S
Stepping out of the TARDIS, the Doctor stopped short. He was in London on a walk that offered a view of the River Thames and Parliament. The water was choked with floating debris and it seemed that most of London had either burned or was burning. It was like the blitz all over again. The Doctor closed the TARDIS doors and headed down the walk listening to a quiet normally reserved for worlds devoid of life.
Footfalls echoing, he entered an area of shops. Trash blew down the empty sidewalk past shuttered windows and barred doors. Passing a window, he jumped at his own reflection startled by the stately man in the purple jacket and vest.
Coming up on an electronics store which had been beset by looters he saw a television in the front window too large for a frantic crowd. It was on, showing a news report. Using his sonic screwdriver he activated the sound. A tired-looking newswoman continued her story.
"Reports are finally in from the Americans. Their military is decimated. Naval and air forces are completely destroyed. The President has surrendered unconditionally and is withdrawing from the Earth Coalition. Canada, Australia and China have done the same in the wake of attacks on Montreal, Beijing and Sydney. North Korea, Syria and Pakistan have promised to continue the fight but…"
The woman paused holding a hand to her ear, her concentrated expression morphing into pure horror. She could not dispel it as her eyes rediscovered the camera in front of her.
"This from Moscow: North Korea, Pakistan and Syria attempted to launch a joint nuclear strike on the UK approximately ten minutes ago. The missiles were on target to destroy Parliament and all of London. I've just been told that the missiles were somehow diverted and sent back. The military hubs of each of the three countries were annihilated. Two of them have surrendered, the third, Pakistan is presumed to have done the same. The Earth Coalition has been defeated. All is lost! All is lost!"
The feed was interrupted, cutting off the hysterical journalist. The Doctor stepped away from the window.
"Hello…"
The Time Lord turned and found Rose standing nearby. The frightened look on her face was crushing. He went to speak but did not know what to say.
"I'm looking for someone," Rose said, "a man. He's tall like you but younger; dark hair, wearing an old-fashioned suit with a bowtie, maybe a fez."
The Doctor went to speak but halted.
"Or maybe you saw an old police box, yeah?" asked Rose nodding. "It would be someplace an old police box should never be. You might not have noticed it first time round. Take a second and think."
He held up a hand. "Rose. Don't be frightened. It's me. I am the Doctor."
Rose narrowed her eyes at him, skeptical. "What's the first thing you said to me then?"
The Doctor pointed. "I took your hand, looked right into your eyes and said, 'run'. I assure you, I am the Doctor. This is just a new face. Sorry about the eyebrows, I haven't figured out how to turn them off yet."
Rose smiled sadly and nodded. She looked around, tears leaking from her eyes. "You need to come with me."
"Rose what is happening here?" asked the Doctor.
Rose walked over and took his hand. "Please Doctor, come with me."
The Time Lord Merciless
It was deathly quiet inside the Parliament chamber. The seats were empty. The Executor sat a chair in the center of the room. Still wearing his coat and carrying General Barnes' sword, he stared into the middle distance, the detritus of war staining his clothes, armor and hands. With sudden violence he hurled the saber away. It clattered to the floor somewhere in the rows of empty chairs.
The metallic ringing was replaced by sobbing. It was the stale, hopeless grief of a man without the love of his life. Hands fisted at his eyes, locks of hair dangling to the floor, his tears flowed freely.
"Hello old man."
The Executor's head snapped up. He sat straight in his chair, staring down the intruder. Meeting the other man's gaze he saw through the face to the soul beneath. Sniffling he stood bowing at the waist. "Lord Doctor."
The Doctor returned the courtesy, "Lord Executor."
The Executor gestured. "I like it. It's more dignified. You kept the purple."
The Doctor shrugged. "I thought it suited me."
"It does," the Executor said, "more so now than before. I like the red satin as well."
"Tried it once a long time ago," the Doctor shrugged. "Felt I over-did it a bit and wanted another go."
"No more bowtie?"
The Doctor scoffed, "Bowties are for children." He started forward. "I see you've returned to the business of revenge. UNIT is destroyed. The people of this world are cowed and defeated. Took you less than a month single-handed, you're getting rusty old man."
"You know what they did?" asked the Executor.
The Doctor nodded; his voice grave. "I do. How many lives so far?"
"Not enough!" the Executor roared. "And before the lecture starts I'll thank you to remember that she was your daughter, your blood!"
"I know what she was!" the Doctor bellowed. "I grieve with you and for you andher. But this?"
"What they did to her," the Executor looked away. "I've tapped into the Time Vortex of this universe. I saw the depths of depravity these pitiful primates will sink to. What they would have done to John, his family? I could not let that come to pass!"
"So what's your plan then? Bomb them back to the Stone Age?" The Doctor leaned against a chair and folded his arms. "They'll adapt. Rebuild. They'll regain their technology but now they'll have good reason to fear and hate anything that is not human. For all you know you've just created this universe's Daleks."
"Daleks do not hide their atrocities behind fear!" the Executor said. "Logic yes, depravity yes but they are hardly ever afraid!" He gestured outside. "These…people are worse than them."
The Doctor spread his arms, "So how do you stop them?"
"You let them stop themselves," the Executor said. Reaching behind the chair he picked up a large briefcase. Opening it revealed an alien device that had a readout screen and a large red button. He held it where the Doctor could see.
"That's a Sontaran World Crusher," he said.
"A gift from beyond the void," said the Executor. "It arrived through the breach that brought us here. John knew it immediately and dismantled it. Someone else attempted to reverse-engineer the technology. Its antimatter core is gone so it won't destroy the planet outright but the plutonium they put in its place…"
"It would crack this Earth like an egg," the Doctor said.
"The resulting volcanic eruptions will cause a cataclysm that will wipe out ninety-percent of life on this world," the Executor said. He activated the device. "This perversion of a species will perish under a black sky, baptized in molten rock. The world will begin again, cleansed of their filth."
"What of John?" the Doctor asked. "What of Rose and the children? Where do they fit in all of this?"
"My original plan was to carry them off in the TARDIS," the Executor said, "but you're here now so…"
"I'm to just pop off while you commit mass genocide?" asked the Doctor.
"What other recourse is there?"
The Doctor uncrossed his arms. "I could stop you."
The Executor lowered his hood and nodded. "You could try." He reached behind the chair and grabbed his maverick. Twirling the weapon into its rifle shape he opened fire.
The Doctor leaped to one side, avoiding the blast. He scurried along the floor for a second before popping up aiming his sonic screwdriver. The prongs extended, green light blazing bright.
The emitter of the maverick exploded, destroying the device. The Executor feinted to his right and spun to his left diving for the World Crusher. The Doctor grabbed a bit of debris and hurled it with expert precision. The chunk of seat knocked the World Crusher from the Executor's grip. It skittered across the floor.
The Doctor kept his sonic aimed at the Executor. "Forget this insanity. Leave this universe with no further loss of life." He saw something in the Executor's eyes. Shifting his aim, he tried dead-locking the World Crusher. At the same time, the Executor drew his sonic screwdriver and countered the dead-lock. The two Time Lords parried each other in a test of wills; their tool's buzzing growing louder.
At a stalemate they decided to change tactics simultaneously, turning toward each other, each trying to disable the screwdriver of the other. The buzzing turned to a shriek. The air vibrated around them, neither man willing to yield. Something had to give.
With an audible pop and visible change of air pressure both screwdrivers flew from the hands of their owners. The Executor charged slamming into the Doctor's midsection. The Doctor used the larger man's mass and momentum against him, turning aside and throwing the Executor past.
The elder Time Lord slammed into a dais, shattering the wood. He looked up and saw the Doctor going for his screwdriver. Bellowing like a madman he pushed to his feet and charged again.
The Doctor turned and suffered a blow to the face. He turned with the strike and jabbed the Executor in the back with an elbow. The Executor stumbled forward but caught his balance. Turning at the waist, he grabbed the Doctor by the lapels and heaved him up and over his shoulder onto a table. The Doctor lashed out with his leg and connected with a knee to the side of the Executor's head. Hoping to press the advantage he spun to his stomach and leaped from the table.
The two men wrestled to the floor, rolling over shattered wood and torn carpet. The Executor was stronger, but the Doctor was smarter. He rolled them, pinning the Executor to the floor, his arm around his neck the fingers of his left hand digging into a nerve cluster under his chin. The stalemate was on again. "Give it up," he seethed, "or we'll be at this forever."
"You can't beat me," the Executor gasped.
The Doctor snarled. "You're a cudgel, a hammer. Whatever oafish move you can fathom, I can counter." He tightened his grip. "Now go to sleep. It'll all be better in the morning.
"Trouble…with oafs," the Executor wheezed as his consciousness faded. "They only need one…good…shot."
The Doctor looked around as he was suddenly lifted from the floor and then dropped backward. He fell through a chair, the impact knocking the wind out of him and leaving him dazed. The world swam for a few moments before it focused on curtains of red and a small beacon of crimson light. The light from a sonic screwdriver aimed at his face. He tried to sit up, stopping when the screwdriver began to buzz.
The Executor put his boot on his chest. "That's enough, Doctor."
"And what do you intend to do with that?" asked the Doctor. "It's not one of your ruddy mavericks. There'll be no exciting explosions, no thrilling carnage. It's just a screwdriver."
The Executor's eyes grew cold. "You can kill a man with a screwdriver; quite easily in fact. What do you suppose would happen if I sent a sonic pulse straight through your brain? What if I made sure to hit the regenerative cluster? I think that would kill you just fine." A bit of emotion crept back. "But that's not what I want. I could rattle that massive mind and leave you a drooling imbecile. Oh you'd regenerate eventually but, by that time my work will be finished, a fixed point in the time of this universe."
"Or?" the Doctor asked.
"There is no 'or'," the Executor said, the chill returning. "I am going to neutralize you, Doctor and then I will kill every last one of those howling monkeys out there. You will wake up in your TARDIS back in your universe centuries from now and it will all be over."
There was a repetitive whooshing noise and the Executor's TARDIS appeared in the center of the room. No disguise, it appeared as a silver elliptical sphere balanced on one end. A door opened and the Samaritan emerged wearing a shimmering gown that looked to be made from starlight. Her blonde hair was curled and her face was wet with tears.
"Jenny!" the Doctor breathed.
The Executor lowered the sonic screwdriver, awestruck.
The Samaritan sniffled, staring at her love. "I'm sorry." She pointed a maverick and fired. The blast struck the Executor in the chest. He stumbled backward before falling to his knees.
The silence was deafening. Broken only by the sound of a woman crying, it threatened to crush them all. The Doctor watched his daughter walk over to the Executor. He held up a hand in warning but said nothing.
The Samaritan reached down and cupped the Executor's chin. Raising his face she saw his tears. His expression was a mix of joy and despair. He smiled at her, trying to mask his pain.
"Pepper balls," he mused.
Still crying, the Samaritan shrugged.
The Executor sobbed. "I'm sorry."
The Samaritan put a finger to his lips as his body began to glow with regenerative energy. She caressed his cheek, her grief beginning to change her mind.
"It's all right," the Executor said, taking her hand and gently pushing it away. "It's all right."
The Samaritan nodded and stepped back. She aimed her maverick at him. Her arm wavered. "I love you."
"And I you," the Executor replied. He blazed into golden brilliance for a moment before his light was extinguished.
The Doctor opened his eyes, having been unable to bear witness. He found the Samaritan on her knees beside the Executor, cradling his body in her arms. Getting to his feet he approached carefully, unsure of what to do next.
The Samaritan sniffled. "Hello Dad."
"How?" asked the Doctor, kneeling beside her.
The Samaritan continued to stroke the Executor's hair. "I've set a travel protocol for John and the others. They can access it on my panel. Adric and Sarah Jane just need to touch the center pad and the TARDIS will take them someplace safe." She kissed the Executor's temple. "I'll take care of him."
Reaching down she picked up both the Executor's and the Doctor's sonic screwdrivers handing her father his tool. Aiming hers at the other there was a buzzing noise. "I've just given you a set of space-time coordinates on this side," she said. "There's something you have to do." She took both his hands in one of hers and kissed them. "I know you don't like hugs."
"I suddenly wish that I did," the Doctor said. "You look beautiful, Jenny."
"And you look proper," the Samaritan replied. She ran a hand down his cheek. "I love you Dad."
The Time Lord Merciless
The Samaritan swept past the dessert table aboard D-D Omega on her way to the restroom. Her eyes and nose took note of the sweets and her mouth watered in anticipation. A spring in her step, she rounded a corner and placed a hand on the door to the restroom.
"Jenny."
The Samaritan turned, hearing her given name. She found a man dressed as a waiter. He was tall with graying hair and eyebrows that were trying not to be fierce. There was sadness in his bold blue eyes and something else, something familiar. She took a step toward him unsure, but then she saw it and rushed into his arms.
"Dad!"
The Doctor cringed, reflexively, instantly regretting it. Before he could react, Jenny released him.
"This version is not a hugger, I see," she said. "Sorry."
"It's quite all right," the Doctor said. "I've been known to make exceptions."
The Samaritan pointed. "I'm just on my way to the lieu but the Executor's on the terrace. I'll be back in a jiff." She paused. "Wait, why are you dressed like you work here?"
The Doctor's face grew grim. "I'm sorry Jenny, I'm so very, very sorry."
He told her everything, from beginning to end, leaving out no detail. She cried, her beautiful face marred by grief and horror. She asked if she could avoid it but the events were fixed. There was no choice. Go to the Earth and die only to return as a ghost to kill the man she loves or violate the laws of this universe. They could save John and his family and flee but the Earth, and everyone on it, would perish in the paradox.
She made him proud; proud to be her father and proud to be Time Lord. When faced with the choice between unimaginable emotional torment and certain horrible death or living with the genocide of an entire species on her conscience, she chose the former; proving herself better than both the men in her life. In the end, she kissed his cheek and headed into her TARDIS. He hid when she returned and watched her do her best to hide her sadness. Walking away with the Executor, she even managed a smile.
The
End