Frontline
Rating: PG
Prompt: #022 - Enemies
Claim: The Time War
Table: Here
Spoilers: None
Characters: Master, Eighth Doctor
Summary: It's time for the Master to leave the sinking ship.
There was no frontline in this war. The enemy was everywhere and everywhen, with a little oasis of peace in the middle of it all, shrinking by the second. Gallifrey was lost, even though the Time Lords still denied it, kept on fighting because there was nothing else they could do. Actually, the man standing inside his war TARDIS looking for gaps in the battle going on around him had never thoughts they’d have it in them. He’d believed they would lay down they arms and just passively wait for the end the moment they realised it was inevitable.
But perhaps they hadn’t realised it yet. This wasn’t them going down fighting, this was them refusing to accept their own inferiority. It could be despair keeping them going, stupidity or arrogance. For the first time he realised he had been detached from his people for so long that he couldn’t tell which one it was, but he was assuming a mix of all these.
The battle was worse than any before, but this one the Daleks would lose. It was too close to the home world - the Time Lords threw in all they had, and he could see that soon they would gain the upper hand. It didn’t matter in the long run. The Daleks would come back with reinforcements, an even lager battle fleet, while the Time Lords had nothing to replace their losses. With the next battle, Gallifrey would fall.
Until then it would be the last safe place in the universe, for everyone but him. To him, the Daleks were not he only enemies here, and the frontier truly didn’t end.
He had no illusions; even if they had won the war, the high council would not have left him live. Their promises were worthless, and that made them, and their entire race, his enemies too.
They’d probably hoped he wouldn’t notice. How naïve. After all, they were known for their long tradition of using people and throwing them away when it suited them.
Well, and he was known for being selfish and unreliable. It was nice to see how everyone lived up to their reputation.
There was no gap in the battlefield, and there would be none in the next one. In the time between he couldn’t move freely, but now everyone was distracted. This was his chance to escape termination.
And if there was no gap, he had to create one.
His TARDIS was a new model, especially made for this war. It was stronger, faster and better armed than most others. In the chaos around his ship, he looked for a weak spot, an opening in the wall of enemies of different kinds, filled only by one of the old ships that would fall to his fire in seconds.
He had no time to waste. Once he had openly turned against them, they would openly turn against him. By then, he would prefer to be somewhere else.
Eventually he found his target: A lone TARDIS, fighting two Dalek ships at the edge of the battle zone, the one thing between him and freedom. It was old, probably the oldest around, its shields no match for his weapons. On top of that, it was already malfunctioning, its shape stuck forever in an impractical form…
No. Not that one.
He chose another one, not quite as old but already badly damaged. With some luck they’d think it exploded on its own and would not bother giving him any undue attention.
The broken TARDIS went up in flames, its pieces fading from existence quickly, and the path to freedom was clear.
“Stop right there, or I’ll destroy you!”
The voice made him turn on his heels, sounding right behind him as if the person speaking was in the same room. And there he was, a holographic projection that had been send straight through his shields in disregard of him not having his communication devices activated. Really, this man and his barely functioning TARDIS never chased to amaze him.
The holographic image was pointing no weapon at him - that would have been silly. But he still knew that a lot of weapons were pointed at him anyway, so archaic that the shields of his ship might not be able to deal with them. How unpleasant.
“I very much doubt so, Doctor.”
“You know who I am?” He didn’t recognize him. Maybe, had they met in person, he would.
“Oh, who doesn’t? You’re not going to kill me, there’s no reason.”
Over on his own ship, right now following the much newer one through space, the Doctor narrowed his eyes. “I wouldn’t count on my pacifistic reputation if I were you. You had no reason to destroy that TARDIS. Why did you do that?”
He laughed. It was just so typical for the Doctor to ask that. “Because all is lost, and you can die without me.”
The Doctor didn’t understand. “But these are your people! You know what will happen when the Daleks win.”
“The Daleks have already won. And the Time Lords are no less my enemies than them. That they forced me into servitude doesn’t make me owe them anything.”
There were many things the Doctor could have said this moment. In regard to the battle still going on around them, he had to give him credit for focusing on the most relevant one:
“That makes you my enemy, too. And there is no reason for me not to kill you. Believe me, I can do it.”
“And I could do the same. But you won’t.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“I’m not threatening anyone. You’d have to shoot me from behind while I’m running away. If even you did that, the there’d be nothing left on Gallifrey worth fighting for.”
He hadn’t expected the Doctor to laugh.
“If you judge the worth of our species by my behaviour, you should have picked someone better suited for it.” Perhaps, but he’d always done it this way.
“Besides,” the Doctor continued, slowly walking around the console. “You said it yourself: The Daleks have already won.” They were almost beyond the influence of the projectors keeping any ship from entering the vortex.
“I said that. But you don’t really believe it, do you? The entire universe obliterated by the Daleks? You’ll never let that happen.”
“And still you’re running away.”
“Like I said, only enemies around.”
The Doctor’s projection reached him and stopped. They were almost the same height.
“Then what keeps you from killing me?”
Now he smiled. He leaned forward. And he spoke into the Doctor’s face, “You are my enemy. But I’d get bored without you.”
Blue eyes widened, but the barrier lay behind them and the Master’s TARDIS escaped into the vortex before the Doctor could say his name.
June 02, 2009
Prompt: #022 - Enemies
Claim: The Time War
Table: Here
Spoilers: None
Characters: Master, Eighth Doctor
Summary: It's time for the Master to leave the sinking ship.
There was no frontline in this war. The enemy was everywhere and everywhen, with a little oasis of peace in the middle of it all, shrinking by the second. Gallifrey was lost, even though the Time Lords still denied it, kept on fighting because there was nothing else they could do. Actually, the man standing inside his war TARDIS looking for gaps in the battle going on around him had never thoughts they’d have it in them. He’d believed they would lay down they arms and just passively wait for the end the moment they realised it was inevitable.
But perhaps they hadn’t realised it yet. This wasn’t them going down fighting, this was them refusing to accept their own inferiority. It could be despair keeping them going, stupidity or arrogance. For the first time he realised he had been detached from his people for so long that he couldn’t tell which one it was, but he was assuming a mix of all these.
The battle was worse than any before, but this one the Daleks would lose. It was too close to the home world - the Time Lords threw in all they had, and he could see that soon they would gain the upper hand. It didn’t matter in the long run. The Daleks would come back with reinforcements, an even lager battle fleet, while the Time Lords had nothing to replace their losses. With the next battle, Gallifrey would fall.
Until then it would be the last safe place in the universe, for everyone but him. To him, the Daleks were not he only enemies here, and the frontier truly didn’t end.
He had no illusions; even if they had won the war, the high council would not have left him live. Their promises were worthless, and that made them, and their entire race, his enemies too.
They’d probably hoped he wouldn’t notice. How naïve. After all, they were known for their long tradition of using people and throwing them away when it suited them.
Well, and he was known for being selfish and unreliable. It was nice to see how everyone lived up to their reputation.
There was no gap in the battlefield, and there would be none in the next one. In the time between he couldn’t move freely, but now everyone was distracted. This was his chance to escape termination.
And if there was no gap, he had to create one.
His TARDIS was a new model, especially made for this war. It was stronger, faster and better armed than most others. In the chaos around his ship, he looked for a weak spot, an opening in the wall of enemies of different kinds, filled only by one of the old ships that would fall to his fire in seconds.
He had no time to waste. Once he had openly turned against them, they would openly turn against him. By then, he would prefer to be somewhere else.
Eventually he found his target: A lone TARDIS, fighting two Dalek ships at the edge of the battle zone, the one thing between him and freedom. It was old, probably the oldest around, its shields no match for his weapons. On top of that, it was already malfunctioning, its shape stuck forever in an impractical form…
No. Not that one.
He chose another one, not quite as old but already badly damaged. With some luck they’d think it exploded on its own and would not bother giving him any undue attention.
The broken TARDIS went up in flames, its pieces fading from existence quickly, and the path to freedom was clear.
“Stop right there, or I’ll destroy you!”
The voice made him turn on his heels, sounding right behind him as if the person speaking was in the same room. And there he was, a holographic projection that had been send straight through his shields in disregard of him not having his communication devices activated. Really, this man and his barely functioning TARDIS never chased to amaze him.
The holographic image was pointing no weapon at him - that would have been silly. But he still knew that a lot of weapons were pointed at him anyway, so archaic that the shields of his ship might not be able to deal with them. How unpleasant.
“I very much doubt so, Doctor.”
“You know who I am?” He didn’t recognize him. Maybe, had they met in person, he would.
“Oh, who doesn’t? You’re not going to kill me, there’s no reason.”
Over on his own ship, right now following the much newer one through space, the Doctor narrowed his eyes. “I wouldn’t count on my pacifistic reputation if I were you. You had no reason to destroy that TARDIS. Why did you do that?”
He laughed. It was just so typical for the Doctor to ask that. “Because all is lost, and you can die without me.”
The Doctor didn’t understand. “But these are your people! You know what will happen when the Daleks win.”
“The Daleks have already won. And the Time Lords are no less my enemies than them. That they forced me into servitude doesn’t make me owe them anything.”
There were many things the Doctor could have said this moment. In regard to the battle still going on around them, he had to give him credit for focusing on the most relevant one:
“That makes you my enemy, too. And there is no reason for me not to kill you. Believe me, I can do it.”
“And I could do the same. But you won’t.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“I’m not threatening anyone. You’d have to shoot me from behind while I’m running away. If even you did that, the there’d be nothing left on Gallifrey worth fighting for.”
He hadn’t expected the Doctor to laugh.
“If you judge the worth of our species by my behaviour, you should have picked someone better suited for it.” Perhaps, but he’d always done it this way.
“Besides,” the Doctor continued, slowly walking around the console. “You said it yourself: The Daleks have already won.” They were almost beyond the influence of the projectors keeping any ship from entering the vortex.
“I said that. But you don’t really believe it, do you? The entire universe obliterated by the Daleks? You’ll never let that happen.”
“And still you’re running away.”
“Like I said, only enemies around.”
The Doctor’s projection reached him and stopped. They were almost the same height.
“Then what keeps you from killing me?”
Now he smiled. He leaned forward. And he spoke into the Doctor’s face, “You are my enemy. But I’d get bored without you.”
Blue eyes widened, but the barrier lay behind them and the Master’s TARDIS escaped into the vortex before the Doctor could say his name.
June 02, 2009