Echoes

by Just Jamie

Set at the end of the Doctor's 13th life. Old friends and foes join the Timelord for one last adventure. This is my first fan fiction. Please be kind LOL.

5. Chapter 5

If an echo is loud enough, it can sound like anothers voice...

Earth
London
Now

"The time is nearly upon us, my mortal fools. Soon you will be witness to the utter destruction of your world and of the world of the Insipid Timelords. They will cease to be. And the Universe, what is left of it, will be mine." Omega laughed loudly.

"Why do they always laugh? Is it some kind of mental disorder no one bothered to tell me about?" Adric said, though his voice sounded odd.

"We never get any of the memo's" Leela had joined Adric, standing in front of Omega. Her voice also sounded far off and distant.

"We're just out of the loop I suppose, all the travelling we do." Tegan had joined the others. They turned and nodded agreeing with her statement.

"I knew I should have invested in one of those mobile phones" It was Barbara this time.

"With the snazzy little camera" Ace asked, her voice, like the others, almost a ventriloquists whisper.

"Of course not. The folly of the young." Ian had come forward to join the Band.

Susan now stepped forward, "But even a basic model, I could have souped it up somehow, put in a polaric regulator, or a..."

The Brigadier harrumphed. "None of you have improved with Age. You," he pointed squarely at Susan "are still nothing but a dandy."

"I say old chap, that is rather harsh" Jamie had joined the arguement.

"And you are still a clown." The Brigadier snapped.

"Well now, look at us, we're fighting over a trivial thing while the whole universe needs saving. We'll never change will I? Not really? Come on Romana, where are the Jelly Babies, did I teach you nothing? Romana sounded even odder than the others, addressing herself in the third person.

Grace now stepped forward, "Well boys, and I suppose, technically girls, shall we do what we were summoned here to do?"

"Yes, let's" Said Jo Simply.

"What is this, the fight back of the fleas? I can destroy you all, before you take another step."

Elsewhere
A Dark place

"You fool Omega! I give you one simple task and you fail miserably. Count them, count them."

Earth

"We are, at the moment more than we appear to be Omega." Said the Brigadier. "One on one, you could best us easily, but with the thirteen of us combined, we will stop you forever."

"Thirteen? Thirteen? Why you sneaky little timelord, how ever did you manage it?"

"With a little help from a powerful friend" Said Adric, as the battle began again.

The mindscape

Not one of Omega's choosing though.

Omega found himself in a field in rolling picturesque landscape, there were birds in the sky and the sounds of cattle nearby.

"Show yourselves."

"But of course." Omega spun around to locate the owner of the voice. He found the young Doctor before him, the one whos body he had tried to hijack.

"We would never keep you waiting Omega." Another voice from behind him, another Doctor, this one wearing gaudy clothes, with a wild mane of golden curly hair.

"It would be rude of us" A shorter one this time, in a brown coat, with question marks upon the lapels.

"And if there is one thing we abhor, it's rudeness." This one had another shock of curls and a toothy smile that seemed to be endless.

Then there were the two, that Omega hated above all others. The short clown, and the tall idiot. "I'm sorry if we kept you waiting, we had some catching up to do."

They were joined, by others, nondescript ones. One who wore no outre clothing, merely a mid length leather jacket, jeans and a shirt.

Until finally, The original came into view. Omega, had never met him, but the telepathic presence was unmistakeable. "Now this ends, for good."

Omega found himself bombarded with psychic blasts from all directions, he staggered, and roared like a wounded animal. "I will not die like this. If I am to die, You will all come with me to the great beyond."

"But, Omega, don't you remember, we're already there. You killed me." it was the final one who had spoken. The thirteenth incarnation of the Accursed Doctor. Omega focussed on him and fired a blast of psychic energy so massive, the entire mindscape trembled. The thirteenth Doctor vanished, like a candle snuffed by a hurricane, he just wasn't there anymore.

In the real world

Adric keeled over, and died, never knowing what had hit him. Or rather, what had hit the current occupant of his mind.

In the Mindscape, the remaining Doctors, closed ranks and continued their mental bombarment of Omegas defences. "You're weakening Omega!" The first Doctor stated matter of factly, "Soon you will fall, for the final time." Omega tried in vain to regain the upper hand, unleashing a devestating bolt of mental energy at his approaching enemies. The fifth doctor waved it away with his hands as though meeting a cricket ball with a bat. "You see Omega, even your most powerful bolts have no effect any more."

"No, I will not be defeated by you Timelord. I am Omega. I am Power. I am righteous vengance. I am Destruction incarnate" Omega cried, with none of his former vigour present in his voice.

"No, you are a fragment, a dark shadow facing the light at last. You died long ago Omega, only your stubborness and thirst for vengance has kept you alive." The third Doctor, with his other selves moved in on Omega, "It ends here, now, forever." With those words, all of the Doctors stopped and as one unleashed one final barrage. Omega crumpled to the ground of the constructed world.

"If I am to die here, today. You all will die with me. I shall make sure of it." Omega's armour began to crack and split, like foil torn in the hands of a child. The Doctors came closer together as though vying for the best view of events. The world they were in started to crumble much as Omega was at that moment. The world collapsed and caved in on itself as one of the cracks in Omega's armour turned into a gaping hole and light leaked out, devestating light, that spread and obliterated all that it touched.

The real world
London

All of the companions came together over Adrics fallen body, his prone form, lying without a mark on it, "he just died." Ace said. She could think of nothing more than that.

"How can someone just 'die'?" Tegan practically screamed. "I can't lose him again, someone help him!"

Grace ran over to where Adric had fallen and looked for the boys pulse. There was none. "Crash cart now" she shouted to the med techs, "I said NOW!" As the small cart was dragged towards her, she was ripping Adrics tunic to make way for the defibrilators paddles. She breathed into the boys mouth and snatched the paddles from the medtech, "everyone stand clear."

Susan was still staring at Omega and the frail old man who was her Grandfather, she noticed the shell, that was Omega was starting to crack. "Uh oh. Uhm everyone. Omega's losing it. His will is losing containment of the Anti-matter."

Everyone except Grace and Tegan looked over, as they saw light shining through the crack in the armour.

"Oh Hell!" Ace commented.

"Oh shit!" Ace gasped as the tear in Omega's armour became larger and larger. "It's not going to hold much longer. Any ideas would be appreciated right about now."

Romana darted to the Tardis in a very un-presidential way, her guards raced to follow her.

"Bitch" thought Tegan, as she saw Romana dart off.

"I want all non essential personnel out of here" Bellowed the Brigadier as Unit staff scurried to carry out his order. "What can we do?" He looked at everyone and no-one in particular. Blank and panicked faces looked back at him. "Just as I suspected. So this is where it all ends then?"

"You always were the pessimist of the group Alastair!" A weak voice said from somewhere behind him. The Brigadier turned to see Susan standing looking directly at him with an intensity he had only ever seen from one person.

"Doctor? Is it you?" He began. Just as the sound of a Tardis' dematerialisation filled the air like an enraged dinosaur. Every member of the assembly turned and stared at Romana's Tardis, waiting to see it disappear. Instead, they saw the doors open and Romana fly from the vehicle with her guards hot on her heels as always.

"Everybody get down, NOW!" She shouted over the din. Her Tardis seemed to be spinning on it's axis and then inverting itself, and then it was gone, but only for a second as it reappeared where Omega had been standing, and then vanished again. As the noise faded and the ringing in the groups ears abated Romana stood up as elegantly as possible and began dusting herself off. "Well, now that that's over, let's get back to the business in hand shall we?"

Susan smiled as she simply said, "that's my girl" and fainted dead away. The Brigadier valiantly caught her falling form and brought her gently to the ground.

"Medic, now!" He could feel his voice going, he hadn't done this much shouting since, well, since the last time the Doctor showed up. "Is there a conection I wonder?" He thought to himself as Dr Holloway dashed to his side and began feeling Susan's pulse.

"Her pulse is very weak and erratic. What happened to her?"

"Weak and erratic by your standards perhaps, but she is a Timelord." Romana took Susans other wrist and began feeling for a pulse. She looked up at the people who had gathered around her. "Where is the Doctor's Tardis, her pulse is weak and erratic. She needs medical help from Gallifrey." Jamie, darted forward and picked Susan's frail form up from where she lay.

"I know where the Tardis is, follow me." He led the group towards a side alley and there, in the shadows stood the familiar form of the Doctor's Tardis. "Does anyone have a key?"

"Open up old girl, it's me" Susan's voice barely more than a whisper reached the Tardis, and the doors opened to allow them access. Jamie ran through the console room which he thought seemed to shrink to accomodate the urgency of the situation. He reached one of the bedrooms and lay Susan's prone form on the bed. The lights dimmed slightly, as if to make the atmosphere more conducive to recovery as Grace made her way to the bed.

In the console room, Romana began operating the controls of the Tardis, preparing the craft for take off. "Are we just going to leave the Doctor out there?" Tegan asked as she stepped between Romana and the dematerialisation controls.

"The Doctor isn't out there." Lethbridge Stewart said, matter of factly. "He's in Susan's body. Just like he was in all of ours."

"All of them? In one body? Oh no. It's worse than I thought." romana physically shoved Tegan out of the way and hit the switch that would put the Tardis in flight. "We have to get him out of there, before we lose them all! As a stopgap we can get them to the zero room."

"Uhm, we had to eject the zero room quite a while ago now." Tegan said in an oddly (for her) hushed voice.

"WHAT? Oh that's just brilliant. We have a journey time of 8 relative minutes, and they're 8 minutes the Doctors don't have."

"Can't the Tardis make another one of these zero rooms? It seems to have restructured itself quite well." Sarah Jane asked.

"No, the Tardis can create any number of standard rooms to fill it's near infinite dimensions, but the zero room is a one off. Individually designed and installed to exacting specifications. And without one, the Doctor is doomed and so is his Granddaughter."

Elsewhere...

"The game is almost over, my old friend."

"Yes, but there is, always time to turn the game around."

"You just can never admit defeat, can you."

"As you cannot. It is in our natures to be thus. We like all others, can only wait and observe events as they unfold before us."

"Yes, and you will soon observe the Doctor's final humiliating death."

"We shall see. We always do..."

Gallifrey

"They'll be arriving soon. Is the connection to the APC net ready for the upload?"

"Yes my lord castellan."

"Very good, and the temporal booster?"

"Already pulling them in. They shall arrive within 2 standard minutes."

"I hope the Doctor has those 2 minutes. I would hate for him to die without. Well, just without being given a chance to join our esteemed predeccessors."

"Yes Castellan" The guard stood to attention still, until the Castellan waved him away.

"Hurry up Doctor, you have saved us at the last minute too many times for us to be unable to return the favour now." The castellan turned to face his fellow High council members as they walked into the chamber.

The Tardis.

"It wasn't our fault. The Master was dragging the Tardis into Event one, you know, THE big bang? We had to lose some mass and the Tardis computer wouldn't allow us to chose which rooms we ejected." Tegan stared fiercely defiant at Romana. With so much fire in her eyes that the Presidential guards were ready to step in to seperate the two women.

"Alright, I wasn't accusing you! Directly. But it's just so inconvenient. The zero room would have been the ideal place for him or her or whatever right now."

"That's enough!" Barbara, had been watching the exchange from a chair in the console room, but she could take no more. "You both care for the Doctor. Their isn't anyone here who doesn't but this kind of backbiting and recrimination is helping nobody, if the two of you cannot be constructive then just shush."

"Shush?" Romana rounded on the former school teacher. "I madam, am President of the High Council of the Timelords." Barbara could hear every capital letter in that statement. "I am keeper of the legacy of Rassilon, Defender of the Laws of Time, I will not Shush."

"The last Timelord president I met, tried to kill the Doc." Tegan interjected. "How are we to know they made a better choice this time around?"

"How dare you! You little..." The insult went unworded as the Tardis console began groaning. They were landing. "It's too early, we can't be there yet." Romana sounded almost panicked as she checked the consoles displays. "But we are here, it is Gallifrey. But how?"

"It doesn't matter. Let's just get Susan/The Doctor out there to where someone can help him." Sarah ran to the room that held Susan, Jamie and Grace. Ace and the Brigadier were hovering outside. "OK, we've arrived. We need to move quickly.

Jamie once again single handedly picked Susan from the bed and rushed to the console room and towards the door. The door remained closed until he reached it, when once again The Tardis door opened to an invisible hand. Jamie rushed out, and came face to face with darkness.

Jamie fell. Still he gripped Susan as though not only her life depended on it, but his as well. Then he landed, not as hard as he expected, as though something had broken his fall.

Susan's eyes fluttered open, "Jamie? I think you can unhand me now." It was Susan's voice, but somehow he could hear the Doctor as well. His Doctor, the short man with absolutely no musical ability but the keenest and most securely hidden intelligence in the galaxy. Jamie let Susan go, and stood up. Susan followed suit as soon as she could find her footing. ( A difficult thing to do, when you cannot see exactly what you're standing on, as you appear to be standing on nothing.) "Now where are we? Any of us got any clue?" Susan said to herself. Her voice changed slightly as she replied "I think I've been here before. Or was it after, I lost track years from now." From all around them threre were shouts and screams as their travelling companions, who had also just exited the Tardis, found themselves falling and landing on, whatever it was they were now standing on.

"It is time Doctors." Said a voice from the shadows around them.

"It is always time. You should know that my brother." The second voice came from everywhere and nowhere at once. Then a dazzling light appeared just a few meters in front of the group.

"Oh no. Not them!" Romana looked visibly distressed. "The Guardians."

"As I said, Doctors. It is time." The Black Guardian said as he stepped towards Susan with his hand outstretched.

"Aw no ye don't" said Jamie as he tried to step between the two, but found he couldn't move. The Black Guardian continued unmolested to touch Susan on the forehead.

And suddenly, the Doctor was there. The same Doctor who had gathered all of his old friends together. The final incarnation of the man they all knew as the Doctor. "I would like to thank you, if only I could tell for certain that you did that for altruistic reasons." The Doctor said bluntly to the Black Guardian.

"Altruism? What is that?" The Black Guardian laughed as he stepped away from the Doctor. As he stepped back, Jamie found he could move again and he staggered slightly as his own pent up momentum caught up with him. "Now Doctor, we can begin your trial."
"My what? What trial?"

"To see if your life has been worthy dear boy." Said the White Guardian. "You are all judged, or so it is said in almost all religions, when you die."

"So I am dead then?"

"That is something we can discuss at, heh, another time." The White Guardian said cryptically.

The Doctor stood before the two guardians, the two most powerful creatures in the cosmos.
The figures represented equally all that is good and true, and all that is dark, evil and scheming.

"So, I'm on trial for my afterlife am I? I must say that's a first. For someone like me it's rare to come accross something I haven't seen before."

"Yes Doctor. The trial of your worthiness will begin, NOW!"

Suddenly their surroundings changed. They were all suddenly in a very cold place. But they couldn't be certain of that. They could see all of the snow around them, but could not feel the cold. Tegan knelt to touch the snow to see if it was real, she formed a snowball and for a second, toyed with the idea of throwing it at Romana.

"That's not the moon is it?" Asked Sarah Jane simply, looking above her to a shadowy
planetoid hanging in the sky.

"No, it is not the natural satelite of this world, it is the tenth planet of your stellar system."
The White Guardian stated. "And it happens to be the birthplace of the race known as, The Cybermen."

Suddenly, there was a shimmering light and from the light appeared a Cyberman. "The first witness has been called. State your name please?" Asked the Black Guardian.

"I am the Cyber-controller. How dare you bring me here, the cyberforce will come for me,
you will all die for this affront."

"You are here as a witness to the events, unfolding around us. This individual here, the Doctor, is partly, perhaps solely, responsible for the destruction of your entire world, is that
not the case?"

"He is the Doctor?" The Cyber-controller made his way to the Doctor and raised his hand to strike a killing blow, then stopped mid swing. "Release my hand fools! He is the enemy of the Cybermen, He will die for his crimes against the Cyber race"

"Yes, perhaps he will, but it is not for you to decide if that will be the outcome of these events. You will merely tell of the events in question then those facts will be taken into
account when judgement is passed."

"Very well," The Cyber-controller seemed to adjust to the fact that he was in the presence of forces beyond even his understanding. "The Doctor destroyed our home world of Mondas, in favour of this mud rock on which we now stand. He then procceeded, at a later date, and in another form, to destroy the entire Cyberfleet in space. With no warning, a
sneak attack. He is evil, the most hated criminal among my race"

"Now at the time your world was destroyed, you were trying forcibly to take this world as a replacement, were you not?"

"We were, expanding our sphere of influence in this sector of space yes. This was the nearest world to our own and therefore the most logical target."

"And when the Doctor destroyed your fleet as it 'innocently hung in space' what was it preparing to do?"

"Launch an attack on Earth!" So matter of fact was the answer, many of the asssembled group gasped incredulously. "It was to become the new home of the Cyber race."

"Thank you, your evidence has been noted" The Cyber controller disappeared as
quickly as he had arrived. "You attempted to commit genocide Doctor? Not a favourable beginning"

"Our second witness will now appear before us!"

Another flash of light filled the area. As the light diminished, a horribly familiar form took shape, but a little different. A Dalek, with a huge Dome at the top of it's shell. It spoke, "Where am I? I am the Emperor of the Dalek race, you will die for this insolence."

"Oh shut up Davros, after all these years you still haven't tired of the sound of your own voice have you?" The Doctor looked at the new arrival with a look of mixed disdain and pity. "It's me, the Doctor. This is the White Guardian," the Doctor gestred. "And that shadowy individual over there is the Black Guardian. This is a trial of sorts, and you have been called to give evidence, either for or against me. Knowing our history together, it won't be good."

"Doctor? DOCTOR! You have changed your form again. You do so go through those bodies." The dome swiveled on hinges and exposed the scarred remains of something that looked like it might once have been human. "And this is your trial. Well if your accuser wants the truth, I will be more than happy to provide it."

"Excellent. Tell us of your experiences with the Doctor."

"He is the most hated individual among my people. He destroyed our homeworld of Skaro. He has on numerous occasions thwarted our attempts to extend our empire. He has interfered on a Galactic scale."

"Thank you, your evidence has been noted. Your attendance is no longer required." And with that, Davros was gone.

"The testimony would appear to speak for itself. You are guilty of attempting genocide, and our records show you were found guilty of that crime in a previous trial of your peers. Do you have anything to say that could possibly attempt to mitigate these actions?"

"I was working to save lives. The Cybermen, The Daleks, even the Vervoids, all posed substantial threats to every life in the Cosmos, and had to be stopped. If I had not interfered, trillions of innocent lives could have been lost. The only mitigation is one of pure numbers."

"We will retire momentarily to consider our verdict" With that, both Guardians vanished.

"Well, this is a rum do!" Ian said. "You save the galaxy seven days a week and this is how some people say thank you. It's unbelievable!"

"I say we fight. They are old, if we all attacked as one..."

"You would all be swatted like fleas before you made your first step." The Doctor said, "But thank you for the thought Leela. No it seems that this was a kangaroo court, I was convicted before they pulled us out of time."

"Not so Doctor, we kept to certain rules, drawn up when the cosmos was in it's infancy. The decision however has been made, and your continued existence, in any form, cannot be permitted. Your consciousness will be dispersed to the winds of time. You will never have existed."

"Over my dead body." Tegan stepped forward to come between the Doctor and the White Guardian.

"Mine too, I stand with this one." Leela also stood forward. "Without the Doctor, I would not have met the man I love, and would still be living as a savage or worse, be dead. So I will defend him to my own death if need be."

"As my fiancee said, you want him, you have to go through me!" Andred was soon standing hand in hand with his beloved.

"As President of the High Council, I also stand between you and your aim. I have seen the good that this man has done, and I will not see it undone." One by one all of the Doctors past companions stepped forward till they all stood as one body, in front of the man who had, on so many occasions, saved the Universe itself from total destruction.

"So be it." The Guardian raised his hand to point at the group.

"No! You cannot kill them. I was the one accused, I stand alone." With that, he side stepped the entire group and was suddenly in front of them all.

The White Guardian laughed, "Why Doctor, you never cease to amuse me. You will not be extinguished. But things cannot remain the way they were."

"OK. Now what?" Ace looked from the Doctor to the Guardian.

"You will continue to exist, but as this body has reached its end, You need a new one." With a wave of the Guardian's hand, the Doctor was gone. Replaced by a middle aged man with flowing dark hair, and a youthfull gleam in his eyes. "I believe you will find it an improvement."

"But with this, comes responsibility! You will act as the avataar of all that is good in the Cosmos. Your form has been returned to it's original pattern, you will have 12 regenerations, and then you will be judged again." The Guardian walked around the Doctor. "Begin again my son and keep up the 'good' work."

The main Council chamber, Gallifrey.

"How the hell did we get here?" Lethbridge Stewart was the first to voice the question.

"You stepped out of the Doctors Tardis mere seconds ago." The answer came from a non descript man in what appeared to be too outre clothing.

"Castellan. Are you saying that we have just arrived here and walked out of the Tardis?"

"Yes my Lady. But surely you jest with me? All is prepared for the Doctor's transference into the Pantropic net." The Castellan said.

"That will no longer be neccesary, I think Castellan." The new Doctor said as he looked around with (literally) new eyes. "I've been given a, heh, new lease on life."

Many Explainations later...

"So now it's time my friends for you all to go back to your respective times. Ian, Barbara, it has been good to see you both again. I assure you, this Tardis works perfectly and will take you exactly where you want to go." Barbara hugged the new Doctor and kissed him on the cheek as both she and Ian stepped into the capsule and it dematerialised. Your turn now Sarah, Tegan. Both women also hugged the Doctor in tandem. Then left in another one of the capsules lined against the wall. One by one they left until only Leela, Andred, Ace, Susan and Jamie remained.

"I will miss you Doctor, but not so much as I would if you were no longer alive. At least now, there is a chance we will see one another again." With that Leela squeezed the Doctor so fiercely, he could barely catch his breath. Andred walked up to the Doctor and shook him by the hand. Then they both entered another Tardis.

"Alasdair, Ace, time to say farewell again, till the next time." Tears welled up in Lethbridge Stewarts eyes as he shook the hand of yet another new Doctor and he walked into the Tardis. "Ace? Aren't you going? Is there somewhen else you'd rather go?"

"Yeah, I'm sticking with you. You need someone to watch your, ahem, new back."

Jamie stepped forward, "Me too Doctor, if ye don't mind that is."

The Doctor smiled. "It'll be good to have some company again after so long." Ace leapt for joy as she said goodbye to the Brigadier.

The Doctor saw a figure at the door and walked towards it. "so how are you my dear friend?"

"I cannot face her Doctor, not yet. She is my daughter, and yet she does not know me."

"You could change that. She is mere feet away. I think she is ready for the truth."

"But I am not. Seeing 'him again'. It brought back so many memories, so much pain. Why could I not warn him? Why?"

"You know the rules, what has happened must happen. Such is the way it has always been. We cannot change the past."

"I know, but..." The old woman began to sob. The Doctor held her. His shirt absorbing her tears as his soul tried to absorb the pain from her, the loss and the grief. "I am no longer strong. I have lived longer than any of my tribe before me, and I am weak with it."

"No Leela, never weak. You are still strong enough to bear pain that could be so easily shared with your daughter. She is a fine girl, there is so much of you in her."

"So much of her father also."

"You should be proud of her. Andred would have been. Susan is a wonderful girl. I think she will want to remain here, you could get to know her."

"Perhaps Doctor, but not today. I must away before I am seen and questions are asked that cannot yet be answered." Leela slipped away from the doctor and fled down a corridor and was gone.

"Grandfather? Who was that woman?" Susan asked.

"An old friend. You'll meet her one day. Now, have you decided where you want to go?"

"I have decided to stay here. Romana is getting me a place in the Academy, as a lecturer. Can you believe it? Me a lecturer. Ha"

"You will do amazing things dear child. You always have." The Doctor hugged Susan as firmly as he could, she had trials ahead of her, and one massive shock as well.

The Doctor moved towards his Tardis, Ace and Jamie joined him. "So where to now Doctor?" Jamie asked.

"Only fate knows that answer Jamie. Fate is our guiding force as always."

"Yeah that and the Tardis's faulty guidance system." Ace chipped in.

"Oi!" Said the Doctor as the Tardis dematerialised.