lumendea

This is a list of my master lists of my Doctor Who stories that appear in my livejournal account. I am working on updating this to create a complete listing.

Guardians of the Universe Series

The Blonde Girl Master List
Title: The Blonde Girl
Author: Lumendea
Rating: PG
Status: Complete
Characters: Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith, Jackie Tyler and others
Summary: All it took to change the universe was one little alteration to the time line of Rose Tyler when she was eleven years old.  Confronted with a shape changing alien preying on children, Rose meets a remarkable man who calls himself the Doctor. Suddenly her childhood is full of adventure, aliens and lots of running that will change the course of her life. Three full adventures. First in the Guardians of the Universe series.

Defender of the Earth Master List
Title: Defender of the Earth
Author: Lumendea
Rating: Teen
Status: Complete
Characters: Rose Tyler, Ninth Doctor, Tenth Doctor, Eleventh Doctor, Mickey Smith, Jackie Tyler and others
Summary: Sequel to The Blonde Girl. Rose Tyler has survived three alien encounters before her sixteenth birthday, but with UNIT knocking at her door will she make it through what is ahead of her? Guest starring the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. Doctor/Rose romance will start in this story. Second in the Guardians of the Universe series.

The Companion Connection Master List
Title: The Companion Connection
Author: Lumendea
Rating: Teen
Status: Complete
Characters: Rose Tyler, Ninth Doctor, Tenth Doctor, Eleventh Doctor, Mickey Smith, Jackie Tyler, Barbara Chesterton, Ian Chesterton, Sarah Jane Smith, John Benton, Malcolm Taylor, Toshiko Sato, Lethbridge-Stewart and others.
Summary: Rose Tyler: Defender of the Earth and Star Knight has saved the world and the universe enough times to impress even the Doctor.  Now she is a student at Cambridge, but with UNIT on campus and alien plots around the corner, her adventures have only just begun. Thirteen full episodes. Third in the Guardians of the Universe Series.

Time and the Trickster Master List
Title: Time and the Trickster
Author: Lumendea
Rating: Teen
Status: In Progress
Characters: Rose Tyler, Ninth Doctor, Tenth Doctor, Eleventh Doctor, Alister Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, John Benton, Malcolm Taylor, Toshiko Sato, Mickey Smith, Jackie Tyler, Barbara Chesterton, Ian Chesterton, Sarah Jane Smith and others.
Summary: Sequel to The Companion Connection. Rose Tyler is the Defender of Earth in her own right and the girlfriend of the Doctor in a temporally complicated relationship. Now with her second year at university starting she knows that life isn't going to be calm or easy, but even Rose has no idea what is in store. Thirteen adventures and fourth in the Guardians of the Universe series.

Legacy of the Bad Wolf Series

Turn Your Back, Look Away and Blink Master List
Title: Turn Your Back, Look Away and Blink Master
Author: Lumendea
Rating: PG13
Status: Complete
Series: Legacy of the Bad Wolf First Story
Characters: Doctor/Rose, John Smith/Rose Tyler, Martha Jone, Timothy
Summary: Rose Tyler has been living in her alternate world for five years until she encounters the weeping angels who send her back to November 1, 1913. The thing Rose doesn't know is that she is now before the split of the universes and that a certain human John Smith is only miles away with dangerous aliens on his trail.

Survivors of Gallifrey Master List
Title: Survivors of Gallifrey
Author: Lumendea
Rating: PG-13
Status: Complete
Series: Legacy of the Bad Wolf Second Story
Characters: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness, Martha Jones, Saxon Master and Timothy
Summary: Sequel of Turn Your Back, Look Away and Blink. The Doctor, Rose Tyler and Timothy Latimer continue their travels together in the TARDIS, but something is looming over the horizon. An old enemy will rise and threaten the fragile life the Doctor and Rose had rebuilt. Retelling of Utopia, Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lord with Rose and Timothy.

Timey Wimey.... Stuff Series

To the Past From the Future Master List
Title: To the Past From the Future
Author: Lumendea
Rating: PG
Status: Complete
Series: First in the Timey Wimey... Stuff Series
Characters: Rose Tyler, Tenth Doctor, Jackie Tyler, Peter Tyler, Martha Jones, Jack Harkness and Torchwood
Summary: Picks up right after Martha leaves the TARDIS as the Doctor prepares to leave Earth someone very special walks into the TARDIS to change his life and future. In the future the Doctor and Rose seek her younger self in the alternate world. Rose/Ten reunion and family story.

Sugar Rush: All Ages
Halloween with the Doctor, Rose and their family both in the past and the future. Fluff alert

Building Blocks: All Ages
The Doctor just loves these little toys. Officially part of the Timey Wimey. Stuff series, but it can be read alone.

Twin Time: All Ages
A look at the future and present of the twins Alex and Abby with their parents. Family time with Rose/Doctor. Part of the Timey Wimey series.

Human Holidays Master List
Title: Human Holidays
Author: Lumendea
Rating: PG
Status: Complete
Series: Part of the Timey Wimey... Stuff Series
Characters: Rose Tyler, Tenth Doctor, Jackie Tyler, Peter Tyler and others
Summary:The Christmas Special of the Timey Wimey Stuff series. Rose and the Doctor celebrate Christmas at different points in their lives together.

Since We're Here Master List
Title: Since We're Here
Author: Lumendea
Rating: PG
Status: Complete
Series: Part of the Timey Wimey... Stuff
Characters: Rose Tyler, Tegan Jovanka, Tenth Doctor, Fifth Doctor and Turlough
Summary: An encounter between the Tenth Doctor and the Fifth Doctor leaves the Fifth Doctor, Turlough and Tegan babysitting a four-year-old Time Lord by the name of Sammy.


Multi-Chapter Stories

The Doctor's Secret Army Master List
Title: The Doctor's Secret Army
Author: Lumendea
Rating: PG13
Status: Complete
Characters: Doctor/Rose, Martha, Donna, Jack, Torchwood and Sarah Jane
Summary: What if Wilf had kept a hidden webcam and Rose was able to join the others in their planning. Will it be enough to save the Earth and the Doctor. Fix it story for Journey's End.

Wolf Signal Master List
Title: Wolf Signal
Author: Lumendea
Rating: PG13
Status: Complete
Characters: Doctor/Rose, Jenny, Jack, Mickey, Martha, Gwen and Ianto
Summary: Jenny has crashed on a distant planet while on her adventures and has crossed paths with a very odd woman who fell from the night sky without injury. Rose Tyler has enjoyed a long human life with her husband John Noble, but on her death bed something happens that offers her another chance at another life.

Unexpected Girl Master List
Title: Unexpected Girl
Author: Lumendea
Rating: All Ages
Status: Complete
Characters: Doctor/Rose, Donna, Jack, Martha, Torchwood and Sarah Jane
Summary: Post Doomsday. The Doctor meets an odd girl in an alien marketplace, but she isn't who he was expecting. She does however hold the key to the Doctor's entire future.

One Shots

Don't Imagine: All Ages
"The Doctor didn't want to imagine the feel of her lips against his, something he had only felt once in this body if you counted Cassandra. He didn't want to guess how many times his other self felt her kiss every day."

Going to Have to Hurt: All Ages
There would come a day when he didn't turn to look for her every time he stepped into the TARDIS. There would be a day when he didn't reach for her hand when he started to run. There would be a day when he didn't look for her when he heard his name.

Series of Moments: All Ages
The story of Rose and the Doctor is a series of moments that wove together to form a journey. Rose/Ten reunion

Gallifrey: All Ages
The universe called her Gallifrey, but the Time Lords called her home. Written before End of Time.

Ten: All Ages
"Really I'm Rose Tyler," Rose lowered her hand and softened her smile, "I just wanted to meet you and say thank you Martha Jones." A late celebration, but hey it's time travel.

Should Have Kissed Him: All Ages
Rose knew she should have kissed him, but maybe she'll get another shot at it.

Surprising Phone Call: All Ages
The day is January 17, 2008 and Martha Jones phones up the Doctor, but isn't the one who answers the phone. Rose/Ten fun with lots of room for your imagination.

Do You Really Think?: All Ages
The Bad Wolf thinks of the Doctor after Doomsday and smiles.

There They Will Be: All Ages
The Doctor and Rose will be there for each other, even if the time lines cross for them to do it. Serious tissue warning.

Hands Off the Blonde: All Ages
Rose has a new tee shirt, compliments of Jack Harkness. Could be either Nine or Ten.

Time and the Trickster
By Lumendea
Chapter Twenty-Nine:  Best Way Out

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

AN: Well The Name of the Doctor didn’t mess with any of my plans. To be honest I didn’t care much for the episode as I felt absolutely nothing emotional while watching it and finished it out a sense that I had to finish watching it. I think the story moved too fast and it failed to address the long standing questions of the Silence and instead tossed in a different villain. It had a lot of great ideas in it, but moved too quickly to explore those ideas the way they deserved. I’m still optimistic for the 50^th anniversary.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jackie Tyler screamed as the large green creature took shape in front of her when the blue light faded.  A fleshy pile fell to the floor as the creature rose to its full height and looked down at her. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen before and one of its long arms with horrible claws reached for her.  She screamed and stumbled backwards into the dining room as the phone dropped from her hand.

“Mum!’ she vaguely heard shouted from the phone.

She didn’t take her eyes off of the creature and shivered as it chuckled at her slowly backing away.

“Not even a good hunt,” the creature said in strange rumbling voice. “And no knowledge of daughter, ever more a pity.”

“Daughter?” Jackie stuttered, “What do you want with Rose?”

“My job is to remove trouble,” the creature said as it took another step towards her. Jackie skittered around the dining table, putting a few between her and creature. “And the family has reported your daughter as trouble.”

It lunged towards her and Jackie screamed while shoving a chair forward. The creature merely used its long arms to bat the piece of furniture out of the way and sent it crashing into the wall.  Jackie’s back hit the wall and she whimpered as the creature moved closer to her.  In a moment it was standing over her with a strange smile on its face.

“Disappointing,” it said. “Very disappointing.”

As it raised its arm, but suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. It turned away from Jackie to look back towards the front door.

“More prey,” the creature said sounding cheerful at the prospect. “A strong male of the species. Much more enjoyable.”

As the creature moved away a tall dark haired man in a long grey trench coat teamed with clothing out of world war two.  Strangely in his hands was a brightly color water gun and Jackie opened her mouth to scream.  The creature roared at the newcomer, but he just smirked and raised the water gun.

“Captain Jack Harkness,” he said with a cheeky smile. “And I hear you don’t like this stuff.”

A gush of liquid shot from the front of the water gun and hit the creature squarely in the chest. Jackie’s eyes widened in shock and horror as the creature shuddered. Then it exploded into a shower of green globs all over her dining set.

Her rescuer bent down and retrieved the fallen mobile. “Rose, its Jack. Your Mum’s fine and I’m taking her to Sarah Jane’s until you’re finished.”

Jack walked over to Jackie who was still sitting stunned on the floor and quickly helped her to her feet.  She didn’t really notice as Jack started walking her towards the door and only vaguely heard him speaking with her daughter.

“Thank God Rita Anne was visiting Mickey,” Jackie said weakly. “I’m not sure her heart could have taken that.”

Jack laughed and handed her the phone. “Rose wants a word.”

Jackie took the phone with slightly shaking hand. “Rose Marion Tyler what are you into!?”

“Mum,” Rose said at the other end. “I’ll explain later, right now I’ve got to take care of business. Jack will keep you safe. He’s a friend and you can trust him.”

Then the line went dead and Jackie glared at the phone. She hit the speed dial for Rose and glared when she received a busy signal.  Turning her gaze to her rescuer she examined the water gun in his hands and the bits of creature all over the room.

“Sorry about the mess,” Jack apologized with a smile. “Figured you didn’t want me to wait.”

“You’re a friend of Rose’s?” Jackie questioned.

“Yes,” Jack replied calmly.

“And you know what she’s into?”

“Afraid so,” he said. “Don’t worry she’ll be-” Jack was cut off by Jackie Tyler slapping him across the face.

Rose had hung up and handed the phone straight to Frost. While she was grateful that she knew about the attack on her mother and knew that Jack was keeping her safe it had cost them time.

“My friend Jack helped her,” Rose explained quickly to the others. “He used vinegar to kill the thing, apparently it doesn’t take much, but in their natural state they are very vulnerable to it.”

“Just like Hannibal!” Harriet declared with a smile.

Rose tilted her head in confusion. “What?”

“Hannibal crossed the Alps by dissolving boulders with vinegar,” Harriet explained with a smile.

“Did he say anything else?” Frost asked sharply.

“No, just that he’d keep my mother safe,” Rose admitted, but Frost was distracted as she was connected to Brigadier Benton.

“Sir, this is Lt. Colonel Frost from Number 10. I’m afraid that situation is extremely dangerous. The aliens have killed almost all the representatives who came today, only Tyler and myself remain and we are sealed inside of the cabinet room.”

Frost listened to Benton on the other end for a moment before she reached over and hooked the phone back into the speaker system.

“Say again please,” Frost requested.

“Do we know their plan yet?” Benton questioned. “Or how many there are?”


“My sources indicate that this is a criminal family,” Rose said quickly. “I don’t think there are too many of them.”

“Well we know that a lot of strange people have been arriving at Downing Street in the last few hours,” Benton said. “Politicians whose presence makes no sense.”

“Are they heavier people?” Frost asked.

“Uh, yes I suppose so.”


“The Slitheen are using compression technology to walk around inside human skins,” Rose explained feeling her stomach turn as she said it. “They need larger people to make it work.”

“I see,” Benton said slowly. “Have you discovered anything else?”

“Their body chemistry makes them very vulnerable to vinegar,” Frost said. “But we aren’t in a position to attack them.  I suggest a strike against number 10 to deal with the threat.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Benton said. “But with the aliens in power and the danger of raising an alarm it might be tricky.”

“We’re safe for now,” Rose told him. “And Spock is still working on it.”

“Hold on,” Benton suddenly said. “What?” his voice was faint. “You need to hear this, there is an international broadcast coming from number 10.”

A moment later the voice of one of the Slitheen’s in the human body of Joseph Green spoke.  “The greatest experts in extra-terrestrial events came here tonight. They gathered in the common cause. But the news I bring you now is grave indeed. The experts are dead. Murdered - right in front of me by alien hands. Peoples of the Earth, heed my words. These visitors do not come in peace.”


Rose looked up at Frost in alarm. What were the aliens doing?

“Our inspectors have searched the sky above our heads and they have found massive weapons of destruction, capable of being deployed within 45 seconds.”


“What?” Rose asked loudly. “There’s no ship!”

“Our technicians can - baffle - the alien probes. But not for long. We are facing extinction. Unless we strike first. The United Kingdom stands directly beneath the belly of the mother ship. I beg the United Nations - pass an emergency resolution. Give us the access codes! A nuclear strike at the heart of the ship is our only chance of survival. Because... from this moment on... it is my solemn duty to inform you... planet Earth is at war.”

“What are they up to?” Frost asked with a frown.

“What’s this about access codes?” Rose questioned them.

“The British Isles can't gain access to atomic weapons without a special resolution from the UN,” Harriet explained. “All access codes are kept secret by the United Nations otherwise. They must be after the weapons for some reason.”

“Sir can’t you alert the Security Council?” Rose asked Benton through the phone.

“We’ll alert them, but the panic that is gripping the streets is the most pressing issue. If they refuse to release the codes these Slitheen might do damage another way in revenge and the people in the streets who are panicking will riot.”

“But if we alert them…” Frost shook her head, “What is this all about?”

Rose bit at her lip and then turned and walked to the doorway. She summoned her sword and before the others could stop her pressed the button to open the door. Three of the large aliens were standing in front of the doorway.

“Right then,” Rose said. “Enough of the waiting game.” She raised her chin and glared at the nearest one. “Who are you lot and what are you doing?” Behind her, Frost blocked the view of the phone by sitting on the edge of the table.


“Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer Day Slitheen at your service,” one of them said in an amused voice. “And you are Rose Tyler.” The alien glared at her. “My cousin was dispatched to take your mother hostage, but is seems she got lucky.”

“My mother,” Rose repeated softly, trying not to give anything away. “Most people would consider taking on Jackie Tyler suicide.” She paused as if considering something. “You’re the ones who set up that ship in the North Sea, the one advertising nuclear fuel. How’s that supposed to work? Fuel from where?”

“Oh so the humans did figure out the advert,” a new voice said and a short heavy blonde woman in the blue dress appeared. Rose smirked as she noted the woman’s left hand was flapping around as she moved the arm. The woman glared at Rose and her eyes dropped to the sword she held.

“What’s the plan then?” Rose asked sharply once again.

“Why put the world on red alert?” Indra asked behind her.

“Stupid little animals,” Margaret observed with a sick little smile. “Running around so frightened.”

“That’s it then,” Rose said with a frown. “Make us panic so we give you give the Prime Minister control of the nuclear systems. That’s why you picked Britain, with the weapons from here you’re in a good position to attack every other nuclear county. They retaliate with their nuclear missiles and suddenly the whole planet is nuked in World War Three.”

“And we can sit through it in our spaceship waiting in the Thames. Not crashed. Just parked. Only two minutes away,” Margret said cheerfully.

“But you'll destroy the planet, this beautiful place. What for?” Harriet demanded from behind Rose.

“Money,” Rose spat. “They’ll sell off the nuclear remains of Earth as fuel, exactly what their advert promises.”

“Sale of the century. We reduce the Earth to molten slag, then sell it. Piece by piece. Radioactive chucks capable of powering every cut-price star liner and budget cargo ship. There's a recession out there, Miss Tyler. People are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel.”

“And the five billion people who died?” Rose hissed.

“Stupid pigs,” Margaret laughed. “Rather like our cute little alien don’t you think?”

“Leave,” Rose said in a low angry voice. “Go to your ship and just leave. This is your one chance. If you don’t then I’ll stop you and the cost will be a lot more than one hand.”

“And what can you doing to do from your little box?” Margaret asked with a hateful look.

“You might be surprised,” Rose said as she lifted her hand to the button. “By what this girl can do from a box.”

As the metal door slid back into place, Rose turned on her heel and walked back to the phone. “Alright sir they are all here at Downing Street. Now that they are in the final phase they can’t stray far.”

“While that’s good to know,” Benton said. “There is a limit to the forces I can muster in London at the moment. Most of UNIT forces were scrambled for combat and aren’t in the city.”


“Aren’t in the city,” Rose asked, “Then what forces are in the city?”

“Regular military is in the city,” Benton said, “But they answer to the Prime Minister’s office and not to Geneva.”

“Can’t you attack with the troops you have?” Harriet asked.

“It’s not the Slitheen standing guard out there,” Frost said sadly. “Those are human policemen outside and we can’t reach them without alerting the Slitheen.”

“What can we do?” Rose asked.

“I’ve alerted the Security Council in New York and they are stalling for time,” Benton said. “But it won’t work for long. I’m not sure that we can move enough troops to take out the Slitheen quickly enough before they become suspicious.” Benton sighed at the other end of the line. “And we don’t know what other technology they might have.”

There was an uncomfortable pause at the other end of the line. “Benton?” Rose asked, “What is it?”

“Well if they are all contained in one building then…”

“Then the simple solution is to destroy the building,” Rose finished nervously as she looked around the room.

“Can you get ahold of the Doctor?” Benton asked. “Could he get you out of there? Geneva HQ is recommending a quick missile strike and the cabinet room cannot withstand long range attacks.”

“I can try,” Rose said softly. “What if he can’t?”

“Then we’ll think of something else,” Benton said. “Maybe I can airlift a vat of vinegar above the building,” he said trying to lighten the mood.

“I’ll call him,” Rose said. “Stand by for me to call you back.”

Rose pulled the phone out of the speaker phone and hit the speed dial for the TARDIS. She was aware of Frost’s curious gaze and the concerned expressions of Harriet and Indra. A few moment later she sighed and lowered the phone. “Voicemail is the bane of my relationship with him.”

“So now what?” Indra asked. “We’ve got to be running out of time.” He looked over at Frost, “Surely they’ll destroy the building soon. It’s the best chance to avoid collate damage.”

“I’m not sure they’ll risk it,” Frost said with a look over at Rose. “The person Rose was trying to reach is a powerful ally of Earth, but if UNIT hurts or kills Rose….”

“There’d be hell to pay,” Rose said cheerfully. “Or at least the Doctor to pay.” Rose’s expression saddened. “I’m not sure they could withstand that storm.”

“I suppose you should call Benton back then,” Harriet said. “Surely they’ll think of something.”

“Yeah,” Rose turned her attention to her phone and dialed a number. The phone rang and she lifted it to her ear just as Spock came on the line.

“Spock,” Rose said. “Are you aware of the situation?”

“I have been monitoring UNIT communications and I am aware of the current suggested means of attack,” the Xylok replied. “The Security Council in New York is still officially in discussion, but demonstrations have already begun all over the world to protest the time it is taking them.”

“So if something doesn’t happen soon Earth might start tearing itself apart,” Rose observed.

“According to report three people have already been killed across the globe at these demonstrations. While not violent yet in nature I’m afraid that people are causing rioting and stampedes. It will only get worse.”

“Any suggestions?” Rose asked. “If all of the enemy are in this building how can we quickly neutralize them without them having time to escape or retaliate with any weapons they might have?”

“I’m afraid the plan suggested by UNTI has the highest likely hood of success with the least damage to human life. A frontal assault would be between humans and alert the Slitheen and further delays will alert them that their plan has been discovered.  My investigation of the ship has provided no information on what arms it might carry as it is a refitted escort ship.”

“Any good news?” Rose asked.

“You friend Jack Harkness was able to convince K-9 he was an ally before the dog opened fire,” Spock replied. “And you mother is down in the kitchen with tea so she is not hearing this conversation.”

“That is good news,” Rose said. “Alright then, thanks Spock.”

“You are about to do something very foolish aren’t you?” Spock asked.

“Possibly, keep an eye out,” Rose said before hanging up the phone. She turned her attention back to the others. “Demonstrations have already started because the UN hasn’t handed over the access codes. Things are going to turn bloody one way or another very quickly. Spock can’t verify what technology the Slitheen might have to attack Earth directly. While they probably can’t destroy us, they might be able to kill a lot of people when they determine that their plan isn’t going to work.”

“What do you suggest?” Harriet asked with a remarkably calm expression.

“Use the missile,” Rose said firmly as she did her best to keep any fear out of her voice. “If we blow up number 10 then we can destroy the threat while it is still isolated.” Rose swallowed, “They’ve already killed a lot of people and have made it clear that they have no problems killing billions of us.” Rose looked at all of them. “While I appreciate UNIT trying to find a solution that doesn’t’ risk us… I’m not selfish enough to want to risk this spiraling out of control.”

“I agree,” Harriet said firmly from across the room. “And as the only elected representative for the people of the UK in this room I say that using the missile is the best option to avoid further danger to the people. On their behalf I order you to see this missile launched.”

Frost merely nodded and while Indra looked a bit ill, he also nodded in agreement. Rose forced a small smile and accessed the internet with her phone, grateful for her recent upgrade. Her first phone hadn’t had the new connections, but then it had been destroyed and she’d gotten the latest Blackberry to replace it.  Quickly she accessed the UNIT website and entered the restricted sections. The tiny screen made it difficult, but it was doable.

“What are you doing?” Frost asked.

“I won’t ask anyone else to do this,” Rose said as she started to hack into UNIT using the access codes she’d learned from all her times hacking. “Not UNIT or Spock.” Rose gave Frost a small smile, “That way the Doctor isn’t justified being angry with them.”


“If the rumors are true he’s going to be angry no matter who fires it,” Frost said.

“Well I’m not planning on dying,” Rose said. “Indra, Frost start preparing that cupboard,” Rose said as she pointed to the small cabinet off of the main room. “It’s small and strong so we might be able to ride it out in there.”

“You think that will work?” Indra said as he moved towards the cabinet.

“Well I have it on good information that I’m not supposed to die today,” Rose said. “Now history can be rewritten, but I’m willing to think positive. Think of it like an earthquake and we’re going to be standing in a doorframe.”

Frost gave Rose a searching look, but nodded.  She moved over with Indra and began cleaning out the small room. Rose moved away from the edge of the table as the two of them started to pile boxes on the table.

“Harriet,” Rose said. “Check the emergency protocols. I’m going to need to access the royal navy to get this done.”

“Here it is,” Harriet said a moment later. “The password buffalo overrides all security measures.”

“Great,” Rose entered the password carefully on the tiny keyboard. “This really isn’t the sort of thing phones were designed for,” she muttered. “I’m in. Here we go the H.M.S. Taurean, Trafalgar Class Submarine, 10 miles off the coast of Plymouth.” Rose pulled up the list of missiles. “What do you think Frost? Sub Haffoon, UGMA4A?”

“That will do the job,” Frost said from the cupboard. She shook her head. “God your boyfriend is going to kill Benton for even putting this idea into your head.”

“Well my idea was leaning towards using my sword and trying to attack them all,” Rose said. “So this is actually probably a safer idea for me personally given the length of their arms. And don’t call him my boyfriend.” A moment later Rose took a breath and looked over at the others. “Target is set and missile in in our control. Are we ready?”

“Yes,” Harriet said with a firm nod. “Fire.”

“Okay,” Rose said. “Firing.” She pressed the tiny button on her mobile and watched the small message appear on her screen. “There it goes.”

“Counter defense will try to stop it,” Frost said.

“556 was just neutralized,” Rose said as she moved towards the cupboard. “Either by UNIT or Spock so we’re good on that front. Good thing too, this thing doesn’t allow for speed hacking.  The four of them climbed into the cupboard. “God I never want to hack on a mobile again!” Rose grumbled as she moved to join the others in the cupboard.

As Rose sat down she could hear the fire alarm sounding through the building. Indra closed the door behind them, sealing the small space. Unseen to them the area around Downing Street was being evacuated, but the aliens remained struggling to put on their skins.

“I hope they don’t escape,” Harriet said softly.

“They didn’t have their skins on,” Indra observed as they huddled at the bottom of the tiny space. “Surely it takes time to get into those.”

“Here it comes,” Rose said softly.

“Nice knowing you,” Harriet said to them all as Rose slipped the phone back into her bag.  They joined hands and Harriet looked up towards the ceiling. “Hannibal!”

Suddenly the small room violent shook and a tremendous roar vibrating throughout the space. Rose gasped as the air was forced from her lungs and was knocked into Indra. They were all thrown to the side as the entire cupboard was tossed by the explosion. Then everything went still.

Rose carefully moved to her knees and studied the tiny room, it was intact.  She shifted slightly to avoid putting her weight on the others and crawled to the doorway.  With Frost’s help she was able to force it open, knocking back the debris.

“We were lucky,” Frost observed as they moved out into the shell of the cabinet room.

The steel walls were bent and smoking from the explosion, but they had sheltered the small cupboard from the worst of the explosive forces. Together they forces down the weakened steel door of the cabinet room and Harriet stepped out.

“Made in Britain,” Harriet announced proudly and Indra chuckled at the sentiment.

A sergeant in police black rushed up to them. “Are you alright?”

Rose grinned as Harriet pulled out her remarkably intact ID card and held it up. “Harriet Jones. MP, Flydale North. I want you to contact UN immediately, tell the ambassadors the crisis is over and they can step down.” When the sergeant hesitated Harriet barked, “Go on, tell the news!”

“Yes, ma'am.” As the sergeant rushed off, Harriet looked around with a frown.

“Someone's got a hell of a job sorting this lot out. Oh, Lord! We haven't even got a Prime Minister!”

Rose smiled at the woman while trying not to laugh. “Well I’d certainly vote for you.” Rose grinned at the look on Harriet’s face.

“Now, don't be silly. I'm only a back-bencher.”

“They wouldn’t have to debrief you,” Rose said, brushing dust off of her jeans.

“Look, I'd better go and see if I can help,” Harriet said as she gestured for Indra to follow. The man nodded quickly and followed her over the rubble.

Rose climbed over the rubble and paused to watch as Harriet approached the crowd and the media.  Smiling, she glanced over at Frost who nodded in silent agreement.  Even at the distance they were able to hear Harriet’s speech.

“The crisis has passed! Ladies and Gentlemen - I have something to say to you all! Mankind stands tall - proud - and undefeated. God bless the human race.”

Turning away they both headed carefully down the road away from the media crowd. Rose pulled out her phone and hit the number for Benton. The call was answered instantly.

“Tyler? God are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Rose said cheerfully. “A little bruised, but fine. Frost is okay and Harriet Jones MP, Flydale North is already working on clean up.”

“You launched the missile yourself,” Benton said. “Why?”


“There wasn’t time to find another solution,” Rose said gently. “And I didn’t want to ask you or someone else who is my friend to launch something that might kill me.”

There was silence on the other end for a moment before Benton sighed. “What am I supposed to do with you?”

“Well how about not letting me be prosecuted for hacking into the royal navy and launching a missile. I’d really like to not go to prison,” Rose said ignoring a snort from Frost.

“I’m sure I can manage that,” Benton said sounding both amused and exhausted.

“One question,” Rose asked. “Was it you lot who handled the counter defense?”

“Yes,” Benton said. “Once we saw the missile had been launched to Downing Street we knew what you had done.”

“Thanks for that,’ Rose said. “My phone really isn’t designed for hacking even with web access.” Rose sighed softly. “Well one thing you should know if that my Mum now knows about aliens,” Rose told him nervously. “I’m afraid I’ll have to explain some things to her.”

“I see,” Benton said. “Do you need me-”

“I’ll handle it,” Rose said quickly. “My Mum doesn’t handle authority figures any better than I do.” Rose sighed, “Mind you the temptation to jump on a plane to Australia and seek asylum with Tegan is very strong.”

Benton chuckled on the other end and said, “Just try to stay out of trouble Tyler.”

“I make no promises,” Rose added with a laugh before she hung up the phone.

“Not too bad for the first widely known first contact,” Rose observed as she looked over at Forst.

“If it is admitted,” Frost said.

“You don’t think it will be?” Rose questioned.

“Only a few people actually saw the aliens and the ship can be passed off as a small earth plane that was altered for an elaborate ruse.” Frost shrugged as they walked down the street and away from the crowds. “I’m not sure they’re ready yet.”

“Maybe,” Rose said with a shrug. “Anyway, I’ll leave this in your hands Elizabeth, I’ve got another crisis to go and deal with.”

“Right then,” Elizabeth stood at attention and saluted Rose. “It has been a pleasure Thorn.”

Rose smiled and held out a hand for Frost to shake. “The pleasure was mine Lt. Colonel,” Rose paused. “I only hope when they promote you you’ll be a pleasant Colonel. I’ve not had much luck with people of that rank.”

Frost couldn’t quite contain the smile and said, “I’ll find a car to take you home.”

“That would be nice,” Rose said. “It’s been a long long day.” Rose swallowed and added, “Please let me know what sort of funerals or memorial is going to be held for the others.”

“I will,” Frost promised softly.

Frost walked over to a group of policemen who looked very confused by the sudden turn of events and Rose watched with amusement as they straightened for the military officer.  As she looked around Rose noticed the words “Bad Wolf” spray painted on the side of a building. Judging from the texture, it was fresh. Rose took and looked at the words for a moment before she shook her head and walked over to join Frost as the woman gestured to her.  A few minutes later she was in the back of a car heading for home and unfortunately her irate mother.
 

Time and the Trickster
By Lumendea
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Locked in the Cabinet Room

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

AN: Thanks for all the great reviews and I hope you all enjoy the continuing insanity that is Rose Tyler’s life. Well we’re about to have the series 7 finale so I guess I’ll just have to see what is worth taking and hope it doesn’t completely hose up my own plans. If it does and I can’t incorporate the new aspects into my story then we’ll just continue forward in our little ‘alternate reality.’

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Frost took point, having pulled her handgun even if Rose wondered about its usefulness.  Aliens had control of Downing Street in a story that seemed better suited to ‘Invasion of the Body Snatcher’ or something similar.

“Did you see what they looked like?” Frost questioned Harried in a low voice as they moved towards the cabinet room.

“A bit yes,” Harriet answered. “But when the … transference took place there was a lot of blue light that disoriented me.  They are larger than us, a bit green with large limbs and sort of baby faces.”

“Tyler?” Frost asked. “Sound familiar?”

“Afraid not,” Rose answered.

Suddenly a long green limb with a strange bone like protrusion that ran along the length of it lashed out and knocked Frost back against the wall.  On reflex, Rose summoned her sword and moved forward to black frost before the two long claw like fingers could move again. As she stepped forward Rose got a quick look at the large alien creature with its black round eyes, strange collar device and pot belly. Then it moved, lashing out the dangerous looking hand towards Rose who swung her sword up.  Her Star Knight sword slashed through the flesh and caught on the bone like protrusion for only a moment before slicing through.

“You beast!” the alien screamed in a shrill almost feminine voice.

“Who are you!?” Rose demanded as she raised her sword to prepare for another attack. “Why are you here?”


“Rose!” Harriet yelled. “Two more of them coming down the corridor!”

“Get to the cabinet room,” Rose hissed as she stepped towards the alien to let the other’s past.  The alien made a threatening hiss at her as Rose raised the sword and watched the creature carefully.  It began to raise its remaining hand towards her, but when Rose moved the sword towards the hand the movement stopped.

“Tyler!” Frost’s voice barked. “Come on!”

“Kill it!” The alien shouted, “Kill the bag of hormones and adrenaline!”

Rose risked a quick glance down the hall. Two of the aliens were rushing towards her. She heard the alien nearest to her moving and ducked just in time to avoid its remaining clawed hand.  Rose spun on her heel, almost slipping in the greenish blood that had dribbled onto the floor and ran.  There was a rushing sound past her eyes and she saw some kind of dart hit the wooden panel of the wall right in front of her, but didn’t stop to examine it.

The aliens were right behind her when Rose reached the cabinet room. Rose had just crossed the threshold when the sound of metal shifting reached her ears. Turning, she had just enough time to glimpse the aliens before two slabs of metal clashed closed in front of her, sealing the door.

Blinking at the sudden change, Rose reached forward and knocked the metal barrier.

“Installed in 1991,” Ganesh said weakly next to her. Rose turned to see that his hand was on a button next to the doorframe. “Three inches of steel,” he gestured to the sealed windows. “It’s through all the walls.”

“That’s a relief,” Harriet breathed. “They’ll never get in.”


“And we’ll never get out,” Frost added as she checked the phone on the table. “No signal.”

“When you said the room sealed I wasn’t expecting a mini fortress,” Rose said to Ganesh with a smile. “Nice job.”

Rose’s eyes swept the room as she reached into her bag for her mobile. Her identity badge was lying by the cabinet table where it had fallen and she sucked in a breath at the sight of it.

Looking over at Harriet Jones who eyes had also gone to the abandoned badge, Rose said, “Thanks for that.” The older woman nodded.

“Can someone please tell me what is happening?!” Ganesh asked, his voice almost hysterical. “And please I need more than just ‘aliens’ and ‘run’.”

“I’m afraid I don’t fully understand,” Harriet told him gently. “I was in here earlier… well,” the woman blushed slightly and gestured to a case on the table. “I was reading the emergency protocols.”

Frost was at the case in an instant and opened it, pulling out the files to read.

“And I saw the aliens change bodies,” Harriet said weakly as she pointed to the skin that was still draped over one of the chairs. Ganesh’s whole face changed and he looked ready to be sick, not that Rose blamed him.

“I know it’s a lot,” Rose said gently to the man. “But we have to focus.” Rose took a breath and forced a smile for Ganesh. “Well first things first, I’m Rose Tyler. I’m a consultant for UNIT on aliens.” She gestured towards Frost and added, “This is Lt. Colonel Frost… uh I don’t actually know your first name.”

Frost looked up at the civilians and then back at Rose. “I answer to Frost, but my first name is Elizabeth.”

“I’m Harriet Jones,” Harriet said holding up her badge, clutching it like a lifeline. “I’m the MP Flydale North.”

“I’m Indra Ganesh,” the Indian man said with a nervous nod. “I’m a junior secretary with the Ministry of Defense.”

“Great,” Rose said with a smile. “Nice to properly meet you. Indra can you and Harriet start checking all of these cupboards for anything that might help us.  Also keep an eye out for anything you don’t recognize and let Frost and I know.”

Harriet took charge of the search at once, directing Ganesh to one of the larger cupboards with instructions to move across the wall and meet her on the other side. Frost watched them for a moment before her eyes landed on Rose’s phone.

“That’s not going to work,” Frost said quietly. “Three inches of steel will block the signal.”

“Not this phone,” Rose said with a smile as she leaned against the table by Frost. “It works anyplace, anytime and anywhere. No restrictions or contracts needed.”

Frost’s eyes widened as she understood the statement. She eyes went back to the seemingly ordinary phone.

“He gave you that?” she asked in an awed voice. “And it can call through time and space.”

“Yep,” Rose said popping the p slightly. “So three inches of steel isn’t a problem.” Rose bit her lip, “The problem is who to call.” She nodded towards the skin. “We don’t know how deep this goes.”

“Surely not Benton….” Frost said before shaking her head. “I wish we knew more.”

“Well I can start with my contacts,” Rose said as she dialed the number that Spock was attached to. “We’ve got to start somewhere and maybe they can identify the species.”

There was a conference phone speaker on the table and after a brief moment of debate, Rose hooked her phone into it.  Frost nodded in approval and Rose hit the button for Spock.  The phone rang only once before the calm collected voice of the Xylok came through.

“Hello Rose,” Spock greeted.

“Incredible,” Harriet Jones said as she looked at the phone and then at Rose. “How can you have a signal?”

“Super phone,” Rose replied with a smile at Harriet and Ganesh. “Spock we’ve officially got hostile aliens on our hands and I need some identification and background.”

“Spock?” Indra asked in a shock tone. “Who is this? Someone at UNIT?”


“I am a Xylok,” Spock answered sounding a bit impatient. “Please give me as much information as you have on the aliens and I will run a search.”

A cry of alarm from Harriet made Rose spin and look over towards the older woman. She was standing next to a tall cupboard, but a body was on the floor next to her. Judging from the position and it earlier absence, Rose guessed that it must have fallen out.

“Oh god!” Indra gasped as he reached Harriet first. “That's the Prime Minister!”

Rose leaned over the table to see the man’s face and grimaced at the horrified expression on his face, but there was no doubt that it was the prime minister.

“Why didn’t they take his body?” Frost asked thoughtfully from beside Rose.

“But he was driven away!?” Indra gasped, his eyes still locked on the body. “That's impossible. He left this afternoon. The Prime Minister left Downing Street, he was driven away!”

“Who told you that?” Rose asked as she walked around the table.

“Margaret Blaine from MI5,” Indra responded automatically.

“What did she look like?” Rose questioned as she examined the Prime Minister thoughtfully and ignored the queasy feeling in her stomach from the examination.

“Uh,” Indra stumbled for a moment before he said, “She was shorter than Harriet, short blonde hair and wearing a blue dress.”

“Was she heavy?” Rose asked.

“What?” Indra asked.

“Was she a heavy set woman?” Rose asked. “Fat?”

“Yes, I suppose so,” Indra said.

“That’s it then,” Rose said as she turned to Frost. “They must need larger people. The general and Greene were both heavy large men.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Frost said thoughtfully. “But they are still larger than those people.”

“They said something about a gas exchange,” Harriet said suddenly. “After… the body change. One of them, if you’ll pardon the word, farted and another said something about fixing the gas exchange.”

“Perhaps a compression field,” Spock said through the phone. Rose almost jumped, she’d forgotten that he was listening. “That would allow them to shrink themselves down a small bit, but it would not be enough to allow them to fit inside slimmer humans.”

“Which explains killing the Prime Minister instead of taking him over,” Frost observed.

Rose nodded and finished walking over to the Prime Minister, with Indra’s help she adjusted the body so he was lying flat on the floor and gently crossed his arms over his chest.

“Sorry,” Rose said in a soft voice, unsure of what else to say.  Indra said something which sounded like a prayer under his breath and the room was still for a moment.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Frost said speaking up, “But we’ve got to figure out something. All the names listed in the emergency protocols are dead downstairs! If the compression field doesn’t work for skinny people then we should contact Benton.”

“Let’s get a bit more information first,” Rose said calmly as she climbed to her feet. “See if we can identify the species and weaknesses for Benton before he has to try to attack number 10.” Rose walked back over to the table. “Alright Spock we have eight feet tall, light green creatures that require a compression field.”

“I require more data than that,” Spock said. “Please provide me with any details you have noticed.”

Rose shut her eyes and recited a physical description of the aliens and was grateful when no interrupted her.

“Face and shape, that narrows it down to five thousand planets within travelling distance,” Spock said. “More data is needed.”

“Uh they have a good sense of smell,” Rose guessed. “One of them described me as a bag of hormones and adrenaline.”

“Access to the compression technology,” Frost said. “And their blood is green.”

“The technology of the ship,” Rose added quickly.

“Wait a minute! Did you notice, when they fart - if you'll pardon the word - it doesn't just smell like a fart - if you'll pardon the word - it's something else, what is it, it's more like uh... um...”

“Bad breathe,” Indra said quickly stepping closer to the phone with the others.

“Calcium decay added,” Spock said. “Match located. Aliens are natives of  Raxacoricofallapatorius.”

“Raxacoricofallapatorius,” Rose repeated carefully, unable to help the small smile on her face. “Okay any information on if this an invasion of some kind.”

“No,” Spock said. “According to the files I copied from the Judon ships when they were last in the solar system Raxacoricofallapatorius is a peaceful planet and a member of the Raxas Alliance. They have a council government structure lead by the lord Predator.”

“Lord Predator?” Harriet asked doubtfully.

“A traditional title that honors the native’s traditions of ritualistic hunting which they recreate on major holidays.”

“Okay,” Rose said interrupting the lesson. “But if they are peaceful then what is this about.”

“In the Judoon’s files about Raxacoricofallapatorius there is a notion that the criminal Slitheen family are from the planet. They fled from the planet after their rule of the planet caused the crash of the planet’s government and nearly started a war. That was several centuries ago and since then the family has committed a long list of crimes across the universe including three cases of planet murder.”

“Planet murder?” Indra repeated in a soft place. “Please tell me-”

“Sorry, it’s exactly what it sounds like,” Rose said.

“The entire family was tried and found guilty in perpetuity and sentenced to death,” Spock added. “But most remain at large.”

“So this isn’t an invasion,” Rose said with a relieved smile. “Spock would you be able to do a global scan to see if there are any more of these things on Earth.”

“That will take some time,” Spock said. “But it is possible since they are calcium rather than carbon based life forces.”

“Get on that, oh and did you and K-9 learn anything else about the ship or the signal?”

“The ship is quite standard, but I cannot get a detailed enough scan to determine what is wrong with the ship. K-9 has been monitoring the signal.”


“The signal is a looping message Mistress Rose,” K-9 robot voice suddenly said through the phone, earning an amused look from Frost. “It is an advertisement for nuclear fuel.”

“Nuclear fuel?” Rose repeated. “Is that all?”

“Affirmative Mistress,” K-9 responded. “Source of nuclear fuel is unknown.”

Rose exchanged a confused looks with Harriet, but saw a thoughtful look on Frost’s face.

“Frost?” Rose questioned.

“Maybe the nuclear missiles,” Frost suggested. “Perhaps them or a nuclear plant.”

“Then why take over Britain,” Rose questioned. “The Americans have a lot more missiles.”

“I don’t know,” Frost said with a shake of her head. “Spock any thoughts on how to destroy the Slithleen.”

“The use of the compression field with their calcium bodies may have made them vulnerable to ascetic acid.”

“Ascetic acid,” Rose said thoughtfully as she crossed her arms. “You mean like vinegar.”

“Precisely,” Spock said.

“Great thanks,” Rose said as she reached for the phone. “Call me when you have more, but we should have enough to contact Geneva.”

“Shall I monitor UNIT communications?” Spock questioned and Rose could feel Frost’s eyes on her.

“Under the circumstances, that is probably a good idea,” Rose said. “If you can manage the scan for more Slithleen let me know.”

Hanging up the phone, Rose pulled it from the speaker center and handed it to Lt. Colonel Frost. “Benton’s number is programmed in,” Rose said with a sheepish smile. “It’s his emergency con number and not his office phone so you should be able to reach him.”

Frost took the phone from Rose’s hand and turned it over a few times to examine it. Then it suddenly rang with a very particular ring tone that made Rose sigh. It was her mother.

“Ignore it,” Rose told Frost.

The phone stopped ringing and then promptly started again just as Frost was scrolling through the contact list.  Rolling her eyes, Rose grabbed the phone.

“Sorry,” she said quickly. “I’ll appease her and we can get back to work.”

“Who is it?” Harriet asked Frost in a low voice, but the Lt. Colonel could only shrug.

“Hello Mum,” Rose greeted pleasantly. “This isn’t a good time, I’m out with the-”

“Don’t even finish that lie,” Jackie said on the other end. “I just got off the phone with Sharon and Shireen and despite their best efforts at lying I know you aren’t with them.”

“Mum,” Rose said softly. “Can we do this later? Please.”

“No we cannot do this later!” Jackie snapped. “Rose I’ve known for years that you have secrets, but this has gone on too long.”

“What are you talking about?” Rose questioned, trying to keep her voice calm and even.

“I spent year watching the finances,” Jackie said. “I know how much money you inherited and I keep an eye on things. There’s extra income from somewhere. You told me that you haven’t got a job, but you’re making more than twenty thousand pounds a year that isn’t connected to the investments.”

“Mum-” Rose started to say, but Jackie was on a rant.

“I told myself that you’re an adult now and doing far better with your life than I was at your age, but now…. Rose why won’t you talk to me?”

“Mum, it’s not what you think,” Rose insisted.

“I hope not,” Jackie said. “Cause the only thing I can come up with to explain the lying, the secrets and the money is that you’re a call girl!”

Rose’s eyes widened and she was suddenly very aware that she was blushing and that the others in the room were watching her with confusion.

“Mum it’s not like that,” Rose said. “I’m a consultant for a private firm and I have a confidentially agreement. I’m not allowed to talk about it.”

“You haven’t even finished your second year,” Jackie hissed. “And I doubt I’d have a policeman waiting in the living room if that was all you were doing! I’ve tried Rose,” Jackie sounded close to tears. “I know I wasn’t the best mother Rose, but really I-”

“Is the policeman heavy!?” Rose asked loudly to distract her mother. If she was trembling a little bit, Rose ignored it and hoped the others would too.

“What!?” Jackie gasped.

“Is the policeman fat?” Rose asked impatientely. “Mum this is very important!”

“I supposed so,” Jackie said in a confused voice. “Plus he’s got some gas issues… No, don’t you try to distract me Rose!”

“Mum you need to leave the house!” Rose cried. “Leave now and run! Just run!”

“What are you on about?” Jackie asked. “Hold on what’s that noise? Oh what is he doing in there?”

“Mum!” Rose shouted into the phone. “No, don’t look, just leave out the back!”

A sudden scream echoed through the phone and Rose screamed, “Mum!” in return.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Time and the Trickster
By Lumendea
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Downing Street

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

AN: Weekends have been insane lately! Hopefully this week will go more smoothly. Thank you all so much for the 500 reviews! You are fantastic!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Downing Street was surrounded by news vans and cameras when Rose’s car pulled up in front of number 10.  Rose quickly put on the sunglasses and pulled her hood up, making sure that all of her hair was tucked away.  When the car door opened a moment later, Rose kept her back to the press and quickly ascended the stairs to the front door.  Behind her she could hear shouted questions, many of them about her identity, but she ignored them and slipped into the famous building.

When the nearest guard looked at Rose he was clearly trying not to chuckle.  Rose shrugged with a small smile and pulled off the large sunglasses.  She moved away from the door and slipped them back into her bag and lowered her hood.  Ahead of her was a small gathering of people dressed in a mixture of suits and uniforms, mostly UNIT.  Rose walked forward slowly and scanned the faces to determine who present she knew.

“Rose Tyler,” an accented voice said ahead of her.

Rose quickly found the source of the voice and she smiled.  Professor Amina Chalthoum was weaving through the small crowd to reach her.

“Amina,” Rose greeted with a smile as the older Egyptian woman reached her.  They hugged quickly and Rose gave Amina a soft smile. “How are you?”

“Busy,” Amina said. “Egypt’s UNIT branch is still recovering from… the Colonel’s death and this happens.”


“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Rose said, “But I’m a bit surprised they called you  here.”

“Not too many UNIT personnel have actually dealt with aliens,” Amina reminded Rose. “I was actually part of events in Egypt which puts me on the priority list. They called me first thing and I only just got here.” Amina glanced around. “There aren’t many from the UK branch here though.”

“No,” Rose agreed with a  shake of her head. “Doctor Malcolm Taylor, our branches science advisor and his number two Kate Stewart are out in the North Sea.”


“The North Sea?”

“A signal was detected from out there a few days ago, they haven’t reached it yet to investigate though.”

“Now they probably won’t,” Amina observed.  “Not with all of this going on.”

“It’s still being addressed,” Rose said softly as she looked at the people moving through the building. “Might be connected.”


Amina gave Rose a curious and amused expression, but didn’t ask.  Instead the woman nodded thoughtfully and gestured towards the small cluster to people in a variety of uniforms. “We’re waiting on representatives from the United States UNIT branch and Section 13.”

“Section 13?” Rose asked with a touch of confusion.

“The Americans national alien organization,” Amina explained with a shrug. “Quite a few countries have their own organizations in addition to UNIT.  From what I’ve heard Section 13 has a good relationship with UNIT USA.”

“That’s better than Torchwood anyway,” Rose muttered. “That lot should be here soon.”


“Well that’s Captain Schmit from Germany,” Amina said as she pointed to a tall man with dark hair in his thirties.  “That’s the French representative, but I didn’t catch her name. I know that India is sending someone who should be here in within the hour and some others.”


“When are we formerly starting?” Rose asked.

“In an hour, everyone is expected before then,” Amina answered. “So what do you think? Rumor is that you’ve seen the body.”

“Yeah,” Rose responded as she looked around.  Several staff members of Downing Street were still rushing about, some with frantic looks on their faces.

“And?” Amina pressed.

“It looked like a pig,” Rose said. “And I don’t mean just the head like the Judoon, it had hooves and everything with a flight suit.”

“A pig,” Amina repeated. “Well… that’s interesting.”


“Doctor Higgins from UNIT and Doctor McDonald from Torchwood both agree that it couldn’t be done on Earth since the brain was different from a normal Earth pig.”


“What do you think?” Amina asked in a softer voice. “And what do you know?”


“The ship came from Earth,” Rose said softly. “One of my sources was able to track it’s flight and it did a slightshot around the planet from crashing.”


“So the aliens are on Earth,” Amina hissed.

“Hard to say for sure,” Rose admitted. “Personally I’m still debating between diversion and prank.”

“Prank?” Amina repeated with a quirked eyebrow.

“Sure, it’s on the news all across the globe. People panicking in the streets and government arguing about what to do. To the right species this is probably very funny.”

“After what happened in Egypt I’d prefer a prank,” Amina said. “But nothing happens and the world is left hanging things could get very ugly very fast.

“Agreed,” Rose said as she caught sight of a young man of Indian descent walking towards her.

“Good evening,” the young man greeted her. “Here is your identification card,” he said as he handed Rose a small badge with her name and security level on it.

“Thank you,” Rose leaned forward to catch his name. “Mister Ganesh. Can you spare a moment to catch me up on the situation as it stands for Britain.” Mr. Ganesh looked conflicted as Rose put the identification card on her hoodie. “I’m pretty sure we qualify as needing to know.”

“Joseph Green is acting Prime Minister,” Ganesh said. “The Prime Minster is missing and the cabinet is stranded outside of London due to the gridlock.”

“Can’t they be flown in via helicopter?” Rose questioned.

“They’re going to be airlifted in soon,” Ganesh replied with some obvious relief.

“I’ve never heard of Joseph Green,” Rose said thoughtfully as she glanced towards the staircase.

“He’s uh, well he’s the chairman for the committee on monitoring of sugar standards,” Ganesh said with a slight worried glance towards the stairs.

“Oh,” Rose said with a swallow. “Then the others better get here soon so we can get to work on this.”

Ganesh looked ready to say something more, but caught sight of a middle-aged woman with brown hair in a pale pink jacket and dark skirt.  She was carrying a folder in her hands and Ganesh sighed. “Please excuse me Miss Tyler,” Ganesh said before striding over to the woman.

Rose turned and watched the woman argue quietly with the junior secretary for a few moments before he vanished up the flight of stairs. “She one of us?” Rose asked Amina.

“Not that I know of,” Amina said.

A woman with blonde hair who was a few inches taller than Rose walked over to them.  Rose glanced at the UNIT uniform the woman was wearing and noted the name: Lt. Colonel Frost.

“Good evening Miss Tyler,” the Lt. Colonel greeted as she held out her hand.

Rose took the offered hand and shook it. “Hello Lt. Colonel Frost,” she greeted politely. “I don’t believe we have ever met.”


“We met briefly several years ago,” Frost answered with a hint of amusement. “But you were only fourteen at the time and I was lower in rank.”

“Ah,” Rose said, feeling slightly embarrassed. “Fourteen, that would have been the Mona Lisa then.”

“Correct,” Frost said with a nod before stepping a little closer. “I am to ask if you have consulted Spock as to what has occurred,” she asked in a low voice while making a slight gesture over to the Colonel waiting with a group of men in suits.

“I have,” Rose answered. “The ship did not originate from space, but was launched from Earth before it crashed. The trajectory suggests a very controlled flight and crash.”

“And the body?”


“I don’t believe it to be a true extraterrestrial, but rather a creation to serve as a joke or a decoy.”

“I see,” Frost said with a nod. “Be advised that Torchwood’s representatives should be arriving any moment now.”

“Joy,” Rose grumbled which only made Frost’s lips twitch up to a smile.

“It does make me miss the days when we didn’t officially know they existed and didn’t have to invite them to these things,” Frost admitted. “If possible Miss Tyler I would value a chance to speak with you later about your experiences.”

“Lt. Colonel Frost you have clearance to read my file,” Rose commented. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the woman in the pink jacket passing them.

“True, but that isn’t like having a chance to speak with one of the great modern alien experts.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,’ Rose said with a blush. “I’ve just got a strange life.”

The Lt. Colonel looked ready to say something more when the Colonel gestured to her.  Rose nodded to Frost who returned the sign of respect before returning to her UNIT group.

“You’re cute when you blush,” Amina teased lightly. “It is understandable I suppose. You bring the average age down a lot.”

“You’re not that much older than me,” Rose remarked.

“Rose I’m a professor who is in the employment of UNIT which was not offered to me right out of university. On the other hand you’re only in your second year of uni.”

More people arrived and Rose eventually gave into Amina’s desire to mingle and meet the other attendees. Some of the names were familiar to Rose and almost everyone from a UNIT post seemed to know who she was which was a bit intimidating. The civilian scientists seemed confused by her, but most accepted her presence without fuss. Junior secretary Ganesh made brief appearances and the woman in pink who refused to leave the building went upstairs with cup of coffee.  Finally the two representatives from India were ushered in, nearly filling the waiting room and the US UNIT team of four was only a few minutes behind them.

Two larger men, one with dark hair in a suit and the other in a UK General’s uniform entered the room with Ganesh on their heels.

“Ladies and gentlemen, can we convene? Quick as we can, please. It's this way on the right, and can I remind you ID cards are to be worn at all times,” Ganesh said as he held up an id card.

Rose hung back to allow General Asquith and the apparent acting Prime Minister Joseph Green into the room first. The others became filing towards the room and Rose took a step to follow when a hand on her arm made her turn.  The woman in the pink jacket who had been wandering around Downing Street for the last hour was at her elbow with an odd look on her face.

“Excuse me,” the woman said. “Can I please have a word?”

Ganesh turned to the woman with impatience on his face. “You haven't got clearance. Now leave it.”

“I just need a word in private,” the woman argued with Ganesh as Rose studied her.  Earlier the woman had been standing a little taller and straighter and now there was something in her eyes, some kind of… shadow.

“It’s alright,” Rose interrupted. “I’ll just be a moment.”

“Miss Tyler,” Ganesh argued, “The others have convened. You’re part of the crisis team!”

“England has managed just fine without me for a thousand years, it can handle a few minutes,” Rose said with a smile, but also with a sharp look in her eyes. Ganesh sighed, but raised his hands in surrender even while giving the woman in pink a disapproving look.

The woman in pink ignored the look and grasped Rose’s arm for a moment pulling her towards a side door.  She released Rose’s arm and raised her identity card.

“Harriet Jones, MP Flydale North.”

“Rose Tyler, UNIT,” Rose replied as she watched the woman’s body language become more and more tense.  They climbed the stairs and moved beyond the hearing range of the guards on the first floor.

“I heard the others in there says you were one of the best alien experts,” Harriet Jones said suddenly. “I- I need to show you something. It’s important and I-”

“It’s alright,” Rose said gently. “Let’s start with you showing me whatever it is and then you can tell me what you saw.”

The woman gave a shaking nod and then started crying softly. Rose rubbed her arms gently for a moment before saying. “I know, it’s scary the first time you see something like an alien.  I remember what it’s like Harriet, but you can’t panic. You can’t stop and cry cause you’ve gotta work on how to deal with the threat first.  After its over you cry with a big plate of biscuits and tea, but right now I need to know what you saw.”

Harriet Jones’ body kept shaking, but her tears lessened and she gave Rose a quick nod. “In the cabinet room,” Harriet told her. “That’s where it happened.”

Rose nodded and they quickly walked through the small office space to the large wooden doors.  Pushing them open, Rose stepped inside and glanced around. Nothing looked out of place on her immediate inspection. Harriet moved past her and headed for the small cupboard to the right of the door.

“In here,” Harriet said before she vanished into the cupboard.

Rose glanced out the door and partially closed it while Harriet retrieved whatever she had found.  When Rose turned back she found Harriet Jones holding what looked like a bundle of clothing and flesh colored rubber.  She draped it quickly over a chair and looked about ready to start crying once again.

“They turned the body into a suit. A disguise for the thing inside!”

Rose’s eyes widened and she moved quickly to examine the body suit which was horribly real to the touch. Dropping it back around the chair Rose took a step back from it and turned to Harriet.

“Alright Harriet, what else did you see?”

“Well it was the general who was in this…. Suit and now he’s the general.  That Joseph Green and some short blonde woman were here and working with it.”


“So the aliens are in Downing Street,” Rose said softly. “Did they say anything?”


“They didn’t say much other than talking about the…” Harriet gestured towards the body suit. “But they didn’t seem worried.”

“So why are they here?” Rose questioned as she fingered her pendent thoughtfully. “In the same building where they know most of the best experts in fighting aliens are? Why risk discovery like this?”

Rose’s eyes widened and she turned to Harriet. “Any mention of an escape or a bomb? Anything like that?”

“No,” Harried said shaking her head. “They can’t risk a bomb, they’re in the same room and the only thing that’s different about them is that they don’t have id cards.”

Rose hands instantly went to her own id card as Harriet’s eyes widened. The older woman suddenly lunged forward and started pulling the card from around Rose’s neck. It also twisted and got caught in her hair as Rose tried to pull away and rush for the door.  She shifted and felt the card slide over her hand, leaving the card in Harriet’s hands while Rose rushed for the stairs.  Behind her she could vaguely hear Harriet calling after her and Ganesh yelling something.

“It’s a trap!” Rose shouted as she ran past two guards towards the conference room. “Amina! Frost! It’s a trap! Take off the ids!”

She reached the doorway just in time to see Frost near the front of the room rip off her id card before blue electricity emited from each of the id cards.  Rose’s eyes found Amina in her chair near the doorway with her mouth open in a silent scream.  She lunged towards her, but was grabbed by Frost who pulled her towards the doorway.

“No Tyler!” Frost ordered sharply. “Too late!”

Rose looked towards the front of the room and saw a large green alien with thick and long limbs.  A strange metal collar on its neck caught her attention.  Her arm dropped to call froth her sword, but Frost tugged her sharply through the doorway.

“We can’t-” Rose tried to argue.

“Guards!” Frost shouted. “Guards!” She tugged Rose and she finally understood Frost’s plan. They rounded the corner to meet four heavily armed policemen. “Aliens in the conference room!” Frost shouted, “Hurry!”


Rose and Frost followed them into the room just as Harriet and Ganesh were coming down the stairs. “Rose!” Harriet shouted, “What’s happening?”

“Not now Harriet,” Rose hissed as the guards burst into the conference room.

However, the alien had already slipped back into the form of the general.

“Where have you been? I called for help. I sounded the alarm,” the alien in Joseph Green demanded, “There was this lightening, this kind of, er, electricity, and they all collapsed.

The fanned out in the room and one gently checked the pulse of the Colonel at the front of the room.

“I think they’re all dead,” Sergeant Price said weakly.

“That's what I'm saying. They did it! Those women there!” Green shouted pointing at Frost and Rose.

“They’re aliens!” Frost shouted. “Aliens in the skins of humans!”

Rose took one look at the faces of the policemen before she grabbed Frost’s hand. “Run!”

Ganesh gaped at them as they rushed past only to hear the Prime Minster shout, “That one there helped them! Take them all!”

“Hurry!” Harriet snapped as she rushed after Rose and Frost.  Ganesh was stunned and stumbled slightly as he followed them down a corridor.

“What is happening?!” Ganesh shouted. “Someone tell me what is going on!?”

Rose slid to a halt as policemen blocked the corridor and the corridor on the other side of swarmed with police and the aliens. Frost pushed Rose behind her and glared at the approaching aliens.  Rose stepped back against the wall only to touch the cool metal of the lift door. She pushed the button hard as the aliens stepped forward through the crowd of policemen who were all pointing guns at the four of them.

“Under the jurisdiction of the Emergency Protocols, I authorise you to execute these four aliens immediately!” the alien in the general said harshly to the sergeant.

“I’m not an alien,” Ganesh said with aside eyes. “What has happened?”

“Lies,” the alien in Green snorted. “Kill these invaders immediately.

The lift dinged and the doors opened. Rose jumped in first and pulled out her sonic pen. Harriet stumbled in and turned to grab the back of Frost’s uniforms and Ganesh’s coat. Rose heard the safeties on the weapons release just as the sonic pen whirled. The door slid shut and the lift began to rise towards the second floor.

“I can’t believe that worked,” Rose breathed as she looked at the others.


 “What is going on?” Ganesh asked weakly. “Why did they just order us executed?”


“The Prime Minster and General have been killed and aliens have taken their place,” Rose said sharply. “The conference was a trap to kill the people on Earth who could’ve stopped them and Frost and I need a safe place to work.” Rose turned to the man.

“Uh the cabinet room on the second floor can be sealed against attacks,” Ganesh said still sounding lost.

“That will work, Harriet bring him up to speed.”

Frost turned to Rose and swallowed, “Thank you. I hear your shout and that saved my life.”

“I should’ve figured it out sooner,” Rose said sadly.

“We all should have,” Frost said. “But we didn’t.” Frost paused, “I’m sorry about Professor Chalthoum, you two seemed to be friends.”

“I think we were,” Rose said as the lift opened. “Time to stop them.”

“And make them pay,” Frost said fiercely. Internally Rose couldn’t have agreed more.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Time and the Trickster
By Lumendea
Chapter Twenty-Six: Aliens in London

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

AN: Alright time to get caught up! That’s probably wishful thinking, but let’s be optimistic about getting things back on schedule. As always thank you for the great reviews and all your support.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lent term at Cambridge was done with Easter term a month away giving Rose Tyler some much needed time off from her studies, probably not from aliens, but at least from her studies.  The window in her brightly decorated room on Bannerman Road in London was thrown open to let some of the afternoon fresh air in.  The March breeze wasn’t warm by any stretch of the imagination, but the crisp freshness was a welcome change from the stale warm air that filled most of the house.

Rose looked down at the small suitcase on her bed with consideration.  She and the girls were scheduled were scheduled to meet Astra in Barcelona in three days to start a month long exploration of Spain. They’d all agreed to take as little as possible to make train hopping and hosteling as easy as possible, but Rose couldn’t shake the feeling she was missing something critical in the already full bag.

“Jeans, shirts, socks, knickers, bras, hoodie, shorts, dancing dress just in case….” Rose mumbled to herself as she inspected the contents. “Swin suit, toiletries, hair stuff, camera and laptop are in the other bag.” Rose sighed and shook her head, “You’d think a planned trip would be easier than TARDIS travel.” She shook her head amused and walked over to her desk where a short checklist was sitting, but everything was already marked off.

The sudden ringing of her mobile distracted Rose from her contemplation of what she was missing and she fished it out of her pocket automatically. A quick glance at the caller id told her that Shireen was calling.

“Hi Shireen,” Rose greeted cheerfully.

“Rose turn on the telly,” Shireen said in a serious voice. “Right now.”

“What’s going on?” Rose asked with a confused frown.

“A spaceship crashed into the Thames after hitting Big Ben,” Shireen said through the phone with an excited trill in her voice.

“Come on be serious,” Rose said. “That’s the script of a science fiction movie.”

“It’s no joke,” Shireen said. “Turn on the telly. Any channel you like.”

Rose turned and headed for the door of her bedroom and headed for the stairs as she snapped the phone shut.  Downstairs she found her mum and Gita both teary eyed in front of the telly with a plate of cookies and a box of tissues on the table in front of them.  Raising an eyebrow, Rose examined the screen and then shook her head at the romance that was playing.

“Hi Gita,” Rose greeted. “I’ve got to check something really quick.” She snatched the remote and turned off of the DVD, switching to the news.

“Rose!” Jackie protested, “Don’t be rude young lady.”

Rose ignored her mother in favor of listening to the news reader. “Big Ben destroyed as a UFO crash lands in Central London. Police reinforcements are drafted in from across the country to control wide-spread panic, looting and civil disturbance. A state of national emergency has been declared. Tom Hitchinson is at the scene.”

“What?” Gita gasped. “Aliens in London?!”

Rose looked at the banner across the bottom of the screen. “Apparently it crashed only fifteen minutes ago.” She told Gita and Jackie before the screen changed to a reporter standing near the Thames.  He was too far away for Rose to see much of the ship.

“The police urge the public not to panic. There's a help line number on screen right now if you're worried about friends or family,” Tom Hitchinson announced into his microphone. Rose raised an eyebrow, apparently they weren’t releasing much information yet.

The ringing of her phone again pulled her away from the television and she briefly noted Jackie and Gita speaking in excited voices.  To avoid the noise Rose walked into the kitchen and pulled out the mobile.  She smiled softly as the UNIT number flashed on the screen.

“This is Tyler,” Rose said as she answered the phone.

“Colonel Mace,” the stern colonel greeted shortly. “Brigadier General Benton wants you on the secure video line immediately.”

“Uh, okay,” Rose said before the call ended. “Nice to talk to you too Mace,” Rose muttered as she slipped out of the kitchen and upstairs to her laptop.

Behind her she heard Gita say, “Jackie we should have a party! This is huge! History in the making!”

Rose glanced around her bedroom quickly and closed up her suitcase before she went to the laptop.  She waited impatiently while it booted up, wondering why she wasn’t just being called to the Tower. Once the laptop was working Rose quickly logged into the secure system that UNIT used for video conferences.  It only took a moment to connect to Benton’s office.  She frowned in confusion as the call was then transferred to a different machine using Benton’s id.

A moment later the call connected and Brigadier General Benton appeared onscreen in an unfamiliar office. He looked tense with some extra lines around his eyes that Rose could guess the source of.

“Good afternoon Benton,” she greeted politely.

“Hello Tyler,” Benton greeted with a nod, easing slightly. “I take if you know about the ship crashing in London just a quarter of an hour ago.”


“Yes sir,” Rose agreed with a nod. “I just became aware of it.”

“I need you to come in. We’re facing a very public crash in the middle of a major city.”

"I suppose that I should be glad that the aliens crashed into London before I left on my spring holiday," Rose observed as she crossed her arms and frowned. "But honestly hitting Big Ben seems more like a crash from a bad science fiction show. They had enough control to hit the water and yet couldn't aim for a field outside of a major population zone."
Brigadier Benton sighed and rubbed his forehead as he looked at her through the webcam system. "Well Tyler with me in Geneva and Doctor Taylor in the North Sea I'm afraid you're going to have to make UNIT UK proud as the conference."
"Conference?" Rose asked. "What conference?"
Benton now smirked. "Representatives from the UNIT divisions and other agencies from around the world are gathering to discuss this crash, it was very public after all and I'm sending you for UNIT UK. Play nice with the other children.”

Rose gave Benton an unamused look and sighed. “What about Kate?”


“She went with Doctor Taylor to investigate some kind of signal that we picked up there.” Benton paused and frowned slightly, “And Toshiko does not currently have the status to serve as the representative.”

“Who else will be going?” Rose questioned as she straightened her soldiers.

“Colonel Mace is overseeing troops in my absence so the third-in-command of UNIT UK will be joining her. Lt. Colonel Elizabeth Frost, but I don’t’ think you’ve ever met.”

“I know the name, but no we have never met.” Rose agreed with a nod.

“Doctor Taylor also suggested sending Doctor Kapoor for the science division. You remember him I trust.”

“Yes sir,” Rose said with a nod. She didn’t work much with Nasser, but they’d made a good team when she and Tosh had worked with them on the UNIT teleport system.  “What about Torchwood?”

Benton sighed and rubbed his forehead as if holding back a headache. Rose felt a twitch of guilt for bringing them up. “Hartman isn’t speaking with anyone right now and the Queen gave UNIT control of this crash.  Torchwood has been invited to the conference, but we don’t know yet who Hartman will send.”


“You don’t think she’ll come herself?” Rose asked.

“I believe she’d consider it beneath her,” Benton grumbled before straightening up again. “Most of those present will be UNIT personnel or from similar agencies.” Benton gave her a small smile. “You shouldn’t have any trouble.  A car will pick you up in half an hour and take you to Albian Hospital.”

“A hospital? Have any survivors been found?” Rose asked.

“Not survivors,” Benton said shaking his head. “But a body has been found. They aren’t going to move it until everything is in place, but we’d like you at the hospital to take a look at it.”

“I’m not a medical doctor,” Rose told him.

“No, but the conference doesn’t start until later when the other representatives arrive and you us to be doing something.”

“Understood,” Rose said. “One more question.”

“Yes?” Benton asked sounding torn between amusement and annoyance.

“Why did Malcolm and Kate go to the North Sea?”

“Three days ago a satellite picked up some strange radiation out there.  They ahead of schedule this morning, but are too far out to make it back tonight.”

“Interesting,” Rose said softly before she nodded. “I’ll be ready for the car when it arrives, but please have it pick me up around the corner and not my house.”

“I’ll arrange for that and remember I said to play nice,” Benton added before ending the call.

Rose frowned at the screen for a moment and then glanced out the window at the clear blue sky.  Her eyes dropped to the houses across the street. “Spock,” she muttered to herself.

Pulling on her leather jacket, Rose checked that she had her wallet, sonic pen and mobile.  She stopped for a moment and considered her closet before she grabbed an oversized jacket with a hood and pair of large sunglasses before heading downstairs.  Gita and Jackie were both on their phones and ignoring the television screen.

“I know it is so exciting isn’t it?” Gita said cheerfully. “We’re going to have a little party, come on over to Jackie’s.”

Jackie hung up and looked over to see Rose heading for the door. “Where are you off to?” Jackie asked.

“I’m going to head into town to meet up with Shireen and Sharon.”

“Darling half of the streets are blocked,” Gita protested.

“That’s why I’m taking my bike,” Rose said with a grin.

Jackie huffed in protest and shook her head. “Just try to be back for the party,” she told Rose.

“We’ll see how bad the traffic is,” Rose said. “I’ll be fine.”

Rose rushed out of the house before Jackie could protest and went to her motorcycle.  She sighed as she started it up, she hadn’t had much time for riding it lately with winter and school and today would be no different.  Rose drove away from the house, but headed to the right and not to the left going further down Bannerman Road.  Sarah Jane’s house loomed over its small garden and Rose parked the bike far up in the drive so it would be out of sight.  She didn’t bother to retrieve the spare key that Sarah Jane had given her and just used the sonic pen to unlock the front door.

Silence greeted Rose in the Chesterton-Smith house, but she could see signs that Rani and Clyde had been by to water the plants.  Sarah Jane and Johnny had decided to take a holiday with Luke and already been gone two days.  Deciding to keep her jacket on, Rose darted up the staircase towards the attic.

“Mistress Rose,” K-9 greeted when she opened the door. “It is pleasant to see you.”


“Good to see you too K-9,” Rose said with a smile as she walked over to the robot dog and patted him on the head. She then turned towards the wall that hid Spock. “I need you Spock.”

The wall broke apart slowly with mechanical hisses as the controls of the Xylok unfolded into view. Rose watched the transformation with a strange little smile on her face.

“Hello Rose,’ Spock greeted. “I expect that you are here about the recent crash.”

“Yeah,” Rose said taking a step closer to Spock. “Your sensors track objects entering the solar system so how did you miss this?”

“I am running a diagnostic on my sensors as we speak,” Spock informed her.

“Do you recognize the ship?” Rose asked.

“It matches nothing in my records exactly,” Spock answered quickly. “From the technology I have identified it is combination of different parts with nothing specific enough to offer a planet origin.”

“Were there any distress calls or odd bursts of energy?” Rose questioned.

“Only a small burst of energy in the North Sea three days ago which I informed Sarah Jane of as well as the fact that UNIT has sent a team to investigate.”

“Alright,” Rose said with a  sigh. “I’ve gotta go, but finish running diagnostics with K-9.”

“I do not require the dog’s help,” Spock replied sounding displeased.

“Monitoring solar system entries is your task Spock-” K-9 started to say, but Rose cut him off.

“Enough!” Rose snapped as she looked between the two. “You two can go back to your snark contests once I’m comfortable that Earth is okay. Finish the diagnostics to verify that you either did or didn’t miss it.” Rose took a breath and calmed herself. “If it didn’t come from outside the solar system then we have a completely new issue. I need to know if I’m deal with an accident or something else immediately so no more fighting. May I clear?”


“Yes Rose,” Spock replied in an even tone. “We will complete the diagnostics of my system and run an energy trace check in the inner solar system to answer your question of origin.”

“Understood Mistress Rose,” K-9 said in his dutiful tone. “We will contact you as soon as data is available.”

“Better,” Rose said as she released a breath. “Much better.”

Rose pulled off her leather jacket and tossed it on the sofa that sat in the center of the attic.  Then she pulled on the heavier coat with the hood.  She tied her hair up in a messy bun to keep it hidden under the hood and readied the sunglasses.

“New fashion Rose?” Spock asked tentatively.

“Whole world is watching,” Rose said with a shrug. “It may not be a brilliant disguise, but hopefully it will protect me from public exposure as an alien expert.”  She waved to the Xylok and robot and headed down the stairs and out onto the street after locking the house up  The car was waiting for and one of her escorts was just stepping out.

“Miss Tyler,” a private she didn’t know greeted with a nod.

“Hi,” Rose said as she opened the back passenger door herself. “Nice to meet you,” she added more politely before sliding into the back seat.

Once they started moving Rose pulled out her phone and called Shireen.  “Hey Shireen,” Rose said not waiting for the other girl to greet her. “UNIT called me in as soon as I got off the phone with you.”

“Any ideas on what’s up?” Shireen asked.

“A couple of stray thoughts,” Rose said, “But nothing concert yet. Look I need you to cover for me. Mum thinks I came into London to see you and Sharon so if she calls-”

“You’re here, but not available,” Shireen finished for Rose. “Got it, just be careful.”

“I will be,” Rose said affectionately. “I promise.”

The further they drove into central London the clearer the chaos became.  Police were everywhere with crowds packed in the streets, some trying to get away from the area and others trying to get closer.  Rose could see some police cars with the names of nearby towns and cities nearby and wondered just how many police they’d be bringing in.  Any moment now Cambridge police might start arriving. Another two turns put them near the Thames were media vehicles were crammed together behind police lines.  The driver maneuvered them around a barricade and Rose was grateful for the tinted windows in the car as the press took photos.  She shrunk into her hood and slipped the sunglasses on, grateful to feel the awkward weight that covered up almost a third of her face.  Another turn and they were in front of an old hospital building with guards opening a heavy metal gate for them. The car pulled up in front of the building and Rose slide across to the door directly in front of the hospital entrance. She waited for a UNIT soldier to open the hospital door before she jumped up and climbed the stairs.  Despite the questions being shouted by the press outside she didn’t turn around and entered the hospital.

The place was dark, but clean reflecting its disuse.  Rose calmly followed a UNIT soldier down a long corridor to a morgue.  She’s never been in a morgue before personally, but she had no doubt that the room was one.  Metal doors or drawers lined one wall and a metal operating table was set up in the middle complete with a water sprayer.  There was currently nothing on the table and a pair of men in lab coats stood quietly talking.  Rose recognized one of them as Doctor Higgins from the UNIT medical department, but the other man was younger, probably mid forties, and taller with short brown hair and slight Scottish accent. The soldier escorting her stopped and cleared his throat to draw their attention.

“Oh goodness,” Doctor Higgins said. “You startled me.” His eyes landed on Rose and he smiled gently. “Ah Miss Tyler, good to see you. I trust Private Smith is still doing well since he was transferred from my care.”

“He is Doctor Higgins,” Rose said as she walked into the room. “He’s still on medical leave, but moving and eating with no problems.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Higgins then remembered the other doctor. “Miss Tyler this is Doctor McDonald from Torchwood. Hartman selected him personally.”

Doctor McDonald and Rose studied each other for a moment before McDonald extended his hand. Rose nodded and accepted it giving his hand a quick shake. She noticed that he wore a polo shirt under his lab coat with a stylized T on the right.

“When is the body expected?” Rose asked as she stepped back from McDonald.

“Our last message said half an hour,” Higgins said before looking at his watch. “Probably any minute now.”

“Are you qualified to assist in the autopsy?” McDonald questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“No,” Rose answered calmly. “I’m here to take note of anything I recognize.”

McDonald nodded thoughtfully as he studied Rose which she tried not to react to.  Suddenly her phone rang and she fished it out to check the caller.  It was Spock.

“Please excuse me,” Rose said quickly before she walked past the guard and into a quite side room. “What have you got?” she asked Spock.

“Diagnostics have shown no problem with my sensors,” Spock said. “I ran internal diagnostics and K-9 ran his own dianostics.”

“So it came from Earth,” Rose said with a sigh. “Was it a crash from someone trying to leave in a damaged ship?”

“In my records I found a similar energy reading in the solar system that was too weak to track over three months ago. Doing a similar scan K-9 and I have found that the crash was controlled after the ship was slingshotted around the Earth.”

“So the crash was for show,” Rose deduced. “And the aliens have been here threemonths. Good work boys,” Rose said. “Spock ran checks on government defense systems and make sure that nothing has been tampered with. K-9 I want you to work on whatever that energy coming from the North Sea is. Report to me when you have something.”

“Affirmative,” K-9 said.

“Be careful Rose,” Spock said before hanging up the phone.

Rose peeked out of the side room she’d hidden in to see more troops moving around. Stepping out into the hall Rose backtracked to the morgue and gasped softly as she stepped inside the room.  There lying on the autopsy table was what looked like a pig in a space suit. The only thought Rose managed at that moment was to question how aliens with hoofs could construct a spaceship.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Time and the Trickster
By Lumendea
Chapter Twenty-Five: Hospital Visits

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

AN: Here we are the final chapter of this long-suffering episode! The next one should be a lot faster since it is a rewrite. To see of which episode just read the ‘next time’ trailer that I remembered to do this time.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The military hospital in London that UNIT used was small, but Rose had a good feeling about the place as she watched the staff move about with determined strides.  She and Kate were sitting in a small waiting room that was more like a staff break room than anything else. The room had a small tea service table and a strange poster with the words ‘Bad Wolf’ scrawled on the lower right hand corner which Rose had been trying to ignore for the last half an hour. A hot pot of tea was between them on the small round table that they were seated around.  There weren’t words to describe how grateful Rose was for Kate’s presence. Despite the doctors’ last report that Mickey was reacting well to treatment and hadn’t suffered radiation burns to the same intensity as those who caught direct flashes, she still had a nervous knot in her stomach.

“You know in some ways when I first met you Rose you reminded me more of the Doctor from Dad’s stories then he did today,” Kate said suddenly, breaking the stillness in the room.

“Today was pretty calm for him,” Rose said with a shrug. “And he changes Kate just like any other living being.” Rose grinned at an amusing thought and added, “After all when your Dad met him he was still only a couple of centuries old. He’s a lot older now.”

“His fashion sense wasn’t as bad as Dad described,” Kate said with an amused smile.

Rose chuckled and lowered her tea cup back to the table. “The jeans, jumper, leather coat and combat boots is a tame and practical look for him,” Rose agreed. “His next body wears a pinstripe suit with a long brown coat that he says Janice Joplin gave him and chucks.” Kate raised an eyebrow at the last part and Rose smiled. “Yeah I know and his eleventh self dresses a bit like the absentminded professor. Suspenders, tweed jacket and bowtie with his crazy fly away hair.”

“What about his twelfth?” Kate asked taking a sip from her tea.

“Even I haven’t met his twelfth self yet,” Rose said. “First, second, third, fifth, ninth, tenth and eleventh, but no twelfth.”

Kate shook her head fondly at Rose and studied the girl for a long moment.  She seemed to come to some decision, nodding to herself, but simply asked. “Dad always talked about the Doctor’s second form with fondness. He liked to tell the Yeti story.”


“I met him in Athens,” Rose supplied. “After… well before and after that thing in Egypt.”


“You mentioned that he dropped you off back in time,” Kate said, “But didn’t say much else. Does he do things like that often?”

“I’d had a bad day,” Rose said softly. “He usually doesn’t run the risk of there being two Rose Tylers on Earth, but I knew where I’d be and knew the consequences of not avoiding myself.” Rose laughed and shook her head at the statement. “The things I say.”

“Part of knowing the Doctor,” Kate said with a laugh. “Dad talks like that sometimes.”

“You didn’t introduce yourself to the Doctor,” Rose observed. “Why not?”

“Didn’t seem like the time,” Kate said. “He was here because you were upset.”

“He wasn’t-”

“Yes he was,” Kate said seriously. “Rose he didn’t come because the world was at stake, he came because someone he cares about called him hurting.” Kate looked right at Rose. “There are a lot of rumors Rose and I’m going to leave it alone because it isn’t really my business, but if you don’t feel that way towards him then you should be careful because it looks like he feels that way towards you.”

Rose blinked in surprise and then smiled softly at Kate. “Are you telling me to be careful for his sake?”

“And if I am?”

“Nothing,” Rose said with a smile. “It’s just a nice surprise to have someone else worrying more about him.”

“You can take care of yourself,” Kate said with a shrug. “And I don’t doubt that you can hold your own should a relationship ever begin between you.” Kate gave Rose a firm look that made her swallow nervously. “Whenever in his or your timelines one begins in.”

“Message received,” Rose said with a nod.

“Good,” Kate said before raising her teacup and taking another sip.

Rose was saved from further conversation with Kate by one of the doctors walking into the room. He was a short older man with glasses perched on his noise, according to the name tag he was Doctor Higgins. “Miss Tyler,” Doctor Higgins said pleasantly. “Mr. Beckett has asked to see you.”

“Thank you,” Rose said quickly as she stood from her chair. She looked over at Kate, but her friend gestured for her to go ahead.  Rose nodded and followed Doctor Higgins down a hallway to small patient room.

Richard Becket with laying on his good side facing the doorway with a bored and irritated look on his face which brightened when he spotted Rose.  Stepping into the room, Rose examined the medical equipment around Richard.  Nothing seemed too extreme and he was breathing on his own with only a simple IV in one arm.  Doctor Higgins nodded to Richard before walking down the hall. Richard propped himself up a bit on his good arm.  He was wearing drawstring pants, but no shirt with his injured shoulder covered in bandages that partially wrapped around his torso to keep them secure. Despite how bad he looked, he was smiling at Rose and looked happy to see her which eased the guilt that had flooded through her body.

“Rose,” Richard greeted. “I’ve been asking about what happened at the lab? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Rose said with a smile as she pulled a chair from the wall over to Richard’s bed. “I’ve been here for almost an hour.”

“I’ve been being debriefed,” Richard said as his eyes shifted to the open doorway. “Sounds like everyone is okay though, that’s a relief.”

“Mickey is still being seen to,” Rose said softly. “But it sounds like his burns aren’t as intense in one place so they have to treat more of his body.”

“Yeah, at least I just got the shoulder,” Richard said.

“I didn’t say thank you for what you did,” Rose observed with a sad smile as she looked at the bandaged skin. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Richard said with smile of his own. “Didn’t think about it to be honest, just an instinct.”

“It usually is,” Rose said as she sat down in the chair next to his bed. “But even if you didn’t think about it thank you.”

“So I hear everything is okay now,” Richard said gently. “Those soldiers Smith and Marks are going to be okay I hear.”

“Yeah,” Rose said. “Mickey, uh private Smith can’t have visitors yet, but the doctors say he’ll be okay after some radiation and burn treatments. Magambo’s legs were pretty bad, but she’ll fully recover too.”

“That’s amazing,” Richard observed as he let out a breath. “Just amazing.”

“Some days you get lucky,” Rose said with a soft smile. “This was one of those days. Sadly it’s doubtful that we’ll ever know for certain if Thane did this or if it was someone else.”

“This Thane that everyone thinks set the bomb,” Richard said slowly as if unsure, “I’ve heard about some of the things he’s done… if you had the chance would you kill him?”

Rose looked down at Richard in surprise, but nodded slowly a moment later. Richard’s expression became quizzical. “What?” Rose asked softly.

“It’s just…” Richard shook his head, “I look at you and I see a beautiful smart girl not a killer,” he gave her a soft smile. “The look in your eye says that you’d take on this burn in my place if you could. I just can’t see you killing anyone.”

“I have already,” Rose said softly as she met Richard’s eyes. “But you’re right I’m not a killer.” Rose shook her head, “I’ve always seen killing as something primal, violent and selfish,” she said in a soft voice. “I’m a defender not a killer.”


“What’s the difference?” Richard asked as he reached over and took her hand gently.

“When I end lives it is protect someone or the sometimes the whole world.” Rose paused and shrugged dejectedly. “In a perfect world I’d never end the life of a sentient being, but…” Rose shook her head and finished quickly. “But I can’t put my own moral wishes above the safety of others in a dangerous situation.”

“So you take on the burden,” Richard said gently with a squeeze of her hand. “You really are too good to be true aren’t you.”

“You said you’d stop flirting,” Rose observed lightly, trying to break the tension that had developed.

“I blame the drugs they’ve given me,” Richard said with a chuckle. “No verbal control right now.

“Then I’ll ignore it this once,” Rose said with a sigh. “But honestly, I don’t think that Thane did this.”

“You sound pretty sure of that,” Richard said with a frown.

“This isn’t like him,” Rose said. “He has a mode of operation and this doesn’t fit it.” Rose sighed, “Plus if he had escaped then I’d expect the Judoon to be here looking for him.”

“I did hear a bit about them,” Richard said. “Didn’t sound very good.”


“I’d imagine so,” Rose said with a nod. “That was one of the bad sort of days.”

“If it wasn’t Thane then who?” Richard asked.

“I don’t know,” Rose said with a sigh. “How much do you know about our first contact with the Tervtians?"

“I heard about the attempt to kidnap them,” Richard informed her with a nod. “If that’s what you mean.”

“It is,” Rose said, “the thing is that we still don’t know who arranged that attempt. We suspect Torchwood, but there’s no evidence.”

“You think this was done by Torchwood?” Richard asked with a frown.

Rose shook her head quickly. “No that’s not it, I just mean that we’ve got other mysteries with just circumstantial evidence. I worry about jumping to conclusions.”

They were silent for a few minutes with Rose gently holding Richard’s hand for comfort. The door on the far side opened and one of the medical staff walked towards them.  Rose quickly stood up and released Richard’s hand.

“How is Mickey?” she asked, “I mean how is Private Smith.”

The doctor, a middle aged Indian woman this time smiled gently at Rose. “He’s going to be alright,” she said. “He needs rest, but he has asked to see you.” The doctor paused before she added, “While his face wasn’t burned I warn you that he still doesn’t look very good.”

“May I see him?” Rose asked trying to keep the edge of desperation out of her voice.

“Like I said he’s asking for you,” the doctor said with smile. “Just be careful where you touch him, his hands are alright, but keep an eye out for any pain cues. It’s a miracle that he survived.”  The doctor’s face saddened for a moment. “He was very lucky.”

“Yeah,” Rose agreed softly. She knew that if Mickey hadn’t been protected by the metal shelving he’d be dead. It was an overwhelming thought that Rose forced away as she walked to the far door to see her friend.

Mickey was on his back and Rose took a shaky breath as she examined him from the doorway. None of his burns seemed to be to the same extent of the others as the bandages were lighter on him, even if they covered far more of his body.  However Mickey’s bed was surrounded by many more machines with multiple IVs going into his arms and a nasal breathing system.

“Hey Rose,” Mickey said in a weak voice, but with a happy tone. “Come on in.”

Rose entered the room slowly, but at the warm smile Mickey gave her gained some strength.  She pulled a chair over next to the bed and sat down. Reaching for Mickey’s hand, Rose softly said, “Hi Mickey. How-” Rose cut off the question feeling a bit silly.

“I’m feeling really tired,” Mickey said. “A bit thirsty, but they don’t want me drinking anything yet.” He raised his free hand up enough to gesture to the various IVs. “Docs say it’s in my head and that my body is getting enough liquid.”

“I’m sorry Mickey,” Rose blurted out suddenly.

He turned his head enough to look at Rose with a surprised and confused expression. “Sorry for what babe?”

“You’re involved with aliens because of me,” Rose said softly. “I’m sorry it got you hurt.”

Mickey chuckled and squeezed her hand tightly for a moment. “Is that’s what got you sulking like this?” he asked. When she didn’t reply Mickey’s voice turned more gentle. “It’s not that bad Rose,” he told her. “I’m gonna be fine and I’m certainly not upset at how things have turned out.”   Rose gave him a look and Mickey sighed. “Okay so we’d be dating, maybe married in my perfect world, but I’ve got a good job that makes a difference. I’ve got great mates and I’m attending uni.” Mickey gave her a small smile. “Not bad, certainly not what I expected.” He squeezed her hand again. “So stop it babe, I’m a big boy and I made my choices not you.” Mickey shifted slightly in his bed, badly hiding a flinch of pain. “Now what we really need to worry about is what you tell my gran for me.”

“You’re making me tell Rita-Anne?” Rose asked with wide eyes and Mickey chuckled.

“Got to tell her something and you’re so clever.”

“But surely UNIT-”

“I’m calling in a friend favor,” Mickey said with a smirk. “Just to reassure her that I’m alright.”

Rose sighed and shook her head in surrender. “Alright Mickey, what do you have in mind?”


Next Time: World War Three


“I suppose that I should be glad that the aliens crashed into London before I left on my spring holiday,” Rose observed as she crossed her arms and frowned. “But honestly hitting Big Ben seems more like a crash from a bad science fiction show. They had enough control to hit the water and yet couldn’t aim for a field outside of a major population zone.”

Brigadier Benton sighed and rubbed his forehead as he looked at her through the webcam system. “Well Tyler with me in Geneva and Malcolm in the North Sea I’m afraid you’re going to have to make UNIT UK proud as the conference.”

“Conference?” Rose asked. “What conference?”

Benton now smirked. “Representatives from the UNIT divisions and other agencies from around the world are gathering to discuss this crash, it was very public after all and I’m sending you for UNIT UK. Play nice with the other children.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Time and the Trickster
By Lumendea
Chapter Twenty-Four: When in Doubt Sonic It

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

AN: I’m so sorry for the wait on this chapter. Illness has been going around my office and those of us who aren’t sick are juggling extra work with our own right now. Additionally I lost about half of the chapter to a computer glitch. Good news is I’ve got over 1,000 words written for the next chapter so I’ll be shooting for an early catch up release.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The blue-eyed Doctor looked at Rose with a curious and worried expression.

“You called?” he questioned.

“Yeah,” Rose managed, “Yes I did.”

The Doctor starred at her for a long moment taking her expression and posture with a single searching glance.  He nodded to himself, forced a small smile and stepped forward.

“Come here,” he said gently.

Rose was a bit surprised as the Doctor opened his arms, but accepted the friendly gesture. She stepped into the embrace and wrapped her arms around him for a second longer than would have been considered merely friendly before she managed to relax.

“Right then,” The Doctor said as he released Rose and stepped back. “What’s the crisis?”

“A piece of alien technology was being reconstructed here,” Rose explained as calmly as she could. “It was a Tervtian energy cell, but it was altered somehow and went through a radiation explosion. As far as we can tell it is still intact in the lab, but the radiation levels are building.” Rose swallowed, “The people who were caught in the first flash explosion were all badly burned.”

The Doctor’s eyes scanned Rose quickly and she managed a watery smile. “I was pulled out of the way,” she said softly. “I’m fine.”

“Are the other’s alive?” the Doctor asked as he studied her face.

“The ones we have now are,” Rose said even as her throat constricted. “But Mickey was still in the lab when the radiation started to build… we couldn’t get to him.”

Rose closed her eyes as the tear began to well up at the horrible thoughts that became to race through her mind. She took a difficult breath as terrible images of Mickey’s burned corpse or disintegrating body flashed behind her closed eyes.

“Rose,” the Doctor said softly and gently in front of her. She felt the weight of his hand on her shoulder. “Rose,” he called again, sounding unsure.

Forcing her eyes, open Rose looked up into the Doctor’s face. He was standing right in front of her and his expression was worried, determined and a little lost.  She sniffed and nodded to him.

“I’m alright,” Rose assured him as she brought up a hand and brushed away some tears. “Let’s just-”

Then the Doctor surprised her by drawing her against him in a tight hug. Rose breathed in the smell of his leather coat, the slight smell of grease and the strange blend of other scents that surrounded the man.  Her body relaxed against him and she took another breathe to strengthen herself before pulling back.

“Okay,” the Doctor said with a nod. “Let’s go take care of this.” He took Rose’s hand in his as they started to walk back to the main room where UNIT was waiting.

No one said anything about Rose’s red eyes when she and the Doctor joined Malcolm and the stern look on the Doctor’s face cut back any questions or greeting he might have gotten otherwise. Benton just nodded in greeting to the man and started rapidly telling the Doctor everything UNIT knew about the building.  Looking around, Rose noticed that Tosh was missing.

“Kate?” Rose asked quietly as she leaned over to whisper to the blonde woman who was watching the Doctor with interest. As Kate’s eye swung to her Rose was surprised at the affection in them, but asked. “Where’s Tosh?”

“She’s retrieving the sonic modulator,” Kate said in an equally low voice. “She thought that it could be used to cancel out some of the radiation by altering the frequency of the electromagnetic particles.”

“Oh,” Rose said simply.

“I don’t know much about radiation either,” Kate said to her with a small smile as they moved back to give the Doctor some space to question Benton and Malcolm.

Rose let herself be led over to the security booth and handed a cup of tea. It wasn’t very good, but the warm liquid soothed Rose’s throat and she allowed herself to relax slightly.  Their best chance was here now, even if it hadn’t been the Doctor she’d expected.

“This will start some new rumors,” Kate’s voice said with an amused tone.

“What will?” Rose asked as she looked over at her older friend.

“He came when you called,” Kate told her with a smile. “He isn’t exactly known for that.”

“I was pretty upset in the message,” Rose admitted. “It probably worried him hearing me like that.”

“At least it was a version that knows you,” Kate observed calmly a moment later. “Could have been confusing over wise.”

Rose actually smiled a little as her eyes went back to the blue-eyed Doctor who was still questioning Malcolm about the situation. She knew that she really should be over there helping, but was also grateful to Kate for pulling her away for a few moments.

“The TARDIS handles the phone,” Rose said with a soft smile. “He mentioned that to me once when I asked if I had to worry about calling up his first body.” Rose chuckled. “That would have been horrible and funny at the same time.” Rose looked over at the blue-eyed Doctor, “But I wasn’t expecting her to pick this one.”

“He still came when you called,” Kate observed.

“He comes when I really need him, but timelines…” Rose trailed off and looked back at Kate as something clicked into place. Maybe it was what Kate had said earlier about sciene leading UNIT into the future, the way Benton acted around her or the way she had been watching the Doctor with almost affection.   Whatever the reason, it finally clicked into place and Rose actually smiled.  “But he doesn’t always come when your father calls I suppose.” Rose observed.

Kate blinked at Rose and then slowly smiled. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Did Spock tell you that?”

“No,” Rose said. “Lots of little things,” she added. “But mostly from science leads and how you’re looking at the Doctor right now.”

Kate opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it and chuckled. “I was older when Dad started telling me about the Doctor, but it was always clear that Dad considered him a dear friend. As for the science leads… well Dad learned that from an old friend.” Kate closed her eyes and shook her head. “Malcolm and Benton know of course,” she said. “But I’d rather the others didn’t.”

“I get it,” Rose told her quickly with a nod. “I was hired because of the Doctor,” Rose shook her head sadly as her thoughts turned sad again. “Connections are hard to overcome,” Rose smiled at Kate. “No one will hear from me.”

“Ready to join the others?” Kate questioned. “See if we can help?

“Yeah,” Rose said as she set down the cool tea. “Thank you.”

As they were walking over to join the Doctor the front door opened and Tosh walked into the foyer with two UNIT soldiers and the metal case that the sonic modulator was kept it. The Doctor looked up at them as Toshiko approached him a little nervously.

“Toshiko right?” the Doctor asked, clearly remembering the woman.

“Yes,” Tosh answered with a  nervous little smile. “Hello Doctor.”

“What’s this?” the Doctor asked as he examined the case which she set down next to the computers.

Malcolm’s hero worship of the Doctor kicked in. “This is our sonic modulator Doctor,” Malcolm said as he opened the case and carefully drew out the machine.  Cradling it in both hands he nodded proudly to Tosh and said, “Tosh here made the initial working design.”

“Sonic modulator huh,” the Doctor asked as he took it from Malcolm’s hands. “Not bad, you did good on the diode crystal,” the Doctor observed as he inspected the modulator.

“We used Rose’s crystal to artificially grow a similar structure,” Malcolm explained.

The Doctor glanced over at Rose and smiled as she lifted her long chain which held her TARDIS key, biodamper and the crystal pendent he’d given her at the age of eleven. Smiling at her, the Doctor nodded in recognition and then looked over at the radiation readings thoughtfully.

“You were thinking about using the modulator to affect the radiation,” the Doctor guessed with a frown.

“Uh yes,” Tosh said slowly. “It might be possible to use the modulator’s frequency to change the electromagnetic nature of the radiation enough to get close.”

“Won’t work,” the Doctor said shortly. “Not with this kind of radiation. I recognize this stuff. It was developed on a planet in the Trisgis system during a war.” The Doctor paused, “They used them as a form of landmine.” The Doctor’s frown deepened. “Thane helped start that war,” he said as he looked over at Benton.  “But no sign of him?”

“The use of the Blackout virus was the only tie we found to Thane,” Benton answered, “But can you be sure Doctor?”

“No,” the Doctor said as he tapped the sonic modulator thoughtfully as he held it in one hand. Rose saw Malcolm watching fearfully, torn between his faith in the Doctor and the possible horror of him dropping the sonic modulator. “But it hardly matters,” the Doctor said finally. A manic smile broke out over his face a moment later. “And if it is based on the landmines then it means that your man might still alive in that lab and that we can turn it off from up here.”

“How?” Tosh asked with wide eyes.

The Doctor turned his manic grin on her and raised the sonic modulator in one had while pulling out the sonic screwdriver. “The energy cell contains some fragile parts,” the Doctor explained. “Set a high enough frequency and we can cause them to collapse and stop working that should shut it off.”

The Doctor put the sonic modulator down on the table and gestured for the computers to be moved. Malcolm snatched up one of the mobile computers with its sensors from the table while Kate stepped around Rose to pick up the second one.  Rose watched them for a moment as they evacuated the expensive equipment away from the Doctor. The Doctor ignored them as he adjusted his sonic screwdriver and held it near the modulator.

“Is this going to damage the building?” Benton asked. “Like that machine of Thanes in Croydon?”

“Not to the same level,” the Doctor answered quickly as he glanced over at Rose. “From what I heard about it, part of that was the longevity of the signal. If I set this up right then it will be a sharp burst.” The Doctor shrugged, “Might break a few things here and there, but it won’t bring the building down.” The Doctor’s frown returned as he made another adjustment.

Rose stepped forward and pulled out the sonic pen, having a feeling he was about to ask.  Sure enough he straightened up and turned towards her, opened his mouth and then blinked at the sight of the pen already being held out to him. “Good girl,” he said before snatching the pen from her hand.

“You said Mickey might be alive,” Rose said softly.

“It doesn’t travel through metal well,” the Doctor said. “Good in fields and on roads, but in a lab… if he got behind something then he would have been partially protected. This stuff isn’t exactly like anything you lot are familiar with.”

Rose nodded and clung to the Doctor’s words. If he’d known he wouldn’t get the door then Mickey would have tried to take cover.  The lab had lots of tables and shelves and just maybe…. Rose took a breath and focused on the Doctor.  He was leaning over the sonic modulator with a look of great concentration, programming in just the right frequency so he could destroy the pieces of the device without hurting anyone. Rose swallowed, she wouldn’t have been able to manage that. She and Tosh would have tried, but without detailed information like what the Doctor had in that impressive brain of his they would’ve been stuck with trial and error.

“Here Rose,” the Doctor said suddenly. “Hold this.”

Rose moved over to stand right next to the Doctor and took back her sonic pen from him. Grasping her hand, he adjusted the angle of how she held it and activated it again. Rose kept her hand still and level as the Doctor used his own free hand to make another adjustment to the sonic modulator.

 “Here we go,” the Doctor said before pressing the activation button of the sonic modulator.  The loud humming of the sonic device echoed in the marble and metal foyer. Then Rose heard a strange clicking sound before the radio of Benton’s waist suddenly sparked. Around the room Rose saw other radios spark and the Doctor called out, “Sorry about that.”

The humming stopped a moment later when the Doctor turned off the device.  He straightened up and turned to look over at Malcolm who was nervously studying the computer’s readout.  The lead scientist’s expression suddenly brightened and he nearly fell over himself as he stood up.

“The radiation just dropped off sir!”

“Good to hear,” Benton said with relief in his voice. He turned to look at the men waiting in radiation suits. “Go have a look, I’d say to stay in radio contact, but…” Benton looked at his radio and then back at the Doctor.

“Oops,” the Doctor said with a shrug. “Could’ve been the sensors that blew instead.”

Rose looked over to see Malcolm almost hugging the computerize sensor unit and Kate watching with a fond smile.  Her eyes returned to the men in the radiation suits as they headed for the staircase.  Without the radios they couldn’t tell them if Mickey was alright.

“Sir if the radiation has dropped then can’t I-” Rose started to ask Benton.

“No,” Benton said firmly. “We don’t know how much of the radiation is going to be retained by materials down there,” Benton said more gently a moment later. “Let’s avoid unnecessary risks.”

The Doctor watched the exchange silently and Rose sighed, but nodded. She slipped the sonic pen back into her ponytail and went over to the Doctor.

“No matter what happens to Mickey… thank you for coming,” she said softly.

The Doctor didn’t say anything to her, but crossed his arms and watched the doorway. “He your boyfriend?” the Doctor asked after what seemed like an eternity.

“Mickey?” Rose asked with wide eyes. The Doctor nodded and Rose chuckled at the thought that he might be jealous. “No,” she said with a shake of her head. But he’s a good friend.” She paused and swallowed. “Plus he wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Mickey grew up with me at the Powell Estates,” Rose explained in a low voice. “He was always like my big brother.” Rose paused,” He was one of the kids that the Piper took.”


The Doctor nodded in understanding. “How did he come to be in UNIT?”


“Horath,” Rose explained. “When Sharon and Shireen couldn’t reach UNIT after I gave the alert they got Mickey to drive them to the academy. After that UNIT hired him on.”

“It’s not your fault,” the Doctor told her gently.

“I know that,” Rose told him giving him a small smile. “But are you really going to say that you don’t feel guilty when the people you bring into your world get hurt.” The Doctor opened his mouth, but nothing came out. “Same thing for me,” Rose said softly with a sigh. “Fault or not, I still feel responsible.”

The sudden noise of people moving caused Rose’s attention to snap back to the stairwell.  The three men were carrying a stretcher carefully.

“He’s alive,” one announced loudly, his voice muffled by the mask, but Rose still heard him. “One of the metal shelves fell over him!”

The medics rushed forward to take Mickey from them. Rose moved forward a few steps to watch as Mickey was rushed out the front door to the UNIT ambulance.  Swallowing she turned back to the Doctor who was watching with a gentle smile.

“Go on,” the Doctor said. “Until next time Rose Tyler.”


Grinning in relief, Rose stepped up the Doctor and leaned up to kiss his cheek. “Until next time Doctor and thank you.”

She turned to find Kate waiting for her. The blonde woman smiled at the Doctor and nodded her thanks to him. “Come on Rose, Malcolm’s ordered me to take you to the hospital.”

“Thank you Kate,” Rose said as she stepped towards her friend.  She paused ready to introduce Kate, but the older woman shook her head and put a hand on Rose’s shoulder. “Come on hon,” she said. “Let’s go.”

Rose fell silent and let herself be led to the front door. She glanced over her shoulder to see the Doctor bidding a quick goodbye to Benton and heading for the TARDIS.

“Until next time,” she repeated quietly before returning her mind to the task of worrying about Mickey.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Time and the Trickster
By Lumendea
Chapter Twenty-Three: Radiation Alert

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

AN: This chapter, heck this episode is dedicated to Miss Snazzy who gave me my very first fan art for this series!  I had a lot of fun ready your reviews for the last chapter, Mickey got a lot of love from all of you. Anyway this is a bit late because I had a chance to go home and see my entire extended family which I took of course. Hope all of you had a lovely weekend.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jumping to her feet, Rose lunged towards the doorway as she screamed, “Mickey!”

An arm wrapped around her out of nowhere and pulled her back sharply. Rose struggled against the grip for a moment in a blind panic to get to Mickey before her senses caught up and she became aware of UNIT staff rushing around her.  A pair of medics were already gently shifting Richard onto a stretched and Captain Magambo was being moved from the doorway.

Turning her head, Rose relaxed slightly as she caught sight of Private Ross’ worried, but determined expression.  She stopped trying to move towards the doorway and Ross released her slowly, keeping an eye on her as if he didn’t trust her. Swallowing, Rose forced herself to step back from the doorway even as she noted that none of the soldiers were entering the room just yet. A warm hand on her shoulder made Rose turn to the right. Kate was giving her a firm, but caring expression.

“Let them do their jobs,” Kate said. “And we’ll do ours.”

Rose swallowed and managed a nod before she allowed Kate to pull her further back from the room.  She noted as they moved away that the light in the room had lessened and now there was just a low blue glow coming from the device.

“Whatever it was it seems to have just been an energy burst,” Kate observed as they walked to a table that was being set up with soldiers.  Tosh and Malcolm were already opening up metal suitcases with equipment tucked inside. Malcolm looked up at Rose with soft eyes, but said nothing  after giving her a quick nod.  Tucking some hair behind her ear, Rose moved around behind Tosh to look at the sensor arrays that she was pointing towards the doorway.

“There’s still some kind of radiation,” Tosh observed after a moment. “Not any sort that we have ever seen on Earth, but it definitely there.”

The sound of more people moving towards them made Rose look up and she sighed in relief as three figures in radiation suits walked towards the doorway with hand scanners.

“Thank goodness we had the mobile unit here,” Malcolm said softly to Rose who nodded.

“It’s still going off,” Tosh announced a moment later.

“Are you certain?” Malcolm questioned as he shifted ot steady the readouts that Tosh was tracking.

“Not as strong, not nearly,” Tosh said. “But I’m tracking regular low bursts of energy every thirty seconds.”

They all glanced at each other and Rose felt bile rise into her throat.  “Can we get a camera into the room? Or send the people in the radiation suits in?”

“A camera we can try,” Malcolm said as he looked over at the three figures who were carefully measuring radiation around the door. “But I can’t send those men in without having an idea if they are safe or not.”

Rose swallowed and nodded despite the desire to protest. This wasn’t the time and she was emotionally compromised. She was in fact a little surprised that Malcolm hadn’t ordered her removed.

“Toshiko,” Malcolm asked. “Are those burst still consistent?”

“Yes,” Tosh said, “But I can report that none of the radiation seems to be getting through the lab walls,” she reported. “It’s possible that it can only affect organic matter and not metal.”

“That is possible,” Kate observed. “In explosions it is the shockwave that causes most of the damage and radiation is an aftereffect.”

“Have a sensor put in the same protective covering as the radiation suits,” Malcolm told Kate. “Let’s see if sending people in is safe.”

Kate nodded and turned to walk toward Ross quickly. Rose followed her movements with her eyes for a short time before she turned back to the sensors.”

“Any thoughts on where it is still releasing energy?” Rose asked as she pulled out the sonic pen. “Maybe we can shut it down.”

“Almost there,” Toshiko said. “If we can get a camera inside then maybe this can work.”

Rose nodded and tried to contain her excitement. Turning she caught sight of one of the soldiers bringing a package towards them.  He handed it to Malcolm who relaxed slightly and nodded.

“We just need to toss this into the room,” Malcolm announced as he motioned one of the men in radiation suits over to him.  As he handed off the package Rose noted the rope tied to one end that the man took a hold of. Rose watched silently as the man, she couldn’t tell who it was, walked over near the doorway, set the package on the floor and gently kicked it into the room.

“A few minutes should tell us if we can go in,” Malcolm told Rose gently.

“I’m alright,” Rose said quickly, worried at the tone of Malcolm’s voice.

Malcolm nodded to Rose, but she could see that he was still worried. Instead of saying anything or crowding Tosh, Rose moved over with Kate to wait for the results. She leaned against the far wall and crossed her arms across her chest. The older blonde looked over at her with a gentle smile, but said nothing and Rose found herself grateful for the silence. Rose closed her eyes and took a few slow breathes to calm down.  Briefly she thought about calling the Doctor, but she had nothing absolute she could tell him yet.  Rose forced herself to let out another slow breath, listening to the movement of UNIT personnel in the crowded hallway.  Everyone was jammed on one side of the doorway, everyone unwilling to cross in front of it.  Rose was briefly grateful to Richard for pulling her to the proper side so she wasn’t trapped.  Of course she was grateful to Richard for helping her. Opening her eyes, Rose scanned the hallway and noted that all but two of the medics had left the area.

“Do we know the status of Richard and Magambo?” Rose asked Kate softly.

“There isn’t anything new,” Kate answered in a low voice, “But when they left the medics were saying the damage wasn’t permanent.”

“Those looked like third or fourth degree burns,” Rose said. “How is that not permanent?”


“UNIT has developed some very effective treatments,” Kate said gently. “We have some things that aren’t available to the public. Something we got from the Tervtians I believe.”

“Is there a reason they aren’t available yet?” Rose questioned, glad for the distraction.

“Apparently there isn’t a simple procedure for producing them yet,” Kate sighed and nodded to the hallway. “Beckett Enterprises is working on that as well I believe.”

“Did UNIT hand over all the Tervtian stuff to them or something,” Rose muttered.

“Maybe,” Kate answered with a slight smile. “There is a limit to how much time the UNIT science team can devote to such things around dealing with active threats.  Geneva thought it was a good time to start using outside intelligences.”

“I’m not sure about that,” Rose admitted. “Before I’d say it was a good idea, but now…” Rose nodded to the doorway, “Maybe it is too exposed.”

“There are bound to be some growing pains,” Kate said. “But UNIT is trying to improve itself. Science leads.”

Rose looked over at Kate with a quizzical expression at Kate’s words. “What do you want for UNIT?” Rose asked quietly.

“I’d like to see it led by scientists,” Kate admitted with a smile. “Not just our sort of scientists, but linguists, anthropologists, biologists or botanists.  People who can look at something new with wonder and give it a chance.” Kate stilled and chuckled. “You’re deceptively easy to talk to Rose.”

“Part of my charm,” Rose replied with a smile. “I knew there was a reason that I liked you.”

A sudden burst of activity near the life made Rose straighten and push away from the wall. General Benton stepped out of the lift and quickly saluted the three men standing nearby.  He turned and walked straight for Malcolm.

“Doctor Taylor,” he greeted shortly. “Do we know the status of the men who were in the room?”

“No sir,” Malcolm said regretfully.

“Is there any chance they are alive?” Benton questioned.

Malcolm wilted a little and swallowed. “Not much of one sir,” he answered. “But the radiation seems not to pass through metal. If they took cover under the table or behind a shelf then they may have survived.  Since the first blast there have been small bursts which prevent us from entering the room directly.” Malcolm gestured towards the door. “We have a sensor in the room now to determine if we can enter in radiation suits.”

“Good,” Benton said with a nod. He looked around at the assembled UNIT personnel. “On my way here I was briefed on Captain Magambo’s status, she is stable and regained consciousness for a few minutes before she was put under for surgery.”

There wasn’t a cheer from those assembled, but some of the tension did ease.  A moment later one of the men in radiation suits pulled the sensor out of the room and picked it up after scanning it with his hand held.  Rose and Kate both moved over to Malcolm as he accepted the sensor package from one of the soldiers.  He unwrapped it gently with gloved hands and set it down next to the computers.  Holding her breath, Rose watched as Malcolm checked the levels the sensor had recorded as opposed to the computers.

“It doesn’t shield against all of the radiation,” he announced a moment later. “But enough of it that they can rush in quickly to check for our men.”  Malcolm checked a few more things. “Three minutes top before the energy pulses will become too much.”

“Go,” Benton ordered quickly. “Set an alarm,” he ordered another soldier. “Two minutes and then you are out.”

The three men in radiation suits nodded and waited for a signal when the alarm was set. They stepped through the open doorway and Rose heard Tosh gasp softly.  Turning quickly to the woman Rose leaned over and examined Tosh’s screen.  The energy pulses had dropped off suddenly.

“What does that mean?” Tosh asked herself quietly before she tapped Malcolm’s arm and directed his attention to the screen.

“When they stepped inside the first time something went off,” Kate said. “What if it wasn’t a normal trap, but some kind of biological scanner.”

“General!” Malcolm shouted quickly. “Unknown reaction is taking place. They need to get out!”

Organized chaos was the only way to describe what happened next as Benton barked his orders and shouts answered from inside the room. Rose stopped breathing as a moment later the first of the men emerged holding one end of a long piece of metal with a body on it. He was followed out of the room by the other two men each holding a corner of the large piece of metal.  The body was badly burned on its back, but Rose could see the unburned front side of the body, the man had light skin.  Rose tensed as the medics rushed forward to check Marks as the men in radiation suits held the remains of one of the shelves steady.

“He’s alive,” one of the medics announced. “We need to get him to a hospital immediately.”

Rose couldn’t move. She wanted to yell at them to get Mickey out of the room, rush forward into the room herself or start crying. Hopefully it was professionalism or the realization that it wouldn’t help Mickey.  She watched carefully as the medics applied some kind of salve to the charred skin of Marks’ back and his lack of response.  They carefully moved him onto a proper stretched and a few moments later he was on a portal respirator.  As the medics vanished with Marks into the lift things became to move again as everyone cleared back from the laboratory.

Rose released a breath that she hadn’t known she’d been holding and returned to Toshiko to look over her shoulder.  “When they go back in?” Rose questioned before her eyes took in the levels of radiation. “Bloody hell,” Rose breathed in terror.

“What is happening!?” Benton demanded.

“We need to go!” Kate snapped as she closed one of the cases. “Take the stairs and not the lift! Move!” She ordered sharply.

Benton didn’t react for a moment, but nodded at the command. “Upstairs!” He ordered sending those still in the hallway to start moving. Benton looked back at Malcolm. “What is going on?”


“Something else is happening,” Tosh swallowed and added, “I think this weapon has a second stage and I’m not sure how big it is.”

“I’ve got another man in there,” Benton said urgently.

“I know,” Tosh said softly. “But you may be about to lose a lot more.”

Rose made a soft noise and took an involuntary step towards the room before Benton caught her arm.  Pulling her after him, Benton headed for the staircase.  Rose didn’t fight his grip despite the desire to help Mickey, but wasn’t actively trying to leave.  They all moved quickly for the staircase, but Rose saw Benton look back towards the lab and frown. Benton’s expression hardened and he marched towards her and gripped her arm before leading her up the stairs.

Rose pulled away from Benton as soon as they reached the upper level.  Tosh and Malcolm had already rushed to the security cameras as Kate set up the sensor stations once again.  She tossed Rose a few sensors which she turned and tossed down the stairs, ignoring Benton’s protest.  Joining Kate, Rose peered at the radiation levels which continued to rise.

“Are we going to be safe here?” Rose questioned.

“For now,” Kate said softly. “But be ready to move.”

“This is a populous area of London,” Rose said quietly. “This just became a crisis.”

“Can you disarm this with the sonic pen?” Kate asked.

“No,” Rose said. “I don’t know enough about this to use the pen softly. For all I know I could cause the thing to blow up.”

“I see,” Kate said as she watched the radiation levels. “Rose I don’t think that-”

“Please don’t,” Rose said quickly. “I’m going to hope until I know that he’s…” Rose swallowed. “I’ll be right back.”

Stepping back from Kate, Rose found an empty corridor off of the lobby where she could easily regroup with the others.  Pulling out her mobile, Rose pressed one and lifted it to her ear waiting for the Doctor or Donna to answer the phone. Rose waited as her mobile rang and made a soft cry when there was a beep indicating to leave a message.

“Doctor,” Rose chocked out. “I need you on Earth. 19 February 2006 at Becket Enterprises in London. Please,” she added in a whisper. “I really need you here right now.”

She closed her mobile phone gently and took in a deep breath as she glanced around, hoping for the TARDIS to appear. Back out in the hall she could still hear orders being given and people rushing around.  Shivering, Rose hugged herself quickly. She didn’t even know if Mickey was still alive in that bloody room.  Shaking her head, Rose forced herself to leave that thought.

“He’s alive,” she told herself. “He’s got to be.”

Rose waited in the corridor for another moment before taking a shaky breath. She turned to head back into the lobby, but stopped when the wheezing sound of the TARDIS echoed in the corridor.  Spinning, Rose turned towards the sound and nearly sobbed in relief as the TARDIS began to materialize.  As the door opened, Rose just stopped herself from launching herself forward to hug her significant other when his previous form stepped out.  The blue-eyed Doctor looked at Rose with a curious and worried expression.

“You called?” he questioned.

“Yeah,” Rose managed, “Yes I did.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Time and the Trickster
By Lumendea
Chapter Twenty-Two: Flash Point

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

AN: I’m sorry this took so long, I ended up having to take care of some urgent matters at work and then just couldn’t get inspired to write due to exhaustion for a few days.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Malcolm quickly looked over at Rose as she walked into the room with a wide smile on his face. As usual he didn’t worry about maintaining any sense of protocol and moved across the room to hug Rose tightly.  Smiling, Rose returned the hug and quietly teased Malcolm.

“You saw me last month,” she said in a teasing tone.

“And now I’m seeing you again,” Malcolm said as he released her and stepped back. He nodded to Richard. “I see you’ve met our secret weapon.”

“Secret weapon?” Rose asked raising an eyebrow.

“Oh yes,” Malcolm said cheerfully. “You have one of the best success records in UNIT and favor science over traditional military tactics.” Malcolm grinned wider, “You do the Science Division proud.”

Rose smiled and nodded, but looked past Malcolm to Tosh who was watching them with a smile. “How much coffee has he had?” Rose asked her.

Tosh chuckled and turned back to her laptop as she answered, “Far too much and Kate is getting more for him.”

“Oh dear,” Rose said with a wink to Malcolm before she walked over to Tosh.  She gave the Asian woman a quick hug and examined the code in the computer.

“Black out virus?” Rose verified.

“Yeah,” Tosh said with a nod. “But it hasn’t left the building, the replication sequence is gone.”

“Really?” Rose said as she sat down next to Tosh. “Why would someone remove the replication sequence? That’s part of what made it so dangerous.”


“Exactly why we are concerned,” Kate Stewart said as she entered the room via the lift with a tray of coffee.  A UNIT guard with a car key nodded to everyone before the lift closed. Kate set the tray on the center table and smiled at Rose. “Welcome to the party.”

“Some party,” Rose said as she glanced around, but she couldn’t help but smile at Kate.  Standing up, Rose quickly hugged the older blonde woman before asking, “Do we have any theories as to how the virus got into Becket Enterprise’s server and why?”

“Nothing yet,” Malcolm said as he joined them. “The security footage has been examined several times, but no one who isn’t authorized has gotten into the building.”

Rose turned to look over at Richard and asked, “Is it possible that the server was hacked from outside?”

“No,” Richard said shaking his head at her question. “This holds sensitive information about UNIT so it can only be access by two direct lines in the building, in here or my office.”

“And you’re certain that no unauthorized access has occurred?” Rose questioned.

“Nothing came up,” Richard said shifting his weight slightly, “But I’m about to go upstairs and manually check all of the access records to make sure. It might have been possible for someone to hide their access on the surface level, but my personal machine tracks if the lift opens down here or if my computer is used.” Richards looked at the others who were still studying the modified virus. “If you like to join me I could use another set of eyes checking things.”

Rose glanced over at Malcolm who gave a quick nod as he sipped from his newest cup of coffee.  Tosh and Kate were speaking quietly while Kate wrote down a few things on a notebook. Looking back at Richard, Rose nodded and said, “Alright then. Lead the way.”


Richard had to use his card key twice more to access the upper floor of the building and they had to stop to send a UNIT guard down to the server room with one of the keys that Becket Enterprises had provided. Rose sort of wanted on herself, not because it was really vital or anything like that, but it looked a bit important to be swiping the cards to unlock doors and security systems.  She smiled to herself at the thought as Richard used the key one last time to open his personal office.

It was  spacious room and nicely decorated, but rather impersonal Rose observed as her eyes swept the room. There were no photos, silly little knick knacks or even messy notes on the desk.  But maybe he had cleaned it up to look as professional as possible when UNIT arrived given that there was a potential security breech and his was a new company working with them.

“Alright,” Richard said with a smile as he moved around the desk and pulled out the keyboard tray. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”

Rose pulled a chair around so she could sit next to Richard as he pulled up a long list of entry codes, dates and names.  She remained silent as Richard started scrolling through each entry one at a time as her eyes scanned for anything unusual.

“So do you like Cambridge?” Richard asked.

“Yes,” Rose said. “Did you attend Uni?”


“No,” Richard replied with a chuckle. “I was a teenage hacker who got into far too much trouble. That’s actually part of how I found out about aliens and UNIT.”

“Really?” Rose asked with a hint of surprise.

“Few months back I was working in a garage when I found plans in a government database for a new computer processor.” Richard shrugged, “I managed to build the thing and UNIT was impressed.”


“I’m surprised I didn’t hear about that,” Rose remarked.

“I was living in New York City at the time,” Richard explained. “So it was the US branch that come knocking on my door.” He glanced over at her with a charming smile. “So when they agreed to help me get started in creating modified alien technology and getting a company set up I decided to return to my home town.”

“So you’re a Londoner?” Rose questioned. “I can’t place your accent.”

“My family was pretty bottom of the barrel,” Richard said calmly. “I moved a lot growing up so my accent is a bit of mix and then I lived in the states for several years.” He looked over at Rose again. “Now you’re fairly obvious Miss Cockney.”

“Born and breed,” Rose replied before turning her eyes back to the computer screen. “I’ll be honest I’m not sure what I should be looking for.”

Richard laughed warmly and pointed at the right side of the screen. “This is the official records that the computer pulled up this morning,” he explained and then pointed the left side. “And this are the locked backup copy kept on my private server. I’m hoping that whoever uploading the Blackout virus modified the master version, but missed the private server copy.”

“Right,” Rose said blushing slightly. “So something that doesn’t match up is all we’re looking for, I was thinking it was more complex.”

Richard chuckled, “Usually it is, but today not so much.” Then he stopped and pointed at an entry. “Here is something odd,” he observed. “This was accessed with my key coding, but I wasn’t in the building.”

“Are you certain,” Rose asked as her eyes scanned the entry.

“Positive,” Richard said with a nod. “And look at this, it doesn’t show up on the master list so it was edited out.”

“Can you see if they access anything other than the server room?” Rose asked.

Richard nodded quickly and started typing in a protocol and his key code number into the computer. He frowned when another entry popped up.

“What is that?” Rose questioned quickly, a bit worried by Richard’s cheerful manner vanishing.

“It’s one of the labs,” Richard said as he pushed his chair back to stand. “We’re working on some prototypes of energy cells from the Tervtian ship in there.”

“Dangerous?” Rose asked sharply.

“I wouldn’t think so,” Richard said slowly, but as he looked over and saw Rose’s tense expression he swallowed, “But almost anything can become dangerous. We’d better check it out.”

Rose fully expected Richard to push away from the desk, but instead he brought up the security camera and entered a series of passwords.  A moment later the screen was filled with the image of a standard lab.  The camera was at an angle near the ceiling and looking down at a work table in the large main area with bit and pieces of machines on it.  Several smaller rooms could be seen with the camera off the main area. Richard hit another set of keys and the angle changed to another camera.  This time Rose could see a compact rectangular device sitting on one of the worktables.  The box itself glowed slightly with a few tubes showing on the side. Around it were a few smaller devices that she couldn’t quite see from their current angle.

“That the energy cell?” Rose questioned.

“Yeah,” Richard said in a low tone. “It’s been redesigned, but that’s it.” He huffed softly and zoomed the camera in on the device. “It looks normal.”

“Was it put away?” Rose asked. “Should it even be out?”

“Yes actually,” Richard said with a nod and he pointed to one of the small devices. “These are reading its stasis energy output over the course of a few days.” Richard ran a hand though his dark hair and rubbed his neck in frustration. “Everything is exactly where it should be.”

“So why does something feel off,” Rose finished with a nod.

Richard nodded in agreement and stood up from his desk. “Let’s make sure we’re seeing what we think we’re seeing,” he said as he pulled out his card key and headed for the door.

Rose glanced at the image of the device one more time before she followed Richard out into the hall and back to the lift.  Richard’s body was tense as he pulled out his key card and activated the lift to take them back to the lobby.  He tapped his fingers impatiently while the lift moved and Rose gave him a small, what she hoped was a calming smile.  Richard looked at her and the tension eased slightly and he managed to give her a tiny smile in return.

“Worrying doesn’t help,” Rose said softly before the lift opened.

“Perhaps not,” Richard muttered. “But it’s bloody difficult not to.”

Captain Magambo must have read Richard’s expression because she quickly crossed the hall with Mickey and a private that Rose had never met, but seen around.  She thought his name might be Marks. A quick glance at his name tag when they got close verified this.

“I’m afraid Captain that one of the labs has been accessed,” Richard said. “According to the security cameras everything is in order.”

Rose stayed quite as Richard identified the lab that had been accessed by their unknown visitor on the small map that the Captain was carrying. Magambo nodded sharply in understanding and gestured to Mickey and Private Marks to follow her.  The five of them reentered the lift and Rose stood with Richard as he used his key card to access the proper floor. The air in the lift was tense as everyone stayed focused on their own thoughts.  Rose was wondering, not for the first time today if Thane had really returned or someone was just making use of the virus. It wasn’t hard to believe that someone could have managed to safely contain the Blackout virus and was using it to get information they wanted.  It could be Torchwood or even a private company after the secrets of Becket Enterprises.

Rose forced herself out of her thoughts as the lift dinged softly as they reached the correct floor. Richard stepped out first into the sterile grey hallways and gestured toward a door on the far side of the corridor. Magambo nodded and stalked towards the doorway quickly.  Joining the captain at the doorway, Richard looked through the small window careful and visibly relaxed.

“Everything looks to be in place,” he announced after his inspection.  He slid his key car through the security scanned at the right side of the door.

“Wait out here,” Magambo said to Richard before looking over at Rose. “Just to be sure.”

Mickey and his fellow private raised their weapons and stepped into the room slowly. Marks stepped to point as Mickey moved along behind him. Rose peeked around Captain Magambo and frowned slightly to herself. Everything in the lab seemed to be place exactly as it looked on the camera footage, but surely something had been removed or altered in some way.  She glanced over at Richard to find him watching the movements of the soldiers carefully.

Looking back to Mickey, Rose nibbled at her lip with worry.  Rose wanted to move closer, but Captain Magambo remained firmly in her way.  Everyone was still as Marks stepped closer to the energy cell.

“Becket does it look any different?” Magambo questioned.

“Not from here,” Richard replied, “But I’ll need to get closer to be sure.

“Nothing seems out of place ma’am,” the private said from in the room. He then took a step back towards the door and there was a soft click. Rose tensed as the energy cell began to emit a high pitched whining sound.

“Get out of there!” Richard shouted next to her. “It’s not supposed to do that.”

“Mickey!” Rose shouted in alarm, taking an involuntary step forward.

The whine began higher and almost painful as the device suddenly started to spark electric blue. A hand grabbed hers and Rose felt herself being pulled harsh to the side.  She collided with Richard’s chest and was spun back against the wall just as a flash of electric blue light exploded from the doorway. Rose slammed her eyes shut as several horrible screams echoed in the space.

Silence descended as quickly as the chaos had started and Rose’s eyes snapped open.  Her back was against the wall to the left of the doorway with a panting Richard leaning over her protectively.  Their eyes met for a split second before Richard groaned and nearly collapsed on top of her.

Rose caught his weight as gently as she could, but tensed when her hand slid over what felt like flaking paint.  Richard gasped in pain and Rose lowered him to the ground quickly.  Once he was sitting, Rose’s eyes caught sight of a terrible burn running down the side of his body that had been exposed to the blast.  His right shoulder and down the side of his body were smoking and the skin was a dark red and already peeling.

“Oh god,” Rose gasped as Richard lost consciousness.

Jumping to her feet, Rose lunged towards the doorway as she screamed, “Mickey!”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Time and the Trickster
By Lumendea
Chapter Twenty-One: Richard Becket

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

AN: Apparently I forgot the ‘next time trailer’ last chapter, I’m sorry about that. After the monster length of last chapter this one is a bit shorter just to get things started.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rose Tyler stifled the urge to roll her eyes as she sat in front of her laptop computer, the webcam was on and if she did someone would lecture her for it, probably Barbara.  The screen of her was filled with small boxes from around the world as the various members of the Companion Club caught up with each other. As usual the third Sunday of the month, February this time was rapidly being consumed by an online conference call.

“Rose I wish you’d let me take a look at that virus that Thane used,” Mel said to her, speaking over Polly.

“UNIT doesn’t want it getting out,” Rose explained, probably for the seventh time since the event in question. “Not even to you. Only Tosh, Malcolm, Kate and I are authorized to work on the Blackout Virus.”

Mel pouted at her through the web connection and several members of the club chuckled at the sight.

“I still can’t believe that I met you in Greece,” Victoria said as she shook her head. “It is hard to believe, I don’t remember it at all.”


“Well I try not to be too memorable when I run into the Doctor in his past or his companions,” Rose said with a shrug. “So I’m not surprised that you don’t remember me. It was nice to see Jamie with how much you, Ben and Polly talk about him.”

“That means that you’ve met the Doctor’s first, second and fifth bodies in addition to this ninth, tenth and eleventh forms,” Jo Jones observed with a curious expression.

“Third too,” Rose said before she thought better of it. Her statement got her more weird looks. “It’s a long story that includes the White Guardian tossing me back in time through a time window and me kicking the Master’s arse.”

“That you’ve never mentioned before,” Barbara observed from her place next to Ian. “How many other adventures have you neglected to tell us?”

“I’m sure we all have things we’ve never told anyone about,” Rose said quickly. “That particular trip was not fun for me at all, not even meeting Jo when she was younger and the Doctor in his third body could make that particular trip fun.”

That statement seemed to soothe everyone and Jo started taking to Victoria about an upcoming trip she was taking to Germany and the two started to make plans to meet for coffee. When they finished their quick chat Ace and Tegan discussed a recent grant application that Tegan had sent into the A Charitable Earth Foundation for a new project in Australia. Rose leaned back in her desk chair and watched the various companions listen to each other or talk. They’d started the call out like any other, talking about the Doctor and various adventures, but they always mellowed down to catching up with each other.

Rose’s mobile began to ring next to her.  She pushed back from her laptop and picked up the phone, checking the caller ID which read UNIT.  Smiling slightly, Rose flipped open the mobile phone and held it to her ear.  She stood up from her chair and walked across the room to get away from the Jo’s chatter about her grandchildren.

“This is Tyler,” Rose said professionally.

“This is Captain Magambo,” the familiar female voice said on the other end of the line. “We need you to come down to London immediately.”

“What’s happened?” Rose asked as she moved over to the coatrack to grab her shoulder bag and jacket.

“There has been a reappearance of the Blackout Virus,” Magambo said calmly, but Rose could detect the underlying urgency in her voice.

“Alright,” Rose said looking over at a clock. “If I leave now I can catch a train into London and that will get me there fasted than driving myself, can you have someone pick me up at King’s Cross in an hour and fifteen minutes.”

“We’ll have a car waiting,” Magambo agreed.

“I’ll see you soon then,” Rose said before hanging up the phone and stowing it in her shoulder bag.  Rose toed out of her slippers and shoved her feet into the boots waiting by the front door.  She quickly double checked that she had the sonic pen, her wallet and her phone.

“Rose?” a voice called from the other side of the room, reminding her that she was still on the conference.

Returning to the laptop, Rose smiled and gave a small wave to everyone. “Sorry, I’ve got to run. UNIT’s called with an emergency.” Before anyone could say anything in response Rose ended the call at her end and shut the computer. She’d hear about her abrupt departure later, most likely from Barbara, but she would just have to deal with it later.

She made it to the station just in time to catch the train for King’s Cross which was the fastest of the Cambridge to London trains. The station was remarkably busy for a Sunday morning or at least it seemed that way to Rose as she found a seat, but then she didn’t often travel back and forth to London via trains on Sunday morning.  Settling into her seat, Rose sighed as the train pulled away from the station. Now she had an hour to wonder what was going on in London and if the Blackout Virus was in fact starting to cause havoc again while she was stuck in transit, fantastic.

Rose’s mobile rang again about ten minutes later and she quickly pulled it out.  Tosh’s name flashed on the screen and Rose smiled in relief as she answered.

“Talk to me Tosh,” Rose said cheerfully.

“Have you really been that bored lately?” Tosh asked in mild surprise at Rose’s tone. “Didn’t you just get back from that thing in Egypt and a time cheating vacation in Greece.”

“I’m bored on a train,” Rose defended. “And that vacation was the Doctor’s doing, not mine.” Rose looked around her seat, the train was decently filled, but she had empty space around her. “So what is going on?” Rose questioned in a softer voice.

“One of the technology companies that UNIT uses to disperse alien technology into the market reported this morning that their system was showing symptoms of the Blackout Virius.”

“On a Sunday?” Rose asked.

“Apparently it was the main inventor Henry Becket and he works a lot on weekends.”

“Fair enough,” Rose said. “Is the virus showing up anywhere else?”


“No thank goodness,” Tosh replied. “Becket took his system off line just to make sure it couldn’t spread through the internet, but we’re going in to check over everything because that virus had to come from somewhere. You’ll meet us there when you arrive.”

“Benton thinks it Thane doesn’t he?” Rose questioned.

“He thinks it’s possible,” Tosh admitted. “That’s why he wants you here, just in case.”

“Lovely,” Rose sighed. “Anything else? Any other odd things?”


“You don’t know yet,” Tosh admitted. “Rose the car is here so I need to go. I’ll see you when you get here.” There was a pause on the other end and then a laugh, “Kate says hi too.” Tosh hung up and Rose stared at the phone for a moment and then down at her watch.

“Great,” she muttered. “Only forty-four minutes to go.” Rose sighed again and really wished she had grabbed her MP3 player.

Forty-five minutes later Rose stepped onto the platform at King’s Cross and tightened her grip on her bag as the crowd surged around her. Rose walked to the end of the platform and let her eyes sweep the area for any sign of a contact. She smiled when she spotted Mickey in street clothing waiting by the entrance.  Since he wasn’t in uniform Rose had no qualms about walking up and hugging him.

“Good to see you Rose,” Mickey said cheerfully as he released her from the hug. “You look amazing.”

“Flatter,” Rose chuckled, “I look like someone who dressed this morning expecting a lazy Sunday.”

“You make it work,” Mickey said as he gestured to an exit. “This way.”

Mickey navigated his way through the crowd with Rose right behind him. The initial rush of bodies quickly dissipated and Rose could see a black SUV with the UNIT logo on the side waiting at the corner up ahead. She didn’t bother waiting for Mickey to open the door even as he moved to do just that and pulled it open herself, sliding into the back seat.

Private Ross smiled at Rose over his shoulder before he turned his attention back to the road. Rose nodded in return to him as Mickey climbed into the passenger seat.  She buckled up and tapped her foot as they waited for Ross to be able to pull away from the curb.  Soon enough they were on their way.

“Anything else you boys can tell me?” Rose questioned once they were in traffic.

“I’m afraid not much,” Mickey said as he looked over his shoulder at her.  “The name of the place we’re heading is Becket Enterprises, it’s a small technology firm that UNIT uses to put alien technology into the mainstream.  According to the Captain it’s a relatively new one which UNIT has only been working with for about a year, but so far it has been working well. Henry Becket, the founder and owner is some kind of genius and my age. Today he reported that when he came into the office to work on a project that the servers and all computers in the office were showing signs of the Blackout Virus.”  Mickey shrugged, “That’s all I know. After that we were ordered to come and collect you to join the UNIT science team in checking everything over.”


“Do you think it could be Thane?” Private Ross asked, glancing at Rose with the mirror.

“I’m not sure,” Rose admitted. “After last time I’d imagine that the Judoon would keep him in a much better prison and it was only a few months ago.” Rose shook her head, “On the other hand I can’t say it isn’t him yet.”

They fell into silence for a few minutes until Rose decided to ignore formal protocol and started chatting with the two privates about their personal lives. Mickey’s classes were still going very well and Ross was apparently recently engaged.  For a moment it seemed like Ross was going to ask about Egypt, but caught himself before he could complete the question, something Rose was grateful for.  She still didn’t know why Apep couldn’t attack her and when she’d asked the Tenth Doctor he’d refused to answer with the excuse of ‘time lines’ and with the death of the Colonel and so many of Egyptian’s UNIT division it wasn’t a happy topic for Rose.

The car came to a stop in front of a five story relatively new building in an area of London that Rose didn’t recognize.  A sign in the front indicated that this was Becket Enterprises and Rose quickly climbed out of the car.  Glancing around, Rose noted the UNTI scientific mobile unit parked alongside the building with several other UNIT vehicles.

A moment later a female private that Rose did not know stepped out of the front door and nodded to her.

“Welcome Miss Tyler, Captain Magambo is waiting for you inside.”


Nodding, Rose moved forward and gave Mickey and Ross a little wave over her shoulder.  They stepped into the lobby which was a large open space with security card scanners at the door.  A UNIT guard nodded to them and waved them through after tapping a card against the reader. Another guard was sitting behind the front desk and also nodded to them.  The room itself was sleek and metal with a simplistic yet elegant feeling to it.  For a newer company the place screamed money and success, but then Rose didn’t really pay much attention to things like the stock market beyond checking the income for her trust fund. Sharon was the most financial savvy of Rose’s friends.

The lift dinged at the far side of the room and Captain Magambo stepped out with a tall man a few years older than Rose with dark brown hair and green eyes.  He looked over at Rose and smiled at her before returning his attention to Captain Magambo who was speaking to him.  Rose studied the man as they moved over to her.  He was dressed in slack with a dress shirt, but the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and had a key car hanging from a lanyard around his neck.   To be honest Rose noticed that he was very attractive and walked confidently toward her.

Captain Magambo paused in front of Rose and nodded in greeting to her. “Miss Tyler this is Richard Becket.”

Becket smiled again at Rose and held out his hand to her. Rose shook it quickly and returned the smile with one of her own.

“It’s nice to meet you Miss Tyler,” Becket said warmly. “Thank you for coming.”

“Rose if you please,” She told him quickly.

“Then please just call me Rich or Richard,” he replied as he released her hand. “If you’ll follow me I’ll show you to the others in the server room.”

Rose nodded and glanced over at Captain Magambo who had made her over to the security desk and was speaking with the guard.  Richard turned back to the lift and Rose moved to follow him.  He swiped the key card through another scanned and pressed one of the keys.

“Thank you for coming” Richard said. “I don’t have high clearance at UNIT, but from the little I do know you are apparently the best.”

“That’s just the rumors talking,” Rose told him quickly.

He chuckled and looked back over at her. “Attractive, modest and if your enrollment at Cambridge indicates anything intelligent.”

“Thank you,” Rose replied blushing slightly. “I’m seeing someone,” she said quickly and a bit nervously.

Richard’s smile dimmed slightly, but he nodded in understanding. “Well then, please just take that remark as a compliment and not an attempt to flirt.”

“Course,” Rose said with a relieved nod.  She was saved from having to say anything else by the lift doors opening to the computer server room where Malcolm was leaning over Tosh’s shoulder to look at her laptop.

Chapter Twenty-Two