A/N: It's another multi-parter! There will be more on The Confession Dial, I just had another plot bunny I wanted to get down.

The Time Disruptor

Four beeps. Four beeps in a row had the Doctor scrambling over to the console, accidentally bumping into Ryan as she went.

"Sorry, sorry," she said, grabbing a screen and hitting out a sequence of four beeps back.

"Doc?" Graham looked up from where he'd been playing cards with Yaz, the two of them exchanging glances at the Doctor's alarm and going over to look. "What's up?"

She didn't answer, her whole focus consumed with tapping a furious response out on the screen to the rapid incoming signal. Her other hand worked the controls, the engine wheezing furiously into life.

Then, abruptly, she stopped. The Doctor leant back and shut her eyes, a strange aura coming over her.

The fam gathered around, shooting one another concerned looks. They watched as the Doctor's lips moved with words too quiet to hear. Finally she opened her eyes again, and said softly, "OK. I'm coming to get you."

And she flipped the lever.

"Doc? What was - who were you talking to?"

She took a deep breath, hands stilling on the controls. She looked at them, meeting their gaze one by one. "The Master."

"What? How?" Graham saw his alarm reflected on the other's faces. "And how were you speaking to him?"

"Did I not mention? Time Lords are telepathic." She looked sheepish as the engine wheeled into life. It was clear they were on the move. "He's in court right now, so I... need to be there."

"Court?" Yaz said. "Like he broke a law?"

"Yeah. Like that."

"Then-" Yaz brightened, trying not to look too desperately hopeful, "You're taking us to Gallifrey? Your home?"

"No," the Doctor said, a little too quickly. "The court is held somewhere else."

They spotted it - that tense, unspoken 'don't ask me any more' look she got in her eyes. They exchanged looks and Ryan nerved himself to speak first.

"...He broke a law on another planet?"

"No. But the ones trying him are there." She looked up, an almost angry look on her face as she said, "You can sit in the gallery. You can watch. That should tell you everything you need to know. I - I don't think I can tell you any more."

It was that last note of desperation that pulled them up short, the pleading in her eyes. They exchanged glances again.

"OK, Doc," Graham said gently. "Any special aliens rules or sumthin' we should know?"

"Oh. No, no. Just, you know, no talking out of turn." She looked down. "That should cover it."

They all stood quietly by the lever, silent as the groans of the TARDIS signalled touch down.

"Doctor," Yaz asked quietly as they stepped out the doors. "Where are we?"

"Planet called Sarsfek. Lots of races here, so just mind your Ps and Qs and everyone else does the same."

She wasn't kidding. The cobbled street was bursting with more different types of aliens than they had ever seen in one place before, and none of them even looked at the group twice.

The Doctor led the way like always, but there was more urgency in her step than usual. Graham squeezed Yaz and Ryan's hands, trying to look reassuring, but they all looked nervous.

The Doctor reached a plain building with a wide doorway to accommodate all lifeforms and went straight in, walking straight up a steep stairway to the blue biped manning the desk.

They exchanged low words, the Doctor saying, "They'll be expecting me," at one point. Finally the alien nodded, gestured to a door on her left.

"Through there, ma'am."

"Thanks," she said, barrelling straight through without checking if the fam were following.

The others were busy checking out the huge foyer and fancy pillars. "Looks like a pretty big deal," Ryan muttered.

"Maybe we don't have to worry about the Master no more, eh? Locked up is locked up," Graham said. "Anyway, let's keep an eye on the Doc."

They went in, finding the Doctor standing just before the gate separating the public from the defendant.

The Master was sitting in the dock, hands in glowing shackles, looking irate. Yaz sat in the nearest seat, not wanting him to look their direction. "Come on," she said, tugging at Ryan. "Sit."

The three of them settled into their seats, uneasy at all the murmuring in the gallery. But the Doctor was still standing, hands on the wooden divide between her and the courtroom.

"Doctor?" Yaz whispered. She didn't respond. Her shoulders raised and lowered in a deep sigh.

Then she lifted herself over the barrier and walked into the court. There were gasps, the Master's head turning. He grinned when he spotted her.

"Hello, love. Good timing as ever."

She ignored him, turned to face the judge - a robed man with ancient eyes.

"The Doctor," he said, leaning forward to inspect her. "I presume."

"You presume rightly, Rassilon." There was something odd in the Doctor's voice when she spoke, another accent lurking under her usual broad Yorkshire one. "I admit I wasn't expecting to see you. But then, maybe it's not such a surprise..."

He shifted in his seat, cleared his throat. "I see you have regenerated again."

"I see you haven't," she retorted. The Master snickered and she shot him a look.

He leant back. "You come to assist us?"

"No," she said. The Master's smirk grew wider. "I come as counsel for the defence."