The Scarred Planet

Part One

Featuring the Eighth Doctor, Asla and Cardinal Ollistra

In one of the infinite corners of the universe, a battle was happening. Thousands of Battle TARDISes were attacking an almost equal amount of bronze Dalek saucers and, so far, the Daleks were winning. Major Rarius, one of the many Time Lord soldiers piloting a Battle TARDIS into the heart of the skirmish, knew that the Daleks would be victorious. That was certain. His TARDIS had been damaged by several blasts from Dalek guns and he had initiated a rapid retreat away from the centre of the skirmish.
"Can anybody here this message?" he called, activating his TARDIS's message recorder and broadcasting to any other TARDISes nearby, "My Battle TARDIS is on the verge of temporal collapse. If I get hit any more, I may become a vortex bomb."
Vortex bombs weren't good news. If Rarius's TARDIS would implode, the entire force of the Time Vortex would be unleashed and that level of power could destroy reality itself.

Suddenly, like how a TARDIS would materialise out of nowhere, a large forest covered world crashed into existence, flying into the heart of the battlefield. Rarius could see the strange new world from the monitor inside his TARDIS and he watched, as the battle moved to the inexplicable new world that had sprung into reality.
"All TARDISes, please give me a status update." he called once more into his message recorder, praying that somebody would respond, "This is your Major speaking. I demand a response."
No response came.
"Somebody respond please!" he yelled.
No response came.
"Is anybody still alive out there?" he asked, knowing that somebody must still be alive. Time Lords had a high amount of regenerations and he knew that, if they were injured, the Time Lord army simply had to regenerate and keep fighting.
No response came.

On the Fredriana, a Time Lord battle station that orbited the lifeless world of Krarren in a single moment in time, the Doctor, Asla and Traavia were investigating a message from Cardinal Ollistra. Before they had left the Doctor's TARDIS, the Doctor had explained to Traavia that he and Asla were Time Lords and that Cardinal Ollistra was a high ranking Time Lord who the Doctor didn't like. Traavia had responded to this explanation positively and said, in return for the Doctor saving her life on Telos, she would help the Time Lords with whatever they needed doing.
"Doctor!" Cardinal Ollistra exclaimed, surprised to see the Doctor after what had happened with him the last time the two Time Lords had met each other, "Where the hell have you been?"
"Hello Ollistra. I was busy tidying up the mess the Cyber Lord made. How is he getting on, by the way? Asla told me you took the Cyber Lord back to Gallifrey after he regenerated." the Doctor replied, sounding curious in the face of a repulsive ally.
"We have decided to send him on several missions for us. The War Council figured that the Cyber Lord, with his knowledge of Cyber technology, could be a valuable ally against the Cybermen as well as the Daleks."
"I didn't know that Gallifrey were now focusing on taking down the Cybermen as well as the Daleks." Asla commented, bemused, "Shouldn't you be focused on the Daleks?"
"Ever since the day that the Cyber War and the Time War collided, the War Council has been dealing with the fallout of what the Cyber Lord did. Various agents, including some of the Doctor's old associates, needed to be placed at strategic points in the timelines to correct the damage. The Cyber Lord may be an asset, but he has introduced a new side to this already complicated war." Ollistra said, before adding, "For now, however, I should probably explain why I called you here."

Ollistra then led the Doctor, Asla and Traavia to a type 90 TARDIS in the docking bay, where several members of the Gallifreyan army stood nearby. There were five random Time Lord soldiers, as well as Captain Goswrath - a young Asian man in brown Gallifreyan armour - and General Graavda, a young blonde who was also dressed in brown Gallifreyan armour.
"This is the Doctor and his two friends, Asla and-" Ollistra began, realising that she didn't know the name of the Doctor's other friend.
"Traavia." Asla completed, glancing at Traavia and smiling at her new friend.
"Doctor, we have found an unknown planet that spontaneously appeared during a battle in the Levari System and we need you to lead an expedition to investigate why almost every TARDIS in that battle vanished." Ollistra then explained, making the Doctor and Asla look confused.
"Did you say 'almost every TARDIS'?" the Doctor asked, presuming that one TARDIS had survived.
"Yes, Doctor. Major Rarius informed us of this planet via a distress call from his critically damaged TARDIS."
"I see. Well we'd better get on with this then."
Asla and Traavia nodded and followed Ollistra and the others into the TARDIS, before the TARDIS dematerialised with a wheeze and a groan.

In a few seconds, the TARDIS materialised in the sky above the surface of the unknown world and flew across, as General Graavda had decided to pilot the ship. The others were looking out of the scanner screen, which showed a dense jungle world with several cliffs scattered here and there. A large lake could also be seen ahead of them, which rippled slightly.
"Looks like a nice planet." Traavia remarked, sitting down on a leather armchair that had been left lying around.
"All that glitters is not gold, Traavia." the Doctor said, ominously.

Suddenly, a tall red figure with sharp blue eyes and a tentacled mouth and two large hands and legs emerged from the lake and looked at the TARDIS flying towards it. The Doctor rushed over to General Graavda and looked at her pleadingly.
"Graavda, move away from that thing now." he insisted, adjusting the controls on the console only to be whammed on the head with the butt of Captain Goswrath's staser.
"I can't move away." Graavda protested, "We have a designated landing space and we need to arrive there."
"Graavda, evasive manoeuvres now." Ollistra commanded, oblivious to the danger the creature posed, "We need to get to the safe zone."
"Are you actually insane?!" Asla screamed, amazed by how idiotic the Time Lords were being, "That creature is going to kill us so get us out of here."
"Don't listen to her Graavda. Initiate evasive maneovures now!"
Graavda piloted the TARDIS a few metres away from the creature, but then, with one swift move of its hand, the creature punched the TARDIS head on. Alarms began to blare wildly and the doors flew open, allowing the crew to see the world outside. The Time Lord soldiers began to slide out of the ship, as well as the Doctor's unconscious body, and onto the grassy plain below. Asla, Traavia and Ollistra were still clinging onto the console but Ollistra's grip was not enough: she plummeted out of the ship and landed on the ground below, just before the doors shut and the TARDIS crashed onto the ground, rolling down a waterfall and coming to a stop by slamming into a large tree.
"Asla, are you alright?" Traavia called out, as she could not see her friend through the vast amount of smoke that covered the console room. Traavia sat up and began to move towards the doors when she heard Asla coughing nearby.
"I'm fine!" Asla managed to say, in between coughs, "Extractor fans on!"
With an electronic whirr, the extractor fans activated and the smoke dissipated, revealing Asla, who was sat nearby. The two women hugged one another before heading outside, with Traavia wielding her ion rifle and with Asla wielding her two laser pistols.

The Doctor, Ollistra, Goswrath, Graavda and the other Time Lord soldiers had found themselves in the middle of a grassy field, near to the lake where the strange creature had come from.
"Ollistra, we need to find my friends." the Doctor pleaded, glancing in the direction that he thought the TARDIS had gone in, "I've lost Asla before and I will not lose her again. If you get her killed, then the blood will be on your hands."
"Doctor, I understand. But we have to investigate this world. I am certain that your friends will cope." Ollistra replied, before walking over to the other Time Lords and declaring, "Get everything you need together and get ready to move. We need to find out more about this planet and get underground before that creature comes back."
"Ollistra, you are going to get everyone killed. Exploring an uncharted planet needs skill and patience. This attitude will make sure that nobody survives."
Ollistra ignored the Doctor's warnings and signalled to the party that they should move out. As the group walked off, the Doctor shook his head slowly, knowing that something was about to go wrong.

Asla and Traavia moved along stealthily through the forest outside the TARDIS, swinging their guns from left to right as they walked. They knew that dangerous things were everywhere on this new planet they had found and they knew that they should find somewhere to hide. The TARDIS they had arrived in was critically damaged and couldn't take them anywhere, meaning that somewhere underground to hide in would be good.
"Hey, you two!" hissed a nearby man, dressed in Time Lord armour and wielding a staser rifle, "Get over here!"
The two women rushed over to him and hid behind a tall tree.
"Who are you?" Asla wondered, adding in surprise as she noticed the man's armour, "You're a Time Lord?"
"Yep. I'm Ertass and I'm the last of the Gallifreyan army. I saw your TARDIS crash nearby and I wondered if you've come to rescue me." Ertass explained.
"But we didn't receive any radio transmissions from you."
"That's because there's an electromagnetic field surrounding this planet so only time machines can land on this planet properly. That is, however, if they don't meet the Griff."
"The Griff?" Traavia queried, having not heard the name before.
"The Griff is the thing you saw earlier. Come on, we'd better get inside the Wreck before the Griff comes back."
He led Asla and Traavia towards a metal door that had been embedded within a nearby mountain and opened it, before leading the two women inside.

Inside the metal door was a dull silver walkway and below that walkway was a mass of destroyed Daleks, Time Lords and Cybermen. Asla could see that there were several broken hibernation chambers and that there were also several carcasses of Battle TARDISes scattered everywhere.
"There's a computer bank here." Traavia noticed, standing on a small platform where there was a computer and a keyboard embedded into a large metal block. Asla and Ertass joined her at the computer bank and Asla searched for details about the planet. Soon, a graphic of the planet flickered onto the screen and the planet's name appeared shortly afterwards. Asla shuddered in horror at the sight of the planet's name whereas Traavia and Ertass didn't understand why she looked so afraid.
"Why do you look so afraid?" Traavia asked Asla, concerned.
"Because this planet cannot be here. I know the story about this planet and I know that it shouldn't be here, now."
The planet that the Griff inhabited and the planet which the TARDIS had crashed on had a very familiar name which Asla had recognised instantly.
Mondas.

TO BE CONTINUED...