CHAPTER 3

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

Marissa could see familiar energy signatures on her TARDIS instruments. She knew who was behind this now. It was yet another familiar face from her past come back to haunt her.

"What have you gotten me into, old girl?" Marissa asked her TARDIS mournfully.

"You know who they are, don't you?" Peri asked accusingly.

"Yes, I do. I have no idea why they're bothering you though," Marissa said honestly.

"Of course you don't," Peri said.

"Stop it, Peri! Do you want to get your daughter back or not? If you do, then kindly shut up and let me do my best to find her!" Marissa said in a sudden fit of rage.

"It's about time! I was sick of seeing you just put up with it," Oswin said with a grin.

Peri looked furious, but she said nothing more for the moment. She saw that she was starting to awaken the fury of a Time Lord and wisely decided to back down.

Peri went to the side of the TARDIS where Marissa couldn't see her and began to break down. She was trying very hard not to, but she couldn't stop herself.

Oswin felt immediately sympathetic towards her and walked up to her. She put a hand on her shoulder and said, "She really is trying to help you, and she will. She'll get her back for you I promise. She's not the woman that you once knew. She's one of the best people that I know."

"I know that you believe that, but I have trouble trusting her. She does act differently now, but she's a great actress. She manipulates people and gets them to believe her. Then, she pulls the rug out from under you. She once convinced me that she was dying and needed to get a pill to save her life, and then she attacked me," Peri confided in Oswin.

"You'll see, Peri. You'll find out that she's a decent person now," Oswin said confidently.

"I want her back. I want her safe," Peri said as she tried to keep from breaking down again.

"You will get her back. I'll make sure of it. The people behind this are cowards at heart just like all bullies. I'll deal with them in no time," Marissa said in a kind voice as she came up behind them.

Peri turned to look at her in confusion. It really did seem like she had changed and actually cared. She hoped that it was true for Janine's sake.

"Thank you!" Peri said, and then began to completely break down in tears.

Marissa hugged her tightly and let her cry on her shoulder for a while. Oswin couldn't help but smile at this act of compassion. Peri had just been slandering her left and right, but she was still there to comfort her when she needed it. This was Marissa in a nutshell.

They all heard the sound of a TARDIS materializing with its brakes on then. Marissa knew that it was Koschei and immediately ran to meet him.

Oswin had no idea why Marissa liked Koschei so much. She couldn't stand him personally. All he had ever done was make fun of her when she had been a Dalek. The man was just bad news as far as she was concerned. Yet for some reason, Marissa was in love with him. She had decided to hold her tongue about the whole thing and keep out of Marissa's private affairs.

If she ever found out that Koschei had hurt her though, then it would be a different story. Then Oswin would make him very much regret every nasty thing that he had ever said to her. After all, she had access to the Dalek net and could easily instruct them that Koschei was their mortal enemy and that killing him should be given top priority! That would keep him busy for a while! she thought to herself with an evil grin.

The man in question exited his TARDIS and greeted Marissa with a quick kiss on the lips. Marissa smiled widely for the first time that day as she watched him with joy in her eyes.

"So what seems to be the problem, Mari? What is it that you needed to call on the Big Gun to help you solve?" Koschei said with smugness.

"I believe that an old ally of mine from my bad old days has decided to overthrow the Queen of Krontep and install themselves in as the rulers of this planet for some reason. I have no idea why though. They've also kidnapped the Queen's daughter, and we have no idea where she is," Marissa explained.

"The Queen of Krontep? You mean . . ." Koschei said with a look of horror on his face as he realized just who that she was talking about.

"It's you, isn't it? I'd recognize that smug look and that stupid grin anywhere. You're the Master!" Peri accused him as she came out of Marissa's TARDIS.

"I just go by Koschei these days," Koschei said with a grin.

"I don't care what you call yourself now. You're still rotten to the core," Peri said angrily.

"Stop it! He's here to help," Marissa said.

"He's got you fooled then, Mari. All I can see is the same old basking in his own ego that he did the last time that I met him," Peri said.

Marissa almost smiled at her words. She had called her 'Mari', and was talking to her like she believed in her now. She almost seemed as protective towards her about the matter of her relationship with Koschei as Oswin was.

"He's trying to change, Peri. Believe me, he is," Marissa said.

"I believe that you think that he is. I'll reserve judgment on that for myself," Peri said.

Peri then smiled at Marissa as if she were letting her know that she had no hard feeling towards her but only Koschei. Oswin and Marissa both looked at each other with a grin. They were both glad that Peri had finally realized that they were on her side.

A communication then came through on Marissa's console from the instigator of the events on this planet. They all heard a raspy voice say, "Hello, mistress Rani. We know that you're here. How fitting that we now get our chance to gain revenge on you at the same time as we pull off a coup that will finally help us with our planet's food shortages."

"I'm going to stop you, Urak. You're not going to get away with this. Let Peri's daughter go, and I'll go easier on you. Do anything to harm her in any way, and I may be tempted to revisit my old self for a moment and bring some of her old tricks out to play against you," Marissa warned him.

"I'd heard that you'd gotten too soft to do such things anymore," Urak said with a chuckle.

"Hurt the girl, and see what happens," Marissa threatened him with pure concentrated anger in her voice.

Urak actually seemed to have a little fear in his voice now as he said, "Nothing will happen to her if Queen Peri agrees to abdicate the throne to my people, the Tetraps. She should meet us back in her throne room immediately to do so or her daughter dies."

"I'll be there. Just don't hurt her," Peri said.

"Excellent. We shall give you thirty of your minutes to arrive. After that, we kill your daughter! Do you understand?" Urak threatened.

"I understand. I want you to understand this, whoever you are, if you do anything to her; I'll do the same thing to you!" Peri promised him.

"I like you. You have spirit. It will be great doing business with you. Just sign over the planet; and the two of you will be free to go with your new friend, the Rani," Urak said.

Urak signed off right after that. Peri could do nothing but stare at the console in silence. She had no idea what to do except to go along with Urak's plan.

"Who is he?" Oswin asked Marissa.

"He's the leader of a race of bat like aliens called the Tetraps from the planet Tetrapyriarbus. I used them once as hired muscle to help me take over the planet Lakertya. That backfired on me though thanks to the Doctor, and I wound up taken prisoner by them for a while after my plans fell apart. They wanted me to solve their food crisis then too, but I escaped," Marissa explained.

"How will taking over this planet help them with their food problems? What do they eat?" Peri asked.

"Blood plasma, Peri. They want to use the people of Krontep as their new food source," Marissa said darkly.

"I can't sign over the planet to them! I can't allow that to happen," Peri said in horror.

"If you don't though, then your daughter will die," Oswin said.

"That's the problem that we have to solve. How to kick Urak and the others out without getting Janine killed at the same time?" Marissa said in a worried voice.

"Don't worry, Mari. I'll save the day just like I always do. I'm on the job now so there's no need to fear," Koschei said arrogantly.

Marissa groaned as Oswin said, "Why does that not make me feel any better?"

Next: Peri goes to meet with the Tetraps while Oswin, Mari, and Koschei attempt to come up with a way to save everyone. Also, who is secretly helping the Tetraps and why?