Redgrove
Episode Nine: Gallifrey
Featuring the Redgrove Doctor, Tara Watson and the Redgrove Ollistra
The inside of the woman's TARDIS was large and white. Like the Doctor's, it had roundels on the walls but the time rotor didn't connect to the ceiling. Instead, it was a small glass column, which moved in time to the wheezing and groaning of the ship.
"She's a Time Lord then?" Tara assumed, sitting down in an armchair by the console, "And one with better taste than you."
"Oi, rude." the Doctor said, before asking the woman, "Who are the Paradox Warriors?"
"The Paradox Warriors are living paradoxes who kill anyone who goes against them. They constantly recruit innocent civilians into their army. The Time Lords contained the paradox energy in capsules known as Paradox Containers."
"So why do you need me?"
"Because a Paradox Container has been found with no paradox energy inside it."
"Where?"
"On Gallifrey. Doctor, Redgrove is needed."
"Sorry, but there's a beast loose. Didn't you know?"
The woman raised an eyebrow at the Doctor, as if he was stupid.
"I set that beast free, Doctor, just to get you here. Where are the other two? I can pick them up if you want?" the woman offered, setting the controls and dematerialising the TARDIS.
"You haven't even told us your name. Who are you anyway?" Tara demanded, walking over to the woman.
"My name is Cardinal Ollistra and today, Gallifrey will survive!" she cried, as the TARDIS hurtled towards Gallifrey.
On Gallifrey, the TARDIS materialised onto a ravaged, desolate world. The Doctor got out and stared in shock at the desolate world he had once called home.
"This is what has happened during your exile," Ollistra exclaimed, "so I hope you've enjoyed your exploits on Earth and beyond."
"What do you mean 'and beyond'?" the Doctor asked.
"Don't think we don't know about your trip to Vitruvius Alpha. That other Doctor's TARDIS has been reclaimed and destroyed, meaning you are going back home after this is over."
"Listen, the Doctor has been doing some good on other worlds." Tara protested, "He stopped a universal catastrophe and defeated another renegade Time Lord."
"I know, Ms Watson, I know!" Ollistra screamed, "But that is not how Time Lords work."
"I don't care. The Time Lords are wrong if they don't care about the rest of the universe. You only wanted the Doctor back so that he could clear up your mess. Not to relieve him, not to do anything kind. You just needed someone to save you."
"Are all of your friends like this?" Ollistra asked the Doctor.
"Most of them are, yeah." he answered.
They walked towards the Citadel, passing the remnants of great towers and the exterior shells of abandoned TARDISes.
"What happened here, to cause all of this?" the Doctor wondered, as they walked.
"The Paradox Warriors did, Doctor." Ollistra replied, noticing a trio of Paradox Warriors up ahead of them: glowing blue veins ran across their body and energy had formed around their hands. Their hair had been slightly tinged blue as well and their faces looked emotionless.
"Time Lords, you shall surrender and join our army." the tall imposing man in the middle said, "The Paradox Lords shall rise and destroy all inferior races in the universe."
"Paradox Lords? I admit it's a bit unoriginal." Tara remarked, making the Doctor smile at his companion's humour.
"Your army is nothing, you destroyed every TARDIS on this planet and there are no teleports. I think this'll be easy." the Doctor said, a few seconds before one of the warriors raised their hand and fired a bolt of blue energy at Ollistra, making her struggle in pain. Bizarrely, she then began to lead the warriors back to her TARDIS and resisted the blast, managing to scream "For Gallifrey!" as she entered her ship, which exploded and caused a wave of blue light to rush across the planet's surface. After that, everything went white.
The Doctor and Tara woke up inside a grey room, with only one window which showed a view of space. In front of them there was a TARDIS, yet the Doctor seemed hesitant to escape.
"Perhaps this is a trap." he guessed, "Perhaps somebody's watching us."
He took out his sonic screwdriver and scanned the local area, eventually finding a camera on a nearby wall. He looked into the lense and beamed.
"Smile, Tara. You're on camera." he remarked, before getting inside the TARDIS with Tara.
This new TARDIS looked identical to Ollistra's: large, white, roundels on the walls and with a central console that had a small glass time rotor. The Doctor instantly set about heading back to Earth, whilst Tara seemed more occupied with the image on the monitor.
"Err, Doctor, you'd better have a look at this." Tara said, pointing at the news report that had been frozen on the monitor. The Doctor, after dematerialising the ship and pressing random buttons, managed to get the report to play.
"Today has been a tragedy for everyone at the Meadelsden Hospital. At eleven o'clock this morning, a bomb exploded and destroyed the hospital in its entirety, killing two members of the famous Redgrove team: Janet Redwood and Alan Thomas." the news reporter, a middle-aged scruffy man called Michael Osman, said, just before the report ended. The Doctor looked at Tara and she could see in his eyes that there was something she had never seen before: fear.
"Tara, I think Redgrove's being targeted." the Doctor said, "I don't know how and I don't know why, but something big is about to happen."
"Well we need to be ready. We've been through this before. Remember how we took Mr Thomas on that training mission, all those months ago?" Tara said, in an encouraging tone, "Doctor, as long as we stay alive, we can deal with whatever's coming."
"Can we?"
TO BE CONTINUED...