The Dalek command ship had taken up position, in distant orbit around the target planet. Using Arcadia's own moons to conceal their movements, the 'Exterminator' flagships led their complement of battle saucers into position over the planet, the remaining five hundred staying with the command ship.
On board said ship, the commander of the fleet had left the solitude of the tactical chamber and had taken up position on the bridge in a typical display of Dalek power. Around it, semi-translucent rectangular holoscreens displayed the images of ranking officers in the fleet. The designated veteran Dalek, along with a dozen or so saucer commanders, tactically minded controller Daleks, front line command Daleks and the supreme command Dalek (originally the head of the fleet) waited for their orders.
"The first phase of attack has begun." the executive Dalek announced. "The 'Exterminator' commanders will report their status immediately."
"The prime attack squadron is in position." the veteran Dalek replied with apparent eagerness.
A silver and blue science research Dalek said "Secondary attack force in position. Additional time required to reorganise squadrons. Dreadnaught class enemy ships detected in Polar Regions."
Finally, from the supreme command Dalek-
"Diversionary bombing squadron in position. Estimates suggest that wide scale orbital bombardment will be ineffective against Arcadian topography."
"The strategy will proceed as planned." the leader of the fleet spoke angrily to the former leader. "The attack will begin in six hundred rels."
"We obey!"
The meeting stopped for now, and the Daleks concentrated on the task of preparing the fleet for imminent battle. The quiet only lasted for a moment.
"Alert! Alert!" the supreme command Dalek hollered. "Energy discharge detected within target planet's atmosphere. Incoming energy pulse!"
Before any orders could be given, a powerful quake shuddered through the command ship, accompanied by the sound of rolling thunder.
The extra-taxonomic control executive swivelled its head to survey the rumbling ship and barked "Report!"
"Scans detect twenty high powered weapon discharges from the target planet. Weapons identified as moonstone cannons." a pilot on the command ship said.
"Energy discharge has penetrated the shields of 'Exterminator point 2'." the supreme command Dalek quickly assessed the damage to its ship. "Energy discharge registers as weak. Hull penetration at less than one percent. Commencing repairs."
Another command ship pilot said "Enemy attack trajectories calculated. Accuracy estimated at eighteen percent."
The Dalek in charge of the fleet dismissed the pilot with a look, then addressed its direct underlings.
"The enemy weapon fire is not designed for extra-terrestrial combat. The current attack is of no consequence to the Daleks. Continue with the strategy. Ignore all subsequent attacks."
"We obey!" the Daleks chorused once again.
"Phase two will begin soon. Begin scanning for Time Lord activity. Find the Doctor."
On the Isle of Saile, a mile or so north of the Soltis Bastille, the moonstone cannon at the Saile garrison opened fire again. A beam of pink tinted energy connected with the top of the sky like a pillar. The floating island and the platform extensions that held the large town shook in the backwash of smashed atoms and burnt air.
"Damn it to hell!" a young woman's voice exclaimed over a radio as the blast caught the fins of her 'Engager'. Commander Canaan Li looked in rear view refractor on the roof of his cockpit just in time to see her nearly go head first into the ship in front of her.
"Hold it together, Flight Officer." he tried to sound professional, though truthfully he felt tempted to join in with the laughs of the other three members of his squadron. Barbara 'Harpoon' Armstrong was one of two members of the Saile 12th Striker Class squadron who were vying for the position of cockiest pilot, and to see her floundering from fire from one of their own cannons was highly satisfying in its irony.
"Easy said than done boss. Ain't they 'sposed to be aiming at the rust buckets?"
"Don't know why they bother." said the other woman in the group, second in command Colonel Samantha Mosconi "The ozone layer will eat most of the energy before it gets anywhere near those ships; they're just wasting their time."
"They're doing it because that's what the higher ups tell them to do." Canaan addressed all his wing mates via the general frequency. "It is just for show. The real Dalek smashing begins with us. The Precision Class squadron assigned to us is just coming up now, so switch to battle frequency and call signs."
Several 'clicks' sounded through the cockpit as the communications transmissions changed to more secure lines. As soon as the Nasrian Commander changed his frequency, a new voice was already coming through to him.
"This is the Claudia 3rd Precision Class squadron. Lead code name Blitz Bolt. Do you read me?"
"This is Up With The Sun to Blitz Bolt. Gregorius Von Brandt, are you really still alive?"
Marshal Von Brandt smiled ironically as the Commander's dark skinned face appeared on his comm device. The leader of the three ship bomber group had known Canaan for years, and ever since the younger man had been made head of the 'Engager' squadron, they had frequency been assigned to work together to face various threats to Arcadian peace and security.
"Don't get clever with me Commander. I was flying sorties when you were still in the grunt fleets learning the difference between a sardis and a sky eel."
Canaan chuckled light heartedly.
The three 'Assaulter' ships (or bombers as most worlds would call them) manoeuvred to join the five 'Engagers', their chucky cubic shapes looking ugly next to the sleek, oval light attack craft. Where the fighters had artistically forward sweeping repulser wings and four retracting spike fins at the rear of their ships, the bombers had rudder equipped tails and cumbersome circular engines piping away either side of the two-man cockpit, which combined with the revolver chamber style missile batteries on top, made the savage aircraft look like a four-year-olds idea of what a flying car would look like. The ominous gunmetal black that coloured the ships completely was the only indication of the fury their weaponry could deliver. Being stationed in Mid-Ocean, the fighters were naturally a shade of white in honour of the silver moon above, only the twin repulser guns and four guided rockets at the front allowed to keep their natural colour.
They took up position behind the shining silver fighters of the Saile 12th, Von Brant in the Blitz Bolt, and his wing mates in the Fire Wall and the Catch This. The fighters were the Up With The Sun (Canaan's ship), the Chaos Theory (Colonel Mosconi's) and the Shoot 1 For Me (Barbara Armstrong), along with the ships of the two male Flight Officers, Moving Target and Chop 'Em Up.
"We're in position. Begin briefing Commander" unlike other armies, Arcadia used rank to determine a person's job as well as their level of authority. Commander Canaan and Marshal Gregorius were of equal rank, and as the older man the bomber pilot should have taken command, yet it was a matter of Arcadian etiquette that 'Assaulter' pilots gave way to the authority of 'Engager' pilots.
"Alright people." the Commander began. "We've got intel straight from the prow on this one. Some major scientific advisor in command says the Daleks are going to be attacking Valua. We've going to be working alongside three other specialist squadrons, five mass swarm fleets and two bombarder fleets."
There was a moment of silence as everybody acknowledged the vast scale of the operation. The silence was broken by the voice of the second smart-mouthed pilot in the Saile squadron.
"Sorry to spoil the happy moment," Gaspard Blanchet radioed from the Moving Target "but if this is gonna be such a massive battle, shouldn't we be like, ten miles closer to Valua. I know you're the best shot Commander but tryin' to hit something from this far-"
"Cut it out pilot." Canaan sounded annoyed; or was he tense?
"This is no laughing matter. All specialist squadrons have been assigned to strategic positions between Nasr and Valua. After the first attack wave comes in we're to be ready to ambush a ship that's supposed to come down and attack Valua from the south; they say it's going to be a capital class."
"A capital class!" someone exclaimed. Despite all their long experience as combat fliers, none of the pilots have ever even seen a capital class star ship before. Few people on Arcadia had since the world simply didn't have the resources to even think of creating such a massive piece of hardware for themselves. And now they were expected to shoot one down before its weapons took their terrible toll on one of the greatest land masses on the planet.
"Man, I knew I should have joined the infantry." said Barbara 'Harpoon' Armstrong.
If anything, the infantry were having an even worse time of it, especially in the lands under the purple moon.
In the Arcadian infantry, Sergeant was only one rank above Trooper, yet Sergeant Dayo Walkers still felt as though the responsibility she held was threatening to crush her.
Still, at least she wasn't in the same situation as the platoon Lieutenant. Both of them had been promoted far sooner they should have been. Dalek scout ships that had made it past the collection of bounty hunters and military ships that prowled deep space had made some experimental attacks against Arcadia, and the original Lieutenant and Sergeant in charge of their platoon had been killed. The two low ranking soldiers were only supposed to assume temporary command until the frigate they were assigned to returned to Soltis and experienced officers could be transferred. Now it looked like they would never get back to Soltis.
Floating over the barren icy wastes for miles around, dozens of dreadnaught gunboats waited, silent and unmoving in the frigid wind. Like sky sharks patiently biding their time before making the killing blow, more of the ships hid in the thick cloud cover beneath the lip of the polar continent. Although they couldn't all be seen in the dense fog, there were likely to be more than a hundred of these ships positioned in the area. The impending battle would be monstrous.
Each frigate was a hundred feet long and shaped like a barbed arrow head. With the bridge and control towers set at the back of the vessel, almost the whole top surface of the ship was free to equip with several high velocity shell cannons. The double barrelled guns were mounted with four on either side of the boat, leaving a sort of trench in between the two sets. A little way in front of the bridge, a quartet of torpedo tubes were already open in preparation. The remaining space on the deck was taken up by foot soldiers that were dragging complicated looking pieces of machinery into place.
Apart from the standard moonstone ballistae, the troops had been ordered to deploy another type of heavy weapon supplied by human empire's military command. The neo-EMP projector delivered electrical blasts supposedly strong enough to disable a Dalek travel machine and cook the mutants themselves alive. They looked like a pair of giant tripods that had been balanced on top of each other, tip-to-tip, and were about as structurally stable as such. They'd already broken eight just carrying them out of the cargo hold.
"You really think this thing is going to be enough to total a rust bucket?" one of the Troopers called over the gale that whistled through the barrels of the ship mounted weapons. The technician he was talking to tipped his head to the side, the shrug on his face hidden by the mask studded with blue and red moonstone pellets.
"It'll have to be." Sergeant Walkers said. "We've gotta make sure the Daleks don't try and cut their way inside the ship. If those things don't work, we'll have to rely on these." she indicated with disgust the carbine hanging from her shoulder. With the latest attack on the human race, the Arcadian troops had been forced to set aside the ancient tradition of using personalised weapons powered by moonstones in order to use the latest mass produced laser rifles; brutal, inelegant, and environmentally disastrous. Dayo thought longingly of her dagger and flintlock back in the barracks.
As they waited while the technician struggled to connect the power supply with mitten clad hands, there was a slight tremor in the air. They all ignored it at first, assuming it was some minor fluctuation in the ships engines, but then they felt another shudder, and then another. In the time it took for the technician and the soldier to climb to their feet, the air was filled with little shudders. Across the deck, everyone else was looking around in equal confusion.
"It's coming from above." the Sergeant looked up to the sky as she spoke.
"Sonic pulses." the technician said grimly. "Ships entering the planet's atmosphere. The Daleks are coming."
The atmosphere of the operations room was solid tension. No one spoke. They'd done all they could to prepare. Every military owned ship on the planet had been made ready and positioned for the coming battle. Strategies and counter strategies had been planned and distributed to every commanding officer, and every tactical operator across the planet had set up a direct link to Soltis to get live updates on the Dalek movements. Now it was just a matter of waiting for the first attack.
Neither the Brigadier nor any of the other bounty hunters had come back, and Vice-Commodore Juárez had taken to pacing nervously round the room, impatiently nudging anyone he decided wasn't paying enough attention to their work. That left the Doctor sitting alone with Aki at the back of the control dais. Aki was distracting herself by reading from a leather bound journal, while the Doctor used the internet to brush up on his Arcadian history.
He'd found very little on silver magic. Despite the worlds lasting interest in arcane powers, the study of silver moonstones had died out after bloody civil war that took place several thousand years ago. The only reference he found to the abilities of silver magic users were myths and legends, mostly based around a girl called Fina who (if the stories were to be believed) had been the last member of a race known as silvites, and had been an ally of the great pirate king Vyse.
Still, with a few minutes grace before the Dalek onslaught, there was no reason why he shouldn't just ask Aki about it. She seemed to be taking the situation pretty well; in fact he felt quite impressed with her.
"So," he said casually "time sight?"
Aki looked up sharply. The Doctor assumed she'd probably be as hostile and suspicious of him as her Captain, so he ploughed on before she had the chance to ignore him.
"It's very interesting to me. From what I've heard, 'magic' from the silver moon is barely even heard of these days, but you're able to use it in apparently great quantities. You must have a very sharp mind to have that power. How does it work exactly?"
Aki looked away without answering. The Doctor tried a different tactic.
"Oh come on; don't be coy. Surely a little part of you wants to let people know how clever you are to have been able to use those powers? It's not as though I don't have an idea of what it's like- when you used that time sight I felt it in your mind. It was an impressive display, but from what I saw I bet I could get the hang of it if I had a silver moonstone of my own."
The Doctor had been hoping to goad Aki into spilling the beans. He was expecting her to be affronted, either because he'd seen part of her mind, or because he suggested that learning silver magic wasn't such a big deal. To his surprise, Aki didn't display any anger at all. As she looked up at him again, no malice seemed to radiate from her eyes. If anything, she seemed shy and nervous. Now the Doctor wondered if by trying to rile her, he'd intimidated her into clamming up completely.
"I... I didn't think... your saw my mind?" Aki stammered slightly, her voice nearly lost in the clothing over her face.
"Well, not clearly." the Doctor quickly tried to repair the damage he'd caused. "Just had an impression of what that 'spell' did. You know I'm a Time Lord- I have perceptions that make me see the movements of time automatically." he explained with an apologetic smile.
Aki relaxed a little at the smile. She said "Well, the power of the silver moon does have links to the flow of time, so that's understandable."
"Well," the Doctor tried again "how exactly does it work then? I've searched and searched but I can't find any concrete scientific analysis of the silver moon."
"No, there never has been. The silver moon is made of a form of incarnated psychic energy, so effectively the moon itself is filled with 'thoughts' of its own. Because the moons are part of the balance of Arcadia's existence, the silver moon is filled with the concepts that make up the underlying structure of Arcadia's existence. That means concepts of time, matter, life and death."
The Doctor nodded his head appreciatively.
"Well, that's quite a moon. Very impressive to have mastered those sorts of powers when you're so young."
Aki looked away again, but the Time Lord could have sworn he'd seen a little blush rising up her face. The Doctor smiled; Aki was certainly a pleasant change to Gonzales' moody disposition.
"Thank you, but I'm not as young as I look you know."
"That makes two of us."
The Doctor paused for a moment as Aki gave gentle titter. Apparently she was aware of Time Lord's massive life spans.
"So the silver moon controls life as well?"
"Absolutely. Magicians from the dark ages were able to create golem servants by putting life into metal bodies. They could also cause instant death to their enemies, or even save people from the brink of death. But most of those powers really have been lost through the ages."
"That's still quite a lot of power. With a silver moon stone, you could probably turn that power towards yourself and extend your own lifespan."
The warmth that Aki's eyes were giving out just a moment ago dampened a bit when the Doctor said that. She looked at him with uncertainty.
"In fact, with the silver moon shining its power on Mid Ocean constantly, you could probably extend your life indefinitely." the Doctor carried on as though he hadn't noticed Aki's unease.
"Doctor," Aki leaned towards him a little "when you said you sensed me using the time sight spell-"
"To look into time like that you'd have to have already concentrated silver magic into yourself. I'll wager you'd need a lot of time to train and gain experience to do that with such skill; the sort of time you'd only get if you extended your life by many years beyond its natural end."
Aki looked away. The Doctor watched as her confidence drained away. He didn't like distressing the young girl (or old girl? Who knows how long she may have been alive) but he needed to have some answers.
"I take it you were the one who found out about me and the Time Lords. With your time sight I must have been an open book to you."
Aki met the Doctors eyes, guilt and shame coming from her plainly.
"I'm sorry Doctor." she said. "I didn't want to manipulate you, but I and Captain Gonzales had to do something to save Arcadia. After the rest of our crew were killed by the Daleks, we knew we weren't strong enough to stop them. You were our only hope."
The Doctor found he couldn't bring himself to feel angry with Aki. In many ways he saw similarities between him and her. They both had unnatural abilities that set them apart from others, they had more age and wisdom than most people would probably ever understand, and the Doctor couldn't deny that in the past he too had made some pretty ruthless decisions for the sake of the greater good. He returned her gaze, a little bit of disappointment in his expression.
"No need to be sorry; you only did what you felt was right."
Aki didn't answer.
An uncomfortable silence came over the pair. The Doctor quickly filled the vacuum by saying "You don't seem at all like the other bounty hunters, except perhaps Robo. How did you end up becoming one of them?"
The Arcadian woman seemed a bit hesitant to answer, but she gave in to a pleading look from the Time Lord.
"Well, since I have these powers, I want to use them to help people. And I enjoy the thrill of a good adventure very much. But in the end, I think the main reason is because I'm inspired by the stories of the Blue Rogues."
"Blue Rogues?" the Doctor asked. "You mean the pirates from ancient myths. Why?"
"Well, their lives were full of everything I want in my life- adventure, exploration, a chance to help people, rewards for defeating criminals and spoils of war to be gained from fighting them."
"So essentially the Blue Rogues were just a bunch of cut throats?"
"No, it wasn't like that in those times." Aki said, for the first time with an exasperated tone. "Arcadia was a different world back then."
"Well, it's just that in my experience people who make a living by fighting and stealing from others are rarely good people."
Aki shook her head and said "In the ancient times, Arcadia was a world of very limited resources. It still is, but back then they didn't have the technology that we have today. People didn't even have the ships to travel to all parts of the world, so trade was almost non-existent. Eventually, those who obtained enough power began empire building in order to seize as much land, food and water for their own people as possible. Many of those outside these empires began to stave. Some became ruthless killers known as 'Black Pirates' but most people were peaceful and didn't want to become like that. The Blue Rogue pirates started as an alliance of sailors who collectively served their communities by stealing supplies from the empires and sharing them throughout the smaller, less bountiful regions. The Blue Rogues had a strict code of morals and ethics that were so highly developed that in some unsettled regions they were more like law enforcers than pirates."
"I see." the Doctor took a moment to think about Aki's brief history lesson. It certainly made sense, and explained why all Arcadian history appeared to be based round anything to do with air pirates. It also explained why the whole world thought so much of the pirate king Vyse.
The Doctor was suddenly struck by a thought.
"In your original life, before you used silver magic to extend it, were there still air pirates on Arcadia?"
Aki reacted surprise at the Doctor's guess. After a second or two she said "Yes, actually."
'So that's why she was so uppity when I called the Rogues cutthroats.' thought the Doctor. 'She's had experience of what they were really like. But that must make her thousands of years old!'
Another thought struck the Doctor. He turned back to the computer he'd been using and brought up an image.
"Look at this, Aki." he said.
The mysterious woman stood and moved over to the Doctor so she could see the computer. On the screen was an image of a famous piece of Arcadian artwork. Though the pixelated screen did it no justice, the picture was clearly of a fabulous oil painting, depicting three heroic looking characters standing on the deck of a flying galleon. The man at the centre of the group was the great Vyse, with his distinctive Mid Oceanic features and eye patch. To his left was a girl in a dull yellow sort of bodice, with flaming red hair and a wild smile on her face. To Vyse's right was a dainty looking girl wearing a white dress and veil over her shoulder length blond hair.
"This girl in white; she pops up quite a lot in those old legends. Fina, last of the silvite race- a civilisation that lived under the silver moon and had an advanced understanding of technology and silver magic."
The Doctor turned back to Aki again and said "I'm thinking that to use silver magic as well as you do, you'd need a brilliant teacher. And since Fina is the only recorded survivor of the silvite race; you wouldn't by chance have lived long enough to have known her, would you?"
Aki looked at the Doctor, the expression in her eyes unclear. She seemed uncertain how to react. The Doctor wondered if maybe he should give up his questioning. Then again, it was more than just curiosity that made him ask Aki about her past. He wanted to understand more of her nature, her way of thinking. Not just so he knew it was safe to trust her, but because of a certain connection he felt they had. The similarities in their character and the link to her mind he felt when she used her time sight was not something he intended to ignore. So he waited quietly and patiently to see what she'd say.
"It depends on what you mean by 'known her'." Aki said, choosing her words carefully. "In truth, I know little of the person who taught me my powers. They were mysterious and secretive-"
'So that's where you get it from.' the Doctor thought but didn't say.
"-but it's said in the legends that the air pirates Fina and Vyse departed from Arcadia itself after their friend Aika died. If that's true, I suppose Fina of the silvites must have left the world, and so I could not have learned magic from her."
"But can you be sure the legends were right about that story at all?"
"Most certainly, Doctor." Aki indicated the red haired girl on the computer screen. "The tomb of Aika was discovered centuries ago. The first city in Ixa'taka was built on the site of her grave and is name after her. If that part of the story is true-"
"What I meant was, were you there to see it?" the Doctor interrupted.
This time, Aki didn't bother to try and talk her way out of a direct answer. She looked down to the floor clasping her hands nervously under her robes.
Deciding he was fighting a losing battle, the Doctor looked back towards his bank of computers.
The silence went on for a minute or two, both the Time Lord and the Arcadian trying to decide what to say next. They weren't allowed the opportunity, as an alarm began screaming. Everybody in the room was thrown violently from their thoughts and back to reality as every radar scanner in the room reported major disturbance.
"We have a blue DEFCON situation!" one of the senior Operator's in the control dais shouted as the Vice-Commodore came rushing over. "Dalek ships have entered the atmosphere! One minute till they're in attack range!"
"Prime attack squadron will reach attack range in fifty eight rels." the designated veteran Dalek reported.
"Confirmed." answered the executive Dalek. "All Dalek communications will now be limited to priority battle reports."
The holoscreens cut off after a quick "We obey!" from the Dalek leaders.
From where it stood on the bridge, the Dalek in command of the fleet watched the logistical displays as the first wave of ships moved in for the attack.
"Incoming transmission from target planet." a pilot turned to its leader. "Transmission frequency matches that of non-Dalek spy unit 'Beta-Gamma-6'."
"How has the transmission penetrated the communications barrier!?" the senior Dalek roared.
"An Arcadian scout ship has been deployed in the upper atmosphere of the planet." the pilot said, unable to hide its worry at its master's outrage. "A rogue signal is being relayed through the scout ship's communications systems. The signal has not been intercepted by the ship, or by the Arcadian military."
"Then cancel the transmission. Find the ship and destroy it. The spy must not be allowed to expose them self. They may still be of use to the Dalek cause."
"I obey!"