Rewritten, Chapter 13
The front door of the TARDIS opened, causing the Largarian troops to position themselves in defensive positions around their brigade Commander.
When the Doctor popped his head around the door and smiled nonchalantly, they nearly lost their composure altogether, quickly cocking their guns and raising their shields at the same time.
“Oh hello!” the Doctor greeted them cheerily. “Won’t you come in? Float around a bit?” His hair drifted off to one side as if to emphasize the zero-grav environment inside the TARDIS.
With a perfunctory gesture, the Commander indicated that the gravity be restored, and a number of uncomfortable objections were heard inside as Amelia, Jack and Rose fell to the floor. The Doctor appeared to have anticipated the Largarian’s action, and so landed gracefully on his converse-shodden feet.
“You will exit the machine,” the Commander instructed. His men fanned out around the box with their weapons drawn and ready.
“Sure!” the Doctor agreed. “We’re needed outside!” he called back to his companions before swanning out of the TARDIS.
Amelia stumbled out first, grinning sheepishly as Jack barreled into her from behind. Rose came a little more cautiously, not so easily forgetting the aliens’ earlier attempts to blow their car to smithereens.
“How can we help you?” the Doctor asked, as if representing a retail store.
The Commander scrutinized the ramshackle group of adventurers as if he was uncertain they were the dangerous terrorists he’d been assigned to track down. Under his golden armor, Rose could almost sense a decided frown on his face.
“You will hand over the Largas Scroll, Treasure of the Fifth Citadel, or be condemned to immediate death,” the Largarian Commander demanded.
The Doctor raised one eyebrow and gleefully remarked to his companions, “This IS an improvement! Immediate over suspended death! Already going better than expected!”
Jack stepped forward and crossed his arms over his chest defiantly. “We will deliver the scroll, but only to the highest Largarian authority. Take us to your leader!”
The Doctor looked gobsmacked when Rose inched her way over to his side. “I’ve always wanted to say that!” he complained under his breath. “All this time, and not only has Harkness stolen my thunder on negotiations, but now he’s said my line too!”
Rose shook her head disapprovingly and turned her attention back to the menacing group of mercenaries.
The Commander spoke brusquely to his men before turning on his heel and walking into a door that appeared out of thin air. With a rude shove from behind, the Doctor and his companions were rounded up and corralled into the same entrance by the burly guards.
Rose gasped as they came into the ship proper, which was much larger than the Doctor’s console room, but emphatically less hospitable. The only color emanating from the slick steel surfaces was an undercurrent of gold energy that seems to crackle and pop like uncovered electric wires. Rose was so scared of touching them that she huddled in the protective group and stuck closer to the Doctor than she’d probably done otherwise, not that he was complaining.
He felt her trembling behind him and tucked her under one arm protectively. “Don’t worry,” he whispered in a low voice, “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Rose found his warmth and his confidence worked wonders on her fear, and slowly allowed the anxious feelings to abate, even as the group was led down a long, ominous hall and deposited in front of an overbearing gold door.
“You said you wanted to see the Leader?” the Commander said mockingly. “So be it.”
The heavy door swung inward, and they soon realized it was being pulled on heavy chains by two enormous beasts inside the elaborate hall. Rose stared at the creatures, a mixture of crocodile and ogre, and tried with difficulty to stifle a scream. But beyond them was something even more unexpected, and perhaps even more terrifying.
On the solid gold throne was Roger, clad in the same armor as the Largarian troops, and glaring with decided hatred at his unsuspecting guests.
“Mrs. Hunt,” he said icily. “What a pleasure to see you again.”
Rose felt her hands go numb and could barely stutter a reply. “What are you doing here?” she asked. As far as she understood, Roger was just a simple lackey of the Largarian scheme to reunite with their treasured scroll.
Her previous husband laughed mirthlessly as he stood from his throne and descended the few short stairs that separated them. He stoked one finger alongside her temple and inhaled her scent headily.
“Don’t you see Rose? The Largarians have offered me supreme power to help them recover what’s rightfully theirs. I guess you could say I’m doing the same for them, to get you back to your proper owner as well.”
The Doctor sneered and stepped forward, ready to defend his companion from harm, but Roger merely laughed.
“Don’t tell me you’ve replaced me so soon, Rose!” Roger cried. “And with this buffoon? Why have a simple inventor when you could have a king?” He pulled her in closer and kissed her lips as she tried to squirm away.
Roger felt her struggling and released her with disgust. “Seriously?” he commented. “Well it’s no matter to me if you choose to die with your new beloved. Although I’m not fond of becoming a widower.”
The Doctor reclaimed Rose in his arms and faced off with Roger defiantly. “So that’s it then? You’ll give them the scroll and kill us at the same time? And then what? You don’t honestly think the Largarians will honor their promise to you then. When they get that scroll, they’ll revert everything about this universe back to its original design, including you. What’s the point?”
Roger sighed with a little boredom as he signaled to a cabal of Largarian guards. “You think so small, Doctor,” he said piteously.
When the guards had surrounded them, Roger swept in and grabbed Jack’s lapels, bringing him face to face with the mad king. With a deft movement, Roger unmanned the scroll from Jack’s front pocket and tucked it into his robes. With the click of his fingers, all of the Doctor’s companions were taken by the arms and dragged out of the hall.
As the Doctor whirled to protest, Roger sidled up and whispered in his ear. “Who said I was ever going to hand over the scroll Doctor? Have a pleasant death.”
The Doctor was cut off from responding by two burly guards on either side, who dragged him out the same way Rose, Jack and Amelia had gone.
“You won’t get away with this!” the Doctor warned as he disappeared around the golden door.
“But I already have,” Roger said to himself as he sat down on the throne.
(Next Chapter)