A Continuum Of Doctors

"Ehhh. There hasn't been a time jump, that's forbidden, you see. We're ... on Gallifrey."

He steps back somewhat. Doesn't want any on him in case Savannah explodes.

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"...What? Gallifrey? But Gallifrey gets blown to bits...is blown to bits...will be...? ...No, no we can't be here. Doctor, come on, take us back!"

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... well, that snaps Jack right out of his typically flirtatious mood and, abruptly, he's all business. Because, let's be honest - Gallifrey plus the Doctor's eighth regeneration is Serious Fucking Business, period.

"Doctor," however, is all the Captain says on the subject, in that particular inflection of his that asks for all the answers, now, and please stop beating around the fucking bush, thank you.

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The Doctor wilts somewhat.

"Yes, we're on Gallifrey. I ... left to avert the events of the Time War. I never meant to bring you along with me, Savannah, you have to beleive me, that was the TARDIS' doing..." He stops and collects his thoughts again.

"Right now, it's still relatively safe. I could find a way to get anyone who wants to leave back to the Nexus but I ... can't risk leaving and retracing temporal paths."

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Jack, rapidly collecting his own sleep-fuzzy thoughts, had figured as much. During the lull in explanation, the Captain puts a hand on the somewhat-wilty Doctor's shoulder. "I'm not leaving." Hey, they've gone over this already, haven't they? No way in hell he's letting the Doctor attempt this on his own.

"I'm got ... a vortex manipulator," he offers after a stilted pause, tilting his head to indicate the leather wristband. "Might need a little tweaked, but I've modded it for Nexus travel."

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"You what with the who now?"

Gabriel is standing in the doorway, looking a bit dazed. He's still trying to shake off the effects of TARDIS-drugging, and not doing the best job of it.

"And from what I've known, 'relatively safe' is... well, it's a relative opinion."

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"But Doctor, couldn't you just...leave now for the future and then come back here, one minute later and stop...your time war? Because I don't know anything about stopping wars...cept maybe protests...but I don't actually know if those work..."

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Oh, boy... "Gabriel. Terribly sorry."

"No, I can't do that. Crossing timelines at a juncture like this would be impossible. You remember what we discussed in class--retracing one's own personal timeline like this creates too much of a buildup of temporal energy and risks repercussions of a correllary on the Blinovitch Effect. Here, it would be even worse. I'm sorry, but I simply can't--"

There's a noise. An oddly electronic noise, something of a recurring tone. The Doctor stops short, looking back in the direction of the console room. "Well, someone's certainly impatient." And back toward said chamber he starts.

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Somewhere along the way, perhaps at the juncture where the main hallway meets the path to the sub-sub-tertiary linen closet, there is a Lan. It's not just any Lan, but a tiny, still sleepy one that blink-blinks both sets of eyelids and offers a spectacular, fangy yawn.

"'lo, Doctor."

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Savannah peeeers at Lan. "Wow. Who else is in your TARDIS, Doctor? Can we turn it upside down and shake it a bit to see if more people fall out?" She may not be too happy to see Lan.

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"Savannah." Annoyed Parental Look. To Lan, an apologetic smile. "Sorry."

Then back to the Doctor. "Did you just say we were on a planet that is slated for destruction and you can't leave because of some sort of time thingamagawhatsit?" Excuse him, he's going to sit the hell down. "I thought the Nexus was all we had to worry about."

Pause. "This doesn't have anything to do with the Nexus, does it?"

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More people...

"...Lan Oh, I'm so sorry..." Lan gets a quick hug as the entire crowd, hopefully, moves toward the console room. Plenty of chairs there.

"It hasn't anything to do with the Nexus per se, though I hope to use its unpredictibility to my advantage," the Doctor continues. Oh, this hasn't half bollocksed up, has it? He twists and pokes a few controls and a truly spectacular holographic veiwer fliclers and unrolls, taking up a good portion of the console room's ceiling. Pity all it shows is a vast ceremonial chamber and what appear to be a few individuals in red, white, and silver uniforms attempting to break in.

"The Panopticon again? Well, no wonder they're tring to break in....

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"It's all right Gabriel. Hello, Savvy." A semi-sleepy hug for the Doctor as well -- the linen closet is so very warm and cozy. "Did someone say something about a planet going boom or whatever? Is there anything I can do?"

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Savannah looks up at the projection. "Wait...that's outside? Are they...can they get in?" Worried!

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Yes, right. So he's sitting in the control room. That works.

"If they're hostile, they'll not be hurting anyone here." He sounds tired, but there is and undertone of titanium spine in his words.

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"No. They won't. At least, I'm reasonably certain they won't." He struggles to remember his legal standing amongst his own people as of now. It was ... decent, wasn't it? Last time he left, he was getting on rather well with the Lord President, the CIA were at a bit of a nadir, he'd extracted his own House and things were going well, right? Right?

He opens the doors so they don't have to actually complete the cipher-intent breakin, and several guards come trooping in, stasar-pistols at the ready.

"Unauthorised capsule operator, you are hereby ordered, on directive of the Castellan, to--Oh. It's you, Doctor."

Mass rather awkward lowering of weaponry.

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They're somewhere in vastness of space, there's been a miscommunication and people have weapons aimed at them? Must be a Tuesday then.

Lan politely smiles at the guards and waits for the Doctor to do whatever sort of diplomatic (ha!) thing that needs doing.

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Savannah doesn't take weapons pointed at her quite as well as Lan does. She eeps and tries to hide behind Lan, but realizes there are people with weapons over there as well, but manages to keep her mouth shut, which may help her get out of this alive.

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Gabriel doesn't either, considering the last time someone pointed a gun at him, it ended in bloody, painful death. Luckily, he's also in control of himself to not do anything too stupid.

Of course, this depends on your definition of 'stupid.'

He throws up a teke shield, between the invaders and his companions--not enough to stop a cannon, but enough to hold off at least one wave of bullets... or whatever is in the guns. It's invisible, but who knows what Gallifreyans can sense?

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They're all looked at curiously. One Doctor, four non-Gallifreyans, one of whom is clearly alien, one of whom carries weaponry, one of whom is clearly psionic...

"Drop the psi-sheild," one of them starts, raising his weapon again, but is silenced by another one and motioned to drop his aim again.

Especially since another individual is walking into the TARDIS now. What is this, Gallifreyan Grand Central Station? This one's wearing robes of varying shades of brown, a medallion, and a troubled expression that only clears somewhat when he sees the Doctor.

"Stand down," he tells the guards, and they do, holstering their weapons. He looks at the Doctor again with a sigh. "Doctor."

"Castellan." The Doctor looks, if at all possible, a little more nervous.

"I take it you've heard the rumours." The Castellan, usually a vigorous individual, looks harried. More so than usual, having the thankless job of running security for President Romanadvoratrelundar. "They're more than rumours."

That? That makes the Doctor squirm. He looks back at the others with an expression that clearly says not a word, before returning his attention to the Time Lord before him. "I ... suspected as much. I want to help."

This is either the best news he's heard in ages or the nail in the coffin, the Castellan isn't sure. "You should come with me. All of you. At least to someplace safer than a TT capsule." It sounded like a request, but a request that'd probably best be agreed to.

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Until the Doctor tells her otherwise (or it seems like a good idea), Lan will trail along as a quiet, polite sort of guest. She's never been to Gallifrey and might as well enjoy the scenery while they're there.

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Savannah will follow, though not as enthusiastically as Lan.

She whispers to the Doctor: "are we being taken prisoner?"

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Gabriel complies and drops the shield, more out of surprise than anything else. Not only did they sense it, knew it was there, but they hadn't treated it any differently than anything or anyone else.

He'll follow behind Savannah, poking her when she asks her question. Shush, says the look on his face.

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