Time Ends
The TARDIS landed abruptly and without any warning. This was odd thought the Doctor, as he'd programmed the old girl to land on Earth in the year 2017AD, but his sensors read that his time and space machine had landed on the planet Skaro in the year 9087; and since this planet should no longer be in existence at this time, it was odd that the TARDIS's sensors should indicate he had landed there.
The doors slowly opened to reveal a lush green jungle, and the sweet scent of flowers and noisy animal life. Something definitely wasn't right, as this planet should be a barren wasteland at the very least, as the Hand of Omega would have obliterated all life even if it failed to destroy the Dalek home world. The Doctor scanned for humanoid life signs, such as the Thals; but nothing showed up.
"What's the problem?" asked Sarah Jane Smith. "Where have we landed?"
The Doctor just stood for a moment as if he wasn't listening. "It defies all logic" he replied, "We are on Skaro, but it doesn't exist any longer." "Does this mean Daleks" Sarah asked. The Doctor again said nothing, but turned toward K9 and said, "What do you make of all this K9?" "Master, it is most illogical and I have no explanation at this time."
The Doctor took Sarah Jane by the hand, and together they set out to explore the planet. They had walked for about 2 hours when they saw it, a gleaming metal city of gold and crimson steel, without any doubt at all of Dalek design and origin. "Impossible, they were all killed in the Time War and blown apart in their Crucible. There simply cannot be any Daleks left in the universe, and yet the blasted things keep returning like weeds in a garden" the Doctor pondered out loud.
The city however seemed as dead as the very first time he'd encountered the Dalek race back on ancient Skaro many, many years ago.
Not one bit of machinery was working except the generator that lit the city. No computers blipped, and small reptiles and insects scuttled through the empty corridors. It was a complete mystery, a living planet, a dead city (or so it appeared) and why was Skaro alive and not a smoldering mass of ash and molten rock? Questions need answers, and the Doctor was at a loss as to where to look and what to do.
An eerie voice floated from the intercom system, like the voice of a ghost at a seance. "Welcome Time Lord, I and the Dalek Supreme have been waiting for you." The voice was unmistakably that of the Dalek Emperor; but was this a ghost, or did it really exist. Only time would tell.
The Doctor and Sarah Jane wandered around the empty corridors of the city, looking for any signs of life other than what they'd already seen. "It really is most odd how a planet which should, to all intents and purposes, be a lifeless chunk of molten rock, be thriving and teeming with life." the Doctor said, "It would appear that Skaro has resurrected itself and life has begun again? Except that the Hand of Omega would have made this planet totally devoid of life for at least a million years, and it's only been 7,000 years since. So where did all this life come from, and why is this city standing here when there shouldn't be one? It is such an enigma."
Once more the eerie voice of the Dalek Emperor floated ghostly from the walls of the city. "You will never find the truth this way Time Lord, the Daleks are masters of the universe and will never be defeated." Suddenly the outer doors of the city clanged shut, and electronic locks clicked into place. The city was locked down like a vast prison complex, with the Doctor and Sarah Jane inside, while the TARDIS and K9 were outside.
A monitor screen located on the wall of the main entrance hall flickered, and the face of Davros came into focus. "This is a recorded message. Whoever sees it is no doubt thinking why my home planet is still alive and well? Before I was forced into exile, I made plans to bring back Skaro through a time vortex from its early beginnings, and to replace the dead planet with its much earlier self. The dead Skaro is now eons in the past, while my experiment to bring forward the new Skaro worked perfectly. So here you stand on New Skaro, a testament to my brilliant mind and superior intellect. I, Davros, have created a new Dalek home world simply by switching the old for the new. My creations will rule the universe forever."
"He always was rather arrogant, but this is megalomania at its most crazy level" the Doctor said. "I wonder if Davros left any other nasty surprises, like a new army of Daleks for instance" Sarah Jane asked?
"There will be something for us to find, I'm sure of it. I just hope that we will be able to deal with it when the time comes" The Doctor replied.
The city began to hum and pulsate, almost as if it had a life of its own. Doctor Who and Sarah Jane felt a deep sense of foreboding at this new, and rather sudden turn of events. Something most definitely was happening, and the feeling of unease and tension filled the air making it feel as thick as mud. Just what it was would soon be revealed, and it was not going to be good, that much was certain.
Rummaging through his pockets, the Doctor produced a bag of jelly babies. "I'd forgotten I had these" he said offering the bag to Sarah Jane.
"No thanks, I'll pass" she replied. "Suit yourself, they're highly nutritious you know" the Doctor said with a grin. He took out from his pocket another bag full of coloured glass marbles. Picking one out from the bag, he rolled it along the floor of a corridor in front of them. "What are you doing?" Sarah Jane asked. "Testing for booby traps" came the reply.
It seemed safe enough with no obvious defensive weapons on show, but you could never tell with anything of Dalek origin. The marble rolled to a stop, and just as it did at the junction with a second corridor, a beam of intense power shot from a hidden laser weapon in the far wall and blasted the marble into a thousand pieces.
"Clever Time Lord, very clever to detect our trap using such a simple device" the voice came the very wall itself just by their side. "I'm not going to fall foul of any dirty underhanded tricks" the Doctor said, "So you might as well just show yourself, whoever and wherever you may be."
"Very well Dok-tor, I will reveal myself unto you like the living god I am" the voice retorted.
Up ahead an entire wall section opened to reveal a vast computer complex, and coupled into it from a huge, over-sized metal and glass frame, was the living being that was a Dalek. "The Dalek Emperor I take it?" the Doctor asked, "Now how come you're still around when all other daleks have been destroyed, or so we thought."
"Not just I Dok-tor, but if I should fail to rebuild the Dalek Empire, the Dalek Supreme is also alive and located within this city. You forget Time Lord that I had cloned myself many times over, and so it is that I ordered the cloning of the Dalek Supreme also, so that we can never be defeated no matter what may happen. Your foolish Time War only destroyed one of me, but each time one dies, another is activated." the Emperor Dalek hissed like a venomous snake.
"So the best way to stop you is not to kill you" the Doctor stated. "Precisely what is the best way to achieve this end I have yet to decide."
In a distant part of the city, deep in an underground bunker, a flash of energy ran along a cable and activated the war machine containing the being known as the 'Dalek Supreme'. It raised its eye stalk slowly and said out loud, "I am coming my Emperor. This time it will be the end of the Time Lord called the Doctor!"
Outside the city, K9 was at the controls of the TARDIS. He had been programmed to respond to any threat to either Sarah Jane or the Doctor; and now his internal sensors were going crazy with alarm signals coming from the tracking device worn by his mistress, who was trapped inside the city. "I am coming to save you mistress, and I will not fail" said the robotic voice of the Doctor's metal dog and faithful friend.
The one true Dalek in both shape and form made its way from the lower levels. The Emperor was a Dalek being it was true, but he still lacked the knowledge and cunning of the Dalek Supreme, who glided toward an elevator deep within the bowels of the city.
What the Time Lord did not know was, the entire city itself was the Emperor, as his entity controlled all within it and the outer walls were made of dalekaniun, acting as a protective outer casing for all inside. Another thing that the Doctor also did not know, the city had a vast Dalek production factory waiting to be activated; and the Dalek Supreme had already cloned 70 thousand Dalek embryos which would be given Dalek outer casings when these were ready. Indeed, the Daleks never considered themselves as defeated, even after losing millions of their number during the Time war, plus many more at the hands of the Doctor himself. No, not defeated, just thwarted in their plans for universal dominance.
Meanwhile K9 was not standing idle, as he set the controls of the TARDIS to rescue his master and mistress. Inside the city the Doctor gazed at the figure of the Dalek being inside its glass container. It looked so vulnerable, but he knew that this was not any ordinary glass and that it was impervious to any form of attack, including his sonic screwdriver which was the only type of weapon he carried. "It still doesn't make sense" he told the Dalek Emperor, "How did you manage to be on Skaro before the time of the Kaleds and the Thals. This Skaro is in the same evolutionary stage as Earth during the Jurassic period, so even with time travel you have broken the cardinal rule by existing when, and where, you really should not have been!"
"You can thank the Time Lords themselves for that Dok-tor, as not even Davros himself could have evolved such a plan; and that was to imprison a Dalek Emperor so far in Skaro's past, it was in a time even before we existed. I myself brought the Dalek Supreme back in time, but he had to remain in suspended animation until we were brought forward into this time parallel. With the temporal vortex held in place by my superior mind, I have stabilized this planet to become the home world of the next Dalek Empire. We will reign supreme as we were always meant to do, and nothing is going to stop us or hinder our advancement. You may well be the last of the Time lords, but we Daleks will go on forever" the Emperor retorted with an air of arrogance and supremacy in his voice.
Just then, the familiar form of the TARDIS materialized just a few feet from where the Doctor and Sarah Jane were stood. The doors opened and K9 glided out. At almost the same moment, the Dalek Supreme also appeared through the doors of the elevator at the end of the corridor.
"Time for a Mexican standoff I think" said the Doctor, glancing at both K9 and the form of the Dalek Supreme.
"It's time to beat a hasty retreat Doctor" yelled Sarah Jane. "K9 is no match for that Dalek." The Doctor looked down at K9 and said, "Are you ready boy?" "Affirmative master" replied the robot dog, aiming his laser at the glass tank holding the Dalek Emperor. "I would suggest that you tell your Dalek Supreme to hold off if you don't want to sustain damage" the Doctor said to the Emperor, but the approaching dalek had already stopped. It raised its eye stalk and studied the situation, then the Dalek Supreme said, "I will let you and your companion go Time Lord, but your robot cannot harm the Emperor as he is an immortal being."
"That may be so" said the Doctor, "But if K9 fires it will be to lock the release mechanism so that your Emperor will never be able to free himself from his present imprisoned condition. He will be trapped inside this city forever, and wherever you and other daleks may go, he will be unable to follow."
"You cannot destroy me Dok-tor" the Emperor roared. "Perhaps not, but I can make things rather tiresome for you" Doctor Who replied.
Stepping back into the TARDIS, the Doctor and Sarah Jane called K9 back inside. Once they were all safely inside the time and space machine, the Doctor said "Now it is time to make this planet a safer place, and that means not having it here and now with some mad Dalek Emperor controlling it all." "How are we going to stop whatever is happening Doctor?" asked Sarah Jane. "Simple" he retorted, "We go back in time to where the old, burnt out Skaro is located and release it from the time vortex. Once it bounces back into its proper time period, it will be impossible for both the new planet and the old one to co-exist in the same space and time continuum, therefore it will either send the new one back to its original time, or destroy it entirely."
"Clever plan if it works" Sarah Jane replied looking bemused. "It will now that K9 has planted a time reversal transponder inside the Dalek city. You didn't think we could actually harm that Dalek, did you? It was all just a ruse to get us out of there and plant a little surprise devise for the Daleks." The Doctor grinned as he said it, knowing that he'd fooled the Dalek Emperor.
Inside the city, the encased form of the Dalek Emperor issued the order to the Dalek Supreme, and the activation of the new Dalek Army was started. "Take the first contingent of Dalek forces out to the moons of Skaro. If the Time Lord has done anything to endanger the planet or us, my empire will live on to seek revenge" the Emperor Dalek said with an air of triumph. "It will be as you command" replied the Dalek Supreme, "I have 3 ships standing by for take off as soon as the first 3,000 daleks are ready."
The race against time was on, for both the Daleks and Doctor.
They say that time and tide wait for no one, and inside the city the Daleks were totally oblivious of the small device planted by K9. As more and more Daleks were produced from the war machine factory, they boarded the 3 space ships and, under the command of the Dalek Supreme, blasted off to the moons of skaro.
Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor studied his space charts and then looked deeply into the scanner. "Well, we're here. Back in time and at the exact place where the old Skaro is; but where is it? I can't see it at all on my scanner."
"Master" interjected K9, "The planet Skaro is hidden with a cloaking device, but I can detect it for you." "Good dog K9, go and seek it out then" the Doctor replied. After a few moments, K9 had the information. "It is just ahead next to that shiny asteroid, the dark patch of space to the left of your screen." "Well done boy, now all we have to work out is how to move it back, or rather forward through time, so that it returns to its original status." "I can lock a tractor beam onto it, but it will take some time as you have to use power from the time vortex of the TARDIS" K9 informed the Doctor. "Best we get started then" replied the Doctor.
Back on new skaro, the Emperor surveyed his army growing larger all the time. His empire would not be destroyed or defeated. Things were getter better all the time for the daleks, as even the Time Lord had retreated and left them alone to continue their work. Meanwhile on one of the moons of Skaro, a Thal tracking station was sending a message to the planet Valus, where the Thal nation had now set up their home.
The Thal leader was not pleased, as the message reported the sudden reappearance of Daleks. The Thals had always known that their old enemy would return, but they never believed for a moment that Skaro would be the birth place of a new Dalek Empire. This was cause for concern and no doubt about it, they would have to fight to survive if the daleks located the Thal's planet, which surely they would in time.
The device orbiting around old Skaro was most certainly of Dalek origin and design. Inside it was a living Dalek creature, a clone of the Emperor Dalek himself. Using its own mental power to hold the old planet in a time vortex where it simply should not be. The Doctor threw a switch inside the TARDIS and the outer doors opened. K9 took careful aim with his laser ray and fired. The Dalek being felt a singe of heat, and then the device it was in exploded and crashed into the planet. With the Dalek now dead, the Doctor was able to initiate a tractor beam onto the dead planet. Setting the time co-ordinates to go forward once more, the planet was pulled back through time and space. If only it could be moved a bit faster, then the Daleks wouldn't have had as much time to organize as they did back on new Skaro and its moons; but the return was painfully slow indeed.
The Thals had prepared their defenses, the Dalek Supreme and his small army had taken control of the moons of Skaro, while back on new Skaro the Emperor was surrounding himself with a vast army of Dalek warriors. "Send a report to the Dalek Supreme. Tell him to initiate the war plan and begin to organize Dalek control over the outer planets of our system."
"I obey, the order will be sent immediately and more Daleks will be made ready for dispatch to the outer quadrant" said the nearest Dalek.
"New Skaro must be defended and preserved forever. We will not allow any enemy to stop our ultimate rule of the universe again. The Dalek Empire will be undefeated and will reign supreme for all of time" the Emperor ranted. Try as they may, the Daleks could not open the container to get their Emperor out and place him into the new outer casing that had been made for him. Not until one of them found the tiny device planted by K9 that is; then the container was finally opened.
"This holding device is of Time Lord origin" the Dalek who had located it reported. "It was meant to hold you in a captive state Emperor."
"He has failed, for I am now free" said the creature as it was lowered into a shiny gold outer casing.
From the moons of Skaro the dalek army began to move, first taking control of the 7 nearest planets, which was easily accomplished as they were inhabited by beings of primitive intelligence. These beings had known Dalek conquest and rule before, so put up little or no resistance.
The idea was, that the Dalek Supreme set up as many Dalek command centres as he could, so that they formed a strong defensive ring around the Dalek home world. Once this had been done, then the planet Skaro could be held as a virtual fortress and stronghold, with smaller satellite battle stations to protect it from direct attack.
The Thals had no chance of penetrating this ring of defense, as any approaching ships of theirs were blasted into oblivion by the sheer power of Dalek weaponry long before they could get within a thousands miles of Skaro. The Daleks were proving themselves to be superior, and the Emperor Dalek gloated on this as he directed the war, with the Dalek Supreme linked into the battle computer to conduct the war from his end.
Finally with a grinding of internal machinery, the TARDIS arrived pulling the old planet back into the present.
"Let go K9" the Doctor shouted, as the tractor beam was disengaged. The old planet literally threw itself back into its original position, while New Skaro was thrown back into the vortex and vanished, taking the dalek Emperor and his army with it.
Out in the solar system of Skaro, the Daleks began to vanish also, being pulled back in time by the temporal shift of New Skaro as it acted like a magnet. Only one dalek remained unaffected, as the Dalek Supreme was held in place by some unknown force.
"You've done it Doctor" cried Sarah Jane. "And not a moment too soon, as the Daleks have already commenced wreaking havoc from what the scanners show me" he replied. "We have sent the Daleks back to the beginning of time as far as Skaro is concerned. They won't get back to the future for a very long time" he grinned.
Meanwhile on the 7th planet, the one remaining dalek could not believe what had happened. "I will have my revenge Doc-tor, the Daleks are not defeated" the Dalek Supreme said as he extracted data from the main battle computer. Back in the mists of time, the Dalek Emperor and his dalek army planned the conquest of space and time once again; but this time they would have to wait many millenia to achieve supremacy throughout the galaxy.
THE END
