"This is nice," the Doctor said, as she lay back on the sun bed and took in the warmth of the sun's rays. "A fortnight's holiday in Ibiza. I'm still not sure what you young people see in this place though."
Hannah stared as three topless women walked past, safe behind the security of her sunglasses. "Oh, it has its merits Doctor," she laughed. "Maybe we can go to a club later?" She had dyed her hair a dark brown and gotten it cut pretty short again. She'd allowed it to grow since that fateful time when Claire had been possessed and almost killed by some Weng-Chiang bloke. That was just after she had proposed to her as well. Hannah had turned her down. She regretted that now, in hindsight.
"Oh I doubt my tender ears can cope with all that noise. I think my days of listening to loud music are past me." The Doctor returned her attention to her copy of Time Lady Weekly.
Hannah tried to stifle a smile. "This is the woman who stage-dived at a Disaster Area concert last week." She even did the hand gestures to simulate the Doctor's plummeting.
The Doctor waved her hand dismissively. "Oh that was just a spot of harmless fun." She put down the glossy magazine and picked up the new Harry Potter novel and started to read the first chapter. "Now let’s just relax and enjoy ourselves hmmm?"
"I'll try, but Andred's blocking the sunlight," Hannah said, quickly putting her bikini top on. "You don't have to gawp you know," she shouted at him.
"Doctor, the High Council wishes the pleasure of your company." Andred produced a warrant for the Doctor's arrest. "Do you want to come quietly?"
Hannah read the warrant. "Meddling in the course of history, wilful meddling, meddling without due care and attention." She passed the piece of paper to the Doctor.
The Doctor read it for herself. "Meddling? Me? I do not meddle. Occasionally I may have to nudge but that's only rarely and even then it's after careful thought. Besides I can't be put on trial for the same crime four times. The law of triple jeopardy forbids it." The Doctor pulled on her thin summer dress while waiting for her companion to squeeze into her leather shorts.


Like a cancer they spread through the galaxies, conquering worlds and civilisations. Some worlds were consumed, as necessary, to provide raw fuel for more ships and to provide resources. The Eldrichi were loosed upon the advanced worlds. These leviathans shattered the stars themselves, having had this ability bred into them long, long, long ago.


Hannah struggled as the Capitol guard took hold of her arms. She elbowed him in the stomach, but due to the difference in heights she misjudged and caused the guard more pain than intended, especially when she trod on his foot. "I'm perfectly capable of walking," she muttered to the prone guard before helping him to his feet.
The Doctor laughed softly at her companion's wilful behaviour, taking to heart her previous timid nature. The naïve girl who had once been scared of using lifts was now a confident woman who could be left on her own for several hours without needing rescuing. Like a proud mother the Doctor tripped the guard up, smiling sweetly and innocently when he looked around in shock. They found the TARDIS had been surrounded by another one, a boring looking type 98 with go faster stripes.


The journey inside the more advanced TARDIS was boring and Hannah could see why the Doctor didn't like the later designs. It was bland and uninteresting. Even the console was little more than a column with two button on it, which she suspected were start, and stop. Her suspicions were confirmed when they arrived.


The antechamber was a pretentious affair of gold statues and marble busts. Hannah tried to think of a joke about them but doubted the Doctor would appreciate it. Finally she quit inspecting the names and labels and decided to make paper aeroplanes out of important looking documents.
A guard announced President Thalia and Hannah reluctantly forced herself to stand up.
"Doctor, Hannah; please accept our condolences on your loss." Thalia referred to the recent loss of Claire Mason, the Doctors long time travelling companion and Hannah's lesbian lover. "I was saddened to read the report. Now then, on to this nonsense about charging you for meddling."
"Hardly meddling," the Doctor stated. "Only the saving of Gallifrey."
"I concur but the charges have been made. I suppose you have the right to meet your accuser."
A guard exited and then re-entered accompanied by a familiar looking figure to the Doctor.
"The Rani?" The Doctor gasped. "This is the worst case of the pot calling the kettle black since the pot calling championships on 1872 in which it was proved that the kettle hardly had a case at all." The tortured simile brought a smile to the Doctor's lips.
"Why Doctor thank you for trying to evade the situation with your usual carefree attitude." The Rani sat down next to the President. "Madame President, I have evidence to back up my claims. Sensor readings that show that this action of the Doctors has created a number of temporal fissures that threaten to destabilise all of history. It would seem that the actions the Doctor claims to have reversed were in fact the true course of our history."
"I protest," the Doctor shouted, leaping to her feet.
The Rani ignored the Doctor and continued. "Further more the Doctor has been trying to cover up her meddling by trying to close these fissures herself. Surely the actions of someone not wanting to be discovered?"
"The actions of someone who's trying to stop a serious catastrophe from hurting anyone," the Doctor pointed out.
"Temporal fissures that you created Doctor. If you were so concerned why not come forward and ask for the assistance of the High Council? They have the resources needed for such a venture."
"I'm inclined to agree." Thalia admitted.
"I do things my own way," the Doctor replied. "I resent the implication that I'm covering things up. However these fissures were created I had to act otherwise the Cybermen would have taken advantage of the situation when they tried to used one of these fissures to take over Earth."
"It's started already?" Thalia gasped. "The careful balance of history has been destabilised?"
"Even now my TARDIS is monitoring a Dalek war fleet amassing around one of these fissures." The Rani handed another report to President Thalia.
"The Daleks? Why wasn't this brought to my attention earlier?" Thalia demanded.
The Rani's face turned red with anger. "Because you were too busy singing the Doctor's praises to bother to listen to me. Now because of that fool's stupidity all of time is threatened."
"You leave the Doctor alone, you power dressing megalomaniac," Hannah shouted at the Rani.
"Hiding behind children now?" the Rani sneered. "Too afraid to speak are we Doctor? Perhaps you do feel guilty for your actions."
"Hannah has her own mind and she's not afraid to use it." The Doctor smiled wryly. "It's a pity the same can't be said for you, Thalia, listening to the ramblings of someone quite prepared to meddle when it suits her needs. Who are you working for, I wonder? To whom can you possibly owe loyalty, hmmm? I wonder, yes, I wonder."
"Oh stop the melodrama purr-lease," the Rani chided. "All these amusing diversions only serve to highlight your incompetence Doctor."


Hannah paced around while the High Council debated the matter at hand. If they decided to put the Doctor on trial then it could seriously affect their planned shopping assault on the January sales. She considered going back to the TARDIS to get changed into something less revealing but she knew that the Doctor needed some company right now. She pulled the Doctor's jacket closer around her shoulders, had they made the temperature in here cooler on purpose? The usual method of determining temperature could easily be seen through the thin fabric of her bikini top and tight fitting t-shirt.
"Do stop pacing about please?" the Doctor asked. "Come and sit down next to me." She waited until her companion was seated before continuing. "There are a few things I should mention, if things don't go so good for me."
Hannah looked at the Doctor. "What do you mean?" she asked, genuinely concerned.
"Well if they decide to stop me from travelling in time they'll send you back to Earth. If they do you have to promise me you'll take good care of yourself and find yourself a nice girlfriend. I know you still miss Claire but you have to move on and as bad as that sounds we must look to the future, not the past."
"Oh this is nauseating," the Rani spoke up finally. "I think I'm going to be sick."
"You can leave anytime you want to," the Doctor snapped back. "You've done your master's bidding."
"I serve no one," the Rani snarled.
"Touched a raw nerve have we?" the Doctor mocked her one time friend.
"Looks like," Hannah added.
"What of it? The President is too stupid to realise. They want you out of the way so you can't interfere anymore," the Rani gloated at the shocked look on the Doctor's face.
"Who wants the Doctor out of the way?" Thalia asked as she entered the room.
"Curse you Doctor," the Rani shouted. "You have condemned my followers to death. They said they would destroy Miasimiagoria unless I betrayed you."
"I think that solves that problem nicely," the Doctor stated.
"Looks like," Hannah agreed.
Thalia held up a hand. "Not so fast Doctor. You are still behind these temporal fissures."
"Uh oh. Here's where we get our wrists slapped," Hannah whispered to the Doctor.
"Doctor, you have shown that these fissures can be closed. We ask you now that you instruct the High Council so that we can close them all in a concerted manner."
The Doctor yawned. "Simplicity itself, it would take Hannah here ten years to learn. That's about half an hour for your average High Councillor or ten minutes for your common or garden Chancellery Guard. They are after all more familiar with the pertinent aspects of time travel."
"Ten years?" Hannah queried the Doctor's estimate. "All you do is press a few buttons and hope for the best."
"Twenty minutes then. You are a quick study aren't you?" The Doctor handed Hannah a bar of chocolate. "Don't eat it all at once."
"Doctor, I'm not some sort of trained Sea-lion you can bribe with treats just to perform tricks." Hannah handed the candy back to the Doctor. "Either treat me as a real person or drop me off the next time we're passing Earth." Then Hannah turned to leave, intending to go back to the TARDIS.
"Problems with your pet?" the Rani inquired. "You could always remove the brain and replace it with something slightly more useful you know."
Reacting with lightning speed, agility and grace the Doctor broke the Rani's nose with a left hook that would have gained her Olympic gold for certain. "Ooops," the Doctor apologised. "I was aiming for your mouth."
Blood poured out of the Rani's nose. She was forced to use the sleeve of her jacket to staunch it. Then two guards seized her and began to lead her away. "Will you let me go?" She demanded.
"No, we'll not let you go," the guards replied.
"Let me go!" she bellowed.
The guards shook their heads. "We'll not let you go," was their firm response.
"Oh mama mia," the Doctor laughed, before returning her attention to more pressing matters.
Hanna took the key from the chain around her neck and unlocked the TARDIS doors with it. She stepped inside to discover that the control room was unlit. "This is strange," she announced to the empty room. As if by magic the lights came on and Hannah had a quick glance at the instruments. "I wonder what all the light mean?" Hannah pondered out loud before heading to the other door and her room.
"It monitors relative time distortion," the Doctor answered Hannah's question.
"I don't have anything to say to you Doctor," Hannah replied curtly.
"You can listen can't you?" the Doctor pleaded. "You're my best friend. Who else can I talk to?"
"Talk down to, don't you mean?" Hannah pointed out.
"Now you are acting like a child," the Doctor snapped.
Hannah put her hands on her hips and pouted, "Just stop treating me like a child, okay?" she demanded.
"I'm sorry," the Doctor responded. "Sometimes I get carried away with the big sister thing. "I don't mean to upset you."
Having sorted things out there was only one thing for Hannah to do. "I'm going for a shower. Then I can get into something clingy and a little bit sexy." She handed the Doctor's jacket over to its owner.
"Don't take too long," the Doctor called after the disappearing figure of Hannah. "Once we start this operation moving it's all bails on stumps." The Doctor briefly wondered where this reacquired fascination with cricket had come from before forgetting all about it and making herself a nice big cup of really fresh tea.


The Rani cursed at the guards once more from inside of the cell. They ignored her totally, which was worse than any insult.


Hannah pulled her scuzzy leather pants up around her waist; carefully making sure the frilly hem of her undies was showing. Then she pulled on a cropped black top that showed off her slender arms and shoulders. She paused to apply some lipstick and a touch of eye shadow, and then she was ready. Then she remembered to put on the necklace, it was an old one but she felt it was time to dig it out. Something fell off of the dresser and landed on her foot. It was that old key of the Doctor's. Stuffing it in her pocket she might actually remember to ask what it's for.
"There you are." The Doctor greeted her freshly laundered companion and handed her a cup of tea. "Drink this, it'll flush out all that horrible, nasty cola stuff you guzzled on the beach."
Hannah sipped on the tea until the Doctors gaze was diverted elsewhere. Then she quickly slopped the contents out into the nearest plant pot. "So what's the plan? Do we find out whose evil bidding the Rani is doing?"
"Something like that," the Doctor replied between sips. "It's unusual that she would accede to anyone else's authority. She's always been the bossy type, even when we were young."
"She's like mom on steroids," Hannah joked. "And those shoulder pads? What's her inferiority complex?"


"This is humiliating," the Rani complained to the two idiot guards. "Are you going to let me out of here or not?"
"You know bars really suit you?" The Doctor complimented as she walked into the Rani's vision. "All you need is an outfit with arrows on it to complete the image."
"How long have you been standing there Doctor? Seeing me humiliated like this."
The Doctor's smile faded. "How does it feel Rani? Cooped up in here, no way out? Alone and powerless? Hmmm? How does it feel, tell me?"
The Rani couldn't keep her composure any longer and she sat down on the simple metal bed. "Scared. I feel scared. Are you happy now? Do you feel good hearing me admit it?"
The Doctor pulled a chair over to the doors and sat down on it. "We were never really friends you know Rani, you never let the rest of us near you. We all wanted to be of course, even if it was just to learn a fraction of your alchemical knowledge."
"You all tolerated me, you never asked me to join in."
"Maybe I should have tried harder but I always respected you even if my ego could never let me say it. You know how stubborn I used to be."
"So now you want to be friends? You want to make up for all of your mistakes, is that it? I don't believe it. You just want to find out who I'm working for."
"I could never deceive any of the Deca really. Of course I need to know but I'd rather you told me of your own free will than trick you into revealing it. I do hope we can be friends Rani. I've lived so many lives, scientist, clown, wanderer, fool and even the hero but when I look back I can see that sometimes the worst enemy is the friend I've turned away."
The Rani listened to the Doctors heartfelt discourse before giving her considered reply. "Save your sentimentality for your little pets Doctor, I'm sure they need your ramblings more. This incarnation of you is too stupid to realise that there are greater things at stake."
"Now who's being naïve? Sometimes you have to make the time to get things done. Things that should have been done a long time ago."
The Rani's brow furrowed slightly as she thought about it. "What do you mean Doctor?" She asked, leaning forward slightly to hear the reply.
"I need you to help me. Things are moving too fast for the Council and I need someone I can rely on. I'd ask Rodan or Romana but neither have the experience we have when facing these sorts of situations." The Doctor watched the Rani's face for the slightest hint of understanding.
"You want me to help you fight them don't you? You want me to put aside the welfare of my people and help you take them on. You do realise that you're mad don't you?"
"Quite possibly, but there's no other way. The Council will want to vote on it and we can't delay longer than possible. Are you in?" The Doctor waited for the Rani's reply.
"If you can guarantee the safety of my people Doctor then I'm in. The first sign of any action against them and you're on your own."
"I can't make promises like that, but if that's what you must do then that's what you must do." The Doctor unlocked the cell door. "Hurry up, there isn't much time."
"I must say Doctor this you isn't as stuck up as I first thought. Perhaps we can be friends after all." The Rani pulled on her red leather gloves and chunky metal bracelet. "Shall we go?"
Hannah was still pacing around the console room when the Doctor finally returned. "Is she going to help us?" She asked, hoping that the Doctor had sorted things out with her old school friend.
The Doctor's poker face broke into a broad grin. "Yes, I think we can count on her help as long as her people are safe. It's in her best interests after all and she does so hate being told what to do. If nothing else that's what clinched it for us." Operating several controls the doors closed and the TARDIS dematerialised. "I like your top," the Doctor commented to Hannah once the controls were set. "It suits you."
"This old thing? I've had it for years. It goes well with these pants though don't you think?"
"Like a cup and saucer," the Doctor agreed. "Speaking of which did you get the tea just the way I like it?"
Hannah rolled the trolley into the console room. "So strong it can dissolve metal, Doctor."
"You're a good girl Hannah," the Doctor complimented. "What we're about to do is massively, stupidly dangerous but I want you to promise me you'll stay inside the TARDIS where it's safe. I don't think I could cope if anything happened to you as well. Knowing you're safe and well inside here will stop me worrying about you and making mistakes."
Hannah didn't know how to say this to the Doctor so she decided to come straight out with it. "Doctor, you've always been there for me and now it's my turn to be there for you. When we land I'll be there, cowering behind you in mortal fear like always. I know you don't need the distraction but what you do need is a friend. You said you'd walk through hell to help me well I'd do the same for you. You're all I've got now and besides someone needs to keep an eye on you to tell you how heroic you are."
"Oh very well then," the Doctor agreed and took a big sip of tea to mark the occasion.


The Rani paced around the interior of her TARDIS's control room. She monitored the readouts on the controls. They kept falling all the time. "This is no good," she shouted to her own companion. "That stupid woman is taking far too long."
"The Doctor knows what she is doing."
The Rani looked at her companion. "The Doctor has always been a fool, this one is no exception. She trusts too easily."
"You will betray her, Mistress?"
"Oh I gave my word I would not. I keep my word, when I mean it." The Rani called up another display screen. "This is strange, she's not stopping, she heading directly into the heart of their dominion."
"She has betrayed you?"
"I don't think so, it's not her way. The Doctor believes in such limited constraints as honour and justice. There must be something else, but what is it?"
"Mistress look."
The Rani followed the pointed finger of her companion. The main display screen showed a vast armada of War TARDISES. "What's going on?" The Rani demanded.


"Doctor to Rani. Doctor to Rani." The Doctor signalled her co-conspirator. "Prepare to receive signal from the President."
Hannah looked at the large display screen as first the weird circle logo and then Thalia's face appeared.
"Loyal servants of the High Council of Time Lords. We have begun this historic and epic campaign not to benefit ourselves or to seize power. There is a dark and sinister force that was released back into this universe. The Doctor and The Rani have agreed to help us defeat this malignant foe. The costs may be high but it is our moral duty to defend the less evolved races from forces they themselves could never cope with."


The Rani hit the console as hard as she could. "Doctor!" she yelled. "You have betrayed me."
"Mistress, look."
The Rani watched a video feed that revealed the Ancient Ones leaving Miasimiagoria en masse. "This is the Doctor's doing?" she wondered. "She arranged this?"
"It appears that way Mistress."


"Many of you may never come home but it is my firm belief that what we are about to do is not only right but it is what should be. These Ancient Ones, whose name has been stricken from every document, must be defeated and banished back to the nether realm from where they were released."


"They're going to imprison them back in that place you described Doctor?" Hannah demanded. "That's horrible. Why can't they just agree not to fight?"
"We've seen how they conduct their affairs. They tried to colonise Earth remember. They have no regard for all other life. As bad as that is even the Daleks are libertarians in comparison."
"I thought the Daleks were cute," Hannah laughed.
"You've never seen the death camps have you? The exterminated bodies of their victims piled into mile deep pits and filled up to the top? That's nothing compared to the pure evil the Ancient Ones will bring to the Universe. Evil I'm sorry to say that we can only contain not destroy."
"What can we do though? This isn't one of those attack ships. We can't even change the outside shape." Hannah looked at the Doctor with pleading eyes.
"Once the other TARDISes have absorbed all the data from us and the Rani then we can begin our little operation. There's a small world nearby where the inhabitants are being purged. We need to slip in and free as many as possible, getting them to safety before the planet is time looped."
"Sounds dangerous," Hannah admitted. Stuffing her hands into her pockets she watched the last of Thalia's speech. She found the key that she had put inside it before. "Hey Doctor, what is this anyway?" She held the key up.
The Doctor's jaw dropped open. "That could be the key to our victory. With this we can create the most powerful weapon of mass destruction ever devised."
Hannah put the key back in her pocket. "Oh no. You're not having the key for that!"
"Don't you see how many lives it can save?" the Doctor asked. "The Demat gun can be of enormous benefit."
"I'm not going to be a party to this," Hannah shouted. "I hate guns."
"Don't be so stupid, it may be the only thing that can destroy them."
"Don't be stupid?" Hannah demanded. "I'm not stupid."
"Will you give it to me?" the Doctor demanded; her arm outstretched.
"Not if you were naked and covered in peanut butter," Hannah snapped at the Doctor.
"I want that key," the Doctor demanded.
"You're scaring me Doctor," Hannah whimpered.
"I'm sorry but you don't realise the significance of that piece of metal."
Hannah shook her head slowly. "I think I do. I think that no one should have it because of what it does to people. You'll have to find another way Doctor, one that doesn't involve murder."
The Doctor smiled and returned her attention to the console. "I think there are untapped depths of courage in you after all you know. You just need to remember that fear is a perfectly natural reaction, just don't let it blind you."
"So you don't want this key then?" Hannah asked, unsure about the Doctor's motives.
"Keep it. It's yours. Just don't let anyone else get their hands on it okay?" The Doctor pressed more buttons on the console and then there was a loud bleep. "Ah, the download is complete. Time for us to do our bit I think." More buttons were pressed and the green plasma ball burst into its frantic mode that indicated they were travelling through time and space.


The TARDIS materialised on a bleak landscape of burned stones and chemical puddles. The two inhabitants emerged, wrinkling their noses at the harsh sulphur gases that wafted across the shattered ground. Hannah was forced to use the Doctor's lace handkerchief to breathe through, as the air was too foul for her to breathe.
They stumbled over the pieces of rubble until they came across their goal. A number of low metal and glass huts surrounded by an energy shield. They set the disrupter pods around the base of the shield as best they could before retreating. The shield collapsed on cue with a shrieking howl. Acting quickly they ran inside the perimeter and unlocked the cells.
"Come on, you're free," Hannah encouraged. "We have a ship that can get you away from here to safety."
The inmates did not move. Instead they looked at the newcomer with sad eyes before taking hold of her. Hannah struggled as one of them put something on her forehead and she felt pain as it punctured her forehead. She screamed in pain but it was far too late as something squirmed around in her head. She fought it for control but there was nothing she could do and there was no sign of the Doctor.
"Let her go."
Hannah looked up to see the disdainful glare of the Rani.
"Get up girl," the Rani ordered. She steadied the human's faltering attempt to stand. "That thing they put in you, can you feel it in your thoughts?"
Hannah shook her head. "No, all I can feel is pain."
"Pain is nothing, do not think about it. Concentrate on my voice, there is a creature inside your brain. It is sleeping at the moment. When it wakes up it will take control of you and then there will be no hope for you. Slowly it will eat your brain and then it will control the empty shell of your body until it is ready to hatch. I need to get it out of you before then. There will be quite a lot of pain. My servant will help you."
Hannah noticed the black dressed figure for the first time. It looked female from the shape of the bust so Hannah used female pronouns to think about her. The hooded figure extended a hand and took hold of hers.
The Rani used a pair of long tweezers to probe the small hole in the human's forehead. The creature was buried very deeply but after long minutes she found it and began to pull it out. The creature was still asleep when it emerged but a second later it opened its single eye and screamed.
Hannah looked at the insectoid creature and screamed herself. The Rani put something into the wound, a green putty like substance before spraying it with something wet.
"The wound should heal now," the Rani explained matter-of-factly. "Where is the Doctor?"
"We separated to free as many of these people as possible," Hannah explained. "She should be next door. She realised the implications. "Do you think they've got her?"
"Hardly, our brains are totally unsuitable. They are too powerful, that is how I can subdue these weak willed vermin. They could still attack though."


Hannah led the others next door. She was shocked to find the Doctor chained up by her wrists, blood trickling out of her nose and mouth. "Doctor!" She screamed before the Rani clamped her hand over her mouth.
"Be quiet," the Rani ordered but it was too late. The controlled people turned round to see the three would be rescuers and they brought weapons into view. "See to them," she ordered her hooded companion.
"Yes mistress."
Hannah watched as the woman pointed a strange looking weapon at the crowd and a blast of energy consumed them totally. "No," she yelled. "Don't kill them."
The woman turned around to look at Hannah and she pulled her hood back to reveal herself. She was Hannah, an older looking Hannah. "Keep her quiet," she yelled at the Rani but before she could fire again the gun was pulled from her and she vanished into nothing.
"Hannah!" the Doctor and Rani shouted together.
Hannah watched as they aimed the weapon at the Doctor and noticed the key in an indentation along the barrel. She realised that it was the same thing. In desperate panic she pulled the version of the key she had out of her trouser pocket and threw it to the Doctor.
"No!" the Rani screamed. "You were supposed to give the key to me so I could build the Demat gun."
"Fat chance, I may be a mere human but I know that if they destroy that key then the gun cannot be created to destroy the key because the gun needs the key to destroy the key so therefore the gun cannot destroy the key." Hannah smiled at her logic and hoped the headache was due to the wound in her head and not the paradox. They aimed the gun at the Doctor and fired. All logic was forgotten as the Doctor vanished before her eyes, destroyed by the Demat gun. Somehow screaming wasn't enough and she collapsed to the floor in a pathetic bundle oblivious to the advancing figures approaching her...