"Doctor, listen" said Sara, "I can hear screams-human screams"
"I thought this tower was deserted" Steven said
MacTaggart suddenly burst into the hallway, overcome by his wounds, he collapsed in a heap next to the travellers.
"Where did he come from?" Steven asked.
"He's in a bad way Doctor" observed Sara.
Mactaggart tried to speak, The Doctor urged him not to.
"My dear fellow, whatever has going on here? Your wounds are severe, I fear there is little I can do for you"
"My-my name is MacTaggart, I ran Trod operations on this planet, listen to me, there is not much time, take this-this contains code that will override the source control code in the Trod matrix, get it to the principal tower and insert it into the central panel, once there, instruct all Trods to enter the fission reactor chamber"
"We must tend to you first" Sara responded, believing MacTaggart's life could be saved with enough time on their side. MacTaggart shook his head.
"There's no hope for me, I'm finished, but there is something you must know of the Trod supreme, he is known to this galaxy as a force for benevolence but he is in reality a twisted soul, you may come to know him by a different name, he is Da-Dav..."
"He's gone" Sara confirmed, checking his pulse as MacTaggart slipped away.
"He's left us with a fighting chance though" The Doctor replied, clutching the compact disk aloft in his light and withered hands.
"Doctor, look, the cracks in the wall" noted Sara.
"The explosions have crumpled the brick work, we can escape through the hole that's formed, brilliant" Steven replied.
"We must move quickly child, The Trods will soon investigate" The Doctor warned.
The three friends made their way through the torn building and stepped out into the quiet evening streets.
"We're in an alleyway, we'd best move quickly its growing dark, with luck we'll be able to dodge Trod patrols"
Meanwhile, still in control, Davros addressed 'his' Trods.
"Explosions have been detected in the vicinity of the tower containing the prisoners, send in a squadron and scour it for life signs and to extract the bodies if necessary"
"Into action, bring out what remains of the prisoners as our Supreme commands" ordered a Trod to the remainder of it's platoon.
The travellers, however, were very much alive, and sprinting towards the principle tower. Even The Doctor had an all too rare spring in his step.
"They will soon discover we have escaped, quick my dears, we must make haste"
The Doctor's fears were well founded.
As anticipated, the Trods soon caught on to the reality of their situation.
"The prisoners are loose, warn the patrols, they must be found and exterminated"
"Did you hear that? That cry sounds all too familiar" Steven noted.
"Yes, perhaps the notoriety of the Daleks has spread far to this sector" The Doctor commented.
"A Trod patrol is coming right at us" pointed out Sara.
"Seek the prisoners out, shoot on direct sight" instructed Davros.
"We must find a way of accessing the principal tower" advised The Doctor.
"What luck, there's a chair lift, it'll take us right up" said Stephen.
"Keep quiet my boy, the Trods must not learn we are heading for the tower" The Doctor cautioned.
The three made their way up to the principle tower via the chair elevator, and entered the control room. There, a lone Trod was waiting for them.
"You have escaped our Supreme, now you will die" the Trod proclaimed, and dashed towards the three. They got out of the way just as it's momentum carried it forward, they then all positioned themselves behind it's back and pushed it even further along, taking advantage of it's rapid speed to catapulted through the glass window and send it plummeting to its doom.
"Quick Doctor, the control panel" Steven uttered.
The Doctor inserted the override code into the panel and did as MacTaggart had laid out for them.
"Listen all Trods, you will hear no other voice but mine from this moment onward, follow these instructions, all Trods must enter the Fission reactor. This command cannot be countermanded. I repeat, enter the Fission reactor at once"
The Trods did as instructed, advancing on the fission reactor and marching into it, being met with instantaneous incineration. The amount of Trods proved so overwhelming that the reactor building went into critical meltdown and burst into flames.
As a euphoric cheer could be heard from the planet's enslaved population, The Doctor, Sara and Steven made their way back to the TARDIS.
"Never again shall the Trod legions terrorize this planet and its people, justice has been done, we can be on our way"
"But there's so much we haven't learned yet, who even dragged us here in the first place? What was their motivation?" Steven asked.
"And who moved the chess pieces in the TARDIS, look, that wasn't where they were positioned on the board before we departed" Sara observed.
"A game...yes, one grander than the gamble we're playing now, indeed, time will tell all eventually" The Doctor mused.
"That depends on whether or not time runs out on us before it does" Steven remarked
Back on Necross, Davros seethed, and schemed.
The Trods were gone, reduced to ash, but Davros, ever the phoenix, would rise.
He would take a bolder risk next time. His grave error was in trusting the wrong people, strangers of a distant shore. He would now use people closer to him.
He would scheme, he would plan.
And, in time, he would finally feast.