Disclaimer - I don't own Doctor Who.

Anzor and the Partner.

Anzor looked disappointed she wasn't reacting too strongly to seeing he was still alive and well despite being considered dead. "You're not surprised to see me?" he asked, noting her weariness.

"Not really. I was suspicious when that blood was thrown on me, but no one saw a tub," Theta replied. "When did you decide to frame me?" she asked curiously, wondering how long it would take for the High Council and the Castellan to get their acts together.

Anzor snickered. "I've had it in mind for a while. Ever since you humiliated me-"

"You brought it on yourself," Theta snarled. "You bullied and terrorised the academy with that damn galvaniser of yours, all because daddy dearest gave you everything you wanted on a platter, and you were too damn useless with your classes! You want me to apologise for making that recording and sending it around? I won't. You received a diluted form of justice, in my opinion. You received a slap on the wrist, daddy supporting you from behind. What's wrong, can't stand on your own two feet? You should've been locked a padded cell, wearing a straitjacket and forced to endure every round of the damn thing, see how you liked it. I don't think you'd have lasted a minute under it."

Anzor seethed angrily at Theta's tirade. "You little bitch," he snapped, remembering how Theta and the others had conspired to humiliated him, recording him using the galvaniser, and he remembered the punishment he'd received from the Academy and everyone else in general. He had never really gotten over it, and he had promised himself that Theta would pay for what she'd done. He knew she'd orchestrated it from behind the scenes, and had enjoyed every minute of it.

"You used a clone of yourself," Theta said, "and you killed it, sent out two telepathic calls, one aimed towards me, the other to the idiots at that party. And you used your TARDIS, and threw that blood on my robes. I went to your laboratory, and I found the tank it was grown in. Bit elaborate, but simple."

Anzor sneered. "Well done, you'd have made a good detective. The clone was fairly simple to grow, you're right there. It wasn't designed to be a perfect copy, but since the cloning technique I have used to encode my knowledge and experience into the brain cells it knew it's purpose in life was to be used in the plot to frame you."

Theta remembered the events. "Did your father know about your plans?"

"What do you think? Of course he didn't," Anzor was scornful. "He was useful - he got me the tuition needed to become a Time Lord, he helped me get my own TARDIS, but he had no idea of my long term plans."

Theta was about to ask him about those supposed plans before she was interrupted. There was a familiar tingling in the air and suddenly the sounds of a TARDIS materialising filled the room. For a moment Theta thought something was wrong with her new TARDIS and it was leaving her, but her TARDIS was still there. It was another TARDIS that was arriving, materialising in this TARDIS in the the same way her new one did. Had the High Council themselves decided to arrive with the Chancellory guard, and realised that sending a TARDIS into Anzor's own ship was the best way to do it? No, she quickly disproved that idea; the High Council had access to the best Time Lord technology and science had to offer, but they weren't imaginative enough to do something like that, not without outside motivation.

The door opened and Theta gaped. "Magnus?" she whispered in surprise.

Magnus was a member of the Deca, like Theta was, and he was supposed to be one of her oldest friends, but why was he here? It was obvious Magnus knew what was going on because suddenly Anzor looked worried. The arrogantly handsome Time Lord looked between the two, not really surprised by the fact she was there.

Theta couldn't believe this. Ushas had been exiled, Koschei had run away from Gallifrey, Drax had left, Mortimus had gone Rassilon knew where, and Magnus was here, helping someone who'd been an utter bastard to them all during their time at the Academy.

"Why would you work for this thing?" Theta hissed at Magnus, gesturing at Anzor, who looked more than a little peeved for being called a thing. "He forced you into doing his TARDIS homework, and his temporal physics work because he is so useless he couldn't do it himself. Why work with him, and why would you let him frame me?"

Magnus looked pained. "He has dirt on me," he replied, "and he ordered me to help him frame you. He wanted revenge on you, on the entire Deca for the humiliation he suffered at the Academy."

Theta wasn't moved by the apologetic tone in the other Time Lord's voice, though that talk about Anzor having dirt on him was plausible since Magnus had entered the political arena, and so did Anzor. But what infuriated the Time Lady was the idea that Anzor was the injured party when he'd been proven to be nothing more than a bullying thug. Something didn't feel right….. "You're lying, there's something you're not telling me. What is it?" she pressed.

Magnus sighed. "I told him I would help him if he allowed you to live," he admitted, "that I love you, and I didn't want you hurt. It took time but he eventually agreed, so long as we both left Gallifrey - together."

Theta was staggered, but then she opened her mind to his - in the micro-universe of the TARDIS, it was easy to do so - and she blinked, reading the deception in her mind. And she could hear his voice. "Play along, this is a trap for Anzor."

"Why has it taken you all this time to get to me when, an hour ago I was standing before the Council?" she asked, deciding to play along with him to see how it all worked out.

Anzor grinned maliciously at Magnus, enjoying the sight of the dark Time Lord's obvious discomfort. "Yes," he drawled out, "why did you not go to your 'beloved' earlier when you had the chance? You could have taken her away in your TARDIS long ago."

"What did I do to you, Magnus?" Theta whispered, then she realised what it was. "That's it, you wanted to get back at Koschei, didn't you? I always thought you were infatuated with Ushas, but then it turned to me. Why? You were jealous of us, and you wanted me since Ushas isn't the type to become infatuated with anyone, you decided to focus on me. Did you force Koschei to leave Gallifrey Magnus because he definitely left in a hurry?"

Magnus stayed silent, but the look of anger on his face showed she was spot on. Theta shook her head in disgust at him. "You wanted me to suffer? I've suffered, Magnus. I've suffered because you've helped the slime of Time Lord society. What made you and Anzor join forces?"

Magus glared at Anzor and then turned his attention back to her. "All right, I admit it, I did have an infatuation with Ushas. Back at the Academy, she had a personality that matched my own," Theta blinked at him, "but unfortunately, that meddlesome fool Mortimus interfered."

"Of course he did," Theta rolled her eyes, "Mortimus and Ushas grew up in the same province. They were close then."

"He didn't have to stop me from trying to interact with her-"

"You make her sound like a businesswoman you're trying to cosy up with," Theta replied before she shook her head to give the impression she didn't care anymore. She'd just broadcasted proof of the conspiracy to the Time Lords, but she wanted to know more. "There must be more to this that having me framed. What did you have in mind?"

Magnus smiled smugly, and then Theta closed her eyes. "Please tell me that you're- oh, Magnus!"

"That's it, go on," Magnus encouraged telepathically.

Anzor had been enjoying the fight. It wasn't often he had the opportunity to watch as the almighty Deca fell into conflict, especially since he'd been humiliated after he'd tortured Cheevah. Anzor had always been a spoilt, arrogant Time Lord, but he felt he deserved to be since he was the heir of an old and powerful family, but even he knew he had gone too far with encasing Cheevah, the only person at the Academy to ever stand up to him before Theta managed it herself, but Anzor didn't regret it. He didn't care if he had caused pain and suffering to others. He was a Time Lord, and he was planning to be greater than everyone save Rassilon and Omega themselves.

But Anzor was becoming concerned with the direction this conversation was going. He hadn't expected Magnus to show up in his TARDIS when Theta was here, he'd just adapted to it. What was he planning?

"What is it?" He asked between the two members of the Deca.

"This," Magnus replied, and he causally shot Anzor twice in the hearts and then again in the head. There would be no regeneration for him anymore. Theta looked down at the corpse. Theta was surprised that the state of temporal grace in Anzor's TARDIS was not on, but she figured Anzor had deliberately made that so when he wanted to use his Galvaniser.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Magus say, "Goodbye, Theta," and then disappear back inside his TARDIS. The sound of his TARDIS dematerialising overlapped with the sound of multiple TARDISes materialising in Anzor's ship, but she worked quickly by slamming her hand on the dematerialisation controls of Anzor's TARDIS and sent it into the vortex where the other TARDISes would be momentarily confused, and she instantly ran towards her TARDIS. She was surprised to see an envelope of old fashioned paper on the console when she rushed in, but she paid it no heed as she closed the main door and set the controls to a random destination and dematerialised.


When her ship was safe in the vortex, Theta didn't bother altering the coordinates. In fact she was running through her mind the list of things she would need to do to ensure the Time Lords left her alone; they might have exiled her and the order had stood even when she had 'proven her guilt' by running off from the Castellan like she had, but things had been thrown out of whack now since it was proven that Anzor hadn't been killed at the party, but truthfully the Time Lords weren't the most predictable race in the cosmos.

Theta looked around the console room with wonder in her eyes; she had waited her whole life for this moment, the time she'd be able to take a TARDIS and leave Gallifrey. Now everywhere was open to her, she only hoped to enjoy it without the meddling from the Time Lords. She could install a randomiser to the console, activate it a few times to throw the Time Lords off. It was illegal for a Time Lord to possess a TARDIS with a randomiser, but she was technically exiled, so what was the problem in going the extra mile by ensuring her safety?

Theta did a circuit around the console, sneering at the default mode the console room was currently locked in, but that was easy enough to alter when she landed her TARDIS, but when her eyes fell upon the envelope again she picked it up and opened it. The moment her eyes scanned the handwriting she instantly recognised Magnus's hand, but she read it anyway.

"To Theta,

I regret the way things turned out, even if you now have your wish of leaving Gallifrey in hand. You and I are now renegades like Drax, Ushas, and Koschei. In case you were unaware, I was telling Anzor a white lie about loving you; the stupid fool had wanted you to pay for humiliating him, yes, but the plan 'we' had imagined would be we'd land a TARDIS inside the one taking you to wherever, but I knew you'd find a way around the Castellan.

Anzor didn't.

That was his mistake.

In case you're wondering why I went along with him, let me tell you, in case I don't tell you personally, Anzor had dirt on me. You see, I've been conducting illegal research on TARDISes due for the breakers. I had wanted to improve the protyon units and make them more intelligent, and grant the TARDISes their full potential than what they are now.

Anzor found out about my work, and he threatened to inform the Time Lords of what I was doing. You know what the Council are like, they would frown about my work and imprison me, vaporise me at worst since the lines I was crossing were bordering on dangerous. I instantly pleaded with him not to, and he placed me under the galvaniser. Again. I'd forgotten the humiliating feeling of pain of utter hopelessness that wretched thing inflicts on you, believe me. Anyway, I wasn't ready to reveal my work to the Time Lords - I had hoped to be in a more powerful position politically, so then I would ease the Time Lords into it carefully. If not…..then I wouldn't have been exiled, but vaporised.

Anzor came up with the plan to hurt you, Theta. He could have done it all by himself, but he needed a member of the Deca to do it more effectively, and since he thought he had me at his mercy, I was the logical choice. But I'm the one that came up with the plan to frame you, and manipulate the Council into exiling you, and you have no idea how that made me feel. I made up a story to Anzor, told him that I would give him all my research if he allowed me to take you away from Gallifrey, but what I planned to do was to kill him and let you take a TARDIS of your own. It was an open secret with us in the Deca that you wanted to flee Gallifrey in a TARDIS, well I was prepared to give you that opportunity.

It doesn't matter how it works out now. I'm glad you are free now. Be safe.

I hope you enjoy your new life,

Magnus."

Theta put the letter down and thought to herself about everything that had happened. She was annoyed by Magnus's audacity, but she had to admit to herself he was right. She had wanted to leave Gallifrey. She had wanted to call herself a renegade. She was sick and tired of the Time Lords and their never ceasing need to become dull just to maintain the Web of Time. Now here she was, she had left Gallifrey in a Type 53 TARDIS, but she had not expected the mess her final days on Gallifrey had become. She hadn't expected Anzor to make such a massive mistake in expecting Magnus to suddenly go along with everything. While Magnus might have lied in Anzor's face, the idiot should have at least suspected he couldn't make Magnus do what he didn't want to.

Magnus was not the type of Time Lord to be coerced, and besides every member of the Deca had changed over the years since, so it was hardly their fault Anzor hadn't learnt from his mistakes. Exile. Theta's mind fixed on fact she was an exile, whether that was true or not since the Time Lords now knew she hadn't been the murderer, but she didn't care. The most important thing she would need to do was spend some time exploring the universe, visit planets and see what was out there for herself instead of relying on the secondhand knowledge shoved down her throat in the Academy.

And then she would be free to be be a pirate.

Picking the letters again, she focused on the last line. She had no idea what kind of life she would have as a pirate, but now she would find out for herself. After all she was young, she had all of her regenerations safe and sound, she had a brand new top of the line TARDIS, and she didn't really need to begin now.

Walking around the console, lost in thought, Theta wondered what she would do next. She didn't really want to begin her new career as a space pirate right away, she needed to know the lay of the galaxies she wanted to deal with first, she needed to acquire new skills, she needed to learn how to fight, how to pilot a spacecraft, how to do a myriad of other things that she literally had lifetimes to do now. Theta wondered for a moment what would happen back on Gallifrey, how her family would cope now she was gone, but then she decided it didn't matter to her anymore. Quences had planned to use her for his own ends, how he was willing to get rid of her under the pretence of simply wanting the best for her when all he'd wanted was to further his own agenda. It was pathetic, really. Then she thought about all of those rumours about her having a different father. Theta stood thinking about it for a few minutes before she decided she didn't really care anymore. If it was true that her mother had had a fling, then she might investigate, but for now all she wanted to do was enjoy her freedom. Besides, what was the rush?

The other members of the Deca were out there - Drax, Ushas, Koschei - she could find one of them somewhere, reunite with them…..but she placed it in the same category as the issue with her father. In any case how would she find them? They could be anywhere out there, and she was a long way from knowing her way about.

Theta looked around the console room for a second before she walked to the navigational controls, and started setting the console to random; she might have the opportunity to travel anywhere throughout time and space now she was away from Gallifrey, but the Time Lords had ways of tracking Time Lords who'd taken a TARDIS without a license or permission, and if they caught her…..Theta wasn't really sure what they'd do to her, but she didn't want to try and find out. Theta looked down at the console in wonder, and she couldn't help but imagine the kind of place she was going to see first. For now, she would just enjoy her freedom.

Theta looked around the TARDIS as he explored the depths - it was amazing how many rooms that to outsiders appeared useless, but were in fact either cleverly thought out disguises to hide the real thing were inside the ship. She passed the library and grinned at the splendour at the massive room - the library, no matter what configuration the ship was in would always be an enormous room with a ceiling 10 storeys high and full of books on numerous topics and subjects. Wandering around the TARDIS, but more than aware of where she was going since this was a Time Lord ship and she had an instinct of the interior dimension, Theta was just walking through the ship out of curiosity - she had never seen more than a few rooms inside a TARDIS during her training at the Academy, and she was interested in what this Type 53 had to offer. Finally she found herself in the Wardrobe room. Seeing all the clothes in the room made her smile, but she caught sight of her reflection in one of the mirrors and frowned at her unkempt appearance and started looking for a fresh set of clothes.

Some time later, after finding an outfit and having a wash Theta stood in front of the mirror again, gazing at her new appearance, trying her hardest not to smirk. One of the beauties of being a renegade Time Lord was you no longer had to bother wearing the long, voluminous robes. Now she was dressed in a pair of red trousers popped by a purple shirt and a black leather jacket. She cocked her head to one side as she studied her appearance before she grabbed a hair tie and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. When she was finished Theta shrugged. "I guess I'll get used to it," she muttered before she walked out of the wardrobe and headed for the console room, stepping towards her new life.


Next - The Naming.