Tuesday 22 March 2016

Torchwood: Origins (5)

The captain reached for his quantum lance, and advanced towards me. I cast my gaze around the room, searching for a weapon, anything to defend myself with, but there was nothing within reach. I thought about rushing past the captain, but knew it would be futile. The corridor outside would be filled with crewmen any moment now. My only hope lay in the hands of The Doctor.

Whistling nonchalantly, the Time Lord stepped out from behind the machinery he had been working on, holding a small cylindrical device.
"Ah, captain! Just the man I wanted to see. How's your day been?" Once again, he had an air of charming affability, but his eyes told a different story. The captain had crossed a line, pushed him too far, and I could see the vengeful warrior that The Doctor tried never to become.

The captain slowed, halting his advance. He was wary of The Doctor now. He could sense it too.

"What, pray tell, have ye got lined up now, Tyrant? What are ye holding? Do ye really think ye can stop me?"

"Oh, I love it when they say that. Pride makes the inevitable fall all the more apt. I wouldn't be too hasty if I were you, good captain. I'm holding the fusion core to your trans-warp drive. If this isn't replaced very soon, your whole vessel will fall out of orbit."

"Ye wouldn't dare!"

"Wouldn't I? You said it yourself, I'm a hypocrite, a tyrant! I've got the blood of my entire race on my hands, their screams echoing in my mind! I carry the burdens of billions of innocent lives... So what's a couple of pirates compared to that? Hmm? Tell me again why I never would."

"Because you'll die too! Ye'd never sacrifice yourself." said The captain, doubt and trepidation creeping into his voice.

"Are you sure? I've lived so long, seen too much. Maybe my time is up. There are worse ways to go than stopping cruel villains like you."

"Doctor!" I implored. "Please, just listen to reason. These pirates aren't worth that kind of sacrifice! Don't make this your final stand because of some prior guilt. Sure, you may have done terrible things in the past. Awful events. But that's why we have a future! To learn from the lessons of our past. To improve on ourselves, to make things better. Maybe you're not still alive as a punishment, maybe you're alive because of your compassion. You're better than these folk. Don't sink down to their terms."

"The boy is right Doctor. Ye might he willing to sacrifice yourself, but you'll never sacrifice him." sneered the captain, content with his logic.

I continued to stare at The Doctor, silently urging him to reconsider. His eyes were wide, like a rabbit before headlights, as he grappled with his decision. His gaze hardened, and with a heaving motion, he slammed the fusion core to the floor, shattering it.

"I tried to give you a chance, don't forget that. I tried, I really did. Now, your orbit will decay and this vessel with impact on the planet below. However, if you and your men get to the escape pods quickly, you'll be able to make planet fall before impact. That's the planet Kestrel V, I believe. Nice, temperate planet, no sentient life. Like the pirate prison islands of old."

"YOU HAVE DOOMED US DOCTOR!"

"Nonsense, if you're smart, you'll all run off and leave. Now."

With that, the captain turned tail and ran, bowling past the crew just beginning to assemble at the doorway. Moments later, a general alarm rang out across the ship, and the entirety of the crew ran for the escape pods too.

"Doctor, I..." I began to ask.

"Not now. To the TARDIS, quickly."

We made our way back to the TARDIS, and The Doctor dematerialised the ship, taking us to safety.
"What will happen to the crew?" I asked.
"Oh, they'll be fine. They'll survive on the planet for a while, but I'll make sure they're rescued soon enough. I've contacted the Shadow Proclamation, and informed them of the whereabouts of a known fugitive on Kestrel V. They'll sort things out soon enough."

Silence hung in the air for a few long moments, before The Doctor continued.

"Thank you, by the way."
"Why? What did I do?"
"For interrupting me when facing the captain. When I travel alone for too long, I can lose perspective. This TARDIS can be a quiet, lonely place, and I spend too long listening to myself think. Dwelling on my failures, and regrets. A travelling companion reminds me of why I keep going, why I stay fighting. So, thank you."

"So, it takes a human to remind you of you humanity?"

"Hah, I suppose so."

"What did he mean, when he said you killed your own kind? What happened, if you don't mind my asking?"

The Doctor paused for a minute, obviously having some inner turmoil. Eventually he sighed.
"It's a story I don't like dwelling on. I was a different man back then. I had to become someone different. A warrior, ruthless and willing to do what was required. I couldn't call myself The Doctor in those days. It was a life I tried very hard to forget."

"There was a war. A war that waged across the universe, across all of time and space. The Last Great Time War, fought by my people, and a race called the Daleks. They fought everywhere, everywhen, constantly devising new, cruel forms of warfare. Time destructors, paradox engines, the Moment, the Genesis Ark, temporon mines... Not to mention the horrors which sprung up as the war progressed. The Nightmare Child, the Army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres, The Skaro Degredations and The Heart of the Infinite. It was hell, with untold numbers of innocent world's caught in the crossfire."

"The Daleks were a genocidal race of mutated creatures, genetically engineered to be the most superior race of all creation. Their creator, Davros, removed weak emotions, like joy, compassion, empathy, leaving them with nothing but pride, anger and hate. The Daleks stopped at nothing to prove their superiority, attempting to subjugate or destroy all lesser races. My people chose to fight them, to slow their advance, but as the war dragged on, they became as bad as the Daleks. They stopped caring about the fallout, began devising weapons as horrific as anything the Daleks could dream up. and I helped, for years I participated in the bloodshed."

"In the end, there was a stalemate. Neither side could defeat the other, and both threatened the destruction of everything. I took the only choice I had. I detonated the Moment, the last Time Lord weapon, the Galaxy eater, on my own home planet. I wiped out my own people, and the entirety of the Dalek battlefleets swarming the skies above."

"But, did it work? I mean, you're still alive. Could others have survived?"

"One did. An old enemy and even older friend. Though he's since been lost. Otherwise I'm the last of the Time Lords."

"What of the Daleks?"

"They survived. They always do. They survive and I lose everything. Some scattered patrols or damaged vessels escaped the destruction. I've fought them a few times since."

"Was it worth it? In the end, was it worth it?"

"All that bloodshed, all those innocents. How could anything be worth that?"

"Even the universe itself? Removing the destructive influences of the two most powerful races in the universe? While it could never be condoned, perhaps it is understandable. I mean, there is peace now."

"But at what cost? Victory is not worth it, if we sacrifice who we are to achieve it."

"Maybe Doctor. But we can't change the past, can we? All we can do is try and shape the future."

"Anyway, enough of all this melancholy. We still need to find out what happened to you!"

"The captain mentioned that someone implanted data into my mind, and someone is trying to reclaim it. But who, and why?"

"Actually, while I was fiddling with the engines, I did look at the navigational logs. One set of coordinates seemed unusual. It's in deep space, away from any official or unofficial space lane, and it was always visited shortly after an Earth excursion."

"So, you think it could be the captain's mysterious benefactors?"

"Can't hurt to check. Allons-y!"

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