The Doctor sheepishly stepped back into the Tardis and watched the humanoid Dalek man cautiously. He touched the console with admiration as a slight grin formed in doing so. This was an odd thing to witness for the Time Lord; Daleks would never enjoy or seek pleasure. It gave him a chill down his spine.
"What do I, um, call you... exactly?" The Doctor squinted at him with curiosity. "Do you, well, have a name... perchance? Can't very well just keep calling you, 'Dalek' now can I?"
The white robed individual continued to peruse the spacious craft, a strange wonderment in his gaze, and answered without giving the Doctor a second glance. "Names are irrelevant, but those of us that had higher ranks were allowed certain designations. You may remember me... as the Strategic Dalek."
"Oh... yes, um, of course," The Doctor struggled to remember. Even now, locked away on a planet devoid of the harmony of time and space, he tried to get a feel of the universe that no longer existed. But still, the Time Lord's weaken mind managed to recall the one who put him here in the first place. "So it's you then, isn't it? How bout I just call you Strat then, yes? Well, I hope you're happier now that all the world Is yours, as it were. I guess that means you've come to gloat..." He winced at his own words. "Even if is just only one of you left. Hm, seems a bit strange you're not really rubbing it in my face."
"I have no need to do so," The Dalek Strat stated coldly. His unfocused attention subsided and turned to look at his enemy. Once he feared this man, this Time lord of old, but now there was only something else... something it dared not speak of—pity. "As much as I want to... Exterminate... you, Doctor, I am filled with something else that is most incomprehensible to a Dalek."
The Doctor raised a hand up in reaction, "No need to say it, Strat, I have a pretty good idea what it is. Though, surprised as I am that you've achieved it at all, well... I would rather you not for both our sakes. Still, I wonder..." he paused in thought, slowly walked closer and leaned against the Tardis console giving Strat an inquisitive eye. "Has it changed you that much? Now that you have that particular feeling, can you honestly understand its full meaning? Or indeed, the implication of it?"
"Which is why I've come to you," Strat leaned in slightly and peered his eyes at the frail looking man. "Doctor..."
"Stop calling me that, I'm not that person anymore."
"You deny it, hate being known as it..."
"Yes!" The Doctor hissed back grumpily.
"Then you know how I feel, in this moment, in this body. A Dalek no more!" Motioning with hands he walked around the controls, a contemptible tone in his voice. "Evolution is a curse! To be more, growing in emotional and intellectual mind, a punishment no creature like me could or should have to bare! There is no other direction, no other way to be... given only one choice, one way to exist!"
The Doctor was awed by this individual's passionate torment of woe. It had been a song that he once voiced to those who gave options in moments of uncertainty. To be handed the fates of others in times of crisis and war, where options were so narrow that even he couldn't see any other but what to happen for survival. "A kindred spirit" he thought to himself. "Who would have believed a Dalek and I shared such a dilemma."
Strat crouched to the floor in tears. He wept uncontrollably and pounded on the Tardis floor. Each strike echoed throughout the room and caused the Doctor to reluctantly come to his aid.
"Now––now, see here, crying about it isn't the solution." He snickered lightly underneath, "Daleks don't cry, eh, do they? No... of course they don't."
"I tire of these weaknesses..." Strat said, trying regain his composure. "I am alone, universe after universe, with my kind whose thirst for perfection never ceases even though it has been thanks to my reconstructions. Yet here I am, the pinnacle of all of our evolution, and still... still I yearn for more, but there is no more to be had."
"Yes," The Doctor stretched the reply out slowly , his eyes shifted in thought while administering a few gentle pats on the white haired being back. Sympathy for a Dalek was almost a comical notion. Yet there was stroking comfort to an enemy that obliterated the universe, many versions of them, just to make it to their liking. He should be furious with him. The opportunity to strike down his nemesis in a moment of vulnerability was upon him. Yet, he had no such instinct to inflict harm no matter what he, Strat, has done. For the first time, a Dalek has become enlightened and something more than any other of its kind.
What right had he to judge this creature? Was he any different? The Doctor punished himself for failing the universe and left it to fend for itself. He laid down and accepted the consequences given, all because he felt he had no choice, no chose at all.
"No more..." The Doctor uttered as he gazed at his dead Tardis. "You've become like me, and I like you. But, the choices we made were never our own. We like to think they were... sadly, they were made long before we could think of any. And now," the time lord sighed, flicking a few switches on the de-funked console, smirking as the irony hit him. "Here we are, at the inevitable end of all those choices, neither one of us victorious... only filled with regrets and past memories that led to this moment."
Strat quickly looked over to him. The Doctor stewing in his somber melancholy. It made him ponder the statement and stood tall once more. The tears had subsided, the emotion leaving his mind, and the stone cold demeanour returned as his face reflected that icy posture.
"The past is where things changed. When we... I decided to take you out of time altogether. Eternity free of The Doctor, free from you meddling and constant interference, where our destiny could be fulfilled without fear of you ending it."
"Like I said before," The Doctor grumbled. "No need to flaunt the matter after kicking in winning the goal."
"But that's just it, we won..."
"Yes! Yes! I get it!" The Doctor pounded on the controls. His wild bitter eyes glaring at Strat with anger. "Damn you, and damn the whole lot of your kind! You got your wish, I'm sick of hearing the constant reminder of my failure... thanks ever so much! No kill me, as you said you would. Spare me any more of this sick display... just..." He paused abruptly, calming his demeanour, showing those tired eyes on the verge of tears. "Just end this, please... I'm done. No more––no more for pity's sake."
The Dalek Strat, ever hating that title given by The Doctor, watched his defeated expression and let out a slow breath of contempt. He was their greatest foe; The Oncoming Storm, a menace to all Daleks of Skaro, in every time and place they were in, now begging for a quick death. It was tempting. By all rights he wanted to do it. He had said, once, in a former life, that it would be so. Yet now, at the end of all things, that need for this meddling Time Lord to be removed forever had suddenly—gone. It wasn't for mercy, a mutated emotion that had no place in his mind, no, this was utter disgust. That felt like a much better feeling than the one plaguing his senses in the moment. Disgust for someone like him, one who countered their manoeuvres in every way and more, was suddenly surrendering because he was simply tired... of doing nothing at all. He hadn't bested them, or out smarted their plans; he was responsible for nothing. It was they, the Daleks, or rather he (Strat), that changed the course of the war by avoiding his extermination and leaving him tucked away out of time.
Mulling over the thought in his mind, Strat could finally understand the dilemma that The Doctor had when narrowing the limited options the fates laid out before him. He rubbed his right thumb and index finger closely to his lips, and muttered something to himself that was barely audible to the Time Lord.
"No more..." Strat whispered. "Indeed, how ironic..."
The Doctor strained to hear him. He could see the wheels were in motion on Strats face, a curious smirk of smugness that steadily grew stronger; the being dropped his arms to either side and returned to a straightened pose once he finish the thought.
"It began with you," He finally spoke. "And now it will end with only you."
"So," The Doctor sighed, growing tired of this round about discussion, and passively shrugged. "Let's end it then. I'm ready. Exterminate me."
Strat raised his left hand, palm exposed, and held it out towards The Doctor. Bracing for the inevitable, the Time Lord winced as he shut his eyes. Would he scream in pain as so many others did from that deadly energy blast? Or would he simply collapse and die without so much as a whimper? Two thoughts that occupied his mind as he awaited the swift execution.
Suddenly he heard the Tardis spring to life. A rush of power surged throughout the craft and the rhythmic heartbeat-like whoosh of the central column began once more. The Tardis had come alive. The Doctor popped an eye open upon hearing his beloved machine's familiar noise. He looked over to the console and saw Strat still holding his hand up but with an energy beam focused on the central column.
The oddly faint blueish beam streamed out of the flesh palm of the Dalek man and fed its power directly into the pumping mechanism of the Tardis. The Doctor was amazed by the sight of it and asked the obvious question.
"What are you doing?"
"Ending it all," Strat smirked at him. "I'm going to send you back to the moment we found you in the time corridor and perhaps changing the options neither of us can see."
"I don't understand." The Doctor said, a queer smile on his face. "You're a Dalek. You don't do options, you don't aid an enemy, you conquer and destroy. That's all you've ever done. Why change now?"
"Because, Doctor," He watched the Time Lord grimace from uttering his name. "This option was an utter failure. We chose the wrong one and it created a paradox that we ourselves can never escape from."
The Tardis dematerialized from the planet and entered into the space-time vortex. The shifting, swirling eddies within the corridor changed with numerous colours and bright flashes of energy that caused the craft to quake. Stealing himself as he lunged at the console,The Doctor frantically check the controls and read outs as the time ship struggled to maintain its integrity. Sparks shot out from various buttons on the console and from where the column was housed in. Strat continued to feed power I to it, and concentrated on maintaining the stream of energy.
"The universe doesn't exist anymore, my universe, the one you destroyed, remember?" Strat said nothing. The Doctor held on to the console as he came closer. The force of the travel was too strong, the gravity pulled in every direction, and he gripped the station as hard as he could. "There's nothing there for either of us to return to. Don't you understand? You can't undo the damage once its been replaced with so many other reconstructions. Stop this foolishness! There's only the Daleks now, and I refuse to live in a time and universe only fuelled by hate and death."
"But you have always lived in such a maelstrom of chaos, Doctor." Strat grinned with a chuckle. "The universe has always made it as such. Life and death of cosmic scale is the way of all things."
The Doctor rolled his eyes at that statement. Obviously that's not what he meant, but it was rather true in some aspects, he conceded as much with a slight nod and tried to re-explain. "I mean, I don't want to live among the likes of all of you. A Dalek filled universe that's one sided and predictable. I'll get bored by it."
"Yes," Strat nodded. "I know. I've been in it, I don't want to live there either."
The Tardis shifted again, causing the Doctor to fall to the floor, he quickly grabbed hold of the top of the console again and pulled himself up. The Albino Strat remained steady. It was like he had gravity boots on and could not be moved from the various gravitational shifts pulling the police box craft about. With one last surge of power from his hand, Strat slowly stopped the stream and his palm came back to normal. He gave a simple sigh from the strain and relaxed his posture.
The Tardis was stable in the vortex and the violent quakes had ceased. The Doctor stood away from the controls, with the knowledge it was safe to do so, and casually brushed himself down. He saw his chair and table nearby, the tea cup on the floor smashed to pieces. He gave a disappointed sound with his tongue, and shook his head at the sight of it. "Damn, that was the last good one from my set. Now I won't be able to go back to get a replacement for it. That was given to me from the Chinese emperor…" The Doctor paused in thought. "Not sure which one, he had a funny hat, or something like it," He refocused his mind back to Strat, "The point being, I'll never be able to get a replacement. The Earth doesn't exist any longer, none of the worlds I know do, you've wiped them out. And I really, really liked that tea cup!"
"You will have the chance again."
"Oh really?" The Doctor laughed. "Does this Dalek Emperor in this universe and time have a fondness for crafted ceramic tea sets? Maybe he's got some biscuits to share while sipping on his Darjeeling?"
The view window on the perforated wall opened up and showed a Dalek ship approaching fast. Strat pointed to it and turned to see the Time Lord looking mildly interested.
"Do you remember?" He asked him. "The day we finally caught you."
"You know, you really are someone who likes to relive what they've already done. I suppose this is where I'm going to acknowledge your success and replay the same footage over and over for posterity, hm?" He gave drawn out sigh and submitted to the humiliation tactic. "Alright, I'll play your little game. Yes, that's your ship coming to give me one last pounding and send me hurling down to the planet I was a prisoner on. Or am I still there and this is all an illusion to do... what, exactly? Make me feel nostalgic?"
In that moment, as The Doctor felt this was merely a video play back, he began to realize this wasn't a recording of that ship. This was the ship. The exact ship the Strategic Dalek was on before they destroyed the universe. His eyes widened, his lips fumbled trying to find words, and then he gawked at Strat who stood watching him with a sense of pride.
He had done the impossible. The Time Guardians could never achieve a level of power as this, not that he'd ever bothered to ask them, anyway. And yet, it was all back just the same. Everything had reset as if it never left; the universe in full restoration. The Time Lord could feel it; the flows of time, the rise and fall of civilizations, the past, present and future all at once. He was home.