CHAPTER 6

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While Peri and the Doctor got reacquainted once again, Oswin met with Rose in private to warn her about what she had heard from Dalek Epsilon. She took Rose behind the Doctor's TARDIS and said, "I've heard about a plot by someone who promised to give the Daleks dominion over time and space if they would kill you. I don't know who it is but a contact that I have says that some of the Daleks have defected from Davros to join them."

"That explains what happened to me recently then. A bunch of Daleks actually changed me back into a human for a while until I managed to change myself back. They were obviously working for someone besides Davros, but I never did find out who it was. It was someone who really hated me with a passion though," Rose said.

"I wish I could have found out who it was but Da . . . I mean my contact didn't know," Oswin said, looking suddenly self-conscious of her slip of the tongue.

"I know about your attempts at a Dalek insurrection against Davros from within, Oswin. You don't have to be so secretive about it. You also don't have to be afraid that I'll think that you're plotting against me if you mention that you're talking to Daleks," Rose reassured her.

"I must be the worst secret keeper in the universe. Marissa found out too. How did you know?" Oswin asked with an exasperated sigh.

"Cassie told me that she picked up some of your transmissions to the Daleks. She doesn't think that Davros has any knowledge of them. At least not yet," Rose said.

"How did she do that? I used the latest scrambling technology to keep myself from being detected by anyone, Oswin asked mystified.

"You used the latest technology for this time, Oswin. Cassie's from the future," Rose said with a grin.

Oswin hit herself in the forehead as she rolled her eyes at herself for missing this rather obvious answer to her question which caused Rose to laugh.

"It's okay, Oswin. As long as Davros doesn't know what you're up to, that's all that matters. Cassie would never tell him no matter how friendly she seems to be to him. You're one of her favorite aunts after all. According to her, you used to use your perception filter to make yourself look like a Dalek again so that you could play with her when she was a little girl. She seems to be very fond of you," Rose said.

"I know. She told me that story once too," Oswin said with a smile.

"Thank you for telling me about this secret enemy of mine causing trouble within the Dalek ranks though. Maybe Cassie could blame what you've been doing on them and keep your involvement in things covered up for a while. I'll mention it to her," Rose said.

"I just want you to keep an eye out for this person whoever they are. I have a bad feeling about them. If you ever need any help, you know where to find me," Oswin said with concern in her voice.

"Thank you. I hope that it won't come to that. I have a bad feeling about things too to be honest. Whoever this person is, I can't find any trace of them. Not even with the Bad Wolf. That suggests the involvement of only one person to me, but it can't be him. He's dead. At least, I hope that he is. If he's not . . ." Rose trailed off with a look of dread on her face.

"You'd better not be talking about who I think that you're talking about," Oswin said in a panicked tone.

Rose said nothing more but just looked at her with a fearful look on her face. If her old enemy was indeed back, then they would all have the fight of their lives ahead of them very soon.

They could hear laughter nearby, and it broke them out of the momentary funk that they had descended into. They turned to see Peri and the Doctor talking about one of their old adventures, and Peri was laughing up a storm about it.

"What are you two going on about?" Oswin asked with amusement.

"We were just remembering the time that the Doctor temporarily fixed the Chameleon Circuit. It still didn't work right though. It turned into a stove, an organ, and a gate. Half of the time the Doctor couldn't even find the door to its new forms, and I'm not sure that he could have gotten back in even if he had since the doorway would have been too small! It was very frustrating at the time, but now that I look back on it I can see just how hilarious it all was," Peri said with a giggle.

"I was having a mid-life crisis back then plus I had only just recently regenerated so my mind was just a little bit off. I didn't fix the circuit right because of that, and it was just a disaster. After that, I gave up trying to make it work. Mostly because I decided after that incident that I actually missed the police box form. I was so glad when it finally went back to that once the circuit broke again. I never worked with it again after that except for that time Rose and I took on Dracula. Do you remember that, Rose?" the Doctor asked her with a twinkle in his eye at the memory.

"We turned the TARDIS into a giant harpoon! How could I forget that?" Rose said with a grin.

"I want to hear that story. It sounds incredible!" Janine said with wonder in her eyes.

She had been standing there listening to her mother and the Doctor talk in uncharacteristic silence for several minutes now, but now she had just been dying of curiosity so she had to speak.

"Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime," Rose offered with a gentle smile.

"I hope so. I would love to hear new stories about the Doctor. I've heard all of Mom's about a million times now. They're great and all, but it's nice to get the opportunity to hear about what he's been up to since she traveled with him. For one thing, he's gotten a better dress sense," Janine said.

"Really?" Oswin asked in disbelief.

"Oi! I'll have you know that I have an impeccable sense of haute couture in this incarnation!" the Doctor said pouting.

"Haute couture?" Janine asked.

"It means that I look cool!" the Doctor said with an enormous grin.

"Cool? Oh yeah. I know what you're talking about now. That's a slang term on Earth, right?" Janine asked with a proud look on her face.

"Of course it is. I'm sure that I mentioned that word to you before," Peri said.

"I know that you did that's why I remembered it. It's just that I don't hear it on a regular basis so I almost forgot about it. You're right, Doctor. You do look cool!" Janine said happily.

"Finally! I found someone who actually gets it. Someone who knows just how cool I really am," the Doctor said with a smug look.

"You're my hero, Doctor. You have been ever since I can remember. I used to love Mom's stories about you," Janine said with a look of pure admiration on her face.

The Doctor was just eating it all up. He was elated by Janine's hero worship. He actually started to pose for her in what he considered to be heroic poses as he started to tell her about some of his adventures after Peri left. Rose had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at him.

"I think that the Doctor's found himself a new fan. You'd better be prepared to stay here a while, Rose. The Doctor looks like he's going to talk all day to her," Oswin said giggling.

"I'm sure that he'd talk to her until she was grown if I let him," Rose said with a smirk.

"She'd stand there and listen to him for that long too. She always loved hearing stories about the Doctor growing up. It used to drive her dad crazy. He wanted to be her hero, and he was so jealous," Peri said.

"Let her listen to him for a while longer. We've got time," Oswin said.

Peri nodded and watched her daughter and the Doctor talking away with a grin on her face. She never in a million years thought that this day would actually come when she could introduce her daughter to the Doctor. She was so glad that it finally had. She only wished that Yrcanos could have been here to see it.

Oswin started to worry again even in the face of all of the laughter going on in front of her. She knew who Rose had been talking about. She had heard Rose talk about him and had read stories about him on the Dalek net. She shivered as she thought about him. She really hoped that Cassie had killed him for good, and that the Black Guardian was not about to return. The entire universe would be in danger of falling into eternal chaos if he did!

Her thoughts were interrupted by Dalek Epsilon's holographic image suddenly appearing out of her gauntlet and causing the Doctor to look over at her in horror. He obviously was the only person in the universe who didn't know about her secret meetings with the rogue Dalek.

"EMPRESS OSWIN, I MUST TALK TO YOU. THIS IS URGENT! DAVROS HAS JUST ORDERED EVERY DALEK UNDER HIS COMMAND TO HUNT YOU DOWN AND EXTERMINATE YOU!" Dalek Epsilon said.

Next: Oswin is on the run for her life as the Daleks hunt her down across time and space.