The Other Warrior
Featuring the War Master and the Bishop
The EchoSphere, during the Time War...
The Doctor eventually encountered the Bishop, who was still trying, and struggling, to find the time vortex that he needed.
"So then," the Doctor questioned him, "have I been brought here in an attempt to try and get me to fight in the Time War, or do you want to shoot me? If the second option is why I'm here, then why shoot me? You'd only be doing the Daleks a favour."
"Doctor, I have been instructed by Rassilon to go back in time and steal the plans for a weapon that has the potential to wipe entire constellations from existence."
"Bishop, what exactly will Rassilon do with these plans? And, come to think of it, why are you looking for a time vortex when you have a TARDIS?"
"My TARDIS's temporal crystal was damaged, so I came to the EchoSphere: the planet of pure time."~
"You haven't answered my other question: what will Rassilon do with the plans?"
"He plans to use the plans to build the weapon, and destroy Skaro, as well as the other planets surrounding it."
The Doctor looked horrified to hear this.
"Do you want to know something, Bishop? You're the same, all of you, absolutely the same!"
"What do you mean, Doctor?"
"You kill and murder innocents, all in the name of war. You're not protecting the universe from the Daleks: you're making the threat worse. I reckon you would set fire to an entire field just to destroy one diseased crop. I cannot, I will not allow this to happen. Do you hear me? I will stop you!"
He then zapped his sonic screwdriver at his own TARDIS, which dematerialised with a brief and rapid wheeze and groan, and sprinted over towards the Bishop's TARDIS. A few seconds later, the Bishop noticed what the Doctor was trying to do, and tried to stop him but couldn't: with a powerful zap from his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor entered the other TARDIS, closing the door behind him. Soon, the TARDIS flew upwards, and rushed towards the nearest time vortex.
"Oh Doctor, what have you done?"
The Bishop was now alone, stranded, on the EchoSphere, with only his sonic screwdriver to help him.
"I wonder what life would be like," he wondered to himself, "if the Doctor would fight in the name of Gallifrey, and protect his own people from destruction."
"Well, wouldn't that be pointless?" an old man's voice murmured from behind him, "The Doctor won't fight on your side, as he has too much compassion to be a warrior."
He turned round, and saw the man that had just spoken: an old man, with white hair and beard, and who was dressed in a tweed suit and waistcoat. His TARDIS was parked nearby, and he wielded a laser screwdriver.
"You're the Master, but who sent you here?"
"I came here of my own free will."
The Bishop stared at him sceptically.
"Seriously? The Master, known Gallifreyan criminal, caring about me?"
"Yes. You sent out a distress signal, and I answered it."
Inside the Master's TARDIS, the Master stared in astonishment at the scanner screen, which showed that a distress signal, coming from the EchoSphere, was echoing across space and time.
"Well, well," he said, "it seems that one of my brothers in arms is in trouble, and appears to be on one of the universe's deadliest worlds."
After a few levers had been flipped and a few switches had been flicked, his TARDIS began to materialise on the EchoSphere.
"What distress signal? I never sent out a distress signal." the Bishop confessed.
"Yes, you did. Don't tell me," the Master chuckled, "that you can't even remember sending a distress signal that's bouncing around the universe."
"Is that why the Doctor came here?"
"The Doctor?"
He looked puzzled.
"Yes, the Doctor was just here. He stole my TARDIS and flew it down a Time Vortex."
"So, you have no TARDIS, do you?"
The Bishop shook his head.
"And you're expecting me to take you back to Gallifrey, aren't you?"
The Master grinned at him, knowing the answer to his question.
"Are you going to take me back?"
"Of course, but I need your help first."
Inside the Master's TARDIS, the Bishop was sat in an armchair near to the console, whilst the Master was working at the controls, piloting the ship towards somewhere other than Gallifrey.
"Where are we going?" he asked him, both curious and afraid simultaneously.
"I have some business to attend to on the planet Akyria, and I'm afraid that I might need your help with something."
"What do you need my help with?"
"There's a temporal crystal on that planet, and I intend to use it, of course."
On Akyria, Ophelia Durmstrang was examining a very peculiar crystal: it was bright red, and glowed a violent burgundy every few seconds.
"Now, what do we have here?" she wondered, using a pair of tweezers to try and examine the crystal further, but when she touched the crystal, the tweezers disintegrated into silver dust.
"How could that have happened?"
"I don't know," the Master said, stood in the doorway, "but I definitely know what that crystal is."
He then took out his laser screwdriver, and zapped her in the chest, making her fade into dust. After that, he took the temporal crystal, and swaggered back to his TARDIS.
Back inside the TARDIS, the Master beamed with pride as he saw the Bishop with a look of astonishment on his face, as he entered the console room with the crystal.
"That's the temporal crystal you wanted?" the Bishop quizzed him.
"Yes, and I would like you to hold it for now."
He placed the crystal in his hands, and something dramatic occurred: the crystal began to glow an extremely violent red, and the Bishop began to disintegrate into red flames, as the crystal's energy engulfed him.
"You monster!" he cried, with extreme pain, "Why should I have ever have trusted you?!"
"Because, Bishop, you share a weakness with the Doctor."
"What weakness?!"
"Compassion. Your compassion was the only thing that led you here, as well as the fact that the Doctor had rather handily stolen your TARDIS. And now, I can return to Gallifrey, safely knowing that the temporal crystal will be a perfect weapon against the Daleks."
The Bishop then screamed, just before the red flames engulfed him and reduced him to ashes. The Master, satisfied with the crystal's power, dematerialised the TARDIS, and piloted it back to Gallifrey.
On Gallifrey, the Master's TARDIS materialised just outside Rassilon's office, and the Master emerged from the ship, carrying the temporal crystal and a jar that held the ashes of the Bishop.
When the ashes were presented to Rassilon, Chancellor Jevoth was not pleased with what he saw.
"We sent you on a mission to recover a temporal crystal," he said, harshly, "so why did you feel it was right to murder the Bishop?"
"Because I told him to, Jevoth." Rassilon explained, smiling at the Master, "The Bishop shared some qualities with the Doctor, and I couldn't risk another of our best warriors betraying the Time Lords."
"Rassilon, I do have one small question," the Master intruded, "will I be allowed to leave now? Am I free to do what I want?"
Rassilon smiled.
"Yes, Master. You will be able to roam free, and cause chaos across the galaxy. Because what we need in wars, are people with the ability to cause chaos."
THE END