Stop the Cavalry - Written by Peter Darwin
“Extra-terrestrial life present just above the atmosphere”
“Oy. Shush,” complained the Doctor. He had his reading glasses perched on his nose, and he was buried deeply in a book. There was a knock at the door of the clock tower. The Doctor sighed.
“Come in!” he shouted. The door creaked open and April bounced in, dressed in her usual winter attire.
“Ah, hello!” the Doctor smiled.
“What’s up?” April asked. She saw the book in the Doctor’s hands, then the tall pile next to him on the desk.
“Just a bit of light reading,” the Doctor said, not even a hint of irony in his voice regarding the large stack of novels.
“Never heard of any of them,” April looked through the pile. “Apart from this one,” she held up ‘A Christmas Carol’.
“Yeah. Most of them are from Earth. Very popular, great books”
“Right. Where did you get all these from? Because your box left you here then flew away”
“You’d be surprised”
“Alien life –,” Handles chimed in. The Doctor threw it over his shoulders.
“That Cyberhead,” the Doctor seethed with annoyance.
“One day it’ll be right and you’ll look really stupid,” April chuckled.
“Anyway. Dad wants your help”
“With what?”
“The sky”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know!”
“I don’t know anything, what do I not know?”
“I thought you noticed these things. Anyway. There was no day”
“What?” the Doctor’s face fell.
“I mean that there was no day at all. That can’t be that bad, can it? Dad seems to think it’s something that’s bad”
“That’s because it is. Day light only lasts a couple of minutes, but even so, they’re important minutes”
“Well any idea what it is?”
“No. I don’t know. Unless there’s something that’s blocking out the sun. I mean it must be pretty big if it is”
Then came a noise, like a plastic bag exploding, echoed across the sky. Then the church shook. Dust fell from the ceiling. April was flung off her chair, screaming.
“What the hell?” she bellowed, trying to climb back on her chair.
“Hold on!” the Doctor grabbed his desk, trying to stay in place on his seat. The shaking came to a sudden stop. A huge, childish grin spread across his face.
“Doctor!” the doors of the church flew open, and Archie stood in the doorway.
“Hello!” the Doctor picked himself up, grinning.
“You should come and see this,” Archie said. If the Doctor’s face could light up even more, it did. He strode out of the doors, throwing his coat over him and picking up his umbrella. Archie pointed up.
“What is it?” April asked.
“Sontarans,” the Doctor said grimly, gazing at the sphere in the sky, eight curved claws protruding from the sides. It flashed and sparkled as it sat, stationary in the sky.
“I think that’s what was blocking out the sun,” the Doctor said.
“That’s not that bad, is it? We fought the Sontarans before, and they were a bit stupid,” April joked.
“No. We are in big, big trouble, this is the no-nonsense, the big geezers. That thing, pfft, could wipe out this entire planet in seconds,” the Doctor stood in awe of the ship.
“But we can stop them?”
“Yes we can! It’s time for me to do that thing where I get all clever then know what I’m doing”
“How long till they arrive?” Archie asked.
“Well, it’s blatantly obvious that they have,” April rolled her eyes.
“I mean on the planet”
“Good question, Archie, one of which I don’t know the answer to. However, I’m going to take a rough estimate of, eh, two minutes”
“Two minutes?” Archie screeched.
“Oy, shush. Two minutes, plenty of time. Okay, Archie, do whatever it is you do in situations like this, April, with me,” he strolled off, twirling his umbrella. “Also, if they do arrive. Back of the neck. That’s where you hit them”
April followed him close behind. Archie stood, peering up at the sky, sighing. The sooner the Doctor was out of the way, the better.
“Any ideas?” April asked, as they walked quickly back towards the church.
“Nope. None at all. I just said all that to keep your dad happy. I’ll think of something”
“So, these guys can basically destroy the planet?”
“Those guys,” the Doctor said sarcastically. “Have managed to get through the Papal Mainframe’s shield, April. They could blow us up, freeze us, boil us, anything,” the Doctor leapt through the doors of the church. He grabbed his sonic screwdriver from the bench. The Doctor ran back out through the doors and pointed it at the sky, holding down the button. He knew, secretly, he was only doing this to look clever and to keep people calm. For once, maybe, just this once, he was out his depth.
“You really don’t know, do you?” April stood in the doorway of the church, as the Doctor sheepishly lowered the sonic screwdriver.
“No. I really don’t know. Normally, batch of Sontarans, no problem. But now, stuck here, with nothing apart from my sonic screwdriver”
“Don’t say that. You’ve got me"
April and the Doctor didn’t know that Archie had heard all of this, stood in a nearby alleyway. Not for much longer he thought, feeling a short pang of regret. He was surprised – it was the last thing he expected to feel.
“Of course I’ve got you, without you I’d be a lot more bored. And your dad, I can make fun of him, it’s brilliant,” the Doctor said, Archie overhearing this as well. He tried to resist the temptation to step out. He did so anyway, walking out from the gloom.
“Doctor, they’ve arrived. A large number of them on the outskirts of town. They’re coming towards us now”
“Archie, make sure everyone stays in their homes. Don’t let them go outside. Archie dashed off. The Doctor could hear the clanking of Sontaran armour in the distance.
“So, April, as always,” he turned to face her. “Don’t panic and be careful. Ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she smiled. They walked through an alleyway that lead out on to the fields surrounding Christmas. The Sontarans stood in a neat formation in front of the Doctor.
“Good day!” the Doctor smiled. “Not the best opening gambit on Trenzalore, to be honest”
The Sontarans stood blankly in front of him, their heads covered in bulky helmets.
“April, say hello,” the Doctor said.
“Hi,” she smiled excitedly.
“This is usually the part where you try and look all threatening,” the Doctor joked.
The Sontaran in the centre of the pack removed its helmet. The head of a Sontaran emerged.
“I am Commander Kelx, representing the 45th Sontaran battlefleet headed by General Skarn”
“I’m the Doctor, this is April. Blimey. I remember the 10th Sontaran battlefleet. You’re making me feel old”
“We know who you and the female are, Doctor. We have been monitoring this planet for some time. You will surrender the people of this village,” the Sontaran Commander scowled at him.
“Not today, not ever. I’ve protected this village for a while now, and I will continue to for as long as I live”
“Then you shall be killed!” the Sontaran raised a blaster.
“Please, gentlemen, put the guns down. You kill me and the planet falls apart, two million spaceships, concentrating their firepower on this planet. Bad move, if you ask me”
The Sontaran didn’t move.
“Well, it was worth a try. Commander Kelx, please, you can take me, just leave April alone”
“That won’t be necessary,” Archie’s voice came from behind the Doctor. He was stood there, surrounded by soldiers in camouflage. The Papal Mainframe. The Doctor grinned.
“Archie Sawyer, I could kiss you”
“Please don’t,” Archie sighed.
“The 45th Sontaran battlefleet could obliterate these soldiers in a matter of seconds,” Kelx growled.
“Any of you take one step closer and I can guarantee I’ll have you off this planet in, let’s say, half an hour,” the Doctor glanced at his watch.
“That’s not that long,” Archie said.
“Half an hour, we’ll send you packing,” the Doctor ignored him.
“So be it,” Commander Kelx practically spat the words out. The Sontarans vanished in a flash of blue light.
“That was… quite easy,” April said.
“Yeah, ever so slightly too easy, Archie, April, soldiers, don’t move”
The Sontarans stood in the centre of the field. The Doctor covered his eyes, as a blue light blinded him. His vision slowly reappeared. In the distance, was line upon line of Sontaran troops.
“And I was right. How many soldiers have we got?”
“There’s ten here. We’ve got another fifty on standby,” one of the soldiers replied.
“Not nearly enough. Time to do something clever. I’m going to work on something to stop them. I dunno how yet, but a bit of nifty persuasion, they’ll be running away screaming. Soldiers, stay here. Defend as well as you can. April, follow me”
“Commander Kelx incoming, sir!” Lieutenant Skrox said, looking at a large, holographic screen. The Commander appeared at the centre of the bridge.
“The soldiers are in position, sir,” Commander Kelx moved and sat at a circular desk that had been split in to four sections. There was a gap in the centre of the desks that looked down upon a large, cylindrical hall in the spaceship, with bridges stretching across the gap. A Sontaran sat in each section.
“Good,” General Skarn said. “Any resistance from the Doctor?”
“When I teleported down I confronted him. He threatened to have killed us all in half an hour. He had a small squad of soldiers”
“Well then!” Skarn laughed. “I would like to see the Doctor deal with us”
“Sir. May I have the honour of fighting alongside the invasion force?” Kelx
“You may! Captain Kelsh, you shall join him as well!” General Skarn said.
“Thank you, sir!” the fourth Sontaran grinned.
“I plan to make an appearance myself,” he licked his lips.
“Tasha,” the Doctor grabbed a communicator from the desk, talking in to it.
“Doctor!” her voice came back down. She was perched on the altar in her chambers.
“We’ve got a problem. Big Sontaran spaceship, thousands of Sontarans”
“Yes. We’ve got 50 soldiers on standby”
“Yeah, I’ve heard all this. 50 soldiers aren’t gonna be nearly enough. It’ll be massacre”
“It’s the best we can do for an invasion force we know nothing about”
“Nothing? I certainly know a lot about the Sontarans, and let me tell you, Tasha Lem, we should not take any risks. This is the most advanced warrior race in the universe who have somehow broken through your forcefield and are currently hovering about up there in a spaceship armed to the teeth, we need as many men as we can get”
“Okay. Fine. I’ll send Colonel Dorav”
“Ooh, him? From the pub? I liked him. Also, I need you to do something”
“What?”
“Set up a teleport link between my tower and that Sontaran ship. I want to have a look up there myself”
“Doing it now. You should be able to do it with the screwdriver. Sending coordinates now”
“Thanks,” the Doctor extended the sonic screwdriver.
The Doctor materialised in the centre of the bridge. He peered around nervously at the Sontarans who looked up from their controls.
“Oh… hello!” he smiled sheepishly.
“The Doctor!” General Skarn smiled. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you!”
“You must be General Skarn,” the Doctor smiled.
“Correct! Your reputation for getting in to places you shouldn’t proceeds you”
“Thanks?” the Doctor murmured. “Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah. I met some Sontarans recently. They were a bit, well, deluded. Didn’t seem to have a clue with what they were doing”
“A rouge batch!” Skarn growled.
“Anyway. I had something to ask you. Get off this planet”
“Not a chance! Christmas is surrounded. The Papal Mainframe cannot do anything to stop our invasion force. It will be destroyed!” Skarn stood up and strode confidently towards the Doctor.
“The people of Christmas have done nothing wrong. Leave them alone. You don’t need to kill them”
“One hour, Doctor! That is when we launch the attack. If you want even a small chance of victory, I suggest you start preparing”
“General Skarn, I think you should’ve thought very, very hard before you said that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, things to do, people to see, baked potatoes to stop,” the Doctor flicked his sonic screwdriver in the air, and he vanished.
“An admirable warrior. One who I will take great joy in destroying,” General Skarn clenched his fist.
“Doctor,” Dorav saluted. The Doctor was about to attempt the same. “I wouldn’t worry this time,” he interrupted. They walked behind a tall, steel barricade that covered the whole village. The Papal Mainframe poked blasters through gaps towards the Sontarans that stood motionless in the fields.
“We’re going at them with concentrated plasma bursts,” Dorav held up a small box that fitted neatly in to the side of his gun. The Doctor nodded, pretending he knew what Dorav was talking about.
“This should hopefully be enough to penetrate the armour and bring them down quickly and effectively”
“Good, Dorav, I don’t know what I’d do without you”
“Likewise,” Dorav murmured, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “I’ve armed the Sheriff, and if you wish to take a weapon I have one here”
“No thanks. I think Archie be able to defend well enough without me needing to take a gun as well,” the Doctor said, slightly worried about the thought of Archie with a gun.
“Hold them off as long as possible, I’m going back to my clock,” the Doctor ran off.
“It’s time, Commander Kelx. Begin the invasion!” Skarn bellowed.
“As you wish, sir!” Kelx held a communicator to his ear. “SONTAR HA!”
“SONTAR HA!” the noise of a million Sontarans shouting enveloped the town of Christmas. Guns came to life on both sides, Sontarans firing at humans and humans firing at Sontarans. The Doctor looked out from the top of the clock tower at the battle. Sontarans piled towards the soldiers of the Papal Mainframe, but the Mainframe put up a good fight, defending Christmas well. The Doctor knew that if he didn’t do something soon then the Sontarans would take control quickly. He ran down the steps to the bottom of the tower. The communicator on the desk began to beep, and Tasha’s voice came through it.
“Doctor. The Sontarans have already killed half of the soldiers. We’ve hardly even started fighting. I can send a few more men down, but we can’t sacrifice any more than that”
“I’m thinking, I really am, but there’s nothing we can do. Maybe they’ve got us. Maybe this is it”
“The only option we’re going to have is to destroy their flagship”
“Not yet. I really don’t want to have to kill them all unless I have to”
“Have we not proved that we have to? They’ve already decimated half our available forces”
“And if we kill them all then they might just somehow get a message to a backup force that will come down to Trenzalore and take advantage of the fact that we’ve got no way of fighting back. We need to convince them to leave”
“Fine. But we’re not taking any risks”
A few minutes later April ran in.
“They’ve started,” she said, red faced and breathing heavily.
“Yes, I know. There’s something I’m missing. Something ever so sort of big,” the Doctor paced up and down the room.
“Dad’s going round the village, telling people to stay in their homes”
“I’m gonna need to do something soon. I’ve given them a choice. They’ve refused. Now… well, I have to go for the next logical solution”
“What?” April was confused.
“Blow up that flagship. Destroy it and everyone on it”
“You’re the one who’s war and destruction”
“Well what else do I do? And if it doesn’t happen now, the Sontarans are going to mow down the Papal Mainframe and kill everyone. And I’m not going to let that happen”
“Yeah, it’s the easiest thing to do, but is it right?”
“Right, eh. April, think about it like this. Let the Sontarans live, or watch your life be torn down as you watch?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I’ve never had to contemplate destroying a spaceship before”
“No, and I hope you never have to again,” the Doctor said. He reached for a communicator. “Tasha. I’ve decided what we’re going to do”
“Oh yes?”
“We’re going to destroy them”
“Tasha,” the Doctor picked up the communicator. “We’ve decided, we need you to take out that spaceship”
“Thank you. Unfortunately, we’re going to need to do it from the inside. It crossed through the shield, so we can’t destroy it”
“You can’t destroy things through your own shield?” the Doctor asked.
“No. I suppose it just makes the planet… extra safe,” she said, just to shut the Doctor up. “We will need to send people on there to destroy it”
“Yes, alright, I’ll do it,” the Doctor answered the question he knew she was about to ask.
“I wasn’t even going to give you a choice,” Tasha laughed.
“I didn’t think you would. How are we actually going to blow it up?”
“We have some Verronic weaponry, once donated by one of their Verron Soothsayers”
“Like the Warp Star?”
“Yes. But probably something less powerful. We want to be able to get you out of there alive but keep the Sontarans in there”
“Right. Okay”
“I’ll send it down to you now. Make the strike whenever you like. Just do it soon. For all our sakes”
The communicator went dead.
“Well. She seemed… grumpy,” April said.
“To be fair on her, she is currently having the majority of her army slaughtered, I think she probably has every right to be irritable”
“Yeah… right, be careful. I’m just going to find dad and make sure he’s okay”
“Captain Kelst! Report!” Skarn shouted, as Kelst appeared in the centre of the bridge.
“They are doing a surprisingly good job at taking out our soldiers, sir. However, it should not be a problem. We are returning with quick fire!”
“Marvellous!”
“Sir!” Skrox shouted.
“Lieutenant?” Skarn turned to him.
“We have intercepted a signal from the Doctor to the head of the Church of the Papal Mainframe?”
“Oh yes?” Skarn smiled.
“They plan to destroy our flagship, sir”
“Oh. They do? Well. Teleport me down. Send me to the Doctor,” Skarn said. “I want to deal with him myself, general to general. And anyway, I think it’s time I joined this battle properly!”
The Doctor had received a small, shiny crystal from a large, strong looking soldier. The Doctor was busy with some wires and his sonic screwdriver. He had somehow got himself in to a strange tangle that he was trying to free himself from. He jumped when he heard a fist crash against the door.
“Doctor!” General Skarn’s voice came from outside. The Doctor’s face fell. What was the Sontaran general doing outside the door? He didn’t even sound like he had any soldiers with him. What if they’d destroyed the Papal Mainframe? Or they’d got April? Or, and he found it strange thinking about it, Archie. He had never really got along with him before, but recently they weren’t anywhere nearly as hostile towards each other. The Doctor climbed up, a coil of wire still wrapped around his leg. He walked towards the tower doors and slowly opened them.
“General Skarn!” the Doctor grinned. “Hello!”
“Doctor!” General Skarn raised a blaster towards the Doctor. “I am sorry I am here. I had hoped that this would not have had to happen, that we, as the generals of our armies, would have the honour in destroying each other. Unfortunately we intercepted a transmission sent from you to the Papal Mainframe!”
“Oh yeah. That one. I was hoping you wouldn’t here that. Out of interest, how did you get through?”
“I was teleported down to the edge of the shield surrounding Christmas. I quickly slipped through”
“You didn’t even bring a few guards?”
“It felt only appropriate that I, and I alone, should be the one to kill you!”
“Why? Seriously, you spend all this time talking, no doing. It’s really quite time consuming”
“As the two greatest warriors playing in the siege of Trenzalore!”
“Please, stop referring to me as that. And also, please don’t talk about this as if we’re playing a game. You may see it as one. The Daleks, The Cybermen, the Nestene’s, everyone else, may see it as one. But none of you at all seem to take in to account who this is really about, the people of this town. Stop treating it like a game when people have died”
“It appears that we have played well, and you have nearly lost,” Skarn ignored him. The gun began to whir.
“I’ve had enough of you,” the Doctor flicked the sonic screwdriver at him. Skarn vanished, materialising back on to the bridge of the Sontaran flagship.
“NO!” Skarn yelled so loudly Skrox was taken aback. “I will NOT be defeated by some pitiful Time Lord,” he stomped round to his desk. Meanwhile, the Doctor retreated back in to the clock tower. The communicator beeped. He was shocked when Skarn’s voice roared down the other end.
“I will burn you, Doctor. We will wipe you out. We will crush you puny, scrawny, disgusting humans from your hovels. We will destroy you and everything that you stand for. SONTAR HA!”
The communicator went dead.
“Hello,” Archie walked through the doors of the church, a gun resting in a holster attached to his trousers. The Doctor sat at his desk, fiddling with a peculiar crystal and some wires.
“Ah, Archie!” the Doctor said, not even glancing up from what he was doing.
“Are we nearly-,” Archie was interrupted.
“Yes, don’t worry. This,” the Doctor held up the crystal. “Is going to destroy their spaceship. They will have no choice to surrender, and if they don’t, it’s at least a fight that we can easily win.
The Doctor wasn’t particularly bothered about the fact that Skarn knew he was planning to destroy them.
“Oh,” Archie was shocked. It was unlike the Doctor to actually take proper action. “That’s… really, really good”
It seemed like something was wrong.
“It’s a horrible thing, war,” the Doctor looked at Archie, a look of sadness in his eyes.
“I can tell it’s really affected you”
“Really?”
“April could tell as well”
“I was fine, I was on it, I thought I could stop them like I normally do with a click of my fingers and a clever trick up my sleeve. But no”
“I think you’ve done a good job”
“Really? I don’t”
Archie nodded. He didn’t know what to say.
“Well, you’re a better man than me. I wouldn’t think twice,” Archie said.
“I know, not many people would. It’s because of them that I do,” he said arrogantly. “Anyway,” the Doctor held up a crystal dangling from a tangle of wires.
“Will that do it? Destroy them all?”
“I do hope so!” the Doctor smiled.
“Their troops have been whittled down, sir!” Lieutenant Skrox said. “However, they have destroyed many of our troops as well”
“Begin the final phase!” General Skarn sat at his control panel. “I will sort out replacements for our fallen. Meanwhile… wipe them all out. Obliterate them all,” he laughed quietly.
General Skarn paced down a long hallway. There was a row of box like coffins on either side, a small window where a head would normally rest. Skarn placed his gloved arm in a panel with three shapes on, one for each finger. A holographic screen appeared in front of him. Slowly the sound of machinery whirring to life echoed across the spaceship. He could hear the sound of liquid gushing through pipes and peering in to one of the coffins, could see it filling up with green goo. Skarn laughed to himself. He was interrupted by a thump on one of the tanks. Then another. Then another. Slowly there were thumps from every coffin in the room. Looking through the glass, he could see two eyes floating to the top of the green liquid. The goo was slowly changing, forming to create the shape of a head. A potato head. The eyes rooted themselves to the shape, and a mouth became visible in the liquid. Then the mark of the noise became visible, then the water formed wrinkles on the forehead and around the head, and the outline of ears as well. Then came a gurgling sound, as the goo began to drain, leaving a crinkled, brown head in its place, and dripping with gunge. The lid of every coffin opened automatically and in each and every one, a Sontaran lay. They climbed out of their tombs, stumbling, and the armour that they had been born in clattering, as they escaped. Each Sontaran stood in front of their birthing chamber and raised a hand to its chest. Skarn left the room, pulling the lever again on his way out. The lids slammed shut, and the noise of the liquid could be heard again.
“I still feel like I’m missing something,” the Doctor buried his face in his hands. He ran every detail of the Sontaran’s plan through his mind. He thought about the way they had broken through the force field. He thought about how they attacked the village. He thought about –
Oh.
“That’s really quite good. As much as I hate to say it, General Skarn and his merry men have done a good job. I knew I was missing something,” the Doctor said to himself. He picked up his sonic screwdriver. Archie ran in.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m going back up there!” the Doctor said, disappearing in a crackle of energy. Archie looked on with a sad smile. April was right. They owed a lot to him. He had saved her from the Vashta Nerada. No. He tried to stop himself from thinking about it.
“Oh, by the way. Almost forgot to tell you,” the Doctor reappeared. Archie listened carefully, then the Doctor disappeared again.
Dorav ran backwards through an alleyway, firing as he went. He ducked under laser after laser after laser, as a line of Sontarans advanced, rapidly firing. A small gang of soldiers ran behind him. One of the Sontarans flopped to the floor as one of Dorav’s shots collided with its armour. The rest of the Sontarans didn’t stop, stomping over the body. The soldiers reached the church.
“Get inside!” Archie’s head poked round the door of the church. They all dashed inside. Dorav stood by the door, spinning his gun in his hand. He continued to shoot as Archie pulled the door shut. Dorav slumped against it.
“This is Commander Kelx of the 45th Sontaran battlefleet. Come out with your hands up,” Kelx shouted. A group of Sontarans surrounded the clock tower, their guns trained on the building.
“What’s happened?” Archie whispered to Colonel Dorav, preparing his gun.
“They’re closing in,” Dorav replied. “They’ve got the building surrounded”
“Well, what do we do?”
“We wait. If they do get through, we fight our way out. If not, we stay here until the Doctor does what he’s meant to be doing and he’s ready”
“How will we know when he’s ready?”
“He said we’ll know”
April made her way around the back of the pub, following the bleeping. Something wasn’t right. She could sense it. Everyone could sense these things – some speculated it was a gift of the truth field.
A lone ranger stood yonder, tall and menacing. It lifted its metal chest upwards like a proud soldier, motionless, as if waiting for orders. April kept her distance.
“Doctor!” she called. “DOCTOR!”
The metal man stood for a moment longer, its deep black eyes staring pensively at her. Then, in the space of a second, it charged in a motion blur.
Footprints in the snow sat on their own around the back of the pub in the town called Christmas. Footprints of where April Sawyer had once stood.
“Skarny!” the Doctor appeared in the centre of the bridge, the tiny crystal in his hand.
“We have an intruder!” Lieutenant Skrox shouted.
“Well, that’s one way of putting it! I said I’d be done in half an hour, but I got a bit held up”
“Surrender, Doctor, or I will give the order to destroy your clock tower and your friends that are currently hiding inside it,” General Skarn stood up.
“Probably haven’t noticed yet, but there’s one big, major flaw in your plan!” the Doctor flicked out the sonic screwdriver.
“Oh yes?” Skarn raised a blaster at the Doctor.
“It all relies on me. Your entire battle plan revolves around me. You know exactly how to make me angry. You know that you needed to slaughter almost all of the Papal Mainframe soldiers, but leave a small group alive to bargain with. And you also know that I’ve come up here with a really clever and amazing plan that will leave you floating through space that you are ready to stop!”
“You are correct, Doctor! We studied our previous encounters with you, formulating a perfect and unstoppable plan”
The Doctor threw the crystal on to the floor and stamped on it.
“Well go on boys, I’ve got nothing,” the Doctor smirked.
“Excuse me?” the Sontaran bellowed.
“I have no plan, no ideas, no nothing,” the Doctor shrugged.
“I will have your friends killed!” Skarn was getting worked up.
“You do that. I’ve got no weapons, no backup”
“Break down the doors. Obliterate them all,” Skarn hissed in to a device strapped to his arm. The Doctor stood, watching in silence.
“In three, two one!” Kelx shouted.
“This is it,” Dorav whispered. “Everyone prepare themselves!”
The soldiers raised their weapons, taking strategic positions around the room. The doors flew inwards. Smoke billowed around the doorframe, lasers flickering in the unknown. Everybody fired blindly. Dorav pulled out his communicator. It was beeping gently.
“Archie. Get ready. It’s time,” Dorav said.
“I don’t need to kill you to get you to leave, General Skarn”
“Oh? And why’s that?”
“I’m the Doctor,” he smiled. Five troops from the Papal Mainframe, along with Archie and Dorav, appeared next to him, guns in arms. General Skarn began to shoot, knocking one of them down. Lieutenant Skrox and the Sontaran Captain stood up from their positions and raised their blasters, joining the battle. Archie shot Lieutenant Skrox in the back of the neck, and Skrox collapsed to the floor.
“Ha ha, Doctor! We are both similar, in many ways. We both have a thirst for battle, we both lead an army and we both take no prisoners,” General Skarn and the Doctor stood just away from the fighting.
“No, Skarn. You see, the one thing that makes me different from you, from warriors, is the fact that I’m not going to commit genocide and kill every single one of you”
“Oh yes? Then what is it?”
“This is just a little gentle persuasion,” the Doctor yelled. A laser came from one corner of the room and hit Skarn in the back of the neck. He let out a long and bloodcurdling yell, then disappeared as he was taken away by a teleport. Lieutenant Skrox lay dead on the floor of the bridge along with the dead bodies of many other Sontarans. The Papal Mainframe fired down the shaft at the centre of the bridge, aiming at the Sontarans that had come to defend the spaceship. From above, the Papal Mainframe had a clear advantage.
“Are you ready?” the Doctor shouted to Archie over the noise of lasers and explosions.
“Yes! Get us out of here!” Archie replied.
The Doctor flicked the sonic screwdriver and he and Archie both vanished.
It was silent throughout Christmas. Silent night. The Doctor thought that was quite fitting. He stepped out of the church tower and looked at Skarn. He tried to stand in his normal, confident position, but struggled. He was surrounded by a field of fallen Sontarans and soldiers.
“It was an honour, Doctor”
“An honour?”
“You are an admirable warrior, Doctor. It was a true privilege to fight against you in battle”
“Warrior? I’m not a warrior”
“Look at the death and the devastation around you. The corpses burning”
“The corpses of innocent people. War takes no prisoners, General Skarn. Hey, look”
There was silence as the Doctor and Skarn watched the spaceship zoom off.
“The Papal Mainframe lowered the shield especially for you. Just enough to let you through without letting anyone else in. When I left, they were busy fighting. I expect they’ve gone now, though. Left your ship in space ruined with a few survivors, so it can’t go anywhere. But, I’m sure you lot will rebuild yourselves”
There was silence again.
“So? Go on then,” the General said.
“What?” the Doctor asked.
“Deliver the final blow. End this for good. Let me die in battle”
“I don’t know. Because if I kill you, I will be just as bad as you. Yet apparently, according to Sontaran law, you will be given a merciful death. So what happens? It’s one culture vs another. Where one would consider murder a sin, the other an achievement. Should I stick with what is really right or should I be nice? Do I decide to look past my own rules just because one particular race says that murder should be encouraged and that murder is good?”
“Doctor, kill me. I must die in battle. I must die honourably,” Skarn begged.
The Doctor thought for a second.
“By killing you, you get off scot-free. You could even say I’ve had mercy. By letting you live, you won’t die in battle. You will be declared a disgrace. A much worse fate. So do I kill you? Should I do what is truthfully right or what is right for you?” he said, ignoring Skarn.
“If you decide to kill me, you need not say anything,” Skarn turned around and placed his hands on his head. A metal pole lay on the ground beside him.
“You know, Sontarans have really twisted morals. Morals that go against almost everything I stand for Encouraging war. Encouraging murder”
A moment later and the body of Skarn lay in front of him. The Doctor turned and sullenly placed his round reading glasses over his ears. He picked up A Christmas Carol and resumed silently reading.
***
They didn’t see the Daleks coming. No one ever did. That’s how the Daleks worked. You never see them coming. The Sontarans were on their ship, licking their wounds after their defeat on Trenzalore. They didn’t notice the Dalek ship creep up on them. They didn’t notice the Dalek boarding party making their way across the empty space between the two ships. They didn’t notice the Daleks hover outside the Sontaran ship’s hull. The Daleks prepared their weapons. And fired. The Sontarans noticed the first blast. By then it was too late. The Daleks blew a hole in the ship’s hull. At once the ship decompressed and Sontarans nearby grabbed at anything as the air was sucked out. It was no use. Soon hundreds of Sontaran corpses littered the space above Trenzalore. The Daleks causally flew in. Their internal artificial gravity allowed them to land on the floor. And then they began their work. Level by level, the Daleks made their way through the ship. It was a massacre. Even a well armed Sontaran fleet stands no chance against a Dalek attack squad, let alone a weakened invasion force such as this one. Sontaran corpses covered the floor. A few of the Daleks had to hover in order to move. The last Sontaran gripped his gun and pointed it at the advancing Daleks.
“Kill me then, kill me and give me a honourable death in battle” he cried.
The Daleks looked at him.
“The Daleks require information,” screeched one of the Daleks, white in colour.
“I will die before I surrender intel!” the Sontaran shouted.
“Correct,” the Dalek boomed.
The Dalek turned to the surrounding Daleks.
“Prepare to extract and process brain waves!” it ordered.
An orange Dalek rolled forward.
“Kneel!” it cried at the Sontaran.
“Sontarans do not take orders!” the Sontaran cried, defiant to the last. It would be his last mistake.
“Kneel or you will be made to kneel!” the Dalek screeched.
The Sontaran did not move.
The Dalek pointed its gun at the Sontaran and fired. The Sontaran screamed in pain and collapsed.
“What have you done to me?!” he screamed.
“Severed your spinal cord” the Dalek responded.
It rolled forward and placed it’s plunger arm over the Sontaran’s face. The other Daleks rolled around the Sontaran and placed their plunger arms on the Sontarans head.
“Extract brain waves!” boomed the white Dalek.
The Sontaran screamed in pain. And then stopped. The Daleks withdrew. The Sontaran collapsed, his body now a withered husk.
“Report!” Boomed the Supreme white Dalek.
“The town called Christmas is easily infiltrate-able. The town’s only defence is one Time Lord.” Said a Blue Dalek.
“One Time Lord is easily dealt with,” said the Supreme, “The Daleks will wait and observe. Devise a Dalek Stratagem that cannot fail. Daleks will be victorious! Daleks will be supreme!”
“Daleks are supreme! Daleks are supreme! Daleks are supreme!” chanted the Daleks amongst the corpses of the dead...
***
April awoke, rubbing her eyes. She could still feel the suffocating grip of the metal man around her. The world slowed.
She stood up, steadying herself, trying to work out what the sound around her was.
It was a humming sound, but a humming like no other. April couldn’t identify it for the most naive of reasons.
She’d never been in a spaceship before.
***
The crack hissed.
“Quiet!” complained the Doctor. It did that sometimes, as if to make itself known, lest it somehow be forgotten. The Doctor placed a bookmark in A Christmas Carol and rested it on the table as the doors to the clock-tower slammed shut.
“Archie! What’s happening? Feeling happy today?”
Archie glowered.
“Oh, we’re back to that again.” The Doctor rolled his eyes. “You sure that April’s your daughter?”
“Shut up,” complained Archie. The Doctor was taken aback. “For once in your life, shut up. Or for the last time in your life.”
“What are you talking about?” asked the Doctor, narrowing his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” said Archie. It didn’t seem apologetic but it must have been – they were at the heart of the truth field. “I tried, I…” He wiped his brow. It was sweating. “I started feeling guilty today. And I didn’t want it to end like this, but it’s the only way. When you start on something, you have to finish it. And you can’t keep a secret. You can’t lie, not in this bloody town!” He kicked a table.
“Archie…”
Archie shot the Doctor a glare.
“You came here, all full of yourself. You came to my town, all full of glory and self-importance. You brought war to us!” His face grew red with exasperation. “We were happy before this. Happy. And everyone in the village loves you, and thinks you’re so special,” he mocked. “And now people are going to start dying, dropping like flies, in my town, because of you. People I love, who’ll die in your name, and those who are left behind will go on to worship you. I can’t take any more of it. And the worst part? You honestly believe you’re right. You believe you’re doing something good. Don’t you?”
“I-“
“Answer!” yelled Archie. The truth field stung the Doctor’s mind like a bad migraine.
“Yes.”
“Well, there we go. I feel compelled to tell you the truth now, so here it is.” He clicked his fingers. “Thank God everyone’s asleep. I wouldn’t wish a sight like this upon them.”
Stomping reverberated around the tower in time with the beating of the Doctor’s hearts. Two Cybermen entered, standing beside Archie like guards.
“There’s no one here.” Archie turned away. “You can take him.”
The Cybermen approached the Doctor and grabbed his arms. The Doctor didn’t even put up a fight.
“Look me in the eye, Archie,” commanded the Doctor.
“I’m sorry,” answered Archie. “I’m so sorry. But I don’t think I could do that.”
The Doctor laughed darkly as the Cybermen pushed him out of the tower.
“I really am sorry!” called Archie, in complete honesty. He shook his head and whispered to himself.
“If only there’d been another way.”
TO BE CONTINUED
“Oy. Shush,” complained the Doctor. He had his reading glasses perched on his nose, and he was buried deeply in a book. There was a knock at the door of the clock tower. The Doctor sighed.
“Come in!” he shouted. The door creaked open and April bounced in, dressed in her usual winter attire.
“Ah, hello!” the Doctor smiled.
“What’s up?” April asked. She saw the book in the Doctor’s hands, then the tall pile next to him on the desk.
“Just a bit of light reading,” the Doctor said, not even a hint of irony in his voice regarding the large stack of novels.
“Never heard of any of them,” April looked through the pile. “Apart from this one,” she held up ‘A Christmas Carol’.
“Yeah. Most of them are from Earth. Very popular, great books”
“Right. Where did you get all these from? Because your box left you here then flew away”
“You’d be surprised”
“Alien life –,” Handles chimed in. The Doctor threw it over his shoulders.
“That Cyberhead,” the Doctor seethed with annoyance.
“One day it’ll be right and you’ll look really stupid,” April chuckled.
“Anyway. Dad wants your help”
“With what?”
“The sky”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know!”
“I don’t know anything, what do I not know?”
“I thought you noticed these things. Anyway. There was no day”
“What?” the Doctor’s face fell.
“I mean that there was no day at all. That can’t be that bad, can it? Dad seems to think it’s something that’s bad”
“That’s because it is. Day light only lasts a couple of minutes, but even so, they’re important minutes”
“Well any idea what it is?”
“No. I don’t know. Unless there’s something that’s blocking out the sun. I mean it must be pretty big if it is”
Then came a noise, like a plastic bag exploding, echoed across the sky. Then the church shook. Dust fell from the ceiling. April was flung off her chair, screaming.
“What the hell?” she bellowed, trying to climb back on her chair.
“Hold on!” the Doctor grabbed his desk, trying to stay in place on his seat. The shaking came to a sudden stop. A huge, childish grin spread across his face.
“Doctor!” the doors of the church flew open, and Archie stood in the doorway.
“Hello!” the Doctor picked himself up, grinning.
“You should come and see this,” Archie said. If the Doctor’s face could light up even more, it did. He strode out of the doors, throwing his coat over him and picking up his umbrella. Archie pointed up.
“What is it?” April asked.
“Sontarans,” the Doctor said grimly, gazing at the sphere in the sky, eight curved claws protruding from the sides. It flashed and sparkled as it sat, stationary in the sky.
“I think that’s what was blocking out the sun,” the Doctor said.
“That’s not that bad, is it? We fought the Sontarans before, and they were a bit stupid,” April joked.
“No. We are in big, big trouble, this is the no-nonsense, the big geezers. That thing, pfft, could wipe out this entire planet in seconds,” the Doctor stood in awe of the ship.
“But we can stop them?”
“Yes we can! It’s time for me to do that thing where I get all clever then know what I’m doing”
“How long till they arrive?” Archie asked.
“Well, it’s blatantly obvious that they have,” April rolled her eyes.
“I mean on the planet”
“Good question, Archie, one of which I don’t know the answer to. However, I’m going to take a rough estimate of, eh, two minutes”
“Two minutes?” Archie screeched.
“Oy, shush. Two minutes, plenty of time. Okay, Archie, do whatever it is you do in situations like this, April, with me,” he strolled off, twirling his umbrella. “Also, if they do arrive. Back of the neck. That’s where you hit them”
April followed him close behind. Archie stood, peering up at the sky, sighing. The sooner the Doctor was out of the way, the better.
“Any ideas?” April asked, as they walked quickly back towards the church.
“Nope. None at all. I just said all that to keep your dad happy. I’ll think of something”
“So, these guys can basically destroy the planet?”
“Those guys,” the Doctor said sarcastically. “Have managed to get through the Papal Mainframe’s shield, April. They could blow us up, freeze us, boil us, anything,” the Doctor leapt through the doors of the church. He grabbed his sonic screwdriver from the bench. The Doctor ran back out through the doors and pointed it at the sky, holding down the button. He knew, secretly, he was only doing this to look clever and to keep people calm. For once, maybe, just this once, he was out his depth.
“You really don’t know, do you?” April stood in the doorway of the church, as the Doctor sheepishly lowered the sonic screwdriver.
“No. I really don’t know. Normally, batch of Sontarans, no problem. But now, stuck here, with nothing apart from my sonic screwdriver”
“Don’t say that. You’ve got me"
April and the Doctor didn’t know that Archie had heard all of this, stood in a nearby alleyway. Not for much longer he thought, feeling a short pang of regret. He was surprised – it was the last thing he expected to feel.
“Of course I’ve got you, without you I’d be a lot more bored. And your dad, I can make fun of him, it’s brilliant,” the Doctor said, Archie overhearing this as well. He tried to resist the temptation to step out. He did so anyway, walking out from the gloom.
“Doctor, they’ve arrived. A large number of them on the outskirts of town. They’re coming towards us now”
“Archie, make sure everyone stays in their homes. Don’t let them go outside. Archie dashed off. The Doctor could hear the clanking of Sontaran armour in the distance.
“So, April, as always,” he turned to face her. “Don’t panic and be careful. Ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she smiled. They walked through an alleyway that lead out on to the fields surrounding Christmas. The Sontarans stood in a neat formation in front of the Doctor.
“Good day!” the Doctor smiled. “Not the best opening gambit on Trenzalore, to be honest”
The Sontarans stood blankly in front of him, their heads covered in bulky helmets.
“April, say hello,” the Doctor said.
“Hi,” she smiled excitedly.
“This is usually the part where you try and look all threatening,” the Doctor joked.
The Sontaran in the centre of the pack removed its helmet. The head of a Sontaran emerged.
“I am Commander Kelx, representing the 45th Sontaran battlefleet headed by General Skarn”
“I’m the Doctor, this is April. Blimey. I remember the 10th Sontaran battlefleet. You’re making me feel old”
“We know who you and the female are, Doctor. We have been monitoring this planet for some time. You will surrender the people of this village,” the Sontaran Commander scowled at him.
“Not today, not ever. I’ve protected this village for a while now, and I will continue to for as long as I live”
“Then you shall be killed!” the Sontaran raised a blaster.
“Please, gentlemen, put the guns down. You kill me and the planet falls apart, two million spaceships, concentrating their firepower on this planet. Bad move, if you ask me”
The Sontaran didn’t move.
“Well, it was worth a try. Commander Kelx, please, you can take me, just leave April alone”
“That won’t be necessary,” Archie’s voice came from behind the Doctor. He was stood there, surrounded by soldiers in camouflage. The Papal Mainframe. The Doctor grinned.
“Archie Sawyer, I could kiss you”
“Please don’t,” Archie sighed.
“The 45th Sontaran battlefleet could obliterate these soldiers in a matter of seconds,” Kelx growled.
“Any of you take one step closer and I can guarantee I’ll have you off this planet in, let’s say, half an hour,” the Doctor glanced at his watch.
“That’s not that long,” Archie said.
“Half an hour, we’ll send you packing,” the Doctor ignored him.
“So be it,” Commander Kelx practically spat the words out. The Sontarans vanished in a flash of blue light.
“That was… quite easy,” April said.
“Yeah, ever so slightly too easy, Archie, April, soldiers, don’t move”
The Sontarans stood in the centre of the field. The Doctor covered his eyes, as a blue light blinded him. His vision slowly reappeared. In the distance, was line upon line of Sontaran troops.
“And I was right. How many soldiers have we got?”
“There’s ten here. We’ve got another fifty on standby,” one of the soldiers replied.
“Not nearly enough. Time to do something clever. I’m going to work on something to stop them. I dunno how yet, but a bit of nifty persuasion, they’ll be running away screaming. Soldiers, stay here. Defend as well as you can. April, follow me”
“Commander Kelx incoming, sir!” Lieutenant Skrox said, looking at a large, holographic screen. The Commander appeared at the centre of the bridge.
“The soldiers are in position, sir,” Commander Kelx moved and sat at a circular desk that had been split in to four sections. There was a gap in the centre of the desks that looked down upon a large, cylindrical hall in the spaceship, with bridges stretching across the gap. A Sontaran sat in each section.
“Good,” General Skarn said. “Any resistance from the Doctor?”
“When I teleported down I confronted him. He threatened to have killed us all in half an hour. He had a small squad of soldiers”
“Well then!” Skarn laughed. “I would like to see the Doctor deal with us”
“Sir. May I have the honour of fighting alongside the invasion force?” Kelx
“You may! Captain Kelsh, you shall join him as well!” General Skarn said.
“Thank you, sir!” the fourth Sontaran grinned.
“I plan to make an appearance myself,” he licked his lips.
“Tasha,” the Doctor grabbed a communicator from the desk, talking in to it.
“Doctor!” her voice came back down. She was perched on the altar in her chambers.
“We’ve got a problem. Big Sontaran spaceship, thousands of Sontarans”
“Yes. We’ve got 50 soldiers on standby”
“Yeah, I’ve heard all this. 50 soldiers aren’t gonna be nearly enough. It’ll be massacre”
“It’s the best we can do for an invasion force we know nothing about”
“Nothing? I certainly know a lot about the Sontarans, and let me tell you, Tasha Lem, we should not take any risks. This is the most advanced warrior race in the universe who have somehow broken through your forcefield and are currently hovering about up there in a spaceship armed to the teeth, we need as many men as we can get”
“Okay. Fine. I’ll send Colonel Dorav”
“Ooh, him? From the pub? I liked him. Also, I need you to do something”
“What?”
“Set up a teleport link between my tower and that Sontaran ship. I want to have a look up there myself”
“Doing it now. You should be able to do it with the screwdriver. Sending coordinates now”
“Thanks,” the Doctor extended the sonic screwdriver.
The Doctor materialised in the centre of the bridge. He peered around nervously at the Sontarans who looked up from their controls.
“Oh… hello!” he smiled sheepishly.
“The Doctor!” General Skarn smiled. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you!”
“You must be General Skarn,” the Doctor smiled.
“Correct! Your reputation for getting in to places you shouldn’t proceeds you”
“Thanks?” the Doctor murmured. “Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah. I met some Sontarans recently. They were a bit, well, deluded. Didn’t seem to have a clue with what they were doing”
“A rouge batch!” Skarn growled.
“Anyway. I had something to ask you. Get off this planet”
“Not a chance! Christmas is surrounded. The Papal Mainframe cannot do anything to stop our invasion force. It will be destroyed!” Skarn stood up and strode confidently towards the Doctor.
“The people of Christmas have done nothing wrong. Leave them alone. You don’t need to kill them”
“One hour, Doctor! That is when we launch the attack. If you want even a small chance of victory, I suggest you start preparing”
“General Skarn, I think you should’ve thought very, very hard before you said that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, things to do, people to see, baked potatoes to stop,” the Doctor flicked his sonic screwdriver in the air, and he vanished.
“An admirable warrior. One who I will take great joy in destroying,” General Skarn clenched his fist.
“Doctor,” Dorav saluted. The Doctor was about to attempt the same. “I wouldn’t worry this time,” he interrupted. They walked behind a tall, steel barricade that covered the whole village. The Papal Mainframe poked blasters through gaps towards the Sontarans that stood motionless in the fields.
“We’re going at them with concentrated plasma bursts,” Dorav held up a small box that fitted neatly in to the side of his gun. The Doctor nodded, pretending he knew what Dorav was talking about.
“This should hopefully be enough to penetrate the armour and bring them down quickly and effectively”
“Good, Dorav, I don’t know what I’d do without you”
“Likewise,” Dorav murmured, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “I’ve armed the Sheriff, and if you wish to take a weapon I have one here”
“No thanks. I think Archie be able to defend well enough without me needing to take a gun as well,” the Doctor said, slightly worried about the thought of Archie with a gun.
“Hold them off as long as possible, I’m going back to my clock,” the Doctor ran off.
“It’s time, Commander Kelx. Begin the invasion!” Skarn bellowed.
“As you wish, sir!” Kelx held a communicator to his ear. “SONTAR HA!”
“SONTAR HA!” the noise of a million Sontarans shouting enveloped the town of Christmas. Guns came to life on both sides, Sontarans firing at humans and humans firing at Sontarans. The Doctor looked out from the top of the clock tower at the battle. Sontarans piled towards the soldiers of the Papal Mainframe, but the Mainframe put up a good fight, defending Christmas well. The Doctor knew that if he didn’t do something soon then the Sontarans would take control quickly. He ran down the steps to the bottom of the tower. The communicator on the desk began to beep, and Tasha’s voice came through it.
“Doctor. The Sontarans have already killed half of the soldiers. We’ve hardly even started fighting. I can send a few more men down, but we can’t sacrifice any more than that”
“I’m thinking, I really am, but there’s nothing we can do. Maybe they’ve got us. Maybe this is it”
“The only option we’re going to have is to destroy their flagship”
“Not yet. I really don’t want to have to kill them all unless I have to”
“Have we not proved that we have to? They’ve already decimated half our available forces”
“And if we kill them all then they might just somehow get a message to a backup force that will come down to Trenzalore and take advantage of the fact that we’ve got no way of fighting back. We need to convince them to leave”
“Fine. But we’re not taking any risks”
A few minutes later April ran in.
“They’ve started,” she said, red faced and breathing heavily.
“Yes, I know. There’s something I’m missing. Something ever so sort of big,” the Doctor paced up and down the room.
“Dad’s going round the village, telling people to stay in their homes”
“I’m gonna need to do something soon. I’ve given them a choice. They’ve refused. Now… well, I have to go for the next logical solution”
“What?” April was confused.
“Blow up that flagship. Destroy it and everyone on it”
“You’re the one who’s war and destruction”
“Well what else do I do? And if it doesn’t happen now, the Sontarans are going to mow down the Papal Mainframe and kill everyone. And I’m not going to let that happen”
“Yeah, it’s the easiest thing to do, but is it right?”
“Right, eh. April, think about it like this. Let the Sontarans live, or watch your life be torn down as you watch?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I’ve never had to contemplate destroying a spaceship before”
“No, and I hope you never have to again,” the Doctor said. He reached for a communicator. “Tasha. I’ve decided what we’re going to do”
“Oh yes?”
“We’re going to destroy them”
“Tasha,” the Doctor picked up the communicator. “We’ve decided, we need you to take out that spaceship”
“Thank you. Unfortunately, we’re going to need to do it from the inside. It crossed through the shield, so we can’t destroy it”
“You can’t destroy things through your own shield?” the Doctor asked.
“No. I suppose it just makes the planet… extra safe,” she said, just to shut the Doctor up. “We will need to send people on there to destroy it”
“Yes, alright, I’ll do it,” the Doctor answered the question he knew she was about to ask.
“I wasn’t even going to give you a choice,” Tasha laughed.
“I didn’t think you would. How are we actually going to blow it up?”
“We have some Verronic weaponry, once donated by one of their Verron Soothsayers”
“Like the Warp Star?”
“Yes. But probably something less powerful. We want to be able to get you out of there alive but keep the Sontarans in there”
“Right. Okay”
“I’ll send it down to you now. Make the strike whenever you like. Just do it soon. For all our sakes”
The communicator went dead.
“Well. She seemed… grumpy,” April said.
“To be fair on her, she is currently having the majority of her army slaughtered, I think she probably has every right to be irritable”
“Yeah… right, be careful. I’m just going to find dad and make sure he’s okay”
“Captain Kelst! Report!” Skarn shouted, as Kelst appeared in the centre of the bridge.
“They are doing a surprisingly good job at taking out our soldiers, sir. However, it should not be a problem. We are returning with quick fire!”
“Marvellous!”
“Sir!” Skrox shouted.
“Lieutenant?” Skarn turned to him.
“We have intercepted a signal from the Doctor to the head of the Church of the Papal Mainframe?”
“Oh yes?” Skarn smiled.
“They plan to destroy our flagship, sir”
“Oh. They do? Well. Teleport me down. Send me to the Doctor,” Skarn said. “I want to deal with him myself, general to general. And anyway, I think it’s time I joined this battle properly!”
The Doctor had received a small, shiny crystal from a large, strong looking soldier. The Doctor was busy with some wires and his sonic screwdriver. He had somehow got himself in to a strange tangle that he was trying to free himself from. He jumped when he heard a fist crash against the door.
“Doctor!” General Skarn’s voice came from outside. The Doctor’s face fell. What was the Sontaran general doing outside the door? He didn’t even sound like he had any soldiers with him. What if they’d destroyed the Papal Mainframe? Or they’d got April? Or, and he found it strange thinking about it, Archie. He had never really got along with him before, but recently they weren’t anywhere nearly as hostile towards each other. The Doctor climbed up, a coil of wire still wrapped around his leg. He walked towards the tower doors and slowly opened them.
“General Skarn!” the Doctor grinned. “Hello!”
“Doctor!” General Skarn raised a blaster towards the Doctor. “I am sorry I am here. I had hoped that this would not have had to happen, that we, as the generals of our armies, would have the honour in destroying each other. Unfortunately we intercepted a transmission sent from you to the Papal Mainframe!”
“Oh yeah. That one. I was hoping you wouldn’t here that. Out of interest, how did you get through?”
“I was teleported down to the edge of the shield surrounding Christmas. I quickly slipped through”
“You didn’t even bring a few guards?”
“It felt only appropriate that I, and I alone, should be the one to kill you!”
“Why? Seriously, you spend all this time talking, no doing. It’s really quite time consuming”
“As the two greatest warriors playing in the siege of Trenzalore!”
“Please, stop referring to me as that. And also, please don’t talk about this as if we’re playing a game. You may see it as one. The Daleks, The Cybermen, the Nestene’s, everyone else, may see it as one. But none of you at all seem to take in to account who this is really about, the people of this town. Stop treating it like a game when people have died”
“It appears that we have played well, and you have nearly lost,” Skarn ignored him. The gun began to whir.
“I’ve had enough of you,” the Doctor flicked the sonic screwdriver at him. Skarn vanished, materialising back on to the bridge of the Sontaran flagship.
“NO!” Skarn yelled so loudly Skrox was taken aback. “I will NOT be defeated by some pitiful Time Lord,” he stomped round to his desk. Meanwhile, the Doctor retreated back in to the clock tower. The communicator beeped. He was shocked when Skarn’s voice roared down the other end.
“I will burn you, Doctor. We will wipe you out. We will crush you puny, scrawny, disgusting humans from your hovels. We will destroy you and everything that you stand for. SONTAR HA!”
The communicator went dead.
“Hello,” Archie walked through the doors of the church, a gun resting in a holster attached to his trousers. The Doctor sat at his desk, fiddling with a peculiar crystal and some wires.
“Ah, Archie!” the Doctor said, not even glancing up from what he was doing.
“Are we nearly-,” Archie was interrupted.
“Yes, don’t worry. This,” the Doctor held up the crystal. “Is going to destroy their spaceship. They will have no choice to surrender, and if they don’t, it’s at least a fight that we can easily win.
The Doctor wasn’t particularly bothered about the fact that Skarn knew he was planning to destroy them.
“Oh,” Archie was shocked. It was unlike the Doctor to actually take proper action. “That’s… really, really good”
It seemed like something was wrong.
“It’s a horrible thing, war,” the Doctor looked at Archie, a look of sadness in his eyes.
“I can tell it’s really affected you”
“Really?”
“April could tell as well”
“I was fine, I was on it, I thought I could stop them like I normally do with a click of my fingers and a clever trick up my sleeve. But no”
“I think you’ve done a good job”
“Really? I don’t”
Archie nodded. He didn’t know what to say.
“Well, you’re a better man than me. I wouldn’t think twice,” Archie said.
“I know, not many people would. It’s because of them that I do,” he said arrogantly. “Anyway,” the Doctor held up a crystal dangling from a tangle of wires.
“Will that do it? Destroy them all?”
“I do hope so!” the Doctor smiled.
“Their troops have been whittled down, sir!” Lieutenant Skrox said. “However, they have destroyed many of our troops as well”
“Begin the final phase!” General Skarn sat at his control panel. “I will sort out replacements for our fallen. Meanwhile… wipe them all out. Obliterate them all,” he laughed quietly.
General Skarn paced down a long hallway. There was a row of box like coffins on either side, a small window where a head would normally rest. Skarn placed his gloved arm in a panel with three shapes on, one for each finger. A holographic screen appeared in front of him. Slowly the sound of machinery whirring to life echoed across the spaceship. He could hear the sound of liquid gushing through pipes and peering in to one of the coffins, could see it filling up with green goo. Skarn laughed to himself. He was interrupted by a thump on one of the tanks. Then another. Then another. Slowly there were thumps from every coffin in the room. Looking through the glass, he could see two eyes floating to the top of the green liquid. The goo was slowly changing, forming to create the shape of a head. A potato head. The eyes rooted themselves to the shape, and a mouth became visible in the liquid. Then the mark of the noise became visible, then the water formed wrinkles on the forehead and around the head, and the outline of ears as well. Then came a gurgling sound, as the goo began to drain, leaving a crinkled, brown head in its place, and dripping with gunge. The lid of every coffin opened automatically and in each and every one, a Sontaran lay. They climbed out of their tombs, stumbling, and the armour that they had been born in clattering, as they escaped. Each Sontaran stood in front of their birthing chamber and raised a hand to its chest. Skarn left the room, pulling the lever again on his way out. The lids slammed shut, and the noise of the liquid could be heard again.
“I still feel like I’m missing something,” the Doctor buried his face in his hands. He ran every detail of the Sontaran’s plan through his mind. He thought about the way they had broken through the force field. He thought about how they attacked the village. He thought about –
Oh.
“That’s really quite good. As much as I hate to say it, General Skarn and his merry men have done a good job. I knew I was missing something,” the Doctor said to himself. He picked up his sonic screwdriver. Archie ran in.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m going back up there!” the Doctor said, disappearing in a crackle of energy. Archie looked on with a sad smile. April was right. They owed a lot to him. He had saved her from the Vashta Nerada. No. He tried to stop himself from thinking about it.
“Oh, by the way. Almost forgot to tell you,” the Doctor reappeared. Archie listened carefully, then the Doctor disappeared again.
Dorav ran backwards through an alleyway, firing as he went. He ducked under laser after laser after laser, as a line of Sontarans advanced, rapidly firing. A small gang of soldiers ran behind him. One of the Sontarans flopped to the floor as one of Dorav’s shots collided with its armour. The rest of the Sontarans didn’t stop, stomping over the body. The soldiers reached the church.
“Get inside!” Archie’s head poked round the door of the church. They all dashed inside. Dorav stood by the door, spinning his gun in his hand. He continued to shoot as Archie pulled the door shut. Dorav slumped against it.
“This is Commander Kelx of the 45th Sontaran battlefleet. Come out with your hands up,” Kelx shouted. A group of Sontarans surrounded the clock tower, their guns trained on the building.
“What’s happened?” Archie whispered to Colonel Dorav, preparing his gun.
“They’re closing in,” Dorav replied. “They’ve got the building surrounded”
“Well, what do we do?”
“We wait. If they do get through, we fight our way out. If not, we stay here until the Doctor does what he’s meant to be doing and he’s ready”
“How will we know when he’s ready?”
“He said we’ll know”
April made her way around the back of the pub, following the bleeping. Something wasn’t right. She could sense it. Everyone could sense these things – some speculated it was a gift of the truth field.
A lone ranger stood yonder, tall and menacing. It lifted its metal chest upwards like a proud soldier, motionless, as if waiting for orders. April kept her distance.
“Doctor!” she called. “DOCTOR!”
The metal man stood for a moment longer, its deep black eyes staring pensively at her. Then, in the space of a second, it charged in a motion blur.
Footprints in the snow sat on their own around the back of the pub in the town called Christmas. Footprints of where April Sawyer had once stood.
“Skarny!” the Doctor appeared in the centre of the bridge, the tiny crystal in his hand.
“We have an intruder!” Lieutenant Skrox shouted.
“Well, that’s one way of putting it! I said I’d be done in half an hour, but I got a bit held up”
“Surrender, Doctor, or I will give the order to destroy your clock tower and your friends that are currently hiding inside it,” General Skarn stood up.
“Probably haven’t noticed yet, but there’s one big, major flaw in your plan!” the Doctor flicked out the sonic screwdriver.
“Oh yes?” Skarn raised a blaster at the Doctor.
“It all relies on me. Your entire battle plan revolves around me. You know exactly how to make me angry. You know that you needed to slaughter almost all of the Papal Mainframe soldiers, but leave a small group alive to bargain with. And you also know that I’ve come up here with a really clever and amazing plan that will leave you floating through space that you are ready to stop!”
“You are correct, Doctor! We studied our previous encounters with you, formulating a perfect and unstoppable plan”
The Doctor threw the crystal on to the floor and stamped on it.
“Well go on boys, I’ve got nothing,” the Doctor smirked.
“Excuse me?” the Sontaran bellowed.
“I have no plan, no ideas, no nothing,” the Doctor shrugged.
“I will have your friends killed!” Skarn was getting worked up.
“You do that. I’ve got no weapons, no backup”
“Break down the doors. Obliterate them all,” Skarn hissed in to a device strapped to his arm. The Doctor stood, watching in silence.
“In three, two one!” Kelx shouted.
“This is it,” Dorav whispered. “Everyone prepare themselves!”
The soldiers raised their weapons, taking strategic positions around the room. The doors flew inwards. Smoke billowed around the doorframe, lasers flickering in the unknown. Everybody fired blindly. Dorav pulled out his communicator. It was beeping gently.
“Archie. Get ready. It’s time,” Dorav said.
“I don’t need to kill you to get you to leave, General Skarn”
“Oh? And why’s that?”
“I’m the Doctor,” he smiled. Five troops from the Papal Mainframe, along with Archie and Dorav, appeared next to him, guns in arms. General Skarn began to shoot, knocking one of them down. Lieutenant Skrox and the Sontaran Captain stood up from their positions and raised their blasters, joining the battle. Archie shot Lieutenant Skrox in the back of the neck, and Skrox collapsed to the floor.
“Ha ha, Doctor! We are both similar, in many ways. We both have a thirst for battle, we both lead an army and we both take no prisoners,” General Skarn and the Doctor stood just away from the fighting.
“No, Skarn. You see, the one thing that makes me different from you, from warriors, is the fact that I’m not going to commit genocide and kill every single one of you”
“Oh yes? Then what is it?”
“This is just a little gentle persuasion,” the Doctor yelled. A laser came from one corner of the room and hit Skarn in the back of the neck. He let out a long and bloodcurdling yell, then disappeared as he was taken away by a teleport. Lieutenant Skrox lay dead on the floor of the bridge along with the dead bodies of many other Sontarans. The Papal Mainframe fired down the shaft at the centre of the bridge, aiming at the Sontarans that had come to defend the spaceship. From above, the Papal Mainframe had a clear advantage.
“Are you ready?” the Doctor shouted to Archie over the noise of lasers and explosions.
“Yes! Get us out of here!” Archie replied.
The Doctor flicked the sonic screwdriver and he and Archie both vanished.
It was silent throughout Christmas. Silent night. The Doctor thought that was quite fitting. He stepped out of the church tower and looked at Skarn. He tried to stand in his normal, confident position, but struggled. He was surrounded by a field of fallen Sontarans and soldiers.
“It was an honour, Doctor”
“An honour?”
“You are an admirable warrior, Doctor. It was a true privilege to fight against you in battle”
“Warrior? I’m not a warrior”
“Look at the death and the devastation around you. The corpses burning”
“The corpses of innocent people. War takes no prisoners, General Skarn. Hey, look”
There was silence as the Doctor and Skarn watched the spaceship zoom off.
“The Papal Mainframe lowered the shield especially for you. Just enough to let you through without letting anyone else in. When I left, they were busy fighting. I expect they’ve gone now, though. Left your ship in space ruined with a few survivors, so it can’t go anywhere. But, I’m sure you lot will rebuild yourselves”
There was silence again.
“So? Go on then,” the General said.
“What?” the Doctor asked.
“Deliver the final blow. End this for good. Let me die in battle”
“I don’t know. Because if I kill you, I will be just as bad as you. Yet apparently, according to Sontaran law, you will be given a merciful death. So what happens? It’s one culture vs another. Where one would consider murder a sin, the other an achievement. Should I stick with what is really right or should I be nice? Do I decide to look past my own rules just because one particular race says that murder should be encouraged and that murder is good?”
“Doctor, kill me. I must die in battle. I must die honourably,” Skarn begged.
The Doctor thought for a second.
“By killing you, you get off scot-free. You could even say I’ve had mercy. By letting you live, you won’t die in battle. You will be declared a disgrace. A much worse fate. So do I kill you? Should I do what is truthfully right or what is right for you?” he said, ignoring Skarn.
“If you decide to kill me, you need not say anything,” Skarn turned around and placed his hands on his head. A metal pole lay on the ground beside him.
“You know, Sontarans have really twisted morals. Morals that go against almost everything I stand for Encouraging war. Encouraging murder”
A moment later and the body of Skarn lay in front of him. The Doctor turned and sullenly placed his round reading glasses over his ears. He picked up A Christmas Carol and resumed silently reading.
***
They didn’t see the Daleks coming. No one ever did. That’s how the Daleks worked. You never see them coming. The Sontarans were on their ship, licking their wounds after their defeat on Trenzalore. They didn’t notice the Dalek ship creep up on them. They didn’t notice the Dalek boarding party making their way across the empty space between the two ships. They didn’t notice the Daleks hover outside the Sontaran ship’s hull. The Daleks prepared their weapons. And fired. The Sontarans noticed the first blast. By then it was too late. The Daleks blew a hole in the ship’s hull. At once the ship decompressed and Sontarans nearby grabbed at anything as the air was sucked out. It was no use. Soon hundreds of Sontaran corpses littered the space above Trenzalore. The Daleks causally flew in. Their internal artificial gravity allowed them to land on the floor. And then they began their work. Level by level, the Daleks made their way through the ship. It was a massacre. Even a well armed Sontaran fleet stands no chance against a Dalek attack squad, let alone a weakened invasion force such as this one. Sontaran corpses covered the floor. A few of the Daleks had to hover in order to move. The last Sontaran gripped his gun and pointed it at the advancing Daleks.
“Kill me then, kill me and give me a honourable death in battle” he cried.
The Daleks looked at him.
“The Daleks require information,” screeched one of the Daleks, white in colour.
“I will die before I surrender intel!” the Sontaran shouted.
“Correct,” the Dalek boomed.
The Dalek turned to the surrounding Daleks.
“Prepare to extract and process brain waves!” it ordered.
An orange Dalek rolled forward.
“Kneel!” it cried at the Sontaran.
“Sontarans do not take orders!” the Sontaran cried, defiant to the last. It would be his last mistake.
“Kneel or you will be made to kneel!” the Dalek screeched.
The Sontaran did not move.
The Dalek pointed its gun at the Sontaran and fired. The Sontaran screamed in pain and collapsed.
“What have you done to me?!” he screamed.
“Severed your spinal cord” the Dalek responded.
It rolled forward and placed it’s plunger arm over the Sontaran’s face. The other Daleks rolled around the Sontaran and placed their plunger arms on the Sontarans head.
“Extract brain waves!” boomed the white Dalek.
The Sontaran screamed in pain. And then stopped. The Daleks withdrew. The Sontaran collapsed, his body now a withered husk.
“Report!” Boomed the Supreme white Dalek.
“The town called Christmas is easily infiltrate-able. The town’s only defence is one Time Lord.” Said a Blue Dalek.
“One Time Lord is easily dealt with,” said the Supreme, “The Daleks will wait and observe. Devise a Dalek Stratagem that cannot fail. Daleks will be victorious! Daleks will be supreme!”
“Daleks are supreme! Daleks are supreme! Daleks are supreme!” chanted the Daleks amongst the corpses of the dead...
***
April awoke, rubbing her eyes. She could still feel the suffocating grip of the metal man around her. The world slowed.
She stood up, steadying herself, trying to work out what the sound around her was.
It was a humming sound, but a humming like no other. April couldn’t identify it for the most naive of reasons.
She’d never been in a spaceship before.
***
The crack hissed.
“Quiet!” complained the Doctor. It did that sometimes, as if to make itself known, lest it somehow be forgotten. The Doctor placed a bookmark in A Christmas Carol and rested it on the table as the doors to the clock-tower slammed shut.
“Archie! What’s happening? Feeling happy today?”
Archie glowered.
“Oh, we’re back to that again.” The Doctor rolled his eyes. “You sure that April’s your daughter?”
“Shut up,” complained Archie. The Doctor was taken aback. “For once in your life, shut up. Or for the last time in your life.”
“What are you talking about?” asked the Doctor, narrowing his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” said Archie. It didn’t seem apologetic but it must have been – they were at the heart of the truth field. “I tried, I…” He wiped his brow. It was sweating. “I started feeling guilty today. And I didn’t want it to end like this, but it’s the only way. When you start on something, you have to finish it. And you can’t keep a secret. You can’t lie, not in this bloody town!” He kicked a table.
“Archie…”
Archie shot the Doctor a glare.
“You came here, all full of yourself. You came to my town, all full of glory and self-importance. You brought war to us!” His face grew red with exasperation. “We were happy before this. Happy. And everyone in the village loves you, and thinks you’re so special,” he mocked. “And now people are going to start dying, dropping like flies, in my town, because of you. People I love, who’ll die in your name, and those who are left behind will go on to worship you. I can’t take any more of it. And the worst part? You honestly believe you’re right. You believe you’re doing something good. Don’t you?”
“I-“
“Answer!” yelled Archie. The truth field stung the Doctor’s mind like a bad migraine.
“Yes.”
“Well, there we go. I feel compelled to tell you the truth now, so here it is.” He clicked his fingers. “Thank God everyone’s asleep. I wouldn’t wish a sight like this upon them.”
Stomping reverberated around the tower in time with the beating of the Doctor’s hearts. Two Cybermen entered, standing beside Archie like guards.
“There’s no one here.” Archie turned away. “You can take him.”
The Cybermen approached the Doctor and grabbed his arms. The Doctor didn’t even put up a fight.
“Look me in the eye, Archie,” commanded the Doctor.
“I’m sorry,” answered Archie. “I’m so sorry. But I don’t think I could do that.”
The Doctor laughed darkly as the Cybermen pushed him out of the tower.
“I really am sorry!” called Archie, in complete honesty. He shook his head and whispered to himself.
“If only there’d been another way.”
TO BE CONTINUED
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