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"I need another power pack!"
"They're almost none left!"
"Hold the line!"
"Here they come!"
"Oh God, this is it!"
"Exterminate!"
Fire and smoke billowed up from explosion after explosion, the small outpost relentlessly pounded by Dalek forces. The sky of Tress, a rocky sanctuary moon, normally full of stars, was scorched black by the conflict. Humans dressed in dark armor, wielding energy weapons fought against the onslaught. Every other garrison had fallen. They were the last hope the people on nearby Dorian Prime had left. Their artillery was spent, their supplies cut off. Their numbers were dwindling. Their hour was at hand. The Daleks were coming for a final assault. This time, The Citadel would fall.
A V-shaped formation of the evil automatons blasted through the western wall and rolled through the debris, their shrill voices repeating their ancient battle cry, their blasters felling soldier after soldier. They penetrated deep into the main fortress. At the wall the battlement defenses were breached as swooping Daleks rained death from above. The leading edge of their attack ship appeared through the roiling smoke and loomed over the fortification.
The advancing Daleks headed towards a battle-scarred building. Inside, soldiers fired on them, panic and the fog of war spoiling their aim. The Daleks returned fire with their typical cold precision.
"Victory is imminent! Increase attack!"
"Seek! Locate! Destroy!"
"Exterminate, exterminate, exterminate!"
A small metal sphere fell amongst them. A Dalek in the center of the formation lowered its eyestalk to scan it.
"Danger! Break formation! Break forma-"
The object exploded emitting an electrical discharge passing through every Dalek in the formation. Sparks flew from their casings and they shut down, eyestalks and weapons drooping. The thrower of the object emerged from hiding. For the moment, the fight was over.
Dressed in green military fatigues and black boots, weathered from the conflict, she was protected by salvaged pieces of black armor on her chest and left shoulder. Her right arm was bare, dingy with grime, the tattered sleeve of a green t-shirt at her shoulder. Her blonde hair peeked from underneath a black bandana over her face, young and angelic, smeared with dirt. Still her smile and blue eyes sparkled nonetheless.
"All clear!" she called.
A group of soldiers appeared from the building, keeping their weapons trained on the inactive war machines. Their leader lowered his tiredly. "Well done Jenny, we thought we'd lost you in the canyon."
"Almost did," Jenny said. She turned and kicked one of the Daleks. It rolled backward harmlessly. "Let's get these secured." She admired her handiwork. "Gotta love an EMP grenade. "
"Electromagnetic pulse compensated," one of the Daleks uttered; its eyestalk glowing blue, "systems restoring; weapons charging. Humans detected! Exterminate! Exterminate!"
One of the Daleks opened fire killing a soldier.
"Get back!" cried Jenny. "Get to cover!" She rushed toward the building. The Daleks had adapted again. They had already found ways around her software virus, and her magnetic bombs. The EMP was her last non-lethal option. On the run, she snatched up the rifle of a fallen soldier, its power pack half-full. Diving behind a pile of debris she took aim at the resurging Daleks. "Sorry dad," she muttered, "looks like I'm going to have to be a soldier after all."
"Human resistance detected!"
"Seek! Locate! Destroy!"
"Prepare for ultimate extermination!"
Jenny and the others opened fire. The Daleks returned fire and the blazing battle began anew. The evil creatures closed in. Humans fell. The Daleks seemed invincible.
Then one of the Daleks exploded. And then another.
The Daleks turned in several directions at once, their eyestalks and weapons searching for their attacker, domed heads and bodies rotating separately.
"New threat detected!"
"Seek! Locate! Des…" the Dalek exploded.
"Scanning…scanning! Time Lord Technology detected!"
From behind cover Jenny's eyes grew wide. Risking being shot, she rose to her knees to peer over the crumbling wall, "Dad?"
"Threat identified!" one of the Daleks proclaimed. "Retreat! Retreat! Retreat! Activate teleport!"
"Contact with attack ship lost!"
There was a massive rumble. Jenny and the soldiers looked up in time to see the Dalek ship burning. Explosion after explosion shook the mighty craft before it blazed into a ball of fiery destruction, its wreckage skewing towards the ground away from their base. The rock shook beneath their feet and a massive plume of flaming smoke and dust appeared over the wall from the crash site. Jenny looked back at the remaining Daleks fleeing in an uncoordinated mob. There she found a man standing among the ruination.
He was tall, wearing a burgundy hooded coat which brushed the ground. As he knelt she could see tall leather boots on his feet. Beaming, she rushed over to him. It had been ten years since she left Messaline in search of her father. Now that search was over.
"Dad!"
The man stood and turned toward her. Lowering his hood, she pulled up short. He was not her father. He was dark. He was bald. His face was stern and cold with hazel eyes which reminded her of a predatory cat. He carried a strange weapon in his hand, resembling a short rifle. It shifted and became a hefty staff. He pointed the glossy black end at her and the device whooped quietly a few times before he examined it.
"How is this possible?" he muttered with a frown. He looked back to her and bowed. "I am the Executor and, while I am a Time Lord I assure you I am not your father."