//------------------------------// // Part 3: Change of Command // Story: Doctor Whooves: New Settings; Story 2: Voyage Towards Extiction // by KevynTheDevylman //------------------------------// Doctor Whooves: New Settings STORY 2: Voyage Towards Extinction Part 3: Change of Command In an instant, the Sontarans invaded the ship. In each of the lifeguard stations, a platoon of Sontarans appeared via trans-mat. They poured out, ordering the passengers to get down on the ground with laser fire serving as a warning. Every creature within range of the lifeguard stations immediately did so. The Sontarans spread across the beach dome quickly and efficiently, causing all the passengers to panic. The bridge, too, found itself occupied by Sontaran troops. They wasted no time stunning the remaining guards and subduing the crew. They took position at the ships controls and immediately began taking command. Everyone in the brig was shocked as Sontaran troops appeared on both sides of the Captain and her security detail. “Attack!” the Captain ordered. Alas, the two Nauta guards were quickly shot down by the Sontaran soldiers before they could even get a bead on them. The Captain reached for a one of their guns, but a voice stopped her; “I wouldn’t do that Captain,” said the Sontaran standing at the front of the left-side troops. “We’d only have to kill you.” “Guard-droids!” the Captain commanded. There was no response. The Robots remained in their repair stations. The Sontaran laughed. “I’m afraid my forces have already taken command of your computers. While we were disabling your security personnel, we also took the liberty of installing a virus into your systems which allows us to bypass your security measures. This ship is now property of the Sontaran Empire. Surrender, Captain. You have no other options.” The Captain glared at him in anger. “You…” She wanted to call him something very unpleasant at that moment. “Come, come, Captain,” The Sontaran chided. “If you don’t surrender, I’m going to have to order my troops to start killing the passengers.” The Captain’s expression changed from anger to dread. She bowed her head in defeat. The Sontaran laughed. “Such pathetic creatures,” he said. “So easily overcome by something as simple as compassion.” “Coward!” The Sontarans turned to the cell. There they saw the Doctor, standing and glaring at the lead Sontaran, and barely acknowledged the presence of his companions. The Captain also looked, dreading the thought of what would happen if this Doctor provoked them. “You craven Coward!” The Doctor continued. “You’re a disgrace to your brood, using such tactics! Have you no honor?” The lead Sontarans body language spoke of his recognition of the creature speaking to him. He chuckled with bemusement as he walked up to the cell. “Well, well, well,” He said. “We meet again Doctor.” “So we do,” he said contemptuously. “Sorry if I don’t remember you. Sontarans all tend to look alike to… well, pretty much everyone.” The Sontaran laughed. “Still ever the witty one, eh Doctor?” he replied. “Perhaps I should remind you. It has been some time since I faced a creature worthy of confronting open skinned.” As he spoke, he reached and adjusted his blue dome-head. There was a pressurized hiss as the dome pulled free, revealing the true face underneath. Everyone in the cell was taken aback by what they saw. Everyone, but the Doctor. Under the helm was a grotesque visage, almost as dome-shaped as the helmet but more deformed, with light brown skin and facial features such as eyes and a mouth. Its most distinguishing feature was a large scar crossing down his face, over his right eye. “Ringing any bells now Doctor?” the Sontaran taunted. “It’s a potato,” Vinyl said, wide eyed in shock; so much so that her eyes were visible behind her shades. “Linx,” the Doctor replied, ignoring Vinyl and not at all shaken by the revelation. “Of course it’s you. Who else would it be?” “That’s General Linx,” The Sontaran corrected. “General of the 21st Sontaran Battlefleet. Linx, the Time Stopper.” “My, my, haven’t we come up in the world,” The Doctor said with mock fascination. “’Linx the Time Stopper,’ you say? That wouldn’t be a reference to me, would it?” “Who else?” Linx said. “After all, I alone, of all Sontarans, have been able to thwart and outwit the infamous Doctor.” “Thwart?” The Doctor replied, indignantly. “Thwart? If anyone is doing the thwarting in this relationship, its me. Unless Sontarans define ‘thwarting’ as ‘managing to come out of an encounter with me with fewer than 99% casualties,’ then I could see that being called thwarted, and frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.” Linx glared at him. “Your clever tongue might get you far elsewhere Doctor,” he said. “But it won’t avail you here. I’ve waited a very long time to finally avaenge my fallen comrades against you Doctor, and now your propensity for getting into mischief has granted me the most perfect opportunity.” He turned to the Captain. “I really must thank you for making our task so much easier. I can only imagine how the Doctor might have tried to stop us.” “Oh, I will stop you,” The Doctor stated. “I’m looking forward to your attempt,” Linx said with a hideous grin. He turned to the Nauta Captain. “Lock her up with them. I want her to be a part of this.” A pair of Sontaran soldiers walked up to the Captain and lifted her by the fore-legs. A third walked up to the cell door and used the control pad to briefly deactivate the field. Before anypony could get up to take advantage of it, the soldiers tosed the captain in. Vinyl and Octavia caught her, being knocked back in the process. The doorway was re-sealed and the six occupants left inside. “You two,” Linx said, pointing to two of the soldiers. “Stand guard here. Make sure nothing comes through the door. The rest of you; To the Bridge!” At that, the Sontarans, in steady formation, marched away, following the lead of General Linx. Only two were left behind to guard the Doctor and his friends. As they got up, Vinyl and Octavia supported the Captain, who had gone slightly limp with the weight of the situation. “Are you alright Captain?” Octavia asked, lightly shaking her to evoke a response. “Those monsters,” the Captain muttered angrily. “They’ll pay for this.” “Don’t let it get to you, Captain,” The Doctor said, back again to his knocking on the wall. “Focus on escape.” “But, those Sontarans,” The Captain said. “Surely they’ll kill everyone aboard.” “Maybe, but not any time soon,” The Doctor replied. “If they wanted us dead, they would have just blown us out of the stars. Instead, they’ve kept us alive to be made part of whatever Linx has planned. Given how well I know Linx, what he has planned may be far worse. But the fact that we’re alive means there’s a hope we can stop it.” The Captain, taking in the Doctor’s words, nods in agreement, her face now stoically determined. “Ah, s’cuse me,” Vinyl interjected, raising a fore hoof as if she were in school. “But am I the only one weirded-out by the fact that we’ve been invaded by walking Space Potatoes.” “Space Po…” the Doctor started, confusedly. Then he broke out into a laugh. “Space Potatoes! Oy, I hadn’t thought of that! Good one, Miss Scratch!” “Vinyl! Doctor!” Octavia hissed. “I don’t think we should be mocking the hostile Alien force when they’re in hearing range.” “Ah, they don’t care,” The Doctor said, leaning to the one on his side of the Door. “Oy, Potato head! You don’t care that I call you that, ey’ spuddy?” The Sontarans didn’t reply. “See?” He said. “They’re just grunts, they probably don’t understand anything that isn’t phrased as a command.” Indeed, the Sontarans were virtual statues outside the cell. Since the others left, they’d simply stood there with their backs to them. Octavia just looked at them disbelievingly for a second before remembering where she was relative to home right then and deciding to just roll with it. Vinyl, meanwhile, had a mischievous grin on her face as she walked up to the force field and began making faces a the guards. Octavia rolled her eyes at her friend’s antics, but decided to let it go for the moment. Derpy and Dinky moved forward to join the rest of the group, Dinky even joining Vinyl in mocking their guards. Derpy wanted to protest, but decided it wasn’t worth it. Better Dinky make light of the situation than wallow in fear. “What can we do now Doctor?” Derpy asked. “I’m not sure yet,” he replied. “Tapping doesn’t seem to do much good.” He looked over at the Captain. “Oy, Captain Alhab. Any chance you know a weak point in these walls?” “The entire structure of this place is built of Soltanium, Doctor,” She replied. “It’s meant to withstand the gravity of stars. You aren’t going to dent it with your hoof.” The Doctor sighed in annoyance. “Ah well,” he said. “That was one idea.” “Maybe I can port us out of here,” Vinyl suggested, charging her magic. “I wouldn…” The Doctor began, too late. Vinyl collapsed into a ball of light, which bounced off the force field and the walls, causing the occupants to dance about frantically to avoid getting hit. Finally, the ball expanded, releasing Vinyl. Unfortunately, it released in the air over Octavia. The result was certainly humorous, though not to the ones involved. Octavia tapped her hoof on the floor, pinned under Vinyl’s weight and unable to fo much else. “Any more bright ideas, Scratch?” “Ahhh,” Vinyl moaned, dizzy from the failure of her spell. “I tried to warn you, Miss Scratch,” The Doctor said. “The force field is designed to hold back just about anything. There are entities on these trips capable of generating more energy than you on your best day and its always a good idea to have somewhere safe to put them after a bender.” “Thanks for the heads up,” Vinyl said, dizzily. “Is there no way out of here, Captain?” Derpy asked. Alhab shook her head. “The only way to open the door is from outside. We never imagined we’d be over-run like this.” “I thought as much,” The Doctor replied. “Couldn’t you use the Sonic Screwdriver?” Derpy asked. “I could if I hadn’t dropped it in the struggle,” He replied. “I really need to keep more than one of those things.” “So, we’re screwed?” Vinyl asked. “Never say never, Miss Scratch,” The Doctor replied. “There’s always a chance.” Then, a stomping noise came from down the hall. “I wouldn’t be so certain,” Octavia said as she observed a Sontaran marching down the corridor. The soldier marched until he reached the cell and turned to face them. “General Linx demands the Doctor’s presence on the bridge.” “What about the other prisoners?” the guard on the left asked. “Leave them,” the soldier replied. “The General only wants the Doctor.” The two nodded and turned to the cell. The guard on the right entered the command and opened the cell. The two pointed their guns inside. The group all flinched; all save the Doctor, who seemed to have a knowing glint in his eye. Before they could say or do anything, the two guards found themselves grabbed by the third at the probic vents on the base of their necks. They each gave a loud cry as their bodies sparked with flashes of green energy. They fell to the floor in a clump. The Sontaran sighed. “It really is amazing how easy they make it,” it said in a shockingly feminine voice. “What’s going on here?” Octavia demanded. “About damn time,” The Doctor said, ignoring his friend’s comment. “I was wondering if you lot were coming or not.” “You should know, Doctor,” The sontaran said as its body began to glow green. “The Rutan Host never lets its guard down when the Sontarans are involved.” The green glow grew until it subsumed the entire form of the Sontaran. When the glow faded, something new stood in its place. It was like a green jellyfish, floating in midair and only a bit larger than the average pony. All the equines stared at it in shock. “I do hate taking a Sontaran form,” The creature said. “But when I realized you had been put in the brig, I knew I had to free you, Doctor.” “What is it?” Derpy asked in surprise. “I am Ghala,” she said. “A Rutan spy.” “Rutan?” Octavia inquired. “The enemies of the Sontarans,” The Doctor answered. “The Rutan Host and the Sontaran Empire have been at war for millennia.” “Millennia?” Dinky chimed in. “Wha’s a millennia?” “It’s how old the Princesses are, Muffin,” Derpy replied. “Oh,” Dinky replied. “That’s a looooong time!” “A bit too long for my taste,” The Doctor replied, a rather stern look on his face. “Oh, none of your moralizing, Doctor,” Ghala said. “We have to make haste. The Sontarans have already set their plan in motion.” “What plan?” Vinyl asked. “What do they want with a cruise ship that has to do with a war?” “I assume You’ve worked it out by now, Doctor,” Ghala said. The Doctor nodded. “Indeed, I have. And you’re right, we do have to make haste.” He turned to Captain Alhab. “Captain, lead us to the bridge. Try to get us the most out of the way route. We need the element of surprise.” The Captain nodded. “Follow me,” she said, as she began down the hall. The others began to follow her. Before leaving, the Doctor cut off the Rutan. “I sincerely hope I won’t have to moralize to you later, Ghala,” he said. Ghala let out a sound akin to a “Humph” and floated past him. The Doctor, unsatisfied, but preoccupied with his duty, proceeded to join the others. To be continued.