The Beginning of the End (Doctor Who)

Chap. 36

In the Assessment Area a two-striped blue cross stretches out from the center of the room, the patients spread out in the corners sitting on white s-shaped chairs. You stand by the door, the Doctor in the center of the room.

"You're probably wondering why I called you all here. Sorry, bit Poirot." She continues, "I need to bring you all up to speed very directly, very succinctly. I can't sugar coat this." She paces.

"Where's the Chief Medic?" The General asks, looking at Mabli.

"Gone. Killed by an alien organism called the Pting that's come on board. Very fast moving, very deadly, and it's eating its way through the structure of the ship." She pauses.

"Also, and this is the bit you need to work on not panicking, it's jettisoned the life-pods. I'm the Doctor. These are my friends, Ryan, Graham, Y/n, and Yaz." She introduces. "You know Mabli, our very capable medic. We will pool all our brilliance get us all safely to Resus One." She looks around the room. "I thought there'd be more questions."

"I've encountered a Pting before. It massacred my fleet." General Cicero stepped forward.

"Okay. What did you learn about them? What do they want?"

"They kill. Relentlessly." She firmly says as the lights go out. They quickly flicker back on, presumably by a generator. 

"It must've got to the central systems." Mabli observes, "That means we'll soon lose oxygen and heat."

"It'll go for whatever's powering the craft next." Cicero informs. You get a very strong feeling she's no stranger to leadership.

"We're on an anti-matter drive." Mabli says.

"We could use stazers to defend ourselves. They can stun it briefly. Got any on board?" She inquires.

"A couple, I think, in here." Mabli goes through a drawer.

"If we're going to live through this..." The General starts.

"Protect the anti-matter drive." Mabli, Cicero, and the Doctor say in unison.

"Snap!" The blonde exclaims.

"Can we get to Resus One any faster than currently routed?" Cicero asks.

"Not without breaking the ship's auto-routing, which would send a signal back to Resus One." The blonde exclaims.

"And they'd go straight to Hostility Protocols." The General says.

"I could create a false positive route signal to send back, but there's no manual controls in the NavChamber." The Doctor suggests.

"Show us."

"General..." The robot warns.

"Shush now, Ronan. I know."

"We could go past the drive chamber on the way." The blonde offers.

"Durkas, with me. Please." Cicero asks.

"Er, is this a bad moment to mention my internal fluids have broken?" The man speaks up.

"Yes!" You exclaim.

"Really sorry. I think the baby's coming."

"The BirthBud's set up in your patient-pod. Let's get you back there." Mabli calmly says.

"But it won't have any power!" He nervously says.

"It's got a backup generator. No need to panic." She gently informs.

"Okay. Oh, would you two be my doulas? I haven't got any doulas." He asks Ryan and Graham, who look beyond confused.

"Do what?" Graham asks.