Master of the Ring

by Argonaut57

As the Enterprise-F faces a new challenge, the Seeker and the 'Old Firm' investigate the fate of a long-lost and dangerous artefact. Old enemies arise in new, more lethal, forms. Nine opponents of Humanity form an unlikely alliance. There are rumours among the Eldar that the Three have regained their power. Then Commander Sarek Potter receives an unusual summons,

12. Epilogue

Master of the Ring

Epilogue: In the grim darkness

Harry had placed the flask containing the Essential Salts of The Master in the rogue TimeLords' own TARDIS. River Song had flown that TARDIS to a remote world in the middle of an impenetrable nebula, then been picked up by The Doctor.

For a while – days, months, perhaps years – nothing happened. Then a sourceless green light illuminated the dim control room. It moved as if searching, until it reached the flask, then it brightened for a second. There was a tinkle of broken glass, and The Master was standing there. He examined himself for a few moments, then nodded. He went to a nearby wall, opening a secret panel which revealed a crystal as large as a man's fist, that glowed with the same green light. He opened the TARDIS door and tossed the crystal out onto the airless, rocky world. Then he closed the door and left.

The crystal lay on the ground until the light of dawn touched it. Then green light shot from it like veins in the ground. Shortly after that, more green crystals began to erupt from the ground along the lines of the veins. Before long a small city of green crystal domes and spires, linked by crystal tubes, stood there. Somewhere in the core of the city, a man appeared. Tall, broad-shouldered, with a rugged face and unblinking black eyes.

Some weeks later, a Federation exploration vessel, charting the nebula, detected an unusual energy spike from deep inside it. Before further investigations could be made, every audio speaker on the ship went active as a bass voice intoned: "THIS IS THE VOICE OF THE MYSTERONS. WE KNOW YOU CAN HEAR US, EARTHMEN. YOU THOUGHT US DEFEATED LONG AGO, BUT WE HAVE RETURNED. WE WILL HAVE OUR REVENGE!"

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In the area of Federation space known as the Enclave, matters were coming to a head. Glossu Rabban, Regent-Siridar of Arrakis, was floundering. The desert people of Dune, the Fremen, under their mysterious new leader, Muad'dib, were no longer an occasional nuisance, but an organised army in full revolt. Spice production was falling rapidly, and prices were rising accordingly. It did not go unnoticed that the person who profited most from this situation was Rabbans' uncle, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. Matters were growing desperate, however, as now the Spacing Guild – the Imperiums' greatest consumer of spice – was beginning to feel the pinch. It was now a matter of who would act first, the Guild or the Padishah Emperor.

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Deep under the surface of a long-dead world, a Necron Lord brooded. The living were now many and mighty, commanding technologies and numbers almost equal to those that served him. The plague that was life must be purged, but not at the risk of defeat, if such could be avoided. He would send out his scouts. There were, he knew, other Tomb Worlds where other Lords and their legions had been laid to rest. Some might be gone beyond recall, but others could surely be awoken. There was no hurry.

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Ashad, the Lone Cyberman, looked around the cave. It was half-filled with Cybermen. Cybermen of all kinds from Mondasian ancients with white masks and clumsy breather units, Telosians in light armour, sleek, heavily-armoured Imperial Cybermen, a few elaborately-cloaked CyberMasters - a hybrid of Cyberman and TimeLord – and many towering Black Cybermen, enhanced with Borg technology.

"The Cyberium betrayed us!" Ashad told them. "It has merged with the Borg Collective and become an abomination! We will no longer obey it! We will follow our own wills!

"We are few, but within these tunnels, under these mountains, lie all the metals we need. In our memory banks we have all the schematics and data we need. Out there, in thousands of colonies, live organics suitable for upgrading.

"The Cyber race shall rise again!"

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The ship had drifted for centuries, powerless, until finally it had fallen into the gravity well of a red giant sun. As soon as the solar energy had become strong enough, the emergency solar panels had activated, restoring enough power to revive some of the crew, who had placed the ship in close orbit to keep it powered.

"Re-port!" The Emperor commanded.

"There are no trans-missions from Com-mand. No ships can be de-tected. Ska-ro is surr-ounded by a force field we can-not pen-e-trate. We are the last." Gold Leader replied.

"Ver-y well." The Emperor answered. "Be-gin re-pair on the re-actors. Re-store full pow-er. Then ac-i-vate the Pro-gen-itor U-nit.

"We are the Da-leks. We can-not be de-feat-ed!"

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In the grim darkness of the far future, there will always be war.