Chapter 9: The Rescue at Eta Prime – Part 2


At the maintenance bay area of the Dalek mother ship, the Dalek Commander, responsible for escorting Romana to her prison cell, went by the reception desk to inquire the status of the ticket he punched in earlier about the two damaged Daleks.

"Dalek Maintenance Officer, did you see any two damaged Daleks coming in for repairs?" inquired the Dalek Commander.

"I have received your ticket in regards for two damaged Daleks. But, I have not seen them entered," replied the Dalek Maintenance Controller.

"Are you sure Maintenance Officer? Please send search drones to find for these damaged Daleks and bring them here for repairs. We do not want to have immobile Daleks within our ranks."

"Yes, Commander, I will deploy the search drones, right now."

"Good, Maintenance Officer, as you were," said the Dalek Commander as he drove away to the prison holding bay, located a few floors below.

Meanwhile

"This is a very creepy and claustrophobic place. It feels like we're entering some sort of biomechanoid beehive," said Oslin as she and the Doctor stealthily walked hallway to hallway, corridor to corridor in search of Romana's whereabouts.

"Indeed, my dear Oslin, indeed. The interior designs of the Dalek mother ships reflect the uniform, hive mindset of the Daleks. The Daleks always desire to be the master race of the universe and to achieve that status they need to have a standardized cohesion of efficiency in both form and mind," replied the Doctor.

"I really wonder what would drive such a robotic race to be that way."

"The Daleks are actually more like cyborgs. Inside of each Dalek is an octopus-like creature. They are placed inside a compartment below the data core that we have seen earlier back on Gallifrey. These creatures are an artificially created species, engineered with the sole purpose to hate anything living in the universe. I was there during the genesis of these Daleks when Davros, a member of the Kaled race, engineered these species to wage war against their enemy, the Thals. However, Davros being a megalomaniacal chauvinist, used his Dalek creations to exterminate his own people as a stepping stone for his Dalek creations to be the master race," explain the Doctor.

"You mean genocide against his people? That's crazy!"

"I know, Oslin, I know. The Daleks see themselves as the supreme beings of the universe. They are willing to kill anything that they perceive as either weak or a threat to their empire, which is why they want to destroy, us the Time Lords," replied the Doctor

"If you were there during the birth of the Daleks, is that why Chancellor Cassius accused you for not taking out Davros then?" inquired Oslin, curious on the Doctor's knowledge about the Daleks.

"The Chancellor is right. I should have killed Davros right then. But, at that time, during my 4th body, I've realized that what right do I have to destroy an entire a race? If I would do it then, would the same thing could apply elsewhere and everywhere, else-when and every-when. What would happened if the humans back on Earth…yes, the humans that I care and do love, one day become just as hostile as the Daleks, do I have the right then to destroy them too? I know the humans themselves from time to time can be as violent as the Daleks, but they have this amazing ability to contain themselves without harming anyone? Also, at that time, I follow the Time Lords' ancient code that all life should evolve any way that they need to survive and all conflicts between species can be resolved peacefully without having one party be preserved at the expense of the other," said the Doctor as he and Oslin continued walking through a hallway.

The Doctor continued, "I thought at that time that there could be a second chance for the Daleks to mend their ways and find peace between themselves and their enemies."

"But Doctor, during Time Lord History, we did not always follow that ancient rule. We did in fact wipe out entire a race called the Racnoss, the spider people...for they are just as evil...as the Daleks."

"I know...we, Timelords always have an exception to the rule and rules must be bent to preserve all life in the universe. I was young and naive back then and that's why I am beginning to regret that day in preventing the Daleks' ascension. I might be as well be hold responsible for starting this time war and witness how much blood is spelt from the palms of my...own...two...hands," said the Doctor as he stopped for one second, turned his head to the wall to his right, and placed his two hands on it, grieving for what he had done.

Oslin, looked at the Doctor, began to recall seeing that similar facial expression of her Doctor, many years in the future or many years in the past of her timeline. The facial expression of pain, guilt, tears, and internal demons began to eat away the heart of one brave man that Oslin called friend.

Oslin walked over to the Doctor, placed her left arm around the Doctor's waist and her right hand on the Doctor's right hand to bring it down to Doctor's waist level. Oslin used her right hand to grip the Doctor's right hand tightly to comfort him.

"It's okay, Doctor. What's past is in the past...all we got to do is push forward and fix the things that's started no matter where the fault lies. I heard many great things about you from my time with Romana," said Oslin as the Doctor feeling the grip on his right hand.

The Doctor stepped back a bit, with his left hand now at his left side, and turned his attention to Oslin.

"Really, Oslin? What did she say about me?" asked the Doctor as he looked at the short 5'2 tall Gallifreyan.

"During my time with Romana, Romana once told me about how great you are. She said you are always full of life, brilliant, mad, and no matter how bad things get; you always find a way out. Romana told me that, yes you may have bad outcomes, but what truly amazes her is that you always persevere and you never turn back to doubt yourself," replied Oslin.

"Did she really say that or are you just saying that to cheer me up?" said the Doctor, trying to act all smart.

"Doctor, stop giving me that look. Romana did say those things to me. I am her one of her aides after all. She does miss you from time the time and you've been on her mind. Here...this a seal that Romana gave me," said Oslin as she let go of the Doctor's Hand, and pull out a piece of hidden fabric from her boot, revealing Romana's name in circular Gallifreyan.

The Doctor took the fabric out of Oslin's hand and look at it, realizing that Oslin was telling the truth.

"She truly said those things, then. Well, by all means...let's go then," said the Doctor as he and Oslin ran to a nearby computer terminal.

"Ahhh...yes, a computer terminal. Let me take out my sonic screwdriver and hack into its system to find Romana," said the Doctor as he use his sonic to look into the terminals internal memory.

Meanwhile…

The prison door opened to a room where a brave, beautifully woman sat in a corner of her space. The Dalek commander went inside and ordered the lady to follow him.

"Lord President Romana, come with me. We have a special message for you from Davros," said the Dalek Commander.

"What is it that you want from me? You're nothing more than little children playing with fire and the problem with playing with fire is that all of you will burn," replied Romana.

"Enough with your swearing at us Time Lord, you must come. It's an order!" said the Dalek Commander as he comes closer and used his spatula-looking arm to intimidate Romana to follow his command.

"I will not be intimidated by you. I am a Time Lady and Lord President of Gallifrey. Know your etiquette if you wish to receive my utmost respect and cooperation," said Romana.

"Certainly, Time Lady President Romana. Proceed through the hallway and follow the two Daleks in front of you," replied the Dalek Commander.

As Romana walked along the hallway to her pending possible doom, Romana thought to herself, 'I will see this through no matter the cost. I have full faith in my people in overcoming any menace. I can sense two other Time Lords nearby. Hopefully it's the Doctor and Oslin coming to rescue me.'

Romana followed her Dalek escorts to what appears to be a communication room. The Dalek Commander instructed Romana to walk to her left to a white-colored seating apparatus. Romana sat down and all of sudden magnetic-cuffs locked her arms and legs to the sitting apparatus. As her limbs are locked in place, a silver-colored chrome, went up from the back of the chair and stationed itself above Romana's head.

"Are you surprise my dear, Time Lady?" said familiar message coming through a communications screen on a big wall across from where Romana sat.

"What's the meaning of this? You won't dare to kill a Time Lady not even Lord President," exclaimed Romana as she tried to keep her calm composure to seek through this dilemma.

"I am not planning to kill you. That's too easy and too quick to satisfy my hunger for hate towards my worthy enemy, the Time Lords!"

"I see what you want from me then, Davros. You want the knowledge that's inside my mind," said Romana.

"That's right my dear, dear Lady. Knowledge. Just like how you extracted priceless information from my clone back on Eta Prime, I am going to do it on you. With the knowledge gathered on the strengths and weaknesses of your people, the Daleks will become invincible," replied Davros as he continued further, "The apparatus you are sitting on is a cerebral-data extractor. All it does it digs into your mind and extracts all the knowledge and memories of your experiences as a Time Lady. With this knowledge, I will have everything to all of the wonders of what your people have achieved and with it the Daleks will become Gods amongst the cosmos!"

"You will never get the knowledge! I won't let you!" screamed Romana

"Dalek Commander, commence the extraction…" ordered Davros.

"Commencing," replied the Dalek, executing Davros's order.

"Ahhhhh…I won't let you have it," screamed Romana.

Back at the Computer Terminal…

"I can't seem to get a fixed on Romana's location," said the Doctor as he tries to adjust the settings on this sonic-screwdriver in order to hack into the Dalek computer terminal.

"Let me try, Doctor," said Oslin as she snatched away the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, took it apart and pull its wires and detachable circuits.

"Oslin, what are you doing? That's my sonic! My beautiful sonic and you're...taking it apart!" exclaimed a shocked Doctor.

"Doctor, shut up! It's called hacking! Watch and see what a girl gotta do what a girl gotta do," said Oslin as she used the wires and the detachable circuits from the sonic screwdriver to open up the bottom portion of the terminal and hacked into the hardware.

In the next few seconds, Oslin was able to hack into the terminal and pop up a detailed map of the Dalek mother ship. On this detailed map, it shows circles in different colors. The brown circles represent the Daleks and the red ones represent non-Dalek entities, three of them: The Doctor, Oslin, and Lady Romana.

"Oslin, what in the name of Rassilon have you done? This is Dalek technology. These things are hard to hack, let alone the amount of time to do so," said a bewildering and flabbergasted Doctor.

"Doctor...I am TARDIS engineer, remember? I've spent many years constructing the complexities such time vehicles. In so doing, our technology makes the Dalek technology child's play. Whoever designed this ship is a complete egomaniacal imbecile, there's too many faults with this piece of junk," explained Oslin.

As Oslin finished with the hacking, she stood right back where she was before.

"Here you go Doctor. Back in one piece," said Oslin as she returned the sonic screwdriver back to the Doctor.

"Oslin, how on Gallifrey did you do that?" reacted the Doctor as he took back his sonic screwdriver and tested it to see if it still works and it did.

"You took apart my sonic screwdriver, used its components to hacked into this computer, and then put the sonic back together again without a slightest defect in the process. You're really are good! You're truly a worthy companion…you're really a…" said the Doctor, but got immediately interrupted.

"…impossible girl," replied Oslin, just to finish the Doctor's last word.

"Yes and how did you know I am going to say that?" asked the Doctor.

"Just a lucky guess, I was about to say 'soufflé girl,' but I think impossible girl really since that fits the... best..." replied Oslin, gasping at what she just said, realizing that it's too soon to mention such a thing.

"Hold on…what did you just say? Soufflé girl…I heard you mentioned about soufflé earlier and you shut me up. Soufflé is an earth recipe. We don't have such a delicacy back on Gallifrey. Since you are a TARDIS engineer, did you happen to 'borrow' TARDIS a bit and traveled to Earth? Did you? And secondly…you look pretty familiar, have we met before?" asked a more impatient and stern Doctor, trying to get to the bottom of the mystery behind Oslin.

"Ummm…ummm..." said Oslin as she tried to find some way to end the conversation. Feeling awkward inside her, with her chest, weighing with anxiety and her mind blanking out for something to say, Oslin looked at the computer monitor and found something.

"Doctor…I think that's Romana's location. Look over there!" said a startled Oslin, who walked past the Doctor's confrontation and point her right index finger at a red dot, indicating another non-Dalek life form present.

"Wait...what? Oh yes…let me have a look," said the Doctor. He pointed his sonic screwdriver at the screen like a remote control with buttons pressed to scan and pull up an additional pop-up menus on the screen to confirm the identity of this red dot.

"Whoa…you really did a good job not only in hacking in this computer terminal, but also making it compatible with my sonic," said the Doctor as he continues to scan the details of this possible Romana.

"Anyways, looking at the details here...Ok, that's it, that's it…there! Eureka! Now, we have accessed to a surveillance camera," said an excited Doctor.

"Let me move the camera to around to see more in the room. Oh my Gallifrey…what are they doing to Romana," said the Doctor.

"Doctor…is it just me? But is Romana sitting on some sort of cerebral data extractor?" asked Oslin.

"It is! This is not good! If Davros gets all the information about Gallifrey's secrets, the Daleks would win this war. Give me a moment to download the coordinates and schematics of this ship. Then, we'll rescue Romana and high-tale out!" shouted the Doctor as he adjust the settings on his sonic screwdriver to download the data from the computer terminal.

Meanwhile…

Creeping through and around the hallways of the Dalek ship, two Dalek search drones were searching for the missing the damaged Dalek soldier units who were supposed to go to maintenance bay for repairs. The two Dalek drones, which have an appearance of an actual Dalek, but of a small stature, went to a storage bay of empty containers and found the supposedly damaged Daleks.

The drones inspected the damaged units and found out that they were empty. In complete shocked, the Dalek drones radioed to their maintenance Dalek officer and informed him of their findings.

"Maintenance Controller…we have found the missing damaged Daleks," reported the Dalek search drones.

"Good…what is the status of the missing Daleks?" replied the maintenance controller.

"Maintenance Controller…these Daleks are empty. We must have intruders infiltrating this ship undetected!"

"That's not possible. Let's have a visual confirmation? Remain where you are," replied the Dalek officer as he used his plunger-arm to adjust the settings on his control panel to have his computer screen to show the POV of the Dalek drone.

"In the name of Davros, we do have intruders! Sound off the alarm!"

Intruder alert!

Intruder alert!

Intruder alert!

Intruder alert!

Intruder alert!

Intruder alert!

"Doctor, we need to hurry up before any of those Daleks come in here," cried an excited Oslin.

"I know. I am almost done. There, got it," said the Doctor as he finished download the last bit of data.

"Let's run!" shouted the Doctor as he and Oslin ran out of the hallway.

The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver as a sonic compass, pointing in the direction of Romana's location. The Doctor looked at the mini-screen, located on the middle of his sonic, which shows a mini-map of where they are currently located.

The Doctor and Oslin ran into one corridor and a squad of Daleks appeared.

"We have found the intruders! Exterminate!"

"Oslin, this way!" shouted the Doctor as he grabbed Oslin's hand and ran out of the hallway.

The Daleks quickly fire a round of lasers at them, but missed. As the Doctor and Oslin ran out there, they entered into another hallway with more Daleks coming.

"Exterminate! Exterminate!" shouted the various Daleks.

"Doctor, they're everywhere! Is there some sort of short cut to another level?" asked Oslin.

"Yes, there is. I see it over there, follow me," answered the Doctor.

Doctor and Oslin ran to the next hallway and this time both entrances were completely cutoff from by two squads of Daleks coming in.

"Great, we're cut off from both sides! You better have a plan to get out of this," shouted Oslin as Oslin looked to her left while the Doctor looked at his right as the two squads of Daleks were coming close to their present location.

"Just as I thought, a hatch way to another level on this ship," said the Doctor as he took out his sonic screwdriver and used on the hatch, opening it to a dark tunnel to some location at the other side of the Dalek mother ship.

"Oslin, jump inside the shaft!" shouted the Doctor.

"Are you sure? Do you know where the shaft goes to?" asked a scared Oslin.

"It doesn't matter. Go!"

Oslin jumped through the shaft, as more Daleks started to pour into the hallway, the Doctor made his escape too as he plunged into the dark depths to their unforeseen location.