Alternate Footsteps: Volume Two
Episode One: Empire of Nothing
Inside a lone Battle TARDIS flying through the Vortex, Admiral Volnar considered his options. He had retreated from a battle in the Revadian Cluster in order to figure out why the Daleks had vanished and he had risked his life in solving that mystery. The Doctor had vanished. Ollistra was stuck on Gallifrey, trying to protest against the War Council's beliefs that the Time War was a pointless effort. But he knew that Ollistra couldn't win.
After all, how could you prove that you were trying to kill a civilisation that never existed?
Volnar decided to set course for Skaro at the very beginning of its timeline. Before the Daleks were ever conceived and before the word 'exterminate' could only be heard after a psychopath squid in a tank fired a bolt of energy at you. He decided that there was only one way of putting history back on track and that was to alter Skaro's history for the better. But then a thought occurred to him. He could manipulate the history of Skaro so that the Daleks would be more tolerant of other species and the Time War would never happen. He could resurrect millions of people in a heartbeat.
He activated the materialisation control.
Volnar's TARDIS materialised with a smooth wheeze and howl in the verdant green forests of ancient Skaro. Small birds chirruped in the trees and flittering insects fluttered through the emerald world that Volnar had arrived in. Volnar stepped out, in full Time Lord battle gear and wielding his brown staser rifle that was primed and ready to fire. He looked around in surprise at the forest world that he had entered and shuffled along awkwardly, scanning the area around him.
"You seem surprised, soldier." came an old, recognisable voice from behind a nearby tree. Volnar turned around and noticed an old, bearded figure dressed in a grey tweed suit, clutching a grey laser screwdriver that had a slight yellow glow to it.
"What are you doing here?" Volnar wondered, recognising the presence of the Master.
"I came to stop Alkus from doing too much damage and I hope to do what the Doctor could never do."
Volnar looked confused.
"What do you mean?" he asked him.
The Master grinned sinisterly.
"Murder someone without feeling any remorse."
The two Time Lords decided to trek through the forest, away from Volnar's TARDIS. The Master apparently had found a Kaled settlement a few miles away from the forest and planned to take Volnar there in order to plan ahead. He had calculated that Alkus would arrive soon to try and stop them from altering history. Luckily, the Master claimed, a small resistance group had been briefed on Alkus and how he had changed history. Technically this could be seen as altering history however the Master didn't seem to care about this. As far as he was concerned, Alkus had started this.
"Any news about the Doctor, or whatever he's called now?" Volnar asked the Master.
"Unfortunately not. It seems that the fate of the universe itself is in our hands."
Inside another Battle TARDIS, three humans were figuring out where to land next. They had stolen the Battle TARDIS from an old battleground. The strange thing was that they knew the Time Lords were fighting something, but they didn't know who the Time Lords were fighting against.
"Any ideas about what we do now, Telsha?" a young man (about twenty years old and in dirty clothes that had seen better days) called Kieron wondered. A middle aged woman dressed in combat fatigues manipulated the controls on the console, having not learnt how to operate a TARDIS properly.
"I'm gonna try and send us somewhere safe." Telsha replied, activating the materialisation control. In her mind, she hoped that the Battle TARDIS she had stolen would materialise safely. However, her hopes didn't become a reality: the Battle TARDIS wailed in pain and alarms began to blare all around the three humans. Minute explosions occurred at several points in the console room and the Cloister Bell tolled ominously. Telsha, Kieron and their friend Grettif clung on for their lives as the Battle TARDIS spiralled out of control.
The Master had taken Volnar to meet the small resistance group he had set up. It consisted of several Kaled soldiers who weren't very prepared for battle as well as a grey haired old man dressed in brown robes. His name was Tikomian and he retreated to Skaro after a particularly nasty battle against the Klavions in the Ghettomar Cluster.
"You've been busy." Volnar said, amazed by how organised the Master had been, "Is this everyone?"
"Yes, Volnar. I even have a weapon powerful enough to end Alkus once and for all." the Master replied, taking a small glowing red crystal pyramid out of his pocket, "Do you know what this is?"
Volnar shook his head.
"This is a Reality Unifier." he explained to him, "A weapon that, when activated, destroys any living being from alternate realities within a planet-sized radius. This shall destroy Alkus and prevent him from regenerating."
"Perfect. All we need to do after that is stop him from altering Skaro's history and erasing the Daleks."
"Precisely, Volnar. I suspect Alkus will arrive soon to try and stop our plan so we need to be ready for anything."
"Master, we have our weapons ready." Tikomian interjected, "Shall we set up a defensive shield?"
"Yes, Tikomian. Do whatever you can to try and kill Alkus. We'll use the Reality Unifier as a last resort."
This confused Volnar. Once Tikomian had gone, he asked the Master why he wanted to save the Reality Unifier for when times were tough.
"Because the Reality Unifier will permanently make Skaro uninhabitable for people from an alternate universe." the Master explained, "And the paradox resulting from the activation here will wipe Alkus from history, as well as wipe out anything we'll have done here."
"Isn't that good?"
"No, it isn't."
Relatively close to the Kaled settlement, where nothing had occupied the space previously, a tall misshapen rock-like structure materialised with a soft wheeze and a howl. A hole in the rock opened up and a short man dressed in a black velvet jacket and a red turtleneck stepped out of it, carrying a slim tube of gold that had the ability to disintegrate his victims. His TARDIS had built it for him, adjusting to his new, more cruel lifestyle.
"Early Skaro? Yes." he said to himself, shutting the door and walking towards the Kaled settlement.
Tikomian and the Master patrolled the defences that had been set up and watched their small resistance group aim their blasters (which the Master had stolen from Gallifrey) out into the wilderness, ready to fire at Alkus.
"I hear you're a fighter." Tikomian said, as the two men walked side by side.
"Oh, I'm more of a schemer than a fighter." the Master replied, taking out his laser screwdriver and clutching it in his right hand, "I fight for my own survival."
"That isn't wise, Master."
Tikomian would have said a lot more if one of his soldiers suddenly hadn't disintegrated into a pile of hot ash. However, seeing as that had happened, they deduced that Alkus had arrived. While Tikomian examined the ash, the Master instructed the soldiers to fire at the short man approaching the resistance base. He also fired his sonic screwdriver on full blast at Alkus and, with the combined efforts of all the lasers, Alkus collapsed to the ground with a thud.
Sensing that this fight wasn't over, the Master rushed over to the Time Lord's body and prepared to deliver the final blow. Alkus was still alive, unfortunately, and the Master wanted this fact to become a fiction. He took out the Reality Unifier and held it in his hand, ready to activate it.
"You're rather violent to be the Doctor, aren't you?" Alkus observed, "Too eager to kill and see the life vanish from your victim's eyes?"
"I'm not the Doctor, Alkus." the Master countered, twisting the Reality Unifier so that it opened up to reveal a glowing red mass of energy, "I am the Master and you will be no more."
The glowing red mass of energy rose up into the air and hovered for a few seconds, before turning into a wave of blood red light that swept across Skaro in an instant. Alkus screamed in pain as the wave passed through him, turning every part of him into nothing. The Master could hear the dying cries of Alkus's TARDIS as it was torn apart piece by piece.
In a matter of mere moments, the red light faded to reveal that Alkus was no longer on the ground. In fact, Alkus was no longer in this universe. He had been wiped out into nothingness, the realm that transmat users dipped their toes into every time they transmatted from one place to another.
"Peace at last." the Master finally announced to nobody in particular, turning back to the main command centre of the Kaled base and heading back to tell the others of what had happened.
While the Master was on his way back to the command centre though, he heard a strange banging and wheezing noise. It was faint, but his Gallifreyan hearing could pick it up perfectly. He glanced around and saw nothing. But then, with a loud crash and wheeze, a Battle TARDIS burst out of nowhere and hurtled towards the command centre, howling in agony as it dived towards destruction.
"Tikomian, get the soldiers away!" he advised in a startled yell, hoping that the Battle TARDIS would swerve to avoid the Kaleds. It didn't swerve. There must be an idiot driving that thing, he instantly thought, and instead hurried towards his TARDIS, realising that he couldn't save the Kaleds.
The Battle TARDIS crashed into the base with an incredible explosion sending ash and debris flying everywhere. Flames erupted from the wreckage and hardly anyone survived, except from Volnar, who had started to regenerate already.
"Oh my." Telsha commented, staring in horror at the dead bodies around her, "I didn't want this."
"At least we're safe Telsha." Grettif said, remembering the horrors of the battlefield and the hideous creatures that had stalked them day and night.
"I agree." Kieron added, "This'll just be an isolated settlement. Nobody will notice us being here."
The three humans moved away from the TARDIS slowly, allowing Volnar, now a young woman, to claim the crashed Battle TARDIS and dematerialise it safely.
Inside the Master's TARDIS, he sighed with relief when he noticed that history had been fixed by his little plan. A permanent Reality Unification Field had been set up on Skaro by him and that had stopped every being who didn't belong in this reality from going to Skaro.
"It seems I deserve a reward." he said to himself, setting course for a new planet, "Perhaps a little political game?"
He laughed hard as he activated the materialisation control and watched the TARDIS land on a new world.
THE END