where there was small indent in the wall which housed a machine that looked something like a microwave oven but without a door. “If we require your assistance, we’ll contact you on the comm link here.” He gestured again, this time towards a small panel near the door. “You should also take these comm devices and keep them with you in case you decide to leave your quarters at any time.”
“Ooh, gadgets!” said the Doctor.
After rummaging in one of his pockets, he took out three small devices that looked like metal badges. He handed one to each of them then headed for the door. The Doctor immediately pocketed his while Snake and Kaz curiously investigated theirs. How was one supposed to use it? It didn’t appear to have any buttons on it.
“Oh, and one more thing:” Hrathnar said quickly, pausing on the threshold. “If you wish to take a look around the station you can ask the computer to guide you so you don’t get lost. Well then. You’re free to do as you wish until we call for your assistance.” He gave a salute and then exited the room.
Kaz took this chance to flop down onto the sofa and gave a big sigh.
“If I’d known travelling with you would be this insane, I would never have agreed to come,” he said with a frown. “Can’t we just get out of here while they’re preoccupied with everything else?”
“Come on, Kaz. Don’t be such a killjoy. We’ve come this far, and the station is secure for the time-being. We might as well take this chance to have a look around,” assured Snake. “Don’t you want to see the rest of this space station?” He turned to the Doctor who was now inspecting his comm device with his sonic screwdriver. “What do you think, Doctor?”
“Hm? Oh, yes. Well, I thought I’d go and do some investigating and let you boys do your own thing. You heard the Lieutenant: if you get lost, you can just ask the station’s computer. No problem, right? And besides, I should go check on the TARDIS. She might need moving to a more secure spot.” He flipped the comm device in the air once, stuffed it into his coat pocket and then headed for the door. “I’ll see you later!” he said and then left before either Snake or Kaz could say anything to stop him.
Pairing: Big Boss/Kaz if you squint really hard
Word Count: 6,403
Summary: In this instalment: retro-future space colonies! Space stations! Stupid clothes! Psychic paper! Unpronouncable names! And more!
Notes: Second part reposted from my tumblr complete with little pchat drawings I did
“It’s… BIGGER ON THE INSIDE!” were Kaz’s first words as he stepped into the TARDIS. His neck was craned towards the ceiling, trying to gauge the size of the room. “But… but this is impossible. How…?”
“Oh, just a bit of inter-dimensional jiggery-pokery - Time Lord technology,” said the Doctor, rushing towards the main control panel. “So! Where do you want to go? Forwards or backwards in time?” He stood leaning against the central column with an inane grin on his face, awaiting their answer. Kaz and Snake looked to each other in their indecision.
“Forwards!” Snake said suddenly.
“Forwards? You sure?” asked Kaz.
“Yeah why not.” He shrugged. “I mean, we already know what’s happened in the past - that’s no fun.”
“Well… all right.”
“Let’s go, Doctor!”
“Right - forwards it is!” He started hitting buttons, turning handles and levers on the endlessly complicated control panel. He flipped one last switch and the room began to rumble. Snake was more prepared this time, leaning against the railings that encircled the central area to keep his balance. Still heading towards the middle of the room when the shaking started, Kaz ended up staggering into a pillar when it took him by surprise.
“Is it supposed to do this?!” he yelled over the sound of the TARDIS’s engines.
“Oh it’s fine. This is normal!” The Doctor shouted back. Kaz rolled his eyes and held onto the pillar tighter. “Just a bit more and… There!” A huge jolt shook the room throwing all three of them to the floor. The Doctor was the first to right himself, jumping up excitedly and half walking, half staggering to the door, gangly limbs all over the place. He opened it, took a quick look outside, closed it again and turned towards the two men trying to regain their balance.
“Where are we?” asked Snake, managing to stand again.
The Doctor grinned at him. “Why don’t you go take a look?”
Snake headed to the door, closely followed by a disgruntled Kaz. The Doctor opened the door for them with a childishly expectant smile on his face. Peering outside, they saw a huge room with a ceiling at least thirty feet above them. Every inch of the room was decorated in a beautifully intricate style that reminded them of old Earth palaces and castles. People in lavishly styled clothes as detailed as their surroundings bustled past them completely oblivious to them and the TARDIS that had just appeared out of nowhere. It looked as if they were inside a palace out of a history book. But hadn’t the Doctor said they had gone forwards in time?
“What? Where are we? I thought you said this was the future?” said Kaz, confused.
“It is. This is the Great Empire of Caraferanium in the year 26,739. We’re actually on a space station in orbit around the planet Prith.”
“This is a space station?” Kaz’s eyes widened as he stepped out of the TARDIS and got a good look at the room they were in.
“Yep. One of the largest space stations of this era. It’s a whole city suspended in orbit around the planet.”
“Why build a city out in space though?” asked Snake.
“Well, you know, the usual problem - planet’s too crowded so people have to live somewhere else.”
“Overpopulation huh? Looks like they still have the same problems in the future,” said Snake, also stepping out into the strange world they’d arrived in.
“Doctor,” said Kaz. “Why don’t any of these people notice us or the TARDIS? I’d be pretty shocked if a big blue box suddenly came out of nowhere.”
“Ah… well that’s because of the perception filter.” He tapped the door frame of the ship. “It stops people from noticing the TARDIS. It’s not invisible, it’s like people just avoid looking at it - like camouflage.”
“Camouflage huh… That could come in handy,” mused Snake. “Hey, are we going to go look around this place or what?”
“Ah, yes. But first, we should get you two into some more appropriate clothing. Come on,” he said and gestured for them to come back inside the TARDIS. Snake and Kaz followed him inside, past the control panel and towards the back of the room where there was a set of metal doors. As he walked up to them, they opened onto an odd octagonal corridor with walls of brushed steel. There were several more sets of similar doors along either side. “This way,” he said going up to one of the entrances whose doors opened automatically. The room inside was much like the main control room except that instead of the pillar in the centre, there was a huge spiral staircase leading up to several other floors above it. The rest of the room was filled with dozens of clothes rails straining under the weight of the garments that hung from them. There was clothing in every possible style from every possible era and in every colour one could imagine.
“Hmmm let’s see… 268th Century; Caraferanian,” he muttered as his eyes scanned the room. “Ah yes. That’ll be upstairs. Just one floor. This way!” He dashed up the staircase, taking two steps at a time. Snake and Kaz rushed to keep up with him.
For such a skinny guy he sure has a lot of stamina, thought Snake.
As they reached the second floor the Doctor had already disappeared in among the many racks of clothes. Snake was only able to keep track of him by the constant rustling and moving of feet as he moved about the floor.
“Aha!” came a shout from somewhere in the distance. “These should be all right for you two.” The Doctor suddenly re-emerged from the mass of clothing holding two outfits. They were in the same style as the clothes of the people they had just seen in the space station outside.
“You sure these are going to fit us?” asked Kaz warily.
“You can have my word. Now go on - get changed! I’ll wait in the main control room for you.” He threw both outfits at them and then bounded off again down the stairs.
“Hey! What about you? You’re not changing?” Kaz called after him.
“Nah, these clothes are fine!” he shouted back up the stairs.
Kaz looked after him with a somewhat puzzled expression, leaning over the banister of the spiral staircase.
“Come on, Kaz. We might as well look the part.”
He sighed. “Yeah I guess you’re right.” He turned back to Snake, his expression a little exasperated then looked at the outfit he was holding and raised an eyebrow. “You think red is my colour…?”
-
“Well don’t you two look smart!” The Doctor beamed at the two men coming up the stairs of the main control room.
Snake was dressed in a beautiful iridescent olive green suit reminiscent of old military dress uniforms. The jacket was adorned with gold frogging covering the torso and cuffs, and gold epaulettes with red detailing sat neatly on the shoulders. The trousers were the same shade of green with a single red stripe up the side of each leg and on his feet were a pair of black knee-high boots, also with intricate gold detailing. The only thing that threw the whole ensemble was the 20th century belt and holster he wore around his waist which carried his Mk. 22.
Kaz’s outfit was a three-piece suit in a dark red velvet with a white iridescent jabot adorning his neck. He also wore elaborately detailed boots but this time, decorated in silver. Similar detailing adorned the lapels and cuffs of his suit jacket. And, like Snake, he also carried a Mk.22 in the holster he’d brought with him.
“…I feel a little ridiculous in this,” said Kaz.
“Don’t be silly! You’ll fit right in,” assured the Doctor. “Well then. Shall we?”
The door of the TARDIS swung open and they once again stepped out into the space station. Only this time, something was different. They hadn’t heard it while they were still inside the TARDIS but as soon as they were outside their ears were assaulted by the high-pitched screeching of a siren. The crowds of people from before were frantically rushing about and shouting, adding to the noise. Figures in bright red official-looking uniforms were trying to direct people to various exits around the room, yelling to be heard over the kerfuffle.
“Oh what’s this?” said a largely unperturbed Doctor, craning his neck to see over the crowd.
“An alert? What’s going on?” said Snake, tentatively reaching for his holster.
“CODE MAUVE. CODE MAUVE. ALL UNITS TO BATTLE STATIONS. CIVILIANS IN SECTORS 3 THROUGH 5 FOLLOW DIRECTIONS AND MOVE TO NEAREST STABLE SECTOR. I REPEAT: …”
“Code… mauve?” asked Kaz. “Not red?”
“Yes, mauve - the universally recognised colour for danger. Hm we must be in one of the sectors being evacuated. But why? What’s going on?” He darted around the side of the TARDIS and scanned along the wall behind them. “Come on, come on, where are you? …Aha!” Spotting something on the wall he leapt towards it and whacked it with his fist, causing a small wooden flap to spring open revealing a control panel.
“Doctor? What’s going on?” asked Snake, peering over his shoulder.
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.” He sighed and took out his pair of thick-rimmed glasses from his inside jacket pocket and leaned closer to the display. He began tapping away at various buttons on the touch screen too fast for either Snake or Kaz to follow. Then he gave a grumble of annoyance. “This is going to need some persuading.” Diving into his jacket pocket again he brought out the metal tool Snake had seen him use before. Holding it to the screen the end glowed a bright blue and gave out a high-pitched whirring sound. The display flickered for a second and then showed something different. Clearly this was progress as the Doctor gave a triumphant shout. Then suddenly his face fell. “Oh that’s not good. That’s not good at all.”
“What is it Doctor?” Snake asked again, growing more concerned.
The Doctor gave a sigh and ran one of his hands through his hair. “There’s been a massive hull breach in sectors 3 through 5; that’s why they’re evacuating.” He tapped the map on screen to show their location. “We’re mostly safe here as we’re near the inside of the structure but if they don’t get that fixed soon we’re going to have problems.”
“A hull breach?” said Kaz, his expression suddenly filled with dread.
“But this can’t be right; the damaged area is several kilometres wide! You’d need a ridiculous amount of fire-power to rip a hole that big in a space station this well fortified. What could do something like that? Unless…”
“Unless…?” repeated Snake.
“Come on you two, we’re going to go find out what’s going on.” He darted off into the now diminishing crowd, heading towards one of the men in red uniforms. Snake followed closely behind him.
“Woah! Hey wait!” Kaz shouted after them both, briefly glancing back at the TARDIS. “Where are you going? It’s not safe here; we should just get in the TARDIS and go back!” The Doctor didn’t answer, and just kept on pushing through the crowd. “God damn it. I knew it. I just knew it.”
“What?” Snake shouted back to him.
“I knew there’d be trouble!”
“Well, the Doctor seems to know what he’s doing.”
“Yeah I know that but-!”
“We’ll be fine,” he assured him. “Hurry up! We can worry about this later.”
“But-! Hey! Snaaaake-!” he shouted but his voice was largely lost in all the confusion around them. Cursing, he pushed his way through the crowd to catch up with Snake and The Doctor.
-
“The Doctor and his associates Mr. Miller and uh… Mr. Snake,” he announced, grinning widely and holding up an official-looking piece of paper to the man in the red uniform. Miller and ‘Mr. Snake’ had managed to catch up with him just in time for them to be introduced. Where did he manage to get official documents from so quickly? wondered Snake, eyeing the identification the Doctor had just showed the man. “What’s the situation?”
“Ah, yes sir! Of course, sir!” the man replied promptly and gave a salute at which the Doctor gave a barely-disguised grimace. “At 0800 hours a large group of Reminian pirates launched a surprise attack on sector 4 causing extensive damage. Estimated 200 casualties. We’re currently working on re-routing all available power to the forcefield generators to keep the breach under control. This sector isn’t so badly damaged but we’re evacuating people to neighbouring stable sectors to be on the safe side, sir.”
“A surprise attack? You mean the sensors didn’t pick them up at all?”
“No, sir. We’re still trying to figure out how they managed to go undetected until the attack.”
“So do you have an idea of the strength of their forces right now? To cause that much damage must have taken an awful lot of fire-power.”
“Yes, but our readings are still a little fuzzy. They must have damaged some of our equipment in the attack. Or maybe beforehand - that could have been why we couldn’t detect them. We’re estimating maybe 150 to 200 ships out there. Still no idea what weaponry they’re using though, sir.”
“All right then,” he said with a determined expression. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”
“Lieutenant Hrathnar Kriff, sir!” he replied and gave another salute.
“Well then, Hrathnar, would you mind escorting us to the bridge?” The Lieutenant looked a little stunned at the friendly use of his given name.
“Certainly, sir! This way please.” He gave one last salute and then headed off down a brightly-lit corridor. A few feet into the passage and the style of the interior changed drastically from that of the hall they had just come from. The walls and floor were stark white and clinically plain. It definitely had more of the feeling of a futuristic space station than the last room they were in. Kaz’s pace slowed slightly to take in the disconcerting change in scenery. He was suddenly reminded of that film Strangelove had made him watch that he couldn’t quite remember the name of. A Space Something-or-other… For the first time since they had landed, he removed his glasses to get a better look around. The monochromatic brightness stung his uncovered eyes.
“Kaz? You all right?” Snake had stopped when he noticed him fall behind.
He snapped out of his daze at his Boss’ voice. “Uh. Yeah… ‘m fine.” He quickly replaced his glasses and set off after them again, jogging slightly to catch up.
“Hurry up you two!” shouted the Doctor from several feet down the corridor in front of them. They were almost at the far end of the passage where there was a large door of brushed steel. Hrathnar stepped up to a small panel at the side, put his face close and breathed on it.
“ACCESS GRANTED,” came the robotic voice of a woman from the panel. The door slid open almost silently and Hrathnar and the Doctor went inside. Snake and Kaz squeezed themselves in just before the door closed again.
“Bridge,” Hrathnar announced in a monotone and the room started to move.
We must be in an elevator. Snake looked around them and saw displays similar to what one would find in a lift from the 20th century. The design was much neater than anything he’d ever seen on Earth. Not just the stark whiteness of everything but the clean design of all the writing and the small frosted windows encircling the ceiling showing that they were actually moving through the ship as lights flashed past them. Hrathnar seemed to notice Snake’s wonderment.
“You… not from around here?” he asked warily.
“Uh…” Snake was caught off-guard but was saved his embarrassment by the Doctor chiming in to provide a cover story for them.
“Yes. They both recently transferred from Terripplium on Prith so it’s their first time on Meho.”
“Wow!” Hrathnar looked genuinely surprised. “You don’t hear about first-timers here very often. How are you finding it? She’s a wonderful station isn’t she?”
“Yeah,” Snake replied, looking to the Doctor in silent gratitude. “Really magnificent.” He grinned.
“I’m only sorry that you couldn’t have transferred at a more favourable time. If it weren’t for those damn pirates…”
“BRIDGE LEVEL,” came the voice from the lift. The door opened and the group stepped out onto the bridge which was the same stark white as the section of the space station they had just come from. There was a large display at one end of the room showing several diagrams and what Snake guessed were maps of the station as they were dotted with sections of red, likely indicating the damaged sectors. Several desks spread out from it in a semicircle at which people in uniforms sat hunched over computer screens in heated conversation with others at ends of their comm links. A grey-haired man with an impressive moustache who wore a more elaborately decorated uniform than anyone else in the room jerked his head up suddenly, breaking off his conversation with another crew member, at the entrance of the Doctor and Hrathnar. His uniform was the same brilliant red as Lt. Kriff’s but with a dazzling amount of gold and fluorescent detailing around the lapels and shoulders, presumably indicating his higher rank.
“Lieutenant! I thought your orders were to keep everything under control downstairs; what are you doing here?”
Hrathnar gave a quick salute in recoil. “Yes, Captain Yllian! But Admiral Doctor had asked to be escorted immediately to the bridge, sir!”
“Admiral Doctor? I didn’t know the higher-ups would be here! Besides,” he said eyeing the Doctor suspiciously, “I don’t think I recognise your name, Doctor.”
“Ah, yes, well…” The Doctor stalled as he deftly came up with a cover story. “Just recently promoted so that’s why you wouldn’t, and I’ve been on break hence why I was here. Anyway! What’s the situation?” The Captain gave a resigned grunt and folded his arms.
“As I’m sure the Lieutenant will have told you already, we were attacked by Reminian pirates at 0800 hours causing widespread damage in sector 4. As to where the hell they got that kind of fire-power, we’re still trying to work out. At the moment though, we’re just trying to erect emergency defences in case they try again and we’ve sent fighters out on reconnaissance but there’s been no sign of the pirates so far. We’re assuming they’ve either run for it or they managed to get their hands on cloaking devices and are just laying low under our noses. The latter is a stretch… just as is how they came across their weaponry.”
“Hmm indeed,” mused The Doctor.
“Captain!” A voice came through on the bridge’s comm link. “Viking reporting, sir! No sign of the pirates; returning to base!”
“Acknowledged. Come on home Viking.” The Captain furrowed his brow in thought and absent-mindedly tugged at one side of his moustache. “Where the hell have they gone?”
Snake, who had been hanging back while listening to their conversation, warily came forward to address the Captain. “Captain? Sir?”
“Snake, what are you doing?” Kaz hissed at him and grabbed his sleeve, at which Snake looked back and gave him a look that told him simultaneously to calm the hell down and just trust me okay?
“Hm?” he quickly turned to look at Snake and ceased fidgeting with his moustache. “Who is this, Admiral? One of yours, I presume?”
“Ah… yes. These are Mr. Snake and Mr. Miller, my associates,” he said, gesturing to both of them in turn.
“Hm I see. Well, go on then, Mr. Snake,” he said as he folded his arms, likely to prevent him from fidgeting further, and gave Snake his full attention.
“Yes sir. I just wondered… if you picked up nothing on your sensors right up until the attack and nothing again afterwards and reconnaissance hasn’t been able to find anything, how do you know that it actually was these pirates who attacked you? Lieutenant Kriff said there were an estimated 200 ships but there’s been no evidence to suggest that.” The Captain froze, as if he’d just heard something incredibly offensive, and then suddenly burst into hearty laughter.
“My dear boy!” he bellowed between guffaws. “Under which rock have you been living for the past ten years? Of course it’s the pirates! What other enemies do we have?” He whacked a very confused Snake affectionately on the back as his laughter subsided. “And that estimate was just that! Well, I’d call it more of an informed guess.”
“But- ” Snake managed to blurt out.
“With all due respect, sir, I think Snake has a point,” said The Doctor.
“Whatever do you mean, Admiral? Surely you can’t be suggesting Caraferanium has a mysterious new enemy? An enemy who doesn’t even have the balls to introduce himself!”
“While I understand your suspicion of pirates, I don’t think the idea of a new enemy should be that easily ruled out. Are you quite sure there are no other possibilities to consider?”
“What other possibilities are there? Caraferanium hasn’t had enemies in well over 200 years now: this system is at peace! Well, apart from the occasional annoyance by pirates but… Doctor, do you mean to say that a new adversary has come to disrupt our peace time?”
Kaz leaned towards Snake and spoke to him under his breath. “Two hundred years of peace huh? Must be nice.”
“Mm. No place for us there though,” he replied. “I guess it’s a good thing we showed up when we did huh?” Kaz gave a resigned grumble.
“I’m sorry to say this, Captain but it is very possible,” said The Doctor, masking Kaz and Snake’s conversation. “Wherever there is peaceful, prosperous civilization, there will be those who will try to destroy it.”
“Captain, Sir!” The Captain whipped around. “Urgent transmission from Suheo!”
“On screen!” he said in his booming, authoritative voice, waving his hand towards the main display. The face and shoulders of a woman in a similar uniform to his came onto the screen with a sharp crackle as the image flickered into place.
“Meho? This is Suheo! Shortly after we received your transmission we were attacked with unknown weaponry causing damage similar to that which you described.”
“What?” Blurted the Captain. “When? When did this happen?”
“Around 0815 hours. Just 15 minutes after Meho was attacked. Ah… wait,” she suddenly broke off. “We’re receiving a transmission from Sionma.”
“Yes, we are also. On screen.” The woman disappeared to be replaced by a young man, again in a similar uniform. Presumably these were the respective Captains of the other stations, Suheo and Sionma.
“Meho, Suheo! This is Sionma. We’ve also been attacked by unknown forces and the damage matches that which you described in your earlier transmission!”
“That’s 15 minutes between each attack…” said The Doctor.
“But that’s not possible!” blurted the Captain. He was visibly sweating. “No group of pirates could attack all three stations in this small a time-frame! Not to mention the damage! Wh- what could this mean?”
The woman reappeared onto the screen with a crack and a flicker. “We’ve received word that Prith is seriously considering the possibility of war with another nation although they haven’t disclosed any of their speculation on which nation it could be.”
“Bu- b- but… war?! It… it can’t be!” All previous composure lost, the Captain was fidgeting anxiously. The fear in his eyes was noticeable by everyone on the bridge and it spread like an infection among the rest of the crew. Realising this, The Doctor approached him, spun him around and firmly placed both hands on his shoulders.
“Captain,” he enunciated firmly.“You need to calm down.I know it’s hard, and the prospect of war is a terrifying thing but this crew is depending on you to be a confident and strong leader for them. Right now more than ever. You need to get a hold of yourself for their sake. We can’t allow panic to spread throughout this ship. Do you understand?”
The Captain gave a mute, shaky nod before clearing his throat and replying: “Yes Admiral.” He wiped the sweat from his brow and smoothed his hair back, forcing his face into a determined expression. He then turned to address the crew.
“All right everyone!” He strode down the middle of the room to take up position at the front of the bridge where everyone could see him. “I know a lot of you don’t want to believe it but we must be prepared for war if that is what these attacks truly signify! I know since we’ve been living in relative peace for so long you’ve been used to dealing with very few and minor combat situations. But I know without doubt that you all have the abilities to deal with anything these bastards can throw at us! Right,” he paused, the little cogs of his strategist’s brain turning to choose the best course of action. “Commander Tyrr!”
“Sir!” A short, blonde woman in a blue uniform at one of the desks near the front stood up quickly.
“Go and oversee the evacuation. I want everyone well away from the damaged sectors and to be on the safe side, evacuate anyone in the outer sectors towards the middle of the ship in case of a second attack. I don’t want any more casualties, you got that?”
“Yes sir!” they both said quickly, and dashed off.
“Lieutenant Polnir,” he addressed a dark-haired man in a gold uniform. “I want you to go down to engineering and help get those new shields up and running.”
“Yes sir,” he dashed off in the same direction as the Commander and Lieutenant.
“Lieutenant Thrix,” he said to a brown-haired woman in a red uniform. “Ready all available weaponry. We need to be prepared for if and when these bastards decide to show themselves.”
“Yes sir!” Instead of running off, she remained on the bridge but moved to a different station which was presumably the controls for the station’s weaponry.
Having set his strategy in motion, the Captain gave a small sigh of momentary relief then turned and strode back up the centre of the bridge to the Doctor and Snake and Kaz who were hovering behind him with a slight unease. Kaz in particular, looked very nervous.
“Good work Captain,” said the Doctor.
“Oh no, I would never have managed it if you hadn’t given me that kick up the backside. I’m very grateful.” He saluted, at which the Doctor grimaced slightly and gave a small nod in return. “You know, Doctor… You do a pretty good job at playing the part of someone else, don’t you?”
The Doctor visibly stiffened. He wasn’t too used to his cover being blown this quickly but the Captain’s sharpness in picking it up impressed him.
“…Excuse me?” he asked, trying to see how far he could push this until he was sure that he was completely rumbled.
“Oh come now, Doctor. I’ve never heard of you before, you’re definitely not in uniform,” he said, clearly gesturing to the Doctor’s long brown coat, suit and trainers. “Even if you are supposedly ‘on break’. And your approach to this whole situation is far from proper protocol. I think you’d ought to tell me exactly who you and your associates are.”
Kaz and Snake held back nervously behind the Doctor, not wanting to be subjected to the brunt of the Captain’s judgement. They noticed the Doctor fidget uncertainly before finally answering.
“I’m… no one.”
“No one? Don’t be ridiculous, surely you have a name?” the Captain scoffed.
“Doctor.” His expression was stiff and unreadable.
“Doctor? That’s not a name, that’s just a title. Doctor Who?”
“Just the Doctor. That’s what people call me.”
The Captain paused, regarding the Doctor with a puzzled expression. “And what about your ‘associates’ Snake and Miller here? Are those even their real names?”
“They’re just uh… friends of mine. Coming along for the ride. Are you done?”
The Captain stared him down with a face like thunder before reluctantly answering. “Well I suppose I am. I’m sure you realise that impersonating a military officer is a serious offence but given these exceptional circumstances and you and your friends’ helpful input earlier I think I might just let this slide.” The Doctor’s expression softened slightly, and then fell again at the Captain’s condition: “Providing that you continue to help us through this mess for as long as it takes. Is that a deal?”
“Well, what choice do I have?” He gave a shrug then held out his hand for the Captain who shook it firmly.
“Good decision.” The Captain gave him pleased lop-sided grin. “Now then. Since we’re basically on standby until any further developments, I’ll let Lieutenant Kriff escort you to living quarters for the three of you.”
“Thank you, Captain,” said the Doctor.
“Thank you, sir” said Snake and Kaz, saluting.
Lieutenant Kriff re-emerged from the hubbub of the bridge to escort them. “If you’ll follow me.” He waited until he was sure he had their attention and then headed off towards the back of the room. He stopped at a pair of doors and pressed a few buttons on the keypad to the side. The doors slid open with a whoosh and he stepped inside. The three men followed and the doors closed behind them.
“Deck Q-Alpha,” he announced and the lift began to move.
There was silence save for the whirr of the lift moving through the ship for a few seconds. Noticing the Doctor start to fidget restlessly with something in his pocket, Hrathnar addressed Snake and Kaz.
“You know, you’re awfully lucky that the Captain was so lenient. Obviously, we’re all glad that you were here to give us an outsider’s perspective or we might not have been able to react so quickly.” Snake gave a small smile and a grunt in reply. Unable to continue the conversation from this, Hrathnar continued: “Um… I have to ask: where are you all actually from? I know you said you just transferred from Prith but… you don’t seem familiar with a lot of things.”
The Doctor replied. “We’ve come a very long way.”
“Just how far? If you don’t mind my asking.”
The Doctor laughed. “A distance that can’t be measured in just light-years,” he replied cryptically.
“Come on, what do you mean by that? If you’ve really come such a long way, I want to know where from and what it’s like there! I’ve never even travelled beyond this system, myself.”
“Well,” he said and turned to Snake and Kaz. “Why don’t you two tell him about where you’re from?” The Doctor carefully dodged the possibility of talking about his home planet.
“We’re uh… from a planet called Earth,” began Snake.
“…Earth huh? Never heard of it before.” Hrathnar’s response took them by surprise. If he didn’t even know of the planet they came from surely there would be no harm in telling him about it.
“Yeah. It’s uh…” Snake faltered, trying to think where to start in describing his home.
“Well for starters, it has one satellite we call the Moon.” Kaz jumped in to save the thread of conversation. “And it’s in a system with 9 other planets. Most of the Earth’s surface is covered in water and the rest is land with a wide range of different climates from searingly hot around the equator to sub-zero at each pole. The places in between have the most inhabitants.”
“The Earth spins on its axis, right?” asked Hrathnar.
“Uh… yeah. Oh, and it’s titled slightly so as it orbits the Sun we get different seasons depending on which part of the planet is closer to it.”
“Huh, interesting…”
“Interesting?” asked Snake. “You mean it’s different from your planet? Prith… was it?”
“You guys are pretty clueless aren’t you?” Hrathnar laughed. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll clue you in: Prith is part of a binary system with the stars Zol and Gar. Zol is at the centre and Gar and the planets orbit it, so when Gar is closer to Prith, the planet becomes warmer. When it’s further away, it gets colder. This is how we get our seasons. The cycles are much more complicated than on your Earth.”
“Binary star system? I’ve… never heard of that before,” said Snake.
“Man, what did they teach you guys in school? Learning about your system would have been a breeze!”
“LEVEL Q-ALPHA.” They were interrupted by the same mechanical voice they had heard in the lift before.
“Ah, this is us. This way please,” instructed Hrathnar, leading them out and onto a bright white corridor and they followed closely behind him. “You’ll have to excuse the small size of the living quarters as this is all we had available at such short notice.”
“But what about the evacuation?” asked Kaz.
“Oh, this station was only at seventy percent capacity at the time of the attack so there’s more than enough space to accommodate everyone.” He came to a halt outside one of the brushed steel doors that lined the corridor. “You’ll all need to give a breath sample for the lock. Just come over here and breathe onto the plate; simple.”
Snake expected the Doctor to jump ahead of them but this time he held back. Snake gave him a questioning look.
“Oh go ahead. I’m sure yours and Kaz’s samples will be sufficient,” he said and subtly tapped his jacket pocket where he must have been keeping his sonic screwdriver. He wouldn’t be needing to bother with the usual means of entry.
“Uh… okay.” Snake stepped up to the security plate and did as instructed then Hrathnar came to enter a few more commands before it was Kaz’s turn. Then just a few more keystrokes were entered by the Lieutenant and there came a voice from the panel announcing the success of the configuration. The door then opened and the three of them stepped inside.
Contrary to Hrathnar’s earlier comment, the room didn’t seem small at all to them. They walked into a spacious living area decorated in a deep red with gold details on the various pieces furniture which included a large sofa, perched on claw and ball feet and a very comfortabe-looking armchair in one of the corners. The far wall of the room was made entirely out of glass which enabled them to see far out into the vast blackness of space beyond them. To either end of the room were doors of dark-coloured, panelled wood which presumably lead to their individual bedrooms.
“Make yourselves comfortable. If you need anything to eat or drink, the fabricator is over there.” He gestured to one end of the room where there was small indent in the wall which housed a machine that looked something like a microwave oven but without a door. “If we require your assistance, we’ll contact you on the comm link here.” He gestured again, this time towards a small panel near the door. “You should also take these comm devices and keep them with you in case you decide to leave your quarters at any time.”
“Ooh, gadgets!” said the Doctor.
After rummaging in one of his pockets, he took out three small devices that looked like metal badges. He handed one to each of them then headed for the door. The Doctor immediately pocketed his while Snake and Kaz curiously investigated theirs. How was one supposed to use it? It didn’t appear to have any buttons on it.
“Oh, and one more thing:” Hrathnar said quickly, pausing on the threshold. “If you wish to take a look around the station you can ask the computer to guide you so you don’t get lost. Well then. You’re free to do as you wish until we call for your assistance.” He gave a salute and then exited the room.
Kaz took this chance to flop down onto the sofa and gave a big sigh.
“If I’d known travelling with you would be this insane, I would never have agreed to come,” he said with a frown. “Can’t we just get out of here while they’re preoccupied with everything else?”
“Come on, Kaz. Don’t be such a killjoy. We’ve come this far, and the station is secure for the time-being. We might as well take this chance to have a look around,” assured Snake. “Don’t you want to see the rest of this space station?” He turned to the Doctor who was now inspecting his comm device with his sonic screwdriver. “What do you think, Doctor?”
“Hm? Oh, yes. Well, I thought I’d go and do some investigating and let you boys do your own thing. You heard the Lieutenant: if you get lost, you can just ask the station’s computer. No problem, right? And besides, I should go check on the TARDIS. She might need moving to a more secure spot.” He flipped the comm device in the air once, stuffed it into his coat pocket and then headed for the door. “I’ll see you later!” he said and then left before either Snake or Kaz could say anything to stop him.