Thanks to Yaini for Beta'ing~
So, I figured I'd get this thing up before the series starts again. I've already written chapter one and I'm almost finished two, so they shouldn't be too long.
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A Forgotten Melody
Prologue: The Child
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To: Madam Kovarian of the TLW Project
From: David Foreman, representative of the Free Human Alliance
Subject: Memo
Dear Madam Kovarian,
We would first like to take the time to congratulate you and all of your people for the persistence and confidence you have displayed in the matter of this project. Your… insistence that the outcome will outweigh all the costs has, for the last several years, given many people hope in the dark times that have come to pass.
However, the Committee of the Free Human Alliance would also like to remind you, that while you and your people sit comfortably in your secure bunker, innocent people all over the universe are paying the price for your patience in the war.
Most recently, the peaceful people of the Beta System had a sighting, and twenty men died in an "accident" involving a creature not seen in that section of the universe for several thousand years. Their names have been added to the endless list of casualties which is growing longer each and every day. And as the list grows longer, our own patience grows shorter.
So on behalf of the people we represent, we insist upon material evidence that your project is worth the money being scavenged from all corners of the universe, or risk our withdrawal of support.
Yours Sincerely,
David Foreman, representative of the Free Human Alliance.
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Madam Kovarian was the sort of woman who kept her emotions in check. It was necessary, for if she lost control, even for a second, the result would be catastrophic. She had seen firsthand how emotions could destroy a person and eat them from the inside out, and fully intended to avoid that path at any cost.
But now she felt about ready to blow, with years of anger threatening to boil over the mask of emotionless indifference she had been wearing ever since she had first met the Doctor.
It had come through on a secure connection, a file titled "Memo". With each sentence she read, her blood pressure had risen higher.
So on behalf of the people we represent, we insist upon material evidence that your project is worth the money being scavenged from three galaxies, or risk our withdrawal of support.
She knew they were bluffing. They wouldn't dare withdraw support at such a crucial time for the project. They had to be bluffing.
Kovarian wasn't the least bit worried about the money. There was always going to be money, no matter whom or where it came from, it was the Committee that worried her. They were greedy, power-hungry men who only cared about protecting themselves.
It had taken mere months to form the Free Alliance, banding people all over the Galaxy against a common enemy. Kovarian herself had been there when the final touches had been made.
But all of that was years ago, and now theAlliancewas slowly falling apart. The Committee were fools, fools determined to keep their positions at any cost.
The reason for the memo was not because they had grown too impatient (for they had done that years ago) it was because they wanted it to look like they were doing something, anything for the war.
"You want to see evidence? I'll show you evidence." She stood up from her desk, and straightened her suit, her mask back in place. She picked up a parcel wrapped in plain brown paper and tucked it under her arm.
They wanted proof that the last eight years had not been wasted? She would give it to them.
While emotions were dangerous things to have, in her time Kovarian had found them to be quite useful. Men who wear their hearts on their sleeves were easier to bend to her will, easier to torment and herd like an animal in the right direction.
And the child…
And the child was no exception.