SOMEWHERE NEAR A DYING SUPERNOVA
THE TARDIS The Doctor went back and forth around the central console that sat in the middle of the Tardis, assuring every setting was just right as he neared the dying star. He staggered a bit as he stepped towards the doors of his ship, the lethal dosage of radiation coursing through his body beginning to finally take its toll. "I'm not going...not yet. There's too much to be done." The Doctor whispered through gritted teeth as he clawed his way towards the doors and threw them open. The power coming from the star washed over him, purging the dangerous radiation from his system. It wasn't enough, he knew it as he struggled back to his feet, leaning in the doorway. He rushed as quickly as his body would allow him back to the Tardis controls and the police box surged forward, dangerously closer to the heart of the star. This was new terrain even for him, as he wondered whether this gamble to give him more time would result in success or a beautiful death. TERRACORPS SPACE COLONY 2186 Oswin Oswald hurried through the east wing towards the briefing room, somehow even later than she thought she would be. She rushed past various citizens of the colony she recognized, greeting them as quickly as she possibly could while never breaking stride through the hallway. She may have been running late, but that was far from an excuse for poor manners. She hopped into the elevator behind a fellow cadet just before the doors closed, swiping her ID card on the console before the lift began to move. "Captain's gonna have it out with you." The nervous young man known as Zane informed Oswin, who beamed at him in response. "Someone had to make sure the lower quadrant thrusters weren't fluctuating. Nearly gave the whole South unit a fright when they went out last week." Oswin responded as the elevator doors opened on to one of the levels reserved for Terracorp personnel only. They stepped off the elevator and into a massive briefing room, where many of the other members of Terracorp were already seated, awaiting the beginning of the meeting. "Oswin, nice to see your perpetual tardiness is rubbing off on the rest of the crew." Captain Marie noted sharply as the two cadets took their seats. The holographic display behind the Captain came to life as the lights dimmed in the room before she spoke again. "I know everyone is wondering why the impromptu meeting, and I suppose it would do us no good to mince words. Ellerby picked this up on the scanners about three hours ago." The display showed a group of four ships that everyone in the room recognized of those belonging to the Krin. "We don't know how many are on board each ship, and since they've upgraded their cloaking fields we won't know how exactly how close they are until they're within range of our beacons. What we do know is that they have hit several colonies in the last week and a half alone, and we will not under any circumstances, become the eighth." "But Captain if their trajectory puts them on the path to us, shouldn't we have sounded the alarms hours ago?" A cadet questioned with a raised hand. "The people who chose to follow us to the stars deserve to feel protected and have some sort of peace of mind. Our mission is to stifle this assault from the Krin as quietly and swiftly as possible. Let's crack on then." At the end of the Captain's words, everyone at the table split off and headed to their various stations or departments, determined todo whatever they could to hold off the Krin. Oswin stood in front of a trio of screens as she used a set of controls in front of her to make a few minor adjustments to the stations proximity beacons. "Captain, you might want to get a peek at this." Oswin called over her shoulder as she continued tinkering with the controls. "What have you got?" Marie asked as she joined Oswin at the ship's beacon controls. "I'm picking something up, but it's not coming from any sector around us. I'm trying to pinpoint it now, but if I'm being honest, I've never seen energy readings like this. Whatever it is, it can't be coming from the Krin." Oswin surmised as the Captain read the energy gauge on the screen to her left. Suddenly a whirring, creaking sound of an engine filled the entire room, causing every member of Terracorps present to turn back towards the briefing table with weapons at the ready as a heavily smoking police box was beginning to materialize before their eyes. The doors to the Tardis were flung open and the Doctor stumbled out, smoke billowing behind him as he coughed up a storm. He reached back inside momentarily, grabbing a fire extinguisher and going to work on whatever was the source of the smoke. He tossed the fire extinguisher back inside before shutting the doors behind him, turning around to face the room of shocked faces. "Hello! Sorry for just dropping in like this, think I might have pushed her a bit too far. Core will need to be adjusted before any long trips, a bit of maintenance on the sub fuel systems and she'll be good to go." The Doctor rambled to no one in particular, the members of Terracorps that filled the room still struggling to make sense of what had just transpired in front of them. LOWER WEST QUADRANT Captain Marie and Oswin led the Doctor through the quadrant of the colony, where they passed through what could only be described as a thriving neighborhood. Humans and alien species of all races resided within the lower quadrant, some shopping in the massive marketplace, others conversing with their neighbors as they crossed paths. "Welcome to the 78th colony launched, serviced, and protected by Terracorps. We've been in orbit for two years now, steadily increasing the population as we've expanded our facilities." They stopped near a large viewing window where a group of children were admiring the sight of the stars. "Terracorps, they were a division of Torchwood that never quite got off the ground once the entire organization went under. What changed that they were able to do all this?" The Doctor wondered aloud more to himself than the Captain and her cadet. He pulled out his glasses and put them on as he examined an information board nearby. "About seventy years ago, Captain Jack Harkness sank a fortune into reviving Terracorps, with a focus on bringing humanity closer to the stars and beyond." Oswin explained as the info board pulled up a photo of Terracorps founder, Jack Harkness. The Doctor smirked as he saw the familiar face of his old friend. "Well at least he put himself to good use for once." The Doctor muttered amused before turning around to face the Captain and Oswin. "So, the big together you lot were having. I saw you adjusting your proximity beacons range, what for?" "That information is confidential." The Captain interrupted before Oswin could speak. "Oh come on then don't make me play the guessing game, bit too brilliant for that. Place like this, humans and aliens co-existing, thousands of innocent people with plenty of resources to boot, I'm sure it makes a ripe target." The Doctor theorized as they continued their tour of the colony. "The other colonies have reported attacks in recent weeks, each one escalating in severity." Oswin began before the Captain shot her a look to keep quiet. “Attacks? From who?” The Doctor leaned forward curiously before Marie stepped in between Oswin and himself. “This isn’t a discussion I would like to have at all, much less the general public.” Marie stated firmly before leading the pair of them towards the the elevators. “When the first colonies were set to launch in this sector, Terracorps main facility was bombed repeatedly by a race known as the Krin.” Marie continued as they stepped into the elevator. She swiped her ID badge before turning around and marveling at the facility, the windows of the elevator allowing them to see just how truly massive the entire structure was. “The Krin? That’s impossible. What galaxy is this?” The Doctor asked before sticking his finger in his mouth and tasting the air, much to the confusion of Oswin and her captain. “Definitely late twenty-second century, somewhere outside the Rion belt?” “How did you know that?” Oswin asked, unable to take her eyes off the strange man as they stepped off the elevator and on to a floor much unlike the rest of the sprawling space station. “Been around the universe as much as this old dog has and you learn a few decent party tricks.” The Doctor answered with a smirk in her direction before turning back to the Captain. “You’re sending out a scouting party? For what, you know they’re coming here and you know they’ve got it out for you.” “The Krin are responsible for over 567 deaths in the last month alone. Every life we can’t protect out here gives credence to the mere notion we never should have been here to begin with. And maybe it’s foolish of me, but I’m not going to add to that total if we have the opportunity to be proactive in our defenses. Now if you would excuse me, Oswin please escort the..umm..” “Doctor. Call me The Doctor.” Oswin looks at him completely perplexed. “Doctor? Doctor what?” “Well that’s not usually how that goes but never mind. Captain you need to put your valor aside and think of the fastest way to get everyone on this station as far away from here as possible.” The Doctor urged her, and for the first time in their brief time of knowing each other Captain Marie saw a pain behind this man’s eyes she couldn’t quite understand. There were a fleet of Terracorp ships along the hangar walls in the process of being fueled up and prepared for travel. Terracorp pilots rushed into the hanger and boarded their ships, eager for their first mission to begin no matter the task they were facing. “Oswin, neither Mr. Doctor here nor you have clearance to be down here. Escort him back to the briefing station where he can wait for his blue box to be in... traveling condition.” And without another word Captain Marie began ordering various members of Terracorp about the hanger as the preparations continued. Back inside the elevator, Oswin and the Doctor stood in silence. The Doctor stared out into the vastness of space, his mind on every conceivable outcome he could see the coming turn of events resulting in. Oswin cut her eyes over at the Doctor, fascinated by how someone who virtually appeared out of thin air could know so much about, well everything. Oswin was far from the sort to enjoy a mystery and was determined to learn as much as possible about the very skinny man in a pinstripe suit before he disappeared. “How is it you know about the Krin? I mean we only discovered them during the protests. How is it you’ve got the common sense to be out of sorts about them?” She asked, turning around to face him as she leaned against the windows of the elevator. “You don’t forget the sight of a Krin hunt. Their some of the most vicious beasts in the universe, responsible for singlehandedly wiping out several other species from existence. But how are they here, it shouldn’t be possible.” The Doctor wondered out loud, scratching his head as they stepped back into the briefing room, where most of if not all the cadets present were helping to coordinate with the pilots departing down below. “What do you mean, why wouldn’t or well shouldn’t they be around? Are they not native to this part of the galaxy?” Oswin questioned as she took up her post and began adjusting the proximity beacons towards the direction the Krin were spotted coming from. “No, but it’s more than that. If my history is correct, which it always is, by order of the Interstellar species protectorate signed in 2074 the Krin were to be wiped out completely due to their crimes against the galaxy. Their home world was eradicated because of this. Something about all of this is wrong, very wrong.” The Doctor explained before he approached a cadet controlling the station’s satellites. “Would you mind if I cut in for a moment?” The Doctor asked the cadet, who sheepishly stepped aside. “Lovely, I’ll just be a tick, don’t mind me.” As the Doctor and Oswin continued to work, the voices of the pilots and Captain Marie boomed over the Terracorp P.A system as their mission was underfoot. Out in the regions of space, three Terracorp ships zoomed towards the markings on their radar screens, determined to intercept the Krin before their attack could begin. “We’re pulling up on the coordinates now Captain, we should be crossing paths with them any moment.” One of the pilots confirmed as they fell into formation. However instead of meeting the enemy ships of the Krin, the three pilots found only a small, satellite sized machine floating aimlessly through space. “What is it? Have you made contact?” The voice of Captain Marie boomed over the pilot’s communication system. “There’s no one out here Captain. I’m not sure if they abandoned their flight path or if- Suddenly a huge shockwave emitted from the machine, knocking out the power in all three of the Terracorp ships. Moment’s later the ships operated by the Krin de-cloaked and continued past the Terracorp pilots, not even bothering to destroy them. Instead they flew straight towards the colony, leaving the pilots stranded and and suffocating in space as their life support systems were knocked offline by the weapon the Krin used to lure them out with. Back inside the briefing room, The Doctor listened as Captain Marie tried desperately to contact the group of pilots to no success. The Doctor re-joined Oswin as each proximity beacon alarm went off, alerting everyone in the space station that something had entered their airspace. Throughout the station citizens waited in apt fear as they wondered what could possibly have caused the alarms to sound. The Doctor took control of the proximity beacons from Oswin and moved them closer to where the Terracorp ships had cut contact before studying the readings that were being relayed onto the trio of monitors surrounding Oswin and himself. “The range is too limited, maybe if I could focus each beacon’s resonance we could get a clear picture of what went on out there.” The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver from the lining of his suit pocket and aimed it at the controls of the beacons. A clear picture of the three stranded Terracorp pilots was shown on each of the monitors, much to Oswin’s horror. “They just left them to suffocate…they didn’t even bother to put them out of their misery.” Oswin managed to gasp, the shock of such cruelty unsettling her. Suddenly the entire station was rocked as four pods crashed into various sectors of the colony. Oswin and The Doctor joined the rest of the cadets in watching on the main security feed as a hunting party of the terrifying, snake humanoid creatures known as the Krin boarded the station. They immediately began attacking anything in their sight, some taking the opportunity to feed on the citizens of the colony the moment they had the chance. “They aren’t going to stop until every living thing on this station is dead.” The Doctor turned to Oswin before grabbing her by the arm and heading back towards the elevator. “I’m going to need someone clever enough to pay attention when it counts and with a detailed knowledge of this facility. You want to save your people, so do I.” TO BE CONTINUED IN DOCTOR WHO #2
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By Joshua Sykes"I don't want to go." Archives
February 2019
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