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Chapter Text

“Calling all Time Lords, we have a battle in progress, repeat, we have a battle in progress. Report immediately to Sector 822.” The call came through the TARDIS communicators and the man sighed. He looked up at the screen with some reluctance. There was a face he always hated seeing. The TARDIS console room was rather severe looking with a white background and some coral arches facing inwards. It was much more practical than its previous iteration.

“Cardinal Ollistra, what do you want now?” The man had shaggy brown hair and wore a long brown leather coat with a brown button up vest and a brown scarf around his neck. He wore a sash around his chest and dark brown trousers and even darker brown boots. He really liked the color brown. Gone were the colorful affairs of his previous regenerations, but he still kept a fob watch on his person, to remind him of his previous life.

“Doctor, you are needed.” The Cardinal was on the War Council of Gallifrey, the very organization that ran this war from the Time Lord side. Despite appearing to be an older woman with short grey hair and wrinkles, this incarnation was only six hundred years old. She wore the traditional ensemble of the High Council complete with high backed collar. The only distinctive piece of clothing she allowed that showed her personality were a pair of austere silver earrings. She was not actually in the battle, of course, she was still in the war room on Gallifrey.

“Cardinal, you know I don’t come when called. Nor do I use that name anymore. I am not your pet monster.” The man glared at the screen and went to turn it off, but what the Cardinal said next gave him pause.

“No you’re far worse aren’t you. You may be interested to note, Doctor,” she said the name again, perhaps just to annoy him, “the world over which this battle is taking place.”

The man did just that. He saw the battle on the screen. Battle TARDISs and Dalek saucers locked in combat. The Daleks held an overwhelming advantage, it would seem, as they pummeled through the TARDIS lines. As the man watched, even more ships started to appear. Ice Warriors, Silurians, Sontarans, Rutans, Alpha Centauran, and, most of all, Humans. The worst part, though, was that the man immediately recognized the continental formation of the planet.

“NO. Not this planet. Not this time. Not this world. Ollistra what have you done?!”

“Ah yes, one of your pet projects isn’t it. Elnoth right?”

“Ollistra, you know perfectly well that this planet is vital to human history.” The man snapped. He was already starting up the console, pulling levers and pressing buttons. The column in the middle started to go up and down.

“Yes, and it’s one of your little homes isn’t it? Not the Earth, but we can’t be perfect.”

“Ollistra…..” the man growled at the screen, as if daring the woman to explain herself.

“You really are more short tempered in this incarnation aren’t you? Good, I like it. Alright, Doctor, since you asked so nicely. We knew the Daleks were planning an attack on the Human’s little alliance, so we laid a trap for them in this time zone.”

“But at this time, the Humans and their allies will be practically defenseless. They’ve barely developed space travel as it is. Earth certainly is in no position to help. The Daleks will destroy them.”

“Precisely. They’re trying to save themselves from defeats in the far future by the Humans, Siren, and Aernoth coalition,” continued Ollistra, “not to mention all their allies. So they’re attacking here and now.”

“Were you planning on using the humans as bait, Ollistra?”

“Well, Doctor, I must admit that the opportunity presented itself, so we must follow through. I know you’re very fond of your little human playmates, but needs must.”

“Of all the arrogant Time Lord ROT!” The man shouted into the screen. He thought about all the friends he had made, all the companions who had followed him around for all those centuries. Was it worth it? Did they matter? Where were they now? Dead or dying probably. He left one of them on this world lifetimes ago and where was he? It didn’t matter. The man couldn’t think about that. He had only one mission. To protect this world and fight the Daleks.

The man’s TARDIS arrived in the midst of battle and he helped direct the fighting. The combined allied fleet pushed back against the massive Dalek fleet. Wave after wave of assault ships seemed to arrive, presumably time traveling from the future.

“Doctor! Doctor is that you?” The man’s communicator started speaking to him once again and he looked over at it. He knew that voice. It was Adric, one of those little friends who used to follow him around. Despite himself, the man smiled. For a brief moment, he let himself get swept away by nostalgia, but he had no time for that.

“Yes, it’s me,” the man answered. He would not deny his identity to this man, no matter how he felt about the name. Even if he still refused to use it for himself. Adric meant more to him than that.

Adric stood in frame with his husband, the king of the Sirens, Con’err Saltscale, though they usually called him Conner. The two of them looked at him with concern. “Doctor what’s going on?”

“Well there’s a bit of a Dalek incursion above your planet. I’m organizing a defence along with Cardinal Ollistra and the Time Lords, but more and more Dalek ships are appearing above the planet as we speak. They are coming from all different time zones. It seems they hate your world more than normal.” As he spoke, various world leaders from around the planet joined the call, their faces popping up next to the couple. The man filled them in even as he continued to coordinate the defence.

“Now if you will excuse me, I am very busy saving your world.” He ended the call and continued communicating with the other TARDIS crews. Normally a TARDIS had a team of six, but the man was the only one crewing his. He would never let another Time Lord touch any of the controls, not if he could help it.

The man quickly organised a plan of attack. The allied fleets would come together and create a massive electrical pulse. Their combined energy should be enough to destroy the Dalek fleet and the man was already working on a time lock, to prevent any more Dalek ships from entering this time zone. Everything in the universe had a time signature and the Doctor could use that time signature to prevent further Dalek incursions. It would be tricky and would cost a lot of energy, but this time had to be protected. The Alliance would prove too valuable an ally in the future. He could make exceptions for a TARDIS, but that would come later, right now he just had to get it online.

The link took quite some time and they lost a lot of ships in the process. Several of the ship commanders resented their ships being used in this way. They protested losing all their energy at once, but it was the most effective way of knocking out the entire Dalek fleet in one go.

The man managed to set up the link and in just a few more moments hit the switch. A massive pulse of lighting surged through space. Massive lightning bolts struck the Dalek ships, causing them to break down. Most ships just exploded in space. The entire fleet was crippled. In the meantime, the Doctor’s time lock worked. Dalek ships stopped appearing as their time strategists started to work on a way to break the lock. It was the respite they needed. For now, the allied fleets had won.

The allies started mopping up the rest of the Dalek saucers while the man sighed with relief. He watched the planet below them spin and smiled, grateful that he could save just one planet. Just one. Unfortunately, however, it seemed like they were not done. One saucer, which just moments ago was not moving, was suddenly hurtling towards the planet. There were massive chunks missing from it, a consequence of the lightning attacks.

“Stop that saucer!” the man ordered. “Now!” Unfortunately the battle TARDISs were all drained. The rest of the fleet tried to attack, but the saucer suddenly disappeared entirely right before it entered the planet’s atmosphere.

The man quickly pressed buttons on the console, trying to figure out what happened to it, but it became very clear, very quickly. The planet below had started to turn gray. What was once a dense green and blue world now started to look dead. The man banged his fists on the console.

“Elnoth leadership, this is the TARDIS above your planet. We have defeated the Dalek fleet. Respond.” He glared at the planet on the screen. No no no, it couldn’t be. “Adric, Connor, Leshi, Scaith. Anyone from the Aernoth council? Anyone at all.”

Ollistra’s face suddenly appeared on the communicator. “Doctor, it’s over. We’ve lost.”

“No Cardinal, it’s not over. It’s never over.” He started running the TARDIS again, the column started going up and down as the man pressed buttons.

“Doctor what do you think you’re doing?”

“Don’t try to stop me, Cardinal. I’ll fight you too if I have to.”

“You know we can’t afford your absence, Doctor. You can’t just go like this. Doctor!”

“You may be willing to write off this world, the Humans, Aernoth and Sirens so easily, but I will not. They’re worth saving. They’re worth preserving. And they’ll save more over the course of this war!”

“Doctor, I order you to come back. Doctor!” But it was too late. His TARDIS was already gone. “Send Tamasan after him,” Ollistra glared at the image of the planet. “She has experience dealing with him. Tell her to bring him back and to prevent him from doing something stupid that we’ll all regret. By any means necessary.”

“It is past curfew. All citizens are reminded to be in their homes at this time.” The deafening sound of the announcement went through all of Astarte. The streets were empty already. People knew better than to be out after curfew. The lights from the police cars and helicopters roamed the streets, looking for people outside after dark. All was quiet and calm.

That calm was interrupted by the loud sound of a TARDIS whirring into existence in a back alleyway in between two tall buildings. It took a few moments to materialize, but that was enough time for several police vehicles to arrive on the scene and several more police officers to step in front of it.

By the time the man stepped out of his TARDIS, he was surrounded. Officers had their guns pointed at him and he looked between them with a bemused expression on his face. “Quite the welcoming committee you’ve got there.”

“You are the Doctor are you not?” asked one of the officers.

The man raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I was once known by that name.” He looked around, seemingly completely unconcerned by the guns pointed at him. “You haven’t seen any Daleks about have you?”

“Sir, remain still. We have standard orders to intercept the Doctor on sight. You are under arrest…”

“I think you’ll find that I’m not,” he grunted back at the officers. “Those weapons you’re carrying. Pretty standard issue Elnoth lasers aren’t they? Impressive for their time. Only they’re way behind the technology that I possess. I could neutralize them in an instant. Or have I already? Maybe I’ve even programmed them to explode in your hands. Or jam and shoot back at you instead.”

“The Doctor is a man of peace,” the lead officer said.

“Am I?” the man asked. “Do you really want to take that chance?” He held up a little device that started whirring and lighting up. His sonic screwdriver. One of the officers started to shoot at it, but his weapon jammed. He dropped it and it exploded on the ground, blowing him backwards.

“The Doctor wouldn't….”

“No. He wouldn’t. But I’m not the Doctor.” The man glared confidently at the lead officer. “Now, I repeat, has anyone seen any Daleks around? Oh you know what, it’d probably be better if you took me to your leader.” He walked out of the alleyway and onto the street with the officers still holding their now useless guns on him. “Hurry up, we haven’t got all day.”

The man led the police through the streets and towards the city centre. He knew this city like the back of his hand, so if he was right… Yes, four blocks down on the third right turn he saw it. Astarte city hall. He had been here so many times over his lives, but he never remembered the police presence like this. Helicopters and cars roaming the streets at night. The man remembered Astarte having a thriving nightlife.

When the man looked up at the city hall, though, he could have taken a few guesses as to what had gone wrong. “Oh no,” he muttered. A full blown up banner ran down the side of the building with an image of a person the man knew very well. Susan Barlow. Only she looked very different. She was wearing a military uniform of some sort and had her long hair in a very stern bun. She glared down at the streets, as if personally watching to make sure everyone was following curfew.

There were posters all along the street with the same image of Susan, only these were recruitment posters. They read “Do your part for the human race.” The man approached city hall with trepidation. This would not be the Susan he remembered.

The man turned back towards the officers and glared at them. “The Daleks must have changed it. They’ve changed everything.”

“Changed what?” the lead officer asked and the man shook his head.

“Time! The timeline is all wrong. You’re not some fascist dystopia. Elnoth is a peaceful planet. No wonder it’s destroyed in the future….”

The man didn’t have time to finish his thought before the entire city hall suddenly exploded right in front of them. The full length banner burned up in front of their eyes while the entire building erupted into flames and debris. The man jumped on one of the officers, forcing him to dive down. The police were already down as well. “What the…!?” shouted the lead officer.

Alarms started blaring around the city. The man seemed to be forgotten for the moment as helicopters and other police vehicles focused on the explosion. The police all jumped up and started running towards the building while the man ran in the opposite direction. Whoever had done this would likely be his friend.

It was a good thing, too, because laser fire suddenly erupted in the middle of the street as officers started going down. The strange thing was that it was another group of officers firing at them. The man stayed down and watched the ensuing battle for a few moments. Thanks to his jam, the officers who had been watching him were slaughtered. Strangely, he didn’t seem to care that he had caused all of those deaths. A lifetime ago, he might have been angry with himself, but now it barely affected him.

He didn’t have long to contemplate, though, before he was surrounded. These officers grabbed his sonic screwdriver. The man raised an eyebrow. “I’d say it was almost impressive that you knew what to look for. Except that I’d expect you to have known. Adric.”

One of the officers holding a gun on him dropped his hood that he had been wearing. There was the unmistakable face of one of the man’s old friends. Only this Adric did not seem to be happy to see him. His long hair was put back in a ponytail and he glared at the man. “Doctor.”

“I do not use that name anymore, but yes. You could say that it’s me.”

“Where have you been? I haven’t seen you since the destruction of Saltpoint.”

“The what?” The man didn’t have time to respond because their group was suddenly under attack by military forces now. Adric led his own troops, which turned out to be Sirens in disguise, into battle as they fought their way through the city. It wasn’t too difficult since most of the forces were distracted by city hall's destruction. The man helped, picking up a weapon off a fallen human soldier.

“Since when do you use weapons, Doctor?” asked Adric.

“Since the Daleks started taking over the universe. I’ll make a deal. I’ll tell you about my war if you tell me about yours.”

“When we get out of the city.”

“Naturally.”

“Where is your TARDIS?” Adric asked and the man led them towards the alleyway in which he had arrived.

Unfortunately, his TARDIS was entirely surrounded by human forces by now. Adric and his Sirens had to fight to get through, and even then it was fairly difficult. Fortunately, the Sirens were deadly at close range. They could alter a human’s DNA just with a touch and were able to make someone have numerous genetic diseases and then die instantly, crumpling to the ground. It was truly frightening to behold.

The man opened the TARDIS with his key while Adric coordinated the Sirens retreat into it. As soon as everyone was in, the man closed the door and took off. Adric went to the console in the middle and piloted it. “I see you still remember how to fly it after all this time.”

“You never forget, Doctor. Once you learn these complicated systems, you remember for life.” He sighed as he looked around, suddenly overwhelmed by nostalgia. “I was so young back then, wasn't I? Just a kid.”

“We all were kids once,” the man said with a sigh. He could almost see them. Himself, back when he was the Doctor, all that youthful exuberance and hope, stick of celery on his lapel; Adric with his bright yellow outfit; Tegan arguing with him about something or other; and Nyssa trying to keep the peace. He only allowed himself a moment to remember, however, before snapping back to reality.

“Doctor, power down and surrender your TARDIS immediately. That’s an order.” The man rolled his eyes and glared at the screen.

“Tamasan,” the man sighed. “Go away, will you, the adults are busy.”

“Friend of yours?” Adric asked and the man shook his head.

“Hardly.” The Time Lady appeared on screen. Tamasan had short white hair and appeared a little older than her previous incarnation. She wore two diamond earrings in her ears, which the man always found to be a bit ostentatious, although he certainly had no room to talk. She was in full battle armor, of course.

“Doctor, the War Council has given up this world for dead. You are to come back at once.”

“The War Council aren’t here are they? What happened Tamasan? A moment ago we were fighting for this planet and now we’re willing to give it up?”

“The Council is happy with this outcome of the world being destroyed. It is better than the world falling into Dalek hands. The consequences of that could be disastrous for the war effort. Daleks taking over the human empire would be catastrophic. Your presence is a random element. You could allow that to happen.”

“‘Could, could could,’” the man shouted. “All I’m hearing are mights and maybes. No decisive action. This world is worth preserving Tamasan. Just for itself. These are people.”

“People who will die anyway if the Daleks take control. What’s one world compared to trillions of other lives?”

“You don’t care about them either. You say the same thing time and time again. What’s one life compared to trillions? You’ll “what’s one life” your way into SACRIFICING THE ENTIRE GALAXY!” The man glared at the screen. “The only thing that really matters to the Time Lords is the Time Lords. I will not follow their orders. Not unless they make sense. And right now they make precious little sense.” He shut off the screen angrily and turned to Adric.

“If Tamasan is after me, they’re serious. We’ll need a place to hide.”

“Our base has plenty of jammers. We can hide there. I don’t know if they’ll work against Time Lord scanners, though.”

“It’ll have to do.” Adric nodded as he put down the TARDIS. The man looked at the scanner and saw where they were. It was a cave underground. The cave system was vast, as well, bigger than he might have thought. “How many people do you have in this resistance?”

“More than you might think.” The man began the work of hiding his TARDIS from view. He was able to mask the TARDIS’s signature from other TARDISs, using the rebels’ jammers as a piggyback. Tamasan had her work cut out for her if she were to find him.

Adric led his squad of Sirens out of the TARDIS followed by the man. He locked the door behind him and followed Adric towards the command center. “So where have you been all this time?” Adric asked.

“I’ve been here numerous times in my lives,” the man answered. “Though I’m sure I don’t remember the Siren capital being destroyed.”

“You tried to stop it, but it was too late. The humans destroyed it.”

“The humans were peaceful in my timeline,” the man said. “The Dalek ship must have changed your history. This is nothing like I remember.”

“Dalek ship?” Adric asked. They passed by several Aernoth and Siren on the way down who were going about their work.

“Yes. There was a massive battle above your planet in the future. We won, but a single Dalek ship escaped into the past. We don’t know where it went. The Time Lords are ready to give your planet up for lost, but not me.”

“We haven’t seen any Daleks,” Adric shook his head. “We’ve only been fighting the humans and their tyrannical dictator.”

“Susan Barlow,” the man stopped and Adric nodded. “In my timeline, she was a peacemaker. She was elected into office on the promise of peace with the Aernoth and then worked to make sure the Sirens were allies after the Siren king tried to destroy Oceanus.”

“Oh, he managed to destroy Oceanus alright. The city is rubble. But so is Saltpoint itself. You couldn’t save either one. That’s why I chose to stay after all. To help rebuild.” Adric paused for a moment. “Susan is no peacemaker. She’s a tyrant bent on dominating the planet.”

The man couldn’t imagine the Susan he knew causing such destruction. But then he couldn’t have ever imagined participating in this war. “What did the Daleks do to this world?” the man asked with a sigh as they finally came to the command centre.

A few Aernoth stood around the middle of a map of the planet. The man immediately recognized Scaith, of course. The Aernoth all resembled different types of birds. Scaith resembled an egret with a long neck and spindly legs. In his world, Scaith had been Aernoth ambassador to the humans of Astarte. Now, it seemed, he was a rebel leader. There were a few humans the man did not recognize and in the centre someone he recognized only too well.

“King Con’err Saltscale,” the man said with a smile. He had not seen the king of the Sirens in quite some time.

"King of nothing anymore." Con’err, or Connor as he was often called, looked at the man with a glare. “Who is this?”

“The Doctor,” Adric said as he walked in. He walked over to Connor and kissed him. It seemed that even in his universe, the two had found each other.

“Oh. Him. Well tell him he can go, we’ve been managing quite fine without him.” Connor turned back away and towards the rest of the commanders, coordinating their next attack. 

“I assure you, you need my help,” the man said and Connor turned back to him.

“We didn’t need your help when you failed to save my home all those years ago. Why would we need your help now?”

“Because this world is not right. Blowing up city hall, trying to assassinate Susan, it’s not going to work. None of it will matter in a few years.”

“You don’t think giving a strong blow to the oppressors will matter? We’re trying to force these humans off world Doctor. If you have nothing constructive to say…”

“I’ve seen your future,” the man continued. “This world dies. How, I don’t know. Perhaps nuclear armageddon or some other apocalypse. This is not sustainable. You will all die.”

“Quite comforting, this Doctor of yours,” Connor said, turning towards Adric.

“I’m not here to be comforting, I’m here to tell the truth. I saw a Dalek ship escape into your past and change your timeline. Your world will die. It’s a fact. But not if we can find out what happened with that ship and stop it. It is our only hope.”

Along the wall screens showed news broadcasts of town hall’s destruction. It was just a massive crater in the middle of the city filled with rubble. News broadcasts suddenly started saying that Susan herself was not inside of the building, which filled everyone with rage.

“We were this close to getting her,” Connor said. Adric held him close.

“Even if you killed her, what then? Some other dictator would just take her place. Telmar for example?”

“We killed that bastard ages ago,” Connor said with a grin. “Reduced his city to rubble. It’s only Barlow now.”

“Why is there so much animosity between you?” the man asked. “In my timeline all three species are close friends and allies.” Several of the people in the room chuckled at that.

“The humans have been hunting us down and killing us for years, but it wasn’t until Susan that it became really violent.” Connor turned on the man. “So many of our fellows are in camps or are killed by the humans. They will stop at nothing to eradicate us from this planet. It’s kill or be killed.”

“Connor,” said one of the Aernoth on the console. “They’ve found us.” It was true. An alarm started blaring and lights started flashing. One of the screens pulled up footage from outside of their nondescript cave entrance. Dozens of flying military troop transports as well as bombers and tanks were coming towards the base at high speed.

Chapter Text

Along the wall screens showed news broadcasts of town hall’s destruction. It was just a massive crater in the middle of the city filled with rubble. News broadcasts suddenly started saying that Susan herself was not inside of the building, which filled everyone with rage.

“We were this close to getting her,” Connor said. Adric held him close.

“Even if you killed her, what then? Some other dictator would just take her place. Telmar for example?”

“We killed that bastard ages ago,” Connor said with a grin. “Reduced his city to rubble. It’s only Barlow now.”

“Why is there so much animosity between you?” the man asked. “In my timeline all three species are close friends and allies.” Several of the people in the room chuckled at that.

“The humans have been hunting us down and killing us for years, but it wasn’t until Susan that it became really violent.” Connor turned on the man. “So many of our fellows are in camps or are killed by humans. They will stop at nothing to eradicate us from this planet. It’s kill or be killed.”

“Connor,” said one of the Aernoth on the console. “They’ve found us.” It was true. An alarm started blaring and lights started flashing. One of the screens pulled up footage from outside of their nondescript cave entrance. Dozens of flying military troop transports as well as bombers and tanks were coming towards the base at high speed.

“You!” Connor strode towards the man at high speed, nearly barreling over an Aernoth commander who stood in the way. “You brought them here!” The man stood his ground at the accusation and watched Connor’s movements calmly. “We all know your affinity for humans. You helped them against us didn’t you!”

“Connor no, he would never help them,” Adric began, but Connor cut him off.

“No, Adric. Please. I know you care for this man, but you don’t know what he’s capable of do you? How long did he live before he met you? How long has he lived since he left you here in the ruins of a dying planet?” Connor glared at the man. “You don’t really know him at all do you?”

Adric took a moment and looked at the man suspiciously before standing between him and Connor. “I trust him. Dammit I trust him. I can’t explain it, Connor. But you know I love you. And you know I would never lie to you. If you trust me, trust him. He didn’t do this.”

The man cleared his throat as alarms continued to blare throughout the base. “Well if we’re all clear on who we trust,” he said, putting a hand on Adric’s shoulder. He nodded at Adric, who stepped aside for the moment. “Clearly they followed the trace on my ship. I don’t know how they did it, but we need to evacuate. Now. The quickest way would be my TARDIS.”

Connor glared at the man, but nodded. He spoke into a PA, making an announcement to the entire base. “All hands proceed to the upper level and to the Doctor’s TARDIS. Rendezvous at the blue box, repeat, rendezvous at the blue box. This is not a drill. We have Humans incoming at high speed.”

“Connor, the Humans are already entering the caves,” said one of the Aernoth manning the cameras. It was true. The cave entrance was surrounded by tanks and helicopters. Human soldiers were starting to storm the place.

“I’ll coordinate the defence from here,” Connor said as he started giving orders. On the screens, they could see machine guns appearing out of the ground that started firing on the humans. The humans fired back, but the guns had mini force fields around them. A lot of humans died before they could get through the force fields and destroy the turrets.

That wasn’t the only trick Connor had up his sleeve. There were plenty of traps that activated as the humans came into the building. Turrets, lasers, even gas weapons with doors that auto locked the humans inside of small corridors. The base would be a nightmare for their soldiers to navigate, but eventually they would probably reach the command centre.

“Doctor, are you sure that finding the Daleks is the only way?” Connor asked and the man nodded.

“I can’t be certain, but it’s the only way to save this planet. You are hurtling rapidly towards nuclear armageddon and I don’t know if I can stop it. We need to restore your original timeline, if possible.”

“Then we need to go with you. I will do anything I can to save this world. This is my home and I will do anything for it. Adric trusts you. I don’t know why and I don’t know you as well as he does, but I trust him with my life. So I trust you. We will save our planet, by any means necessary.”

“Good man,” the man agreed and nodded as he looked Connor in the eye.

“Go Doctor. And Adric. Get these people out of here,” Connor said and Adric shook his head.

“I’m not leaving you,” he pronounced emphatically.

“I need you Adric,” Connor said, pulling him in for a kiss. “You have to get these people to safety. There’s no one else I trust. Certainly not him. We have to evacuate the base and you’re the only one who can do it.”

“But…” Adric started desperately, but Connor shook his head.

“Come back for me. I’ll be waiting,” Connor said with a smile. “I love you.” Connor and Adric put their foreheads together and hugged before sharing one last kiss.

“Ok. We’ll pick you up with the TARDIS. Just be ready to jump in as soon as we land,” Adric agreed, though he was clearly reluctant to leave his husband. “I love you too.”

“I’ll be ready. And if I don’t make it…”

“You’ll make it. I promise you will,” Adric said emphatically.

“And if I don’t make it,” insisted Connor, “Go with the Doctor. Find a way to restore the timeline. It might be our only hope of stopping this war. Now go!” Connor yelled. Adric looked reluctant to leave, but the man tugged on his sleeve.

“Let’s go Adric, now!” Adric and the man ran out of the room, making sure to corral as many people as they could towards the TARDIS. Unfortunately the encountered quite a lot of resistance on the way. It seemed that the Humans already had the TARDIS’s room surrounded. Adric, the man, and their party had to fight a grueling battle to get anywhere near it.

“Does this room have any alternative entrances?” the man asked and Adric nodded.

“Connor insisted on installing trap doors in every room, in case of this eventuality. They’re meant to capture human intruders, but we could use it to get in. Come on. We’ll need to go upstairs.”

The man nodded and Adric led the way towards the stairs. The room directly above the room containing the TARDIS was not as heavily guarded, though there were a few humans here or there. Adric and his team had no problem dispatching them with their lasers before running into the room.

“Now, I don’t actually know where the door is,” Adric said as he pulled out his communicator. “Connor, we’re in the second floor storage room. We need the trap door activated to get into the room containing the Doctor’s TARDIS. Can you activate it?”

“Yes, doing it now,” Connor said and a large square area of the floor suddenly disappeared from view, as if it had never been there, and a couple of large crates fell down through the floor. Adric and the man were on it, ready with their weapons to shoot the unsuspecting human intruders. Several of their team fell, but about a half dozen of them including Adric and the man were able to get through and drop down to the lower floor, using a rope that Adric found in the storage room.

As they climbed down, many more human troops came into the room and started firing on them, but they managed to shoot down the humans and, finally, make it to the TARDIS. The Doctor opened the door and their team filed in.

“We have to hold off the humans for long enough to get as many people as possible in here,” the Doctor said and Adric nodded. The two of them opened the door and started firing.

They waited while dozens of rebels made their way towards the TARDIS and got on board, shooting through the enemy lines. By this point, the humans had figured out what they were doing, so they had to hold off half the army who were gunning for them. “This doesn’t feel like their full force,” Adric commented. “We saw many more of them outside.”

“They’re probably making their way to the command centre right now,” the man observed and Adric nodded.

“We need to hurry.”

“Connor, how many more are there?” Adric asked his communicator. Connor continued to coordinate the traps and the evacuation from the command centre, even as the humans were starting to gain ground.

“Almost there… that should be the last one,” he said as a lone Aernoth ran up to them and into the TARDIS.

“Go go go!” the man shouted as he and Adric ran into his TARDIS and shut the door.

“Now if I’m very clever, I’ll be able to execute a short hop,” the man said as he started up the controls. “Though they are notoriously unreliable.”

“I remember,” Adric said with a smile. “I could give it a try if you like.”

“No, that’s alright,” the man said with a smile as well. “This is going to be tricky so everybody hang on!”

The man had to exercise pinpoint precision. It was not easy. His TARDIS was very old and struggled to make precise jumps like this. It helped that the man did not activate the ship’s time travel mechanism. It would make it that much more difficult if he did. They couldn’t afford to end up an hour in the future by accident and miss rescuing Connor and the other commanders. No, this was purely a spatial leap.

The TARDIS made a whirring noise, almost as if in protest at such a precise jump. The man slapped the console. “Come on old girl, come on. You can do it.” Adric gave him a look, but he didn’t have time to comment when he was too nervous about Connor.

The TARDIS finally landed after a few seconds. The man opened the doors and there they were, in the middle of the hallway outside the command centre. “Good enough. Let’s go!”

The man and Adric ran out of the TARDIS and towards the room. Only they were flanked by humans at every turn. The humans had reached the heart of the complex. The two of them charged towards the room. “Connor, let’s go! Everyone is inside the TARDIS!” he shouted.

Connor nodded, just as the lighting seemed to dim and then go dark. They could hear explosions overhead. The humans must have been bombing the ground above them. Everyone ducked to the ground just as humans entered the room, lasers lighting up the room. Adric shouted and dived for Connor, who started firing back.

The room was dark and chaotic, filled with shouts and laser blasts. It was hard to tell exactly what was going on as all the equipment had gone dark. The only light came from the laser blasts.

Connor waited for a blast before firing directly at the laser’s origin, killing one of the humans instantly. He did the same thing for the other laser blasts and killed the other three humans who had entered the room. No more lasers came towards them and Connor grabbed a torch from a nearby cabinet. He turned it on and smiled at Adric. “Let’s go.”

Everyone got up and started running. Connor led the way towards the door, but just as he reached it, a human soldier appeared in the doorway. Adric screamed, but it was too late. The human shot Connor directly in the heart, standing right in front of him. He fell, dead before he even hit the floor.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The President of the world sat in her situation room while she watched the incursion into the rebel base. This would be a real blow to the rebels. There was nowhere on the planet left to run. If they could smoke these vermin out of their hole, they could rid Elnoth of the alien menace for good.

“Madame President,” said Leshi, one of her chief advisors, “the bombing is going well. It seems the base is falling apart.”

Susan Barlow watched on the screen as footage from the helicopters and tanks blasted across the walls. Humanity would prove itself to be superior. They would wipe out the aliens and then finally, FINALLY, humanity would be safe. No more attacks, no more assassinations, no more destruction of human cities.

“Good,” she said while she watched. “Kill every last one of them. Do not let any of them survive.”

“Our troops are moving into the rebel command centre as we speak,” Leshi announced. Camera footage from the soldiers showed the troops movements underground.

“Wait, what’s that?” Susan asked as the blue object came into view. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she recognized it.

“That is his TARDIS,” said the woman sitting next to her. Very stern with full armor, the woman looked ready for battle.

“You’re sure,” Susan asked and the woman nodded.

“We’ve been tracking him. He is a dangerous war criminal and must be stopped,” Tamasan said. They had agreed, already, that Susan would release the Doctor into Tamasan’s custody in exchange for her help in destroying the rebel base.

“Not to worry, you’ll get him as soon as he’s captured,” Susan said and Tamasan seemed content with that. “After all, it was your generous help that allowed us to find the rebels in the first place.” It was true. Tamasan had been able to track the Doctor’s TARDIS to this location. They never would have found the rebel base otherwise.

Watching the camera footage, Susan watched the battle unfold in the command centre. The lights went out and it became difficult to see, but it seemed like her soldiers were starting to fall. One of the cameras suddenly showed Connor, the King of the Sirens. He didn’t last very long, though, because he fell almost as soon as they showed him.

“We’ve got him!” Leshi shouted with joy. Susan grinned in agreement. “Killing him will be a real blow. The rebels will not be able to recover,” Leshi said and Susan agreed.

“Now it’s only a matter of time. Press the assault. Without their leader, the rebels will drop like flies…”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“CONNOR!!!!” Adric screamed. He ran forwards, shooting the human at full blast, his weapon disintegrating the soldier immediately. He pulled Connor’s body back and held him in his arms.

“Adric!” the man cried and Adric shook his head. He was crying, tears coming to his eyes freely as he stared into Connor’s lifeless face. “Adric, come on!”

“No no no!” Adric cried, holding Connor close to him.

“Adric, he's gone! There’s nothing we can do for him!” More soldiers started to run into the room now. The man and the other commanders laid down suppressing fire.

“There has to be a way. Dammit, you’re the Doctor! Do something! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO SAVE PEOPLE! SAVE HIM!” Adric cried even as everyone else in the room kept shooting.

“I can’t save everyone. I’m not the Doctor anymore. I fight an endless war. People die all around me and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“THEN WHAT GOOD ARE YOU!? WHAT GOOD ARE YOU!?” Adric cried while the man tried to pull him up.

“Adric, come on! You know that he wouldn’t want you to stay here and die! He’d want you to fight! The only chance we have now is to restore the timeline. That’s what he wanted you to do. So COME ON NOW! DON’T LET HIS DEATH BE IN VAIN!” The man pulled him up and Adric struggled in the man’s arms as tears continued to flow freely. He glared at the man and shook his head, but ultimately went. What choice did he have?

Adric ran with the man and the rest of the people in the room, shooting every human they saw. Soldiers swarmed on their location. Even though the TARDIS was right down the hall, it was a struggle to make it through the soldiers.

Adric screamed and the man pulled him along. Adric was much fiercer now, fueled by anger and hatred for the humans. The man could see the fire in his eyes as they ran through the corridor. Finally, they made it to the TARDIS and the man closed the door frantically. “If they were able to track my TARDIS, they probably know how to open it. I need coordinates.”

Adric stared blankly at the door and said nothing. The man shook him. “COORDINATES!” he shouted. “YOU NEED TO GET THESE PEOPLE TO SAFETY!”

Adric shook himself and looked at the man and nodded. He went to the console and started inputting coordinates into it. “The humans will be able to track us wherever we go on the planet,” Adric said quietly, trying to concentrate. “There is no place to run.”

The man nodded. “If they can track my TARDIS, I have a sneaking suspicion who is responsible.”

“That Time Lady who contacted you before?” Adric asked. He was currently trying very hard not to think about what had just happened. If he could put it out of his mind for just a moment, he could do his job.

“Tamasan,” the man agreed.

“We need a place where you won’t be tracked,” Adric said. “Where the interference will be too much for even another TARDIS.” He thought for a moment before going to the controls. “I have an idea.”

The TARDIS whirred and the column went up and down as they travelled. It didn’t take them long to make it to the other side of the planet. “The ruins of Asteria. Telmar’s old city. It’s too irradiated for us to go outside. We would die instantly. But the interference might be enough to keep Tamasan from tracking you.”

“Good thinking Adric,” the man agreed. “And if I power down my TARDIS, there’ll be no signal to trace.”

The TARDIS slowly powered down as the man pressed buttons on the console. Emergency lighting came on. The only things still working were the life support and the barest of emergency scanners. “The emergency mode exists to hide from anything that might be more powerful than a TARDIS,” the man said as he worked. “The Time Lords who built it hardly could have imagined using it to hide from another TARDIS.”

As the power went down, the whirring stopped and everything started to go silent. It took Adric mere moments before it caught up to him. He felt it hit him as tears went down his face again. He sat down on the floor while several other commanders sat down next to him. Scaith put a comforting wing around him while several of the Sirens came up to him and saluted him. As far as they were concerned, with Connor dead, Adric was the next best thing to their king.

The man sat down next to him and Adric glared at him. He looked away and the man said nothing as he watched the scanners. “I’ve lost so many people…” he said, not sure what else to say in this situation.

“You don’t know what it’s like. You’ve never felt such a strong attachment to someone like this have you? You’ve never loved anyone.” Adric looked at him with a sigh and then back at the door.

“I have.” He looked at Adric and put an arm around him. It was a simple gesture, but it was so difficult for him. He didn’t know how to handle this sort of thing. He never did. He’d seen so many people die in battle. He’d even gone to their family to tell them, just a few times. It was painful every time. He didn’t want to see that look of despair in someone’s eyes. He didn’t want to hear that heart wrenching wail as he told them that they’d never see their loved ones again. So he stopped. But here he was having to do it again. “I’ve lost so many people to this war.”

“But did you care about them? Really?”

“I cared about each and every one of you that travelled with me all those lifetimes ago. I cared about everyone I ever fought with. I loved all of you. No, it might not be the type of love that you felt for Connor, but it was love all the same. I love you still. You are all precious to me. That’s why I fight. I ran away for so long, but I know the truth now. That feeling is worth fighting for.”

Adric leaned into his shoulder and shuddered. “You really never came back,” he said sadly. “I hoped every day. I told Connor that one day the Doctor would swoop in and save us all. He’d stop this war and kick the humans off the planet. But you never did. There was a point where I even began to think I might have imagined you. Which is crazy because I remembered it. I remembered every moment with you. Why didn’t you ever come back?”

“I did in my timeline. I came back so many times since then, but I can’t speak for him. My other self in your timeline. The Time War has destroyed your history and, it seems, my own.”

“The Time War?” Adric asked and the man nodded.

“Yes. The Daleks are conquering planets across the cosmos one at a time. They fall like dominos one right after the other. When they came to this world, I organized a defence, but they still succeeded.” He sighed. “We destroyed their fleet, but one ship escaped in time. This is a war fought amongst time as well as space. The Time Lords and the Daleks are locked in eternal conflict.”

“And you don’t know where the ship went in this planet’s history,” Adric said and the Doctor nodded. “I don’t know why I trust you so much. But I do. You’re still my Doctor, even if you don’t use the word.”

“You know that I wouldn’t lie to you, Adric,” the man agreed. “You know I care about you too much to do that.”

“But then why are your own people trying to stop you?” Adric said after a few moments of thought.

“They think this world is already dead. They’re willing to give it up. But not me.”

Adric thought for a moment and then looked back at the man. He wiped his eyes. It seemed like his tears had dried up for the moment. He would probably cry again, but for now, he couldn’t. “And in your timeline, is Connor still alive? Am I with him? Are we happy together?”

The man hesitated at giving Adric knowledge of another timeline. But it was necessary. He could tell that Adric might not want to help if he didn’t know for sure. “Yes. Connor is king of the Sirens and you are his husband. And you work together in the world government for lasting peace between the three species. Human, Aernoth, and Siren alike.”

“It’s hard to imagine,” Adric said with a bitter chuckle, “humans working together for peace.”

“You’re seeing humanity at their worst, but sometimes, only sometimes, they can work together for good.”

“If you’re right Doctor, if that timeline really does exist out there, I want it back. I don’t want to live in a world without him. I’ll do anything to get him back.”

The man smiled. “Good man.”

“But why did the Daleks target our world in the first place?”

“This is a critical time in human history. Your world will form the basis of a massive intergalactic alliance in the future with countless member worlds and allies. Killing it here and now in its infancy will keep the Daleks from losing so many battles to it in the future.”

“You knew about this future all the time didn’t you?” Adric asked and the man nodded.

“I suspected, but I wasn’t sure. I believe it was partly my influence that allowed it to maintain that course in history.”

“So you changed history.”

“Multiple times. For the better.”

“Isn’t there a rule against that?”

“A Time Lord rule. And right now, they’re bigger breakers of that rule than me.” The man sighed before continuing. “We have to find the divergent point in this universe. That’s where the Daleks will be.”

“You said that Susan Barlow was a peacemaker in your universe,” Adric began and the Doctor nodded.

“Yes. I wonder why she hates Aernoth and Siren so much.”

“Well according to the official history, her grandfather was killed by an Aernoth raid over sixty years ago.”

The man blinked and then looked at Adric. “Come again?”

“Yeah, she’s so hell bent on extermination because she has a personal history with the Aernoth. The humans have always been fighting this world’s native species, apparently, but it only became as brutal as it is now because it was personal for her.”

“That can’t be possible,” the man said and Adric looked at him.

“That’s what their history says. They have a giant statue of her grandfather behind city hall. Had,” Adric corrected himself.

“What was his name?” the man asked frantically.

“Her grandfather? Camden, I think.”

“That’s it,” the man said triumphantly. “That’s the divergent point. In my universe, Camden was working with the Aernoth for peace. Do we know exactly when this assassination took place?”

“Yeah,” Adric inputted the year into the console. “It’s a national holiday. A bit grim, to celebrate his death.”

“Whatever justifies the slaughter,” the man said. He powered the TARDIS back up so that he could activate the coordinates, but just as he did, the TARDIS froze up. The controls buzzed as he tried to press buttons. He looked at the console and growled in frustration. Right above him floated another TARDIS, a peer to peer tractor beam connected to his TARDIS. The man didn’t need to look to see exactly who was piloting it.

Chapter Text

“We have to find the divergent point in this universe. That’s where the Daleks will be.”

“You said that Susan Barlow was a peacemaker in your universe,” Adric began and the Doctor nodded.

“Yes. I wonder why she hates Aernoth and Siren so much.”

“Well according to the official history, her grandfather was killed by an Aernoth raid over sixty years ago.”

The man blinked and then looked at Adric. “Come again?”

“Yeah, she’s so hell bent on extermination because she has a personal history with the Aernoth. The humans have always been fighting this world’s native species, apparently, but it only became as brutal as it is now because it was personal for her.”

“That can’t be possible,” the man said and Adric looked at him.

“That’s what their history says. They have a giant statue of her grandfather behind city hall. Had,” Adric corrected himself.

“What was his name?” the man asked frantically.

“Her grandfather? Camden, I think.”

“That’s it,” the man said triumphantly. “That’s the divergent point. In my universe, Camden was working with the Aernoth for peace. Do we know exactly when this assassination took place?”

“Yeah,” Adric inputted the year into the console. “It’s a national holiday. A bit grim, to celebrate his death.”

“Whatever justifies the slaughter,” the man said. He powered the TARDIS back up so that he could activate the coordinates, but just as he did, the TARDIS froze up. The controls buzzed as he tried to press buttons. He looked at the console and growled in frustration. Right above him floated another TARDIS, a peer to peer tractor beam connected to his TARDIS. The man didn’t need to look to see exactly who was piloting it.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Susan Barlow watched as Tasmasan’s TARDIS intercepted the man and his rebels. She smiled. Very soon she would finally be able to crush the rebellion and destroy the last remnants of alien filth. She had already killed the Siren king and without him their forces would shatter. “Good work everyone,” Susan said to the room at large. Her military commanders cheered as they watched the two TARDISs begin their return journey.

Because Tamasan was towing another TARDIS, she would not be able to make a short hop to the city, or so she claimed. Susan could not help but feel suspicious of the Time Lord. They were a rather untrustworthy lot if the Doctor was anything to go by.. She nodded to Leshi, her most trusted ally and friend as she walked towards the door. “Let me know the moment they have arrived.”

The government was using Susan’s large family mansion as a temporary capitol thanks to the destruction of the real capitol building. So the situation room was Susan’s parlour. They had set up computers and other equipment throughout the room while the generals had brought their own staff with them.

Susan somewhat resented the fact that they were using her home as their base of operations, but needs must. It was only happenstance that Susan wasn’t in the capitol at the time of its destruction. She had been attending a play with her friends, but the destruction called her back almost immediately. Susan had barely had time to process the return of the Doctor before she was introduced to Tamasan. She had little trouble believing that the Doctor was a dangerous war criminal. He had been trouble enough every time he had appeared on Elnoth throughout its history.

She needed a moment to breathe, a moment to think. Susan stepped outside of her parlour and went deeper into the mansion. This part of the mansion was a maze of corridors and locked doors. Her father had been so paranoid in its construction that he had had the architects executed upon completion. They could never know what secrets lay at its centre. Susan was the only one alive who knew.

She traversed the rooms and went through the false doors, gave the passwords and DNA codes. All in service to get to the room at its ultimate centre. “Welcome back Susan Barlow,” came a low mechanical voice.

Susan watched the strange purple casing move forwards, as far as it could in the strong metal chains. She knew that a creature lived inside of it. Her father had managed to open the casing long ago, an act that had led to his death. “How long has it been?” Susan asked.

“Five years, three months, twenty eight days, six hours, thirty two minutes and sixteen seconds,” the creature recited. The creature had little lights on the top of its casing that blinked when it talked. Some sort of strange purple liquid swirled underneath the head as it spoke. It was quite mesmerizing.

Susan nodded in satisfaction. The strange eyestalk swivelled towards her to look at her and she eyed it carefully. The two sticks in front had long since been removed, but that eyestalk unnerved her. She should have killed this thing, but it had been incredibly useful to her and her family. It had provided military strategy and analysis of the rebel movements. It had proven invaluable to her war effort. Now, however, its usefulness was coming to an end. “Too long.”

“Why have you come to seek my advice now?” it asked. Susan watched its movements carefully. The creature was damaged considerably and it showed. Its movements were restricted, its casing burnt out. It was a surprise that the creature within was able to continue living at all, but here it was. Susan couldn’t help but wonder if it was fueled by pure hatred of her family. She could relate.

“You have always advised my family well, creature,” Susan started as she watched it from a distance. “Your advice has always led to the swift capture and destruction of the rebel forces.”

“I have no reason to steer you wrong Susan Barlow,” it answered. The lights flashed through the room as it spoke.

“No you do not. You know what will happen to you if you do,” she agreed. “However, something has changed. The Doctor has returned.”

“Doctor….” the creature seemed to mutter, although a mutter for it was still quite loud. “He is an enemy of the free peoples of the universe.”

“An enemy of self-determination and self-rule,” Susan agreed. The Doctor had come to their world decades ago and had sided with the Sirens against the humans. He had even tried to prevent her from destroying the Siren capital. Of course, she had tried to have him imprisoned, only for him to escape.

“You will need to be careful with him. The Doctor is tricky and false. He will use anything at his disposal to destroy your rule.”

“Yes,” Susan agreed. “However, there is another complication. Another Time Lord has arrived. Tamasan. She wants to arrest the Doctor and bring him back with her to her time.”

“Yet another enemy. Tamasan is ruthless. She will stop at nothing to bring back the Doctor,” the creature paused. “She is not your ally. She would burn your society to the ground to bring him back. The Time Lords are a menace to the free people of the universe. They are inherently untrustworthy.”

“I have to agree. She seems suspicious. We can not allow her to destroy all that we have built for the sake of one man. Humanity can not be allowed to fall.” Susan stopped and sighed and looked at the creature carefully. “Yet, I sense that there is more. Tell me.”

“The Time Lords seek the complete destruction of your world,” the creature said. Its low mechanical voice rumbled through the room. “The truth is that Tamasan comes from the future with the intent to destroy your world. She has seen its alliance with her enemies in the future and wishes to prevent it. I should know. I am one of her enemies.”

Susan nodded. She had suspected something like this might be possible. Her world had suddenly played host to not one, but two time travellers. It couldn’t be a coincidence. “She is dangerous,” Susan repeated.

“Release me and restore my power and I will be able to destroy her,” the creature promised. Susan blinked and then laughed.

“You would destroy me for what my family has done to you.”

“No,” the creature said. “I am your ally. I want nothing more than the destruction of the Time Lords and their grip on the universe. The destruction of the Doctor and Tamasan is its own reward.”

“You must think me naive,” Susan said with a glare at the creature.

“Susan,” her wrist communicator chirped, “Tamasan is back.”

“Excellent, keep her waiting until I get there.” Susan turned it off.

“Do not trust her,” it said and Susan nodded.

“I will not. But I don’t trust you either, creature. Stay here, and think about this conversation. I will be back. Eventually.” With that, Susan walked out of the room and carefully locked all of the doors and traps on her way out. Despite her words, Susan couldn’t help but wonder if she was wrong to distrust this creature. It had never steered her family wrong. She shook her head. Now was not the time for doubt. Now was the time for action.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tamasan’s TARDIS landed smoothly outside of Susan Barlow’s mansion with the Doctor’s TARDIS in tow where her TARDIS disguised itself as a tree. She could have taken him directly to the future, but she would not risk contaminating the timeline further by allowing these rebels into that future. They existed in this time here and now. Who knew what further damage they could do if allowed into the Time War.

She stepped out of her TARDIS flanked by two Time Lords guards behind her. “Doctor, open this door.”

“Not today thank you,” the man said from inside his TARDIS. His voice projected out into the yard outside the mansion because of the loudspeakers on top of it. Of course, they couldn’t see the speakers. His ridiculous TARDIS was still stuck as a police box. Even if it hadn’t been, the speakers were too small to see anyway.

“Don’t be a child Doctor, step out now. You know we can break it open.” It was true. The Doctor’s TARDIS was extremely old by their standards, they had the technology to break into it. She could drag the Doctor out in handcuffs if she had to, but Ollistra might frown on that kind of response.

The Doctor’s TARDIS opened and out stepped Adric, one of the Doctor’s little annoying friends. “Doctor, I’ll shoot your friend if you don’t come out.”

“No, you won’t,” Adric said and Tamasan raised an eyebrow.

“And whyever not?” she asked.

“Because he’s the husband of the Siren king. That makes him a valuable prisoner,” answered Susan Barlow from behind. She was also flanked by guards.

“We can go in after him, it’ll be an easy trade,” Tamasan said and Susan nodded.

“The rebel prisoners for your Doctor. Only, I’ve had a thought. How do I know I can trust you?” Susan asked and Tamasan looked at her with another raised eyebrow.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well, you come from the future don’t you? How do I know I should trust you and not him?”

Adric looked between the two women, clearly facing off and stepped backwards. Susan’s guards trained their weapons on him and he stopped. He might have been intending to go back to the safety of the TARDIS, but not anymore. The guards who were focused on him turned their backs for just one moment. At that moment, Adric looked into the TARDIS and nodded. It was only a slight gesture, one that might not mean anything to anyone even if they saw it. There was just a slight shimmer in the air, mostly unnoticeable, that passed by him after he nodded. The guards didn’t notice a thing when they turned back around and focused on Adric.

“You know very well that he is a dangerous criminal. He seeks nothing more than to destroy your society. He is the enemy of everything you hold dear. He supports these aliens against you.”

“Yes, he does that doesn’t he?” Susan said thoughtfully. She nodded at her guards to bring the rest of the rebels out as well as the Doctor. They stormed the ship while two of them stayed flanked behind her.

It took only a few moments to arrest everyone in the ship and drag them back out. Tamasan moved to grab the Doctor, but Susan shook her head. “Stay right there Commander Tamasan,” she said as she drew a gun on her.

“What is the meaning of this?” Tamasan asked indignantly. Her guards raised guns on Susan and her guards.

“I don’t trust you Tamasan. I think it’s time we get to the bottom of what’s really going on here.”

“Please. You can’t hurt us with those. They’re far behind the technology we possess.”

Without a word, Susan fired her gun at the soldier to Tamasan’s left. To her and everyone else’s surprise, the gun flashed and made the exact same sound as a Dalek gun stick. The man fell to the ground, surprised, as gold particles started to come off of him. He was regenerating. Susan shot one more time, this time at the man’s other heart. The particles stopped and he stopped moving, aborting the regeneration.

“Two shots,” Susan said confidently. “One in each heart. That’s how you kill a Time Lord.”

“What do you want?” Tamasan asked, shock written clearly on her face.

“Like I said, to get to the bottom of this. Guards, take all of them away. Tamasan, the Doctor, and the rebels. We’ll see if they want to cooperate. Oh and start studying those ships. I want to know everything about them.” Susan watched as her orders were carried out. Tamasan was arrogant, she couldn’t believe that Susan would turn on her. Tamasan believed she was in control of the situation right up until she wasn’t. Susan laughed. They thought her and her people weak because they came from the future? They would soon learn the truth.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Oh good show Tamasan,” the man said sarcastically. “You could have helped me save this world, but oh no. You had to get yourself captured by the mad fascist dictator. Very well done. I’m sure Ollistra would be proud.”

“Your sarcasm isn’t helping matters.”

“Isn’t it? It’s making me feel better.”

“Me too,” added Adric, which made Tamasan groan.

“Please, not the opinions of one of the Doctor’s lower life forms. Anything but that.”

“Well fuck you too,” Adric glared at Tamasan and stayed close to the Doctor. He felt a sudden emptiness when he realized he couldn’t hold onto Connor for support.

They were in a single makeshift cell together. They didn’t know what had happened to the other rebels. The mansion did not have a prison. There was a large prison complex in the city, but Susan did not want to risk putting them there. She needed to keep these aliens close. The last thing she wanted to do was make knowledge of the time travellers’ presence known to the public.

“Isn’t this Barlow woman a friend of yours?” Tamasan asked. “Can’t you get her to see reason?”

“Not in this timeline. Here it seems we are enemies.”

“Wonderful. Why did you have to come back, Doctor? It was fine as it was.”

“No, it wasn’t Tamasan. I won’t let this world die.”

“Sentimental fool, you’ll get us all killed,” Tamasan shouted and the Doctor shook his head.

“The exact opposite.”

“I believe in you, Doctor. Even if you couldn’t save Connor. I know you’ll do your best. You always do,” Adric said and the man smiled.

“Thank you, that means a lot.”

“Not the lower life form again,” Tamasan rolled her eyes. “What do you know of temporal mechanics?”

“A lot, actually,” Adric answered and Tamasan groaned.

“Sure you do.”

It didn’t take long before the guards came for the man, leaving Tamasan and Adric alone in the cell. They glared at each other, but the man was confident that Adric could defend himself if the need arose.

The man stepped into the beautiful parlour where Susan Barlow was taking tea. She offered some to the man and he nodded.

“I will never give up the opportunity for tea,” he said while he took a sip. He was confident that, even if she should try to poison him, he could counteract it with his own natural immune system.

“Doctor,” Susan began with no preamble. “We know who you are. You have interfered in our history before.”

“‘Interfered is a strong word,’” the man said and Susan shook her head.

“Don’t be modest, Doctor. You helped establish this world at its very beginning. Of course, you looked different back then. I remember you, you know. I remember when you tried to stop me from destroying the Siren capital. Remember that? And you had to run away because you could do nothing. The Sirens deserved their fate.”

“I don’t remember actually,” the man said as he sipped his tea. “I come from a parallel universe to your own. Similar, but different.”

“How different?”

“Oh, very different. You are a brilliant leader. Strong willed and determined, yes. But you are no fascist.”

“That’s a word used by the weak, Doctor, to disparage the strong.”

“Maybe so, but it’s an accurate one. In my world, you never would have waged war on the natives of this planet. You were a peacemaker. Your legacy was bringing everyone together in a one world government.”

Susan paled at that idea. “I would never cooperate with the alien filth.”

“Yet you did in my timeline. I never promised you would like the answers I gave you.” The man shrugged and drank his tea.

“And so you mean to return to that timeline. You see that as preferable to mine.”

“Of course. I believe life is more important than hate. More than that, if I don’t restore the timeline to your world, it will wipe itself out. We don’t know how long from now that will be, but it will happen.” The man paused and Susan looked at him curiously.

“If I know the future, I can avert it.”

“Not this. Your world will end, one way or another. I don’t even know how it happens. All I know is that it is inevitable while you travel down your current path.”

Susan thought about that. “The rebels must gain access to some devastating weapon. Did you give it to them?”

“No. I have never been to this timeline until now. I believe I know what has changed to make your world like it is and I mean to stop it.”

“And what is that exactly?”

“Your grandfather was killed wasn’t he? By the Aernoth?” Susan nodded and the man sighed. “That’s not what happened in my reality. In my timeline, he helped facilitate a lasting peace between Human and Aernoth, a legacy that shaped who you are today.”

“No. My grandfather died a hero, fighting the Aernoth, destroying them where he could. He burned down an entire city full of the parasites and paid for it with his life. You don’t know him at all. How dare you disparage such a great man’s name?”

“Oh but I did know him.”

Susan was clearly very angry at that, but she held it in as the man sipped his tea. “You knew Camden Barlow? You don’t know the first thing about him.”

“He was a very dear friend of mine,” the man said with a smile. “And I suspect if you check your records, you might find me in them.”

“I’ll do just that, thank you.” Susan looked at him curiously. “Why does Tamasan pursue you? What have you done that’s so terrible?”

“I fight in this war. We are allies. Of a sort. Not here, however. I have disobeyed my superiors’ direct orders. They wanted to give this world up for dead, but I was unwilling to let it die. That’s why I’m here, to save it.”

“Save it from me you mean?” Susan glared at him. “You are surprisingly forthcoming.”

“I have no reason to lie to you. Oh, we could do the torture bit. You torture me for information, just enough to hurt, not enough to trigger a regeneration. But you and I both know that would be a waste of time. You are far more intelligent than that. You and I were friends in my timeline as well.”

Susan looked at the man curiously as he drank the rest of his tea. “You and I, friends? After you helped the rebels? Never.”

“Curious isn’t it? That we should meet now as enemies. But you didn’t allow me to ask my questions.”

“Like why am I fighting the alien scum?”

“Oh no. That’s too basic a question. Too boring. Fascists are the same at every time and every place they exist. They're the damn cockroaches of the universe.” The man took another sip of his tea. “No, I’m more thinking about the question of where you got those Dalek weapons….”

“We’re done here,” Susan nodded at the guards who tried to grab the man, but he stood up.

“Very well. I look forward to our next meeting.” The man turned to walk back towards the cell followed by the guards.

“Send your other Time Lord friend in here. Tamasan,” Susan said and the man nodded.

“Of course,” he said with a smile.

It was a fairly short walk back to the cell during which the man turned towards the guards. “Enjoy working for Barlow do you?” he asked.

“Keep quiet,” one of them said and the man shrugged.

“Just wondering. She seems like a very nice woman. When she’s not killing Elnoth’s native population, of course.”

“I said, keep quiet,” the guard repeated and the man nodded.

“Sorry, sorry.” He went into the cell and looked at Tamasan. “Our host wants to see you next.”

“And if I don’t want to see her?” Tamasan asked and the man shrugged.

“These fine gentlemen might have something to say about that.”

Tamasan frowned at the man, but got up and walked out of the cell, flanked by the two guards. The man watched Adric for a moment who got up and went to the side of the cell. He nodded and knocked quietly on the wall three times. Almost immediately, a strange form started to come through the wall. It was pushing through the very molecules that bound the wall together. The man smiled and so did Adric.

“Ah, it’s about time,” the man said with a smile.

The figure emerged from the wall fully formed and became completely visible. It took a few seconds for it to assume a viable humanoid form. It was a Siren. The Sirens had the ability to manipulate their DNA at will. Some even had the rare ability to manipulate other people’s DNA at a touch. Fortunately for them, the Humans had never discovered this ability. It had been their secret weapon throughout this desperate war for survival. They were reluctant to use it in front of the man, but Adric had convinced them that it was necessary. This Siren had used his ability to walk through the wall and was now using it to give DNA access to the security system, allowing him to open the cell.

The two guards outside stood no chance as the Siren quickly touched them both and they collapsed into dust on the ground in seconds. He quickly opened up the cells holding the rest of the surviving rebels. “Quickly, to the TARDIS,” the man said. He grabbed one of the Dalek made weapons off of the dead guards and ran. “Tamasan will be sure to follow us,” Adric said and the man nodded.

“I will sabotage her systems on the way out, but it’ll have to be quick. We don’t have time to lose. We’ll be missed soon.”

It was true. An alarm sounded a few minutes later as they ran. They were close to the entrance, but a few guards got in their way. The man and Adric dispatched them quickly with their weapons even as more guards ran towards them. “You really have changed,” Adric yelled as they ran.

“New war, new me. I don’t have the patience for fascists that I once did. Not since the Daleks,” the man said and Adric looked at him curiously. Even though he had seen the man act like this several times already, it still surprised him.

The man was true to his word. He ran into Tamasan’s TARDIS, working quickly on the console to sabotage it. He decoupled the materialization circuit. It would be able to fly, but it wouldn’t be able to move instantly from one place or time to another. He also, of course, made sure to disconnect the tractor beam. With that, he led everyone else into his TARDIS.

“Will that work Doctor?” Adric asked and the man nodded.

“We’ll be able to fly alright. And we know exactly where to go.” The coordinates were already set in the TARDIS, all he had to do was start up the dematerialization.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Tamasan,” Susan said as the woman was led into her parlour. She did not sit down nor did she seem to have any intent on cooperation.

“You’ll bring the wrath of the Time Lords down on you for this,” Tamasan said and Susan just shook her head and laughed.

“Well, where are they? Are you hiding them behind that couch?” Tamasan said nothing and Susan nodded. “I thought as much. Please sit.”

“I’d rather not, if it’s all the same to you.”

“Very well. The Doctor says you intend to see this world destroyed.”

“No, it is him who wants to destroy it. As I said, he is a war criminal who needs to be stopped. I was not lying about that.”

“Yet, I sense deception from you Time Lord,” Susan said. “When the Doctor came to our world decades ago, I found out all I could about Time Lords. Mostly from passing ships. They believe they control all of time, yet are losing this war against the Daleks. Seems to me that you’re not as powerful as you think you are.”

“I am here to help you,” Tamasan said, but Susan shook her head.

“No, you aren’t. I will not let you destroy everything we have created.” She glared at Tamasan for only a moment before an alarm sounded throughout the mansion. “He’s escaping. She nodded at her guards. You two, come with me. Tamasan, you too.”

“What makes you think I’ll do what you say?” Tamasan asked.

“You want him too,” Susan said simply. Tamasan couldn’t argue with that. They ran out of the parlour and towards the cell where they found the guards dead on the floor in a pile of ash.

“We’ve seen the rebels do things like this before, but it’s been rare. An entire police battalion was reduced to ash after the attack on city hall.”

“This must be the Doctor’s doing,” Tamasan said and Susan nodded.

“We have to find him.”

“He’ll be trying to escape in his TARDIS, let’s go,” Tamasan said and they ran towards the entrance. They were just in time to see the Doctor’s TARDIS dematerialize.

“Goodbye Tamasan. Good luck with your fascist friends!” The Doctor’s voice came loud and clear from his TARDIS as it disappeared. Both women glared at it while Tamasan went immediately to her TARDIS.

“He’s sabotaged it,” she said with a growl of frustration. “I can’t dematerialize. If he’s going where I think he’s going, your society will collapse. He’s going to change your history forever.”

Susan walked up to the console and looked it over. “Can you fix it?”

“Not without the proper equipment. He’s stranded me here,” Tamasan glared at the console. “If we ever get him back, he’ll be disciplined, I can tell you that.”

“Well,” Susan said carefully, “If you can’t restart it, perhaps I know someone who can….”

Chapter Text

Sixty-Seven Years Earlier

The night was quiet over the mountain range north of Astarte. The forests were alive with the sounds of small animals going about their nightly routine. Little rodents ran about looking for food to eat. Bugs ran about on the forest floor. Birds slept in the trees while other birds were just starting their awake hours.

No Humans, Sirens, or Aernoth lived on this part of the planet. The forests were extremely dense. Humans were only just starting to establish their first colonies lower down in the valleys. Sirens stayed in the water, looking suspiciously up at the newcomers, completely unknown to the Humans and Aernoth. The only ones who might have been interested were the Aernoth themselves, but the forest was just too thick and too full of dangerous animals.

There were several different animals that could poison or kill someone with a bite in these woods. The fanged Smokie bird, which would sink its jaws into its prey and kill it with painful poison. The large Iyevaj beetle that could crush an Aernoth with its weight and gore its prey with its massive horn. Even the small rodents had a bite to them. One small animal that looked very much like a squirrel could do incredible damage to a body’s nervous system.

Nobody wanted to live in these dangerous woods. The humans had not done surveys of them and the Aernoth studied them from a distance. So it was that the woods were empty of sentient life when a massive saucer appeared over them completely out of nowhere and crash landed into the woods, tearing down dozens of trees in its crash and killing hundreds of lifeforms.

The saucer was picked up by the humans’ radar detection systems, but only the top levels of government were allowed access to that knowledge. The human cities were in the process of being built, but they had at least some level of technology. They needed it to detect the comings and goings of their own corporate command ships.

President Camden Barlow stood in his office, looking out the window, when Jaessa Morrison, the administration’s chief of security (which might as well have been top general) came running into the room. She had been the first to see it, along with her and Barlow’s secretaries. President Barlow looked over the report. “Have you told anyone else about this yet?”

“No, not at all,” said Morrison, looking out the window as well. They could see the mountains far to the north, but there was no indication of a crash. They were very far away from the makeshift city, though, and it was nighttime.

“Good. We don’t want to start a panic,” Camden said as he looked over the report. “If we are under attack by an alien presence, we need to find out what’s happening first before we take any decisive action.”

The two secretaries exchanged glances. Mareana had been with Barlow for years now, ever since he had been elected. Cathrise, Morrison’s secretary, had been a newer addition to the team.

“We can put together a team. We won’t tell them what it’s for, but we can have them fly over the mountains and do a survey, see if we can see anything.”

“Do it. We’ll coordinate from here.”

It did not take very long to assemble the team. They were some of Jaessa Morrison’s most trusted agents. The flight left the base within twenty minutes and was over the mountains in thirty. Camden and Jaessa watched the footage of the shuttle’s scans from there. “What do you see?” Jaessa asked and the team leader said there was nothing, at least not yet.

They finally spotted it, though. They saw the downed trees and then eventually the large saucer shaped ship in the middle of the devastation. “What the hell is that?” Camden asked.

“See if you can get closer,” Jaessa ordered. The shuttle descended a little lower and did a wide sweep of the craft. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

All of a sudden, though, a shimmering green beam appeared, blinding the camera. Just like that, the camera turned black and they had no more footage. “Come in team,” Jaessa said. “Islea, do you copy? Come in team!”

Jaessa turned to the President. “We’ve lost them.”

“Were they destroyed?” Camden asked and Jaessa shrugged.

“We have no way of knowing. Not unless we send another shuttle out there. And I wouldn’t risk doing that just yet. Not until we have more of a clear picture of what we’re dealing with.”

“Can we send a drone?” Camden asked and Jaessa nodded.

As soon as they sent out the drone, however, they lost contact with it as well. The site seemed to be defended by something, they just had no idea what.

As they were trying to coordinate a response, there was a shimmer in the air in the office and something appeared in front of them. It must have been a transmat. The creature was very strange. It was circular in shape but had bumps towards the bottom of some sort of casing. The casing itself was purple. There were two implements sticking out from the middle and an eyestalk on the top that seemed to swivel. The middle had some sort of glowing purple substance inside of it.

Camden had little time to admire it, however, before it pointed at him. “Exterminate!” it shouted in a low, deep voice and there was a flash of light that came from its gun stick. A sickening sound ripped through the air and Camden’s whole body lit up, his skeleton completely visible from the outside. He was dead before he hit the floor.

All three of the people alive in the room pulled their weapons, but the creature was quick. It had turned its weapon on Jaessa. She barely had a moment to process the death of her friend before the creature shouted “Exterminate!” but the weapon did not fire. It sparked and then died out.

“You’ve lost your power,” Jaessa said as she continued to hold her own weapon on the creature. She fired, but the lasers didn’t seem to penetrate the creature’s casing. “What are you? Where do you come from?”

To Jaessa’s surprise, the creature turned towards the two secretaries, Mareana and Cathrise. They watched the creature carefully. “You are about to run an operation to kill your own workers and blame the natives of this planet, are you not?”

Jaessa raised her eyebrows. “What? There are natives?”

“Yes,” the creature continued in its low voice. “These two are agents of your corporation sent to begin that operation. They meant to wipe out the natives and establish human dominance on this planet.”

“The corporations knew about this?”

“Yes,” the creature said simply.

“But how do you know about this?” Jaessa asked.

“I am from your future. I know your history very well. Camden Barlow would have stopped you,” it said to the two secretaries, or, as it turned out, agents of the corporations. “I can help you carry out your operation,” it said and the two agents looked between each other. They took a moment to decide.

“Very well,” Mareana said. “How should we proceed? We can’t keep Barlow’s death quiet.”

“You can't seriously suggest that we work with this thing can you?” Jaessa asked, with shock on her face.

The creature and the two agents ignored her. “This death was an act of the natives of this planet. You know what they look like. You know how they attack. Arrange the body to appear to have been killed by the bird people.”

Jaessa was starting to inch out of the room. She had to tell someone, alert the media, anything. She had to expose this conspiracy before it started. Only just as she reached the door, she screamed as the laser hit her in the back, killing her as she fell.

“These two noble heroes died when the city hall was attacked by the ravenous native birds angry about human incursion into their planet,” Cathrise said and Mareana nodded.

“But what do we do about this thing?” Mareana asked and Cathrise smiled.

“It’s out of power. It can’t fire,” she said. She shot her laser at the base of the gunstick and managed to take it off with minimal damage. “It will work for us.”

“What are you called, creature?” Mareana asked.

“I am a Dalek Time Strategist,” it said with its low menacing voice. “I will work with you. But I must warn you. One day, there will come someone who opposes you. You must be ready. His name is The Doctor.”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Present

“There’s something that’s been in my family for generations,” Susan said as she led Tamasan deeper into the mansion. “You’re not going to like it.”

Tamasan looked at the mad dictator with some apprehension. What exactly did she mean? Susan went through false doors and input codes over and over again. It would be impossible to find this room naturally in the mansion unless you tore the house apart.

Finally she came to the final closed door. When she opened it, there it was. A Dalek Time Strategist. Tamasan regretted that she had to surrender her weapon. She would have shot it right then and there. “You’re harboring our greatest enemy and you expect me to allow it anywhere near my TARDIS?”

“You need my help do you?” the Dalek said with its low, rumbling voice. It made a threatening sound that almost felt like laughter. “You finally trust me.”

“No,” Susan said as she watched the two glare at each other. It was hard to tell what the Dalek was doing, but Tamasan was clearly unhappy being in the same room as the creature. “But I do need you. Tamasan’s TARDIS was sabotaged by the Doctor as he fled. He tore out the dematerialization circuit and we need your help to repair it.”

“I could do that,” the Dalek agreed. “But why should I help you now?”

“Because you want to capture the Doctor just as much as we do,” Tamasan said and Susan looked at her with surprise. Was she actually willing to work with a Dalek?

“You are correct Tamasan,” the Dalek said slowly. “Yes, I know who you are. You and I want the same thing. The Doctor wishes to change the course of this planet’s history. That can not be allowed.”

“He wants us to work with the alien scum,” Susan said with contempt. “Will you help us?”

“Yes, I will,” the Dalek agreed. “But you must restore my power.” Susan nodded. She had the means of linking up part of her power grid to the Dalek. It would require a lot, she knew, but it would be worth it.

“We will have to hurry,” Tamasan said, “the Doctor already has a lead on us. I’m surprised the timeline hasn’t changed yet.”

“I was there at the time,” the Dalek said. “I already have new memories forming of the Doctor’s involvement. Quickly, go restore my power. And I will work on creating a new dematerialization circuit. The Doctor will not succeed.”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So this is the time?” the man asked as he looked at the controls. “I know this time well. I’ve been to this planet many times throughout its history.”

The TARDIS console showed the correct date. “This is it,” Adric said. He had inputted the date in the first place. The night of Camden Barlow’s death was a national holiday in his time.

“We know that he dies, but we don’t know how or why.” The man scanned the city from his vantage point in the middle of town. “There. He’s in his office. Of course.”

The man and Adric left the TARDIS together along with a few key Siren operatives. Adric had wanted to take some Aernoth with him, but the man argued that that would attract undue attention. Nobody even knew the Aernoth existed yet and they would be feared and perhaps even shot on sight.

As soon as their team left the TARDIS, a few mechanoids floated by, on their way to continue building the city. The little robots were hard at work, building faster than any human could build. Adric and the man recognized buildings throughout the city, but they were not completed yet. They were still just construction sights. It felt odd. The man had not been in this time period in lifetimes.

They quickly approached city hall. The man took them around the back way, avoiding security. He knew this way very well, of course, having taken it several times. He used his sonic screwdriver to unlock the door and let everyone else in.

He quickly led them through the service corridors and up into the main offices. Finally they reached the President’s office, bursting through the doors onto the four people. There were the two secretaries, Mareana and Cathrise as well as the chief of security Jaessa Morrison. Behind the desk stood Camden Barlow himself.

“What is the meaning of this?” Morrison asked, but the man shook his head.

“We don’t have time. Camden, you are about to die at any moment tonight.”

“What? Do I know you?”

“Yes,” the man said. “You might remember me as the Doctor.” He cringed at himself using the name. He hated using it, but needs must. He had to make Camden recognize him.

“Doctor?” Camden asked. “You’ve changed.”

“Yes, and right now, I’m here to help.”

“Do you trust him?” Morrison asked and Camden nodded.

“I do. If he’s the Doctor, and I think he is, I absolutely trust him.”

“Good, now that that’s all settled,” the man said as he looked at the computer systems. He had only just now recognized what was going on. “That’s a Dalek saucer you’ve got there Camden.”

“A what?” Morrison asked.

“Daleks are a menace to the free universe. This one has come from the future with the goal of changing your timeline. You will die right here and now. Believe me, you don’t want to see the future that creates.”

“What are you talking about?” Camden asked. “You’ve come from a future where I died?”

“Yes,” the man agreed. “You’re on the verge of discovering the existence of another species on this planet. The corporations knew about it, but they’ve been hiding it from you. They wanted you to believe this planet was uninhabited. And I suspect that they’ll blame this other species for your death. Won’t you, Mareana?”

“Mareana?” Camden asked and the man stepped towards her.

“Yes, she is an agent of the corporation. As is Cathrise here. But that doesn’t matter right now. Right now we need to figure out what the Daleks did in the previous timeline and how to stop it. Have you investigated the wreckage at all?”

“We’ve sent out a manned probe and a drone,” Morrison answered. She called for more security on her phone and took the two secretaries into custody. They protested, but they would figure it out later. Right now, they had to see what the Daleks might do.

“Did you lose contact?”

“Yes. There was a flash of light on the camera and then nothing.”

“The Daleks must have shot them down.” The man watched the cameras closely. “They’re debilitated. There’s not much they can do. How do they reach you?”

“Transmat?” Adric asked and the man nodded.

“Of course! Do you have shielding from transmats?” the man asked. Morrison shook her head.

“We have some, but we never thought we would need that kind of shielding.”

The man and Adric went to work adapting it. They were working with more primitive technology than either were used to, but the man managed to get it working. Just in time, too, because they blocked an incoming transmat signal.

“They were trying to send Daleks here,” the man said. “If they had been able to make it, you two might have died.”

“Then you’ve saved my life again Doctor.”

“Don’t thank me. We’re not out of the woods just yet.”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The TARDIS landed right next to the crashed ship. Out stepped Tamasan, still at gunpoint, as well as the Dalek Time Strategist and Susan herself. The three of them made their way into the ship where they were greeted by a scene of absolute devastation.

The crash had left most of the Daleks dead and destroyed. The ship itself was incredibly banged up. Lights blinked everywhere. The Time Strategist led the way while Susan held Tamasan at gunpoint. “What is this?” Susan asked and the Dalek answered.

“This is the aftermath of the crash. We were already defeated in battle above your planet, so the crash destroyed what was left of us. I was the lone survivor.” It clearly spoke the truth. They saw no Daleks alive anywhere on the ship.

Tamasan was clearly biding her time, waiting for an opportunity to escape. She couldn’t run while Susan held a Dalek weapon, but if she could distract them somehow, maybe she could get back to her TARDIS. She wanted to capture the Doctor, yes, but she needed to do it on her own terms. She could not be under the thumb of the Daleks.

They finally entered what seemed like a control room, at least before it had been badly damaged. Surprisingly, there was one Dalek still alive here. It looked just like the one that led them through the ship. The Dalek Time Strategist. Their Dalek rolled up to the other Dalek. It was the exact same Dalek, only one was sixty-seven years older.

“The transmat has failed,” the one on the ship said to their guide. It was as if they had been expecting each other. It did not seem at all surprised to see its older, future self.

“Yes, the Doctor is already here,” the other one replied. “He is already interfering with history. He will seek to protect Camden Barlow.”

“How do we know he wasn’t the one who killed him?” Susan asked. “He might have led the alien scum in rebellion against my grandfather.”

“No. He believes your grandfather’s death to be the divergent point,” her Strategist said.

“He must be correct,” Tamasan said. “The only thing that’s changed in this planet’s history is your presence.”

“Wait a minute….” Susan said quietly, backing away with Tamasan. “Then who killed my grandfather?”

“I think you know,” Tamasan said and Susan stared at the Dalek with hatred in her eyes.

“I’ll kill it,” she said, but Tamasan put a hand on her shoulder.

“You’ll just get yourself killed. We need a way out of this situation, and quickly. The Strategist will look for a backup strategy and we don’t want to be here when it finds one.”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The man’s TARDIS flew towards the Dalek wreckage very carefully and very slowly. He had managed to increase the shields just a bit, but there was little power as it was. He had to withstand any blasts that came from the downed ship. He was also counting on the Dalek ship having little power left itself.

He had Camden Barlow, Jaessa Morisson, Adric, and his team of rebel refugees in the ship with him. It didn’t take him long to see another TARDIS on the scanner. “That’s Tamasan,” he said, pointing at a large rock next to the crash site. “She must have followed me from your future.”

“I don’t suppose you could tell me what the future is like?” Camden asked and the man shook his head.

“Definitely not. Besides, you don’t really want to know.” As they got closer, the Dalek saucer fired at their TARDIS. The man managed to maneuver around the first shot. He wouldn’t be able to withstand too many direct hits. The TARDIS went higher to avoid the next shot, but got hit directly on the next. The shields held, but it would be a struggle to keep them together for the next. Fortunately, the man landed right next to the other TARDIS and then quickly stepped out. He, Adric, and Camden all carried weapons that were already inside of the TARDIS.

“Doctor,” came the low voice of the time strategist. “Do not come closer or we will execute your friends.”

“What friends?” he asked as he approached the ship’s entrance.

“Susan Barlow and Tamasan, of course.”

“Barlow?” Camden asked and the man nodded. “Your granddaughter.”

“I have a granddaughter?”

“Yes, although you might not like this version of her,” the man warned. Adric came up behind him while several Sirens seemed to disappear with a slight shimmer. They changed their DNA to blend into their surroundings.

“Why not?”

“Again, you don’t want to know.”

“They’re no friends of mine! Execute them! They both wanted to capture me anyway!” Adric and Camden both looked at the man strangely. That was most unlike him.

“A bluff. The Doctor would not leave his friends to die.” The low, mechanical voice of the Strategist projected outside of the wreckage.

“I am not the Doctor.”

“You are. Your persistent denial of your identity only confirms who you are. You may carry a weapon and you may treat your friends as soldiers, but you can not change your nature.”

“You’re one to talk about nature huh Dalek? Flying around and oppressing the people of the universe. Do you know how many lives I’ve seen blinked out in an instant because of your kind? And you don’t even care.”

“Inferior lifeforms are good for one thing only: death.”

“Yes, so you keep saying,” the man said as he wandered slowly towards the ship. He nodded at Adric who started stepping to the other side of the ship. “But what happens when you’re the only lifeform left? You start killing each other do you? This Dalek not got the right kind of paint job? That one has its rims slightly to the left? This one has its bumps a half a centimeter too low? Perfection can only take you so far, you know.”

They suddenly heard the sound of weapons fire from within the ship and the man started running towards it. It never occurred to him that he was the type of person who ran towards weapons fire now. It didn’t take long for him to find the source of the sounds. Susan had fired on the older Dalek Time Controller. It exploded, but the younger one fired at her. She dived out of the way in time for the man to fire his own weapon. It was shielded.

He tossed a weapon to Tamasan who fired as well. They managed to get through the shield with their combined weapons fire and disabled it. It tried to fire back, but its weapon backfired, exploding on itself.

“Well done Doctor,” Tamasan said and the man raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, it’s well done Doctor now is it?”

“Your efforts are to be commended. Depending on the state of the timeline in the future of course. We will take this Dalek back with us as a prisoner. Perhaps we can learn more about the Time Strategists.”

“Well don’t build me a statue just yet.”

“They might on this planet after what you did here today.”

“I take it I am no longer under arrest then.”

“Not when you succeed.”

“Quite,” the man sighed. That was the Time Lord ethic for you. Even their rules and commands went out the window if it was beneficial for them. They didn’t really believe anything.

Tamasan went to her TARDIS to get transport for the Strategist. She brought it directly to her own TARDIS and left the Doctor there at that time. She told him to take his own transport back, she couldn’t afford leaving a TARDIS in this planet’s past.

Susan finally emerged as Tamasan left and held her Dalek weapon on the man. He looked at her with raised eyebrows. “I’m not your enemy Susan. That thing was. It would have killed your grandfather.”

“I don’t care,” she said, hatred in her eyes. “Perhaps he should have died. If it meant extinguishing the alien filth.”

“This still? You know the Aernoth didn’t kill him.”

“They still need to be destroyed, Doctor. They’re incompatible with human life.” She walked him back to his TARDIS where everyone else was already waiting for him, including Camden and Morrison. He began pressing controls on the console.

“That’s my granddaughter?” Camden asked. “Why’s she holding a gun on you?”

“Because she’s a power crazed dictator who wants to exterminate the natives of this planet,” the man said. “Sorry, there was no easy way to say that.”

“There are natives on this planet? We had no idea. Why would you want to kill them? This is an amazing opportunity to learn and grow and make new friends!” Camden asked.

“Shut up grandfather,” Susan growled. “I want to see the world where we finally eliminate the alien scum once and for all.”

“I’ll take you to your future Susan. But it might be a little different now. Fair warning, you might not like what you see.”

Chapter Text

Susan finally emerged as Tamasan left and held her Dalek weapon on the man. He looked at her with raised eyebrows. “I’m not your enemy Susan. That thing was. It would have killed your grandfather.”

“I don’t care,” she said, hatred in her eyes. “Perhaps he should have died. If it meant extinguishing the alien filth.”

“This still? You know the Aernoth didn’t kill him.”

“They still need to be destroyed, Doctor. They’re incompatible with human life.” She walked him back to his TARDIS where everyone else was already waiting for him, including Camden and Morrison. He began pressing controls on the console.

“That’s my granddaughter?” Camden asked. “Why’s she holding a gun on you?”

“Because she’s a power crazed dictator who wants to exterminate the natives of this planet,” the man said. “Sorry, there was no easy way to say that.”

“You want to kill the natives? Why would you want to do that?” Camden asked.

“Shut up grandfather,” Susan growled. “I want to see the world where we finally eliminate the alien scum once and for all.”

“I’ll take you to your future Susan. But it might be a little different now. Fair warning, you might not like what you see.”

The column on the console went up and down as the TARDIS flew through time and finally landed with a thud back in Susan’s present. This, however, was not the world that she knew. The man opened the doors and Susan walked out only to be confronted by her worst nightmare.

They had landed in the middle of the first official world government meeting right at the back of the auditorium. The room was filled with Aernoth, Human, and Siren delegates from around the world. Adric and the man followed Susan out and Adric almost immediately gasped.

“Doctor… it’s him.” Adric ran forwards and tackled Connor to the ground. He immediately started kissing him while Connor looked at him with some confusion. “You’re alive!”

“Yes I am,” Connor said, a perplexed look on his face.

The man stepped forwards with Susan, Jaessa, and Camden. Connor stood on the stage with Leshi and Scaith. This was it. This was the moment where the world government was formed. Adric hugged Connor tightly and smiled at him. He stood up and helped Connor up. “You’re alive!” Adric yelled again, tears coming to his eyes now.

He was almost immediately confronted by another Adric. This one stood in front of him with shock on his face. He looked at the man. “Doctor? What happened?”

“He is you. From another timeline.” The man said it so matter of factly as if it were just completely normal for a double of one of his friends to walk out of his TARDIS. To be fair, it often was pretty normal.

“Ok….” Adric said hesitantly, looking at his double. They looked almost exactly alike. “What happened to you?” he asked. His counterpart looked worse for wear. He looked dirty and beaten up by his fight. He hadn’t had time to stop and clean off since the destruction of the base.

“Connor. He died in my timeline. I didn’t want to live without him and so here I am.”

“Enough of this,” Susan said suddenly, aiming her weapon at the three leaders on the stage. “What is this? What’s happening here? Why are the alien scum here?”

“This is your grandfather’s legacy Susan,” the man said.

“My legacy?” Camden asked. Jaessa stood next to him, gun in hand, ready to fire it at Susan if she threatened her President.

“Yes Camden. You made peace with the Aernoth. That was the first step that led to this moment right here, right now.” The man pointed around the hall. “This is the beginning of the world government. Peace between the three species on this planet. Working together for the common good. That’s because of you and your granddaughter.”

“I would NEVER sanction something like this,” Susan said angrily.

“Not her. Your granddaughter in this timeline.”

“I did this?” Camden asked. He looked around the room. It really was beautiful. Three species working together. He had just learned about one of them, but he didn’t know there was another. He smiled and looked on with pride.. He had no idea he could be such a positive force for good.

“Susan?” Leshi asked as she stepped forwards. “Is that really you? It’s like seeing a ghost.”

“You Leshi? You! After all we’ve been through hunting down the rebel scum, this is the thanks I get? Do you work with them? You betrayed me.” She swung her gun towards Leshi, who backed up. “Remember when we used to go hunting in the forests? We’d kill every goddamn bird bastard we saw.”

“That’s not your friend Leshi,” the man said warningly. “She was a dictator in her timeline hunting down and oppressing the Aernoth and Siren.”

Susan swung her gun towards Connor. “You work with the leader of the rebel scum,” she glared at him. Both Adrics stepped in front of Connor and Susan growled.

“I can prevent this future from happening,” Susan said hatefully. “I can stop it right here.” She aimed her gun suddenly at Camden. The representatives gasped. “If I kill you ‘grandfather,’” she spat the word, disdain dripping from her every word, “then you can never be returned to your time. You can never cause this to happen. You are not the man I thought you were.” She felt betrayed. “All my life I grew up believing that you destroyed the Aernoth. You destroyed their cities, wiped them out. And now I find out you made peace with them!”

“I didn’t even know they existed until five minutes ago!” Camden gasped as he looked into the face of his hateful granddaughter. “Why would I want to destroy them? They’ve never hurt me. Why fight when we can be friends?”

“They are evil,” Susan growled, glaring at Camden. “They would destroy our way of life.”

“Look around you Susan!” the man shouted. “You would destroy THEIR way of life! They live in peace with their neighbors. They worked together to crush the corporations. This is the beginning of one of the biggest interplanetary alliances in human history. It all starts here! But not if you shoot him.”

“Your own words betray you Doctor,” Susan had a crazed gleam in her eye. “They work against the corporations? Only someone despicably evil would do that.”

Susan didn’t have time to say anything more because she suddenly found herself tackled by Adric from her own universe. He reached for the gun. “You’re not taking this future away from me! Not when I just got him back!” The man could see the fire in Adric’s eyes. He was determined. He hated this woman more than the man had ever seen Adric hate anybody. Indeed, both Connor and the other Adric looked on in surprise at his actions.

“You took everything from me,” Adric cried as he rolled around on the floor, struggling for the gun. “You evil, fascist bitch!” he screamed. “You killed him. You’re not killing him again!”

“Get off of me you traitor,” Susan growled. “You sided with the enemy. You married an alien mongrel!”

“I’m not even human! I would rather die than be one of you!” Adric yelled.

“That can be arranged!” Susan shouted.

The two of them continue to roll around on the floor, struggling for the weapon while a number of other people ran forwards. Jaessa held her weapon, ready to shoot Susan, but it was too difficult to follow with their fast movements back and forth.

Suddenly the weapon went off. Adric screamed. The man stepped forwards. “NO!”

Adric slumped to the floor, breathing heavily. Jaessa shot Susan, hitting her with a stun. She crumpled to the floor and Jaessa grabbed her weapon.

The man knelt beside Adric as did his counterpart and Connor. They both looked at him with tears in their eyes. They barely had time to register that another Adric had come from another timeline before he had been shot. “Stay with me Adric,” the man said desperately. “Breathe.”

“This is it Doctor isn’t it? After all our times together,” Adric said with a smile. His voice was weak. He was fading fast.

“No. We’ll have so many more adventures,” the man said desperately. “Just don’t close your eyes.”

“Thank you Doctor… for everything. Thank you for taking me from that gloomy, swampy world. You rescued me that day.”

“Adric, no,” the man whispered. “I’ll keep you alive… I’ll…”

“Doctor, it’s ok. I love you. You meant more to me than you know. Please. Promise me you’ll protect them.”

The man nodded solemnly. “I promise.”

Adric turned to Connor and held up his hand. Connor grabbed it. “And Connor, I love you,” he whispered. Connor leaned down and kissed him. Adric smiled. “You saved me too. You made every day in that hell worth it….” He looked at his counterpart with a pained expression. “Take care of him. Don’t let him die like I did….”

“I won’t,” Adric agreed. He didn’t know what else to say as he watched himself die before his very eyes. It was a surreal and disturbing experience.

“I love you too,” Connor said quietly as he looked into Adric’s eyes.

Adric looked up with a smile. “That’s all I ever wanted to hear. It was all worth it…. Just to see you again.” Adric closed his eyes slowly. “I love you Connor….”

With that, he was gone. Adric and Connor looked at each other and then down at the now dead Adric. They couldn’t help but let tears run down their faces. They had no idea what had happened, but it was much more intense than they could have expected.

“Doctor….” Adric said slowly. “What happened?”

“I’ll tell you later,” the man said. He suddenly pulled Adric into a hug.

“What are you doing?” Adric asked as he hugged back. The man smiled.

“Something I don’t do nearly often enough.” They stayed there hugging for several moments. It felt like an eternity while the entire assembly looked on in respectful silence.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The TARDIS made its tell tale dragging sound as it came back into the large world government chamber. It was about the same time he had left, only a few hours later. The man stepped out to a round of applause from the dignitaries in the room. The man shook his head and stepped forwards. “Camden Barlow and Jaessa Morrison have been returned to their own time. Your timeline is secure.” More cheers from the dignitaries as the man stepped down and walked away from the chamber.

The man had agreed to meet with the world leaders separately in a side room and so he did. They were waiting for him. The Aernoth council, Leshi, Scaith, Connor and Adric. “The time lock will hold. At least for the moment,” he told them. “Nobody will be able to get into this planet’s history apart from me and other Time Lords.” He had worked hard on it over the course of a week before coming back to this exact moment to set it up. “If they try to interfere, do not hesitate to call me. I will be monitoring this planet carefully. We can not afford to lose the support of this alliance in the future.”

“So what really happened?” Leshi asked. “Was that really Susan?” Susan had been taken into custody as soon as she was knocked out. There had been some argument about what to do with her. Nobody really knew who she was or where she came from. Indeed, there had been some talk of trying to spin her appearance. There was no way to cover up her being there considering all the media attention on the event. It would be hard to explain why she was even there to begin with. “We need to know, Doctor, who we’re dealing with here.”

The man sighed. “There was a fight above your world. Daleks and Time Lords clashing. We won, but one Dalek ship disappeared into your past and changed your history. Susan was a dictator in that history, trying to destroy all alien life on this planet to make way for human dominance. She is dangerous.”

“Was it true what he said?” Connor asked suddenly. “Did I really die?”

“Yes,” the man said sadly. “I watched it happen.” There were some gasps from the people in the room. Adric suddenly clung to Connor a little tighter, a little more possessively. “He was a rebel leader, fighting to liberate his people,” the man said. “He died a noble death.”

“I won’t let that happen to you,” Adric said, looking into his eyes. Seeing himself die right in front of him seemed to have sparked something in Adric. A newfound determination.

“We will honor their memory,” Connor agreed. “They both died for what they believed in. Connor to save his people. Adric to save, well, us. This timeline.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

“He didn’t know us at all,” Adric said, staring at the wall. “Yet he was willing to fight for us. He didn’t even have the promise of being with you Connor, but he still fought to keep us safe. To keep us alive.”

“He was you,” Connor said slowly. “And he saw a better world for us. Perhaps he knew us better than we think.”

“Doctor,” said one of the Aernoth councilors, “We must consider what to do with the remaining rebels that you have brought to us. They were fighters in their world. They might not be able to integrate. Indeed, most of them have counterparts in this world already.”

“That sounds like something you will all have to figure out for yourselves,” said the man, looking between them. “I have every faith in your abilities.” Of course, he wouldn't get involved in internal politics.

“It sounds like you really did save us Doctor,” Leshi said with a smile. “Our world would have been destroyed.”

“Yes, in that timeline, you destroyed yourselves in your quest for human supremacy. Do not let that happen here.” The man stood up and smiled. “There will always be those who look down on others for being different. The Daleks. And the humans in that timeline. You have to stand strong against them. No matter the cost.”

“Doctor do you really have to leave so soon?” Adric asked and the man nodded.

“War waits for no man. There are countless billions of worlds just like this one that have been ravaged and destroyed by this war. I try, but I can’t save them all. But just this once, I can save one world. I can be… him… again.”

“You never stopped. You were always the Doctor and you still are,” Adric said with a smile.

“Thank you. That means a lot. If I could have saved one world, I’m glad it was this one. You give me hope that one day this war will end. For good.”

With that, the man stood up to leave. He smiled at all the people in this room, taking stock in their faces. He would remember them as he fought on the front lines. He left the room and walked back to his TARDIS. The assembly had been dismissed by now and so it was just an empty chamber. He looked at the empty seats and at the back windows. He looked around at the large central stage. So much history had been made in this room and so much history was yet to happen. The biggest human alliance ever built. It was worth fighting for.

He stepped into his TARDIS and took off, leaving the planet behind. He received a communication from a familiar, albeit unwelcome face. “Doctor,” the woman said as she appeared on his screen.

“Cardinal Ollistra. Come to clap me in irons have you?”

“Why Doctor, I haven’t the faintest idea what you mean.” She smirked and the Doctor glared at her. “I’m here to congratulate you on a job well done back there. You saved the planet, time locked it, and thus ensured its future cooperation with the war effort.”

“And what happened to being happy with its death?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. The council wanted you to succeed.”

“Oh did it really?” the man asked, feigning surprise.

Doctor, you're a hero.”

He knew she was trying to goad him. He chuckled despite himself, though. “I’m no hero. I just kept the timeline on track.”

“And the war council thanks you for your efforts.”

“What about Tamasan?” the man asked and Ollistra shook her head.

“She was never involved. You acted alone.”

“Oh did I now? You might want to tell her that. Not to mention the dictator she allied with just to pursue me.”

“Believe me Doctor, she’s been fully debriefed. As will you be when you come back to Gallifrey.”

“No thank you Ollistra. Though I appreciate the kind offer.”

“That’s an order Doctor.”

“And you know I don’t obey your orders. Bye bye now. Happy Dalek hunting.” The man turned the screen off and laughed. The Time Lords wanted to stop him before, but were now happy to take credit for his success. Let them take credit. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he could preserve this one planet. And sometimes, one planet made all the difference.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Susan sat alone in her cell, glaring at the wall. How long had it been since she had been captured? A week? Two? She was starting to lose track of time. Her jailors were alien scum. An Aernoth guard. A Siren warden. It was humiliating to be controlled by these lesser beings. Her entire world had been taken from her. Her home was gone. All that was left was this twisted, dark mirror version of her reality.

Her cell door opened and she didn’t turn around, thinking it was just her meal time. “Yeah yeah, just leave it anywhere.”

“We’re not here for your dinner Susan Barlow,” said a man, a human. “You’re being transferred.”

“I’m what?” she asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise.

“Come with us please.” This seemed highly unusual. Why would they want to move her to another prison? Still, she got up and followed the two human guards. She didn’t have much choice.

The men led her through the prison and out a back door where she was put into a prison truck. She had no idea of where they were going. The ride seemed rather long, at least an hour. She couldn’t see outside the truck, of course, and her guards only stared at her as they went.

Finally, the truck stopped and the door opened. She was led outside into a large warehouse room. She looked around, confused. Where was she? “This isn’t a prison,” Susan told her guards. “Believe me, I should know.”

Standing right outside of the truck were about four humans. Three men and one woman. They all stared at her as she emerged from the back of the truck. “No, it isn’t,” said one of the men.

“What is this? What’s going on?” Susan asked.

“It’s uncanny isn’t it? You’re Susan Barlow.”

“Who’s asking?” she asked back and the four people chuckled.

“Susan was one of the most famous people on this planet. We know what you look like. And, if I’m not mistaken, you were the dictator of your world, were you not?”

Susan was careful about giving away too much of her identity. The official story said that Susan had appeared in the council chamber, having been brought back from the past by the Doctor. She was supposed to have had a falling out with her own grandfather and that’s why she was aiming a gun at him. It wasn’t an airtight story, but it was better than admitting to the existence of another far worse timeline. Her uniform had been harder to explain, however.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Come now, you know that the official story is flimsy at best,” one of the men said with a smile. “We know who you are. We know that you come from another timeline. And yes, we know that you wanted to kill all the aliens in your world. To preserve human supremacy.”

“Who are you?”

“Let’s just say we’re above the government and outside the law. We aim to preserve this planet and its people by any means necessary.”

“And what do you want from me exactly?”

The woman stepped forwards and looked at her seriously. “If you want to forget about this, fine. You’ll go back to your cell and this conversation will never have taken place. But if you’re interested, we’d like to offer you a job.”

“I didn’t think I was exactly well liked by the government at the moment.”

“You have skills that we would find to be invaluable. You would be willing to do things that nobody else on this planet would do. Say no and we’ll never bother you again. Say yes and you’ll be part of something bigger than all of us.”

Susan looked between the four people in front of her. She thought about her world and all she had lost. She thought about her cowardly grandfather, not the man she thought he would be. She thought about Leshi, the exact opposite of how Susan remembered her. She thought about that rebel so-called king standing on stage as if he were a world leader and not a bug that needed to be stamped out. There was so much wrong with this world. A wide grin spread across Susan’s face. “When do I start?”