Chapter Text
Finally, a quiet day.
It wasn't often that these came about, the days when Narvin could simply sit in his office and do paperwork. Nothing to fret over, no major crises, just old, boring, wonderful paperwork.
So when his communicator blipped, Narvin considered not answering it. But duty kicked in a moment later and he repressed a sigh as he answered the call.
"Yes, what is it?”
"Coordinator Narvin, there’s been an unauthorised materialisation in the TARDIS Bay.”
It took a moment for Narvin to place the voice: a man named Timith, rather new to the Chancellery Guard.
“Have you checked it through the records to see who it belongs to?”
"Doing that now, sir. It will take a moment."
Narvin huffed and shot to his feet, beginning a brisk pace toward the TARDIS Bay. "I'm on my way there. Stay with me and tell me what's going on."
"The TARDIS has just fully materialised. Its…its chameleon circuit seems to be broken…"
Narvin had the urge to stop and beat his head against the wall. "Oh no." He hurried his pace. "Is anything happening?" He broke into a sprint—well, as close to a sprint as his robes would allow.
"Not yet. We have confirmed the TARDIS as belonging to—”
"Yes, I know.” He pushed himself to go faster. Almost there…
Finally, Narvin entered the TARDIS Bay. Several members of the Chancellery Guard were surrounding an incongruous blue police box.
"Just as I thought,” Narvin muttered, stopping just outside the circle of guards.
The door of the police box creaked open. The guards raised their weapons. A young woman stepped out wearing a wide smile that faded as soon as she took in the hostile scene.
"Oi, Doctor!" she called back into the TARDIS. "Are you sure this is the right place?"
Narvin couldn't hear the reply, but a moment later the woman shrugged and stepped away from the TARDIS, nearly touching one of the stasers pointed at her. Didn’t she realise where she was?
She closed the door behind her. Before Narvin could wonder when the Doctor would follow her, the TARDIS began to dematerialise.
"Wait!" Narvin called, though he already knew it was far too late. In a few nanospans the TARDIS was gone, leaving only the girl who wore rather strange clothing and carried a large rucksack on her back.
One of the guards closest to the girl spoke tersely. "Identify yourself."
She raised her arms. "All right! I’m Ace."
Another guard spoke up. "Scans identify her as…human, sir."
"Human?" Narvin muttered to himself. He knew, of course, that the Doctor liked to travel with humans, but why leave one here?
"The Doctor sent me," Ace continued. "You know the Doctor, right?"
Several of the guards exchanged uncomfortable glances. Every time lord knew of the Doctor.
"Let me through,” Narvin said, pushing forward so he could speak to the girl face to face. The guards split ranks to allow him passage. "The President should know about this."
Ace’s eyes widened as she met Narvin’s gaze. "I get to meet the President? Cool!”
Narvin tried to speak with more than usual dignity to counteract her strange Earth slang. He stood across from her and clasped his hands behind his back, straightening to his full height. “I am Narvin, Coordinator of the CIA."
"CIA?" Ace's brow wrinkled but she let out a chuckle. "I thought they only had that in America."
"Celestial Intervention Agency,” Narvin clarified.
"What do you do, meddle like the Doctor does?"
Narvin could just hear the sharp intakes of breath from the surrounding guards. Irritation flared inside of him and he frowned. The last hint of amiability disappeared from his tone.
"We don't meddle and we have much more tact than the Doctor.”
Ace, however, didn’t seem to be bothered. ”All right, just asking a question. So, where am I staying?" She slid her thumbs underneath the straps of her rucksack, grinning like she had just arrived at a holiday resort rather than a planet home to the most sophisticated race in the universe.
Narvin blinked in surprise. This girl showed up with no explanation whatsoever and just expected to stay?
"You're not staying anywhere. I'm going to prepare a TARDIS to have you taken back to Earth immediately.”
"Take me—?” Her face twisted with rage and she took a step toward Narvin. He heard several clicks as the guards around him armed their stasers, but Ace didn’t even seem to notice or just didn’t care.
"Listen here, you scumbag! I'm not going anywhere. The Doctor sent me for a reason.”
Narvin grit his teeth and leaned forward onto his toes. "And would you care to tell us what exactly that reason is?"
Her expression was carved in steel, nostrils flared with disdain. "He gave me a letter for someone called Romana. Not you."
"Fine." He didn't want to deal with this girl for one second longer. He reached for his communicator without breaking eye contact with Ace and paged Romana’s secretary. "This is Coordinator Narvin. I need to see the President. Immediately.”