Andromeda Rising Chapter 1A
Apr. 27th, 2008 12:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amberfocus
A/N: This is the sequel to Post Pomp, but it is more Jack's sequel, than Ten and Rose's sequel although they are in it with most of their children and grandchildren. Cassi and Daniel Harper are in it, as well as the girl who will become the love of Jack's life, the Doctor and Rose's granddaughter Andromeda Harper. The timeline for this story runs like so. It has been ten years since the events of Post Pomp for Jack Harkness. He is 33 years old and he is about to embark on the two years that are missing from his memories. It has been closer to 40 to 45 years for the Doctor and Rose (who were reunited in the Time Eternal series). Cassi is about a year and a half to two years from being sent back in time to the events of Post Pomp. Yes, it's that timey whimey. And I do play fast and lose with a few things to do with piloting TARDISes and such, but since he's the last non-hybrid Gallifreyan, I figure the Doctor can make it up as he pleases.
Chapter 1A: Bittersweet
“Cassi, be reasonable,” the Doctor said sweetly looking at his eldest daughter and trying to keep his exasperation out of his tone. Rose Tyler sighed. Cassi Harper was the most sensitive, arrogant, and if truth be told annoying, of their six children and easily lost her temper, at least with her father. Not that he didn’t sometimes deserve it, but Cassi could go off faster than Rose’s mother at times and that was saying something.
“I am being reasonable,” she muttered. “Dromee’s my daughter and I don’t think she’s old enough to have her own TARDIS yet.”
“Sweetheart,” Rose spoke up, “We gave you Philia when you were sixteen. And Dare got Corazon when he was sixteen. So have all of your siblings when they’ve come of age. It’s time.”
“What are you so afraid of, Cassiopeia?” the Doctor asked gently. “Andromeda is intelligent, you’ve raised her well and you know she’s responsible. She’s proven time and again she has a clear head in a crisis and she’s not going to do something rash. She picked up piloting faster than any of you and she’s great under pressure.”
"She’s nowhere near as impetuous as you were at that age,” Rose reminded her daughter.
“I’m her mother. I get to decide when she can have a TARDIS,” Cassi insisted.
“She’s of age.”
“I don’t care! Just because you can mind transfer all of your Time Lord TARDIS operating knowledge into her head does not mean she is ready for that kind of responsibility.”
“You’re being overprotective, love,” Rose said. "You did just fine with it and you weren't as mature as Dromee."
“What does Daniel think?” the Doctor asked.
“Dromee’s father has no intention of getting in the middle of you and me,” snapped Cassi, “Because it worked so well the last time he tried.” Her sarcasm hung in the air between them.
The Doctor sighed and ran his hands through his hair in the same moment that his daughter made the same gesture with her own. Again, Rose had to suppress a grin. Cassi had picked up so many of the Doctor’s mannerisms, looked so much like him, that she loved seeing them side by side, just watching them together, even if they were fighting.
Cassi, of course, realized what she was doing and immediately straightened her chestnut hair back down into its sleek bob. Not one to let her appearance stay ruffled for long, her eldest. Now that was a mannerism she’d picked up from Rose.
“You’re going to break her heart, you know,” the Doctor said softly. “She’ll think you don’t trust her to make her own decisions.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time a parent in this family did that, now would it?” Cassi asked pointedly.
“No, it wouldn’t,” he admitted. “But Cassi, I’ve paid for my mistakes. I don’t want to see you repeat them with Andromeda. You’ll regret it if you stand in her way. I know.”
Cassi’s face softened as she looked at her father. It had taken them years to work out their differences and sometimes the resentment still bubbled to the surface. “Daddy, she’s my child. And until she’s of age,” the Doctor opened his mouth to protest, but she kept talking right over whatever he’d been about to say, “of age in human terms, not Gallifreyan ones, and don’t argue, she’s more human than Gallifreyan hybrid and you know it," she took a breath, "I won’t allow her to have a TARDIS of her own.”
“You did what?!” Andromeda couldn’t keep the anger or the fury out of her voice as she stared at her mother, hands on hips, eyes flashing, the spitting image of a youthful version of her grandmother Rose, who despite her age barely looked thirty. The two could have been sisters.
Cassi tried not to smile at that thought, returning her mind to her own daughter. “I told your grandparents that you were too young to have a TARDIS yet,” she said sternly.
“That’s not fair!” protested Andromeda.
“Life isn’t. Get used to it,” her mother said unwilling to budge.
“But you did. You got Philia when you were sixteen. Dare did, too. And even Marsden got his three months ago when he turned sixteen!”
“What Dare and Martha decide to allow their son to do is no concern of yours, Miss,” her mother said sharply.
“Daddy?” Andromeda turned to Daniel Harper who’d been watching quietly from in front of the fireplace. “Daddy, what do you think?” she asked.
“I think I’m not getting between you and your mother on this. Time travel belongs to her side of the family. You two will have to sort it out on your own,” her father said firmly though he looked sympathetically at his daughter.
She looked back at her mother. “Please, Mum. Don’t do this,” she begged.
“My decision is final.”
Andromeda dropped all expression from her face and set her jaw, her look suddenly reminding Cassi of the Oncoming Storm. “You will regret this,” she bit out, and she strode angrily from the family room, slamming the door behind her so hard that she heard Philia give an admonishing hum both aloud and in her mind. She was too furious to offer even a silent apology to the ship.
She stalked to her room and hastily began throwing things into a carry pack. She scrawled out a hasty note and pulled her warmest jacket, bright blue and trimmed with faux purple fur, from her closet with a savage yank. This planet was cold enough in the daytime without going out unprepared at night and she didn’t want to take the time to change into better clothes. She was still in her clubbing outfit from earlier in the evening when she’d gone out with Mars.
Andromeda shrugged into the jacket and made sure she had a good supply of credit chips in her pocket and then without a backwards glance she strode from her parent’s TARDIS and out into the Denebian night.
Briefly she stopped by her grandparent’s TARDIS, blindingly obvious in its out of place appearance. She glanced back at her parents’ ship. With its working chameleon circuit it looked exactly like a closed market stall. She sighed and used her key to enter her grandparents’ TARDIS. She left the note taped to the Time Rotor. She wondered briefly if she should talk to Gran, but knowing Rose she’d talk her out of her plan. And Andromeda had had it with her mother’s over protectiveness. It was time she set out on her own.
She kissed her hand and dropped it against the console and a soft hum met her gesture. She was careful to keep what she was doing from the ship’s mind. She didn’t know if the ship would tell on her or not, but best not to give her the opportunity.
Steeling herself, she left the familiar warmth for the last time. Tugging her jacket tightly around her, she made her way to Deneb 8’s space port and purchased a ticket off world. She had eight hours in which to catch her flight, so she stored her carry pack in a locker and caught a transport into the city. Now that she was sixteen she was officially old enough to visit the clubs without supervision.
She chose Holy, probably the trendiest club on the planet at the moment. As she strode past the bouncer and headed towards the end of the line he called out, “Miss?”
Andromeda stopped, glanced up at him and offered a non-committal smile. “Yes?”
“You can go right in. It’s slow tonight.”
She looked at the line then back at the bouncer with a disbelieving glance. “Okay, fine, it’s not,” he said with a grin. “But you’re pretty, so in you go. If you want.”
She laughed and offered him a genuine smile and made her way into Holy. She transferred her money to the inside pocket of her red leather skirt and checked her coat with the money taker, getting a little slip in return. She made her way to the bar, ordered a fruit drink and sat on the stool observing the dance floor for a while before she decided whether or not she would venture out on it.
Andromeda and Marsden had come here together on a few occasions when they’d managed to slip parental supervision, though everyone agreed that calm, staid, patient to a fault Marsden was supervision enough. Andromeda had to laugh. Mars was far from that when he was out alone with her. She pushed the little white strap of her camisole style shirt back up onto her shoulder and looked around her with interest.
It wasn’t long before a boy only a few years older than herself asked her to dance. She looked at him with a calculating glance, unsure whether or not she liked the looks of him. Well, she liked the looks of him, he was handsome, but she wasn’t sure if she should dance with him. He had that cocksure look about him, extreme confidence in his own prowess on the dance floor, and probably in the bedroom. Was he the sort to push? That’s what she wondered. Her stomach turned unpleasantly and she decided to trust her instincts.
“Don’t think so,” she said.
The boy scowled at her, his face going dark. “Do you have any idea who I am?” he asked.
She sipped her juice and ignored the question. “I said,” and his hand came down to grasp her arm, “Do you know who I am?”
“Don’t care,” she said confidently, sure of her decision now. “I don’t want to dance with you.”
He yanked on her arm trying to pull her out onto the dance floor anyway. “Stop it,” she said loudly. “And take your hand off me. I have no interest in you.”
“Just shut it and come on,” he snarled. Her wrist was starting to feel bruised.
“I think the lady said no,” came a voice from behind her. She felt a hand on her shoulder and watched the boy in front of her back away nervously after releasing his hold on her.
“Sorry, Captain,” he said. “Didn’t know she was yours.”
Ch. 1b: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/47125.html
Briefly she stopped by her grandparent’s TARDIS, blindingly obvious in its out of place appearance. She glanced back at her parents’ ship. With its working chameleon circuit it looked exactly like a closed market stall. She sighed and used her key to enter her grandparents’ TARDIS. She left the note taped to the Time Rotor. She wondered briefly if she should talk to Gran, but knowing Rose she’d talk her out of her plan. And Andromeda had had it with her mother’s over protectiveness. It was time she set out on her own.
She kissed her hand and dropped it against the console and a soft hum met her gesture. She was careful to keep what she was doing from the ship’s mind. She didn’t know if the ship would tell on her or not, but best not to give her the opportunity.
Steeling herself, she left the familiar warmth for the last time. Tugging her jacket tightly around her, she made her way to Deneb 8’s space port and purchased a ticket off world. She had eight hours in which to catch her flight, so she stored her carry pack in a locker and caught a transport into the city. Now that she was sixteen she was officially old enough to visit the clubs without supervision.
She chose Holy, probably the trendiest club on the planet at the moment. As she strode past the bouncer and headed towards the end of the line he called out, “Miss?”
Andromeda stopped, glanced up at him and offered a non-committal smile. “Yes?”
“You can go right in. It’s slow tonight.”
She looked at the line then back at the bouncer with a disbelieving glance. “Okay, fine, it’s not,” he said with a grin. “But you’re pretty, so in you go. If you want.”
She laughed and offered him a genuine smile and made her way into Holy. She transferred her money to the inside pocket of her red leather skirt and checked her coat with the money taker, getting a little slip in return. She made her way to the bar, ordered a fruit drink and sat on the stool observing the dance floor for a while before she decided whether or not she would venture out on it.
Andromeda and Marsden had come here together on a few occasions when they’d managed to slip parental supervision, though everyone agreed that calm, staid, patient to a fault Marsden was supervision enough. Andromeda had to laugh. Mars was far from that when he was out alone with her. She pushed the little white strap of her camisole style shirt back up onto her shoulder and looked around her with interest.
It wasn’t long before a boy only a few years older than herself asked her to dance. She looked at him with a calculating glance, unsure whether or not she liked the looks of him. Well, she liked the looks of him, he was handsome, but she wasn’t sure if she should dance with him. He had that cocksure look about him, extreme confidence in his own prowess on the dance floor, and probably in the bedroom. Was he the sort to push? That’s what she wondered. Her stomach turned unpleasantly and she decided to trust her instincts.
“Don’t think so,” she said.
The boy scowled at her, his face going dark. “Do you have any idea who I am?” he asked.
She sipped her juice and ignored the question. “I said,” and his hand came down to grasp her arm, “Do you know who I am?”
“Don’t care,” she said confidently, sure of her decision now. “I don’t want to dance with you.”
He yanked on her arm trying to pull her out onto the dance floor anyway. “Stop it,” she said loudly. “And take your hand off me. I have no interest in you.”
“Just shut it and come on,” he snarled. Her wrist was starting to feel bruised.
“I think the lady said no,” came a voice from behind her. She felt a hand on her shoulder and watched the boy in front of her back away nervously after releasing his hold on her.
“Sorry, Captain,” he said. “Didn’t know she was yours.”
Ch. 1b: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/47125.html
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Date: 2008-07-21 03:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-29 09:04 am (UTC)