Fictions Mentioned: Doctor Who/Faction Paradox, The SCP Foundation, Star Wars Franchise

Episode 12 - A Good Man Goes to War

OP Song:

Mother - YU-NO: Kono Yo no Hate de Koi o Utau Shoujo(Opening 2 Full w/ Lyrics & Subs in English)[4K]

Somewhere in the Known and Unknown Multiverse, the young Doctor of War had paused as he took in the sight of the devastated world of Karn in many countless alternate timelines in the multiverse as the various and diverse holes that he as a Time Lord could only see as it would seemed to suggest across the burning planet of multiplicity that is now covered in smoke and ash by hundreds of shards of Skaro that were hurled at the planet that had spread across multiple dimensions, the legacy of the Time Lord tyrant Morbius, but now the Doctor of War trudged across the burned shattered surface of Karn towards the wreckage of the gunship he had tried to rescue Cass from (multiple versions of the event in the multiverse).

The Doctor of War paused, lightly touching the bandoleer across his chest where his twin hearts were beating within a new chest, still wearing his eighth self's worn clothes as of late. His outfit no longer mattered to him at this point of the War for it could be changed in random as the timelines change all around him, but it was the bandoleer that had once been Cass's, and now he was wearing it as a sign of respect that stood out, though he would soon add more complex weapons and explosives to it once he'd entered the Conflict with the Daleks and their allies among the Axis Powers and everything in between.

Cass' reaction shouldn't have surprised his previous self; the Time War had already devastated an uncountable number of worlds, driven many to extinction as the Allies and the Axis and everything in between waged war; the Time Lords with their Battle and War TARDISes and the Daleks with their vast and diverse armies of Skaro Degradations that grew in number every single meta-day at the rate of an unlimited number for every meta-minute, rampaging across time and space throughout the Whoniverse Multiverse Clusters and other Multiverse Clusters Territories that belonged to many races among the Temporal Powers Alliance (TPA) in their highly advanced space-time war saucer ships in order to subjugate and exterminate races (usually the lesser ones) that didn't conform to their ideology of racial purity, but this has now become an utter hypocritical ruse and would only use such an excuse if it benefits them to the very least for ideals tend to go down the drain when it comes to war of this divine scale or in order to farm more disposable fodder for this War.

The Doctor of War's eighth incarnation had been hurt by Cass's rejection of him which had replaced her curiosity and enthusiasm to travel with him, but the Doctor of War looked back at the moment where Cass's young face was contorted with hatred and fear once she'd discovered her rescuer was in fact a member of a race that was presently so corrupt they were prepared to destroy everything in order to win. This he understood greatly and never hold it against her or anyone of similar disposition.

The Doctor of War shook his head. He was no longer that version of the Doctor, no matter how much that he wanted to return too as if it were just a dream in order to not see the very harsh reality of a nightmare that has engulfed and consumed everything in it's path, leaving nothing unturned or untwisted, for he had now rejected that name to become the Warrior needed in the Time War.

For his family and friends in the Known and Unknown Multiverse.

For everyone and everything in All of Creation, Reality, and Existence itself.

How had it come down to this?

The young Time Lord shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts as he approached the wreckage of multiplicity as he recalls one of many countless timelines. All of which are real to him. The sheer complexity of the Time War weighing down on his ancient divine soul.

In one timeline among many, the High Priestess of the Sisterhood, Ohila, had offered to use the power of the Sisterhood to teleport him to the TARDIS, but the newly regenerated Doctor of War had wanted to stretch his new legs to test them. If he was to be a Warrior in this new regeneration, he would need to be physically fit and able to trudge long journeys. He could feel this new regeneration settle down; his previous life had lasted far too longer than regenerations in the past from the relative perspective, though he would've ideally wished this life to have come from a more natural regeneration rather than something imposed on him.

No matter. It had happened, and the Doctor of War didn't regret it.

This was just one among many countless timelines.

All of them real.

All of them being born.

All of them dying.

For the Doctor is a bunch of timelines put together into a single being of complex nature.

Such is the complex nature of a Time Lord.

A God among the Gods.

Only a few beings would rank higher, above, and beyond than his very own People.

The Divine People of the Divine Homeworld of Gallifrey.

The Gods among the Gods.

The True Masters of Space-Time.

As he walked with divine intent to the TARDIS, his musings turned to the argument he'd had with Cass, and the conversation/debate with Ohila in many countless timelines.

Cass had been right about the Time Lords, despite his protestations he had been one of the good ones, though even those were rarer now. Time Lords of many varieties and diversities from all over the multiverse clusters territories, even peaceful ones like K'anpo were being conscripted into the War, and his eighth self had known deep inside him that he would soon be roped in into the Conflict whether if he wanted to fight or not. For it had followed him since his very first incarnation when he, Susan, Ian, and Barbara first met the Daleks all those meta-millennia ago. A good man, Ohila had said, but Cass had been wise, she'd known even if he had been the exception then he would eventually have to fight the Daleks, and unbeknownst to even her, even the Axis Powers, those parties in between, all the various and diverse horrors. For the Time War had already now spread throughout The Known and Unknown Multiverse by this very point in the meta-time scale.

The Temporal Powers Alliance (TPA) had already sounding the Alpha-Omega Alarm throughout the Known and Unknown Multiverse. Many of the Higher Races, Temporal Powers, and Multiple Pantheons have now begun to join in on said Conflict. The Spatio-Temporal Armed Forces (STARS) were now heavily deployed across the Known and Unknown Multiverse and are under the command of him, the other 12 Core Members and Unlimited Members of the Multiverse League of Extraordinary Gentleman and Ladies. The SCP Foundation has now fully deployed the Mobile Task Forces (MTF) throughout the Known and Unknown Multiverse, along with countless SCP's that are now being released from their prison containment cells in order to be used against the enemy under the supervision of himself, the rest of the League, the TPA Member Races, the O-5 Council, and the Administrator of course in order for said SCP's to be kept in line and not run amok on their own. They have also deployed their latest weapons of war that holds many varieties and diversities of settings that could be used against the enemy.

He was drawn out of his musings when he caught sight of the TARDIS, still in its police box form. The Doctor of War ran a finger lightly over the exterior shell, and absently wondered if he should repair the chameleon circuit for the Time War only, but he shook his head. The Daleks had the ability of spotting camouflaged TARDISes thanks to their newly advanced technologies that seemed to grow more dangerous by the meta-minute, so the ability was now completely redundant. Besides, his TARDIS was already well known by both the Allied Forces, the Axis Powers, and everything in between by this very meta-point of his existence, and once it emerged, he was now officially involved in the War when the TARDIS would become a testament of a monument to all corners of the Known and Unknown Multiverse, signalling hope to his many countless allies and fear to his many countless enemies.

The Doctor of War just stood and stared at the old police box shell of his ship. He had set out as a scholar and an adventurer, but now he was a warrior. The Time Lord sighed as he realised those innocent years of his were now gone, now he would have to grow up. He reached into his tattered, shabby pocket for the key, and opened the door.

The TARDIS interior was darkened, most unlike it had been when he'd last stood in the console room, but the War Doctor knew the TARDIS was a 12 dimensional being, and could see the meta-past, meta-present, and meta-future. All meta-pasts. All meta-presents. All meta-futures. She had been...slightly reluctant when she had been piloted to materialise on Cass's gunship, but she had done it though he had registered her reluctance with concern and dread. The TARDIS had always known of sorts course, like the Watcher when his fourth incarnation had travelled between Earth and Logopolis to repair the chameleon circuit, that he was going to fight in the Time War whether he agreed with it or not. For the Time War was inevitable. Dalek or no Dalek. For many countless players of the cosmic order are heavily involved besides the Daleks.

The Doctor of War scoffed mentally; his old self had spent so very long avoiding the War but he'd spent just as long running away from it in the vain hope if he had kept running the war wouldn't engulf and corrupt him like it had done so already to so many of his old friends; the Doctor of War had to endure the sight of so many Time Lords he had known since his days at the Prydonian Academy, twisted into monsters. The Doctor of War hadn't wanted that, he hadn't wanted to look at himself in the meta-future, if the Time Lords had won the war or he had survived, and just saw...a monster looking back at him. That was not the kind of life the Time Lord had wanted for himself when he had stolen a Type 40 TARDIS all those meta-millennia ago.

The TARDIS groaned, snapping the Time Lord pilot out of his thoughts. The Doctor of War walked to the console and started setting in coordinates into the computer before dematerialising his ship. The Doctor of War closed his eyes as he let the soothing, familiar sound of the TARDIS leaving this version of Karn echo in his mind like a Mozart quartet playing softly in the background.

But he was now a Warrior, he was meant to fight.

Not just for himself.

But for everyone.

But for everything.

But for his family and friends in the Known and Unknown Multiverse.

But for All of Creation, Reality, and Existence itself.

In one of his countless laboratories in the TARDIS, the Doctor of War was studying the recent reports from Gallifreyan intelligence in every known and unknown sector of the Whoniverse Multiverse Cluster Territories.

The Daleks had just finished their first war fleets in one sector only a thousand light years from Gallifreyan space, in the Calop system, of this universe. According to the report, the Time Lords of this universe were preparing a task force to take back control of many countless systems in this alternative universe, and use it as a funnel to pour their own war fleets and elite armies into the Dalek Empire, though the Doctor of War knew it wouldn't work. The Daleks would be prepared for such a move.

Unlike the Renagade Time Lords and many countless others of his Prime Universe of N-Space and on many alternative Gallifrey's, many of those who belonged to the High Council with a few major exceptions such as Lady Livia Caralis and Lord President Eternal Rassilon of the Prime Universe of N-Space, were complacent and never left the imagined safety of the Citadel, just didn't think strategically whilst the Daleks had been born in war, and they would be prepared to fight for every inch of space-time they conquered. There was also a personal plea from the Time Lords of All Realities, dispatched to his TARDIS.

Unlike the renegade Time Lords, the ones on Gallifrey, the ones who never left the imagined safety of the Citadel, just didn't think strategically whilst the Daleks had been born in war, and they would be prepared to fight for every inch of space they conquered. There was also a personal plea from the Time Lords, dispatched to his TARDIS.

The Doctor of War sat back as he considered the news. The Time Lords of All Realities were desperate for his help, but after seeing, in the very first meta-year of the Time War, one meta-yer where he would eventually end up visiting once more, the fall of Davros at the Gates of Elysium at the jaws of the Nightmare Child, the lengths that this War was willing to go along with many other countless factors and events, the Doctor had initially refused to take any part of it in any official manner and would always be involved from the sidelines, saving whoever he can, assisting his many countless allies through indirect means, and gather the latest updated information of the Allied and Axis War Effort across the Known and Unknown Multiverse.

But the Doctor of War was not like his eighth's self, he wasn't like the Doctor's before him; the manipulative seventh self, or the chaotic, dramatic and brash sixth self, or his softer fifth self. He was a Warrior, the one who holds all faces and the abilities and skills that come with it, and he would use what he knew to his advantage against the Daleks and the Axis Powers. The Doctor of War remembered his predecessor's reason to fight; he was only doing it only for the peace and sanity of the Known and Unknown Multiverse. For everyone that he loves and holds dearly.

The Doctor of War accessed his computer, bringing up the database entry of this star system. Even with his new incarnation, the War Doctor had no intention of just walking up to the Daleks and their allies among the Axis Powers, for that wasn't just his style. He wanted to destroy them all in one swift and precise calculated strike with the help and assistance of many of his countless allies among the Temporal Powers Alliance (TPA). In order to do all of that, he must plan accordingly with patience.

Somewhere in the Known and Unknown Multiverse, in one of many countless alternative Gallifrey's in the Whoniverse Multiverse Cluster Territories, Lady Romanadvortrelundar, or Lady Romana for short, Lady President of the Time Lords, War Queen of the Nine Gallifrey's in this universe, was throned in her own personal War TARDIS leading this fight alongside her War TARDIS Fleet.

The Time Lady's ancient eyes were fixed on the monitor screen as the Time Lord war fleet approached the fortified Dalek bases in Calop.

How could this have happened?

The Time Lords of All Realities were supposed to have prevented this, no matter what universe or multiverse, but if there was one thing Romana her prime counterpart, and her many alternative selves had learnt during their many meta-years travelling and being associated with the Doctor of the Prime Universe of N-Space, it was knowing the Time Lords simply weren't up to the task at hand.

The thought of the Doctor now had made Romana fidget and grimace; she knew why her old friend from the Prime Universe of N-Space had wanted nothing to do with the Time War, like many of the other Time Lords throughout the multiverse, but with the Doctor it ran much deeper than that, though she would have appreciated it if she had his help and advice in the War just like every other version of her who was now fighting the good fight. But she knew he wouldn't want it, for the Doctor hated conflict above all else; give him a limited conflict and he would succeed, but the Time War was of such a scale not known even in Time Lord meta-history for it stretches out to every corner throughout the Known and Unknown Multiverse. Many of their allies among the Temporal Powers Alliance (TPA) can attest to at least that much.

With a heavy sigh, Romana opened her presidential access to the Matrix on her Gallifrey as she remembered the reports that had come about since then. The biochemical computer of the Time Lords accepted her codes at once as she checked on the Time Lord known as the Doctor. When her eyes met the screen, she couldn't believe it for a moment; the Matrix was linked to the minds of every Time Lord and Lady, and it knew when a Time Lord had regenerated, whether in this universe or many countless others, for Lord President Eternal Rassilon of the Prime Universe of N-Space had just upgraded the Matrixes to relay it to all of the Homeworlds.

And the Doctor had, on the planet Karn of his native universe.

What had happened?

Romana was about to delve deeper into the new data on the Doctor when one of the Time Lords nearby suddenly called her over, "Madam President, sensors are picking up an unusual supernova directly ahead."

If Romana hadn't known that there were no novas in this area the TARDIS war fleet were travelling through she would've asked the Time Lord why on Gallifrey he was mentioning it in the first place, but her interest was piqued. "Report," she instructed as the Time Lords around the room hastened to obey.

But the Time Lord who'd reported the supernova wasn't finished. "We're also receiving reports direct via T-mail, priority one. There are similar reports of supernovas suddenly appearing deep within Dalek space of many countless universes. Their positions are ranging from small facilities to massive orbital fleet yards, key energy production facilities and factories, and there are reports of Dalek warships being destroyed as they exit and leave hyperspace for no apparent reason."

"Oh, there's a reason alright," Romana corrected the Time Lord, an idea springing into her mind. "Wait," the Time Lord said, "there's something approaching us."

Romana suddenly stiffened, and the TARDIS commander immediately fell into the drill of captaining the TARDIS. Romana was in two minds about the competency of some of the Time Lord captains; most of them were jumped up nobodies from the Chancellery Guard with no experience commanding a platoon or refuse collections nevermind a TARDIS.

Romana, her prime counterpart, and her other alternatives had pushed through a training program for all of them, but the problem was a circle since there were few Time Lords on her Gallifrey who even knew how to train their fellows in a situation they had no understanding about, so she'd given the problems to some Renegades in exchange for some favors. Unlike previous Time Lord presidents of her universe, Romana was known and respected by the Renegades because, in a sense, she had been one; she'd left Gallifrey, she'd gotten out there, and she'd gotten involved. The inclusion of the Renegades at her, her prime counterpart, and her other alternative's behest in the Time War had brought her and them a lot of grief, but Romana, her prime counterpart, and her other alternatives had countered the arguments of their critics with statistics of how many Time Lords fighting the War had survived after being under the tutelage of Renegades compared to those who had been under the tutelage of Time Lords who had never left Gallifrey.

Then there were the Casts and Babels that had been deployed in full haste under her, her prime counterpart, and many of her alternatives' orders.

Casts [Great Houses: Engineered Participants (Pre-War Era)]

Conventional Warfare was never a practical possibility between the Great Houses: there was no fore prepared to act as an army, or at least no force prepared to fight. Each House maintained its own constabulary, drawn from the ranks of the servitor classes, but these groups were ceremonial rather than military. Most couldn't fire a weapon to save their lives. Anyone with the inclination to fight, even on a philosophical level, was drawn to go into exile or hermitage. Nevertheless, there were times when violence was felt to necessary and the House required agents to perform straightforward but hazardous activities on their behalf, casually in the outside universe. In these instances they could call on the service of the casts.

With hindsight the casts bear an uncomfortable resemblance to the conceptual entities now used by the enemy, though the Homeworlds ''first line of defense'' were a different proposition in many ways. Despite their less-than-substantial natures, they existed physically in ways that conceptual beings don't and were essentially mindless. the casts were phantom-drones, hardwired into the Homeworld's noosphere or into the operating platforms of the Houses' timeships. In this respect the casts can be considered ''peripherals'', extensions of either Homeworld ships or Homeworld culture employed whenever the need arose to maintain the status quo by force. Once activated, the casts adsorbed radiation from nearby space-time events via the lines of causality and converted it either into baryonic matter (giving themselves physical substance) or strange matter (allowing them to manifest in two, or one or even zero-dimensional form, making them effectively invisible). Most casts were programmed with a simple set of instructions, though in emergencies it was possible to boost a cast's consciousness to near-sentience.

With the outbreak of the War, the cast suddenly seemed useless. Not only were the ineffective against conceptual opponents like the anarchitects, they'd created a false sense of security among the Houses. Most were wiped out during the initial assault on the Homeworld, which fragmented their connection to the noosphere and to the caldera. Those that weren't killed outright were reduced to plaintive phantoms, haunting their timeships and Houses without memory or reason. A force of some seventy-three surviving casts was mustered and sent into battle against the enemy during the Lethean Campaign: it was a glorious, futile gesture. The casts were destroyed, the timeships eaten from within by the enemy's ship-eater weapons, their last stand commemorated by the firestorm which raged across the surface of Lethe for years afterwards.

However the legacy of the casts still had a part to play in the conflict. It was only after the outbreak of the War that the Great Houses sanctioned the use of the unstable ''second generation'' casts: the babels, which had, centuries earlier, been responsible for the notorious slaughter at House Catherion.

-The Book of the War

Babels [Great House: Engineered Participants (Pre-War Era)]

For the most part, in the Pre-War era the only line of defense the Homeworld had against invasion-or worse yet, cultural imperialism-were the casts. Hollow, insubstantial things, linked to the Homeworld's noosphere and having no will of their own, the casts' only real function was to defend the Homeworld's culture in a very literal sense. As the noosphere of the Homeworld exists at the very center of constructed history, it forms a cultural ''motherlode'' not just for the Houses but for the entire framework of causality, and if it were attacked then the House's protocols, their collective memory, even their language could be eradicated in the first blow. Yet the casts were little more than puppets of baryonic matter, and as the War eventually proved, once their link to the Homeworld was severed they were of no use whatsoever.

But the shortcomings of the castss hadn't gone unnoticed. Long before the outbreak of the War there was a covert attempt to modify them into something more useful in the even of a conflict with the outside universe. It isn't entirely clear who sponsored the experiment but its portentous and modernistic code name, the Catherion Imprimiture, suggests the megalomaniac imagination of the Imperator Presidency. Besides which, it's doubtful that anybody else would have even considered the possibility of the rest of the universe posing a serious threat. The aim of the experiment was to breed a new generation of casts, or babels, which would defend the Homeworld's noosphere against physical or language-viral attacks and co-ordinate cast activity independently of the Houses. Above all, the babels would be sentient, their intelligence hardwired not into the abstract machinery of Homeworld culture but directly into the brains of one or more time-active agents.

A breeding-engine was symbolically purchased from House Catherion, which-its bloodline long extinct, its chapterhouse maintained only by a caretaker-line-had no further need for it. The (purely symbolic) price was three birds' eggs, a plot of land previously dedicated to the flying of ceremonial flags on state occasions, and a small, immaculately-crafted pocket-watch made by a Mr. Harrison of Yorkshire, England, c.1765. The ''receipt'' is the only surviving documentation of the Catherion Imprimiture or of the babels. There are few hard facts available about the actual experiments, and perhaps posterity should be thankful. The modification made to the breeding-engine, the ends to which it was turned, can only have been grisly and horrific.

This much is known: the babels were grown within the first fifty years of the Imprimiture. It isn't clear how many there were, although probably no more than eight. Only three have ever been identified by reliable sources. But it is clear that many, if not all, of these creatures were incurably insane. The babel which escaped, and became responsible for the near legendary massacre at House Catherion, certainly was.

Very little of the information that exists on the Catherion massacre can be considered solid fact, but one thing is beyond doubt: the alleged slaughter coincided with the inexplicable disappearance of 's timepiece from the Homeworld. It's proved untraceable since then, even in its component parts, perhaps a symbol that the Houses had washed their hands of the Catherion Imprimiture...or simply that the project had ''run out of time''. The babels became nothing more than an obscure and unpleasant part of history, and weren't heard from again until the beginning of the War, when circumstances had changed to such a degree that the ruling Houses were once again willing to consider their activation.

-The Book of the War

"Is it a Dalek war fleet?" Romana asked the Time Lord after pushing those thoughts out of the way; this crew needed her judgement and focus.

The Time Lord sat there at the controls for a moment, checking the data. Finally he turned around, "No, its a single ship, travelling in vortex. According to the scanners its one of ours, a TARDIS, and the patina scan indicates its a Type 40 TARDIS."

Romana stiffened whilst the Captain, not knowing about the history of the model, scoffed, "Who runs around the multiverse in an obsolete piece of junk?"

"The Type 40's were very good ships," Romana gritted out, offended. Some of her best memories had come from travelling on such a TARDIS. "The Doctor of the Prime Universe of N-Space, he's the only Time Lord I know who always uses one in these very meta-days and would use it very efficiently and effectively than any other of his counterparts or any other Time Lord," she finished with a smile of satisfaction. But her smile faded as she thought about the report the Time Lord had given her, taken from other reports from Gallifreyan intelligence; the supernovas...the Doctor's TARDIS was just leaving a star system under Dalek control, and it had gone nova, and there were other supernovas happening in Dalek space, and Dalek ships were being destroyed exiting and leaving hyperspace.

Too much of a coincidence. Did this have something to do with the Doctor's new regeneration?

"Madam President, we're receiving a message," the Time Lord said, "the Doctor wants us to adjust our interior dimension frequency so he can materialise inside."

Romana stepped forwards, her manners overridden by curiosity. "Do it, scan the Doctor's TARDIS, and adjust our dimensional frequency to compensate."

"Madam President," the Captain suddenly said in protest, "I must protest about bringing a TARDIS on my ship without my permission-"

"What am I?" Romana suddenly swung round, fed up with this fool. Since boarding the TARDIS she'd been subjected to irritating comments and suggestions by the Time Lord, and now she was fed up with it. The Doctor's sudden inclusion in the war had turned the tide, but she wanted to know why he'd done it. But this fool had just tried her patience for the last time, it was time for him to learn who was the boss.

The question made the Time Lord backpedal, "Madam President?"

Romana smiled dangerously, scaring the Time Lord and the witnesses who couldn't help but take their eyes away from their work. Because they were inside a telepathic environment and Time Lords could naturally hear each other in their minds, Romana could literally taste the satisfaction from the others.

Better still, the TARDIS captain could as well.

"Precisely, I am Madam President" she replied softly though her voice could be heard throughout the room, "Lady President of the High Council of Gallifrey, War Queen of the Nine Gallifrey's. Do not forget that." Satisfied she'd put this Time Lord in his place, Romana turned to the Time Lord, "Do it."

The Doctor's TARDIS materialised in the console room of the War TARDIS, and Romana was waiting patiently for him to emerge. Whilst she was excited he was finally involved in the war, she couldn't help but wonder what had brought it on. Oh, she'd known like everybody else, whether in her Gallifrey or the Prime Gallifrey or other alternative Gallifrey's or their allies among the Temporal Powers Alliance (TPA), the Doctor could ignore the war for only so long before getting involved.

It had been chasing him since the very beginning after all.

Romana and many countless others were aware that the Doctor had voluntarily distracted himself with helping those unfortunate enough to get caught up in the war, both as an act of mercy and compassion and in order not to further exasperate the dire situation anymore than necessary in the realms of Spatio-Temporal Political Affairs due to his very close connection with the Daleks, and though it wasn't the kind of involvement she had wanted or needed from him, she was pleased that he was at least aware of the magnitude of the problem.

But what had changed his mind?

The TARDIS door opened, and the new Doctor stepped out. Romana blinked as she studied the new incarnation of the Doctor; he was dressed in his previous self's clothes; green jacket, trousers, shoes, shirt and waistcoat, but there was a bandoleer over his shoulder filled with tools and weapons; she could see a modified Sontaran blaster and a few grenades attached to the belt, giving him the appearance of a soldier. Romana couldn't differentiate this man with the last Doctor she'd known; his hair was fairly short, but his face was harder than the eighth self's.

Romana stepped closer, "Doctor?" There was something about this incarnation, something...darker, more dangerous that put her on edge despite being reassured about his presence. She touched his ancient mind, and knew at that moment that it was truly the Doctor.

The Doctor smiled very sadly, "Hello Romana. I have come to inform you and the rest of your alternatives that I am now about to officially take part in the Time War."

Romana frowned, "What made you change your mind? You've always condemned violence, always seeking a better alternative, and now you've just destroyed a number of Dalek holdings throughout many countless universes."

The Doctor sighed heavily in sadness as he hesitated for a few moments before continuing in a resigned tone.

"Let's just say that something of utter significance had happened and leave it at that."

Romana nodded, though her eyes narrowed in concern. There was a lot that he wasn't saying, but she would trust him. She and many of her alternative selves in many countless Gallifrey's throughout the multiverse cluster territories would need all the help she could get from him. But there was something about this particular Doctor that set her mind on edge, she didn't feel the same trust and camaraderie she'd felt with previous Doctors of the meta-past, but she supposed it was because this one was more of a Warrior than the bohemian and peace loving incarnations she'd known in the meta-past. There was both a deep hardness and a deep sadness to him, something she couldn't ever imagine the Doctor having in the meta-past, and that worried and concerned her considerably.

"Alright," she said at last, "we're all now heading back to our Gallifrey as of this very meta-moment. Do you prefer to work alone or work in a unit?"

The Doctor bowed his head in thought.

He said at last.

"I choose both."

Romana nodded again in satisfaction, for her people's greatest champion was back with a new incarnation and outlook.

For she needed him more than ever.

For many have need of him more than ever.

For All of Creation, Reality, and Existence itself had need of him.

ED Song:

Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU NO Ending 2 Full

Characters:

The War Doctor - A: John Hurt

Romana III (Alternate) - A: Juliet Landau

Author Notes:

The whole corner of the Known and Unknown Multiverse that is governed by the Vortex is, to give a comparison, a united multiversal system that appeared after the Prime Time Lords of Gallifrey, when they were known as the Watchmakers, spontaneously brought the Vortex into existence via introducing physical and metaphysical laws and history, which as a side effect brought all pre-, post-, and side- uni/multiverses into existence, and via retrocausally brought the Vortex into existence. They also as a side-effect give birth to other multiverses in their multiverse cluster. However, this system is not ruled from one single center as one can expect. It works in the way that it's established that many (infinity of them it seems) "local centres" in the forms of alternative Time Lords governed their own local multiverse territories (protect timelines, prevent spatio-temporal crises, delete too dangerous species, control the walls between universes in their multiverses etc). You can all imagine these as sector governments. For most of the time, they do not come into contact with each other, except for a few rare occasions, like Spatio-Temporal Politics in the Senate of the Temporal Powers Alliance (TPA), or massive Time Wars against threats of the cosmic order who make a massive danger to the whole system (from the ancient time wars of the Dark Times to the Last Great Time War etc.) Each of these "local administration" can have a finite number of universes or infinite number of universes depending upon each multiverse cluster territory, but overall there are infinite number of universes and multiverses connected by the Vortex, just as finite and infinite numbers of universes are under the jurisdiction of various and diverse alternative Gallifrey's, depending on the physical and metaphysical laws of a given local multiverse cluster.