Chapter 10: Return to Earth
Kate Stewart, the daughter of the Brigadier sat behind her desk in her office under the Tower of London. At the moment she was doing a mountain of paperwork. Paperwork that was needed done before the end of the month. Some of the paperwork was to be handed back to the head office of UNIT in Geneva while some of the other paperwork was to be sent to SHIELD in regards to the aid that the Avengers were helping her team in tracking down Leatherback. She had faith that Edward with Captain America help would be able to track down Leatherback before he caused any more problems for UNIT.
The groaning wheezing sound of the TARDIS's engine broke the silence of her office. Looking up from the paper that she was working on as the TARDIS appeared in her office. The door squeaked open as she stood up from her chair. Walking away from her wooden table as the Doctor walked out of the TARDIS.
"Doctor?" she asked. She was both happy and surprised to see the Time Lord that had advised her father during the 1970s when he had been exiled to the planet by the other Time Lords and grounded to remain on Earth until he was needed by the High Court of the Time Lords.
The aged Time Lord was followed by a Dalek that kept a good distance away from him. "Kate! A Dalek armada is heading for Earth!" he said.
Kate looked from him to the Dalek to the Doctor. "What's been happening? Doctor what have you gotten yourself dragged into?" she asked the Time Lord. She was already narrowing her eyes as she dreaded the paperwork that she would have to fill out. Every adventure that the Doctor found himself while on earth she had mountains of paperwork once again. Paperwork that gave the public a cover story about what had happened to prevent wide spread panic spreading. It also helped with the clean up operations that would surely clean up the mess left by Cybermen, Daleks, the Master and even the Doctor himself.
"A Dalek fleet is heading here looking for the last piece of an ancient weapon that can destroy the planet by doing something to the sun!" he explained. He then noticed Kate Stewart staring at Dalek Sec. Spinning around to face the Dalek that was watching her himself. "And don't worry about this Dalek. He's helping us to stop the sun being destroyed!" he said looking from Dalek Sec to Kate Stewart.
Kate only folded her arms as the stare that her father had taught her hardened at the Doctor. A faint smile spread across her face when the Doctor whinched at her glare. "A Dalek that wants to help us! I think I have seen everything now!" she sighed pinching the bridge of her nose. Oh yes, she was already dreading the paperwork that she was going to have to do for this and she was going to have the Doctor do the main bulk of it.
"THAT IS THE TRUTH, FEMALE HUMAN! MY NAME IS DALEK SEC AND I AM HELPING BY KEEPING DALEK X FROM USING THE STAR BANE TO DESTROY YOUR PLANETS SUN!" Sec spoke for the first time since they had arrived in the UNIT base in the Tower of London.
The Doctor started chewing his fingertips as Kate stared at Dalek Sec. He knew that she was going to shouting at him for trusting a killing machine such as a Dalek. "Kate! We are wasting time! Dalek X's fleet is getting closer and there is only so much that the Emperor's fleet can do!" he explained to her. He watched as the human agent put things together.
"How long do you estimate that the fleet will enter Earth's atmosphere?" she asked him. Kate walked back to her desk and the mobile phone that sat on the desk beside all of the papers.
The Doctor and Dalek Sec exchanged a look with each other before looking back at Kate. "About an hour! We have an hour to look for the last piece of the Star Bane!" the Doctor explained. Kate only nodded her head as she dialed up a number to get this sorted.
"Doctor, find that Star Bane piece. I'll deal with the upcoming Dalek Invasion!" she said as the phone rung out. The Doctor and Dalek Sec both rushed back into the TARDIS and the blue box vanished with its usual wheezing rumble. "Hi this is Kate Stewart of UNIT we have a Dalek Invasion coming this way. Get the Valiant in the air in the next ten minutes and get every other jet in the sky!" she ordered the man over the phone. She didn't have to wait long to hear from the news of the massive ship rising into the air.
Martha Jones, a former companion of the Doctor appeared on the screen. "UNIT is running a drill on how quickly they can get the Valiant in the air. There is nothing to be concerned about!" she said to the reporter that was asking about UNIT. Martha was good at coming up with stories but when the Daleks arrived the story will slighlty change. It will change to stop a mass panic from raging through the streets of not only London but every city in every country.
Kate smiled to herself as she dialed up another number. But all she got was the answer phone. "Nightshade where are you?" she asked herself as she put the phone down as she dialed up a second number. "Nick Fury I wish that I could speak to you under better circumstances!" she said into the phone.
"Kate Stewart I was wondering when I will speak to you rather than Nightshade or more recently Edward!" came the reply on the other side of the line. "Now tell me why the daughter of the Brigadier has called me out of the blue?" he asked again.
Kate remained silent. She had to think of a way to tell Nick Fury what was happening. "In fifty five minutes a Dalek fleet is going to invade the earth. We need all the help that we can get to stop the earth from being destroyed!" she told him.
Nick Fury was silent for a minute. "I will call Stark to assemble the Avengers and I will get the Helicarrier in the air!" he replied and cut the line.
Kate took a deep breathe as she settled back into her chair. Everything was in place. She had already contacted the UNIT forces and they were mobilising at the moment. SHIELD had also been contacted and everything was getting ready. The Daleks were not getting the Star Bane and they were not killing the human race. She could only hope that the Doctor could find the peice of the Star Bane quickly.
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The Doctor ran about the TARDIS'S console as he set about the destination for the location of the Star Bane. He looked over at his Dalek companion. Dalek Sec was just staring at no point in particular in deep thought. "Dalek Sec?" he asked getting the Dalek's attention. Having the eye stock focused on him and not a random spot in the TARDIS he asked, "Where would you put the last peice of a sun destroying weapon?"
The Doctor watched in silence as Dalek Sec remained silent. He was no doubt using that big brain of his to come up with the solution to the problem, but there was something else on his mind that he was not sharing. The Doctor was not going to push him to share his mind until all of this was over and he had someone to watch his back.
"I WILL PLACE A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION SOMEWHERE THAT DEALS WITH ALIENS AND USED THEIR TECHNOLOGY TO ADVANCE THEIR WEAPONS!" Sec replied. The Doctor never thought that he would be glad to hear a Dalek speak. "WHO WOULD KEEP THE BARREL OF THE STAR BANE AND NOT INFORM UNIT THAT THEY HAVE TIME LORD WEAPON IN THEIR POSSESSION?" Dalek Sec asked keeping his eye stock fixed on the Doctor.
The Doctor ran a hand trough his greying hair as he thought of organisations that will keep such a weapon. He had a few candidates to who he should be looking into. Torchwood and SHIELD were the main ones on the list along with AIM and HYDRA, but they didn't have time to look into all of them. Not even with the aid of the Avengers and X-Men they would be pushing for time to push the Dalek fleet away from Earth.
The Doctor glanced over at the wings of the Star Bane. A thought crossed his mind as he raced to the other side of the console and picked up a scanner. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rising up as Dalek Sec followed him. No doubt curious as to what he was doing. Coming to a skidding stop before the massive wings of the device that could cause great destruction he began to scan. He scanned for its energy signature. A signature that he could use to track the last peice of the Star Bane and end Dalek X's empire before it could really begin. Having found the energy signature he dashed back to the console with Dalek X trying and failing to keep up with him.
Sharing the energy signature into the database of the TARDIS the Doctor searched for coordinates that will lead them to leave the Time Vortex and to the barrel of the weapon. It was not long before beeping was heard and the Doctor was controlling the TARDIS to the provided destination. "Got you!" the Doctor shouted as he ran towards a screen on the console that showed a map where the last piece of the Star Bane was hidden.
Dalek Sec waited for the Doctor to move aside before gliding up to the console. There on a map of Britain was a red dot that beeped over the Wales capital, Cardiff. The Star Bane was hidden in Cardiff of all cities. He had suspect that it would have been put in a city that was long gone given how old the weapon was. No, it was in Cardiff and in the hands of the alien hating humans of Torchwood. Sec was beginning to miss the insane Dalek Caan and Dalek X.
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He felt anger. He felt anger at the Doctor and the shapeshifter that had set his plans back after destroying his control tower. He also felt a new rage at Dalek Sec. That traitor had turned his back on his own kind to stand with inferior races in the universe. And for that he was going to be exterminated like the inferior that he was.
"You do realise that the only way you can defeat the Doctor is if you think like the Doctor?!" asked a voice behind the the Devil in Dalek form.
Dalek X rotated his domed head around to see that a human man was standing behind him. He wore a suit and tie and had strange tattoos on his face and hands. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back as he casually walked to the black, red and golden Dalek. "The Doctor will defeat you once again! We all know that!" Seth said stopping right beside Dalek X. He scrunched up his face at seeing his black tie out of place and with a snort fixed the tie. "But if I told you that I had a series of plans that will plunge the whole universe into choas will you be interested in listening to me? If not your happy to fail once again!" he finished looking back at Dalek X. He clasped his hands behind his back as he allowed Dalek X to take in what he had said.
Seth smirked. He could hear the gears in that large Dalek's large brain begin to work. "WHY SHOULD WE FORM AN ALLIANCE WITH YOU? THE LAST TIME WE MADE AN ALLIANCE WITH THE ROUGE TIME LORD CALLED THE MASTER IT DID NOT END WELL FOR US! SO EXPLAIN TO ME WHY I SHOULD CONSIDER AN ALLIANCE WITH YOU?" Dalek X asked. He rolled slightly forward and Seth could not help but take a step back.
"That is a good question, Dalek X. But what if I told you that I had an alliance with a certain Titan warlord who is getting ready for a campaign against the universe. Would you be interested then. And would you be interested that I can give you a chance to take the Dalek Emperor's Empire from right under his ... eye stock?" Seth asked leaning in close to the blue optic of the Dalek.
Dalek X was silent. He just stared at Seth as he thought of what he was going to do. The alliance did sound to good, but if it cost the Emperor greatly then he would go with it but of course on his terms. "VERY WELL, CREATURE! WE SHALL JOIN YOU ALLIANCE!" he said much to the surprise of the Supremes that made up his personal guard. He noticed that Seth remained silent, he knew that he was going to add his terms. "BUT I WILL CARRY OUT MY PLAN ON GETTING REVENGE ON THE DOCTOR AND DALEK SEC AND CLAIMING MY PRIZE: THE STAR BANE!" he growled as he jerked his travel unit into Seth's knee. He felt great pride when Seth winched in pain.
"Of course. And to show good will towards you I will retrieve the Star Bane for if you will find and exterminate the shapeshifter called Nightshade!" he whinched still feeling the pain from the ramming Dalek.
Dalek X reversed. "NIGHTSHADE IS AN KNOWN ASSOCIATE OF THE DOCTOR AND WILL BE EXTERMINATED!" Dalek X shouted with joy. The other Daleks began to shout EXTERMINATE in pure joy that they were going to kill something.
Seth smiled as he backed away. "It has been a pleasure doing business with you, Dalek X!" he purred as a black mist wrapped around him that took him away.
Dalek X whirled around to face all the Daleks in the control room of his ship. With all eye stocks locked onto him he gave out the order. "SEEK! LOCATE AND EXTERMINATE NIGHTSHADE!" he ordered every Dalek. Every Dalek started screeching the phrase as they searched for Nightshade.
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The Moonray landed outside of Stirling. It's landing gears locking into place as it touched down. Grass swayed as the massive turbines in the middle of the wings that glowed with a strange energy slowly turned and the six wings folded back into one. The door on the side of the Moonray opened allowing Nightshade to walk out of the jet that got her from Cybertron back to Earth in time to prepare for the Dalek Invasion.
Looking up at the sky she could tell a storm was coming. Dark clouds were creeping in over the Scottish city and the surrounding countryside where she had landed the Moonray. There was a rumble of thunder in the distance and she could not help but shake her body. She hated storms, having metal bones meant that she was always struck by lightning. It didn't do much damage but it was a pain to get herself back together again. A flash of lightning tore through the air and Nightshade could not stop herself for reaching the cutlass at her side.
Mentally slapping herself for being so jumpy she checked to see if she still had the box that the Collector had given her. With the box safely stored in a bag and its precious cargo at her side, Nightshade powered the Moonray down. The AI controlled jet as it powered down shimered out of sight. It would do her and UNIT no good if a civilian found the Moonray and tried to get in it or started a rumour that Earth was being invaded.
Glancing back up to the storm clouds that were swirling around a certain point, Nightshade felt a shiver rake down her spine. The storm clouds were not just storm clouds, it was a portal. A portal that had been opened from another dimension!
"This is not good!" she said to herself. Blue lightning sparked and flashed around the black clouds as the portal from another dimension ripped open. "Kate we have another problem!" she said into her comm. system.
Kate was silent for a few moments on her line before she spoke, "What is it now, Nightshade? If it's the Daleks we need you in the air and taking them out our fleet is spread out to think across the globe!"
"Its not the Daleks, Kate! A portal from another dimension is opening up over Stirling! I'm going to check it out and if you don't hear from me in ten minutes you need to put UNIT into High Alert! Do you understand me?"
Kate was talking to someone on the other side of the line that had either to be Osgood or Bonnie. Nightshade could not make out what was being said on the other side of the comm. "Nightshade you have ten minutes to see what's happening in Stirling and to report it in and to get yourself in the air!" Kate responded to Nightshade before cutting the line.
Shaking her head she allowed her bones to shift. The popping and cracking of bones were drowned out by the loud roaring thunder. Bones that were already made out of metal formed plating and two machine guns attached themselves to the shoulder blades as a single red eye flickered on in the one large eye socket that took up a great deal of the tigers skull. Strapped securely between the two machines gun was the box that the Collector had given that contained the Stone of Rassalon- the power source of the Star Bane.
The one eyed tiger ran towards the eye of the storm. It's sharp claws digging deep into the ground as the Moonray contacted the TARDIS, it was best to get two powerful ships to either imprison whatever was coming through the portal or to send it back to where it had come from.