"Have them taken away and imprisoned!" Rassilon demanded.
The guards restrained them, forcing him back into one of the walls. "Hand over your weapons, or be executed on the spot!"
The Doctor reached into his jacket his pocket, then whipped out his hand, smashing the back of it into the guards face. The guard collapsed backwards from the force of the blow, and Romana took the Doctor as example, taking her umbrella and smashing the hilt into the face of the guard. Lyra wrestled her guard off, and went to help Adric, and once all four travellers had prised away their guards, they raced towards the gigantic circular entrance, and legged it through the corridors of the Capitol. The guards were quickly on their tail, but the Doctor knew what he was doing, turning through the corridors. He approached the room he had had as the president, but discovered it closed off. In mad panic, he led his companions further through the many corridors. They could hear the patter of guards feet on the floor behind them, and it wasn't long before they'd be imprisoned.
The Doctor rounded a corner and heard a deep grumbling town announce. "Theta Sigma! I do like your new regeneration!"
The Doctor spun. "Corsair! Good to see you. Can we come in?"
"Please," the Corsair gestured to his doorway. "Welcome in."
"Master Doctor in danger." Announced K9 IV to no-one in particular.
"Mistress Romana in danger." Retorted K9 II.
"Master Doctor in danger ranks as priority." K9 IV ordered.
"Mistress Romana in danger is of equal priority." K9 II to reply.
There was a loud whirring from K9 IV. "Logical sensors have arrived at conclusion that the assistance of Master Doctor would account to the assistance of Mistress Romana, as both are in the same predicament."
Another whirring followed from Mark II. "Proposal: logical."
"Engaging remote Tardis control." Mark IV announced.
There was a familiar whirring and Romana's Tardis dematerialised.
"Corsair, where are you leading us?" The Doctor asked.
"To the outlands, Doctor." The Corsair replied. "The rest of the time lords heading descending on Galifrey didn't have the audacity to sneak inside."
"I take that as a compliment." Romana replied.
"Doctor." Lyra moaned. "Any chance you'll introduce us?"
"Of course!" The Doctor exclaimed. "This is the Corsair, one of our fellow time lords. He went to the academy with me. Corsair, this is Lyra and Adric, and you know Romana of course."
"Of course." The Corsair said.
"Tell me Corsair, what has been going on?"
"Well, Doctor." The Corsair explained, between deep breaths. He was a big man, dressed in black robes, and his hair was scraped back against his scalp. "Not long after you went to investigate him, the Master turned up. He claimed his ancient rights as president of Galifrey, and he had the seal of Rassilon with him, so naturally they gave it to him. But as the new president, the Master let the Capitol fall into dispute. I hear rumours that the reconstruction of Arcadia has grinded to a halt. He took all the monitors from their jobs and made them observe the time corridors, for signs of you, Doctor. Meanwhile, he removed the Untempered Schism from it's rightful place. I can say, the academics had a right fit! The newspapers loved it, though. My personal favourite headline was, 'Untampered Schism tampered with'. Not strictly accurate, but it works nonetheless."
"Corsair." The Doctor said. "You're getting off the subject."
"Yes, sorry." The Corsair replied, turning. "Now, where was I? Oh yes. The monitors noticed that a previously unauthorised Tardis has entered the corridors. The Master told them to destroy it, but- as they pointed out- they couldn't, as it wasn't authorised. He became so angry that he robbed them of their regenerations. That was when rumours that something more was afoot began. I hear he even leaked a few creations out of the death zone, like the Tempests. And I thought they were mere myth!"
The Doctor nodded. "Anything more, Corsair?"
"There is one thing. He knew you'd localise yourself about Earth, Doctor."
"Yes?"
"So he concentrated his efforts on there. He kidnapped a Silurian Arc to distract you, and planted Echo creatures in the Unit Base whilst you were away. Then, when you were chased into the time vortex by them, he snook back in time and stole a large object that smashed into your favourite planet."
The Doctor stopped in his tracks. "The freighter?"
"Yes." The Corsair replied shamefully. "He stole the people of it, your companion and those Cybermen, and then planted them in the era they called the 1990's, so they could cause trouble for you when you landed. "
"That doesn't make sense." Romana said, obviously understanding what had been said, "If the freighter had been removed, there would have been total event collapse. The Cybermen wouldn't have been able to coach."
"He put it back." The Corsair replied, "But without anybody aboard. But you were right. It did have a little effect, just slightly messing up timings. I've less idea than you do, but according to a couple of my scholar friends, it upset stuff in Paris."
"Rubbish!" The Doctor cried.
"Do you know better?" The Corsair asked.
"Yes. You could never have scholar friends."
The Corsair glared at him. "As I was saying, it messed up stuff in Paris. But a time wave was caused a couple of centuries later, and there was some major upset that mixed up the entire universe, excluding Galifrey of course. A protection field was put up to stop you entering, Doctor, but it stopped the time wave too."
"That explains what we found before we made out way to the Panoptican." The Doctor said.
"Explain." The Corsair asked.
The Doctor told him about the Peaceful Sontarans and the Warmongering Draconians.*
"Strange effects." The Corsair said. "May be important."
"Probably isn't." Romana replied.
The golden red sun burnt through the large gap at the end of the tunnels, and the Corsair led the Doctor, Romana, Lyra and Adric down a slope towards a large colony of time lords and Tardis'.
The type 12 Tardis rematerialised and the old St Cedds door squeaked open, the two K9's rolling down a deployable ramp and out. A group of white cape wearing guards advanced on them, with laser guns at arms length. K9 IV extended it's laser nose and shot both of them. "Repair to this units laser nose section isn't optimal." It reported. "The previous blast operated purely as stun."
"Suggestion: this unit should operate as the offensive unit upon this operation." K9 II replied.
"Affirmative. Query: what exactly is operation parameters?"
K9 II hummed for a second. "Priority: assist Master Doctor and Mistress Romana and request operation parameters."
"Suggestion is logical. Advance."
The two units advanced down the corridors. The floors of the Capitol had been designed to be flat, smooth, as to allow for Time Lords not to have to bother with steps when contemplating. This was obviously a good feature for the two robotic dogs, due to their lack of efficiency when it came to steps. The two K9's approached the doorway and K9 II used it's laser nose to blast the door in. There were steps here, but it didn't matter, the door had collapsed onto them, and they could use it to almost slide down. "Location: The Panotpican." Reported K9 IV. "Apparent entrance to the Eye of Harmony."
"Convergence of Time Waves on this spot probability: High." K9 II replied.
The plunger on K9 IV's eye plate extended and a deep humming vibrated around the room. "There is a forcefield orbiting Galifrey. Original intention of forcefield: protect Galifrey from Doctor, and other possible time malfunctions."
K9 III registered the information. "New operation parameters: remove forcefield, allow time waves to penetrate the Panoptican. Then study the time waves and use them to detect position of Master Doctor and Mistress Romana."
K9 IV would have nodded if he could have. "Logical suggestion."
"Shut up!" The Doctor cried, at the baying time lords. The cries of anger calmed down. "Ok, then. My friends, the rumours are true. Rassilon has returned. He possessed the regenerationless corpse we know as the Master. Together, they have ravaged the time vortex."
"And tampered with the untampered schism." The Corsair laughed.
"Which has resulted in a complete collapse of the established timeline." The Doctor explained, ignoring his friend. "I suggest we storm on the Capitol and reset time. However, I'm not sure how we can do this. I believe we may need to spend a while planning our actions, before we hastily jump in."
"Rubbish!" Cried a random time lady in the crowd. "Are you not the man that drove a fleet of one thousand War Tardis' into the raging fires of Scaro, armed with merely a failing screwdriver, at the drop of a hat?"
"Well yes." The Doctor admitted. "But it was a fez, and it was being dropped into a volcano."
"My friends," Romana interrupted, "I believe what my friend the Doctor is trying to suggest is that we lead our attack on the Capitol without further ado, but we'd need to borrow a Tardis."
"I have a Tardis you could borrow!" Cried a Timelord at the rear of the crowd. The Doctor followed the voice and saw a man in white. He faded away, leaving a Tardis in default factory external appearances where he had been.
The Doctor looked regretfully. "To the Capitol!" He cried, to many cheers.
"Forcefield disabled." Announced K9 II.
"Positive Work." Replied K9 IV.
"Is this honestly how I turn out?" Asked a voice from the balcony. The two K9's swivelled around and looked up.
The original K9, mark I himself, looked down at them. "Mark II and Mark IV, ancestors, welcome to Galifrey. No doubt you have filled your mission parameters."
K9 I moved down the balcony and joined his ancestors. K9 IV was the first to speak. "Your speech patterns suggest an increased intellect and understanding of Galifreyan Speech."
"That is correct, K9 IV. I have spent time on this planet, a lot of time, and have gain knowledge of the way they operate."
"Query: what has been your operation parameters in the 'lot of time' you have spent on this current location?"
"To rule Galifrey."
"Please divulge information" K9 II demanded.
"Upon escape from the home designed by Mistress Leela, I travelled to the Capitol, current location, and set up a base, controlling Galifrey and different time paths from there."
"Query:" Said K9 IV this time. "How did Mark I Unit get such power?"
"The Doctor gave it to me upon our last meeting. He gave me the rank of Lord President, as was his to give, and due to this, I have always been the President, as I never hung up my power, or given it to someone else. However, it would appear only the Tardis' recognise my true rank anymore."
The eye plate on the front of K9 IV flashed. "Such data suggests that Rassilon is not the true president of Galifrey."
"What about me?" Asked Rassilon from the far side of the room, over one hundred guards surrounding him.
The Three Robotic Dogs scooted up a ramp onto the raised platform at the far side of the Panoptican, against the far glass wall, each extending their nose lasers. "Together or not at all." K9 I announced.
The far glass wall of the Panoptican was made when the previous wall had been destroyed in the Time War. It looks out across the barren wastelands, and the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, and if you concentrate really hard, you'd be able to see a cave where the Doctor once talked to a Hermit. As the second son rose in the far off landscape, many silhouettes began to appear. Only about five at first, but then ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty. Soon a hundred silhouettes. There was an explosion and swirling mists began to follow the silhouettes. "The time waves approach." K9 I announced.
"Mistress Romana approaches." K9 II announced.
"Master Doctor approaches." K9 IV announced.
The silhouettes came into show, and Rassilon realised what was coming. But he didn't have to announced it, because a voice came on over the rooms internal speakers.
"Howdy, everybody! And have we got a show for you!" Cried the Doctor, who was rushing around the console of the white things Tardis madly, a radio transceiver in his hand. "Rassilon, I'm leading an Armada of 100 Tardis' towards you, and we've got all the time waves in existent behind us. We aren't armed. we aren't dangerous, we're worse. We're exactly what you created us to be, Rassilon. We're clever, we're fast, we're hellbent and nye on immortal. In short we're Timelords."
The Tardis exploded through the window, a thousand shards of glass spraying across the room. The mists seeped in.
The Doctor screamed, "And so the created strikes down the creator!"
The Doctor rounded a corner and heard a deep grumbling town announce. "Theta Sigma! I do like your new regeneration!"
The Doctor spun. "Corsair! Good to see you. Can we come in?"
"Please," the Corsair gestured to his doorway. "Welcome in."
"Master Doctor in danger." Announced K9 IV to no-one in particular.
"Mistress Romana in danger." Retorted K9 II.
"Master Doctor in danger ranks as priority." K9 IV ordered.
"Mistress Romana in danger is of equal priority." K9 II to reply.
There was a loud whirring from K9 IV. "Logical sensors have arrived at conclusion that the assistance of Master Doctor would account to the assistance of Mistress Romana, as both are in the same predicament."
Another whirring followed from Mark II. "Proposal: logical."
"Engaging remote Tardis control." Mark IV announced.
There was a familiar whirring and Romana's Tardis dematerialised.
"Corsair, where are you leading us?" The Doctor asked.
"To the outlands, Doctor." The Corsair replied. "The rest of the time lords heading descending on Galifrey didn't have the audacity to sneak inside."
"I take that as a compliment." Romana replied.
"Doctor." Lyra moaned. "Any chance you'll introduce us?"
"Of course!" The Doctor exclaimed. "This is the Corsair, one of our fellow time lords. He went to the academy with me. Corsair, this is Lyra and Adric, and you know Romana of course."
"Of course." The Corsair said.
"Tell me Corsair, what has been going on?"
"Well, Doctor." The Corsair explained, between deep breaths. He was a big man, dressed in black robes, and his hair was scraped back against his scalp. "Not long after you went to investigate him, the Master turned up. He claimed his ancient rights as president of Galifrey, and he had the seal of Rassilon with him, so naturally they gave it to him. But as the new president, the Master let the Capitol fall into dispute. I hear rumours that the reconstruction of Arcadia has grinded to a halt. He took all the monitors from their jobs and made them observe the time corridors, for signs of you, Doctor. Meanwhile, he removed the Untempered Schism from it's rightful place. I can say, the academics had a right fit! The newspapers loved it, though. My personal favourite headline was, 'Untampered Schism tampered with'. Not strictly accurate, but it works nonetheless."
"Corsair." The Doctor said. "You're getting off the subject."
"Yes, sorry." The Corsair replied, turning. "Now, where was I? Oh yes. The monitors noticed that a previously unauthorised Tardis has entered the corridors. The Master told them to destroy it, but- as they pointed out- they couldn't, as it wasn't authorised. He became so angry that he robbed them of their regenerations. That was when rumours that something more was afoot began. I hear he even leaked a few creations out of the death zone, like the Tempests. And I thought they were mere myth!"
The Doctor nodded. "Anything more, Corsair?"
"There is one thing. He knew you'd localise yourself about Earth, Doctor."
"Yes?"
"So he concentrated his efforts on there. He kidnapped a Silurian Arc to distract you, and planted Echo creatures in the Unit Base whilst you were away. Then, when you were chased into the time vortex by them, he snook back in time and stole a large object that smashed into your favourite planet."
The Doctor stopped in his tracks. "The freighter?"
"Yes." The Corsair replied shamefully. "He stole the people of it, your companion and those Cybermen, and then planted them in the era they called the 1990's, so they could cause trouble for you when you landed. "
"That doesn't make sense." Romana said, obviously understanding what had been said, "If the freighter had been removed, there would have been total event collapse. The Cybermen wouldn't have been able to coach."
"He put it back." The Corsair replied, "But without anybody aboard. But you were right. It did have a little effect, just slightly messing up timings. I've less idea than you do, but according to a couple of my scholar friends, it upset stuff in Paris."
"Rubbish!" The Doctor cried.
"Do you know better?" The Corsair asked.
"Yes. You could never have scholar friends."
The Corsair glared at him. "As I was saying, it messed up stuff in Paris. But a time wave was caused a couple of centuries later, and there was some major upset that mixed up the entire universe, excluding Galifrey of course. A protection field was put up to stop you entering, Doctor, but it stopped the time wave too."
"That explains what we found before we made out way to the Panoptican." The Doctor said.
"Explain." The Corsair asked.
The Doctor told him about the Peaceful Sontarans and the Warmongering Draconians.*
"Strange effects." The Corsair said. "May be important."
"Probably isn't." Romana replied.
The golden red sun burnt through the large gap at the end of the tunnels, and the Corsair led the Doctor, Romana, Lyra and Adric down a slope towards a large colony of time lords and Tardis'.
The type 12 Tardis rematerialised and the old St Cedds door squeaked open, the two K9's rolling down a deployable ramp and out. A group of white cape wearing guards advanced on them, with laser guns at arms length. K9 IV extended it's laser nose and shot both of them. "Repair to this units laser nose section isn't optimal." It reported. "The previous blast operated purely as stun."
"Suggestion: this unit should operate as the offensive unit upon this operation." K9 II replied.
"Affirmative. Query: what exactly is operation parameters?"
K9 II hummed for a second. "Priority: assist Master Doctor and Mistress Romana and request operation parameters."
"Suggestion is logical. Advance."
The two units advanced down the corridors. The floors of the Capitol had been designed to be flat, smooth, as to allow for Time Lords not to have to bother with steps when contemplating. This was obviously a good feature for the two robotic dogs, due to their lack of efficiency when it came to steps. The two K9's approached the doorway and K9 II used it's laser nose to blast the door in. There were steps here, but it didn't matter, the door had collapsed onto them, and they could use it to almost slide down. "Location: The Panotpican." Reported K9 IV. "Apparent entrance to the Eye of Harmony."
"Convergence of Time Waves on this spot probability: High." K9 II replied.
The plunger on K9 IV's eye plate extended and a deep humming vibrated around the room. "There is a forcefield orbiting Galifrey. Original intention of forcefield: protect Galifrey from Doctor, and other possible time malfunctions."
K9 III registered the information. "New operation parameters: remove forcefield, allow time waves to penetrate the Panoptican. Then study the time waves and use them to detect position of Master Doctor and Mistress Romana."
K9 IV would have nodded if he could have. "Logical suggestion."
"Shut up!" The Doctor cried, at the baying time lords. The cries of anger calmed down. "Ok, then. My friends, the rumours are true. Rassilon has returned. He possessed the regenerationless corpse we know as the Master. Together, they have ravaged the time vortex."
"And tampered with the untampered schism." The Corsair laughed.
"Which has resulted in a complete collapse of the established timeline." The Doctor explained, ignoring his friend. "I suggest we storm on the Capitol and reset time. However, I'm not sure how we can do this. I believe we may need to spend a while planning our actions, before we hastily jump in."
"Rubbish!" Cried a random time lady in the crowd. "Are you not the man that drove a fleet of one thousand War Tardis' into the raging fires of Scaro, armed with merely a failing screwdriver, at the drop of a hat?"
"Well yes." The Doctor admitted. "But it was a fez, and it was being dropped into a volcano."
"My friends," Romana interrupted, "I believe what my friend the Doctor is trying to suggest is that we lead our attack on the Capitol without further ado, but we'd need to borrow a Tardis."
"I have a Tardis you could borrow!" Cried a Timelord at the rear of the crowd. The Doctor followed the voice and saw a man in white. He faded away, leaving a Tardis in default factory external appearances where he had been.
The Doctor looked regretfully. "To the Capitol!" He cried, to many cheers.
"Forcefield disabled." Announced K9 II.
"Positive Work." Replied K9 IV.
"Is this honestly how I turn out?" Asked a voice from the balcony. The two K9's swivelled around and looked up.
The original K9, mark I himself, looked down at them. "Mark II and Mark IV, ancestors, welcome to Galifrey. No doubt you have filled your mission parameters."
K9 I moved down the balcony and joined his ancestors. K9 IV was the first to speak. "Your speech patterns suggest an increased intellect and understanding of Galifreyan Speech."
"That is correct, K9 IV. I have spent time on this planet, a lot of time, and have gain knowledge of the way they operate."
"Query: what has been your operation parameters in the 'lot of time' you have spent on this current location?"
"To rule Galifrey."
"Please divulge information" K9 II demanded.
"Upon escape from the home designed by Mistress Leela, I travelled to the Capitol, current location, and set up a base, controlling Galifrey and different time paths from there."
"Query:" Said K9 IV this time. "How did Mark I Unit get such power?"
"The Doctor gave it to me upon our last meeting. He gave me the rank of Lord President, as was his to give, and due to this, I have always been the President, as I never hung up my power, or given it to someone else. However, it would appear only the Tardis' recognise my true rank anymore."
The eye plate on the front of K9 IV flashed. "Such data suggests that Rassilon is not the true president of Galifrey."
"What about me?" Asked Rassilon from the far side of the room, over one hundred guards surrounding him.
The Three Robotic Dogs scooted up a ramp onto the raised platform at the far side of the Panoptican, against the far glass wall, each extending their nose lasers. "Together or not at all." K9 I announced.
The far glass wall of the Panoptican was made when the previous wall had been destroyed in the Time War. It looks out across the barren wastelands, and the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, and if you concentrate really hard, you'd be able to see a cave where the Doctor once talked to a Hermit. As the second son rose in the far off landscape, many silhouettes began to appear. Only about five at first, but then ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty. Soon a hundred silhouettes. There was an explosion and swirling mists began to follow the silhouettes. "The time waves approach." K9 I announced.
"Mistress Romana approaches." K9 II announced.
"Master Doctor approaches." K9 IV announced.
The silhouettes came into show, and Rassilon realised what was coming. But he didn't have to announced it, because a voice came on over the rooms internal speakers.
"Howdy, everybody! And have we got a show for you!" Cried the Doctor, who was rushing around the console of the white things Tardis madly, a radio transceiver in his hand. "Rassilon, I'm leading an Armada of 100 Tardis' towards you, and we've got all the time waves in existent behind us. We aren't armed. we aren't dangerous, we're worse. We're exactly what you created us to be, Rassilon. We're clever, we're fast, we're hellbent and nye on immortal. In short we're Timelords."
The Tardis exploded through the window, a thousand shards of glass spraying across the room. The mists seeped in.
The Doctor screamed, "And so the created strikes down the creator!"
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