Chapter 64

Jane frowned, they were each looking at the photos and files of who they were going to set Martha Jones on her final path with.

There were people who worked with the Resistance in the slave camps and factories, some had been rooted out by Sarah Jane Smith, she had an eye for the ones that could work inside the system.

Others had crossed other active members of the Resistance.

"I still like Docherty for it," Potter commented tapping the board where photos were pinned.

"You think she'll be sympathetic to Jones?" Jane asked.

"I think she'll betray Jones when she sees an opportunity to offer the Master something," Ros paused. "For her son."

"Indeed," Potter agreed, it was what made her more useful for this. Others had lost siblings. Some fighting in the Resistance.

Some felt the Resistance to blame and had been feeding information to the Master's forces.

The Resistance knew about that, Ros Myer's experience had been invaluable in that respect. Though Jane had wanted to agree with Potter and eliminate them. But keeping them on, feeding them some misinformation was also useful.

"Soon we can stop providing to these people," Jane commented.

"Hopefully it'll all just end in fuzz and a confetti cannon," Harry mused cynically.

"Ever the optimist Potter," Ros commented wryly.

"I try Ros, with you around, I try." He briefly smiled. He tapped the board again. "She's also in a better position than most. Power supply research base. Only other one on route is engine construction facility and that would involve a bit of a detour on the way to London." Harry tapped the board again. "No. Docherty I like."

"Still a somewhat complicated method," Jane said.

"Complicated enough that Docherty won't notice she's being played," Ros paused. "And all so Martha Jones can get to see the Master."

"Yes. Perhaps it'll all be over then," Harry said as the two women looked at him. "There's still a chance," Harry continued. But fell down into one of the chairs in the room dragging a hand through his hair and then cursed at what was in it. Jane silently handed him a piece of cloth. He and Ros had been out scouting the landing beaches where Martha could arrive at before coming here. Even through the hats they had both worn their hair was dank, Ros it seemed had just resolved not to touch hers.

"I long for Mars," Harry said quietly. He snorted a laugh. "I long for my old life more." He looked to the two women. "You know I'll be standing out looking to the sky, saying my piece for the Doctor when the time comes. Even after all this time."

Jane looked at him. "We know and understand. We will too."

"What good it will do..." Ros trailed off shaking her head.

"But we need to try Myers," Jane countered.

"Yes, we do, and if we fail, then we try and save as many as we can," Harry began. "Then we move on, we grow stronger, and when the time is right, we strike again."

Ros clapped softly. "Moving speech Potter." Then looked more seriously at him. "You have already been thinking beyond this campaign," she paused. "Far beyond."

Harry looked to her and nodded. "Since our failed time travel experiment. We need to consider for the future, beyond escaping to Mars."

"If Jones' plan fails," Jane added. "She's been consistently confident, and your psychologists don't think she's completely insane."

Harry nodded. Those who had seen the pensive memories of his and others' interactions with her.

The conclusion was that Martha Jones was dedicated, on a crusade, desperate, but not insane. She wasn't stupid either, high intelligence. However quite probably a fanatic.

But not mad.

Though you had to be quite, quite mad to get to the scale of some, especially the Master.

That was a whole other level.

-/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/

52 weeks since the Toclafane invaded...

One year.

For one year Martha Jones had walked the Earth.

More or less.

Sometimes she'd been apparated.

Occasionally she'd been portkeyed.

Mostly, to the people who had been scared, terrified and beaten into submission she'd walked.

One shouldn't complicate the message.

-/

Luna Lovegood let go of her, they were stood on the rusted hulk of a container ship, one that had been sunk in the early days of the invasion. It was where the Resistance would be picking up Martha Jones and taking her to shore.

Luna dug around in her bag and removed a jar on a short pole and shoved it onto what remained of the deck of the ship, she tapped it with her wand, a dark blue, almost black light formed within.

Martha Jones had tried to engage her in conversation, but Luna, like most within the Resistance had seen far too much to want to engage in idle chatter.

Rolf was currently on Mars, millions of kilometres away from her, helping set up things there. Helping and readying areas for the evacuation, for if this woman failed. If her plan failed. The one she'd spent the whole year doing.

Luna still felt like she should to say something, offer...something. But she had witnessed and seen even more via pensive, so many wonderful magical creatures killed, their very essence washed away into the polluted rivers and by the burning rains.

There were, because of the Toclafane no unicorns left on Earth. One of many genocides that had occurred. Rolf and the others had checked, there were none, no where. Not even enough genetic information.

There were no owls left either, no trace of such beautiful creatures.

Luna Lovegood had wept, she had cried and shouted at the injustices of it all.

She had watched Rolf rage in a way she had never seen before in him. That powerless rage one had, seeing what was going on and being powerless or not powerful enough to stop.

To stop them.

The Toclafane.

What they, the human race might become, perverted some how, crammed and shoved into shells.

Everyone could see Thestrals now. Everyone had seen someone who had died.

That was, if the Thestrals were still alive.

They had swarmed, it had been a truly magical thing to see. Luna had thought, as had Rolf that they had been killed, or worse. But it seemed they had been hiding, and then as many of the rockets were set up, in their silos they swarmed.

A truly magical thing, one of many destroyed, not just by the Toclafane, but the weapons that the Master controlled from his sky ship.

The same ones that had burned Japan and that had reined fire down on the Ascension Islands destroying a Resistance base there.

It had been somewhere she and Rolf had visited, a useful point between continents to apparate from. Useful and untouched by the Toclafane, until it wasn't.

Maybe the Resistance had a spy in its midst. Luna knew of several that had been discovered.

Like Oliver Wood early on.

As she was thinking on him the light in the jar pulsed red. It signalled something approaching. It was one of many warning devices that had been devised. A combination of extendable ears, some charms and a few other things. Activated by wand or a sprinkling of something not unlike floo powder, so that non-wizards might use it.

"What, what does that mean?" Martha asked as Luna removed a pair of ominoculars out of her bag and adjusted them for the dark of night and looked around. High first, in case of Toclafane.

Although were it them her jar of light would be much more excitable.

"Your boat," Luna said shortly as she returned the omnioculars and equipment to her bag.

Before apparating she held out her hand, which Martha Jones took.

"Good luck Martha," Luna paused and offered her a tight smile. "We hope it works."

Then she apparated away. These people, the Resistance that was coming for Martha Jones probably didn't know how she got here. Some mystery needed to be maintained for her.

-/

Martha shivered despite her thick clothing as the woman. Luna her name was disappeared leaving her alone on the rusting hulk.

"Thanks." She said to the night air. "It will."

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Harry looked up at the sky. They were all outside. On this freezing day, although the sun was out, even it seemed hopeful. Making an attempt to shine brightly through the smog and cloud.

"20 seconds Harry Potter," Said the robot beside him.

"Any change in Archangel Field?" Harry asked.

"Field has not changed in intensity since you last requested this unit to give you an analysis of its operating parameters," it reported.

"Of course not." Harry said and then added, slightly softer. "You must remind me K9 about adding a hover capability. I was thinking of canabalising my Dalek. What do you think?"

K9 was silent, his ears wiggling back and forth. "Harry Potter, you do not believe the Doctor Master's plan will succeed?" It finally asked.

"We shall see, time?" Harry said, once again looking to the sky.

"15 seconds Harry Potter," K9 reported.

Harry looked around him and saw that Sarah had come out to join him along with Ioan and Judith. He had thought to have a little quiet place to do whatever it was they were all about to do.

K9 had found him by looking for his bio-trace. Probably sent by Sarah.

"This is it Harry," Sarah said as K9's countdown approached zero.

"We see if everything changes," Harry said.

"Zero, Harry Potter. Mistress." K9 paused. "Doctor."

Harry breathed in, closing his eyes and thinking on the man, the Time Lord he'd known, all the positive, brilliant, mind boggling experiences he'd had. "Doctor," he said, repeating it, thinking it, hoping that all his dreams, all the harsh, all the bitter, all the pain of this year could go, be removed, replaced with something better, something nicer, something where he could breathe the air without a mask. Walk through towns not covered in ash.

Not be awoken from sleep because of the memories of what had been done, the crimes committed.

"Doctor." He said again as others around him did the same.

He could feel something, a lightness, an elation, something. The telepathic field of the Archangel Network being manipulated, used, directed to the Doctor...and then...then it petered away and he felt...nothing.

All the pain, the anguish, the fear.

That was still there.

"K9?" Sarah asked of the robot dog.

"Scanning Mistress," it said. "Archangel Network compromised however Toclafane and Valiant are still present Mistress."

"Well that's that," Ioan muttered.

"Yes," Harry exhaled, looking up at the cloud covered sun and then turned around to Judith. "Let's begin the evacuation. No point in dawdling now." He shook his head. Nothing. It had all been for nothing.

Walking back to the Resistance main buildings he wondered if it would have been worth getting a video link onto the Valiant to see what was going on.

They could have done it. But they would have needed line of sight to the Valiant and have needed to be close. Very close. Dangerously so. The risk hadn't been worth it.

Doubly so now, to see things fail.

Now they had go on, get stronger, and when the time was right, when they were ready they'd retake their planet.

-/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/

52 weeks and one day before the Toclafane invaded...

Harry blinked and looked to those around him. They'd just seen the President of the United States of America killed by aliens, the Toclafane and then...

"You all saw that didn't you?" Harry asked wondering to himself if this was a sign of time travel. He had vague memories tickling at the back of his mind that sometimes, when you jumped a time track or had your philosophies opened by the time winds that you might experience something like this.

"Like a jump cut Mr Potter," Baroness Blythe said slowly. "First we were watching the Master vent his ego at the camera and then..." She trailed off.

"Patching in UNIT comms now Harry," Ioan said beside him.

"This is UNIT central, what's happening up there we just saw the President assassinated."

Myers groaned. "They're already using the A word."

"This will do wonders for our international relations," Baroness Blythe commented in an amused tone.

"They're UNIT, as long as it wasn't on an open channel." Harry looked to Ioan who shook his head.

"Secure," he said.

"And what happened Potter? What was that...that..." Ros asked, almost demanded.

"Jump cut in time," Harry mused to himself wondering.

"Like skipping chapters on a DVD," Jane Blythe said.

"Indeed." Harry agreed. "Just like that or..." He trailed off.

"Or Harry?" Judith prompted watching him.

"Or something else," he felt a chill pass down his spine. "Not a DVD. Like a roll film. We were watching it play out and someone's changed the story." He made a motion of cutting with his fingers.

"And someone's gone and taped up the ends." Air Marshall Robert Townsend shook his head. "Here we are talking about film when the President's been killed." He looked around the collected people. "Shouldn't we get up there?"

Harry paused.

"No," it was Judith spoke first as Harry pondered the camera, it had been knocked over after the President had been killed. "It's a UNIT craft. We shouldn't be eager to take responsibility."

"That-" Ros started but Harry cut her off.

"There's still sound," Harry scooted forwards and turned up the volume.

"What?" Ros looked at him.

"The camera was knocked over after...whatever it was happened."

"You're my responsibility from now on. The only Time Lord left in existence."

"The Doctor," Harry provided.

"...But you can't trust him."

"Jack Harkness. Torchwood Three," Harry continued.

"Will you know everyone in this radio serial Potter?" Ros asked in a sarcastic tone.

"It is better we sit here and listen than end up in a diplomatic incident," Harry commented.

"UNIT is best positioned to deal with this...outcome," Air Marshall Townsend agreed. "The assassination of a President is not something we can have any responsibility for,"

Ros snorted.

"No. The only safe place for him is the TARDIS."

"The Doctor again," Judith commented.

"You mean you're just going to keep me?"

"I think we all know who that voice is," Ioan said.

"If that's what I have to do. It's time to change. Maybe I've been wandering for too long. Now I've got someone to care for."

"The Doctor again I-" Harry was going to continue when a gun shot followed a moment later.

There was a noise of feet rushing around.

"There you go. I've got you. I've got you."

"Do you think that someone shot him?" Blythe asked the group.

"It seems likely. But a bullet wouldn't kill him," Harry mused. It wouldn't kill a Time Lord, not dead, dead.

The sound had also become muffled, whoever had been shot must have fallen on top or away from the microphone.

"Always...women." Said the Master's voice.

Whatever the Doctor said was too muffled to hear.

"We're still recording aren't we?" Harry asked Ioan nodded. "Good, we can work it out later if need be."

There was some more muffled dialogue then the Doctor started to shout. "Regenerate. Just regenerate. Please. Please! Just regenerate. Come on."

"Spend the rest of my life imprisoned with you?" The Master's voice, only just audible.

"Remember the Axons? And the Daleks...two left...else...Regenerate!"

"Ah the Axons. Whatever happened to the remains of the Nuton Power Complex?" Harry wondered distractedly aloud.

"Probably in bits in one of UNIT's storage facilities," Judith idly answered.

"We can steal the bits later if we need to," Harry said with a bit of a smile.
The last thing they heard was a man, probably the Doctor crying out in anguish.

"Well..." Ioan started.

Harry was silent in wondering, if that was the last he'd heard of his...the man whom he'd met, that he'd talked to. There was nothing much of his friend.

Magister, the burned man, the disturbed Time Lord in Cardiff, the Prime Minister. Had he just heard that man, that Time Lord die? Seemingly willingly? He didn't know.

"That sounds like boots on the ground." The Air Marshall said leaning forward.

"Stay where you are. Do not move. This aircraft is under UNIT control," said a voice. "Price kill all outgoing signals."

"He sounds like he's in control," Judith commented.

"Yes sir," obeyed a female voice.

Then there was just static.

-/

Harry was still in deep thought when Judith kicked him in the shins.

"Harry, deep thoughts later."

"Yes," Harry said sitting up. "I think we need to get you back to London Ros," Harry said looking to her.

"Don't be daft Potter." She paused. "Unless you've got a helicopter hiding in this model village of yours."

"I've got something much faster," Harry smirked and looked to Judith and Ioan. "Can you get these two back home. We'll debrief about all this later."

"Go Potter, let's hope we can calm the Americans down. Lest they jump to war," Jane Blythe waved him off.

"Stop the Americans going to war? Hardly," Ros snorted.

-/

Ros shouldered her bag as Potter approached her. He didn't have anything that would appear to be able to get them to London faster than walking.

"Potter what are you..."

"I just need to put my arm around you Ros," He said. "Probably exhale as well," he said calmly.

"Why would I do tha-" She tensed as he put his arm around her body and held onto her tightly.

Then...then it felt like her body had been shoved out of a plane without a parachute and all the air had squashed onto her body.

Then...

And then...she was...in London, she could hear and smell the sounds of the city and...she couldn't quite fathom...

"Please just roll with it Ros. I'm scared of what you'll do to me if I slap you," said Potter in a tone that said he was not at all afraid and mostly amused.

It made Ros want to slap him.

"Let's go and see if Pearce has been dragged in," he started to walk off and then turned back to her quirking an eyebrow. "Or would you like to get a cup of tea Ros and we can muse on what the Americans, UNIT and whoever else is going to stick their oar in and do?"

"Thank you Potter," Ros breathed in a lungful of air and tried to ignore the disconnect she still felt from being in a 1960s country village one moment and then in the nation's capital the next. Potter seemed entirely nonchalant about the process. That annoyed her.

-/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/ -/-/-/-/-/-/

Harry leaned back and hit play on the footage again. Himself and Ioan had enhanced and messed around with the footage all they could.

The last couple of days had been one of the most creative he'd seen, the President of the United States had suffered a 'heart attack' on a recent visit to a military facility. The Prime Minister had been shot by his wife Lucy at an equally mysterious military facility and another caretaker government had been installed in Britain after all of the new cabinet had been found to have been killed in a 'mysterious' gas leak.

More broadly the media was going with the very broad 'politicians go crazy' story. Which was almost unbelievable, so much so it seemed to be working. It had made him wonder if there was something in the water that made people believe anything that the media spewed out about the almost impossible.

Harry had already put in a request to see Lucy Saxon, to make sure any hold the Master had over her was broken. He wanted to be sure of that. Although from what he'd gathered from what he was monitoring she was to be charged with the PM's murder. Getting near her before she was charged would be nigh on impossible, after, maybe. Someone needed to make sure she wasn't under the Master's thrall, and that there wasn't something lurking, a final trap.

Very few people were talking about what happened on the Valiant, but Harry fully intended to find Martha Jones and ask her. According to Harry Pearce she was back with her parents. The security services amongst others, mostly UNIT were keeping an eye on her and her family.

They had all been present on the Valiant at the time of the...

The whatever had happened. It was something he still wasn't sure what had happened.

He had some inkling of what had happened courtesy of his illicit knowledge from wandering around the Doctor's TARDIS.

A jump in a time track, a slip in the vortex or...some sort of editing of time. All were possibilities.

The footage was a quirk though.

No where else seemed to have captured this jump. UNIT's datarecorders showed mostly static some pixelation but nothing much.

Ioan had wondered whether Aidensfield's isolated nature meant they had been able to coast through most of it.

Maybe.

That was all Harry had said.

There were far too many unknowns in all of this. Not enough answers.

Captain Jack, he of the wandering pants had also returned to Earth from wherever he had been. He had also been on the Valiant and he'd not been returning his calls.

Harry fancied he'd need to go down to Cardiff and interrogate the man himself.

Watching the footage it seemed like it was just a jump cut.

That was all it looked like and if he was anyone who hadn't been there watching it live that's what he'd think. Someone had cut some stuff out and they'd not put in a transition to smooth the way.

He'd been tempted to get a pensive, to extract his own memories so he could look at them, just to double check.

But Judith was quite certain that there hadn't been anything untoward between them that had happened. It was just a jump between scenes.

It was very strange, but there was an explanation.

Harry fancied it had to do with time travel, the Doctor and the Master and everything, it had to be.

Thinking on the Master, he had got some reports from UNIT about him.

The containment team that had taken two choppers up to the Valiant had reportedly found the Doctor cradling the Master's body.

He'd then attempted to order them around.

Eventually he'd negotiated something and the Doctor had taken the Master's body.

He'd ended up in a quarry somewhere.

UNIT left a camera monitoring the pyre, it was all very primal.

"Just like a bit of film. Cut out," Harry said as he watched the footage again. "Where did the bit of film go?" He wondered aloud looking at the screen as he heard the doorbell.

Outside was a courier holding an urgent looking letter from his mail forwarding company.

Ripping open the letter inside was another envelope, this one on fine parchment. The Ministry.

"I wonder what...oh." Harry said to himself as he began to read.

LPI was needed, in the Ministry, a murder.

"I wonder who would require our services," he mused to himself.

-/

A/N:

There ends a very long story arc with a quite short chapter in comparison to all the others that came before at least.

As I said when I started this arc there isn't a very good cut point between the end of The Sound of Drums and when time rolls back in Last of the Time Lords. It happens and the Doctor says when time rolls back, but everything inside the Valiant changes. Also the video cameras disappear. I've cheated with those, one of those has just fallen down, out of sight so Harry and co get to experience some of the latter stuff between the Doctor and the Master.

In one early plot out of this chapter I was going to have Harry take Ros and Jane up to the Valiant in the Whomobile. But it meant apparating them to his house and then going from there and there were just too many steps. Keeping them away from a messy international incident makes more sense.

At some point in the future I will probably write and post a spin-off story where the Doctor's plan does fail. (Update February 2019 it currently has a working title of Visited by a Doctor - Broken Earth, not currently finished, but started, not sure when I'll post it).

The question of memories and whether or not Harry and co will remember the previous year will be something that I'll be covering in the coming chapters.