Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Meet Ket
^“Sir! We’ve lost communication with the engine room!” A young cadet shouted over the explosions sparking from the desktop in front of him, praying the captain could hear him. “The solar flare knocked us off course!”
“There’s too much turbulence!” Another cadet informed him. “We’re going to crash!”
“Set all power into the starboard engines!” The captain commanded, gripping the railing before him until his knuckles turned white. “Level us off and then reestablish communications with the engine room! Our lives depend on it!”
The ship trembled and thumped around them, nearly knocking all crewmembers to the floor. Had most not been strapped in or already holding on to something, they surely would have been more injured. The captain, as experienced as he was, was at a loss for what to do to make sure he and his crew made it out alive. That solar flare had happened three hours ahead of schedule, they should have been long past it and at a safe distance when it happened, but instead they were here, with only half their technology still functioning, untold damage all over the ship, and drifting increasingly closer to an atmosphere-less asteroid. Crash landing on that would guarantee their deaths if the engine didn’t explode before then. Looking around hopelessly, the captain knew it would take a miracle for them to make it through this ordeal alive.
“Got it!” A female voice the captain didn’t recognize could be heard over the mayhem. He turned to see two blonde women run onto the control deck, slightly disheveled but full of adrenaline-fueled energy if the spark in their eyes was anything to go by. The captain didn’t recognize them as any part of the crew or passengers, so where had they come from?
“Who are you?!” He demanded from them, though in retrospect, the question was hardly the most important thing right now. Both women turned to him and grinned widely.
“Where do we start?”^
****
'Don’t think about it.' The Doctor repeated the mantra in his mind as he parked the TARDIS over the Cardiff rift. It had only been a week or two for him since the Dalek Crucible, and it turned out that tugboating a whole planet through time and space took more energy out of the Old Girl than the Doctor had realized. A quick top-off of rift energy shouldn’t be a problem, but the memories this place brought to mind were almost too painful to cope with. Right now, anyway. 'Don’t think about it. Get in, get out, don’t think about it or them or-'
The Doctor cut off all lines of that thought before he spiralled too far. He settled into the jumpseat as the TARDIS began her refueling process and began thinking of all the different things he could fix or put together. Perhaps something that could detect dimensional anomalies, he hadn’t built a whirly-gig in quite some time. Maybe something with a little dish that goes around, he always loved a little dish.
Just as the Doctor was beginning to map out all the bits he’d need to create his whirly-gig, a somewhat insistent knock on the front door startled him from his thoughts. With a sigh, the Time Lord already knew who it was that could be knocking on the TARDIS door, so he walked at a leisurely pace to answer. Jack Harkness did not look particularly impressed when the door finally opened.
“Doctor,” the Captain greeted neutrally.
“Jack,” the Doctor returned the gesture with a nod.
“You alone?”
The Doctor scoffed, “it’s not like I have companions all the time, Jack. You can’t expect me to always have company around.”
“How long’s it been since the Dalek Crucible for you?”
“Why do you care?”
“Not long then,” Jack nodded. “Good. I’ve got a favor to ask, then.”
“Oh, do you have to? Surely you can handle the usual alien stuff on your own at this point. How long’ve you been running Torchwood now, anyway?”
“It’s 2165 A.D., now, Doc. You do the math. Anyway, this isn’t a normal favor. Just come with me to the hub, you’ll understand once we’re there.”
Without waiting for an answer, Jack turned and walked away from the Time Lord. And as much as the Doctor wanted to return to the TARDIS and ignore the anomaly that was Captain Jack, and the memories that came with him, his curiosity about what this favor was ultimately won over. Locking the TARDIS door behind him, the Doctor followed Jack Harkness to the lift going down to the Hub. The Doctor didn’t look anywhere but at Jack, doing his best to ignore the instinct to run from the living fixed point, but not daring to look around at his surroundings. Whether it was a century after, or a million years after, the Doctor could still see him and Martha sending Jack back from the railing just back that way, could still remember Mickey the Idiot running behind him back when the man was still an idiot, could still hear her laugh-
“RASSILON, what have you got in here!?” The Doctor asked after the lift was lowered and a telepathic presence- an incredibly strong one- all but assaulted his mind.
‘Oh! Hello. No, wait, not good. Good? No, good and not good, no. Sorry, sorry, so sorry. Quiet, got to be quiet. Sorry, not being quiet, not good at quiet, telepathic quiet. I’m- no, you are- oh, I’m so sorry, I-’ The presence rambled on a bit until the Doctor built up and strengthened his mental defenses. It wasn’t enough to completely block the other telepath, but it was enough that they were only a dull buzzing in the back of his mind instead of shouting at him. The Doctor turned to see Jack staring at him with his arms crossed, his face displaying something between expectant, disappointed, and something the Doctor couldn’t decipher.
“Believe it or not, she used to not have as much control,” the Captain sighed, then laughed. “Used to be she was practically a beacon to all telepathic beings in this quadrant of the galaxy. Now, she’s at least managed to restrict it to the Hub, though the barriers I’ve set in place have probably helped a bit with that, too.”
“Who is she?”
“To make a long story short, Doc, she’s my niece-” Jack held up a hand to stop the Doctor before he could launch a series of questions at him, just as the elevator doors opened, “my adopted niece. She’s been living under my care now for some years, and I’ve been doing my best to help her, but my knowledge of things is limited, especially when it comes to telepathic abilities. It’s been difficult keeping trouble away from her when she’s a walking beacon to almost every sentient being around her.”
“So, what do you want me to do about it?”
Soft footsteps approaching them paused Jack in his answer, and the two men turned to see a young girl of about sixteen Earth years enter the main Hub area. Looking at her, the Doctor was slightly taken aback by her most unusual appearance. She wore a traditional silver and blue Chinese Qing Dynasty qipao with a hem cut just above the knees. It had a slit in the sides that went up higher than was tradition to provide more movement than a normal dress might with black, form fitting tights worn underneath the dress, completely covering her legs and adding a layer of modesty to her look. It drew attention to her black ankle boots, which the Doctor admired would be good footwear to have in the advent of running, should the need arise. Her brunette hair was braided into something distinctly African and tribal, though the Doctor couldn’t place exactly from where, with little golden beads woven into it. The jumper she wore over the qipao was much more interesting, though, as it was silver-white in color, distinct against her slightly tanned pale skin, and seemed to shimmer in a way that it almost seemed… alive, somehow.
The girl’s chocolate brown eyes stared at him with a mixture of emotions the Doctor couldn’t understand. Her telepathic presence was certainly loud with them. He thought he saw the usual wonder and awe that people who knew about him seemed to have, but the Doctor also saw recognition, fear, hope, sorrow, and a flurry of other emotions that only served to confuse the Doctor further before she strangely seemed to shut down. Even the telepathic buzz she emitted quieted down significantly as her gaze became unfocused, her breathing more erratic, and her hand clutched at her chest like there should have been a pendent there, but there was nothing.
“Ket.” Jack stepped forward, his hands immediately coming up to cradle the girl’s face, forcing her to face him. “Honey, look at me. Focus. Focus on me. And breathe. Breathe, Ket, you’re okay. That’s it.”
Jack’s calming encouragement continued as light slowly began to return to the girl- Ket’s- eyes, but the Doctor couldn’t help but note that it was still another four minutes and thirty-eight seconds before she managed to take a proper breath. 'Curious', the Doctor thought, 'perhaps not entirely human? That would explain the level of telepathy she’s emanating towards me'.
Ket looked from Jack, to the Doctor, and back again several times in rapid succession, questions in her eyes as she implored her adopted uncle. The Time Lord became aware that she was talking to Jack telepathically, and he briefly wondered if she knew how to physically speak at all.
“I know,” Jack nodded and planted a kiss on her forehead affectionately, “let me talk to him first, though, okay? Go to your room and pack your things. We’ll be ready soon.”
Ket swallowed, biting her lip like she wanted to say something in a way that seemed oddly familiar to the Doctor, and glanced at him one last time. Then she nodded, turned, and disappeared down the corridor she’d originally appeared from. Once she was out of sight, Jack’s shoulders sagged and he rubbed his hands over his face. For a moment, the Doctor thought the Captain was going to start crying before the man turned to him and gestured towards the kitchenette area.
“Come on,” he said, “I’ll make you some tea while I get myself something a little stronger to drink.”
The Doctor followed, deciding it was better to wait until the two men were more settled. Once tea had been served and they were seated on stools around the kitchen island, the Doctor finally spoke up.
“What is this about, Jack? Who is she? What is she? And what was that about earlier? It’s almost like she stopped… being, or, or was seconds away from a panic attack.”
Jack answered after taking a quick swig of his drink. “That was my niece. Her name is Ket. She’s… she’s special, Doc, in a lot of ways, but she’s been through a lot. It hasn’t been all bad, of course, and I like to think she’s been happy while she’s been with me, but there was an event that occurred before I found her, one that left her scarred, in a lot of ways. She’s still recovering, even after all these years and certain stimuli can still cause her to lapse.”
“But she started to lapse after she looked at me,” The Doctor pointed out. “We’ve never met before, at least not to my knowledge. What about me would cause her to lapse like that?”
Jack shrugged. “She grew up with stories about you, Doc. Just meeting you is enough to remind her of her past a bit. Or, at least enough to cause a reaction.”
“I dread to think what kind of stories she’d heard, if you were the one telling them,” the Doctor lightly joked before turning more serious. “What about her real family, her blood family?”
Jack looked down and shook his head slowly, telling the Doctor everything he needed to know. “And what do you need me here for? You mentioned something about her packing her bags?”
“I want you to take her with you in the TARDIS.”
“I was afraid you’d say that,” the Doctor groaned. “Jack, you know first hand what kind of life I lead. It’s no place for a kid, especially not one her age. And especially if she’s got the kind of past you're suggesting. Why on Earth would you want her to travel with me?”
“Because she can’t stay here anymore.” Jack started to pace. “I can’t explain it to you properly yet, but she needs to be on the TARDIS, with you. I’ve done my best for her since she came into my care, but she’s too clever, too curious, too… too wonderful, to stay cooped up in the Hub for the rest of her life. She’s snuck out on a mission, once or twice, without my knowing, and she did fantastic every time, and of course we’ve gone on trips around the world a few times, but I know how restless she can get, even after we’ve just gotten back.”
The Doctor persisted, “Then why don’t you just let her go up and explore the world? Send her to boarding school, let her make friends. She’s almost old enough from the looks of it, you could send her to travel on her own for a bit, discover for herself what she likes to do. And don’t, don’t give me that excuse about the telepathy, Jack. I can feel her reaching out to me even now- not reaching out, but reaching out to me specifically. She knows how to manage it, I know you know enough to help her manage it, and what can’t be taught, you’ve got the technology lying around to help keep in check. So, what’s this really about?”
The Captain was quiet for a long time, studying the Doctor uncertainly while he gathered his thoughts. “Doctor, I can’t fully tell you yet the things you need to know about that girl. All I can tell you is that she’s important, very important, and she needs to be with you. Being stuck on Earth is too dangerous for her and you are her best solution. I know- I know, you don’t believe this, but you’re here for twenty-four hours, right? So the TARDIS can refuel. Just introduce her to the TARDIS, this once. Spend a few hours getting to know her, maybe show her a few proper telepathy tricks if you can. And if you still don’t feel like travelling with her after that, then I’ll leave it alone. She and I will stay here and continue our lives as we always have, and you can be on your merry way. I won’t bring it up again. Sound like a deal?”
Leaning back in his chair, the Doctor did his best to think about it seriously, letting this child onto the TARDIS, even for a short time. He wasn’t quite sure if he was ready for a new companion yet, not so soon after saying goodbye to all the others, and particularly one so young as Ket. Memories of Ace and Adric flashed through his mind, along with the guilt that usually accompanied those memories. Did he want to become a father-like figure to a companion again? That seemed to be the most likely outcome to happen should he let Ket board the TARDIS permanently. And the very thought of that made the Doctor’s hearts hurt, he definitely couldn’t handle caring for someone like his own kid only to lose them again, not after Jenny. It was hard enough saying goodbye to a normal companion but kids… he had a bad history of letting kids down, and they always ended up hating him, or dying, in the end. The Doctor dreaded to let history repeat itself again.
“Does she even want to travel with me?” The Time Lord inquired. Jack once again replied neutrally.
“It’s been an ongoing discussion of ours,” he admitted.
“Then why are you trying to force her into a life she doesn’t even want?”
“It’s complicated, Doc.”
The Doctor swore under his breath, trying to figure out what Jack was playing at. The walking fixed point wanted the Time Lord to drag a young girl, a child, really- a child that had lost her family to unknown circumstances and seen who knows what horrors after being raised by Torchwood- onto his TARDIS to see even more unimaginable horrors. Said child also just about went into a panic attack after only looking at the Doctor, what would happen if she… well, the Doctor really didn’t know anymore.
Because despite that, he could still sense Ket at the edges of his mental shields. She wasn’t trying to be invasive or forceful in her communication, but he could still sense her brushing the edges of his consciousness tentatively. He could sense her emotions because of this. There was fear, of course. Fear of him rejecting her, fear of him saying yes, but the Doctor could also sense longing, and hope. She wanted desperately to see the world he lived in, longed for safety and comfort, but her desire for exploration and wonder won out in the end. And for some reason, she wanted the Doctor to be the one to show it to her.
It had been such a long time since the Doctor’d spent any length of time with another telepath. Well, a telepath that wasn’t an Ood, for all they could be good company. And the spark of curiosity the Doctor sensed in Ket was just the kind he liked to encourage. He didn’t necessarily need to travel with her, really. Maybe he could show her around the TARDIS a little bit, like Jack said, satiate whatever questions and curiosities the girl might have. There was nothing saying specifically that he HAD to travel with her to do that, after all.
“Fine. Twenty-four hours,” the Time Lord nodded. “I’ll let her explore the TARDIS until she’s finished refueling, you can even come too, if you’d like. But after that, both of you are to get off and continue about your lives, you hear me? You still have responsibilities here, and she doesn’t need to be- doesn’t need to see the things I do and see. Whatever stories she might have heard growing up, I’m not the hero she thinks me to be.”
Jack smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “She’s not looking for a hero, Doc. Just a chance to hope.”
“Hope for what?”
“That is entirely up to you and her to discuss,” the Captain said cryptically, much to the Doctor’s confusion. “Ket! I know you’re there. We’re going to visit the Doc’s TARDIS, are you ready for this?”
The Doctor turned to find the girl step out from around the corner, her eyes alight with uncertainty as she stared at the two men. How long had she been standing there? The Time Lord could sense her, but he’d had no idea that she’d been there at all. Ket smiled at him without meeting his eyes, a nervous smile, and for the moment, the Doctor found he didn’t need the answer right then. Jack’s own smile grew more melancholy as the girl turned and headed for the lift, waiting patiently for both it and the two men. Once on the lift, though, the Doctor noticed that Ket was leaning heavily towards Jack, her hand reaching out to grab his coat sleeve. The Captain put his arm around her and kissed her forehead gently. Ket didn’t seem to fear the Doctor, from what he could perceive, but she still felt scared in his presence- a sort of nervous scared, like having stage fright. And she was now wearing gloves similar to her jumper, the Doctor noted. He wondered why she decided to put the gloves on.
As the lift took them to ground level, the Doctor mentally went through all the books he had stored in the TARDIS library to see what he could loan the young telepath. There were some books on advanced telepathy that she might find fascinating, but without knowing her interests, he wasn’t too sure what she’d like. Perhaps he’d show her the library and let her pick some books out herself. Grimacing at the thought of becoming someone’s personal librarian, however, the Doctor decided it might be easier to give her a holopad that’s pre-uploaded with every book ever written on it. 'But then again, it wouldn’t be a good thing if that holopad ended up in someone else’s hands, though Jack knows the ramifications well enough to not let that happen. Maybe in a couple of decades I could come back and get the holopad. Or-'
Jack nudged the Doctor’s side, disrupting his thoughts, and nodded ahead of them. The Doctor looked in that direction to see that Ket had made her way to the TARDIS before they had. She stood before the Old Girl, her hand caressing the wooden exterior almost reverently. Pure joy came through the bond the Doctor shared with his ship, and he was startled to realise that the TARDIS was greeting Ket. Properly greeting her, even before the child had even set foot onboard. Something like that had only ever happened once before, but the Doctor now knew the reason for that, and there was no way Ket could be connected to that companion at all. It would be impossible.
Growing more confused, the Doctor glanced at Jack, who only looked amused at the Time Lord’s confusion, so with a frustrated huff, the Doctor stepped forward to unlock the TARDIS.
“Right!” The Doctor said a bit louder than was probably necessary, startling Ket enough that she stumbled back a couple steps. Doing his best to ignore that reaction, the Doctor continued, “We only have roughly twenty-three hours and thirty-seven minutes until the TARDIS is fully charged, so you have until then to explore a little and ask as many questions as you’d like. After that, I really have to get a shift on- can’t be lazing about when there’s so much work to do, after all. And I'm sure you have a very many things you'd still like to do in your young life, you don't want to spend it all on this silly old ship anyway, and why would you?”
A wave of hurt tapped against the Doctor’s mental shields before it was quickly tapped down. He looked over to check on Ket- he didn’t think he’d said anything rude just then, but then did a double take because he’s certain that he could see the girl’s jumper and gloves moving.
“A-Anyway,” the Doctor cleared his throat because what even was that? “This is my TARDIS.”
He stepped inside and leaned against the console, turning to see what Ket’s reaction was to his beloved time ship. The girl stepped slowly inside, looking around with bright, wide eyes, seemingly trying to take in as much detail of the TARDIS as possible as she moved. The console room brightened as she entered, and Ket giggled as the Old Girl practically purred at her. Reaching out, Ket rested first her, somehow now gloveless, hand against a coral strut, and then her forehead. Most of the tension in her shoulders relaxed as she let herself be enveloped by the TARDIS’s presence, some form of relief being fully present in the girl that was noticeable even without telepathy telling the Doctor so. He stood completely speechless as Ket started to cry, CRY, after setting foot in his TARDIS. Of all the reactions he’d seen and come to expect, that was certainly not one of them.
Ket abruptly straightened up and looked to the Doctor, speaking with a voice that was a little rough from disuse. “Thank you. She’s… she’s more beautiful than I ever imagined.”
The Doctor swallowed. This interaction was not going the way he’d anticipated at all. “Right, that she is, my Old Girl. Um, would you like to take a look at her library?”
“Please,” Ket nodded, following a few paces behind the Time Lord as he led the way towards the corridor. The TARDIS placed the library door right outside the console room, which the Doctor was suddenly very grateful for.
“Here you go,” he opened the door for Ket and gestured her through, not paying attention to her reaction this time at all. “The TARDIS library, grab any books you’d like, all of time and space, there’s a lot to go around. Anything you can’t find, just ask the TARDIS and she’ll get it for you. Have fun!”
Without another word, the Doctor slammed the door on the poor girl, turned heel, and marched back into the console room to find Jack Harkness leaning against the open door. His arms were crossed, but he smiled at the Doctor knowingly in a way that angered the pinstripe suited man more.
“Jack, I need you to explain to me in very, very simple terms, what that reaction was just now,” the Time Lord started out calmly, the Oncoming Storm making himself more known with each word that passed his lips. “Because that was no normal reaction by any means, and that reaction tells me that Ket has had some kind of connection to me or my TARDIS sometime in her past, and if she’s a part of my future, you know that she can’t be travelling with me right now, so whatever game you’re playing at needs to stop, right now.”
“Doctor,” Jack said, completely undeterred by the Storm, “I swear to you on my immortality, and if any part of you really saw me as a friend, even just once, you’ll believe me, but that girl has never once set eye on the TARDIS before today. Ket has never seen her, heard her, or been anywhere near her in her entire life. This is her first time ever with the TARDIS.”
“Then why was she crying? I expect that kind of reaction from Sarah Jane or Jo, or, or Martha, maybe. Just, an old companion that’s not seen the TARDIS in an age or two, not first timers. First time anyone walks onto the TARDIS should be filled with awe, and naive questions, and exclamations of how much bigger on the inside she is!”
“The most I can tell you is that the TARDIS reminds Ket of home,” Jack sighed. “Not Torchwood home, not the one she has with me, but of her original home, with the family she lost.”
“Then exactly who is her family?” The Doctor all but shouted. “Late twenty-second century now, with how often I land around the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries, there’s any number of companions she could be connected to. But with the level of telepathy she’s displaying, she can’t be completely human, either. It’s too early in history to have that kind of mental awareness naturally develop yet. What species is she connected to?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Then what can you tell me?!”
“Go talk to her,” Jack insisted. “If you want any answers, you are only going to be able to get them out of Ket herself, and to do that, you need to earn her trust. I can only repeat myself when I say that I know without a doubt that she needs the TARDIS and she needs you. Take her with you, don’t take her with you, just talk to her- for as long as you’re willing to. I need to get back to the Hub, my team will be back from their mission within the hour and I need to get ready for them. I’ll come back, either to retrieve Ket or to say goodbye tomorrow. Just, promise me one thing, Doctor.”
Seeing that Jack wasn’t going to give him any leverage in this, the Doctor leaned back, resigned. “What is it?”
“No matter what you decide, whether Ket stays or travels with you, you do not, under any circumstance, do not, take that girl, my niece, to the medbay for any reason, unless she specifically asks you to.” Jack’s eyes hardened and his posture turned ridged, displaying the Torchwood soldier in his entirety. “Understood?”
“Loud and clear, Captain,” the Doctor promised, sensing the seriousness of Jack’s request. “Ket will never come anywhere near the medbay unless she specifically wants to.”
“Good. Now go talk to Ket. Don’t leave without a goodbye, Doc.”
Jack walked away, then, leaving the Doctor with his thoughts and the TARDIS for company. This day had definitely not gone as he'd planned for at all.
Elsewhere in the ship, a picture was placed before Ket. The contents of the picture were one she had nearly forgotten about, but also one she felt she could never truly forget even if she'd tried. Regardless, Ket thanked the ship for her kindness, and pocketed the picture as if it could be snatched from her hand that very second. There would be plenty of time to reminisce later. For now, she had research to do.