With a great wheezing and groaning sound a tall, blue box slowly materialized on a huge, rail-less gantry. The gantry spanned a great, moat-like chasm which led to an enormous tower. From its massive flared base it rose, tapering up till it nearly reached the shimmering surface of the dome that enclosed the vast, ancient city.
The light atop the box stopped blinking, and the cacophony ceased. The door opened, and an old man in a worn, leather coat stepped out.
"I demand to know, why are Time Lord soldiers shooting humans?" demanded the old man in a gravelly voice. Suddenly, he looked about, clearly surprised. "This isn't the Panopticon. There it is! You're a few hundred feet south of it, old girl. But after successfully bypassing all those skytrenches and the transduction barrier, who am I to complain. You just stay here and rest. You deserve it."
With an affectionate pat on the box, the old man strolled towards the massive tower. As he neared a massive door at the end of the gantry, the door slid open outwards, and a hideous, humanoid sized creature stood there. It wad either covered with armor and a helmet resembling bones and a skill, or else its skeleton was actually exposed. The bare sections likewise looked like reddish hide or raw muscle. The head was unmistakably avian in appearance, complete with armor like beak and great, globular eyes.
"Where have I seen a great, plucked chicken like you before?" asked the old man with his hands behind his back, rocking back on his feet.
When the monster moved to level a bulky, gun-like contraption at him, he instantly jumped to action like a warrior half his age. A beam of energy lashed out, missed the old man, and disintegrated a huge section of walkway behind him.
As the old man charged the monster, it instantly ran off down the corridor just inside the tower.
The old man suddenly stopped at the door as he heard a horrible noise behind him. He turned about and saw the gantry behind him crumble and fall into the yawning chasm below it. With it fell the battered, blue box.
"Don't worry," said the old man, "I'll get you. I hope you didn't fall into the Cloisters. I don't think I could take another trip on there."
The old man walked briskly down the corridors of the tower. He spotted an open door way down one hall, and sprinted down it before the door closed.
"Wait, wait, steward!" cried the old man as he ran up to it. "Is Rassilon in there?"
"If you mean the Lord President, he is busy with a reception right now," responded the steward.
"He has to be warned."
"Warned? Warned about what?"
"I saw the Ergon."
"What's an Ergon?"
"It's a psychosynthetic creation of Omega."
"Omega?" asked the Steward, his smug disposition suddenly replaced by genuine concern. "The stellar engineer?"
"If they brought Omega back, the whole universe is in danger!" cried the old man as he tried to spot Rassilon or someone else he knew in the room. "He's spent an eternity in the Antimatter universe. He's completely mad. They can't let him in this Universe."
"Do you mean Omega as on Rassilon, Omega and the..."
"Yes! Will you please let me speak to Rassilon?"
"I have to clear bit with the Security Commander."
"Well, hurry man!"
The Steward scuttled away as fast as his billowing red robes would let him.
"Here he is, Commander," said the Steward as he led three red and white uniformed soldiers to the door. One had a steel breast plate on and a great plume on his morion helmet. "He said the High Council have brought Omega back for the War. I rather believe him. I happen to know they intend to resurrect every Time Lord since the Dark Times to fight this dreadful war. You know Omega has gone round the bend."
"Oh my God," growled the old man as he looked upon the familiar cherubic features of the guard commander. He had a broad, fair face, blue, mocking eyes, and blond curls poking out from under his helmet. The old man once spent a life time looking at that face every time he looked in a mirror.
"Haven't you regenerated yet? You look ridiculous with that face!"
"We can take it from here, Lord Steward," said the commander in a steady, proud voice.
"Look," said the old man, "I know we had our differences in the past, but the High Council have brought Omega back. He's mad, Maxil. You were there when he tried to use me to escape the Antimatter Universe."
"Yes, I remember," purred Commander Maxil as he drew a pistol from his holster. "I shot you."
"Oh God," said the old man throwing up his arms in exasperation, "You're going to shoot me again, aren't you."
A bolt of energy lashed out from the pistol and hit him squarely in the chest. He crumpled up, collapsing on the ground.