Hello all. I am sorry I have not updated this story. For some reason the website had not been working for me but it seems it has been fixed. I have mainly been updating the story on Ao3 instead of here, but will get this story updated on this site as well it should not take me long to that as all the chapters up to 21 are ready to go. Also to let you know that I am on Tumblr so I will keep that updated as much as possible. I also just want to thank those who have read and favourited the story so far and hopefully you are enjoying it.
Chapter 15
"Are we sure that this plan is going to work, Calavius?" Nyla asked her fellow Councilman. She leaned forward on the stone she was sitting on.
Calavius as soon as he had entered the tent with the Doctor and Ian had sat back down in his stone. She noted that he walked with a spring in his step. He smiled with determination. Something that Nyla had not seen in a long time.
"Afterall it was only an hour ago that you were determined to destroy this Dalek." Nyla stated to Calavius as her gaze feel on Ian at the heart of the tent.
Ian was not looking at any of the Thal Councilmembers. He was facing the wall directly in front of them with the holographic map of Dalek City projecting onto that wall. The Dalek had not said a word through the entire meeting. He had merely showed the schematic of Dalek City and zoomed in on the Control Room as the Doctor and Calavius told the Thal Council their plan.
Calavius looked away from Nyla to look at the Doctor who was standing beside Ian. "Me and the Doctor spoke. And he gave me some good advice." he admitted to her. He looked away from the Doctor and Ian to Alydon sitting on the middle stone. "Advice that I will pass to the other members of the Council."
Both Calavius and Nyla watched Alydon closely. Alydon sat with his back straight and arms folded across his chest. His face was pale and his eyes were puffy and red from all the crying that he had been doing since the death of Damadus.
Still looking to the young man Calavius told him, "There is no point in making enemies out of possible friends."
Alydon was motionless as he stared at nothing in particular in the tent. There was no sign that he had heard what Calavius had told him. Slowly he blinked as he looked over to Dyoni. She smiled at him reassuringly. A smile that he slowly returned back to her.
"Like Nyla asked," Alydon said as he looked back to Calavius, "are we sure that this plan will work?"
Alydon's attention quickly jumped to the Doctor and Ian. Alydon looked to what they were both looking at the hologram of Dalek City being projected onto the wall by Ian's eye stock.
"Afterall all our plans for peace with the Daleks failed." he told Calavius as he looked back to the other Councilmembers. His mind flashed back to his father. His father had thought that they could finally achieve peace with the Daleks. That thought had led to Damadus's death. And Alydon did not want to follow his father to an early death.
"I think we should do whatever we can to defeat the Daleks." Johor suddenly spoke up from the stone he was sitting on. Once again while he was sitting he kicked his feet. His head kept swirling between Alydon and Calavius. "We now know that we cannot live in peace with Daleks. But I do not want to life in their shadow any longer." he finished speaking as he looked at Calavius.
"This plan will work." Calavius reassured the youngest council member. He looked back to the Doctor who was looking at them. "This time we will be working with the Doctor and Ian. And for this plan to work we will need Ian to slip past the Daleks."
The holographic map of Dalek City flickered before disappearing completely. The council tent suddenly became duller with the only light source being the orange fire that crackled in its heart.
Swirling his eye stock away from the wall to Calavius. The blue glow of Ian's lens fixed on the man. "It will be saver if I go to Dalek City alone. The Daleks have sent out scout parties into the forest. I can join one of these scout parties before they come this far into the forest." he said to Calavius. "That way I can lead the Daleks to another area of the forest. You will be given time to move everyone before the Daleks sweep further into the forest."
"Ian, no!"
The five Council members turned around in their seats to look to Barbara and Susan standing at the back of the tent. They had been silently listening to the plan. They had both been happy to hear Calavius speaking in good terms with both the Doctor and Ian.
Barbara had smiled sadly as she watched Ian. If she had not known that inside the metal casing was her friend, she would have thought it was a Dalek. He sounded just like every other Dalek with that electronic mechanical voice that they all shared. But he didn't speak like a Dalek.
Both her smile and stomach had dropped at hearing him wanting to go back to Dalek City. She watched in silence as Ian's eye stock twitched towards her. She found herself drawn into his glowing blue lens that looked right at her. It was not like when she looked into the red lens of the Dalek Supreme. Its red lens was filled with anger and hatred while Ian's was Ian's.
Still looking right into Ian's warm blue lens she told him, "We just got you out of there. And look what had happened to you the first time you were in Dalek City."
"And you want to go back there?"
"I have to do something, Barbara. I saw what the Daleks were doing in that lab of theirs." Ianresponded to her. His eye stock twitched as he looked to her. His stomach dropped at seeing how upset she was with him wanting to go back to Dalek City. It was the only thing he could think on doing that would not see more deaths at the hands of the Daleks. He did not want Barbara or the others to be hurt by the Daleks.
Why couldn't Barbara see what he was doing? Why couldn't she understand that he was protecting her and the others?
"Please Ian, it is too dangerous." Barbara pleaded with Ian as she walked forward. Behind her she was aware of the guards tensing up as she walked past the Council members. She gave Calavius a thankful smile when he raised his hand to stop them.
Barbara stopped in front of him. She watched his eye stock follow her as she stopped walking in front of him "You are not a solider anymore." she gentle said to him as she placed her hand on his metal domed head. Again she was surprised at how warm the metal of his casing was. Static electricity from his shield was zapping at her hand. It wasn't painful it was just a strange sensation.
"I have to do something, Barbara." Ian responded as his eye stock swirled away from her.
His scanners looked over the Thal's leadership. His eye stock twitched to the guards standing in the shadows behind their leaders. He had heard about that one guards family. Ian knew he had to do something for the Thals.
His eye stock swirled back to her. "It is the only way I can think to do to stop the Daleks here on Skaro. And maybe stop their conquest of the rest of the galaxy." he continued to explain back to her.
"The rest of the galaxy?" Susan squeaked from the back of the tent. She took a small step forward and then another. With small hesitant steps she kept walking until she was standing with her friends. "Are you saying that there are more Daleks that are attacking other worlds?" she asked.
Susan's head whipped around to look at the Doctor. He was looking at Ian sternly, but she could also see the hint of worry.
"Grandfather," she asked him making him look to her, "surely the Time Lords can do something about the Daleks?"
The Doctor shook his head as he responded, "I am sorry my dear. But you know the laws of the Time Lords. They will not get involved in any conflicts against the Daleks."
"Not until they start messing around with time travel." the Doctor mumbled to himself as he rubbed his chin in thought.
He knew that the Time Lords would not get involved in anything unless it threatened their stance in time travel. It was this aloofness that the Doctor despised about the Time Lords. It was the reason why he and Susan had left Gallifrey.
"Time Lords?" Calavius asked. He clasped his hand together as he leaned forward in his stone. His eyes jumped between the Doctor and Susan.
"It is the name of our race." Susan explained back to Calavius. She looked back to the Doctor who had a defeated look on his face. "But they have to do something, grandfather!"
The Doctor sighed as he approached her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as he told her, "I am sorry my dear but you know that the Time Lords wont get involved. This matter with the Daleks is beneath them."
Susan gentle shrugged out of the Doctor's hug. His arm dropped to his side as she stepped to face the five leading Thals. "Then it is up to us to stop the Daleks here on Skaro." she said to them. She placed a hand on Ian's domed head as she said, "And we can do that by working together."
"No, it is too dangerous. For both you and Barbara" Ian said as his eye stock flicked from Susan to Barbara. "It is better that I go back to the City alone. If I go alone it will be easier for me to move around without being spotted. And I also wont need to worry about anyone being in danger." he explained to them both.
"Ian-"
"Barbara," the Doctor interpreted her. "Chatterton is correct. We will only get in his way." he continued to explain to her and also Susan. He could see that she also wanted to argue.
Alydon stood up. His sudden movement gained the attention of the other council members. He also gained the Doctor's and Barbara's attention. He ignored the looks he was getting as he regarded the council members, "Then I suppose that we should make a distraction to make it easier for Ian to both get into Dalek City and then getting out."
"And how do we to that, Alydon dear?" Nyla asked him.
Alydon looked towards the eldest member of the Council. She had remained sitting on her stone as she listened to the plan. "I still have not come up with an idea." he admitted back to her. "But I think with rest ideas will come to us."
"I agree with him." Dyoni said as she walked up to Alydon. Standing beside him she took his hand in hers. She smiled to him when he looked to her. She looked back to the other council members. "We have all had a trying couple of days. And we all need some time to recover both physically and mentally." she said as she looked to the other members of the Thal Council and the Doctor and his companions.
"Very wise indeed my child." the Doctor agreed with her as he nodded his head to her.
"Guards." Calavius ordered the guards who stood in the shadows behind them. On being spoken to all the guards straightened their backs.
Calavius turned his head around to look at one of the guards. "Take the Doctor and his companions to a spare tent where they can sleep for the night." he ordered the guard.
The guard Calavius was speaking to looked away from him to look at Ian. "Even the Dalek?" he asked Calavius.
"Have you not been listening at all to this meeting?" Calavius asked the guard. He titled his head to the side as he regarded the other Thal.
This Thal was more mutated than he was. His entire arms and hands were covered in blue and golden scales. The tips of his hair had hardened to form small spikes. Reptilian eyes blinked at Calavius as slitted reptilian nostrils flared.
The guard avoided looking at his leader. Instead he looked to Ian. His sharpened teeth ground against each other as the Daleks eye stock twitched towards him. He just could not understand why the Council were listening to this Daleks. This Dalek could be leading them into a trap by pretending to be their friend.
Taken a steading breath in and then out before looking back to Calavius. "I have listened, sir." he told Calavius. He looked away from Calavius to once again regard Ian. "I am merely thinking about what the others in the camp will think when they see a Dalek amongst them." he explained to Calavius as he still looked to Ian.
"Not only that," the guard continued as he looked back to Calavius, "but have you considered that this Dalek is leading us into a trap?"
Ian felt his stomach drop at not only the guard's cold stare but also his words. Not once had he thought what the Thals would think of him. His mind had been focused on himself. He should have spared a second to think about the Thals.
The Daleks were the Thal's bogeymen. The monsters that lurked in the metal fortress.
And he looked, no he was just like every other Dalek.
"That is not a concern for you or the other guards." Nyla gentle said to him making him look to her. "Our people should now that this Dalek," she continued as she pointed to Ian, "is on our side. And is not our enemy."
"And if they have issues with that," Johor spoke up, "they should come and talk with us. Not with each other."
"Yes we must be united together if we are to stand against a common enemy." Nyla agreed with the youngest member of the council.
The guard bowed his head to the council members as he said, "Yes, High Councilmembers."
The guard looked directly towards the Doctor who had been listening to the conversation with interest. In the corner of his eyes he glared at Ian but other than that he ignored the Dalek.
"Follow me. We have a spare tent that you can sleep in for the night. I will also fetch you some furs that you can use to sleep in." the guard grunted to the Doctor. He did not say anything else before he spun around and marched towards the entrance of the tent.
"Come my dear." the Doctor ushered Susan to follow after the guard. He looked over his shoulder to see Barbara and Ian were following them. "We have all had a trying couple of days. And I think that a good nights rest will do us a world of good." he said to all of his companions as they walked out of the tent after the guard.
The petrified forest of Skaro was a dark and cold place. Every tree, plant and animal had been petrified into metal skeletons. Metal branches hung like claws above a barely used path cut through path. The path that cut through the metal forest.
A small alien rodent with metal barbs on its back squired across the path. Metal whiskers twitched as its three eyes scanned in three different directions. Its short stumpy ears perked up as a strange noise sliced through the quite forest.
Stopping in the middle of the forest path. Its three eyes all looked in the same direction. The direction where the strange noise was coming from. Its nose twitched as it smelt for what was coming. Inside its little chest its small heart pounded against its ribcage.
A green light appeared before the alien rodent. Then another one and another one.
Squeak.
The alien rodent with metal spikes on its back and three eyes dashed towards a twisted nest of metal roots. The little creature coward under the roots as it watched and listened.
A group of Daleks hovered just above the petrified forest ground. This group of Daleks had different casings to the ones found in Dalek City. Their casings were green not as bright as the Dalek Head Scientists casing. The spheres on their skirt sections were dark green.
Their eye stocks swirled in all directions as they glided along the forest path. Every tree and branch was pinned under their green glares. Their gun sticks twitched in anticipation of their upcoming battle against the Thals.
Leading the Dalek scout party was the Dalek Scout Commander. The Dalek Scout commander's casing was the same as the Daleks under its command. The only difference in its casing was its black domed. While the other Dalek Scouts swirled their eye stocks in all directions, it's eye stock was fixed straight ahead.
The Scout Daleks came to a sudden stop at the edge of the valley that protected the Thal's camp. The Daleks all hide behind the trees as they looked down to the Thal camp at the bottom of the valley. They could see the campfires that dotted around it along with the outlines of the tents.
"The Thal camp has been located." a Dalek Scout reported to the Dalek Scout Commander.
Dalek Scout Commander swirled its eye stock around to the Dalek Scout. Its green eye narrowed as it looked at the Dalek Scout. "Yes. They cannot hide from the Daleks." it responded back to its trooper.
It swirled its eye stock back to look down at the Thal Camp. "All Scout Daleks prepare to attack the Thal Camp. Exterminate all Thals that resist. Recapture the aliens and the members of the Thal leaders." it ordered all of them.
"We obey!" came the response from all the Scout Daleks.
The alien rodent slowly peaked its head out from its hiding spot. All of its eyes looked towards the group of Daleks. Its small nose twitched as it watched the Dalek Scout Commander swirling around. Its head perked up as it looked into its unblinking green eye.
The alien rodent and the Dalek Scout Commander stared at each other. Slowly the alien rodent moved out from its hiding spot. Its nose and whiskers twitched as it smelled the air around the Dalek Scout Commander.
"Exterminate!" shouted the Dalek Scout Commander. A blue light fired from its gun stick towards the alien rodent.
The rodents skeleton became visible as it let out a death squeal. Its small body dropped to the ground. Lifeless.