The Master imprisons the Doctor in a birdcage, and leaves the bridge. Sophie stands vigil on the deck, as she has for the past year. The Doctor looks at her with his big sad eyes, and frowns. "Sophie, I need you to listen to me." She turns her head slightly. "Sophie, please. You're being mind controlled. You have to listen to me!"
The Master wanders back in, and clucks his tongue at the Doctor, "Ah, ah, ah, you know she won't pay attention to what you say." He walks over to the window, stuffing his hands deep into his pockets, "Tomorrow, they launch. We're opening up a rift in the Braccatolian space. They won't see us coming. It's kind of scary."
"Then stop," the Doctor replies, wrapping his tiny hands around the bars of the birdcage.
The Master glances over his shoulder, "Once the Empire is established, and there's a new Gallifrey in the heavens, maybe then it stops. The drumming. The never ending drumbeat." He crouches in front of the other Time Lord, "Ever since I was a child. I looked into the vortex. That's when it chose me. The drumming, the call to war. Can't you hear it?" He stops speaking, "Listen, it's there now. Right now. Tell me you can hear it, Doctor. Tell me."
The Doctor shakes his head, "It's only you."
The Master leans back on his haunches, "Good."
One of the Toclafane flies through the door, hovering in the air behind the Master. "Tomorrow, the war. Tomorrow we rise, never to fall."
The Master nods at the sphere, "You see? I'm doing it for them. You should be grateful. After all, you love them so very, very much." He sighs deeply, looking up as his wife slips onto the deck as well. She has dark circles under her eyes, and she looks depressed. "I took Lucy to Utopia. A Time Lord and his human companion. I took her to see the stars." He glances over his shoulder, "Isn't that right, sweetheart?"
The woman nods, and shivers, "Trillions of years into the future, to the end of the universe."
The Master walks over, and wraps an arm around her shoulder, "Tell him what you saw."
"Dying. Everything dying. The whole of creation was falling apart, and I thought, there's no point. No point to anything. Not ever," she laughs a little manically.
The Master heads back over to the Time Lord in a cage, "And it's all your fault." He crouches, and sets his hands on either side of the birdcage. "You should have seen it, Doctor. Furnaces burning. The last of humanity screaming at the dark." He glances over at Sophie, and grins, "All that human invention that had sustained them across the eons. It all turned inwards. They cannibalised themselves."
"We made ourselves so pretty," the Toclafane supplies.
"Regressing into children," the Master frowns, "But it didn't work. The universe was collapsing around them." He leans back on his haunches again, "My masterpiece, Doctor. A living TARDIS, strong enough to hold the paradox in place, allowing the past and the future to collide in infinite majesty."
"You're changing history. Not just Earth, the entire universe," the Doctor says, wrapping his hands around the bars on the cage again.
"I'm a Time Lord. I have that right."
"But even then, why come all this way just to destroy?"
The Toclafane flies forward, "We come backwards in time all to build a brand new empire lasting one hundred trillion years."
The Master grins, "With me as their master. Time Lord and humans combined. Haven't you always dreamt of that, race, greatest monsters of them all. Night, then." He stands up, and wraps an arm around his wife. He then calls over his shoulder, "Miss McCoy, I want you down with Harkness tonight."
She nods, mechanically, "Yes, my Master."
Sophie leaves the flight deck, and walks rather mechanically down to the brig. Hanging in a large room is Captain Jack Harkness. His wrists are chained to the ceiling, but he grins when Sophie enters. "Hey kiddo, long time no see."
"My Master said I am to watch over you tonight."
Jack chuckles, "That's normally my job, kiddo. You look like you could use some sleep."
"I am okay."
"Right," he laughs. "So, what's it like up on the flight deck?" She blinks at him, not responding. "What, no response, you're normally a lot more talkative." When she still doesn't respond, the Captain sighs. "Right, Soph. The Master has you under his sway. I wish I could just get you back, kiddo."
He sees a glimmer in her eyes for a split second, and then it's gone again. She stands there for hours, until the intercom goes off. "Miss McCoy, I want you on the flight deck. Now!"
She jerks upright, "Yes, my Master."
She heads straight back to the flight deck, to find the Master standing in his dressing gown. "Get ready, we're going down to the planet."
She nods slowly, and turns to get his suit for him.
*Planetside*
They slow to a halt in front of a large building. The Master steps out of the car, and signals for Sophie to join him. He walks over to stand in front of the tattered building, and stands up straighter. "
"Martha. Martha Jones. I can see you!" he calls out. "Out you come, little girl. Come and meet your master." Nothing happens, and it is clear that the Master's patience is running thin. "Anybody? Nobody? No? Nothing?" He sighs deeply, and waves the troops that accompany them forward, "Positions. I'll give the order unless you surrender. Ask yourself. What would the Doctor do?" The doors to the building open, and Martha steps out, her TARDIS key in her hand. The Master grins, and claps like an insane person, "Oh, yes. Oh, very well done. Good girl. He trained you well," Martha rolls her eyes, and glares at the Time Lord. "Bag. Give me the bag," he orders. She starts to step forward, swinging the bag off her shoulder. "No, stay there. Just throw it." The medical student tosses the backpack at the feet of the Master, who aims his laser screwdriver at it, completely destroying the bag. "And now, good companion, your work is done."
The Master turns his screwdriver toward Martha. As he goes to fire, a man bursts out of the house. The blast from the screwdriver hits the man, and he crumbles to the ground, dead.
The Master laughs, loudly, "But you, when you die, the Doctor should be witness, hmm?" He glances up at the sky, and takes a deep breath, "Almost dawn, Martha, and planet Earth marches to war."