Chapter Sixteen
A short distance from the Doctor and the others, Bettan stood peering out from behind a rugged outcropping with her field glasses to her eyes. As she made adjustments to the glasses, she could see the group of nine humanoids, one of which was being carried being led by the Daleks to the city. She sighed and slid down behind the rock she'd been leaning on. She'd recognized Sevrin bringing up the rear of the group. At least he hadn't been killed, not yet anyway. Once Bettan had thought of him as simply another Muto but things were different, now she thought of him as a friend. Most of the Thals were killed, they were the lucky ones. Worse were those who survived the Daleks takeover, they were used in their evil experiments.
Bettan rubbed at her short hair. Since the Daleks had taken over the Thal city, she like the Mutos had to exist in the wastelands. She had a handful of soldiers under her that on occasion were able to sneak into the once thriving Thal city and retrieve supplies. They had a small stockpile of explosives, not a great deal but enough that Bettan felt a little safe anyway. On rare occasions they were able to come back with something almost more precious, intelligence. Information was essential in staying one step ahead of the Daleks. That was in essence how she'd become friends with Sevrin. They both understood how important it was to not only survive but to learn to calculate the Daleks next move.
With the arrival of the one they called Dalek Jast, everything had changed. The Daleks that were created here on Skaro weren't able to climb the rocky hills. This Dalek unfortunately brought knowledge. He had created drones from the shells of what had formerly been some of her own race. The last intelligence she received from the Dalek city was that Jast had been observed actually flying. If he gave this ability to the others, the anguish they could create would be unfathomable. They would cleanse this world of every life form that wasn't a Dalek.
She wished the alien that called himself the Doctor would return. He seemed to have intimate knowledge of the Daleks. Maybe if he were here, he'd have a plan to at least slow them down. She heard movement behind her and was relieved to see it was a young soldier named Bosh. Bosh had short brown wavy hair and was much too young to be fighting in a war, but when it came down to it, weren't they all. "Bosh, I'd almost given up on you."
Bosh slid down the rock and seated himself next to Bettan. "I was trapped inside one of the heating ducts but it was worth it." he quietly explained.
"What was worth it?" Bettan asked as she watched him. He was so young and so brave. She wished all of those that fought by her side were like Bosh.
"I got turned around and ended up just inside the vent work next to Davros' office. I heard Davros and Dalek Jast talking. They captured the Doctor and his companion."
"The Doctor and Sarah Jane are here?" Bettan asked aghast.
"That's not all. I was there a long time and heard it all." The words tumbled from Bosh's lips.
"Calm down and tell me." While Bettan appreciated that he was excited and inexperienced, she wished he would just get to the point.
"There's a planet approaching Skaro with a base full of people. Some of them are on Skaro now."
"That must have been the people I saw the Daleks take into the bunker. Go on."
"Davros plans to bring them all to Skaro and turn them into the walking dead." Bosh hung his head. He and his friends had begun to refer to the Dalek drones as the walking dead because the people they once were had been removed and implanted with whatever nightmare the new Dalek had created. He nor his friends understood the process and didn't want to. "They're called Alphans. The Doctor's companion was traveling with them. But somehow the Doctor found them and that's when Dalek Jast captured them."
"They also have Sevrin. If we have any hope of stopping Dalek Jast, we need the Doctor's help. Are you sure they captured the Doctor?" Bettan asked. Thinking back to the group that had been led away, she didn't remember seeing the Doctor, his long coat or even longer multicolored scarf.
"That's what Dalek Jast said. They'd captured the Doctor and were going to destroy him. Davros had tried to keep the fact that the Doctor's companion was among the Alphans a secret but Dalek Jast found out. Dalek Jast is not happy with Davros." he finished as he looked over the edge of the rock face taking a deep breath only after he was sure it was clear to do so. "Who is the Doctor?"
"Go and gather anyone who knows the layout of the Dalek city and its bunkers. We're going to break into the Dalek city." Bettan climbed over the rock and slid into a crevice that had been carefully chipped away to accommodate the Thals and Mutos hiding from the Daleks. Once you squeezed through the opening, there was a large cave within that had several offshoots. This was their current living quarters.
Bettan looked over the group, now gathered in the center of the cavern. Currently she had thirty Thals and the occasional grouping of Mutos under her command. They did their best but they were young, so very young and the Mutos were so skittish. She felt guilty sending them out on missions but reminded herself that there were no other options. Her small army of survivors may be all that stand between the Daleks and the genocide of their races.
"Is this everyone?" Bettan asked as she looked around the young faces. Once again she marveled at their adolescence. Remembering her own youth, she recalled with great affection her own father telling her stories. He told stories where everything always turned out right in the end, but he could have never foreseen the situation their world was in now. Of course the Thals had been at war with the Kaleds well before she was born. But not like this. This was different. She decided to tell them a story and embellish it if she had to, because if this didn't work and they couldn't help the Doctor, it was more than likely over for the Thal people. From all she'd been able to gather it was already over for the Kaled people. There were few if any that still existed in their natural form.
Taking a deep breath she began, "I want to tell you about the last time I was in the Thal city before it was destroyed, in what we thought was the safety of the Thal dome. The Thal leaders had a meeting with Davros who said that he would give them the formula that would destroy the dome over the Kaled city and give us the peace that we so desperately wanted. Our people were desperate for victory. A man called the Doctor, an alien from another world, told me of Davros' deviousness. He told me the Kaleds were about to stop the progress of Davros' horrific plans for the future of the Kaled people. So rather than be stopped by them, Davros decided to destroy them. Only a handful of the Kaled people survived the Thal attack, those in the bunker." Bettan looked the group over, watching each take the information in.
"Why was this Doctor here on Skaro?" Jarda, one of the youngest soldiers asked.
"It was my understanding he was sent here. By whom, I'm not sure. I always assumed it was by his people. He said he was here to stop the development of the Daleks. That was the first time I had ever heard that word. It was only a few minutes later that the Daleks had overtaken the Thal city. They killed everyone they came in contact with. A fortunate few of us made it out of the city and into the wastelands. I was fortunate enough to be one of them. It was the same day that I met Sevrin." She looked over the faces of all those in the cavern, briefly stopping on the small group of Mutos. At the mention of Sevrin's name they seemed sad.
Bettan began again, "Sevrin was sent by the Doctor to tell me to destroy the entrance to the bunker. He had hoped that with the Daleks diminished abilities and Davros' lack of assistance by the Kaled people; it would slow down the Daleks and hopefully destroy Davros. The few survivors as well as the survivors that Sevrin was able to gather worked as one to set charges around the entrance to the bunker. When we were finished, Sevrin begged for time to allow the Doctor and his companions, Sarah Jane and Harry to get out before we set off the charges. I explained to him that I couldn't wait long. Sevrin entered the bunker and looked for his friends."
"As soon as the last charge was set, Sevrin along with the Doctor's two companions arrived. The girl named Sarah Jane begged us to wait for the Doctor. One of the soldiers was able to punch in the code to the security cameras and after some searching, was able to bring up the video feed from Main Laboratory. On it we saw Davros command the Daleks to guard the entrance of the bunker. Sarah Jane begged me to wait but with the Daleks on the way, I couldn't. Just as the doors were almost sealed, the Doctor emerged. Closely behind him were several Daleks. We set the charges off, destroying the inside of the bunker's entrance sealing Davros and the Daleks inside. We all watched the video feed and saw what we assumed was Davros' destruction by the Daleks. Unfortunately the feed inside the Bunker went dead before the outcome was truly known. Unbeknownst to us at that point, a single Dalek had sent a signal to all the Daleks on Skaro ordering them to not kill Davros."
Bettan took another deep breath and continued, surveying the group again, "I said goodbye to the Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry and they left. We thought we had some time to reorganize and reevaluate our situation and possible destroy the Daleks. But as we made our way across the wasteland to what was left of the Thal city, we saw a ship approach the Kaled bunker. Myself and those who were with me hid, as in horror we watched the ship land and a single Dalek blast its way into the bunker, undoing all our hard work and freeing the Daleks once again. That ship contained Dalek Jast." Bettan smiled in appreciation at Bosh who had brought her the information.
"Dalek Jast has given the Daleks all they need to kill all of us. They will soon have the ability to fly and use the bodies of our own people against us. Thanks to Bosh, we now know that a planet is approaching Skaro, a planet of innocent people like us. They are called Alphans. The Daleks plan to destroy all of them. There are already a few Alphans here. The Doctor's companion, Sarah Jane and Sevrin are among those that have been captured. It was also overheard that the Doctor was apprehended. It is my belief that with the Doctor's help, we can defeat the Daleks and take our planet back. We have to rescue the Doctor, Sarah Jane, Sevrin and the Alphans." Bettan finished lifting her voice at the end. These soldiers were young but they were weary and almost out of hope. Looking over them again, she could see a seed of hope flourishing. Even the Mutos seemed motivated by her story.
One of the Mutos, Gresm stood up, his loose robe swirling around his feet. "I will help you rescue them Bettan."
"I won't lie to you, this will be dangerous. This will be the hardest thing I have ever asked you to do. We will either accomplish our goal or die trying." Bettan concluded. Much to her astonishment everyone in the cavern stood up. She was never more proud of her small group. "All right, let's start planning. We don't have much time."
Tony began to pace nervously in Command Center. It had been fourteen hours since John and Alan had left with the Doctor and four hours since he'd last communicated with King Sorvad or whoever he was. Looking over at Maya who was watching him pace, he asked, "Anything?"
"Sorry Tony." Maya answered as she looked over her screens again.
"I mean anything Maya is there anything at all?" he almost begged for an answer, something to keep him from screaming. He had no patience waiting for answers and especially on being dependent on someone they really didn't know.
"Tony if there were any information at all I would tell you." Maya rose from her chair and placed her hands on Tony's forearms and gave them a quick squeeze. "Why don't you take a walk?"
"I'm not leaving Command Center till I know something." He then said quietly so that only she could hear, "One way or the other."
"Tony!" Maya quietly admonished him.
"Sorry, it's just not being there." Tony stated as the pair walked to the back of the Command Center. "Anything from Helena?"
"When I last checked in on medical, I spoke with Bob Mathias. He was in between surgeries. He said it was quite a mess down there. Helena was still operating on Petrov."
"Any fatalities?"
"Thankfully none, Bob said it was just a lot of broken bones and lacerations but because there were so many…" Maya spread her hands out in exasperation.
"Of all the times for that laser cutter to explode and cause a ceiling to collapse in the catacombs..." Tony looked up at the ceiling.
"There is one benefit. At least they found a rich vein of Milgonite." Maya offered.
"Yes, I guess there's that. With all the activity going on, Helena's hopefully too busy to be thinking the worst." Tony added.
Maya used her index finger and tapped the Tony's temple. "That's what you're doing." She took him by the arm and led him to a cart laden with coffee that had been brought to Command Center. The entire Command Center staff had drunk more than Maya thought possible, but if that's what everyone needed to stay alert then she saw no harm in it. "How about another cup of coffee?" she tried sweetly.
"I feel like I'm drowning in it now." Tony complained. Peeling away from her he returned to his desk. "Maya, scan their force field again. Is there any change?"
Maya sat down and typed at the keys furiously. "No change whatsoever Tony." She knew there was nothing she could say to him at this point that would help his state of mind so she decided to go back to her own private calculations. She was trying to calculate if it were possible to get into their computer the next time there was a fluctuation in the force field. She wasn't sure why this King Sorvad was doing this. From what the Doctor had said this whole thing was a charade, so why their force field was going up and down for minuscule bits of time, she wasn't sure. She didn't want to get Tony's hopes up, but she'd been working on a way to hack her way in since it began.
Maya decided that if she had just ten seconds with their computer, she could order it to lower their force field. She knew Victor Bergman had been working on outfitting the Eagles with their own extended force field. The problem was they needed Milgonite. Victor had already built the sending devices and outfitted most the Eagles with them, Eagle Four being the one that was completed. But the new systems were dependent on Milgonite. Tapping her desktop, she looked over at Tony. "Tony, can I authorize the retrieval of the vein of Milgonite the survey crew found?"
"Yeah, sure but tell them to be careful. We can't afford any more accidents." Tony answered. He rubbed his forehead; he was beginning to get a headache.
"I'll tell them Tony." Maya tapped the order into the computer. She also added they put a rush job on the refinement process and let her know as soon as they were done. With any kind of luck, there would be enough Milgonite to finish the construction for several more Eagles. Combined with that and her ability to hopefully lower the force field, they could be ready if necessary to rescue their people. She looked around at the intense look on everyone's face and internally sighed. This would be a long night.