Where a lot of people talk a lot.

A little late today, but better late than never. We're nearing the end - two more chapters to go!
Please let me know it you enjoyed :)

'People of Gallifrey!'

In every TARDIS, Romana's face flickered across the monitors. In every TARDIS, the adults and children gathered in the control rooms to watch their President. In every TARDIS, the tension was tangible, excitement and fear buzzing through everyone.

'People of Gallifrey!' Romana repeated with a smile. She had abandoned the garments traditionally worn by the President and had opted for a plain yet elegant business suit. It didn't seem to matter, she still carried that air of authority and kindness she was known for in this regeneration and the people were waiting for her to continue.

'We all have suffered a great loss,' she said. 'We have lost our beloved planet, our home. Gallifrey. We thought we made it, we survived the Time War, the timelock - and our home was still taken from us. By one of our very own, for something our forefathers did generations ago. And while I do not agree with the Master's actions, the destruction he brought us, I will not stand for what the early people of Gallifrey did. And neither will you.

'When the High Council of Gallifrey made me President of Gallifrey again, they thought I would comply to being their puppet. But I did not. I received intelligence, a warning by a dear friend, that danger was heading our way, that Gallifrey would be destroyed. I was told there was nothing I could do to stop that from happening, but I could still save my people.

'Yet when I spoke to them, many didn't listen, didn't seek shelter like I asked them too. The ones who did, the ones who sought safety and survived, the ones who believed me - believed in me, those people are you. And I want to thank you for trusting me, for leaving your homes and lives on Gallifrey behind just because I told you to.

'When we watched the destruction by the Master, I asked you for patience. I asked you to take care of the children and the young, even if they are not your own, and I asked you to wait for me to find us a new home.

'I could have sent informants out into the universe to find us a new home, but I was afraid to lose someone, that it would deminish our numbers even further. We were proud people, but much of our history has been built on lies. You followed me, trusted me and believed my judgement when I called danger. That gives me cause to believe that you, too, would agree when I say that our ancestors made a wrong choice, a mistake. They isolated us from other species, only to interfere from afar, but they were wrong. We have friends in the universe, all across the worlds, and they wanted to help.

'And help they did. With their assistance, it took us mere days to find an uninhabited planet suited to our needs. A terraforming device took care of everything else, so once you set the coordinates, you will find yourselves on the way to your new home.

'But remember - it is not ready yet. It may be habitable and beautiful, but it is still an empty planet. Making it our home will take time and patience. But no matter how long it takes, we will make it our new home. And while we built our cities, our new world, from scratch, we will abolish the old rites, the ones that do not do anyone good. This new Gallifrey, it will not be like the one we left behind. And it will never be. So let us learn from our mistakes and make New Gallifrey the best we can.'

In their TARDISes, people were cheering, albeit some more reluctant than others. But their President was right, of course, and they were all very much aware of that. They kept watching as Romana bent forward and typed something below the monitor before stepping back again. The TARDISes beeped.

'You have just received the coordinates of New Gallifrey. Please do not materialise on the surface, I would prefer not to have TARDISes overlapping by accident.' Suddenly, the screen split and a second face appeared, a grinning, blonde woman. Behind her, they could spot the President's right hand over the last few weeks - River.

'Hello everyone, this is the Doctor speaking,' the woman introduced herself and Romana nodded, an implication for everyone that whatever the Doctor had to say, she was aware and in favour of it.

'Right then, listen up everyone. If you materialise in orbit, you can take a spin 'round the planet, see if you fancy it somewhere down there. Then fly your TARDISes down, gravity's 'bout the same as on Gallifrey, so that shouldn't be any trouble. Anyway,' she brushed a stray strand of hair back behind her ear and scrunched up her face, looking at the monitor in front of her. For a moment, she frowned at whatever she was seeing, then her face lit up and she stepped back again.

'Anyway,' she repeated, 'try not to crash your TARDISes into each other while landing, they don't like that - but I'm sure you all know that. So, when you go planetside, there are some areas - they're marked on the maps we send you - we did send them the maps, did we?' Wide eyed and frowning, the Doctor turned to River, who fondly rolled her eyes and nodded, stepping closer too.

'Everyone should find a set of maps with the coordinates you just received. There are areas marked that seem suitable for building towns and cities, please try and stay clear of those for now,' River explained and both the Doctor and Romana nodded, the former rather fervently before taking over again.

'So, other than in the City areas, you can just go wherever you want. You could even turn your TARDISes into houses, if you like, if your chameleon circuits work - now that'd be handy, wouldn't it River? Maybe we should fix them after all…' For a moment, she looked thoughtful, until Romana cleared her throat and her eyes snapped back into focus. 'Ah, yes, sorry. Where was I? Right, chameleon circuits, if you would like to live in the city areas, it's probably better if you go for something smaller than a house, it's bigger on the inside anyway. So yeah, might be best to not go that big - oh, and try not to blend in with nature, you might never find your TARDIS again. Which reminds me, maybe put a nametag on the outside, so you know which one's your's.'

At that, even Romana couldn't stifle a snort, that was just such a Doctor-like statement. The Doctor herself just glared at her through the monitor but didn't actually say anything. Realising that she was done, River stepped forward again.

'That is all for now, in terms of instructions. Please try to arrive in parallel time or a little later but don't go before yesterday, the terraforming was only completed last night.'

'Yes, please do keep that in mind. Any further instructions and plans for the future can wait until we are planetside, I'm sure you are all curious to see our new home. I will see you there.' With a last smile, Romana flicked a lever and her camera turned off, leaving the monitors in the various TARDISes black.

Whether the people liked Romana or not, whether they had supported her presidency or not, whether they wanted to follow her and the Doctor now or not - none of it mattered. They had all seen it, had seen their planet fall into destruction as bad as the Time War, knew they had lost everything.

And Romana had warned them, and then kept cool when they had been panicking. Within a few days, she had found them a new planet to move to, to rebuild their lives and start anew, and even those who did not like or support her, even they could respect that.

Of course, it didn't go off without a hitch. Things like that never did - and they weren't talking about a few hundred people, they were talking millions. With many of them still too young to help with building anything, one of the first things to be done was to establish orphanages and some form of childcare. Enough adult Gallifreyans were with them that the economy didn't collapse. Within weeks, the architects had made plans to construct the cities while those who chose to live in the countryside took up farming and supplying the population with crops and other food.

The terraforming, at least, had worked like a charm, and with the assembled data from all the TARDISes, it had been easy enough to influence the device, resulting in a flora that largely resembled the one they knew from Gallifrey.

Being a race that ran on an hour of sleep per night did have it's advantages - it didn't take long before the Capital was built, partly after the image of Gallifrey's Capital, partly modeled after the impressions architects recalled from studying other societies.

There were committees for everything: Building the cities, infrastructure, making sure everyone had an adequate supply of food, childcare, getting the economy up and rolling again - and of course, rebuilding their government and justice body from scratch, crossing out all corruption and the likes in the process.

The most surprising thing, however, was how little the people seemed to mind. One would have thought that a society as high and mighty as Gallifrey had seemed to be would refuse to start anew, from the bottom up, but they didn't.

Because they all agreed: They had lost their home, their planet - their everything.

But they still had each other and they found a new home, a new way of life and being stuffy and prim wouldn't help them. So, for once, the people of Gallifrey decided to swallow their pride and start over.