by Cour M.
Ten raised up his arms and invited General Vander.
“Do you enjoy provoking me?” General Vander inquired.
“Yes,” Eight and Ten said together.
General Vander stood up and buttoned his military coat.
“Well, for the moment, Doctors, you are safe. Yet this authorization only grants you the right to travel peacefully on our planet. However, accidents can occur.”
“Did he really just warn them to prepare for any threats that could come their way?” Martha asked Satsuki.
“Yes, he did. What a foolish thing to do,” Satsuki pointed out.
“Just making sure I heard right.”
“And you both,” General Vander sneered, his eyes full of cynical malice, “do you know the history of the Timelord? He’s had many companions. What do you think happened to them?”
“I survived having to fight in one of our Imitation Battles for the games,” Satsuki replied, “and had to see my parents get killed because they were picked for a repeat of the last battle of the Trojan War and they were too poor to get out of it. Do you really think that death frightens me now?”
“Something like what she said,” Martha stated, suggesting that her reply was close enough for her to mimic it.
“Well, be that as it may,” General Vander nodded his head, “our Imitation Games are still underway, and you have permission to pass through peacefully, but not without incident, and very much without interference on your part. Doctors, if you interfere and try to impede the games in any way, then you will be arrested. It is well within our rights here on Draconis to detain you indefinitely.”
“The authorities on the planet know that they can’t shoot us just for going for a cup of coffee in the town square?” Eight checked.
“Not if they don’t have a reason,” General Vander confirmed, “or not if they can’t think of a reason.”
“Ah.”
“Well, General,” Ten announced, clapping his hands, “that was all that we needed to know.”
“Another question,” Martha asked, “Where are the Howards? And where is the TARDIS consul unit?”
“The consul unit was confiscated, and you shall have it returned to you when you leave.”
“You really think you can hide it from me?” Ten asked.
“Yes.”
“Wrong answer.”
“And as for the Howards, they are being distributed in the factories, office buildings, and financial centers.”
“Did you never ask them what they wanted to do?”
“They’re androids. Their function is to serve.”
“Their function is to feel,” Ten said, stone-faced, “But I suppose that I cannot expect you to think anything else but as you do, now can I?”
“Tell me truly, Doctor, do you hate me?”
“I’m assuming that question was quite rhetorical, because you know the answer to it. And one more question.”
“A lot of questions for a man that you hate.”
“Well, since you hate me equally as much, I figured that what’s the harm? So, my question is, where is the ark that contains the frozen sagriens? And where is Soldier Helen?”
“Soldier Helen was returned to Ptorian, safe and sound. Her people negotiated for her. As for the ark, it’s not your business to know. We’re negotiating with the sagriens now to exchange their sleeping kin.”
“Ah, money. Well, in your best interests, it is our business. All we wish to do is check on the sagriens.”
“They are safe, I can assure you.”
“If they are, then let us see them.”
They were interrupted when an alarm was sounded all throughout the compound.
“Ah,” Satsuki said, “I was waiting for that sound to begin.”
Martha looked at General Vander.
“You were saying?” She taunted.
⌛
They were interrupted when two officers entered the interrogation room.
“General Vander, it’s Hall-H, in the third compound,” the officers reported.
“What is it?” General Vander boomed.
“The security has been breached.”
“Time to go,” Ten jumped up. Martha and Satsuki followed him out as Eight sprung up and looked at General Vander.
“And one more thing, General.”
General Vander turned to him.
“You suck. That is all. Now carry on.”
Eight ran out after them.
Chapter 14
Tension Rises
The Doctors and companions rushed into the TARDIS and materialized in Hall-H of the military compounds. As they emerged from it, there were dead bodies everywhere.
“Bloody hell,” Martha gasped as she and Satsuki removed their guns from their holsters, the Doctors took out their sonic screwdrivers and they ran to the sounds of gunfire.
“We spent way too much time talking,” Satsuki groaned, “if we had just gotten here quicker, then these men and women would be alive now.”
“Everything could have been avoided if we had only destroyed him in space rather than let him deceive us,” Martha added.
“Now it’s you that sounds like Torchwood, Martha,” Ten criticized.
“No, Doctor,” she jabbed, “I merely sound like the person who you sent to fight the pig slaves when the Daleks took over Manhattan.”
Ten avoided her gaze, unable to argue with that. They all ran forward as they entered the main hanger bay. As they did, they ducked for cover as gunfire was going off everywhere while Weldon Jinn was using telekinesis to raise up the guns midair and fire them at the soldiers. Because he had many guns against the rush of soldiers, even when they remained behind some barriers, Weldon Jinn could simply adjust the angle and the guns would shoot at them still. Martha peeked around the corner.
“They’re being slaughtered,” she exclaimed, and then she looked for Weldon Jinn. There was the ark with all his pureblood sagriens. Behind the protection of the many guns firing on the Draconis military, Weldon was activating something along the wall of the hanger. Acting on impulse, Martha rushed forward and ducked behind the first barrier.
“Martha!” Ten cried.
“Stop firing!” Martha demanded to the soldiers, “hold your fire!”
“What do you mean hold our fire?” one of the remaining soldiers cried, “we’re being slaughtered!”
“Yeah, you are! Because you’re firing,” Martha assumed, “your other soldiers are dead, and if you stop, Weldon will think you are dead too, so hold your fire!”
They did not listen at first, so Satsuki took out her gun and shot every soldier in the leg.
Ten gasped at her.
“What?” Satsuki replied, “I hit no fatal spots, and if they are clutching their wounds, they can’t fire.”
Martha mouthed her thanks to Satsuki and then called out over the gunfire.
“Weldon! It’s Martha! Martha Jones! Do you hear me? It’s Martha Jones! The girl you didn’t kill!”
All the gunfire ceased.
⌛
Martha turned to the men who were clutching their wounds.
“Don’t make a sound,” she whispered. “Don’t do anything and he won’t know you’re still alive.”
“Martha?” Weldon sneered, getting distracted, “well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise?” He turned away from the installation that he was in the midst of activating. “You insult me by hiding. Come out where I can kill you.”
“Right,” Martha replied, putting her gun away. She nodded to Satsuki, who understood. Satsuki got her pistol ready, prepared to shoot Weldon Jinn when he was distracted. “Are you ready for me?”
“Stop stalling and come out.”
Martha put her gun in its holster and emerged from her hiding place.
Weldon blinked, the gun flew out of her holster and aimed at her head.
And then he fired.
⌛
Ten was silenced, tense from shock.
He felt his body freeze o
ver as he was powerless and watched Martha get shot in her head. Any second, he prepared to see her collapse on the ground.
Yet she remained standing.
And she was very much alive.
Weldon Jinn was using his power to keep the bullet frozen in the air, an inch away from her skull.
“Don’t worry,” Eight reassured Ten, “she doesn’t die here. She promised me that she wouldn’t die here.”
Seeing that the bullet was not going to kill her, Martha’s nerves allowed her courage to rise.
“Any moment, I can let it continue,” Weldon Jinn taunted.
“Or you’re full of crap,” Martha retorted. Casually, she raised up her hand, placed her fingers around the bullet, moved it away from her head and in a different direction. Once she did, the bullet dropped to the ground. “You wouldn’t do it that way, because it’s too easy.”
Weldon Jinn cocked the gun again.
“Leader Weldon Jinn,” Martha raised up her hands to her sides, “you know I cannot let you go.”
“You can’t?”
“No, and I’m not letting you take your people with you. The Draconians here will negotiate with the sagriens. Your people will get them back.”
“Where you will tell them your side of the events that took place on the Morning Star.”
“Yes, because it is how it happened. And your people must be warned about what will happen to them when you wake up your soldiers. I mean, come on, is that really your plan? To kill every half-blood on your planet? Is that really the best idea that you can come up with?”
While Martha was distracting him, Satsuki crept silently along the wall, ducking for cover, until she got a clear shot. The Doctors took positions as well, but Ten made certain that Martha never left his sight. Martha may have promised Eight that she wouldn’t have died, but her life was not a fixed point, and time could always change.
With their sonic screwdriver raised, Ten and Eight prepared to do something… anything.
“Why are you talking, Human Jones?” Weldon continued, “you know there’s no way out of this for you.”
“You’re right,” Martha replied, “But I will fight you first.”
“You will, and you’ll lose, and then you’ll be taken to Ptorian.”
“Where you will continue your experiments?”
“Yes, I will.”
“Just kill me now and be done with it.”
Martha ran forward.
“Now!” She cried.
Satsuki aimed and fired.
Her bullet got closer and closer.
Martha raised her weapon.
And Weldon stopped the first shot.
Martha shot at him.
And he stopped the next one.
“Or you were trying to distract me,” Weldon smirked, “what a foolishly shallow plan.”
Martha and Satsuki kept firing more rounds, but Weldon stopped them, then he pushed them against the wall with a flick of his hand. He then raised up the guns and aimed them at Martha and Satsuki.
“Try walking when your legs are full of bullets!” Weldon Jinn taunted.
“Setting 24!” Ten told Eight, “I don’t think you discovered it yet, but Setting 24!”
Both Doctors raised their sonic screwdrivers up, aimed them at the guns, and used sound vibrations to jam the guns. They sparked and then fell back on the ground.
“Doctor!” Leader Weldon cried.
“Yes,” Eight replied, then he emerged from the shadows. When seeing him, Weldon’s gaze dropped.
“Professor!”
“Yes, that is one of my names.”
Ten emerged from another gap in the wall.
“But on most days, we both go by the Doctor,” Ten finished.
Weldon’s eyes burned.
“Doctor!”
The glass from the windows burst with Weldon’s rage, and Martha had the strength to run up to him just as he swiped the Doctors against the wall.
Weldon grabbed her, clutched her neck in his embrace, and then began to strangle her.
“Watch, Martha,” he concluded, “this is my power.”
He raised up his arm and the back wall of Hall-H fell away completely. Then a rocket soared through the air, levitated across the field and attached itself to the ark. He was turning the rocket into a spacecraft and sending it to Ptorian.
“You will not get that to Ptorian,” Martha bellowed, “the Mecrellans will stop you.”
“Will they? No. I believe that they are about to be very busy.”
Weldon Jinn turned to another part of a wall that he had placed something on.
“Activate.”
The device turned on and it was a bomb. It began to count down from ten minutes.
Martha took that time to remove a knife from her pocket. She raised it and struck down at him, but he deflected it and caught her arm.
“You’re that foolish to think I didn’t notice that either?”
“Legermain,” Martha chuckled, gasping for air.
“What?”
“It’s French. It means quickness of hand. When you want to do something, you do it with one hand so that no one sees what’s happening in the other hand.”
She slid another knife from her sleeve and stabbed him in the shoulder with the other hand.
He cried out and dropped her, as she rolled away from him.
“Remember? You can’t do full telekinesis when you can’t focus!”
“I can do enough,” he said, raising his arm toward her, but he was interrupted when the room began to be stormed by many Draconis soldiers. He used his remaining strength to fly out of the room. Eight rushed to Martha, got her up and began to pull her out of the room.
“Satsuki, can you help him with the bomb!” Eight requested. “Please?!”
“Right,” Satsuki obeyed.
“Martha, be careful,” Ten said to her.
“You too,” Martha replied, running with Eight, “where are we going?”
“Back to the TARDIS,” Eight exclaimed, “We have to catch him.”
“Have you ever fully flown the TARDIS anywhere?” Martha cried as they jetted through the halls, passing soldiers who were rushing along. Everywhere, there was mayhem. “I mean, I know that you do a lot of appearing and disappearing, but…”
“I flew it… twice.”
They reached the TARDIS, Eight opened it and then they rushed in.
“Personally, I’m just as curious as you are to see how this works out for us,” Eight admitted. He turned on the TARDIS, it disappeared, then reappeared outside of the compound and then began to fly in the direction that Weldon was seen going. Martha watched from the monitor as Eight flew it.
“I see him,” Martha reported, “he’s right up ahead. Wait a minute, the people on the street look like they’re Brits from the 1920s.”
“Draconis is the largest Magna-City on Mecrellas,” Eight reported, “every fifty blocks, another part of the city lives in a different era of a different planet. This is the area called Leeds, so they chose the Earth during the flapper era. Very soon, we’re about to reach the area of Osrich, and the Italian Renaissance Era.”
They flew through that, and Martha soon saw the change when the flapper environment altered, and the architecture and design looked like early 17th century Italy.
“Incredible,” Martha rushed to the doors and opened them. Despite that they were very high up, Martha couldn’t help but see the beauty of the imitation.
“Incredible, it’s like we’re back in time.”
“Martha, close the door! We’re about to reach the Laikra area!”
“What’s bad about that?”
“It’s where the next Imitation Games are playing. It’s the Gang Wars of London.”
“Gang Wars of London? I never heard of those.”
“It’s because you haven’t lived it yet. The Mecrellans used their time window to look at Britain in the 23rd century. In the year 2213 A.D., the London Gang Wars began, where gangs wer
e tearing up the city from turf battles. This city is imitating that point in history.”
“So, poor men, women and criminals are fighting for their lives on the games right now?”
“Yeah. Martha, close the door.”
Martha obeyed as they followed Weldon Jinn through the city.
“He must be losing strength,” Martha reported, watching from the monitor. “He’s descending to the ground.”
“Good, because we don’t have time.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s getting closer to one of the trans-mat public transportation ports in Draconis.”
“What are those?”
“Those are how tourists get here from other planets to watch the games from a safe distance.”
“Those tourists do know that these people are fighting for their lives, right?”
“Yes, but they come anyway.”
“Ah, the humanity. Wait, Weldon Jinn has lowered himself to the ground.”
“He must be exhausted.”
“Doctor, he’s landed right in the middle of the Gang Wars.”
“Yeah, I know. We have to pursue him through a blasted gunfight.”
⌛
Back in Hall-H, Ten and Satsuki began to work on the bomb while other soldiers filed all around them. Some of them were pulling the wounded soldiers out of the room, and the dead soldiers were being removed from the area.
“Halt!” One of the soldiers said as they approached Satsuki and Ten as he analyzed the bomb with a sonic screwdriver. “You are the one who was supposed to be executed, and you shot our soldiers!”
Satsuki, feeling very much under the pressure of time, removed her sword from its sheath, and raised it to the soldier’s neck.
“First, I shot them to save their lives,” Satsuki replied, “I’m not going to weep over that. And second, Doctor, show him your authorization of amnesty!”
Ten removed his paper, showed it to the soldier over his shoulder, and placed it back in his pocket in one fell swoop.
“Good enough?” Satsuki asked, rhetorically. “Now, if you don’t mind, there’s a bomb behind us, and it takes precedence. Are we clear?”