CHAPTER 10
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Marissa's TARDIS landed on the planet of Miasimia Goria, a planet that she used to rule as the Rani. She had ruined the lives of many of the people there back in those days by doing experiments on them. These experiments had increased their awareness but had also made them very violent and unable to control themselves. She then tried to steal the chemical that makes humans sleep from the brains of people from around the time of the Luddite riots in England so that she could give it to the people that she had experimented on and make them normal again. The Doctor had thwarted her then, and she had had to come up with another way to help them.
They were all normal and well-adjusted now, and she had long ago stopped ruling over them. Ever since she had become Marissa Queen and then regained her memories of being the Rani, she had tried to make things up to the people here for what she had done. She returned here from time to time as Marissa, never mentioning that she used to be the Rani, and would help the people in different ways. She would give them cures for diseases, help them with natural disasters, provide them with food and medicine when they needed it, and once fended off an attempted invasion of the planet by the Sycorax.
She had basically been watching over the planet and protecting it much as the Doctor did Earth. It had become her second home, and she had grown to truly love the people here. They had developed a burgeoning vacation industry; and she had left Peri, Janine, and Molly here at a resort to enjoy themselves while she had chased after Oswin to bring her back. Now that she had Oswin, Nyssa, and (ugh!) Tegan with her she was ready to reunite with her friends at last. She wondered if they'd want to go. She had heard that Miasimia Goria resorts were the best in the galaxy now.
She waited at the entrance of the resort for a few minutes before her friends finally came out and saw her. She waved to them as they came over and saw not only Oswin but two new faces with her. Marissa introduced Tegan and Nyssa to the others, and then she watched as they all got to know each other.
"I actually remember the Doctor talking about both of you. He seemed to really hate the way things ended with you, Tegan. He hadn't wanted you to leave the way that you did," Peri said.
"I came to regret it later, but it wasn't like I could go back and see him again. He doesn't exactly have a permanent address," Tegan said.
"Maybe Marissa can arrange for you to see him like I got to. You'll have to prepare yourself. He's changed a lot since you knew him," Peri warned.
"Oh, so he's regenerated, has he? I met a bunch of his earlier selves once so I'm not going to be too shocked I don't think. They were a bunch of eccentric characters that's for sure. I don't think that he could possibly get any worse than they were," Tegan said.
"You'd be surprised," Peri said with an enigmatic smile.
"Oh, come on. Don't tell me he gets even stranger!" Tegan said with a groan.
"I guess you'll just have to see for yourself some time," Peri said with a grin.
"I'm not sure I want to," Tegan said joking.
"Of course you do, Tegan. I certainly do. I'd love to see the Doctor again no matter how much he's changed," Nyssa said.
"I guess you're right. Maybe we can both get to see him soon," Tegan said.
"I'll have to see if I can arrange something," Marissa said.
She secretly hoped that the Doctor would agree to let Tegan start traveling with him again. He could have her! She thought that she would keep Nyssa though if she wanted to stay. She liked her. She was nice, quiet, and easy going. The exact opposite of Tegan in every way!
Molly embraced Oswin and said, "I missed you. Don't ever leave like that again. I want to go places and have adventures like you said that you usually do. So far though all I've done is help babysit Janine. I like Janine. She's a good kid, but I didn't come with you and Marissa to babysit. Couldn't you take me with you wherever you go from now?"
"Yes, I can but you'll be in danger the whole time from the Daleks. They keep following me trying to kill me. Are you sure you can live with that?" Oswin asked.
"Yes. I want to see the universe. It's worth the risk I think," Molly said.
"I hope you'll still be saying that when a Dalek is shooting at you again," Oswin said.
Molly just shrugged and smiled. Oswin could see that she really was serious about going with her and so she agreed to let her come. She just hoped that she didn't regret it.
Janine was happy for Molly as she overheard their conversation. She knew that Molly hadn't been happy just watching her. Now she could go do what she had wanted to do from the start. She had shown Oswin that she was finally ready for it it seemed.
"So are we leaving here now?" Peri asked Marissa.
"Yes, and we're all going to be traveling together for the foreseeable future I think unless the Doctor wants to take one or two of our new friends here along with him," Marissa said with her fingers crossed behind her back.
As they all began to walk toward Marissa's TARDIS which was parked a few blocks away, they were intercepted by one of the natives. It was a young female who looked to be about the same age as Molly.
"Are you the one they call the Queen?" the woman asked Marissa.
"That's Marissa Queen. You can just call me Marissa," Marissa said with a warm smile.
"Oh, most wonderful Queen, my sister needs your help. She's very sick. Do you think that you can cure her?" the woman asked with a hopeful expression.
"I can try, but I can't promise anything," Marissa said.
"Just come with me then. She doesn't live far from here. I can walk you there," the woman said.
Marissa began to follow her, but something didn't feel right about this to Oswin. She began to follow Marissa; and Molly, who had decided not to let her out of her sight again, went with her. The others decided to wait by Marissa's TARDIS for her to return.
The woman kept walking for several minutes until they were all in a rundown area with many abandoned houses. The woman stopped in front of one particular house that looked worse than all of the others and said, "She's in here."
"She lives here?" Marissa asked, starting to get suspicious.
"Yes, we can't afford to get it repaired. It's the only place that we have to live," the woman said sadly.
"Maybe I could help you with that," Marissa said with her suspicions now momentarily put to rest.
"Thank you. I couldn't take your help though. The only thing that I want is for you to help my sister," the woman said.
"I'll try. What's your name by the way?" Marissa asked.
"Aeywn and my sister's name is Magna," the woman said.
"It's nice to meet you, Aeywn. Let's go inside and see your sister then," Marissa said.
Oswin's gut was telling her that something was wrong. She was sure of it. She really wished that Molly hadn't come here. She didn't want to have to worry about her and Marissa too if something happened.
Marissa and Aeywn went inside the abandoned house and Oswin and Molly followed. As soon as they were inside, everything suddenly went wrong.
Aeywn suddenly had a Dalek eyestalk and gun stalk pop out of her head and hand respectively, and she said in the voice of a Dalek, "I HAVE DELIVERED OSWIN OSWALD TO YOU AS ORDERED!"
"What's going on?" Molly asked in a panic.
"She's a Dalek slave. She was converted into a partial Dalek, and she now serves them. She probably didn't even know that she was one of them. They implanted her with fake memories in order to fulfill her orders to lead Marissa here. They knew that if they led her here that I would follow. This was all a trap for me. I'm just sorry that you and Mari were brought into it with me," Oswin said.
To show the truth of Oswin's words, dozens of Daleks now emerged from the shadows inside the ruined structure and surrounded the women. They all pointed their gun stalks at Oswin immediately.
"YOU WILL COME WITH US, OR WE WILL KILL YOUR FRIENDS," one of the Daleks threatened.
"LET THEM LEAVE UNHARMED, AND I'LL GO WITH YOU," Oswin offered.
"No, don't do it!" Molly cried.
"I'm not letting you go with them," Marissa protested.
"There's no other choice, Mari. I can't let the two of you die," Oswin said.
"THERE IS NO CHOICE BEING OFFERED. ALL OF YOU ARE PRISONERS OF THE DALEKS. YOU WILL ALL BE TAKEN TO DAVROS TO AWAIT YOUR FINAL JUDGMENT," one of the Daleks said.
"I don't think so!" Oswin said.
She activated her force field then but not around herself. She encased Marissa and Molly inside of it. Then she went into action as she started to do battle with the Daleks. She somehow had to face down and destroy dozens of Daleks with no way to protect herself!
"This might be fun!" Oswin said with a smile as she began to open fire with her gauntlets.
Meanwhile back at Marissa's TARDIS, Peri, Janine, Nyssa, and Tegan were standing in silence waiting on the others to return when suddenly another TARDIS materialized alongside them. It was in the shape of a Greek marble pillar, and it looked very familiar to Nyssa and Tegan.
"It's the Master! Run!" Tegan said in alarm.
"I have the same gut reaction, but supposedly he's one of the good guys these days. I'm not sure that I believe that though," Peri said.
"He seems okay to me. Just a little bit pompous that's all," Janine said.
"A little bit?" Peri asked incredulously.
"This is the Master we're talking about here. He kills people without a second thought. He wiped out Nyssa's entire planet, and he killed and possessed her father. He is definitely not one of the good guys!" Tegan shouted.
"Oh, I agree with you completely since he tried to kill me twice when I was traveling with the Doctor. Marissa says that he's changed now though and so does the Doctor," Peri said.
Nyssa said nothing. The look of pain on her face as she remembered all that she had lost said it all for her.
Koschei emerged from his TARDIS and looked at Nyssa and Tegan with shock. A groan escaped from his lips as he looked at Tegan. Then he actually lost his usual arrogance and his face became very sad as he looked at Nyssa. He couldn't face her. He didn't know what to say to her. What could he say to ever make her feel even a tiny bit better about what he had done to her?
He turned away from her in shame and started to go back into his TARDIS and leave when Tegan came marching up to him and punched him in the arm! He immediately turned and glared at her for her audacity. If this had been the old him, Tegan would have been shrunken down to the size of a little doll on the ground right now. That is if he were feeling generous. If he weren't, he could think of so many better things to do to her. He smiled as he went through all of the rather enjoyable possibilities in his mind.
"What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in years; and as soon as I start traveling with a Time Lord again, here you are. I don't think much of the new face by the way. At least you've gotten rid of that stupid mustache and beard. Honestly, you looked like you were about to tie me to a train track every time you showed up with it on your face!" Tegan said.
"Don't tempt me," Koschei said as he rubbed his arm.
"What are you up to now? Are you here to take over the planet? Do you think I'd let you do anything to my new friends? If you do, then you'd better think again!" Tegan said as she put her finger in his face.
"Maybe I could be evil again just for a second. That wouldn't hurt anything, would it?" Koschei said to himself as he flinched from Tegan's verbal assault.
"Don't even think about it!" a voice said from behind him.
They all turned to see Marissa standing there with a look of concern on her face. She had Molly with her, but Oswin was nowhere in sight.
"I was just joking," Koschei said unconvincingly.
"I'm not worried about that right now. Oswin is alone somewhere with a whole army of Daleks out to kill her! She used her emergency temporary shift to send me and Molly back here to save us. She's so going to get a piece of my mind when I catch up to her. If the Daleks don't kill her, I will! Everyone get into the TARDIS. We're going after her," Marissa ordered.
"You're going to have to get in line behind me if you want to kill her. I told her that she wasn't going anywhere without me again. I want to be in on the excitement. I'm sick of being on the sidelines!" Molly complained.
"Wait a minute! He's the Master. I'm not going anywhere with him. He's nothing but a cold blooded killer! I wouldn't turn my back on him for a minute if I were you because he'll shoot you in it. You can't trust him!" Tegan protested.
"I not only trust him I also love him. I'm his girlfriend, Tegan. If you don't like it, tough! I don't have time to argue with you right now. My best friend's in trouble!" Marissa said in a furious voice.
Tegan was fuming but said nothing for once. She didn't want anything to happen to Oswin either. She had grown to like her since she had saved Nyssa's life.
Everyone got into Marissa's TARDIS, and they all arrived right in front of the house that had been a trap where they could hear the sounds of battle between Oswin and the Daleks as soon as they went outside. Marissa shot out a burst of fine powder from one of the bracelets around her wrists, and the wooden door of the house was quickly turned into a pile of wood chips in a matter of seconds. Then even those pieces of wood were quickly devoured by something that none of them could see from where they were, and the doorway was now completely free of any obstructions.
"What was that?" Peri asked in amazement.
"They're highly developed termites that I bred in my lab for occasions just like this. They're very tiny but also very efficient. They'll strip this house down in no time. Then we'll be able to see exactly what Oswin and the Daleks are up to," Marissa said with a smile.
"You just get more brilliant all the time," Koschei said as he quickly kissed Marissa on the lips and made her blush.
They all turned to watch in fascination as the entire dilapidated structure was quickly devoured by the termites, and they could now see dozens of Daleks fighting with a very happy looking Oswin. She seemed to be enjoying herself immensely.
They could see a number of smoking Dalek casings all around her and realized that she had already done in some of her enemies already. She seemed to be well on the way to finishing off even more of them as they watched. Oswin then noticed that the house was gone and turned to glare at Marissa and the others.
"I wanted you to be safe. Why couldn't you just let me handle the Daleks by myself?" Oswin berated Marissa.
"Oh, I'm just funny that way. I prefer not to stand around while my friend's in danger," Marissa said with an eye roll.
"I appreciate that normally, but this time I don't need the distraction of having to worry about you being here. Get back in the TARDIS and go!" Oswin shouted.
"Make me!" Marissa said defiantly.
"EXTERMINATE THEM!" several of the Daleks said as they flew toward Marissa and the others.
"I think that they are going to decide that for you," Oswin said with a smirk.
"Exterminate this, you jumped up little pepper pot!" Koschei said as he pulled out his laser screwdriver and blew up one of the rapidly approaching Daleks.
Marissa released a fine mist from one of her bracelets, and another Dalek had its metal shell dissolve into dust leaving the Dalek inside of it to fall to the ground with a scream.
"That metal eating bacteria I've been saving for a rainy day came in handy after all," Marissa said with a grin.
"Having enough excitement now?" Koschei asked Molly with a snort.
Molly smiled and said, "This is awesome!" She was actually starting to enjoy this.
Koschei shook his head as he turned back to fighting Daleks and said to himself, "Humans! I'll never understand them."
The two Time Lords and their companions continued to fight off the incoming Daleks as Oswin dealt with the ones that had stayed. They were still very much determined to take her in dead or alive to their master.
She destroyed one Dalek with her gauntlets, and then jumped ahead five seconds in time and a few feet away to quickly destroy another one. Then she jumped ahead in time again to continue the process.
"ESTIMATE PROBABLE TIME AND PLACE OF TARGET'S NEXT APPEARANCE," one of the Daleks ordered the others.
The Daleks quickly estimated the time and location of Oswin's next probable appearance based on her previous pattern of attack. Many of them then gathered around that area and waited for her to appear. She surprised them all though by appearing directly behind them and blasting all of them into piles of rubble in a matter of seconds.
"That's what I expected you to do. I know how you think all too well," Oswin said with a grin.
The remaining Daleks started to fire on her, but she quickly jumped away before any of their blasts could hit her.
"Report!" Davros' voice said as he contacted the remaining Daleks.
"WE HAVE BEEN SO FAR UNSUCCESSFUL IN CAPTURING OSWIN OSWALD. SHE CONTINUES TO DEFY US. WE ARE STILL ENGAGING HER IN AN ATTACK AT THE MOMENT, BUT WE ARE TAKING MASSIVE CASUALTIES. NOW THE TIME LORDS KOSCHEI AND USHAS ARE AIDING HER AS WELL," one of the Daleks reported.
"I anticipated the intervention of the Rani, but the Master's arrival complicates things. In addition to being extremely dangerous, he may bring in the Bad Wolf or the Doctor, and that would make the capture of my little prize virtually impossible," Davros said.
He then turned to a Dalek next to him and ordered, "Send in my special assault team to keep the Time Lords busy and my best warrior to handle Miss Oswald."
"I OBEY!" the Dalek standing next to him answered.
Seconds later, several Daleks with massive guns in place of their gun stalks appeared to confront Koschei, Marissa, and the others.
"Who are they?" Janine asked in fear.
"The Hand of Davros. We've done it now. Davros has sent in his crack troops. These are his specially picked personal group of assassins. They get sent out if he absolutely positively wants someone dead," Marissa said.
"I remember them from the Time War. I always thought that he named them that because he was overcompensating for something. They were always sent out when Davros was feeling particularly anxious about something. He must think that he's about to lose Miss Oswald again," Koschei guessed correctly.
"He is if I can help it," Marissa vowed.
"ANNIHILATE THEM!" one of the Hand shouted.
"That's a switch. What happened to 'exterminate'?" Peri joked.
"Maybe they got bored and decided it was time for a little change," Tegan joked back.
The Hand of Davros began to open fire with their heavily modified guns, and energy bolts began to be shot out rapidly and efficiently like bullets out of a machine gun. Everyone had to scatter quickly to avoid being hit by the lethal blasts.
Oswin was about to go deal with them when she suddenly had troubles of her own. The Special Weapons Dalek appeared in front of her and began firing at her with his big cannon like gun. She was barely able to jump out of the way in time before its massive blast caught her.
It contained to fire on her and left her running for her life before its assault. She finally jumped ahead five seconds in time and wound up behind it. She blasted it from behind with every bit of power in her gauntlets.
She looked on in shock as the Dalek just turned around and started to fire at her again. It had been completely undamaged. Apparently Davros had improved on the thickness of its shell with her in mind.
"Oh, boy!" Oswin exclaimed as she jumped away from its attack again.
She knew that this fight had just gotten much harder now. She suddenly had no idea how to stop a Dalek that her best weapons couldn't even scratch!
Next: Oswin versus the new and improved Special Weapons Dalek while Marissa, Koschei, and the others find out just what the Hand of Davros can really do.