Seven of Nine burst onto the bridge. Captain Kathryn Janeway looked up, to see that she wasn't alone. A man wearing a dark brown suit, grey shirt and red tie, complete with long brown coat was with her, as well as a woman wearing a red leather jacket.
The man instantly started pressing commands into a console.
"Who are you?" Janeway asked, motioning to Tuvok, who nodded, and placed a hand on his phaser. When the man didn't respond, the woman smiled.
"Hi, I'm Martha Jones - and he's the Doctor."
'The Doctor' nodded at them, then continued. Janeway motioned to Tuvok again, but then Seven of Nine held up her hand.
"It is vital the Doctor be allowed to continue his work," she said. Janeway was baffled, but Seven would never have plpaced her trust in anyone unworthy, so she nodded to Tuvok, who backed down.
"Captain," Harry Kim said, "he's enhancing the shield grid. It's fifty – no sixty – Captain, it's a full one hundred times more effective than it was."
"Well," Captain Janeway said, turning to him, and smiling. "I'd say thank you, but I don't even know who you are…"
The Doctor turned and the look in his eyes was so serious that she stepped back in shock.
"I am the Doctor," he said. "A Time Lord from the dead planet Gallifrey, near Galactic Centre, over nine hundred years old, last of the Time Lords, and not in the mood for anything. If you want to know more I suggest you ask your resident Borg."
He turned back to the console, and even Martha looked shocked. Janeway looked at her bridge crew, then spoke softly.
"Senior staff assembly," she said.
--
"Who is he?" Janeway asked Seven. The entire senior staff looked at her, and she responded slowly.
"The Borg encountered a life form known as 'the Doctor' over ten thousand years into the future," she began. "He was in charge of the fleet of a planet near Galactic Centre – small, minimal inhabitants. He was known as the Doctor."
"The future?" the EMH said.
"Yes," Seven nodded. "The collective was testing its temporal equipment. The theory was, that if future technology was assimilated then returned to the present, then the collective would become more powerful – assimilate the future to conquer the past."
She paused.
"The attempt failed, thanks to the individual known as the Doctor," she continued. "He was briefly assimilated, however he resisted and used the link to short out the Borg fleets systems. He destroyed them from the inside out. His physical parameters do not conform to the known ones for the Doctor; however, it is known that his species possess the ability to regenerate their physical forms."
"But that doesn't tell us who he is, or what he wants," B'Elanna Torres pointed out.
"The 'Time Lords', as his species referred to themselves, were the inhabitants of that world," Seven said. "They were immensely powerful, capable of time travel, erasing entire worlds from existence, and otherwise extremely impressive feats of solar and temporal engineering. Following the initial failure to assimilate them in the future, an attempt was made to locate them in the present, however the world was dead."
"Dead?" the EMH put in.
"No life signs. There was no sign of a civilisation," Seven clarified.
"So he is the last of the Time Lords?" Janeway asked.
"Yes," Seven explained. "Rumour among some time travel capable species, such as the Krenim indicate a form of temporal conflict – known almost universally as the Time War – took place. It destroyed the Time Lords and their enemies, and erased them from history. Apparently, the 'Doctor' is the exception."
"Poor guy," Tom Paris commented.
"What's he doing here?" Chakotay asked.
"I imagine that he is attempting to assist us," Seven said. "He is known by countless species – species 15543 – the Draconian Empire – know him as the Ka Faraq Gatri. Species 3356, the so called, 'Ice Warriors of Mars'…"
"Mars?" Ensign Kim put in.
"They were former residents of Mars – their species relocated thousands of years before humanity discovered space travel."
"You know all this about him?" Captain Janeway asked.
"Many species know of 'The Doctor', Captain," Seven said. "If he is aiding us, then there must be some grave peril awaiting us."
"What kind of peril?" Paris asked.
"That is the question," Seven commented.
--
"Doctor, what's going on?" Martha asked. "What's happening?"
"This is the USS Voyager," the Doctor told her. "A ship stranded seventy thousand light years from Earth."
Martha looked at the crew working on the bridge.
"They're stuck?" she asked.
"They get home," the Doctor whispered. "I wanted to meet them, so I went to a reunion of the survivors. Imagine my surprise when they recognised me from the off."
"What happened?" Martha asked.
"They reminisced with me," the Doctor said, "and I didn't protest, because they told me something scary. So I looked for them – but I never found them until today."
"What's going to happen?" Martha asked, but right at that moment, Captain Janeway and the rest of the senior staff came out of the briefing room.
"Alright Doctor," Janeway said. "Tell me what is going on."
"All I can tell you is that you need to go to Red Alert," the Doctor said. "Because there's something out there."
"What?" Janeway asked. At that moment, a proximity alert initiated. Tuvok checked his scans.
"A vessel is approaching," he reported. "At high warp."
"Red alert," the Doctor said.
"Belay that, hail them," Janeway snapped. "This is my bridge,"
"Trust me," the Doctor said grimly, "they're not interested in anything you have to say."
"What are they?" Seven asked.
"Species 044," the Doctor said grimly. Seven blanched.
"Captain, I concur with the Doctor's approach," she said. "Red alert and raising shields would be advisable."
"They're in visual range," Tuvok reported.
"On screen," Janeway ordered. A circular ship appeared on the viewscreen.
"It's armed to the teeth," Ensign Kim reported. "Missile launchers, proton cannons, phaser banks, everything."
"It's designed to kill," the Doctor said grimly. "Its sole purpose."
"What is it Doctor?" Martha asked.
"Relic of a bygone age," the Doctor replied.
"Who are species 044?" Janeway asked Seven.
"Extremely hostile, they're assimilation would have given the Borg better adaptive shielding," Seven said. "However, they proved almost impossible to assimilate. Only thirty nine were ever taken alive, and only seventeen of those were still alive in the collective at the time of my disconnection."
"What were they called?" Tom Paris asked.
"They referred to themselves as Daleks," Seven said coldly.
"They're hailing," Ensign Kim said.
"On screen," Captain Janeway said. An image of a bridge, with dozens of travel machines like large bronze tanks gliding about, filled the screen. A larger, red coloured tank like machine filled the screen, and a blue eyestalk looked Janeway directly in the eye.
"We are the Daleks," it said, its voice an electronic screech. "Prepare to be exterminated!"