DW - War: The Soldier's Song (9)

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?

DW - War: The Soldier's Song (8)

The TARDIS screen flashed a symbol of a snake eating it's own tail, while a bleeping alert sounded. The Warrior walked to answer the incoming message, wry smile on his face.
"Ah, the Corsair! Couldn't have asked for a better man."

On the screen, the symbol faded as it was replaced by a video feed of a young woman dressed in what I could only describe as steampunk pirate. On the left side of her neck, I could just make out a tattoo of the same ouroborus symbol.
"My dear Doctor, is that any way to talk to a lady?" She said with a smirk.

The Warrior tried and partially succeeded in hiding his embarrassment.
"So, you've regenerated again, it would seem. What was it this time, hmm? Change of scenery, perhaps a failed pistol duel? Or maybe you just tripped over a brick. Again."

"Ouch. You cut me with such razor wit, Doctor. At least I have my rapier to defend myself this time." The pair were enjoying a brief respite from the concerns of war. For a small moment, they were two friends reminiscing. All too quickly, the smile eased from the Corsair's face.
"Actually, it was a horde of Skaro Degredations on Ganon 5. Lucky to have escaped at all."

"Well, it's good to see you all the same. We'll have to have a proper catch up when we've taken care of these Daleks. Do you still have that 17th Century tea-chest?"

The Corsair burst into laughter.
"The one from our run in with the clockwork pirates? Of course, I've been saving it for a special occasion. Tell you what, I'll brew us a pot when we're done here. Over and out."

"Old friend?" I asked the Warrior suggestively, as he turned towards me. "Yes, from our days in the... No. Not like that! Humans, minds always in the gutter. This is why all the civilized races avoid Earth you know." His tone was terse, but I could tell by his eyes that he was joking.

The Warrior led me to the doors of the TARDIS and opened them wide. We were frozen in the sky above Vakar, the Dalek ship stretching out before us like a giant silver floor. We watched as several cylindrical devices materialized opposite from our location. Each one was about 10ft tall and 3ft in diameter, and had a variety of tubes and barrels arranged around their circumference. Olistra's cavalry had arrived. Leading the charge was the Corsair, or at least, the battle TARDIS I assumed belong to them. Even the Doctor wouldn't fly a 17th Century Schooner across the Universe.

The battle began as soon as the crafts arrived. It was a dizzying sight to behold, and the Warrior did his best to explain the array of weapons on display as we waited for our window to appear in the distraction. Torpedoes launched that froze their targets, immobile in a fraction of time, making easy targets. Against the Time Lord charge, the Daleks launched squads of their own, their metallic casings flying through the sky, needling the battle TARDISES. Larger Dalek shells, and fighter craft poured out from the vessel below, acting as heavy hitters against the assault. I saw laser beams that caused their targets to explode. The Corsair's ship angled parallel to the hull of the Dalek vessel and unleashed a broadside of energy weapons. Where each blast impacted, I saw the metal tarnish and decay in a matter of moments, crumbling into dust. Given the sheer scale of the Dalek craft, the damage was minimal though. My head was spinning at the scale of the fight below me. TARDISES phased into and out of dimensions, hopping several seconds in time or several hundred meters in space with each transition. They followed a seemingly random pattern, preventing the Daleks from tracking them with their heavier weapons. Some of the TARDISES fired projectiles that reminded me of the legend of Cuchulainn, specifically Gae Bolg. Like the spear of legend, these projectiles would always strike their foes. The legend spoke of a weapon of last resort, guaranteed to kill it's target. Similarly, these projectiles reversed cause and effect. Essentially, they had already struck Daleks before they had fired.

"Right!" Exclaimed the Warrior, suddenly. "That's gotten their attention. With any luck, the Daleks will think we're out here fighting. At worst, they're expecting us, but we've thinned their interior ranks quite significantly."

"So, we just wander in and shut down their super-weapon?" I asked, skeptically.

"Well, that's the gist, though it won't be quite as easy as you imply."

"Oh good. For a second I was afraid it wouldn't be a suitable challenge. How do you propose we do it, anyway. When we defeated the Vakarians, we overloaded the Paradox Engines."

"Yes, a good plan it was, too. But it won't be so easy this time. You're not up against a test-case with a built in safety net. There's no convenient button to press to save the day this time."

"You do have a plan though, right?" I ventured, hesitantly.

"Of course. See those round things on the wall? Be a good lad and help me prise one off, would you?"

I held the round thing as the Warrior worked his screwdriver carefully around the edges of it. He informed me that the round things act as a sort of resonance chamber for temporal energy. Like the interior of a fusion reactor that uses magnetic fields to contain super hot plasmas, these roundels generate a field that refocuses radiant temporal energy back towards the tine rotor.  Shortly, the device tilted forward, pulling me forward as I struggled to catch it. It weighed more that you might expect. On the back of the roundel were a number of wires and assorted electrical gubbins, presumably the mechanism that generated the temporal field.

"Righteo." said the Warrior. "Back into the lion's den we go. Let's just hope that luck is on our side."

DW - War: The Soldier's Song (7)

The Warrior and I looked helplessly at the body of the Omni-Voyant, lying on the floor of the TARDIS. He was clearly dying, but fought to say a few final words.
"Doctor.... they've merged... paradox engine... with.... D-Mat technology..." he gasped, urgently. "Plan to... remove Gallifrey..."

The Warrior's aged face was lined with concern. He was conflicted. His instincts as a doctor, as the Doctor, were to comfort this dying wretch. But he needed to press for more information, for the greater good  as he kept calling it. Compassion gave way to necessity.
"Where are they keeping the weapon? On the saucer below?"

"Yes... the weapon... and the other... experiments... Doctor, let them... die.... this is.... no life...." With a final shuddering breath, he heart gave out, his eyes glassed over, and he fell still. The Warrior closed the man's eyes delicately, before standing to his feet.

"I knew him, you know." He said to me. "The Archivist, that was his title. He worked in the Panopticon library, in the Citadel of Gallifrey. I daresay we ran him round the bend with our childish antics, back in my Academy days. He always let us get away with it though. Must have recognized himself in us I suppose." He turned back towards the TARDIS console, putting his back to me, or hiding his face, I couldn't tell.

"But then the War came, and everyone volunteered to do their part. To fight against evil, and return to peaceful lives. Volunteers like the Archivist. Old men on their final regenerations. Mere children barely out of the Academy. How many of those brave volunteers have died? Would they be proud of their sacrifice? How many more like them must die, in the name of peace?" His voice was cracking under the weight of the suffering he bore.

"Doctor, I..." I stammered, trying to lend some sort of support, but failing to find the right words.

He spun around to face me, eyes misty and red, pointing at his dead kin.
"Not only death. Oh no, not in this Time War. Those brave soldiers are tortured. Mutated. Irrevocably changed and stripped of dignity. Mere death is a blessing compared to such monstrous deeds." He took a deep breath, his rage dissipating as he thought about his next actions.
"No more. This ends here and now."

Suddenly, he was his resolute self again, all trace of his outburst confined to our memories. If it was so easy for him bottle up such thoughts  I wondered, how many other secrets did he hide. What horrors had he seen?
"So, what's first?" I asked, choosing to avoid discussing his outburst.

"Calling in the cavalry. We're good, but even I don't fancy taking on an entire Dalek control ship by myself." he said, while activating a screen on his console.
"Olistra? Are you receiving me?"

An old woman appeared on the Warrior's screen, dressing in the same scarlet and gold robed finery as the Archivist.
"Ah, Doctor. To what do I owe this unwarranted intrusion?"

"I need a squadron of Battle TARDISES, at these coordinates."

"Oh? Is my little soldier actually giving orders? What do you want them for? There is a War on, after all. I can't just send you a whole squadron if you're simply locked out of your capsule."

"Actually there's a cat stuck in a tree, Olistra. Complicated somewhat by the little fact that said tree happened to be located on a Dalek control saucer. One being lead by the Dalek Time Architect."

"That's a new one on me anyway. They do so love their titles." The pair were full of snark and snide as they talked, but the mutual respect they shared for each other was clear to see. They both seemed to enjoy such a back and forth.

"Turns out he's trying to merge a D-Materialisation gun with a Paradox Engine."

"My word! Not only would they be able to remove people or places from their existence within a time line... The Paradox Engine could enforce the altered timeline and contain any temporal fallout."

"Yes. We'd be unable to fix said timeline until the Paradox Engine was destroyed. Which leads onto the second issue. Time Lord POW's, mutated and forged into clairvoyant beings. Loyal to their Dalek masters and able to activate threats and advise appropriate countermeasures."

"In other words, an advance warning system to defend their paradox engines. If they were capable of firing such a weapon upon Gallifrey, we'd be powerless and o prevent our own erasure from existence!"

"Glad you see it my way, Olistra. Me and my temporary companion here have a plan to tack out the big guns. But we need someone to run interference. Let the squadron distract their remaining Omni-Voyants while we sneak aboard in the confusion."

Olistra looked troubled. Obviously trusting this man with actual military assets was not something she relished, or even trusted. Autonomous spirits such as the Doctor are dangerous on a battlefield, after all. Unquestioning obedience is preferred.

The Warrior disconnected the transmission without saying goodbye. He turned around to me once more, looking exceptionally pleased with himself.

"So, you actually have a plan then?" I asked him, brow furrowing.

"Not as such." He admitted, still smiling. "But we have a few minutes before our back up arrives."

DW - War: The Soldier's Song (6)

We found ourselves in the heart of a Dalek command ship. Scattered around us engaged in various duties were the classic bronze Daleks, with a number of unusual variants. Silver Daleks with light blue spheres and trim, which I took to be some kind of scientific caste. Directly in front of us was a slightly larger Dalek, black with red highlights and more decorated neck grilles. Obviously some sort of leader.

"Ah, and there we are." The Warrior was looking being proved right. "Who do I have the honour of addressing? The Dalek Time Strategist? Or maybe the Dalek Temporal Schemer? Possibly the Chronon Inspector?"

"THE TEMPORAL ARCHITECT, DOCTOR." responded the Dalek in it's electronic grating voice.

"My my, how very grand!" He replied, dripping in mock awe. "See Arven, I told you the Omni-Voyants were shams."

"THE ORACLES ARE GENUINE, DOCTOR. EXCEPT THEY ARE A DALEK CREATION, BRED AND ENGINEERED TO GAZE ACROSS THE TIMELINES, ENSURING A DALEK VICTORY."

I was having a hard time keeping up to be honest. This was all a Dalek plot as far as I could gather. The Omni-Voyants, or Oracles, were created by the Daleks to sense the outcomes of battle. So the Daleks had armed the Vakarians then, presumably as a weapons test. And if the ensuing chaos happened to distract any meddling Time Lords in the meantime, it was a bonus to them.

The Warrior was growing concerned.
"Dalek creations.... How exactly?" He turned to look at the Oracle behind us, now that it's perception filter was deactivated. I turned at the same time, to see a horrific sight. A humanoid figure stood before us, pulsing with an inner orange glow, though now details could be discerned in it's face. It was a male figure, who wore scarlet robes with gold trim, and a pained grimace on his face.

"Time Lords!" He roared. "You were experimenting on Time Lords?"

"PRISONERS OF WAR. THOSE WHO DO NOT POSSESS STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE ARE MADE TO SERVE THE DALEK WAR EFFORT IN OTHER WAYS."

"But this is monstrous! What have you done to him? It looks like he's got artron energy coursing through his system, frozen mid regeneration." The Warrior was aghast, even for someone who had seen and done terrible things in this battle already, this was a disgusting perversion of nature. My stomach felt bottomless, like a void of despair while a cold dread permeated my torso. I fought the urge to vomit, to scream, to run in terror, but fear had rendered me immobile.

The Warrior stared at the corrupted Time Lord sadly.
"How could they...  I will avenge you. You have my word. They will not get away with this travesty."

He turned away from the wretched figure, his face a mask once more. In a livelier tone, he addressed the Dalek leader once more.
"Well, I think I've seen more than enough for one lifetime. It's been as much a pleasure as always. Once again, your customary skills as a host are inimitable, but we really ought to be going. Arven, grab your coat and say goodbye to our captors."

"THERE IS NO ESCAPE DOCTOR, EXCEPT IN DEATH." warned the Architect.

The Warrior had slipped one hand into his jacket pocket. I heard the faintest buzz of his screwdriver, muffled by the leather of his coat.

One of the Science Daleks spoke in a high pitched alarmed voice.
"ALERT! ALERT! TEMPORAL ACTIVITY DETECTED!"

"EXPLAIN! EXPLAIN!" boomed the Architect.

"Sorry boys." smiled the Warrior. "Looks like my taxi has arrived. Now if you'll excuse me, the meter is running."

"TARDIS MATERIALIZING!" screamed the scientist Dalek.

"EXTERMINATE THEM!" Ordered the leader.

During the commotion, a breeze had begun to swirl around us in the Dalek bridge. While the Daleks screamed for our demise, their pronouncements were drowned out by an overpowered groan of the TARDIS' mighty engines. I've never heard a more beautiful sound than in that moment. It began to form around us. Being inside the TARDIS as it appeared was a most disconcerting experience. My view of the control centre faded as the coral junkyard of the Warrior's TARDIS phased in. The two locations seemed to battle for dominance, alternating between both realities periodically. Rather quickly, the TARDIS interior became mercifully solid. In my last glimpse of the Daleks however, I saw several flashes emerge from their arm cannons. I could only hope that we had formed in time, and that the stray blades would impact harmlessly on the exterior. I looked for the Warrior, already racing about the controls, removing us from the lion's den. The Omni-Voyant had been close enough to us to be taken too, but as I faced him, I realised we had not been so fortunate. He had collapsed to his knees, suffering from a direct hit by a Dalek death ray.

DW - War: The Soldier's Song (5)

To my surprise, the Warrior seemed unperturbed by the Omni-Voyant's suggestion of double genocide. In fact, he even welcomed it.
"The atrocities committed by both sides of the War... There is little difference between my people and the Daleks anymore. Each doing anything for the sake of victory, without consideration for the collateral damage."

"Then, you see things from our perspective, Doctor? You see what must be done, why we must embark on this sordid mission?"

"No! You can't, Doctor!" I yelled. How could he even contemplate such an action. Double genocide?! Maybe this man was further removed from the Doctor than I had thought.

"Do not call me that!"

"Doctor! Warrior! Whatever, it doesn't matter. You cannot do this, please! It's genocide!" I was begging him to reconsider. "If you wipe out your people, you will never have existed either!"

"Would that be such a great loss?" he said softly. I realized then, he had a death wish! This man hated himself so much, so full of regret and pain, that he was searching for a cause he could die for. He was so twisted by the War that he didn't care about survival, he wanted only to end the fighting. By any possible means. There was no way I could convince him otherwise.

While I stood, stunned and staring, the Warrior continued to converse with the Omni-Voyant.
"Shall we pay a visit to your control centre then? I'd like to inspect your paradox engine for myself. Not that I don't trust you of course, but temporal engineering can be so fiddly, you know?"

"Certainly Time Lord. Follow me."

We travelled through a maze of white corridors, each one indistinguishable from the previous and littered with identical offshoots. I knew that there was no way I'd find my way back to the TARDIS alone. I hoped that the Warrior remembered, assuming he didn't erase his own existence in the meantime. Was I just to be collateral damage for him, in the end? We travelled for what felt like miles, and as I remembered the sheer scale of the craft, we probably had. After a while the Warrior slowed his pace minutely, hanging back from our guide to whisper to me.

"I appreciate your concern, but I'm appalled by your lack of faith."

"You have a plan then. I mean, one that doesn't involve temporal genocide?"

"Something tells me we're not getting the full story, but I have a sneaking suspicion about what's really going on. Follow my lead, OK?"

With that, he caught up with the Omni-Voyant, and started to walk ahead of it.
"Please follow me. It is easy to get lost in these corridors." It spoke, it's voice just a little to harsh. Could it be making a threat?

"I just fancy stretching my legs, it's fine."  responded the Warrior. "I'm used to walking at a faster pace. Hmm, this way, I think." He announced, turning right.

"No!" It exclaimed, expressing a marked increase in emotion. "The shortest path is this way."

"If you have nothing to hide, then what's the issue with a little detour?"

"It is.... That path leads only to our nourishment halls. It is irrelevant." It sounded nervous now.

"Excellent! Sounds educational! What do you say, Arven? Fancy sampling an Omni-Voyant canteen?"

By now I had twigged his plan, so I agreed with some vigour. Our guide sighed as it realised it had no choice. We all followed the Warrior's lead. Shortly after, we entered a wide open room. The blinding whiteness of the decor was broken by glowing patterns spread across the walls, blinking rhythmically.

"Oh, very good!" Announced the Warrior, as he flung open the doors. "Nice try, a real cutting edge effort, but really... Did you expect a perception filter to fool me? Telltale haze in the corner of the eye. Not to mention, I'm more than familiar with the layout of your corridors. I've been here often enough."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Why tell when I can show?" The Warrior drew his sonic screwdriver and activated it. With a low buzzing, it interfered with the perception filter. With a shimmer, I saw the room for what it really was. The walls were curved, and covered in a kind of bronze honeycomb pattern. Control terminals and interfaces were scatted around the room, each with large spherical controls as opposed to buttons and switches. The room was in fact full of aliens who had been previously hidden. Aliens which inhabited metal travel machines. Aliens bred for war. We were in a Dalek command ship.

DW - War: The Soldier's Song (4)

"We are the Omni-Voyants." said the figure.

"Never heard of you." replied the Warrior. "But isn't that a bit pretentious... somewhat arrogant? Not to mention a little on the nose?"

"Says the Lord of Time." I added.

"Point taken." Admitted the Warrior. "But at least we don't swan about arming primitive developing species with temporal weapons! If you can see everything, as you name suggests, you must seen what a terrible idea that is?!"

The figure remained outwardly impassive, and calmly responded.
"Can you be so sure, Time Lord? Can you speak with authority on every scheme of the High Council? Can you truly say you have never armed a population I'm this forsaken War of yours? Actually, don't answer. Because we already know. We have seen the whims of your Council. Even on Earth, how many have you armed with knowledge, with technology, molded to fight and die for the greater good? Like this human here."

Surely it was lying, right? I mean, I was hardly a pawn in the Doctor's arsenal, was I? Those of us who travel with him are inspired to fight injustice, true, but I certainly didn't feel like a weapon.
"You're wrong." I countered. "There's a difference between broadening my horizons, and giving Paradox Engines to a species unable to comprehend the consequences of the tech."

The Warrior was standing tall, clearly in his element. His voice carried boldly across the chamber we were within.
"Enough with the bickering, we're all adults after all. Now, Omni-Voyant, explain why you're on Vakar or else I'll have to take a more active role in proceedings. If you rally can see the future, you know I'm not bluffing."

"Very well, Time Lord, if it satisfies you. We experience time in a far more fluid manner than other races. We see what was, what may be, and what has yet to occur. We sense the probabilities of every possible future, we can infer will exact certainty the outcome of any possible action. The Time Lords seek mastery, dominion, over time itself. We seek instead to become one with it. We simply ebb and flow in its currents, using our gifts to avert calamity."

"Hogwash!" cried the Warrior. "Nothing more than parlor tricks and delusions of grandeur. Nobody can have that power, it's not possible. Even if it were, to utilize it would be unthinkable!"

"Believe what you must, Time Lord." replied the Omni-Voyant. For a moment, I thought I detected something in it's voice, some sliver of emotion breaking through the facade. It sounded sorrowful. "This war of yours has dragged on for too long."

"It is not my war." snapped the Warrior.

"Yet you take part in it nonetheless. The Time War corrupts every world that it is fought on. Reality itself is strained as your people and the Daleks lead the Universe into chaos, one battlefield at a time. All of existence is threatened, everything good and pure in danger of destruction. Even we in all our wisdom cannot determine its final outcome. With all of time and space in flux, on the bring of extermination, our vision is clouded."

The Warrior was standing, hands clenched by his side, a furious mix of rage and grief while he grappled with the abject and abstract horrors of the Time War. Even so, or because of it, he couldn't resist a cheap shot. With a raspy chuckle, he spoke.
"So much for Omni-Vision then!"

"You jest, Time Lord. But we have seen several ends of this war, none more likely than the rest. We have seen the very end of time itself, a future dominated by tyrannical Time Lords ruling with an iron fist, and a universe under the yoke of the Dalek empire."

"See what I mean Arven? Charlatans, he's just picked the three most generic scenarios possible. Never trust a soothsayer who doesn't give details."

"We see another future too. One with a solitary survivor, the Lonely God and last of his kind, cursed to bear his guilt throughout the ages, eternally seeking atonement."

"Hah, the most outlandish theory yet."

"Tell that to the Big Bad Wolf."

"Sorry, excuse me, but you still haven't told us your plan with the Vakarians. Why drag them in? You hardly expect them to win this war for you?!" I interjected. That last premonition sounded a bit too accurate. Couldn't let the Doctor hear about his own future.

"We are using the indigenous population below to test our newly developed Paradox Engines. The only way this war can end, is if we return to its earliest days and prevent hostilities from occurring."

"All knowing one, you do realise that that was literally the first stratagem attempted by both sides. There are defences in place to prevent such incursions."

"All eventualities are considered. All possible countermeasures to the Paradox Engines can be anticipated and circumvented. With such engines, we can remove both the Daleks and Time Lords from the Universe, before they ever existed."

DW - War: The Soldier's Song (3)

The Warrior led the way out of the TARDIS, and I followed tight on his heels. We emerged in a wide open space, full of muted brown and grey rocky crags. In the distance, I saw a group of four legged beasts locking horns in some kind of fight for dominance. It was a dreary planet, with very little character of its own, devoid of colour and vibrancy. A cold, harsh place, much like a post apocalyptic Swindon. Of course a place like this would give rise to a species as brutish and inelegant as the Vakarians.

"See that settlement over there, on the horizon?" The Warrior asked, pointing towards a number of raised structures. From this distance, it looked like a collection of stone outcrops, rather than a collection of buildings. It was easy to imagine the Vakarians living in hollowed out caves, as they weren't exactly architecturally gifted.

"I think so, but it could just be a natural rock formation." I replied.

"That's because it is. Vakarians live in the abandoned nests of the wild Terrorms. Like a sort of giant rock eating worm."

"So, a literal earthworm?" I asked, suddenly concerned about the ground we were stood upon. The Warrior laughed, and put an arm around my shoulder.

"Nothing to fear, my boy. It'll have been hunted and killed by that tribe long before now. I'd be more concerned about the sky if I were you."

I looked up in alarm, visions of humongous swooping terrors circling above us, filling my head with fear. I relaxed slightly when all I could see was a silvery grey uniformity above us.

"Why, what's living up there?" I asked, cautiously.

"I honestly don't know, but that's not the point. Vakar is supposed to have a purple sky, with twin red dwarf stars visible in the sky at all times. It's an old planet, so old that it's lost all angular momentum in it's axial direction. There are no day or night cycles here." He explained, patiently.

"So the question is, why does it appear silver..." I said, thinking aloud. Now that I was looking intently, I could notice a slight purple ring near the horizon in every direction. An indigo haze on the edges of the sky. "It can't be..."

"Oh, I'm afraid it is. We're looking at the underside of a spaceship!"

"But, it must be miles in diameter! How can such a thing exist, especially so low in the atmosphere?" I said, stunned at the sheer scale of what I was observing. A silver disc the size of a large city was hanging above the surface of Vakar.

"I believe you said that the Vakarians were elevated technologically by their Shining Gods? This magnitude of engineering would be child's play to a race capable of constructing paradox engines." I could tell he was enjoying this moment. I dared not say anything, but I could tell he was relishing the chance to show off, to explain majestic visages to a companion... He was, however briefly, the Doctor again. In this instant, the War was forgotten.

"So, sounds like that space city is where we'll find our answers." I finally said. The Warrior nodded, and we reentered the TARDIS. Full or purpose, I watched as he skillfully manipulated the controls. I swear I even saw a smile on his face, briefly. Though, it soon gave way to a frown as we both realized that we still hadn't landed.
"Most curious... Come on, old girl. What's the matter?" He muttered to himself more than anything. "Drat! The vessel is shielded somehow, the TARDIS is struggled to break through. Maybe if I increase the Helmic Regul...." With a flourish, he yanked a leverdown dramatically. And the lights in the TARDIS dimmed as the engines fell silent. "What?!" He exclaimed. "Something has disabled her, and we're caught in a tractor beam!"

"Guess we're at the mercy of the Shining Gods then." I said, trying to sound braver than I felt. With a final shudder, the TARDIS was docked. The lights dimmed further and the central Time Rotor stopped moving. The TARDIS was deathly silent.
"We'd better not keep our hosts waiting." said the Warrior, his voice once again tinged with a hard edge. I felt slight pity for the Shining Gods, they had made things personal by affecting his TARDIS.
"Best foot forward, Arven!"

This time, we emerged in a room so white and stark that I was momentarily blinded by the glare. As my eyes adjusted, I could begin to make out the boundaries of the chamber we were in. Standing in front of us was a solitary humanoid figure. It glowed with an internal light, it's very skin was luminous, so bright that I could hardly keep my eyes on it. It's arms were raised in a welcoming gesture.

"Welcome, Time Lord. Welcome, human. Your arrival has been expected. You are right on time." It spoke in a soft, melodic voice. The aural equivalent of smooth luxurious velvet. The Warrior seemed less distracted by his surroundings than I, and continued to speak freely.

"I must say, I love what you've done to the place, even if it's not to my tastes. Reminds me to much of home. Besides, it must be a nightmare to keep clean. White shows up any speck of dirt."

I was beginning to get used to the creature in front of me, and found the courage to speak myself. "You must be the Shining Gods of the Vakarians then?"

The creature lacked a face, as far as I could tell, so I couldn't read it's expression. After a long pause, it spoke.
"That is the name given to us by the Vakarians, yes."

"So what do you call yourselves then?" asked the Warrior.

"We are the Omni-Voyants." said the figure. Could it mean what I thought it meant? Like clairvoyants, only more wide reaching and omniscient?

"Never heard of you." replied the Warrior. "But isn't that a bit pretentious... somewhat arrogant? Not to mention a little on the nose?"