"Who are you calling?" Clara asked as the Doctor held the phone to his ear.
"Some friends of mine, but there's no reply," turning on his feet he rushed up to the Defiant's control deck. "Colonel Mace, has there been anything from Jack, Martha or Sarah Jane?"
"No sir, although I have been able to contact Mr Luke Smith," Mace said looking up from the displays. "He says that Miss Smith had detected the object on the edge of the solar system and that she had contacted Jack Harkness to get on board."
"Doctor!" Kate walked into the luxurious wardroom down the steps from the control deck, turning from the Colonel the Doctor jumped the steps down to stand by Clara's side. "We have just received word from a team in Amsterdam, they've recovered an object that arrived ahead of the… err rouge planet."
"Doctor you recognised it, what does it do?" Clara asked, even under a gaze from her eyes would usually break the Doctor's resolve, but not this time, he swallowed and looked over the room. "Anyone who doesn't have level one security clearance should leave this deck immediately."
Clara looked in shock at the absolute authority in his tone, with a nod from Colonel Mace most of the staff left the room after activating the automatics, the Doctor watched stoically as the UNIT troops filed out, his gaze was like ice as General Bambera sat to the right of Kate and Colonels Mace and Yates took seats across from Clara on Kate's left.
"What I'm about to tell you is just about one of the most closely guarded secrets of the High Council of the Time Lords, and just to be clear I'll only disseminate this information on a need to know basis." The Doctor walked to the steps onto the flight deck and pause, as he watched the blue sky he felt a tad homesick, the sky's the wrong colour, his hearts insisted. "What you are seeing isn't a planet that escaped orbit, it's not like Mondas, what you're seeing is a Time Lord warship."
"Exactly what kind of warship?" Mace was the first to speak.
"Is it dangerous?" Bambera asked.
"I say warship, what I mean is unmanned weapons delivery system," the Doctor turned to face them. "It's armed and designed to fly at velocities just under the speed of light to their targets through space and not time, their so low tech as to be undetectable."
"What weaponry are we talking about Doctor?" Yates asked as he tried to look the Doctor in the eye, but the Time Lord continuingly shifted his view.
"Could be anything, a blackstar, the Cold, Validium, but whatever it is will probably be a planet killer of some kind" the Doctor admitted, and even that seemed to have drained him, he collapsed into a seat at the head of the table and licked his dry lips. "My guess is that it was attacked before it could be launched, and it's computer is damaged, I need access to my TARDIS."
"Why?" it was Clara, the Doctor still avoided their eyes.
"I need to get up there and activate the self-destruct before anyone gets their hands on that ship," the Doctor said his gaze full of grim determination.
"Excuse me," the Doctor and the others looked to the door as one of the UNIT officers brought in a large spherical object, the Doctor jumped from his seat and to the side of the object, running his eyes along it he took a deep breath and placed his hand onto the outer surface, he then pressed down forming a recess, then pulling back the sphere opened like a flower to reveal a painting covered by a shroud, affixed to the shroud was a piece of browned paper.
The Doctor read the script, he'd seen it before and abruptly dropped it as he stormed onto the flight deck and gazed up at the blue sky.
Clara swallowed and pick up the paper, Kate joined her as she read it.
On the Last Day, the Children of Kasterborous will have lost their way.
Ending, ending to the black and pitch screaming fire, those of the orange sky who not dead and forgotten have grown cruel, their hearts hardened to ice, this is the Empire of Death.
On the Last Day when the universe is ready to fall Time's Champion, the First and Last of the Time Lords shall face up to his responsibility when all others have turned to darkness.
From the death and destruction only two elementals shall emerge, forevermore locked in their final confrontation of the enmity of ages.
Clara blinked with confusion and reached forward to pull back the shroud, Bambera and Mace stepped forward to join the two civilians as they looked at the painting. They walked forward to see that the picture was in three dimensions, looking into the painting was more like a window.
Inside the window was a valley between two mountains, at the centre was a city under a cracked glass dome. Beside the city was the wreckage of thousands of Dalek flying saucers, fires raged throughout the scene as another wave of Dalek ships came in, forever frozen in their attack position.
"It's the Last Day," they all turned as the Doctor stood on the railings. "That picture is from the Last Day, when Gallifrey fell, that paper it's a copy of a fragment of the book of Prophecy"
"The book of Prophecy? What happened to science not magic?" Yates asked.
The Doctor turned to look him in the eye.
"The ancient Gallifreyans could remember the future as we remember the past, after the intuitive revolution and the fall of the cult of Pythia the gift faded and the barrier of Time could only be breached physically." The Doctor looked down at the brown paper in Clara's hands. "The cult fled to Karn, although during the Final Days the sisterhood was once more part of the Time Lord hierarchy ironically enough put there by Rassilon."
"Doctor?" Clara asked, he still avoided her eyes.
"It doesn't change anything, I need to go onto that ship and take it out." The Doctor said already heading to the door.
"I'm going with you," Clara said going to join him, Mace also stepped forward.
"Sir, I must agree you're not going there alone," Mace said.
The Doctor turned and took in their faces.
"Colonel you can come, Clara, stay here," the Doctor now looked into her eyes.
"No-" Clara started, only to be abruptly cut off.
"Clara, that's an order," the Doctor said slowly in an even voice.
"What are you some kind of Dalek?" Clara asked raising her voice.
"No I'm the Time Lord who's keeping you safe," the Doctor walked forward to stand right in front of her. "On that warship are more security systems that on this entire planet, it'll let me in as my body is imprinted with the imprimaturs from my two terms as President."
"What about Colonel Mace, he doesn't have Time Lord Presidential imprimaturs. Why can he go?" Clara shouted at him.
"I need someone who can handle themselves an when necessary will be prepared to leave me behind if I need to be." The Doctor said waving a hand to silence Mace's objection.
He then left the room and Clara speechless.
"I'll bring him back," Clara and the others turned to Colonel Mace and saw the conviction in his soul. "I'll make sure he gets back here safe that's a promise."
He then left the room to follow the Doctor.
As they left Yates' phone begun to ring drawing his attention as he walked away.