A/N: Sorry for the delay. Life keeps happening.
As is usual, we don't own the franchises contained herein, and we'd love your reviews!
Chapter 10Davros sat, looking over the sea of Daleks before him. He had been on site for the final destruction of the Time Lords, but now found himself in a completely different galaxy. Somehow the fleet had been dislocated from around Gallifrey to wherever they were now.
The dislocation of him and his children was fortuitous. To be sure, he originally considered it to be a horrible problem, but as time went on, he began to realize that he could turn this to his advantage. His shields were of an exotic energy that his best scientists were still trying to understand. The people in this universe, referred to as Q, existed in this energy. It seemed that they might actually BE this energy. The more he studied them, the more he realized that observation was not enough. He needed to obtain a Q.
He had seen the power of the Q, and was skeptical as to the ability of the Daleks to capture one, but he knew they had to try. To that end, he sent out the order. He didn't care what Q they obtained, as long as it was alive and healthy. He watched as several of his children left the room to travel. They would come back with a Q - or, they wouldn't come back at all.
Iconia Prime…It had taken some time, but Merlin and Ashildr had covered most of the galaxy. They had discovered several isolated pockets of Daleks, but not the major fleet they had expected. Ashildr had not rested since they began their search.
"Grandpa."
Merlin heard the voice, but ignored it.
"Grandpa."
The voice was louder this time and the old wizard opened his eyes. "Yes, Jack?"
"You've both been at this for a while," the younger Q pointed out. "You don't need sleep, Sir, but Ashildr does."
Merlin turned to look at his grandson. He gave him a scowl, but when Jack nodded toward the girl, he took a good look.
"Shall we take a break, Ashildr?"
She opened her eyes and her fatigue was plain to see.
"I apologize, Me. Sometimes I forget that we aren't all Q."
She gave a tired nod and stood. Merlin saw her sway a bit and nodded. "Thank you, Jack," he told his grandson.
"Well, you've been at it for awhile. No-one works well when they're exhausted," Jack smiled.
Merlin and Jack each took one of her arms and assisted her to a chair. The wizard started to say something about their progress, but stopped when he heard a soft snore. He turned a bemused expression to his grandson, then looked back at the girl. He gave a small wave of his hand, and she disappeared.
"I think I'll take a rest as well," the wizard said as he started toward the door. As he walked, his body seemed to lose solidity, until, when he reached the door, he was completely gone.
Jack smiled, then he disappeared in a flash of light.
Ashildr's room…The girl flashed into being, laying on her bed. She lay there for several hours, then moved slightly as a continuum grid formed around her, but that was the extent of her reaction.
A moment later, the grid disappeared, taking her with it.
Jack and Allison's home…Allison Carter was sleeping soundly beside her husband when something disturbed her and she sat up suddenly. "Jack," she said, shaking him. "Jack!"
"What?" He sounded annoyed.
"Something is wrong, Jack!"
He propped himself up on one elbow and looked at her for an explanation.
"Something has happened. Ashildr is missing."
She waved her hand and they were standing, fully clothed, in Me's room. Jack looked around.
"You're right, Ally. She's been taken."
There's residual continuum energy here, but why would a Q take her?"
There was another flash and Merlin and The First were standing beside the couple. "That is a very good question, Doctor Carter," The First intoned solemnly.
"I don't believe it was a Q," Merlin said, shaking his head. "There is the sense of something alien here. Something without emotions. Completely unfeeling." He looked at The First. "No offense intended, First."
The Vulcan inclined his head. "None taken, Merlin. It is a common misconception that Vulcans have no emotions, as you well know. We simply suppress them. This, however, is empty. It is utterly devoid of any type of..." He trailed off. "No, it is not completely empty. There are no positive emotions, but negative... Hate… There is extreme hate."
Merlin glanced at his grandson, then looked back at The First. "Daleks?"
The First nodded slowly. "Very likely, Merlin."
Camelot: the Control Room…Several Q and ascended were in the control room, everyone talking at once. The First stepped to the center of the room and looked around. He didn't say anything and as each person met his gaze, they fell silent.
Finally, he spoke in his customary, quiet tone.
"It appears we have a problem. Ashildr, who has been helping Merlin in locating the Daleks, has been abducted by those same Daleks."
"How do we know it was the Daleks?" This from Vala.
Merlin chose to answer. "A good question, Vala. A continuum grid was used to retrieve her from her own quarters."
She nodded her understanding, but then realized what he was saying. "So the Daleks can grab any of us, at any time they wish." It wasn't a question. She realized fully, the implications of what Merlin was saying.
"It would appear so."
"If they use a continuum grid, we wouldn't be able to resist either, would we?" Daniel put his arm around Vala as he asked.
"Doubtful," was all The First said.
The TARDIS…The Doctor was fiddling with the controls of the TARDIS when Merlin entered. He spun around at the flash of light and smiled slightly as he said, "Do you ever knock?"
Merlin raised his eyebrows as he commented, "It is rather difficult when there is no outer shell to knock on."
"There is in the continuum."
"I wasn't in the continuum."
The Doctor shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the controls. "When are you from?"
"Meribor has just saved her people."
"That's going to have repercussions."
"Most assuredly it will, but Andy should contain things."
The Doctor turned a wry grin on his friend. "Andy's containment seems to have gone out the window, Merlin. A Q could conceivably wipe him or herself out of existence right now and no one would even notice."
"The Q in question most certainly would."
The Doctor smiled. "Doubtful, as they'd no longer be around to notice, or even care." He manipulated a few controls, then looked back at the Wizard. "What can I do for you?"
"I need to know everything you can tell me about Daleks. How can they manipulate continuum energy?"
The Time Lord laughed. "That's an excellent question, Merlin, and if I had an answer, I would definitely give it to you, but at this moment, I have no idea."
Before the Wizard could answer, there was a knock on the TARDIS door. "Come in!" the Doctor called.
The door opened and four Q entered.
"We've got an idea, Jean Luc," Merlin's wife said to him.
Eureka…The three physicians stood, ready to step through the Stargate to anywhere.
"It's worse than a damn transporter," McCoy grumbled. "Why'd I let you talk me into this, Jim?"
"Because it was your idea, Bones," The Commander replied, smiling at his friend. "You'd just better make it back."
"Don't worry. I will. Someone's got to keep you and Spock out of trouble."
A few feet away, Jack and Allison were embracing. Merlin and Che'Ryl gave each other a kiss, then the doctors turned to the gate.
"Excuse me! Coming through!"
Two more doctors hurried up to the gate, ready to step through. These were not medical doctors, however. One was an archaeologist, and the other was a Time Lord.
"What are you doing?" Merlin asked.
"Who knows more about Daleks?" River challenged.
"Regardless…"
"Merlin," The Doctor interjected, "River is the only person who has ever made a Dalek beg for mercy."
"We're not planning on torturing them!" McCoy argued.
"That may be the only way to get any useful information from them," River defended herself.
The Commander pondered for a moment, then said, "Ok, Andy. Five to transport."
The continuum…Inside the courtroom, those who remained participants in Ben's trial had been observing the past, but at the five doctors departure, the defendant became incensed.
"These changes go against the law of the Q!"
"You have asked us to set aside our laws and make the changes. Now you argue that they are wrong, Ben Solo?" Teal'c feigned astonishment.
Thor laughed. "Are things only wrong when they don't suit your hopes for how things should be?"
Merlin shook his head. "They are wrong when it suits his hopes that they are wrong."
"Is not that the same thing, Merlin?" Teal'c asked.
Thor answered. "Not necessarily. Teal'c."
Somewhere in the past of the Doctor's universe…From the vantage point of the TARDIS, McCoy watched, horrified as Davros sealed a living brain inside a travel machine. "How can he justify such an abomination?" he asked no one in particular.
"You understand, Doctor McCoy, that Davros hates me. What he is, is because of what I did."
McCoy wondered if the Time Lord was giving too much importance to his own role in the creation of the Daleks.
"The other thing interesting to note, is that the Doctor was sent back here by the Time Lords to stop the formation of the Daleks, long ago," River said almost flippantly.
"I assume that it didn't work the first time," Allison observed. "Why are we here, trying again?" She was just as appalled as McCoy at Davros' actions.
"I didn't have Q helping me last time," the Doctor answered.
McCoy nodded at the Doctor's words, then turned back to where the Kelad scientist was working industriously.
The doctors watched for several millennia, then after they saw the Daleks travel through a wormhole to their position over Coruscant and in the Imperial Galaxy, they regrouped to discuss the situation.
The TARDIS…The five were gathered around the control console of the TARDIS. Over the time the three medicos had traveled with the Doctor, they had each learned to fly the ship, and were now placed to assist in its control.
"So originally, you destroyed both the Gallifreyans and the Daleks?" Che'Ryl asked, hardly able to comprehend the Doctor she knew doing such a thing.
Somberly, the Doctor called their attention to a screen to one side of the control room. On it, they saw a picture of the painting, Gallifrey Falls, or No More, depending on which title one wished to use. "This is the painting before we spared Gallifrey."
They watched as Daleks killed person after person.
In the courtroom…"Do you disagree with them trying to stop Davros, Soran?" Merlin asked the El aurian scientist.
No one could argue that Davros was wrong, but if anyone would, it was this man. He stood and stared at his old enemy, and from their perspectives, the scene changed. They were no longer in a courtroom, but standing on the rocky surface of Veridian III. Behind Soran, Merlin could see a missile launcher, and a few feet away stood The Commander. No one else from the courtroom appeared in their perspectives, but Merlin still sat at his bench, and Soran stood in the observation seats of the courtroom.
Soran gazed for a long time at Merlin, only the invisible force field separating them. "I have never argued that the past shouldn't be changed, Picard. If it were possible, of course we should, but I found after uncounted millennia that it can't be. With all our powers, we can't change reality."
"Of course we can," Merlin disagreed.
"We're not allowed, and when we do change things, it's not right. It doesn't feel right. You know that!"
Merlin glanced to his right, where The Commander had quietly approached. "Soran, I agree with you. But we are showing young Ben the consequences."
Soran shook his head. "I am a Q, just as you are. I know that these changes are not mere demonstrations. These things are actually happening. We are fundamentally changing things. Those Q who have died in this war are well and truly dead."
The Commander nodded. "They are, Soran. I can't express how necessary these events are. We have to show young Ben why we don't interfere. He has to understand."
Again, Soran shook his head, and as he did, the two other Q knew that they were now private from the rest of the continuum. "Obviously, he needs to understand. I agree with you that a Q with his lack of inhibitions is incredibly dangerous. If Anubis gained that power, we could all die. I get that." He was about to continue, when he realized that one more Q was standing with them. "First," he said, inclining his head. He didn't bother asking how the Vulcan knew they were private.
"Soran, I heard what you told Batai, and I concur with you. Batai and Meribor will both be fobbed. I ask you to trust us regarding the changes being made." Soran was about to say something, but at Spock's raised hand, he held his tongue. "This is necessary, Soran."
Soran only nodded with a defeated air. A moment later, they were in the courtroom again.
Skaro…The five had travelled back in time to that point in history before Davros began his acts of genocide.
"Something is maintaining the status quo," Che'Ryl observed as, once more, they watched the Doctor's 12th incarnation save Davros.
Beside her, River stood, nodding. She turned to her husband. "You know what they are, Sweety. And yet, you still come back, every time and save him. Why?"
The Doctor gazed at the scene of his former self, saving the young boy. He couldn't deny that if he didn't rescue the lad, the daleks wouldn't be. But wouldn't the time stream compensate? Wouldn't the cybermen, or Zygons, or even the Autons become the most dangerous foe he ever faced if the Daleks had never existed?
He couldn't know until the Daleks were prevented. But why wouldn't his future self allow it? He thought about the picture and realized the truth. "I lied," he said softly.
McCoy turned to face him. He raised an eyebrow in exactly the manner of The First.
"I told you I had what it takes, and I did. But I don't anymore. I lost that when I prevented the destruction of Gallifrey."
"I don't see that you lost anything there, Son," McCoy commented. "You can't commit genocide. That's not a bad thing."
"I'm weighing everything, and the Daleks have to be stopped."
McCoy looked back at the scene. The TARDIS was travelling back and forth, allowing them to see the scene over and over. "He's a small boy. He's scared. That's it, isn't it."
The doctor had sat down heavily on the floor beside the control console. Now, he was leaning against the pedestal, and his body was wracked with sobs. At the Federation man's words, he nodded, gasping in a huge lungful of air. "I know who that boy will become. I know what a horrible thing he eventually does. But that doesn't change who he is here and now." He looked at McCoy, and the resolve was clear in the Time Lord's face. He punctuated his feelings with his fingers as he spoke the next. "Right now, he's a scared little boy who needs help. That's all that matters."
McCoy's eyebrows raised. "Except that that little boy gives rise to the most horrendous evil ever seen."
"But he hasn't yet." The Doctor was adamant. "At this point in his life, Davros is a scared little boy, afraid of dying."
"And that fear gives rise to the Daleks." McCoy understood where The Doctor was coming from, but he could also see the bigger picture. "Right now, the die is being set. I understand your problem, and I sympathize with it, but this is the defining moment in Davros' life."
He stood and turned back to the scene playing over and over. The hands coming out of the ground and pulling soldiers underground. The boy too terrified to move. It tugged at his heart strings, and it was only the thought of all the damage that arose from this point in time that kept him from agreeing with the Time Lord wholeheartedly.
McCoy glanced at the women, and saw that they were not looking at the boy, the hands, or the later version of the doctor. Instead, all three were looking around them in wonder. "What's going on?" he asked.
"Look at the time vortex," Allison told him.
He adjusted his vision so he could see what they were talking about. All around him he could see into the fourth dimension. Suddenly he understood what they were getting at. He could see fluidity in time as they approached the point where The Doctor helped the boy. When they reached that point, time became static.
"It's fixed!" he exclaimed. "We can't change this."
River nodded, as The Doctor looked around, once Allison helped him see the vortex.
"We've changed so many things, even to the point of Q dying," Che'Ryl said, "we should be able to do something here."
"No," the Time Lady said. "Let me show you something."
She touched a few controls and the familiar wheezing sounded from the TARDIS. A moment later, they stepped out into a Federation starship. On a bed, they saw a Q who was a Q no longer. Allison knew it was Soran, but he was going by a different name, Quinn. He had gotten so tired from his long life that he wished no more. She looked at the vortex as he drank some poison and died. The fluctuations slowed till there were just a few wibbles and wobbles. However, a fixed point it was not.
"There are still a few ways through," McCoy exclaimed. "because he has given up his powers?"
"He still is a Q," Che'Ryl said quietly. "This is where he dies. Always."
"But it's not fixed!" The Doctor said wonderingly.
"It's as fixed as anything ever gets," Allison said. "This is why Khan was able to die out of time. The universe continued, but in a damaged state."
"There was no movement with Davros," McCoy understood. "It is truly fixed."
"So we're through," Che'Ryl said, "we can't change this."
River shook her head. "Just because this is a fixed point, doesn't mean everything else about the Daleks is."
The continuum…Those watching from the continuum said little. By the time of the trial, Davros' defining moment being a fixed point in time was common knowledge.
The difference between what was commonly referred to as a fixed point and a truly fixed point was also known. Ben tried to argue about changing a fixed point, but his argument was ridiculous and he knew it.
UNIT headquarters, mid 1970s…Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart was seated behind his desk, reading a briefing. It was a particularly boring piece of literature, and he suspected that some of it was fiction, but he wasn't going to deal with that today. He was too tired.
Suddenly, however, all fatigue left his body as a familiar sound began. A moment later, the TARDIS materialized in one corner. He watched as the door opened, and a strange man exited, followed by four more people.
"Brigadier!" The strange man wearing a fez exclaimed. "It's been awhile! So good to see you."
"Doctor?" It really wasn't a question. More reassurance. He glared for a second at the fez, but realized there was little he could do about the way in which the Doctor dressed.
Before the Time Lord could say anything, the wheezing sound started again, and another call box materialized. His eyebrows rose for a moment, but then he decided his best course was to take things in stride. He waited for the door to open.
A moment later, a man with curly hair and a ridiculous scarf and floppy hat stepped into the room. "Brigadier!" he exclaimed with a toothy grin. "How are you today?"
"I'm fine, Doctor, but who is this?"
The tall man turned and took in the other people in the room, including the smiling man with the fez. "When do I get that face?" he asked, immediately recognizing his later self.
"There've been a few faces in between," the later version replied. A moment later, another TARDIS materialized in yet another corner.
"Quite a party!" exclaimed the scarfed doctor.
"Quite," his future self nodded. "Room's getting rather cramped."
Another doctor stepped out of his TARDIS and looked around. "So much for my grand entrance," he said as he tossed an electric guitar back through the door. It made a crashing sound and the Doctor grimaced as he craned his neck to look through the door.
"Be careful where you throw that thing!" A blonde woman with an air of authority snapped as she stepped through the door. She went white, however as she took in her surroundings, particularly the man who was by now, standing behind his desk.
"Dad!"