Despite being at the hub of a civilization waging a war that would soon eclipse all others, the space around Skaro was quite calm.
Almost no Time Lords had gotten close enough to see the planet, and those who did never returned.
The planet was surrounded by five hundred thousand ships, with twice that number scattered throughout the nearby systems. Only one fifth of the fleet was in real space, the rest were stationed in the time vortex.
The planet itself had one thousand surface to space defense cannons positioned at equidistant intervals around the globe. Try as they might, with they way they had acted through most of the war, the Time Lords had no chance of reaching Skaro.
Suddenly, a massive white rift opened up within visual range of the planet. Tens of thousands of Gallifreyan warships poured out of the gash. They were in a tight formation, with all of the ships contributing to a massive force field that surrounded their entire fleet.
Alarms were blaring in every city of Skaro. The Time Lords had bypassed all of the defenses surrounding the system, right at the heart of the Dalek Empire!
"REPORT," bellowed the Dalek Emperor, now wearing a new casing to match his status.
"GALLIFREYAN FLEET INBOUND,"
relied head security Dalek.
THE TIME LORDS STILL POSESS THE SUPERNOVA CANNON! OUR SHIELDS AND BARRIERS ARE INSUFFICIENT TO REPEL IT!"
"SEND EVERY SHIP IN THE VICINITY EXCEPT MINE AND MY PERSONAL GUARD. WE WILL EVACUATE TO JOIN THE GREATER ARMADA," the Emperor ordered.
"WE OBEY," replied the Daleks.
With that, the Emperors ship and guard fleet of one thousand immediately vanished from the surface of Skaro.
Commander Braxnil looked out and saw what few Time Lords had seen: the home world of the Daleks. It was mostly dull shades of gray, brown, and orange, with sections of it covered in sprawling bronze cities. Most of the vibrant greens and blues had been stripped away by the centuries long nuclear and chemical war between the Thals and the Kaleds. The rest was destroyed by the Daleks after the Thals had abandoned their ruined world.
If Braxnil was not careful, he and his fleet would suffer the same fate. Hundreds of thousands of Dalek saucers were converging on them, so many that Skaro was almost
completely obscured. The Daleks fired volley after volley at his fleet, but the force field held. Time Lords form the future were attacking the Daleks from behind, but they continued their bombardment.
suddenly, the force field around the fleet burst like a balloon!
Every second hundreds of Braxnil's ships were wiped out by a fleet more that twice the size of his own. The Daleks were throwing everything they had at the Time Lords. Not just energy beams and missiles, but bombs that sent their targets into the Void, energy fields that reversed time so that ships were turned back to raw elements, and modified tractor beams that drained energy directly from the power sources of the Gallifreyan vessels.
One of the bowships carrying a supernova cannon was hit! The supernova cannon could no longer be fired safely! If it was destroyed, the entire Time Lord fleet would be wiped out. If this battle was lost, the Time Lords could easily lose the war, and the universe would fall to the Daleks.
Braxnil had a decision to make. He could fire the last supernova cannon on board his own ship now and end the battle, but they had not yet secured a clear path. Thousands of friendly vessels were in the way, and over a million on board who would all perish. On the other hand, if he didn't, the Daleks could end up destroying every other living thing in the universe.