Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who.

A Moment of Your Time

"If I might have a moment of your time, Lord President!"

"Ah, Lord Doctor," the President of the High Council of Time Lords smiled. "I had been informed that you had perished trying to save the enemy."

"Reports of my death have been exaggerated before, Lord President. You should know a few things about returning from the dead."

Indeed, like many of those that made up the Council of War, the Lord President had only recently been reborn, emerging from one of the planet's secret Looming Rooms, his personality and memories extracted from the Amplified Panatropic Computer Network, referred to by most of the High Council as the Matrix. Upon his emergence he had revealed that the true nature of the Matrix had always been to hold the memories and personalities of their race until they were needed once more, creating a vast force of Time Lords with the shared knowledge and tactics to guide their race to victory in the Time War.

But the system was flawed, at least in the Doctor's mind anyway. The Matrix had allowed the deceased Time Lords to share and build their knowledge, but it had always exaggerated the natural instability that existed within the Time Lords' personalities. The aggressive, selfish side of their society became more dominant, their belief that they were superior to other lifeforms distorted into a reckless disregard for the lives of those they considered insignificant. Whole galaxies had been sacrificed to the enemy for very little gain, purely because the lives of those they destroyed were unimportant.

The Doctor had never really been afraid of death. He was scared of many things including the natural power he as a Time Lord could wield if he desired. But he could feel the influence of those that had emerged from the Matrix as the mental link they had developed within the APC Network as their telepathic abilities pushed their beliefs onto those around them. It was turning his people into something they were not supposed to be. War changed people, but it seemed that its effects on a Time Lord were far more dangerous.

"It was a necessary step," the Lord President replied. "This war was predicted decades after the Matrix was created and we learnt how to interpret its messages. Generations of Presidents have had the knowledge of how to create the Council of War granted them upon their coronations; you were one of the few that the Matrix chose not to grant that wisdom because it was clear that your time as President was merely a transition to protect our world."

"In other words I was used, just like the Celestial Intervention Agency and the Guardians," the Doctor responded.

"You were not judged to have the correct mindset to handle the knowledge and the responsibility it brings," the Lord President told him. "Only those that are inspired to accept their responsibility are trusted. Those that choose to run from their destiny are often guided for the greater good."

"And those that the judgement corrupts and turns mad?"

"Ah, you mean your friend, the Master?" There was a hint of amusement in the voice. "An unfortunate side effect of the Untempered Schism. We needed a way to find those suitable to lead the fight against the Daleks. Those that were suitable, those that accepted the visions the Untempered Schism showed them were inspired to support our people. Those who rejected the vision they were offered, like yourself, tried to escape the influence..."

"I think brain washing is a more appropriate term," the Doctor muttered.

His comment was waved aside as the Lord President continued. "We never anticipated that for some the gift of knowledge would be rejected with such force that it would lead to madness. The Matrix never foresaw the possibility that those like the Master would turn that madness toward their own people."

"The very people who caused them to go mad in the first place?" the Doctor asked. "For once I can see why the Master would like nothing better than to destroy the High Council."

"Yet you could never allow him to do so because the result would be infinitely worse."

The Doctor nodded. As corrupted as the Time Lords had become, there were some that were even worse.

"Which brings to my reason for being here, Lord President," he said. His tone lowered, the slightest hint of the friendly, gentle man he preferred to be evaporated. "This Time War is between the Time Lords and the Daleks. You will not use the Universe as your weapon."

"The lesser peoples have been pawns in many wars, Doctor," came the reply.

"Not like this, not to the extent that you would go. You will not sacrifice another galaxy just to destroy a Dalek base. It stops, now!"

"Or what Doctor? You would turn against your own people for the sake of a few insignificant planets?"

"Those few planets might hold billions of lives," the Doctor told him, "and I won't let you just throw them away for the sake of a small victory."

"So you plan to stand against us Doctor, you against the entire Time Lord race."

The Lord President's words caused the other Time Lords to laugh at the foolish Doctor. There was little that he could do against their might. They had the power to destroy suns, while he was best known for possessing a crude sonic device, a blatant disregard for authority and an unfortunate conscience that set him against those that were destined to achieve the greater good.

"I apologise, Lord Rassilon, perhaps I was unclear when I asked for a moment of your time. What I meant to say was that I have a moment of your time."

The laughter stopped, his words forcing the Time Lords to consider his meaning and his intentions.

"Our history states that there were three Gallifreyans responsible for our evolution into Time Lords," the Doctor told the assembled crowd. "Lord Rassilon who was inspired to lift our race out of its dark existence, the mighty Omega who gave us the means to travel through time and was ultimate driven mad by his banishment to a black hole, and another who ran away. Three notable figures, three outcomes for those that stare into the Untempered Schism. Could it be three consciousnesses reaching out to those that look and seeking those that would follow their lead?"

The Lord President looked uncomfortable. He liked to forget that he was not alone in bringing his people the greatness they believed they possessed. Omega had been a great engineer, but like many of those responsible for paving the way for society to flourish, he had had a tragic end. As for the Other, even Rassilon did not know his real identity. He had been there at a time when Gallifrey had been shaping its society, nudging aside the more extreme laws Rassilon had been proposing. In many ways he reminded the Lord President of the Doctor.

"I see you remember him," the Doctor commented. "I've never met him, but I have admired his work for a long time. Just as you and Omega left behind tools for your successors, so he too left a few trinkets. Nothing as elaborate as a Stellar Manipulator or the means to contain a black hole. His legacy was a device capable of sending a signal through the Time Vortex into the past." He held up a small box with two buttons. "He called it: The Moment. It's little more than a dimensional relay, capable of sending an activation signal into the past. But, when linked to a Time Lord's Bio Data, it can lock onto him at a given point in his time stream and bring it to an abrupt end. Do you see where I am going with this, Lord President?"

"Of course," Rassilon responded. "Obviously this device has been linked to myself at some point in the past. If you press the button I will cease to be and our entire race will be destroyed. But I don't believe that you have it within you to kill me and end our existence."

"Oh but you are wrong Lord President. I would destroy Gallifrey if I had no other choice, just as I would destroy every last Dalek to ensure the end of the threat they pose. It would be killing you that would cause me the problems, Lord President. I am not a murderer; whatever crimes you have committed now should not sentence your earlier self to death." He paused, allowing the Time Lords to sense their victory.

"A wise choice Doctor. Your objections have been noted, but we shall continue as planned..."

"Which is why I attached the device to my Bio Data."

There was silence. Many looked at him with disbelief. Others looked angry that he would presume to use his own life as a means of blackmailing them.

"The Moment, Lord President. A single moment when my death would have turned the tide in favour of the Daleks. We both know when it happened, we all know what would have happened had I not survived. I suspect even as we speak the Matrix is telling you how that change would influence the war. It doesn't look good, does it?"

"Seize him!" Rassilon ordered.

"Ah, not a good idea," the Doctor advised, making a show of pressing both the buttons. "If you try to 'seize' The Moment, it will activate. The Moment is mine! Now, about my suggestions?"

The guards stopped in their tracks, waiting for their orders.

"A wise choice," the Doctor stated, imitating Rassilon. "Now, you will leave the Earth alone. You will leave that entire galaxy and those surrounding it alone. You will leave any other worlds, systems, galaxies I tell you to leave alone, alone. And if you do not, if you think for a second about testing my patience, I will have my moment and end this war."

"Very well Doctor, your worlds will be left out of the war," Rassilon agreed. "Although I hold no sway over those that act outside of our rule."

The Doctor nodded, knowing that there were some renegades out there that the Time Lords could not be expected to control.

"Agreed. Now if you will excuse me, I have to speak with the Daleks..."

"Doctor, I never agreed that you would be allowed to leave," Rassilon pointed out.

"But you won't risk it," the Doctor replied. "The Moment is mine and you know you cannot take it from me at this time."

Rassilon nodded and gestured for the guards to let the Doctor leave. This turn of events forced him to change his strategy, but already the combined knowledge of the Matrix was working to find a different, final solution to the Daleks.

"Doctor, why are you going to see the Daleks?" he asked. It didn't seem odd that the Doctor planned to meet and escape the enemy, he had done so many times before. He just didn't see what the Doctor could gain unless he planned to betray the Time Lords.

"There are two buttons on this device, Lord President. Two signals directed at two different points in my time stream. You need only to worry about the one that can bring about the ultimate victory of the Daleks. They can worry about the alternative, although I suggest you all give some thought to what happens if I trigger both."

With that he left, aware his actions had marked him as a wanted man. Not only did he have the means to destroy both sides in the Time War, he was a weapon that both sides could use against the enemy. The Doctor had made himself the weapon that could end the war and in doing so had shifted the focus away from the worlds he wished to protect. All things considered, not a bad result.


End

Author's Note: Bit of an oldie from a time when nobody was sure what the moment actually was. I consider it to be completely out of character for the Doctor to sacrifice anybody for the sake of victory... with the possible exception of himself. Especially true since I consider there were likely many times where the Time Lords were willing to see him die to further their goals and the Daleks just want him dead... so his very survival is an inconvenience.
I see this as being set during the Eighth Doctor's timeline, during a period when he is more concerned about running around protecting innocents from the perils of the Time War than actually fighting it.