More Stories of Jenny on Gallifrey

There were supposed to be a number of little, short stories, that were all about Jenny on Gallifrey. I wanted to show Jenny at the Academy, and what happened to her afterwards. I also wanted to develop her relationship with Braxiatel, who is a little manipulative but basically a good guy.

Braxiatel is clearly trying to support Jenny, during these stories. And he's also clearly trying to use her to achieve his own goals.

…

When Jenny enters the Academy, Brax takes her under his wing. He helps her to excel, and encourages her take-action attitude and her political demonstrations in support of more rights to soldier babies and in support of a more humble attitude from fellow Time Lords.

He also encourages her to talk to her sister. Once again claiming that "family is key".

Brax has a lot of little talks with Jenny.

Particularly about Gallifrey.

"They say Gallifrey falls no more," Brax tells her. He gestures at the world around them. "But I say… it's already fallen."

Gallifrey, following the Time War, has been having a lot of troubles. The Time Lords have become more insular, driving their society backwards into myths and superstitions and stagnation. (People use the Time War to point out why the Time Lords were wrong to change their policies and progress.) The High Council has become little more than an arena where the cleverest Time Lords try to make the other cleverest Time Lords look bad, to further their own petty political agendas. The CIA, now with no one to manipulate but themselves, has become a propaganda tool, with the CIA trying to make people believe their history is different than it actually was.

"Gallifrey has fallen into ruin," Brax says.

At some point, Brax starts talking to Jenny about heroes, and how every society needs heroes to believe in. He mentions a hero from Messaline, long after Jenny's time — a legendary half-Hath, half-human who united the world in a time of great peril, and fought off the alien invaders. He mentions heroes from Earth, as well, and from some other planets I'll make up later.

"Heroes help societies to move forwards," Braxiatel says. "They give people hope. They give people something to strive for."

Jenny nods. "And Gallifrey?"

"Gallifrey has lost its heroes," Brax admits.

Omega turned out to be a madman, crouched up in another universe plotting revenge against the society he'd helped create. And Rassilon turned out to be a tyrant and a despot, who was willing to "vaporize us along with the rest of the universe, in order to attain his goals."

"What about Dad?" Jenny prompts.

And this is a good point, because since the Doctor rescued Gallifrey, many people on the planet have been turning to him as a source of inspiration.

"A good try, but his inspiration can only go so far," Braxiatel explains. "He's a renegade. Someone who rejected Gallifrey and ran away from its customs and traditions. What's more, he originally planned to kill us all."

Jenny makes a face. "That never goes down well, does it?"

"Not particularly, no," Braxiatel agrees. He turns to Jenny, a new light in his eyes. "What Gallifrey really needs… is a hero unlike any other. Someone to drive us from the brink of destruction. Someone who appreciates our culture, but wants change."

Jenny frowns.

"Someone born after the Time War," Braxiatel continues, "away from Gallifrey, but who's a true Gallifreyan inside. Someone who'll always take action, but act with conscience. A fighter, but a believer in peace. Created for war, but clever enough to see past it."

Jenny doesn't know what to say.

"Does that remind you of anyone, Jenny?" Braxiatel asks.

…

The Doctor gets wind that Brax is taking an interest in Jenny. Now, since the Doctor knows Braxiatel better than basically anyone else, the Doctor begins to get very concerned about this.

With Seo's help — the Doctor manages to have a long and very intense talk with Braxiatel.

"You talked with my dad?" Jenny asks, when she hears. "What did you two talk about?"

"Oh, this and that," Braxiatel replies. "I believe he threatened to do various unspeakable things to me if I harmed you. When I explained to him that I wished you no harm, he eased off the threats."

Jenny later talks this over with Seo, using their rings.

"Yeah, I heard on this end," Seo confirms. "Father completely chewed Braxiatel out. Kept saying things like, 'this had better not be another one of your schemes, Brax'."

Jenny just laughs at this. "Oh! Brax's schemes. Yes, I know all about those."

"Father says that Braxiatel only does the silly schemes to hide the really dangerous, clever ones he's pulling, behind everyone's backs," Seo continues. "He says, if Braxiatel's taking an interest in you, Jenny, it's for a reason."

The Doctor ultimately gets in touch with Jenny, himself. And tells Jenny that he's confident that Braxiatel has good intentions for her, and that he won't harm Jenny.

But the Doctor also urges Jenny to "learn and do what you want, not what Braxiatel wants you to."

"And always remember the lessons that Aychron taught you," the Doctor says. "Much more reliable."

…

Brax begins tutoring Jenny in math and science, especially the basics that they learn on Gallifrey as little children, because Jenny is having trouble with it.

She asks why everyone seems to know the things she can't figure out.

"Most people learn this in the nursery," says Brax.

"I was never in the nursery," Jenny replies.

Brax isn't surprised that Jenny doesn't know the basics of math and science. When would she have learned? What he's more surprised about is that Jenny is able to learn the complex and more difficult things, despite not knowing the basics it's built on.

"How can you solve a multi-dimensional problem," Braxiatel asks, by way of example, "without Kiloger's theorem? It's impossible."

"No, it's not," says Jenny.

Then she shows him a clever way she's thought up, all on her own, to make the multi-dimensional problem work, without using Kiloger's theorem at all.

Brax stares at it. Impressed. "That's… really rather brilliant."

And decides that Jenny is definitely the right person for his plans.

…

One of the things that really upsets Jenny is the way the Time Lord Academy works.

And, in particular, how the selection process works at the Academy, to decide who becomes a "Time Lord".

The students are all pitted against one another, while at the Academy, then ranked. Below the fifty first percentile is considered to be "failing", and those students don't become Time Lords.

This system leads to a "throw your peers under the bus" strategy, where students try to sabotage one another, so that they can be Time Lords instead of everyone else.

That's always been true, even back in the Doctor's day. But since Gallifrey moved, things have changed, somewhat.

And now, the selection process is even worse.

Because there are so few Time Lords left, every new Time Lord who graduates from the Academy winds up being very influential in the elections for the Chamber of Cardinals. Since political corruption is rife on Gallifrey, this has led to a serious corruption of the Time Lord selection process.

Turns out, by Jenny's time at the Academy, your "ranking" no longer has that much to do with your actual academic ability. And has more to do with your political views, and what political support you have from the top.

Jenny passes through the Academy faster than anyone ever has before, and when she checks to see who'll graduate and become a Time Lord, she's thrilled to discover she's made the list. Then her hearts sink, as she realizes… her friends aren't on the list.

Jenny's very upset about this, and confronts Brax about it.

"My friends are all better, academically, than most of the students who are on the list to become Time Lords," Jenny insists. "But my friends are getting flunked out, in favor of better-connected students from more politically influential families. And all the students who support Rassilon made the list, even if they were idiots!"

Braxiatel sighs.

"Politics has always played a role in this, to a certain extent," Brax tells her. "More so, after the War. These days, no one becomes a Time Lord without powerful friends moving behind the scenes, making it happen."

"I did," Jenny replies.

"No one does," Brax corrects her.

(Yep, you guessed it correctly, Brax has been working behind the scenes this whole time, making sure Jenny would graduate. And he's been making sure it happens fast.)

Brax then continues by saying that, "I felt it was best to get you out of there as soon as possible." Adding that, "There's nothing more you could learn at the Academy that experience hasn't taught you ten times over. You could probably run circles around your tutors, and they know it."

There is, possibly, some mention here of how Brax knows the Doctor wouldn't want Jenny stuck in the Academy too long, as it's a bad influence on her. (Actually, this is what Brax believes. The Doctor has said nothing on the subject.)

Jenny asks if her father had political help passing the Time Lord tests, and Brax replies with a flat-out "no". The Doctor was far too helpful to his peers when he was growing up, and adamantly disagreed with the throwing-people-under-the-bus philosophy. This is the reason the Doctor passed with 51% on his third attempt — he was never one for ruthlessness.

"And you?" Jenny asks.

Brax replies only that, "I did what I had to."

Jenny decides she's had enough of this. "I'm going to do something to change it."

Brax tells Jenny that everyone at the Academy thinks they'll grow up to be a revolutionary, but no one ever acts on it. Their childhood rebellion soon dies down, when they discover it was the institutional corruption that allowed them to get so far in the first place.

Brax subtly urges Jenny to go out and actually do something really drastic, in order to shake everything up.

Jenny realizes that none of the students at the Academy know what's going on, and especially not the soldier babies, who've been taking and retaking the test for ages (they think they're just stupider than most others). She therefore sneaks into the Academy and wipes all academic records and all official rankings for everyone there. So that no one knows how well people have done or not done on anything.

Those running the Academy find out, and have to scramble to try to reconstruct the list. The end result is that academics is thrown completely out the window, and it becomes blatantly obvious to everyone that this is politically corrupt, and that it's all to do with who has the most influential family.

The soldier babies, in particular, rise up about this. Since the soldier babies are pretty badass, and not people you want to get on the wrong side of, people start getting scared. There's some talk in the CIA of wiping out the soldier babies all together. Jenny takes charge of the soldier babies, though, and diverts the violence, instead resorting to nonviolent demands.

There are negotiations undertaken, with Jenny and those who run the Academy. Changes are implemented in the system.

Many soldier babies are made Time Lords, as a result.

Brax, behind the scenes, smiles as he knows his plans are one step closer to fruition.

…

By the time Jenny graduates from the Academy, she's extremely popular.

Brax pulls some strings and manipulates behind the scenes, nearly causing a riot from the soldier-babies, which can only be quelled by placing Jenny on the High Council (but not the Inner Council).

This is highly irregular, and unprecedented.

When Jenny tells Brax that the High Council is just people trying to stab each other in the back politically, and she's not able to keep up, Brax informs her that he's useless at the sort of manipulation they practice on the High Council — encouraging Jenny, instead, to speak to her sister.

(He is, of course, manipulating her, himself.)

Jenny doesn't want to bother Seo, but Brax insists, reminding Jenny that, "your sister loves you very much", and to always remember her family.

Jenny and Seo manage to do very well, together, thwarting the plans of the High Council. And Brax is satisfied that his plan is going exactly perfectly.

…

Seo, by the way, is suspicious of Brax.

She goes through her own universe and winds up talking to Bernice Summerfield, who gives her the run-down on Brax. Seo warns Jenny, and the two come to the conclusion that they shouldn't trust Braxiatel, but that — for now, at least — Braxiatel seems to be manipulating events to their own advantage.

…

Meanwhile, on the High Council, there's a group of Time Lords who have decided that Gallifrey has a "Jenny problem."

This started even before Jenny graduated from the Academy. Even during her studies, she was always vocal about her views. The people have always loved her, because she took action and wasn't afraid to stick up for her beliefs.

As far as Gallifrey is concerned, she's like a female version of the Doctor, except she chooses to embrace Time Lord culture instead of rejecting it.

— Some Background: Soldier Babies —

Gallifrey, during the war, was running out of people to fight, because so many were dying in the war. So they created "soldier babies". These actually aren't exactly like Jenny. They are built to be stronger, tougher, faster, more resilient, and MUCH harder to kill. The cost of this is that they only have 6 regenerations, instead of the full 12.

On present-day Gallifrey, there are a number of soldier babies who are war veterans. And even more who were created to fight, but didn't have time to actually do so before the war ended.

It is estimated, at this point, that about 1/3 of the population of Gallifrey is composed of soldier-babies.

The 'proper' Gallifreyans have issues with these soldier babies, and think of them as inferior. They keep waiting for the soldier babies to all die, but now that the war's over, that's not likely to happen anytime soon.

Jenny actually does have all 12 regenerations and isn't as resilient as her fellow soldier-babies, but because she's the Doctor's daughter and shares his in-your-face attitude, she speaks out vocally on their behalf. People on Gallifrey are forced to listen to her, and she gets a lot of support from the other soldier-babies.

And other people.

— End of Soldier Babies Background —

Now. Here's "the Jenny problem".

Jenny was appointed to the High Council, almost directly out of the Academy, basically to appease these soldier babies — who had been on the verge of a serious revolt.

The appointment was extremely unorthodox, and many people disapproved of it. But the High Council basically had no choice.

The High Council had assumed that Jenny wouldn't actually do anything, just sit there and wave at the crowds. Then, the High Council and CIA could covertly arrange her downfall.

Problem is, "Jenny is her father's daughter". AKA she meddles, gets into the middle of things, and takes action wherever she can. The people love her for this — even the non-soldier babies! The people feel like finally there's someone on the High Council who cares about Gallifrey more than their own petty political ambitions.

So the High Council has made Jenny more popular, instead of less!

The Inner Council and certain members of the CIA are really angry about this. They keep trying to vote her down or stop her, but she keeps talking to her sister, and together, they keep working out ways to solve problems that bypass the High Council (or else find ways to embarrass the hell out of them until they do what Jenny wants).

The Seo-Jenny duo is very difficult for the High Council to break.

What this secret group decides it has to do is to make Jenny be associated, in the public mind, with a group of fanatics they know, who basically believe that Time Lords are more important than anyone or anything in existence.

— Some More Background: the Victor —

The Ultimate Sanction of the Time Lords, at the end of the war, was an idea created by Rassilon and forcibly ratified through the High Council. However, there were those on Gallifrey who genuinely believed in it.

The Victor is one of those people.

He was a great general during the Time War, and basically on-par with the Doctor in terms of victories against the Daleks. The Victor happened to be extremely good at military strategy, and commanded a large following amongst those he commanded.

But the Victor honestly believed that Rassilon's Ultimate Sanction was right. Not just because of the situation facing them at the end of the war. He thought it was right, all around!

If he was given a chance, today, to blow up everything else in the universe so that the Time Lords could ascend, he'd take it.

No questions asked.

So basically, when Rassilon needed to weasel out of his whole mass-genocide-to-protect-his-own-skin scheme, and needed a good scapegoat, the Victor was the obvious choice.

Rassilon blamed the whole thing on the Victor, threw him out of the capital, and made sure everyone knew he was a disgrace. Rassilon's PR and force of personality (AKA killing everyone who disagrees with him) has caused Rassilon to get away with the Ultimate Sanction virtually unscathed… except for having to step down as President. However, since he's still running everything behind the scenes, this isn't a big let-down.

Meanwhile, the Victor's still on Gallifrey, and he still has a substantial following. He's never forgotten his goals.

— End of the Victor's Background —

The CIA has intelligence that the Victor and his followers are planning something. Time Lords on the High Council all want to shut the Victor down, but those who dislike Jenny want to wait a little while, first. Just to see if there's some way they can implicate Jenny in the Victor's schemes, before shutting him down.

Essentially, these Time Lords are risking Gallifrey and the universe, just to bring about Jenny's political downfall. And if they can destroy a few soldier-babies while they're at it… all the better!

(Rassilon never comes out and endorses this plan, but it's pretty clear he dislikes Jenny's popularity and wants to bring her down, too. He's just clever enough not to get his fingers dirty, doing it.)

This shows how much corruption is actually on Gallifrey.

Perhaps Braxiatel's disgust for it all, and his encouragement of Jenny's way of thinking, makes more sense when viewed in this context. Braxiatel honestly wants a better Gallifrey, and thinks Jenny is the best way to get it.