Doctor Huh?
Author: Silent Bob Foley
E-mail: Possible 15 certificate,
Summary: A lost machine finds it's way to the every centre of evil on one of the most important worlds in history, alone and unused it attracts the attentions of the one person that could use it, an empathetic man lost in life.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the BTVS Characters, Joss Whedon does, the other characters are owned by their respective companies. Doctor Who characters based on the remake are by Russell T Davis or those that created the others
Distribution: Xzone and ff..net,
Spoilers: Some Eps of both series plus information about earlier series of Doctor Who.
Authors notes: British Words and Spelling,
During a nice little convo about the new Doctor Who series with Wolfy I came to the conclusion that while an actual DW xover was possible if slightly problematic a crossover using other ideas might be better.
For ease of use the Doctor mentioned is 8th incarnation- Paul McGann, Romana is in her forth and looks like a much younger (say early twenties) of Kristine Sutherland.
Dedications: Lightning Count, Wolfy, Jason Thompson and Stone Cold.
Date: One Hundred Billion Years Ago/Yesterday/Tomorrow/End of All Time.
Location: Capital City of Gallifrey
Place: Panopticon Home of the Eye of Harmony.
The entire remaining race of Time lords had been recalled to Gallifrey, the time war had reached it's climax with the invasion of Gallifreian space by the mutated robot race known as the Daleks.
In the chamber of the presidium in the very centre of the panopticon the Lady President of Gallifrey had assembled the one thousand remaining Time Lords, the lady Romana was sat at the dias of the speaker's podium. Her newest regeneration had been a success and she now sat in her forth body since her elevation to Time Lady of Gallifrey.
The recall had brought everyone to the world, even those whom had long ago been removed from their society or become outcasts through their actions. It seemed that even they were not willing to see their home destroyed by the immense Dalek invasion force bearing down on them.
Ten million ships were approaching the outer chronoshield that protected their star system from the ravages of time and space, from a million times and a thousand places the enemy were coming. The Daleks had plundered every planet and used every resource to create this mass of ships.
Already every combat equipped Tardis and defence satillite had been dispatched, over ten thousand of the most powerful and capable time machines had been blown out of the skies over as many planets. They had of course taken their toll, almost ten million Dalek warships had been completely destroyed by the immensely capable Time Lord warships.
The loss of so many of the best and brightest as well as the oldest and wisest in their numbers had crippled the lords, even the use of their most dangerous and prohibited weapons developed over millennia by renegades and creators of worlds.
Now it seemed that with the inevitable fall of the temporal defences around their world that the very literal centre of time and space would be destroyed or worse taken by the evil Daleks. Even now the massive screens on the walls of the chamber showed the attack beginning, the few remaining defences trying to keep the enemy away.
"So they made it this far." A voice said from behind Romana.
Spinning around she looked at the face of a young man with long curly dark hair, his clothes had an appearance of a time frame from a planet she was indeed fond of. As such a combination of his appearance and her ability to read any other time lord's 'Aura' led her to one conclusion."
"Doctor." She exclaimed hugging him hard around the waist, he gentle smoothed down her long blonde hair. A fair change from the almost carbon copy of the princess she had been so many years ago.
"Hello Romana, It's good to see you again."
"You were the last, the only one not to make the summons."
"I had a hell of a time correcting some problems the Master had made with Earth, then trying to get through the timelines when your trying to get around Dalek patrols is not easy."
"We did a full recall, everyone turned up even the rogues."
"I saw, Rani seems to be running ragged trying to reinforce the shields. Was surprised to see old man Azmael though, thought he was dead."
"Not yet, but he may soon be."
"It's that bad?"
"Five million ships Doctor, the entire defence fleet is gone."
"So they finally allowed us to build warships, only took them the entire span of Time Lord existence to figure that out."
"We knew something was coming, the entire matrix was starting to fluctuate, we just didn't know when. We recreated the Tardises into battleships and dragged out Omega's old designs for other combat ships, ten thousand were ready by the war's start Doctor and all but destroyed."
"Anything left?"
"We're down to the system defences. We can't let them take this planet, not if we can stop them."
"Then what do we do?"
"I don't know, we tried to send someone back to destroy them before being created and before they left their world."
"Are you insane, I was in that timeframe."
"I know." Romana shouted back, she composed herself and explained. "I know you were, I know it's against the rules that we govern the timeline by. We had no choice in the matter this was to save our people."
"How many?"
"Twenty attempts, all failed. The Daleks perfected there newest prototype DARDIS, they killed every operative before they got anywhere. It doesn't time travel but it stops time-based weapons working against them, the one weapon type we had that could have stopped so many ships."
"And now they are here."
"Over two thirds of their forces gone and still they come."
"What about the Hypraxis, the Gallitons hell the Vegans?"
"Dead, all dead every ally we had were smashed by the Daleks. Every planet they came across on their march here were crushed by their fleets and used to rebuild what they destroyed. One million planets, One trillion beings all in one attack Doctor, there's nothing left but us and them and they are winning."
"So what the hell do we do?" the Doctor said.
"We stop them anyway we can." Romana looked at him.
"How do we don that, I mean the only way to stop them getting this planet is to blow up…." He paused and looked at his former companion in horror. " No you can not be serious, if you do this then we lose anyway. With Gallifrey gone the timelines will not be policed, paradoxes and god knows what else will crop up, without us or someone to replace us all of time is in Jeopardy."
"There is nothing else we can do, Doctor please. I think the Time lords rule is at an end, we have become complacent and spiteful to those we see a below us. Only a very few like you have kept our people going, the time of Gallifrey is over old friend."
"How are you going to destroy the Eye?"
"I'm not Doctor, you are."
"Me?" He asked eyebrows rising to his hairline.
"You are one of the last that can use the Hand of Omega Doctor, this is the only chance that the races of the universe have." Romana stroked his cheek cupping his face, "You have always done the right thing Doctor, even when it went against the wishes of the council or it's president. This is it for us, please help me."
"If all is lost, then what do we have to live for."
"Thank you."
"Where is the Hand?"
"I'll show you."
Leaving the other time lords within the hall Romana and the Doctor returned to Romana's presidential offices. Waving her hand across a keypad she activated a spiral staircase dropping into the depths below the panopticon, the two time lords continued down into the room below them.
"Welcome to the Door Doctor."
In front of them stood a clear glass door cutting them off from a massive combination of energy currents that sat behind it, a tunnel could be seen forming through the lines of light to a darkened room beyond.
"This is The Matrix, the total and combined knowledge of the Time lords. I thought it was tied into the Looms and the presidium."
"No those were merely links to it, the matrix itself is always under the control of the president of the time. Please follow me."
The door opened ahead of them allowing the two of them to continue on into the room at the every end of the corridor. There stood a number of daises with numerous relics of their past, at the very end a weapon that had once thought to have destroyed the Daleks and many years before that had created the power source for the entire Time Lord order.
"I thought it was still on Earth."
"After the destruction of Skaros it was decided to bring it back here, the energy signature after use was still quite readable. Once it was the only hope of our race, now it may be the last hope for the entire universe. It is still keyed to you Doctor, hence why only you can use it."
"I never keyed it to myself."
"No you didn't but you were the reincarnation of Omega."
"How…?"
"Susan returned old friend, she was filled in the first wave."
"Oh Lord…"
"I am sorry."
"What happened?"
"She took her Tardis into the Hyparxis system, she detonated her link to the Eye taking half a million ships with her. There was nothing left of her ship or the Daleks when the SAR group got there, I'm truly sorry."
"Then there's no one left of my family, Susan was the last."
Romana turned to her friend, gently cupping his cheek she turned his face towards her. He pressed his cheek into the curve of her hand and gripped it with his own, Romana kept her hand in place until he finally let go.
"We're really not who we used to be are we." He said rhetorically.
"No we're not, not since that last day."
"You better return to the Panopticon, yet them know what's happening,"
"We can't evacuate Doctor, not with them so close."
"I know Romana, I know."
"If you can, get to your ship. I can't promise anything but I will try to open a hole in the shield for you."
"I can't leave, not when everything else is going to hell."
"You really do spend too much time on Earth."
"Don't change the subject Romana, the time lords are over I have to be here at the end."
"No you don't, it doesn't matter what happens if Gallifrey goes up Doctor, if one of us survives there's always a chance for the rest of the universe. This is an order from the president and a request from the woman that you taught how to be a time lord old friend. Please if you can leave this place and continue on, for those of us who will never make it out."
Leaning forward she gently pressing her lips to his, Romana pulled away and stepped out of the hidden chamber. Leaving the security console alone as there was no longer any need to reset the security that would be needed, she turned around to look at her friend one last time. He felt her eyes on his back and turned around to stare into her eyes.
"Maybe in another time." He said.
"Maybe." She responded, keying in another sequence a door opened up behind the Hand's dias. He looked at his friend one last time and left the room headed for the Eye of Harmony, Romana herself merely turned around and walked up to her offices above.
There was one thing left to do.
Chamber of Harmony
Beneath Gallifrey's surface
The Eye of Harmony was literally a timeless piece of antiquity, created by the first time lords of Omega and Rassilon. It was unknown when it had been made, the laws forbidding travel into Gallifrey's past and future did not allow them to know anything about it.
A black hole kept in a temporal field that powered all of Gallifrey's technology and time machines, the Eye could have been created at the dawn of time or at the very end of time as the universe collapsed in on itself. No-one knew not over those whom had spent their lives studying the world itself.
Now all that sat in the massive cavern itself as the black hole itself and the fields holding it in place, even after everything he had seen in his nine hundred plus years it awed the Doctor.
"That's a big hole." He mused.
Carrying the box that concealed the Hand of Omega the time lord walked across to the single gantry that connected with the edge of the field itself. The gantry barley touched the field but it was enough for small flares to run through the clear time bubble.
"So this is it." The doctor said to himself, dropping the Hand he activated the controls to the ancient artefact, that which created the eye in whatever time that it had come from. The final sequence set he heard an alert echoing from the chamber of the president.
"Secondary Temporal Field has been compromised, numerous hostile ships on approach. All Time Lords report to the Panopticon, repeat hostile ships are now in the system." The automated voice said.
"And so it ends." The Doctor activated the weapon and standing up bolted from the chamber and to the Tardis hanger of the capital city, he had a promise to keep for a lady and he always kept his promises.
President's Personal Chambers
Adjacent to the Panopticon
Same timeLeaving her oldest living friend to set the last weapon against the might of the Daleks she watched as the last few dozen weaponed Tardises and few defensive systems left blew hundreds upon hundreds of Dalek ships out of the sky. But it was not enough it was never enough.
The destruction of the last ships would leave the skies open for the five million remaining ships that the Daleks were using to try to take Gallifrey, the only world remaining that they could use to create their own time travel ships.
All that was left after that was the immensely powerful shield that encompassed the lunar orbit of Gallifrey's moons, a shield that had kept out attacks for the entirety of time both forwards and backward of this attack by the Daleks. That shield wouldn't hold for long against the power of the Dalek attack, not with their immunity to temporal weapons.
"Carrier Seven nine nine four launching, Black hole torpedoes away."
She watched as a half dozen of the most powerful remaining weapons impacted on the forward ships of the Dalek battlegroups, thousands of ships were swallowed by the brief explosion of the black hole into realspace.
A continue salvo of torpedoes came from the carriers, the last few War Tardises launching their disintegrator weapons and temporal torpedoes both destroying ships that had been crippled or rendered helpless by the black hole explosions. The returning salvo from One million ships now in range annihilated the manned and unmanned defensive platforms, ships and carriers.
As the explosion cleared there was nothing left, any sign that there had been anything defending the planet now no longer even existed. Seconds later the same ships began a systematic bombardment on the temporal shield encompassing Gallifrey and its people.
The twin moons that sat just outside of the shield shattered as the bombardment began to encompass the entire planet, five million ships concentrating on just one area of the last line of defence for the planet. The debris from the two planetoids collapsed against the shield doing nothing but scaring the men and women on the planet.
From her position Romana could read the information coming across the board as the greatest minds of her race tried to keep the shield up against the enemy. Rani was doing well concentrating the power of both secondary and primary shields in one layer, the Eye's full power flowing from the planet to the shield.
It would hold and for some time even against the immense power of the Daleks, with her world safe for the moment Romana continued on with her last duty. Walking through what seemed to be a large mirror Romana approached something she had not had the chance to use for a long time.
Shaped like a blue box she had spent many years aboard during her first incarnations Romana's own Tardis now stood unused in her personal chambers, approaching it she pulled out an old human style metal key. Opening the main doors she walked inside, however the inside of the room was very different to any of the internal configurations that the Doctor had use, a reflection of Romana's own thoughts and wants than the Doctor's.
"Hello old friend."
Like most Tardises this one was somewhat empathetic, the brush across her mind was as familiar as her own mind was. A feather touch across the back of her mind was enough for her to know that her own Tardis was happy to see her as it ever had been.
Words were unnecessary to the somewhat sentient machine as it absorbed the knowledge of the fall of the Time Lords for the mind of its owner/operator/companion. As the last orders from Romana to the Doctor filtered across other connection it finally understood what was to happen, the loss of every other of its kind a painful thought.
"I know, I know." Romana replied to the thought, "We've lost all but a handful of the Time Lords and even less Tardises, we can't run from them and we can't fight them. But we can stop them now and forever."
A brief feeling of rightness drifted across her mind, the mind of her ship agreeing with what had to be done. A questioning brush filtered through the link between them, Romana understanding.
"I want you to go."
Question again.
"The Doctor will be able to escape, I want you to go with him he'll need company. I want you to find someone who can join you, someone who can take my place as the other half of us."
Negative
"I know you don't want to leave, I need you to. The loss of the time lords will cripple the Universe as a whole; the Doctor is just one man. If you can find another carrier, someone who can complete you then do so, please old friend look after him for me."
Acquiescence"Thank you, the second the gap in the shield starts get out and fast, the Doctor's Tardis will be leaving at the same time."
Understanding.
"Goodbye old friend."
Goodbye/Sadness/Pain/Anger/Love/ResignationLeaving her Tardis for the final time she closed the door leaving the key within the lock mechanism, refusing to look back the President of the Time Lord Race left the room the mirror/door sealing behind her.
Rushing from her door she made her way to the Panopticon itself and stood before the assembled Gallifreyan survivors, already reports of damage to the ecosphere of the world were coming in. The blanking out of the sun and the destruction of the moons were crippling the planet itself, already the dark forest was alight and the island with the Tower of Rassilon had toppled into the sea.
"My fellow Time lords." She called out, almost as one two thousand eyes locked onto her at the very top of the dias where she stood. "This is it for us, I am truly sorry my friends, but even with the shield at maximum we will not be able to hold out for much longer. This is the last time that our race will be called together as this is the last day of Gallifrey's existence, several minutes ago I authorised the destruction of the Eye of Harmony and by that act the planet and the systems as well. This will be the last and maybe only chance that the universe will have against the evil of the Daleks and their new emperor. The destruction of the time lords will cause ripples throughout time, the backlash of the Eye's destruction may cause unforeseen problems to occur but that is something that we won't be able to help with."
There was nothing but silence in the room as the President continued her impassioned speech to her fellows, as the seconds ticked by some of the survivors clasped hands while others huddled together. A very few left the room altogether for their privacy, but for all this there was not one of them that spoke up to stop the destruction of their home and their lives throughout time.
"Lady Rani."
"My Lady?" the former rogue looked to her former adversary.
"Drop the shield, let them come to us."
"Are you sure my lady?"
"Very sure Rani, it's the only chance we'll have to take them with us."
"As you order, shields dropping. Power outputs to minimum."
"Secondary Temporal Field has been compromised, numerous hostile ships on approach. All Time Lords report to the Panopticon, repeat hostile ships are now in the system."
"That's it my lady, Dalek ships are en route, six minutes to orbital insertion."
"Reading heavy weapons signatures My lady." One of the other Lords spoke, "Bombs impacting in fifteen seconds."
"May the light of the universe be with you Doctor." Romana whispered quietly.
Tardis Hanger
Panopticon Lower levels
The Doctor sped out of the lift and out into the main hanger of the Panopticon, where once thousands of all types of Tardises and numerous other ships once occupied a hundred floors only a handful now stood in place. His own still hooked up to the repair and recharging systems.
Slapping a button on the machinery the entire setup disconnected and fell away hitting the floor hard, crashing through the doors of his ship the doctor began a full start up of the ship's systems and crash dived into time and space hurtling out of the system.
Activating the Tardis' chameleon circuit he found it still offline meaning he was still stuck in the blue box that he'd had for almost one hundred years.
"Repair the time/space circuits, put a power modifier in and hoover the Tardis room but never repair the bloody chameleon circuit."
All around him thousands of Dalek ships were closing in on his hemisphere of planet, their temporal shields interfering with his ship's time drive. Spinning around he dived through a small gap in the phalanx of Dalek ships, dodging fire and causing damage by friendly fire he made it through and into the depths of time.
President's Personal Chambers
As the shield collapsed the last order of the President of the Order of the Time lords was initiated, the Tardis and only one of its type in existence faded from view and dived through the planet into time itself. Following the Doctor's trail the President's Tardis fired it's few weapons into the hull of a hulking Dreadnaught blowing it to pieces.
Not expecting an attack from a single remaining Gallifreian ship the Dalek ship exploded, shrapnel and energy bursts crippling the closest vessels and leaving the exit vector free of enemy ships.
PanopticonThe last and only shielded part of the planet left, the Time lords were safe and were forced to observe their own world as they had for so long to so many others. They watched at the entire surface was shattered by heavy gravity bombs thrown from space, the oceans boiled away and the atmosphere burned killing everything that remained.
Romana looked at the screen, she watched as the last two pieces of Gallifreian technology that would ever survive blew through the blockading ships and out into space, she looked at the clock face and stared at it as it hit local planetary midnight.
"Harmony Shields destabilising, breach is imminent."
"Goodbye Doctor." She said.
"Breach in progress."
As the last of the protective sheaths of the Eye of Harmony collapsed the Hand of Omega detonated the massively expanding black hole. Within half a second the planet had been vaporised by the explosion, the plasma wave generated by the planets mass was propagated at faster than light speed by the hand's detonation.
Gravity waves, plasma fire and shrapnel from destroyed ships was hurled out in an increasing sphere throughout the system, several of the furthest Dalek ships tried to run from the wave to no avail. Within six seconds every sign of Gallifrey, the time lords, the Daleks and the system itself had been wiped out.
Unseen by anyone of any time or place two ships, each one carrying the last of two races, the war was not over not by a very long shot.
The third was very much alone. Type 42 Tardis Depths of time and spaceThe free flying Tardis scanned and continued to scan the system of its creation during and past the system's annihilation, while the Tardis did not have human style emotions it did have an approximation of said emotions. Holding the system on its scans until it fell out of range of the scans, the Tardis continued on in its mission.
Scrolling through the data that made up it's library it started to search through the information gathered by the time lords that had been data dumped by The Matrix during the last few seconds before it took to flight.
Romana and her earliest companions had spent much time on only a few planets before she had returned to Gallifrey, the logs taken of each planet by both this Tardis' operator and others all pointed to a few planets as the most dangerous and most crucial to the universe at large.
One would be the precursor planet to ten million worlds, a single planet more important that any since Gallifrey and now possibly somewhere that a new operator could be found. Accessing the vortex controls the ship changed it's own course and headed for that one planet.
Earth.
Earth
North American Continent
Western Hemisphere
Dateline 1999High above the continental United States a single bright falling star began it's shift earthwards, seen by very few and invisible to Radar the small object hurtled to the ground and impacted hard and fast shaking the ground. A single teenage human was in the area to see the collision.
"What the Hell?" Asked Xander Harris.