Alternate Footsteps: Volume Two
Episode Two: Back to the Beginning
On Skaro, the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and stared in horror at the carving made in the nearby mountain. It was of a face he had seen before. A horrifying face with a horrifying smile. He had lived the life of that man and he had tried to do good. But this iteration of that lifetime was the pure definition of evil.
The carving was of Alkus.
And then, suddenly, it wasn't. The entire carving had vanished in a matter of seconds, the rock reforming. No. Unforming. It unformed back into uneven grey rock, making the Doctor feel concerned. How had that happened? How could have Alkus's empire have vanished within a matter of seconds? This was probably the first time in a very long time when the Doctor had felt concerned about the empire of an evil force being destroyed as soon as it was born.
He decided that the safest thing to do was to return to his TARDIS and see if Ollistra had anything to say.
Around the distant world of Vostar Prime, several Dalek ships sat, waiting to attack. The entire Vostar System was hidden away in a temporal bubble, thirty million years ahead of the rest of reality. The Vostarans had figured out a way of creating a temporal shield so large it could protect an entire planetary system from the ravages of the Time War so pure logic revealed that they were far in advance of other civilisations. That was why the Daleks were sat in orbit above Vostar Prime: they wanted to invade the most populated planet in the Vostar System and use whatever Vostaran technology they wanted against the Time Lords. This strategy had been carefully conceived by the Death Council, a group of Daleks who sent their agents out into the universe to gather data and report back to them with intel which would be used to dream up new ideas that would (potentially) win the Time War.
"ALL DALEK SHIPS IN POSITION." a Dalek operating one of the many sophisticated computers onboard the bronze saucers that floated above Vostar Prime announced, "THE ATTACK SHALL BEGIN SOON."
"WAIT. DO NOT ATTACK THE PLANET YET." declared a low, electronic voice as a black Dalek with a blood red eyestalk entered the control room. This was the Dalek Vanquisher, a Dalek fitted with weapons powerful enough to destroy an entire planet. Other Daleks turned in confusion to face the Vanquisher and ask why it had decided to hold back.
"THE NATIVE VOSTARANS HAVE NOT DETECTED OUR PRESENCE. WE SHALL WAIT UNTIL THEY ATTEMPT TO PLEA FOR MERCY AND THEN WE SHALL ATTACK. I WANT TO HEAR THEIR SCREAMS AS WE EXTERMINATE THEM AND TAKE THEIR TECHNOLOGY."
Inside the Doctor's TARDIS, a hologram of Cardinal Ollistra appeared, her familar old and annoyed features focusing on him.
"Doctor," she began, a mixture of concerned and irritated tones of voice, "we have detected an armada of Daleks swarming around the main planet of the Vostar System, Vostar Prime."
"Ollistra, am I right in thinking you want me to destroy the Dalek fleet before they invade the Vostar System?" he replied, already working at the hexagonal control panel to try and get his TARDIS to the Vostar System.
"No because the Vostar System is protected by an immensely strong temporal shield, making travel to its past and future impossible."
The Doctor stopped fiddling with the controls on the console and listened to what Ollistra had to say.
"I want you to go to Vostar Alpha and warn the inhabitants about the Dalek attack. Make sure that you prevent the Daleks from getting any of their technology. Do you understand?" she continued.
He nodded and the hologram vanished.
On the planet of Vostar Prime, Erraw Glint had spotted the Dalek saucers hovering above the planet and had transmitted a warning to the Vostaran Government, which was made up of representatives of the Vostar System. Erraw was one of Vostar Prime's astrologists, highly trusted by the Vostaran Government and with an observatory equipped with well-developed monitoring technology. Erraw had been making notes on the arrangement of Dalek saucers and it seemed that they were arranged all around Vostar Prime at equidistant intervals.
They were going to attack Vostar Prime.
The Doctor's TARDIS materialised on Vostar Alpha in the middle of Alpha City, outside the Kochinas Hotel. He stepped out of the TARDIS and shut the door, gazing around at the neon lights and the tall buildings that surrounded him. Rain pattered against his face as he made his way through the brightly lit streets.
"You seem lost, stranger." called a young female voice from behind him. He turned and noticed that a young woman, dressed in camoflage combat clothes and leaning on the wall of an abandoned technology shop, was looking at him.
"I'm new here." he explained to her, in his usual gruff tone, "I came to warn the people of this planet that the Daleks are coming."
She stared in disbelief at him.
"Impossible. They can't have breached the temporal shield. Nobody could have done that." she answered back.
"I followed the Daleks through the breach they made. Believe me when I say that the Daleks are coming."
"How can I trust you? I don't even know your name."
"Just call me..." he started, pausing to think of a new alias for himself and then saying, "the Renegade."
"Alright then, Renegade, why should I trust you? How do I know you're telling the truth? For all I know, you could be leading us to the slaughterhouse, telling us to run away to our deaths."
He grumbled, realising that today would be a long day.
Erraw had received a reply from the Vostaran Government: SEND A MESSAGE. ASK THEM WHAT THEY WANT.
He did just that. He entered the message into a keyboard and transmitted it to the Dalek fleet. Erraw didn't know what the Daleks would reply with but he suspected that there was a reason they had targeted the Vostar System. The Vostarans had extremely advanced technology and the Daleks were fighting in a war. A war in which Vostaran technology could come in very handy.
The response had arrived. That quickly? Really? That wasn't right.
Erraw read the response.
WE WANT YOUR TECHNOLOGY AND WE WANT YOUR LIVES TO BE OVER.
The Doctor led the woman he had met to the TARDIS and opened the doors, allowing her to see inside the control room. She marvelled at the white walls adorned with roundels and the beige-ish coral structures that were scattered all over the room.
"It's bigger on the inside." she uttered during her amazed wander round the room and the Doctor beamed at her, feeling a feeling that he had not felt for a long time.
"Yes, it is." he said, almost smiling at her before returning to the matter at hand with a grim look, "Where is the nearest signalling station?"
She frowned at him, confused by what he meant.
"Surely you could send out a signal through this thing? Can you send a signal from this thing?"
The TARDIS made a noise that instinctively told the Doctor that his new friend had offended the space and time machine. He decided to walk up to her and drag her out of the ship without saying a word. She wondered what he was doing as he pulled her out through the blue wooden doors and towards where they had come from. He flung her to the floor and shut the doors to the TARDIS.
"What was that for?!" she yelled, walking back towards him angrily, "I thought you said I could trust you."
"I came here to do a mission that will save your lives!" he snapped back, his gruff voice attracting attention from passers-by, "I don't have friends. I don't have companions. I simply do what I can so that you lot can live your lives."
"So if you want to complete your mission, why don't you trust me? I can help."
He considered what she had said for a few seconds, just before a large blue holographic square flashed into the sky and the image of Erraw Glint appeared.
"People of the Vostar System," he declared, his voice echoing out across the planetary system, "I have grave news to announce. The Daleks have breached the temporal shield surrounding this system and they are attacking Vostar Prime as I speak. This is an emergency communication to all planets. Activate the Doomsday Device and trigger it for immediate detonation. We cannot let the Daleks get hold of our technology."
Passers-by looked at one another in shock while the stranger the Doctor had met glanced at the Doctor, realising how wrong she had been.
"I'll help." she told him, offering out her hand, "I'll do whatever I can."
Erraw ceased the transmission as three bronze Daleks entered his observatory, their eyestalks gazing at the equipment.
"ERRAW GLINT, YOU ARE A USEFUL INDIVIDUAL. YOUR MIND SHALL BE THE FIRST." one of the Daleks cried.
"The first to be what?" Erraw wondered.
"THE FIRST TO BE MIXED WITH THE MIND OF A DALEK."
The Daleks had moved on to the other Vostaran planets now. They had achieved their victory and now followed the triumphant encore, exterminating people with blue beams of light. The Doctor and his new friend raced towards the nearest signal station, hurrying through the masses of frightened citizens fleeing the chaos.
"Where are we going?" she asked him.
"We need to redirect the Daleks' attention." he replied, in an exhausted groan.
She looked confusedly at him and then realised what was going on.
"You're going to make them target you, aren't you?"
He smiled.
Now she was getting it.
The woman led the Doctor to the nearest radio telescope and they both hurried up the stairs to the control desk, which was littered with an array of switches, levers, dials and computer screens that performed a variety of functions. The Doctor got to work straight away, making the radio telescope a transmitter that had a direct link with the Dalek ship.
"What's your name, by the way? I forgot to ask." the Doctor asked her, making his final adjustments.
"Ameela. Amella Vors." Ameela replied, "Are you sure that this is going to work?"
"I hope it will. The Daleks and I go way back so hopefully they'll be tempted by me being here."
"And what will you do if they bombard this radio telescope a few seconds after you've spoken?"
The Doctor glanced at her, a mischievous grin on his old, battered face.
"You think of all the good questions, don't you? I've missed having someone around to do that."
"And your answer to my good question is?" she prompted, raising her eyebrows at him.
"We'll go down fighting. Hopefully we'll buy some time for everyone else so that they can escape."
Ameela looked away from the Doctor's face for a moment, shocked by his plans. The Doctor took a moment to realised why she looked so shocked. Not everyone in the universe wanted to die than him. He had seen the Time War for too long. He wanted a way out.
"Daleks, Daleks, can you hear me?" he yelled into the speaker, his savage growl echoing throughout the control centre, "This is a voice you may already know and I want you to stop this now."
It took a few moments for the response to come through.
"DOCTOR, WE HAVE YOUR TARDIS. YOU HAVE NO MEANS OF ESCAPE FROM YOUR CURRENT PLACE ON VOSTAR ALPHA. THE PREDATOR OF THE DALEKS SHALL DIE TONIGHT!" a Dalek voice replied, making the Doctor look away in horror.
"Well, you got us into this, Doctor." Ameela said, a slight hint of anger in her voice, "So you'd better find a way of getting out alive."
At that moment in time, a Dalek saucer hovering above Alpha City refocused all of its weapons at the radio telescope where the Doctor and Ameela were. They had been instructed to kill the Doctor while the other Dalek saucers would continue to bombard Vostar Alpha as well as the other planets in the system.
"ALL WEAPONS AT MAXIMUM STRENGTH AND READY TO FIRE." a Dalek declared, waiting for the command it knew it was going to get.
In the radio telescope, the Doctor was pacing around the control centre, his hands placed thoughtfully under his chin. Ameela was staring at him angrily, knowing that she was about to die because an old man had tried to distract the most dangerous lifeforms in the universe.
"No spaceships nearby." he muttered to himself, "And no force shields either."
"Why don't you just admit that you can't get out of this one alive?" Ameela asked, annoyed at him.
"Because I want to get you out alive, Ameela. I don't want the Daleks to claim another life in this endless, bitter war."
"Really? You seem like an idiot to me."
"I'm not an idiot, Ameela. I just do what people don't usually do."
And then the Daleks fired.
The beams of red light struck the radio telescope full on, making sections of it erupt in flames. This naturally set off a chain reaction of explosions, making the radio telescope collapse and become a pile of debris on the once grassy floor beneath it.
TO BE CONTINUED...