5. Old Foes

The Doctor smiled as the TARDIS came to a halt and patted the console, along with a, "Good girl."

As he went to retrieve his coat from the seat, the wheels in his mind started to turn and he began to think. Who or what would abduct the Serenity? He didn't know of anyone who would have the motivation to capture a random salvage ship.

He walked over to the door and pulled it open, stepping out into the Serenity mess hall. He closed the door and looked around for any signs of life but the place seemed deserted. The peace and quiet made him think some more. The only ones who would have the technology to abduct the Serenity from deep space would be…

"HALT." cried the Dalek, as it entered the mess hall. "THE DOCTOR WILL REMAIN WHERE HE IS OR HE WILL BE EXTERMINATED."

Oh, dear.

The Doctor, Amy following behind, arrived on the bridge, where Malcolm turned to look at him with a slightly alarmed look.

"Malcolm!" the Doctor cried, as he moved towards him with both arms outstretched and then quickly moved back. "Ah, best not to go through that again."

"I'd say I was sorry but I'm not." Malcolm responded, looking back to the console. It was at this point the chair swivelled around and the Doctor saw another face he didn't recognise.

"He wouldn't even go to the med bay to see you," the man smirked. "Said he was 'needed on the bridge because you sure as hell can't keep 'er running, Wash'"

The Doctor's eyes widened at the mention of the man's name and he crossed over to him, holding out his hand for Wash to shake.

"Wash." he said, with just a tinge of sadness. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Uh…you too. Whoever you are."

"The Doctor" he responded, letting go of Wash's hand. "And this is Amy."

"Hello." Amy confirmed, waving to the two men, who nodded back.

There was then an awkward silence on the bridge, as the four there discovered they had nothing to talk about whatsoever. The Doctor meanwhile anxiously shuffled his boots and waited for these Sontarans to show up. He didn't know when they were going to arrive, all he knew was 'Sontarans' from what he had been told in his last incarnation by this one. He had always wondered why he had looked so sad.

The silence was eventually broken by the arrival of Zoe Washburne on the bridge, which the Doctor greeted with the same amount of glee that he gave everyone else.

"Zoe!" he cried, mirroring the handshake he performed with Wash.

"Umm…hello." she said, shaking his hand. She then swallowed, obviously afraid and turned to Malcolm.

"Captain. We have a problem. A pretty big problem."

"Well, what is it, Zoe?" Mal responded, curious as to what had Zoe so worried, his most hardy teammate.

And then the five Sontaran stealth operatives on the Serenity bridge materialized, each with a gun to one person's back. The atmosphere was tense, which generally happens when there are a lot of guns in a room being pointed at people.

The Sontaran pointing his gun at the Doctor raised one hand and removed his helmet, showing its potato-like head, much to the shock and fear of the Serenity crew and Amy.

"Doctor," it smirked with pride, having just captured the Sontaran's greatest enemy. "We've been waiting for you."

"Oh, hello." The Doctor smiled to the rest of the Serenity crew, guarded by 3 Daleks, as he was led into the hangar bay. They all looked absolutely terrified, especially Jayne.

"So, what's the point in this, then? What do you want from me, Daleks? Feet?" the Doctor grinned, patting himself on the back for thinking of that joke. He looked back at the Serenity crew to see if any of them laughed but they were still terrified.

A Supreme Dalek came trundling over to the Doctor, the Doctor staring it down. He knew Daleks still had some concept of fear. Why else would they call him the oncoming storm?

"THE DOCTOR WILL OPEN THE TARDIS FOR THE DALEKS." The Supreme Dalek bellowed, as the crew of the Serenity became more terrified at this new species.

"Doctor, don't do it!" yelled Kaylee, taking a step forward, but a Dalek moved in front of her.

The Doctor looked back at Kaylee, gave a little smile and turned back to the Dalek Supreme.

"And what good would that do you?" he asked, sauntering in a circle around the Dalek, the eyestalk following him. "Isomorphic controls, matey. Besides, you don't even have hands. You would have a nice box to put on your mantelpiece and that'd be about it!"

He made a mental note to apologize to the TARDIS later for calling her a box to put on your mantelpiece.

"YOU WILL OPEN THE TARDIS SO THAT THE DALEKS MAY FUNNEL THE TIME ENERGY INTO OUR TIME CAPSULE."

The Doctor stopped dead in his tracks at 'time capsule' and stared at the Supreme Dalek in horror.

"Wait, did you say time capsule?" he asked, his two hearts beating at a marathon rate.

"BEHOLD, DOCTOR. THE DALEK TIME CAPSULE."

The hangar bay door slowly began to open and as it did, the Doctor's face grew more afraid, more horrified, more dumbfounded.

There, sitting in the hangar bay, was a large steel capsule, with a door designed for a Dalek to fit through. The Doctor could hear it humming with power and could see by the door handle that it was designed for a Dalek.

"No…" the Doctor whispered, as he stared at what should have been impossible.

"THE DOCTOR WILL SURRENDER HIS TARDIS TO THE DALEK EMPIRE OR HIS FRIENDS WILL BE EXTERMINATED!"

The Doctor turned and saw the three Daleks with their guns squarely pointed at the Serenity crew.

"No!" cried the Doctor, running over to the three Daleks. "Leave them alone! They haven't done anything!"

"THE DOCTOR HAS FIVE RELS TO SURRENDER THE TARDIS OR HIS FRIENDS WILL BE EXTERMINATED! FIVE…"

The Doctor glanced back and forth between the Serenity and the time capsule. He couldn't give the Daleks the secret of time travel but he couldn't let innocents die either.

"FOUR…THREE…"

The Doctor stared at the time capsule now, flattening his hair with both hands and breathing in and out heavily. He didn't know what to do but he had to make a choice.

"TWO…ONE…"

Now.

"EXTERMINATE!"