Chapter 1

Klarion never trusted the man who was too nice to their race.

He came to Justrifina seeking friendship and wanting to join their festivities when they paid homage to the season of great harvests. The seabed gifted them with many a good crop this long year – but had cursed them with a man in his blue box. He had taken something precious that was rarer than the Elders and the Council of the Atlans. Something from the beginning of all things that was a treasure few could find.

Klarion swam to the surface as the man was running to his box, like a coward he was escaping their clutches. Their home was pillaged by this man of healing – this curse that called itself The Doctor.

"Doctor!" she screamed with her head above the water, floating with pain in her eyes. She began to swim with a speed that couldn't be matched by any other – she literally flew through the sea.

"I can't let you have this!" The man replied holding the ancient warp star above his head, the diamond bomb sparkling in the blue sun that was rising behind him. "It could go off any second – it's not safe here!"

"But it is ours!" Desperate, Klarion tried to swim faster to the clingy surface of land which was rare on Justrifina, as it drew closer she felt all hope fade from sight. "You have no right, as a Council member of the Atlans I order you to stop!"

Sorrow was clear in the eyes of the lonely god; he stared at the sea creature and shook his head. "I'm sorry."

With a resounding wail of despair, the creature screamed the box faded with a reverberating screech that echoed through the galaxy. Klarion stopped swimming, stopped trying and let herself sink into the underbelly of her world – ashamed. So full of the horrid feeling of treachery she had committed to her people; she should've died for the relic. She should've given her life to save it from that damned man.

Yet she had failed.

Hours later the blue sun was fading into the horizon. The Council of Atlans had been assembled in the crisis that had occurred – the star was gone. Their warp star that was older than the planet Justrifina itself was stolen from right under their noses. By a man in a blue box. A man once considered a friend to their people.

A Doctor.

In their native tongue they argued vigorously. They spoke with such poison that some were too weak of heart to agree or retaliate. Ten were present, some saddened by the loss, others filled with outrage and hate. Only one was ashamed – and she sat at the head of the long table, listening and overlooking the situation handed to her.

Orpaian was speaking currently, insulting what The Doctor was doing nights before, he was merry in the tidings of the festivities. "We have heard of this Doctor and his fine teachings. He hoped to spend nights with us learning our sacred ways and to enjoy the Giver's festival. Yet he deceived us like we were vermin at his feet."

"But the legends speak of him being a good soul." Another – a thin youngling named Hrera with blue hair and soft skin – said weakly. "He said to me that he wished that all planets were like our own. Filled with the joys of life rather than of war."

"Then he deceived you as well, girl!" Orpanian snapped, slamming a scaled fist on the table. "He wanted the warp star for his own – he always wished it since he arrived. The thief is now away with his prize, selling it away."

It was now that Klarion spoke for the first time since her inglorious return. She sat at the head of the council, overlooking them with her lilac eyes. She had grown a thick steel shell from these traitorous dogs over the years, making her respected and feared unlike any other leader. She spoke her words with malice intended for the Doctor as if he was present in that very room.

"He will not sell our star, Orpanian." She stated as a point of fact. "He is a man of eternal history; we know that he is too soft to meddle as such with pirates. He shall keep it."

"How do you know?" Asked an ancient man who had also spoken little - he was also a part of the Elders who overlooked these meetings. His name was Kirona, and his intentions were always notoriously pure.

"Because he told me," she said with a slight smile in her eyes. "He was overconfident and this shall be our advantage. For who would expect our peaceful race to strike back at such a man as The Doctor?"

"A foolish race," Orpanian retaliated, "He is more than a mere man. He has saved millions who all owe him a debt that can be repaid by our extermination. The Elders will not allow an attack on such a man with so many resources." Klarion nodded in agreement to this.

"Did I say attack?" Again the woman smiled, it was a grin of vengeance. Something Kirona feared worse than any monstrous being in their galaxy or the very bottom of their world. There was none that nerved him more than the cold heart of revenge – but he had to admit that her plan was ingenious.

She formulated a stratagem that was so exquisite and unique that few could be able to unravel it. But it would be a long process, perhaps too long but there was no way that the Doctor would get rid of the star in such a time. But if he was to perish or his TARDIS were to be destroyed the diamond would also be gone in a blaze of fury. But they had hope.

They always had hope.