A Question of Time

(Author's Note: There’s a reference in this chapter to a Classic Who Episode… cookie to anyone who gets it!


The Doctor, the Master and Rachel had arrived at Donna’s home… only to end up with Donna’s grandfather trapped inside his car as ATMOS tried to kill him. While the Master and Doctor were helping Donna get her Grandfather out of the car, Rachel looked around and froze.

“It’s not just this car…” Rachel realized as Sylvia, Donna’s mother, used an axe to get Wilf out.

“I can’t believe you have an axe!” Donna said as she stared at her mother in shock.

“Burglars,” Sylvia explained.

“Get inside the house!” the Doctor shouted, gesturing for Wilf and Sylvia to follow his orders. “Try and close off the doors and windows… might buy you some time.”

“I’m coming with you,” Donna said, watching as Wilf and Sylvia entered their house.

“Then we better hurry,” the Master said as he climbed back into the jeep, quickly followed by the Doctor, Rachel and Donna.

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

The Government has declared a state of emergency. People are being told to stay away from all cars with ATMOS devices attached.…

The gas appears to be toxic. We are warning anyone and everyone, stay away from the cars. Repeat, stay away from your cars….

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

“Ross, look after yourself!” the Doctor instructed the UNIT Soldier as they reached the ATMOS factory.

“Get inside the building!” the Master suggested.

“The air is disgusting!” Donna coughed, holding a hand to her face as if that could keep out the poison that was filling the air.

“Not so bad for us…” Rachel bit her lip as she looked around. “Better get in the TARDIS, Donna.”

“Oh!” The Doctor reached into his pockets and pulled out a key on a simple necklace. “Keep this, it’s yours… quite a big moment really.”

“Yeah, maybe we can get sentimental after the world’s finished choking to death!” The Master sighed as Donna took the key and started off towards the TARDIS.

“So… where are we going?” Rachel asked her fathers.

“We’re going to stop a war!” The Doctor smirked, leading his family to the UNIT Field Base, where he found Jack leaning over the bank of computers, typing furiously.

“Took you long enough! ATMOS is going crazy… and it’s not just the UK, it’s all over the world!” Jack explained, not looking away from the screens.

The Doctor stepped forward and placed one hand on the Colnel;s shoulder. “Whatever you do, Colonel Mace, do not engage the Sontarans in battle, there is nothing they like better than a war. Just leave this to us…”

“And what are you going to do?” the Colonel asked.

“We’ve got the TARDIS… we’ll board their ship,” the Master stated, as Rachel noticed that Ianto was in the Field Base, inspecting a computer screen.

Suddenly a loud beeping caught the attention of everyone in the room. The Doctor looked over at the Master, who pulled his laser screwdriver out of his pocket and was keeping it hidden up his sleeve. “Looks like we’ll have to come up with another plan of action.”

“What?” The Doctor blinked, leaning in to inspect the laser screwdriver.

“Teleport exchange… the Sontarans have the TARDIS.”

“So what do we do?” Ianto asked, stepping up to the little group, his gaze focused entirely on the Doctor and the Master.

“It’s shielded, they could never detect it…” Rachel practically whispered, looking over at Ianto.

“What?” the Welshman asked.

“I was just wondering… have you phoned your team?”

“No, what for?” Ianto asked, blinking in confusion at the young woman.

“The gas,” the Doctor narrowed his eyes just the slightest bit. “You should tell them to stay inside.”

“Course I will, yeah…” Ianto seemed to drift off for a moment, as if searching for a memory, but then he snapped back to, looking up at the Doctor. “What about Donna? I mean, where’s she?

“Oh, she’s gone home,” the Doctor shrugged. “She’s not like you, she’s not a… a soldier.”

“So… change of plan,” the Master mused, stroking his chin as if he still had his beard.

“Good to have you fighting alongside us, Doctor…” Colonel Mace remarked. “…and your… companions.”

“I’m not fighting…we’re not fighting. We’re not-fighting, as in not hyphen fighting, got it? Now, does anyone know what this gas is yet?” The Doctor asked, whirling around to look at the screens.

“We’re working on it,” Ianto replied.

“We do know that it’s harmful, but not lethal until it reaches 80% density,” Jack added. “We’re having the first reports of deaths from the centre of Tokyo City.”

“Jodrell Bank’s traced a signal, Doctor, coming from 5000 miles above the Earth,” Colonel Mace said, bringing up a new display on the computer monitors. “We’re guessing that’s what triggered the cars.”

“The Sontaran ship,” Rachel whispered.

“NATO has gone to Defcon One, we’re preparing a strike,” Ianto added, as if he was talking about the shirt he’d decided to wear today.

“You can’t do that!” The Master growled in frustration. “Nuclear missiles won’t even scratch the surface.”

“Let us talk to the Sontarans,” the Doctor begged the Colonel.

“You are not authorized to speak on behalf of the Earth,” the Colonel replied, crossing his arms.

“We’ve got that authority, we earned that a long time ago!” the Doctor practically growled, before he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the computer systems. “Calling the Sontaran Command Ship under Jurisdiction Two of the Intergalactic Rules of Engagement. This is…” The Doctor looked over at the Master, who nodded silently. “This is the Doctor and the Master.”

A couple UNIT members looked confused and stared at the Master… but seemed unsure if they wanted to drawn their weapons.

“Doctor, breathing your last?” General Staal laughed. “You must be desperate indeed to summon the Master to your side!”

“Tell me, General Staal, since when did you lot become cowards?” the Master taunted the Sontarans, ignoring the looks he was receiving from the UNIT Soldiers.

“How dare you!” General Stall growled. “You impugn my honour!”

“Yeah, I’m really glad you didn’t say belittle cos then I’d have a field day.” Rachel smirked.

“Poison gas?” The Doctor taunted. “That’s the weapon of a coward and you know it. Staal, you could blast this planet out of the sky, and yet you’re sitting up above watching it die…”

“Where’s the fight in that? Where’s the honour?” The Master laughed. “Or…are you lot planning something else? Cos this isn’t normal Sontaran warfare. What are you lot up to?”

“A general would be unwise to reveal his strategy to the opposing forces,” Staal sneered.

“Aaah, the war’s not going so well, then? Losing, are we?” The Doctor laughed at the expression on Staal’s face.

“Such a suggestion is impossible!”

“What war?” Colonel Mace asked the Doctor.

“The war between the Sontarans and the Rutans. It’s been raging, far out in the stars for 50,000 years,” the Doctor explained before turning to the monitor once again. “50,000 years of bloodshed, and for what?”

“For victory. Sontar-ha!” Staal growled, starting a war chant which he was joined in by all the other Sontarans.

“Give me a break!” Rachel sighed, rolling her eyes as the Doctor changed the channel of the monitor to some sort of cartoon.

“Doctor. I would seriously recommend that this dialogue is handled by official Earth representation!” The Colonel half-shouted at the Time Lords as the Doctor changed the channel back.

“Finished?” The Master asked Staal.

“You will not be so quick to ridicule when you’ll see our prize. Behold!” The camera shifted to show the TARDIS, standing behind Staal in the Sontaran ship. “We are the first Sontarans in history to capture a TARDIS.”

Rachel swore she could hear the Doctor mumbling something about Androgums before he grinned manically and looked up at the screen. “Well. As prizes go, that’s... noble…. As they say in Latin, Donna nobis pacem.”

“Did you never wonder about its design? It's a phone box. It contains a phone. A telephonic device for communication,” the Master remarked, almost off handedly.

“Sort of symbolic. Like if only we could communicate. You and I….” The Doctor finished, gesturing to the screen and himself.

“All you have communicated is your distress, Doctor,” Staal smirked.

“Big mistake though. Showing it to me,” the Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver. “Cos I’ve got a remote control.”

The transmission instantly ended and the Doctor smiled softly before turning back towards the Colonel. “Doctor… are you meaning to say that his man is the Master?” the Colonel asked, looking over at Harold Saxon.

“Before I left UNIT the Brigadier and I had a nice long chat in which I told him several interesting facts…” the Doctor informed the Colonel. “You’ll find that there are strict orders not to capture or harass the Master unless I say so. And I’m telling you to leave him alone.”

“Well… wish I’d brought my video camera with me today,” the Master smirked at the eye roll his remark got from the Doctor.

“Doctor… listen to this,” Jack motioned to the controls as he turned up the sound on one of the News Stations that UNIT was monitoring.

The United Nations has issued a directive worldwide, telling urban populations to stay indoors. Those in rural areas are being ordered to stay away from all major cities. There are reports from every country in Europe of thousands of people walking across country to escape. And on the Eastern seaboard of America it’s said to be reminiscent of Dunkirk, with boats taking refugees out into the Atlantic….

…With the freeways blocked by ATMOS cars, populations of major cities are now walking across open country to escape the fumes. It is being likened to a Biblical plague. Some are calling this the End of Days….

Jack re-adjusted the news reports so they were nothing more then a background noise. “We’re running out of time.”

“We’ve got a report on the gas,” Ianto said, offering a clipboard to the Doctor.

“Carbon monoxie… hydrocarbons…” the Doctor read as the Master leaned over his shoulder.

“Nitrogen oxides… but ten percent is unidentified,” the Master said.

“Some sort of artificial heavy element? One humans can’t trace?” The Doctor asked his mate.

“Something the Sontarans invented?” Jack asked.

“It’s not just poison,” Rachel remarked, spinning around in her chair. “The Sontarans need this gas for something… but what could that be?”

Before either the Doctor or the Master could answer their daughter’s question, Defcon One was gearing up to launch their missiles… the gas was at 60% density, when it got to 80% people would start to die. In short, UNIT believed they had no choice.

There followed a very impressive count down… which was ruined by the screen shutting off at the last second. The Sontarans had somehow managed to hijack the system, keeping the missiles from launching.

“Missiles wouldn’t even dent that ship, so why are the Sontarans so keen to stop the launch?” The Doctor mused, slowly shifting to look at Ianto. “Any ideas?”

“How should I know?” Ianto frowned, seemingly upset with the Doctor’s questions.

Before the Doctor could respond to Ianto… alarms started to go off, and men started calling in on the radios, reporting that Sontarans were invading the factory… and killing without mercy.

The Colonel was forced to call a general retreat… and UNIT was coming to the realization that only the Time Lords could help them. “They’ve taken the factory.” Mace informed the group inside the Mobile Base.

“Why?” The Doctor whispered, more to himself then anyone else. “They don’t need it… so why attack now?”

“Times like this we could do with the Brigadier,” the Master laughed softly, before looking over at the Colonel. “No offence.”

“None taken…” Colonel Mace sighed. “Sir Alistair’s a fine man, if not the best. Unfortunately he’s stranded in Peru.”

“Well we’ve isolated the signal,” Rachel sighed, looking up from the work she’d been doing on figuring out who was messing with the launch. “They’re inside the system… the signal is coming from UNIT itself.”

“Gas levels?” The Colonel asked.

“66 percent in major population areas… and rising,” Jack replied, before handing his post over to a UNIT soldier, as Rachel did the same.

“Why are they defending the factory only after we got inside?” The Colonel asked the Doctor.

“They wanted UNIT here,” the Doctor mused. “You gave them something they needed. Something now hidden inside that factory. Something precious…” He trailed off looking thoughtfully at his daughter.

“Then we’ve got to recover it. This Cordolaine Signal thing, how does it work?” Mace asked.

“The bullets. It causes expansion of the copper shell,” the Master explained.

“Excellent. I’m on it,” Colonel Mace smirked, having apparently thought of a way to get around the Cordolaine Signal.

“For the billionth time, you can’t fight Sontarans!” The Doctor shouted after the Colonel as he left the base… however the Doctor’s attention wasn’t focused on the Colonel, but on Rachel, who was slowly pulling our her mobile.

Rachel caught the Doctor’s eyes and the two nodded at each other, Rachel smiling at her father before moving off into a private office. Her fingers flew over the buttons of the phone as she dialed Donna’s number…

“What’s happened, where are you?” Donna hissed.

“We’re still on Earth… don’t worry, we’ve got a secret weapon,” Rachel smirked.

“What’s that?” Donna asked.

“You.”

“Oh. Somehow that’s not making me happy. Can’t you just zap us down to Earth with that remote thing?”

“Yeah, we haven’t got a remote, though we really should…” Rachel mused. “Anyway, we need you on that ship. That’s why we made them move the TARDIS. I’m sorry, but you’ve got to go outside.”

“But there’s Sonterruns out there!” Donna protested.

“Sontarans, but they’ll all be on battle stations right now. They don’t walk around having coffee. I can talk you through it,” Rachel tried her best to sound like she knew what she was doing… and not making it up as she went along.

“But what if they find me?” Donna whispered, sounding like a lost child.

“I know, and I wouldn’t ask, but there’s nothing else I can do. The whole planet is choking, Donna.”

“What d'you need me to do?” Donna asked and Rachel could hear that Donna was walking towards the TARDIS doors.

“The Sontarans are inside the factory which means they’ve got a teleport link with the ship, but they’ll have deadlocked it. I need you to reopen the link,” Rachel explained, slowly for Donna’s sake.

“But, I can’t even mend a fuse!”

“Donna! Stop talking about yourself like that! You can do this. I promise.” Rachel bit her lip, looking out at her parents and… Ianto. “Your brilliant Donna… I know you can do this.”

“There's a Sonterrun... Sontaran. Outside the door,” Donna whispered. “He's got his back to me.”

“Right, Donna, listen, on the back of his neck on his collar there's a sort of plug, like a hole. The Probic Vent. One blow to the Probic Vent knocks 'em out…. You can use one of the mallets we hit the TARDIS with.”

“But he's gonna kill me,” Donna whispered and Rachel rested her head in her hands.

“I'm sorry. I swear I'm so sorry. But you've got to try…”

Several moments of silence, each one a thousand years for the young Time Lady… but then a sort of clanging nosie and…

“Back of the neck!”

“Now then you gotta find the external junction feed to the teleport… It will be a circular panel on the wall. Big symbol on the front, like a, like a letter T with a horizontal line through it. Or, or two Fs back to back…. Might have to go through some doors to get to them.”

“T with a line through it,” Donna repeated.

Rachel noticed that Colonel Mace had returned to the Base… and the Doctor was gesturing for her to come out. “Donna… I have to go, but keep this line open. I won’t be far.”

“Counter-attack!” Colonel Mace ordered, despite the protests of the Master, the Doctor and Jack. “Positions… that means everyone!” Colonel Mace said as several soldiers offered gas masks to the TARDIS Family and Ianto.

A few seconds of fumbling to get the masks on and the group was outside, surrounded by other soldiers wearing gas masks… and now Colonel Mace was holding a gun up for the Doctor to see. “Latest firing stock… what do you think, Doctor?”

“Are you my mummy?”

Although Rachel couldn’t see the Doctor’s face, she could tell her father was smiling and only just managing to hold back his laughter… while Jack smirked but only just managed to hide a shudder at the memories those four words brought to his mind.

“If you could concentrate,” the Colonel sighed and was about to explain the gun... when the Master cut him off.

“Let me guess… bullets with a rad-steel coating, no copper surface. They should overcome the Cordolaine signal… but the Sontarans have got lasers!” the Master practically growled.

“Besides, you can’t even see in this fog, the night-vision doesn't work,” Rachel added.

“Thank you Doctor, thank you for your lack of faith. But this time, I'm not listening,” the Colonel replied, pulling off his gas mask and turning towards his soldiers. “Attention, all troops! Sontarans might think of us as primitive. As does every passing species with an axe to grind. They make a mockery of our weapons, our soldiers, our ideals. But no more! From this point on, it stops. From this point on, the people of Earth fight back and we show them! We show the warriors of Sontar what the human race can do! Trap One to Hawk Major! Go, go, go!”

A loud roar of engines drew everyone’s attention to the skies above… the fog of the poison gas were suddenly blown away to reveal a giant hover ship in the sky. The Master pulled off his gas mask and turned toward the Doctor. “It’s called the Valiant… a battle ship for the future.”

“Let me guess.” Jack smirked, tossing his gas mask to one side. “You helped design it?”

“Would have helped build it and eventually ruled the world from it… if you hadn’t show up,” the Master informed the Doctor.

“That's brilliant!” The Doctor smiled as UNIT rushed into action, using both their own modified guns and the Valiant’s weapons to overcome the Sontarans.

The TARDIS Family and Ianto moved into the factory, accompanied by several UNIT soldiers… Rachel hung behind, and pulled out her phone.

“Donna… hold on, we’re coming,” she whispered into the phone, hoping Donna could hear her.

The Doctor had his Sonic Screwdriver out, and was using it to track down whatever the Sontartans didn’t want them to find… “Alien technology, this way!” He announced, and the group took off running, leaving the UNIT Soldiers far behind.

The signal lead the little group down into a deserted basement, where things were surprisingly clean for a factory basement…

“They’re aren’t any Sontarans down here…” Jack remarked, peering around a corner in confusion.

“They can’t resist a battle,” the Doctor explained… before pushing open a door and entering what appeared to be a lab.

“Ianto!” Rachel leaped forward, as the Doctor did the same, checking the immortal Welshman.

“He’s okay,” the Doctor told Rachel… as Ianto’s Clone pulled out a gun and pointed it at the TARDIS Family.

“Am I supposed to be impressed?” The Master sighed, not even really focusing on the Clone.

“Wish you carried a gun now?” The Clone laughed, his face twisted into a smirk.

“Not at all,” Rachel answered for her parents.

“I've been stopping the nuclear launch all this time,” the Clone announced… and the Doctor just rolled his eyes.

“You’ve been doing exactly what I wanted,” the Doctor sighed and stood up, turning towards Ianto’s clone. “I needed to stop the missiles, just as much as the Sontarans. I'm not having Earth start an interstellar war.”

“You're a triple agent!” Jack laughed, gesturing towards the Clone.

“When… when did you know?” the Clone asked, lowering the weapon slightly.

“What, you? Oh, right from the start. Reduced iris contraction,” the Master stated.

“Slight thinning of the hair follicles on the left temple,” the Doctor added.

“And, frankly, you smell. You might as well have worn a T-shirt saying "clone".” The Master sighed.

“Not to mention the fact that you’ve been acting… well, wrong,” the Doctor added, glancing over at Rachel for a second before looking back at the clone. “Seems like Ianto managed to pick up a Time Lord mental trick or two… keeping you out of just enough memories to make sure we figured it out.”

“The Sontarans had to protect him,” Rachel realized. “You’ve got his memories of UNIT… and he’s keeping you alive.”

As Rachel said this the Doctor pulled off the device that was on Ianto’s head, causing the real Ianto to wake with a scream as the Clone fell to the ground in agony. Jack darted forward and picked up the gun the Clone had dropped, while Rachel hugged the real Ianto tightly… and then Rachel’s phone rang.

“God, we’re busy today!” Rachel squeaked and pulled out the phone, not bothering to get off Ianto’s lap. “Donna, you got it?”

“Yes… now hurry up!” Donna practically squeaked as Rachel set the phone on speaker.

“Okay Donna… take off the covering. All the blue switches inside, flick them up like a fusebox. That should get the teleport working,” the Doctor told his companion. “Now get back to the TARDIS… we’ll be there in a second.”

The Doctor and the Master raced over to the teleport machine, while Ianto, Rachel and Jack stared down at the Clone… who was shivering and cursing at them in the native language of the Sontarans.

“Why did you keep these memories from me?” the Clone suddenly asked Ianto, who froze.

“…they’re my memories,” Ianto whispered. “I didn’t want you paying any attention to her.”

“You were protecting her…” The Clone laughed suddenly and leaned forward, a sort of crazed look in his eyes. “You love her.”

“The gas…” the Doctor shouted from the teleport pod. “Tell us about the gas.”

“He’s the enemy!” the Clone snarled.

“Then tell me!” Ianto shouted right back at his clone. “The gas isn’t just poison… so what is it for?”

“Caesofine concentrate. It's one part of Bosteen, two parts Probic 5,” the Clone spat out, looking away from everyone.

“Clonefeed!” the Master realized. “It's clonefeed!”

“What's clonefeed?” Jack blinked.

“Like amniotic fluid for Sontarans.” The Doctor explained. “That's why they're not invading, they're converting the atmosphere. Changing the planet into a clone world. Earth becomes a great big hatchery. Cos the Sontarans are clones, that's how they reproduce. Give 'em a planet this big, they'll create billions of new soldiers. That gas isn't poison, it's food!”

“My heart... It's getting slower,” the Clone whispered, looking up at Ianto. “In your mind, you've got so many plans. There's so much that you want to do…”

Rachel and Ianto watched silently as the Clone died, while Jack looked over at his mates, gesturing at his daughter and his friend… only to receive a look from the two Time Lords that could be translated to: YOU REALLY DIDN’T KNOW?!?!?!?

“Teleport’s ready!” The Doctor announced, flipping it on… and in a few seconds the TARDIS was sitting in the basement and Donna was poking her head out.

“Have I ever told you how much I hate you?” Donna shrieked as she ran up and hugged the Doctor.

“Right…” the Doctor blinked and gently pushed Donna off him so that he could breathe. “Now…Ianto, Rachel, you two coming?” He asked as he stepped back inside the teleport pod.

“What about the nuclear launch?” Ianto asked, moving toward the pod.

Rachel picked up the PDA that the Clone had been using to stop the launch. “Just keep pressing N.” She explained, handing it to Ianto.

“We’re not going back on that ship!” Donna protested.

“No, we had to get the teleport working so that we could go…” The Master was cut off by the group being teleported.

“Rattigan Academy,” the Doctor finished for his mate as the group found themselves with another gun pointed at their faces, this time the gun was held by Luke Rattigan himself.

Before Luke could threaten them, the Master stepped forward and yanked the gun out of Luke’s hands. “If I see one more gun pointed at my family!” The Master growled, throwing the gun away.

Meanwhile the Doctor was assembling something out of various devices from Luke’s laboratory. “The reason the Sontarans had to stop the missiles was because caesofine gas is volatile… a ground-to-air engagement, like the nuclear missiles, would have sparked off the whole thing!” He explained as he worked.

“You mean it would have actually set fire to the atmosphere?” Ianto blinked.

“Yes ---they need all the gas intact to breed their clone army,” the Master replied.

“And all the time we had Luke here in his dream factory. Planning a little trip, were we?” The Doctor asked, looking over at Luke.

“They promised me a new world,” Luke whispered.

“You were building equipment, ready to terraform El Mondo Luko so that humans could live there and breathe the air with this! An atmospheric converter,” the Doctor held up the device he’d been modifying before leading the group outside.

“If we can get this on the right setting…” the Master added, looking over the device as the Doctor set it up.

“Doctor, hold on, you said the atmosphere would ignite,” Ianto said, stepping forward.

“Yeah, I did, didn’t I?” The Doctor smirked, crossing his fingers before he pressed a button…

The result was nothing short of spectacular, even for a group of people that had spent years flying around space and time in the TARDIS… a pillar of flames shot up, out of the device into the sky and the entire sky ignited.

And as suddenly as the skies had ignited they were clear once again, with not a bit of gas to been seen. “Wow…” Rachel whispered.

“He’s a genius!” Luke gasped.

“Just brilliant,” Ianto smirked.

“Only one problem… we’re in real trouble now.” The Doctor sighed as he helped the Master to pick up the converter and the two Time Lords raced back into the Mansion, only stopping when they were in front of the teleport pod.

“How are we going to do this in time?” the Master asked the Doctor as he whipped out his laser screwdriver.

“… I hadn’t gotten that far yet,” the Doctor replied, biting his lip.

“What’s happening?” Donna asked.

“Sontarans are never defeated. They’ll be getting ready for war. And, well, you know, I’ve recalibrated this for Sontaran air, so... “

“You’re gonna ignite them,” Rachel realized. “But you can’t rig it on a delay…”

“Why not?” Donna asked the young Time Lady. “Why can’t he just send that thing up on its own?”

“He has to give them a choice.” Jack whispered, looking at his mates. “Doctor… can you re---”

The Master cut Jack off. “It’s possible… but highly unlikely.”

“Unless we can make some sort of control… then one of us is going to have to go up to set it off.” The Doctor looked over at his family and smiled sadly… before pushing the Master back towards Rachel and the others and teleporting away.

“Doctor!” the Master, Jack, Rachel, Ianto and Donna screamed as one.

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

The Doctor stared out at the Sontarans. “Genearl Staal,” he said, his voice deadly sharp. “You know what this is…but there's one more option. You can go. Just leave. Sontaran High Command need never know what happened here.”

“Your stratagem would be wise if Sontarans feared death. But we do not. At arms!” General Staal shouted to his soldiers.

“I'll do it, Staal. If it saves the Earth, I'll do it,” the Doctor said, forcing himself not to shiver.

“A warrior doesn't talk, he acts!” Staal laughed.

“I am giving you the chance to leave!”

“And miss the glory of this moment?” Staal smiled, ordering his soldiers to fire upon the Earth.

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

Back on Earth, Ianto, Donna and the remainders of the TARDIS Family were in a state of shell shock… while Luke was fiddling with the teleport pod.

“What are you doing?” the Master asked Luke.

“Something clever,” Luke whispered as he hit a button, sending himself up to the Sontaran ship while bringing the Doctor back down to the Academy.

“What just happened?” Donna asked, watching as the Master grabbed the Doctor and started yelling at him never to do that again.

“Luke just sacrificed himself… to save everyone,” Rachel answered for her parents, who were too caught up in chastising the Doctor.

TBC