Sorry but I loved the meeting, I enjoyed writing it. So I've decided to continue it and write a longer chapter.

The Meeting. Part two.

Romana thought about the rest of the spine chilling meeting, remembering the rest. What she'd heard would shake the foundations of her being, the part where she would discover where her people were evil.

Romana looked at the renegades, or rather her friends, with something like scepticism.

" How can Rassilon be doing this, and why now ? Why not 3 years ago ? Or when the Daleks took over the cruciform ? Where's your proof ?"

The other Time lords and ladies looked at her, some without emotion, others with looks that told Romana that they had no proof, that what they thought they knew was purely instinctive. That made sense, the renegade Time lord developed all kinds of instincts when they were on the move.

The Rani looked the former president in the eyes, " Use your brain, Romana. If Rassilon had truly wanted to end the Time war, he could have. Easily. He won, single handed, the attack on Gallifrey eight months ago. If he'd truly wanted to end this, he would."

Romana shuddered at the memory of the Dalek battle fleets that had attacked Gallifrey, they'd destroyed and ravaged a good portion of the ancient planet. The damage they'd done to the citadel, the glass dome of the city itself, that had held the Time lords contained for 10 million years, had been shattered in dozens of places. Half the city was in ruins, untold damage, countless lives lost.

Rassilon had managed to repel them, using the legendary weapons of old. But Rani had a point, Romana had to concede, if the founder of the Time lords had intended for them to win and survive, surely he'd be doing something about the Daleks and the other horrors in the war, not sitting back home.

" I don't want to believe it. I don't want to believe that Rassilon was planning something that could wipe the Time lords out as well as the Daleks -"

" Why would Rassilon, one of the greatest figures in our long history wanna destroy a race, a set of philosophies, a whole way of life, when he'd worked 'ard to make it ?" Drax interrupted, pointing out the flaw in her logic. Romana thought that Drax had a point when she thought hard about it.

Salyavin nodded when she started to understand, " The plan Rassilon is working on is something colossal, but he must be sure about the result. Otherwise there'd be no point in doing it."

The Corsair closed his eyes, " Yes, but I don't see how damaging the Time Vortex would be of any use. The Daleks may be ruthless, but even so they'd think twice about causing massive damage to the vortex."

" They didn't do that when they tore the vortex apart around Merilos 3," The Queen pointed out. The Time lords shuddered as they recalled how the Daleks had slaughtered an entire race that had been working on space-time travel, even rivalling the power of the Time lords themselves.

The Merilons could've become great allies, or great enemies which was why they'd been wiped out. The Daleks, instead of sterilising the planet had instead used the vortex, that way they simply erased them from history. Only time active and time aware species would even be able to tell the difference.

The damage had been so extensive that the Time lords couldn't repair the damage, the Vortex was badly shattered around the solar system of Merilos.

Pandora closed her eyes. It was common knowledge that the Time lady had been trying to protect them, but the Daleks had badly crippled the TARDIS she'd been using. It had drifted for days, vulnerable. As a rule none of the renegades used their own TARDIS, to them their TARDISes were lifelines, sacred, and not meant to be touched regardless of what the High Council thought. To them the renegades and their TARDISes were foreigners, strangers.

Even now, they'd used their borrowed TARDISes instead of the ones they'd been using for a while.

Pandora didn't say a word, she didn't need too. Her sadness said it all.

The Corsair broke the silence, " When are you due back on Gallifrey Romana ?"

Romana shook herself out of the reverie she was trapped in, " Another 4 days."

The Rani interrupted brusquely, " When you get there, keep your eyes open and listen to the council members, they are far from discreet. We must know. The other renegades need to know."

" Speaking of which," Romana said at that point, realising something, " Where are the others ?"

The Time lords had for centuries had millions of renegades, people who'd grown bored of the Time lords, the endless sense of duty, the pointless ceremonies dragged by year upon weary year. Romana knew that these people were among their elite, they had their own community, but it was more relaxed. Romana remembered meeting the Corsair, getting drunk and so on.

But there'd been hundreds of them.

Flavia sighed, " Unfortunately, Rassilon doesn't trust us, especially me since I was once a member of the council. I think he looks down on us because we left Gallifrey. He doesn't trust the Doctor, he's been sending him away from Gallifrey. The Doctor hasn't been back home for years."

Salyavin nodded, " He knows that all the renegades, banded together, would be a considerable threat to him. The same can be said of the other Time lords. Even Rassilon, with all his abilities cannot stand against that, which is the last thing the Time lords need, especially with the Daleks closing in on us. We need proof. Which is why we need proof. The Corsair is due back home the day after tomorrow, then you can both get that proof. All the other renegades," he spat out the word, it sounded weird in his reedy voice, " have more or less noticed the way Rassilon is."

Drax leant forward, " I'm going on a mission, Compassion is taking me and a few others to the Monan Host, they lost some good people to the Daleks. The Council want us to try and get them on board."

Romana winced at the memories, wincing even harder when she heard the name Compassion. The living TARDIS had forgiven her for her actions in the past, but Romana knew that Compassion still felt cautious about her. The council had bred many TARDISes from Compassion, much to the Doctors unease, but Compassion was her own person, she made her own decisions.

The council had used the sentient TARDISes like they were beasts of burden, only to discover they were more problematic to control, but once they realised they were dealing with intelligent people the council had decided to have as little as possible to do with them.

" I think they'll listen, their technology is more or less on par with ours. Compassion could help a lot, but I don't see how. Living TARDISes of her model aren't allowed in the council chambers." Romana pointed out.

" Let me worry about that." Drax said grimly. " Just like I worry about the defence computer I made for Gallifrey. It was almost blown sky high by the last Dalek raid."

Susan looked at him, " How bad was it ?"

" Nothing that a good maintenance can't fix, but the council don't get the problem. They don't see the urgency. They don't care about the war." Drax moaned. The others looked at him sympathetically, even the Rani, they knew he was telling the truth about their leaders, their lack of action.

Pandora then jumped back in, " Tell her about the accidents."

Romana was startled by the words, almost as much as the others, " What accidents ?"

The Queen answered the question partially, " You know about the Infinite and the Eternal ?" Romana nodded, they were two renegade Time lord twins, a rarity in itself on Gallifrey, but they'd left home more or less for the same reasoning as the other renegades. They shared everything, the same TARDIS, everything.

" A year ago they vanished on Gallifrey, and no one, not even their family, know where they are. Even their TARDIS has vanished. But it hasn't left Gallifrey, their imprint is still there."

Romana pointed out something there, " They may have taken another one."

Salyavin shook his head, " You clearly don't know them that well," he wheezed, " They couldn't have left Gallifrey because their TARDIS is fine tuned to them. No other TARDIS matrix could take them."

" Then…what's happened to them ?"

The Rani interjected, " Its not just them, the Borrower, Ella, Draco, the Knight, the Mage, they've all disappeared. No body knows."

Susan leant forward, insisting, " Something terrible has happened to them ?"

Romana shook her head, not wanting to think about the possibilities that were rushing through her mind. It was unthinkable, they were at war. They didn't have time for this.

" We don't know that," she insisted.

Susan's voice rose to become a shout, fortunately the silencer was still working, " Then why is there no investigation on Gallifrey ? Why aren't the Council doing anything ?"

Pandora tapped Susan's shoulder, " She does have a point. The Council are digging their heels on this, they refuse to investigate it, or even let us do it for them. Spandrell is helping, slightly. Like us, he doesn't like what's happening. But his hands are tied. There's nothing he can do."

Romana was still stubborn, " That still doesn't mean they're killing off the renegades." she argued.

The Rani sneered, " You've travelled with a renegade for, what was it ? 200 years, and it never occurred to you that being on the other side of the fence made the Doctor see the way the High Council sees the rest of us. They've spread propaganda about us for centuries, saying we're diseased, we're monsters. All that."

Romana couldn't refute that. It was true. Back in her first life, her first brush with the Doctor came when the Lord President was retiring. When he was assassinated, there was massive outcry of hatred towards all renegades. One of Romana's own classmates had said, " They should all be rounded up, and vapourised."

When the tremors and subsidence came all over the city, Cardinal Borusa had said that it was all due to an outbreak of giant mice. But the rumour was the Doctor had unearthed a terrifying plot where Goth, the presidents own chancellor, had plotted his assassination with the Master. The Master had betrayed him, killed him. The Master had set up a doomsday plan where he would regenerate himself after exhausting his own regeneration cycle. But the Doctor had stopped him.

After that, Borusa had tried to clean up the mess, but Spandrell and Engin had believed the rest of their people deserved the right to know. After that the Doctor became a legend. But the disdain for the renegades was still there.

Romana knew that even if the Time lords and the renegades - the sad part was that the Time lords didn't believe the renegades were their own race - worked together, then when the war was over the old hatred wouldn't vanish. It was sad, but it was there.

Romana nodded, " Ok, I'll go home. I'll try and reach the Doctor and investigate what's going on."

They all nodded, " Be careful Romana, you know Rassilon is dangerous. He's already caused a lot of damage to the Daleks, and to Gallifrey. Be careful." Flavia got up, hugging her friend. They didn't know it yet, but this was the last time they would see each other.

Romana shivered in the cold night. She shouldn't have ignored their warnings, made excuses. They'd been right. The Time lords had been working on a vicious plan, and the renegades were being killed for security reasons, the foolish Council members believed that by killing the renegades then they would be able to hide their plan, and stop arousing suspicion. In fact it had the opposite effect, the renegades, being attracted to the disappearances of their fellows, had alerted her, and put Rassilon's plan into operation.

Romana hugged her knees close to their chest, her double pulse vibrating in her chest with her hearts. The Time lady closed her eyes, the horror of the final days of the war came unbidden into her mind. Romana hadn't been exaggerating when she told the Doctor Rassilon had been an animal when he'd found out about her alerting the Doctor. Rassilon was afraid of the Doctor, because the Doctor was someone who thought constantly about various ways of dealing with a problem, the last thing the Founder of the Time lords had wanted was to alert the Doctor of his plans.

Romana had investigated, using her old contacts to help her, and what she'd found terrified her. Rassilon had found out what she was doing, and summoned her.

Flashback.

Romana walked through the citadel corridors, her head held high as her silken robes rustled as she walked with her escort to the President's office. While Romana's face was impassive, Time lady impassive, her inner emotions were terrified, nervous and very, very worried. Why would Rassilon summon her ? Did he know about the meeting he'd had with the renegades ? If so, then she was in trouble.

When the guards brought her to the room, one of them pressed the wall buzzer. A voice, imposing, called out, " Come."

The guards walked with Romana into the massive room. The room had undergone many changes since she'd been here, in this room. Instead of a room decorated with pictures of planets, souvenirs from those planets and plants, this room was coppery bronze, the exact same colour tone as the Daleks new travel machines. The colour scheme made Romana shudder. Everything was Spartan, impersonal.

Rassilon stood up, imposing, proud. Romana gulped as she saw the glint described to her by the Corsair. It wasn't a benevolent gleam, it was the gleam of a fanatic.

" Leave us," He ordered of the guards. Both guards, fully ingrained with the protocol of the Time lords, and the word of Rassilon, obeyed without question.

Rassilon came close to Romana, his breathing almost heavy. Then without warning, he slapped her hard. With a cry, Romana fell to the ground.

" Did you really think I didn't know about that meeting you had with those rejects, those shobogans ?" Rassilon's face was stony, his voice a gritty rasp. He bent down and gripped Romana by her throat, " They were right, their fellows were being executed, by me."

" Why ?" Romana choked out.

Rassilon smiled evilly, " Because they now longer belong here, on the planet, and in the society I designed. I created the Time lords. I know what is best for them, I am the supreme commander. For centuries, I was locked in the matrix, always looking into the minds of the Time lords. When the Doctor, and his ilk were created, I was furious. They tarnished the vision I'd had for the Time lord race."

Romana gasped, Rassilon was incredibly strong and every time he raised his voice his grip would increase and choke her. Speaking was painful, but she had to try and get through to him.

" But that doesn't mean you have to kill them," she protested.

" Yes it does !" Rassilon shouted in fury. " They're behind this war, if the Doctor," here he spat out his name, " had done his job properly, like a Time lord, then the Daleks and our people wouldn't be fighting this war."

Ok, no one attacks the man I love, Romana thought with white hot rage, " The Doctor couldn't do it, he couldn't bring himself to wipe out an entire race. Yes, I hate the Daleks, and so does he. I can imagine that he wishes he could go back and change his own personal history. But he wont - urk." she gasped when Rassilon let her go and exposed her to Zed neutrino energy from his glove.

Pain tore through Romana's body, but luckily, she knew that he wasn't inducing her body's natural regenerative abilities.

A month, that was how long she'd been tortured by the monster that had taken her place as president of the Time lords. In that time she'd learnt the reasons for the renegades fear. Rassilon was planning to create a rupture in the space time vortex, the heart and source of the Time lords power. It was suicide. Rassilon had an insane plan to make the Time lords ascend to a new level of consciousness alone. It was ludicrous. Romana's eyes watered, her people had become monsters. She prayed that the Doctor saved them, defeated the Daleks and the evil Time lords, but she imagined that this was too much for even him.

Romana kept herself sane by picturing a life with the Doctor, travelling through the cosmos, avoiding the Time lords and, basically, falling in love.

But she knew it wouldn't happen, not if she remained here. The cell she was in was tiny, it didn't even have a bunk or a rug for her to sleep on. Besides, her body was in constant pain. Rassilon had turned her into his personal punching bag, exposing her to time wind energy, beating her senseless, subjecting her to mild cosmic rays.

It was lucky she hadn't regenerated, but then again Rassilon had invented the concept of regeneration, he knew that if she did regenerate then she would be stronger.

Romana was dozing off when she heard a commotion. Shouts from outside disturbed her. What in Omega's name was that ? The door opened and a guard staggered in, when he fell the injured Time lady saw that he had a Janus thorn in his back. Romana shook her head when an old friend came in.

Leela smirked when she saw Romana, that changed to a look of horror, " Romana, you look terrible."

Romana shook her head again, ignoring just the agony she felt, " I guessed, what's happening ?"

" The Daleks. Their attacking Gallifrey, this time for real. All of them are coming here." Leela said in horror.

" All of them ?" Romana gasped. The Daleks had always fought in legions, regiments. Army upon army. In effect their entire race was an army. The idea, the scale of the coming attack, ghastly.

" Yes, we have to take you away," Leela said, grabbing her hand and leading her away. As they got into the corridors they saw the Time lords milling about, all of them panicking. Romana sneered at them, these were her people ? Witless cowards who buried their heads in the ground, something they'd been doing since the war broke out. They were fools.

Leela was leading her to the TARDIS bays. Romana was glad of that, her body was shutting down on her, it didn't have much time left. Leela glanced around her, and spotted trouble. " Quick !" she shouted. Romana gasped in agony as they ran from Rassilon's guards, her body was shutting down and every movement was agony.

Romana gasped when she saw Rassilon himself, he overtook the Time lord guards, his generation wasn't as unfit as the present one.

Leela got her to the landing bay, and Romana found that the guards were too close for comfort. She was about to get inside a TARDIS and call for Leela, when a number of force fields came down and blocked off her escape.

" Hurry !" Leela shouted, her staser firing bolts. Her face showing how much she was enjoying this. Romana shuddered.

Romana's eyes roamed around the room, looking for some kind of inspiration. She found it when she saw the Time rings. She tentatively reached for one, bracing herself for the shock of the defensive field around them. Romana was surprised when she touched one. She reached out for it, taking it from its slot and placed it on her wrist. Focusing her imprimature signature on the ring, she started to program it.

Romana turned around to get Leela when she saw her drop to the ground with a thump. Rassilon, with his guards, entered the bay. Romana stood very still.

Rassilon looked at the body of the Human woman, " A lower life form, she shouldn't have been here."

" That's what makes Humans special," Romana spat, her hatred for the man and her insular race making her angry.

" They're brilliant, they are brave, unlike those cowards who run around outside, they don't hide from a war. They actually fight it. Where were you on the battlefield ?" Romana sneered, mentally activating the ring.

A guard whipped out his staser, hoping for praise from Rassilon. The bolt hit her in the temporal field, which amplified her agony. Romana dropped to the ground, she knew it was too much. As she left, she felt the planet tremble and hear Rassilon kill the guard, and curse the Doctor. Romana smirked, so the Doctor had taken her advice and gained the Moment. She didn't blame him for what he was about to do, in fact, her hearts sang to him. The Artron backwash from the Eye of Harmony spilled into the dematerialisation field of the Time ring.

.she found herself on a planet, with a junk yard that looked like it stretched for miles in each and every direction.

Romana was unable to move, her body was too exhausted to move an inch. Then she saw it, her hands glowing with energy. Using the energy to help her up, Romana staggered up, pain shooting throughout her body. The regeneration energy was burning throughout her body, and building up and up.

Bracing herself, Romana's thoughts turned to the Doctor, had he survived the war ? Was he travelling in the TARDIS ? Did he feel sick ? Had he regenerated from the backlash like she was about to ?

If he had, then she would see him again. She would claim her man. I'll build a time machine to take me away, Romana thought as she let the energy burn throughout her body. The Time lady's last thoughts were of her man…..

Romana 3 died, and Romana 4 came into being.

Romana swallowed, and gazed down at sleeping Martha. She didn't deserve this, this nightmare. The Master was a throwback, he didn't belong here. The people of the Earth shouldn't be enslaved by the psychotic Time lord whose callousness reminded her of Rassilon. The Doctor shouldn't be suffering because of the council's thought the Master would help them.

I wont let it happen, Romana thought, as her mind wandered over the plan the Master had come up with. The New Time lord Empire. Her temper had almost exploded, and now she was grieving the loss of the countless people who'd been murdered by the Master's soldiers. Romana gazed into the fire.

I wont let the Master succeed, I'll die if I have to, she thought angrily. The image of the Master's smirking face came unbidden into her mind. She glared at it, almost as if it was right in front of her.

And I'll make you pay for what you've done to the Doctor, you son of a bitch ! No one does that to my man !