To retain an element of tactical stealth, the TARDIS materialized in one of the side corridors near the central control zone.
"Bit of a walk never hurt anyone." the Warrior said, lightly. I just hoped that the assault outside was enough to keep the Dalek's attention from us. I ended up having to carry the roundel the Warrior had removed from his TARDIS. It was an awkward load to bear, and about the shape and mass of a car tyre. We reentered the control room, sticking close to the wall as we did so. Sure enough, the Daleks were all too preoccupied with computer terminals and battle screens to notice our intrusion.
The black and red Dalek Temporal Architect was occupying a small raised platform in the centre of the room issuing orders to its subordinates. The twin lights attached to either side of its done flashed with an angry red glow in time with his speech.
"BATTLE STATUS! UPDATE! UP-DATE!"
It roared in it's deep furious baritone. One of the silver and blue Daleks responded in a higher pitched whine.
"CURRENT ATTACK STRATEGY INEFFECTIVE AGAINST TIME LORD WEAPONRY."
"WHAT OF THE EXPERIMENTS? WHAT COUNCIL CAN THEY OFFER?" questioned the leader.
One of the viewscreens switched to display a room containing three more unfortunate souls, who had been turned into Omni-Voyants, the Dalek's answer to Minority Report. One of them spoke in a measured, expressionless tone.
"The future is clouded to us. We sense intense temporal disturbance at these spacial temporal coordinates. Proceed with caution."
"All this suffering and pain of genetic experimentation, and they still end up with nothing more than fortune cookie premonitions." The Warrior sighed.
"VICTORY MUST BE ASSURED. READY THE DEMATERIALIZATION ARRAY. I SHALL ASCEND TO THE WEAPONS DECK. ASCEND. ASCEND!"
"We've got to get to that platform!" I exclaimed. As I spoke, it begun to raise from the floor. I traced it's path upwards towards the ceiling, where I could see a corresponding circular hole now illuminated. "There must be some other entrance to that level."
The Warrior looked stern. "None that we could reach in time. But chin up, there's a good lad. We don't need anything else."
"Oh great, just two dozen Daleks in our way. Don't forget them." I said, in a forceful whisper.
He rubbed his brow thoughtfully. He had a plan, the Doctor usually does. He had more than a little experience with defeating Daleks after all. He unsheathed his screwdriver from his bandolier.
"The Daleks share a kind of neural network, called the Pathweb." He explained.
"They use it to share data, imagine it as their operating system crossed with a messenger. Like any software, it's prone to exploits, if you know what you're doing."
With a cheerful wink, he activated his screwdriver. The effect was instantaneous and dramatic. The gathered Daleks were instantly blinded, cut off from their visualisers as their systems crashed. A Dalek's eyestalk is merely a camera that feeds directly to a viewer within its casing. The Warrior had severed this connection, however briefly.
"MY VISION IS IMPAIRED. ALERT. ALERT. PATHWEB HACK DETECTED. SWITCHING TO THERMAL IMAGING."
"Quickly now, run! It'll only last a few seconds."
We ran towards the platform, still raising slowly towards the ceiling. We flung our arms upwards towards metal support bars on the underside of the elevating disc, allowing ourselves to be brought upwards in the wake of the Architect. With surprising deftness, the Warrior secured the roundel to his bandolier, now wearing the disc as a sort of backpack. We managed to rise without being spotted by the Daleks below, who were distracted with their discovery of the TARDIS outside.
The lift finally shuddered as it locked into place on the upper level. As the Architect maneuvered from the platform towards a control terminal, the Warrior and I silently clambered upwards and surveyed our surroundings. This room was of a similar size to the room below, though it was devoid of Daleks, apart from the Architect. The vaulted ceiling of the room was displaying a wrapped around holographic projection of the battle outside, as if we were in a domed observation deck atop the saucer. Large banks of computers and other science fiction paraphernalia were arranged around the floor of this level, what I presumed to be the paradox engines. Dominating the room was a large cylindrical structure suspended horizontally from the ceiling. It stretches from the centre of the room towards the wall opposite from our current position. A confusing array of pipework and wires snaked around the cylinder and stretched off in every direction. It looked like the barrel of some monstrous gun, aimed at an array of glasswork and crystal embedded in the opposite wall. I imagined this was some manner of focusing apparatus that directed whatever beam was fired from the weapon towards its intended target.
Silently, the Warrior shrugged the detached roundel from his back and handed it back to me. He gave me a look which I interpreted as an instruction. I was to try and position the roundel in the path of the beam while he distracted the Dalek. I ducked behind one of the computer banks, and prepared myself for the task ahead. As we readied ourselves, the Architect spoke, his voice echoed throughout the craft, as he addressed his subordinates.
"PREPARING TO FIRE THE DEMAT WEAPON. ALL COMBAT DALEKS SHOULD VACATE THE TARGET RADIUS. WE SHALL SHOW THE TIME LORDS THE TRUE POWER OF DALEK ENGINEERING. WE SHALL COMMENCE A NEW ERA OF DALEK SUPREMACY, WITH SUCH TEMPORAL DESTRUCTION AT OUR COMMAND. ERADICATE THE TIME LORDS. ERADICATE!"
I could feel the vibrations under my feet as the gathered Daleks continued the chant below. Or perhaps it was merely the weapon generating enough power to launch it's projectile. Before either of us could react, the Architect had fired the weapon. I was forced to shield my eyes as a blinding red light pulsed from the cylinder overhead and struck the crystal lattice. Shortly after, on the display of the ship's exterior, I saw the flaming blast emerge and strike one of the Battle TARDISES. The Corsair's Schooner.
In the aftermath of the discharge, nothing remained of the TARDIS, not even a cloud of vapour or debris. This was the power of such a weapon; it didn't destroy it's target, it removed it from the timestream, as if it never existed. I stumbled onto one knee, due to the splitting pain in my head. It was agony to experience the rip in time happening before me, as my memories were forcibly rewritten. I could only imagine how painful it must have been for a time sensitive, like the Warrior, or the Omni-Voyants. No wonder their view was clouded. And then I struggled to recall exactly what had happened... Had something been destroyed by the Dalek weapon? Why couldn't I remember who was leading the Time Lord assault outside? Why did I have an image of an ouroborous emblazoned in my mind?
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