Well the countdown to the final chapters has begun. I'm stilk working out how to end the story so that everything is all tidy and neat, but there will still be a chance of me coming back over the story just to fix errors in writing and the plot.
Anyway back to the chapter.
Chapter 18: The Fall of the Dalek Empire
Kate Stewart watched the latest news report. The massive black Dalek flagship had just dropped into the North Sea after a huge explosion had destroyed the belly of the beast. Kate sighed a sign of relief when one by one the Dalek ships began to fall back. UNIT with the aid of SHIELD and Torchwood were taking back the skies. But they were still in trouble. The Star Bane even though it has been destroyed had struck the sun. Now with UNITS gratest minds thinking of how to solve this it was just a waiting a game. A game that they had to wait until the Doctor got the TARDIS back.
Slumping back in her seat as Nightshade and the black Dalek stormed into her office. The shapeshifter stood in front of her of her desk looking as if she had just been dragged through hell and then back out.
"There must be a reason why you have come to my office, Nightshade?" she asked looking up at the alien. She could tell that Nightshade was due to explode with what was happening all around the world.
"The Doctor had taken the TARDIS to the sun and solving the problem befor anything else can go wrong!" she explained before taking a seat in front of the table. Kate couldn't help but think that her adviser was there for an interview for a job in the way that she was dressed in black and white. "So what's the cover story for this?" Nightshade asked.
Kate looked at all the papers on her desk. What was the cover story? "The turth! We cannot cover this story, Nightshade! We'll tell the public that the Valiant was in the air in time to stop the invasion from getting any worse. And with the aid of the Avengers the Daleks were forced to retreat at tne sight of their flagship going down! Nightshade I am afraid that you are going to be named as the one to bring down the Dalek flagship!" Kate said.
Nightshade suddenly rose out of her seat. "Don't do that Kate! I prefer to keep to the shadows and that only a select few people know of my existance!" she snapped back. Dalek Sec remained silent behind her as he wacthed the two discus the cover story. "Kate if people knew that there was an alien defending their world there would be an uproar!" she continued her rant.
Kate sat back in her chair. "Didn't Captain America request that you join the Avengers? But why didn't you join?" Kate asked. She had recalled a couple months ago that Captain America had requested that Nightshade joined the Avengers after he had found that she was still alive. That was at the same time that they found out that Seth was still alive and was following his plan that he had worked on for seventy years.
"He did!" was all Nightshade said before dropping back into her chair. "So your going to name me and hope that no nutter is going to dig too much into my past to see that I am basically wearing a mask to allow me to walk down the street for my newspaper in the morning?" she asked.
Kate sighed. She knew that Nightshade would have reservations about the whole fact that she was going to name her as the news report for the aftermath of the Dalek invasion. But she felt it was time that she was named. How many times had the Doctor and her safe their planet and they didn't get any recognition for it?
"Kate juat say it was one of your agents that found a weak spot in the ship just like in one of the Star Wars film where they destroy the Star Destroyer thing!" Nightshade suggested.
Kate bit back a laugh. The look of confusion that was clear in Dalek Sec's body language was loud and clear that he had no idea what Nightshade was talking about. She looked back at Nightshade to see that she was watching her and waiting for her to say something. "Okay two things we must discuss about this Nightshade!" she started to say. She wacthed as Nightshade relaxed in her seat.
"The first point is when did you wacth a Star Wars film to know about the Death Star?" she asked.
"It was a slow night and there was nothing else to watch. That film had just premiered in the UK so we went to see it! Edward fell asleep half through the film and Julian couldn't stop watching that he went back with Benton the next day!" Nightshade explained with a bored voice.
Kate nodded her head. She would accept that answer but then it had been done when her father was still head of UNIT and she was a mere child who found everything so fascinating. "Now the second point is more of a deal than a point!" she said.
That was enough to get Nightshade's attention that she perked up in her seat. "And what is the deal that you are ready to make?" she asked.
Kate smiled. She had Nightshade's attention and she needed to keep it before she dissappeared once again. "I'll inform the public that an agent from UNIT found the weak spot of the flagship and destroyed it! I'll only do it if you agree to join the Avengers! You need help in taking down Seth and you know better than me that you need help!" she said glaring right at the shapeshifter.
Nightshade rubbed her face in defeat. "Kate you may not like me saying this but you are just like your dad! He can get me to see reason with just a few words! I will head to New York as doon as I can to speak with Rogers! Just so I can deal with the guest in Stirling" Nightshade replied knowing that she could not deter Kate from her plan.
Kate smiled as Nightshade rose from her seat. "Thank you Nightshade! I shall make a conference in a couple of hours as the clean up starts to take in all the Dalek ships that were brought down! And you better get ready to go to New York!"
Bowing her head Nightshade walked out of Kate's office in the Tower of London. Dalek Sec hovered after her. "ARE YOU GOING TO NEW YORK LIKE YOU TOLD THE HUMAN FEMALE?" he asked her as he followed ber towards the underground hanger of the UNIT base in London.
"I have to! Kate knows that I'm trying to much to bring in Seth and Leatherback!" she replied as they got deeper into the Tower of London.
"I WILL REMAIN AT YOUR SIDE! I AM MORE NEEDED HERE!" Dalek Sec said as he kept beside her.
The hanger that was under the Tower of London was huge. It spanned as far as the eye could see and held aircraft of different shapes and sizes from a Spitfire to a new helicopter. But the main ship in the hanger was the Moonray. One of the biggest jets in the hanger it hummed with power as it waited patiently for Nightshade to return.
"But wouldn't you want to go back to the Dalek Emperor? I mean you were ordered to remain with the Doctor until Dalek X is defeated!" she spoke over the roaring Moonray's engine.
Dalek Sec titled his eye stock down to the ground. What was he really going to do. If he turned his back on the Emperor he would be hunted down like a common aninal until he was exterminated. But he knew the Dalek way was wrong. "I AM NOT RETURNING TO THE EMEPEROR! I AM GOING TO REMAIN ON EARTH!" he responded to her.
"Well you can tell him that yourself! The Emperor has requested to see the Doctor, you and me!" Nightshade replied as she ran up the steps and into the Moonray's control deck.
Dalek Sec followed her towards the controls of the Moonray. "DID HE GIVE A REASON FOR THIS MEETING?" he asked.
Nightshade looked over her shoulder to look at him. "No he just demanded that we go to this meeting! I like how he appears in Earth's solar system when everything has been done!" she snarled as she gave the Moonray the coordinates of the Emperor's fleet.
"WHAT OF THE STAR BANE AND THE EARTH'S SUN?" Dalek Sec asked. He had heard from Nightshade's comm. that the Star Bane had fired but anything else he did not hear. No he had been too busy focusing on brining X's flagship down. Hacking the system had been easy and it took him no time to set the labs above to explode before even thinking about the engine room. He didn't go straight for the engines for he forcing the Daleks on the ship to try and put out the fires in their section of the ship before he closed the doors behind him. He also wanted to give Nightshade and himself enough time to escape and thanks to the Moonray they were away before the sun that powered the ship went supernova.
The Moonray shuddered as if it hated the idea of flying into the heart of another Dalek empire. A ramp jolted out of the ground from under the alien jet as it turned it in the right direction for takeoff. The blue glowing afterburners sparked to life as the Moonray was driven towards the launch pad. Counting down to a countdown that neither Dalek Sec nor Nightshade knew about the Moonray thundered down the runway that was under the City of London. Nightshade kept a grip on the control stick of the Moonray but that was not needed as the Moonray could fly itself thanks to the AI that was implanted into the jets mainframe.
Outside it was a nice day. The Dalek ships that remained on Earth where smocking wrecks that were getting cleaned up by both UNIT and Torchwood. Any Dalek that was found alive would be transported to the Dalek Emperors flagship where they would be taken to the Dalek Asylum planet. The only place in the universe where they belong. Children where once again playing in the streets and families spent more time together. Dogs barked as they caught the balls their beat friends had flung for them to catch.
London and the rest of the world had returned to normal life. People went back to work were left work to spent time with family after the end of the world.
The River Thames when it was not filled with debris from Dalek ships was filled with boats that were carrying people who would not stop celebrating that they were still alive. A sudden blue glow light up the usual murky water causing people to look into the water. Water exploded as something invisible blasted past people.
The Moonray kept invisible until it reached the outter layer of Earth's atmosphere. Hovering above the blue sphere was a thousand Dalek ships. They were well above the planet as not to be detected by its limited range radar. Off to the right was the sun. It looked larger but not to large that it was going to explode at any minute. Not far from the sun was a small blue box. The TARDIS was no doubt healing the effects done to the sun by by the Star Bane. It would take time to make the sun younger and last much longer.
"The Doctor by the looks of things is still trying to fix the sun! So we will have to deal with the all mighty Emperor!" she finally replied after focusing so much on getting the Moonray in the air without being seen by some onlooker in London.
"WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO TELL HIM?" Dalek Sec asked. He kept close to her as if even in the Moonray she would protect him from the rage of the Emperor. "AND WILL YOU KEEP TO YOUR WORD WITH THE SCARY LADY?" he asked as the Moonray got closer to the largest ship in the fleet. The ship that carried the Dalek Emperor and the Dalek Parliament.
Nightshade bit back a laugh. "Scary lady!" she laughed, "But you are right! She can get pretty scary when she wants something done! That was the same with her father! And yes but once this is done I'll be heading back to Stirling! There's something there that I need to deal with anything else!" she replied.
"AND WHAT ABOUT ME?" he asked looking at Nightshade like a lost puppy. He didn't what he was doing. He didn't know if he would carry out the Emperor's orders? Or l he would do what the Doctor and Nightshade do and stand up for those who couldn't defend for themselves. He studied Nightshade more as he thought of his future. He would have to be careful. He could be exterminated by the Emperor for betraying the Dalek race or he could be exterminated by Nightshade for betraying them. He would have to plan his next moves carefully which came easy to him thanks to his genetically modified brain. "HOW DOES ONE BECOME AN AVENGER?" he asked as the Moonray landed in the open hanger.
Nightshade pulled up so suddenly that the Moonray had to finish the landing. The shapeshifter glared at the black Dalek. His casing was badly damaged but at least he had his domed head fitted back on. It was a quick five minutes for the Moonray's repairs to work out as it reconnected his head back to his body. "Why do you ask that? Your a Dalek? You just came with us because you were ordered to be your Empire who didn't like the growing threat that Dalek X was becoming!" she roared at him. Her bones snapped and popped a few times as she threatened to change form in front of him.
"One does not become an Avenger because they want to! No, they need to do something that calls them a hero! Granted you did stop Dalek X but that was because of your orders! A hero puts their needs last and others first!" she finished before walking out of the Moonray.
Dalek Sec rolled after her. He could imagine himself working with others. He had seen the Doctor work with Humans, Cyborgs and other creatures through the years. Heck the Doctor had even worked with the Mechanoids. He looked at Nightshade and had to wonder what creatures she worked with. He knew that she worked with the zombie like Maiden known as Edward. Thinking of Edward he asked, "WHERE IS EDWARD? IT IS COMMON DALEK KNOWLEDGE THAT YOU TWO NEVER STRAY FAR FROM EACH OTHER?"
"Classified!" was all she walking past two Dalek drones. The bronze Daleks closed ranks around Nightshade while he was allowed to roam at his own pace. The Dalek drones told Nightshade what way to go and soon they were in the Emperor's throne room. A thousand Daleks in different coloured casing that had different roles in the empire watched only Nightshade. She was the main threat in their eye.
"WHERE IS THE DOCTOR?" the Dalek Supreme barked. The white cased Dalek looked down at the two of them. "AND WHERE IS THE STAR BANE?" he roared on seeing them empty handed.
Dalek Sec rolled back when Nightshade snorted. It was a bored sound and told him everything he needed to know. Nightshade was ready to kill every Dalek in the room if they did not listen to what she had to say.
"The Doctor is saving the sun from the effects of the Star Bane! And Dalek X's fleet is has shrunk!" she replied folding her arms across her chest. "And thanks for the help by the way on dealing with your problem!" she finished taking a step forward.
Dalek Supreme aimed his gun at her. "YOU DARE TO SPEAK TO YOUR BETTERS, BEAST?" he shouted. He kept hig gun trained at her but she acted as if there was no weapons around her.
She took another step forward and was so close to change form. Her eyes slowly shifted to red as either her true form or her one eyed tiger form came through the mask that she wore. "Betters? Beast?" she asked through clenched teeth. "You are not superior beings! Your just a disease that has spread all throughout the glaxay and time! No you should not be talking to anyone who is different to you! You want to be a superior race stop caring for yourselves and start helping those who need help!" she snapped back at him.
"THAT IS ENOUGH DALEK SUPREME! NIGHTSHADE IS A GUEST IN MY COURT ANE SHALL BE TREATED AS SUCH! AFTER ALL SHE HELPED IN TAKING DOW DALEK X- WHICH I AM HIGHLY GREAT FULL OF!" the Dalek Emperor finally shouted from his glass case that looked out at all the Daleks in his golden throne room. "DALEK X HAS BEEN DEFEATED THANKS TO DALEK SEC! I KNEW YOU WOULD NOT DISAPPOINT ME! YOU WILL BE REWARDED WITH A POST SIMILAR TO THAT YOU HAD DURING THE TIME WAR!" he boomed over to the black damaged Daled that stood next to Nightshade. "NOW ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS FULFILL YOUR LAST ORDER!" he orordered.
Dalek Sec rolled untill Nightshade was in front of him. "Typical! Daleks can't be trusted!" she snarled. Her bones in her spine cracked as she prepared to shift out of her weakest form and into one of her more stronger forms. "But oh well! Killing one Dalek was not enough!" she hissed as she took a battle stance.
"I AM ONLY FOLLOWING ORDERS!" he hissed. He titled his eye stock to the side to see past her and towards the Dalek Emperor. The Emperor watched in silence as he awaited Dalek Sec to exterminate Nightshade. "I AM NOT GOING TO EXTERMINATE NIGHTSHADE NOR THE DOCTOR!" he shouted at the Emperor.
"THEN PREPARE TO BE EXTERMINATED!" Dalek Supreme shouted as he prepared to shoot at Dalek X and Nightshade.
"No! Dalek Emperor return back to the heart if your empire and never return! You have been warned!" Nightshade shouted as Dalek Sec rolled in front of her like a shield.
The Dalek Emperor focused his attention on Nightshade. "OR WHAT NIGHTSHADE? YOU HAVE NO FLEET TO BACK YOU UP OR ARMY!" he shouted at her.
Nightshade only smiled back at him. He was glaring at her with his one golden eye. Suspicion was clear in that golden orb of his his. "I don't need any of that! All I need is a mad man in a blue box!" she said. The mention of the Doctor caused many Daleks to role away from her as if she would bring the Time Lord to them. "See I don't need massive amount of forces to take you out Dalek Emperor! But lets not act anticivil here! I suggest a truce!" she spoke again.
"DALEKS DO NOT MAKE TRUCES!" the Dalek Supreme roared. He rolled forwards and was ready to fire at Nightshade.
"LET THE DOCTOR'S COMPANION FINISH, DALEK SUPREME!" the Emperor ordered. His eye and his eye stock never left Nightshade in fear of her attacking him. "WHY SHOULD WE MAKE A TRUCE WITH YOU?" the Emperor asked her.
"Because Dalek X had allied himself with a god called Seth! Seth was able to transform all those Daleks into Dalek Super soldiers that obey only him. Dalek Caan was one of those Daleks and he escaped with Seth while me and Dalek Sec fought Dalek X for you! So you all owe the Doctor and me! Or I can find Dalek X's remains and set him off against you again?" she replied back. She kept her arms folded against her chest as she watched Dalek Emperor for a response.
Dalek Emperor finally spoke after a minute of silence. "WE SHALL HONOUR THIS TRUCE UNTIL THE ABOMINATION THAT IS KNOWN AS DALEK CAAN IS DESTROYED!"
Nightshade nodded her head, "Thank you for seeing reason, Your Majesty! Another part of the truce is that you nor any of your fleet can invade a planet! If I hear that has happened then I'll set the Doctor on you!" she finalised the roles of the truce.
Dalek Sec noticed that once again The Doctor was causing a lot of fear within the ranks of the Dalek Parliament and he wasn't even there. To think he was once terrified of him but now saw him as a friend. He hoped that whatever Nightshade was planning would show the other Daleks that he was right about their way being wrong and that they could be a force for good.
"WE ACCEPT YOUR TERMS AND WILL AID IN SEARCH FOR DALEK CAAN AND THE GOD THAT CALLS HIMSELF SETH!" the Emperor declared to the Parliament. The Parliament that agreed to safe their own skins from being exterminated by either the Emperor or Nightshade.
Nightshade bowed again before turning around to walk out of the flagship. "If that's all I must be going! I have a god to track down and no doubt a mountain of paperwork!" she shouted over her shoulder. She didn't wait for the Emperor to reply before stalking out of the throne room. The Daleks only relaxed when Nightshade left the room.
"DALEK SEC YOU ARE EXILED FROM THE DALEK EMPIRE AND WILL REMAIN SO UNTIL YOU MEET YOUR END EITHER ON THE BATTLEFIELD OR DYING AS THE WEAKLING THAT YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN!" the Dalek Emperor boomed down at the small badly damaged Dalek.
Saying nothing Dalek Sec followed Nightshade back to the Moonray. The silver and blue jets engines rumbled on seeing them approach. It was not long tha the Moonray was dropping down to the earth and the Dalek fleet was blasting into deep space not knowing of their passenger. The Shadow Man would keep an eye on the Daleks for Nightshade while they worked together a bit longer.
The sun that had gotten dangerously big and looked ready to explode shrunk back into a smaller and younger state. With the sun and Earth safe the Doctor and Jack returned to Earth. There was going to be a huge clean up operation to tidy up all the Dalek ships and the Doctor pitted whoever had to write the paperwork for the operation.
ooooo00000oooo000
A red optic lit up as pain smashed through his systems. He was going to get his revenge. He would get his revenge on Dalek Sec and Dalek Caan. He would get his revenge on Nightshade and the Doctor. No one will be safe until he had killed all of his enemies.