'Skarr has arrived,' reported Pillet. 'He awaits your good selves in the foyer.'
'At last,' Zodge rubbed his hands furiously, sensing the magnificent amount of money he would be earning from the venture.
'Come along, Zodge. We don't want to keep Mr. Skarr waiting, do we?'
'Ah, gentlemen. How are you?'
'Oh...err...fine, Mr. Skarr...yes...fine.'
Despite his diminutive stature, and seemingly good intentions, they all felt more than a little frightened of Commander Skarr of the Sixth Sontaran Battle Group.
'Now, I have completed my side of the bargain. The planet Ashralis has been placed into orbit around yours. So where is my percentage?'
'Over here, Mr. Skarr.'
Skarr's percentage was forty nine percent of Ashralis' core which was in cold storage a few corridors away. Skarr directed his troops in transporting the semi-core which had been split into sections. The last block was loaded on, which prompted Himmle to wrap up the deal.
'Well, Mr. Skarr, we have our planet and you have your anti-Rutan component. I think business is completed.'
'Oh, not quite. One more thing.' Skarr pushed them out of the way and ran towards their main complex. To their computer Compendium.
A business arrangement with the Sontarans was, as they soon realised after this latest development, a colossal mistake. They arranged to give the Sontarans forty nine percent of the core of Ashralis, which they required desperately when they realised it did terrible things to Rutans. But not only did Skarr return for his agreed percentage, he took the rest too, leaving Zodge and Himmle a dying planet.
The money which the Sontarans appeared to be ploughing into the project was really being tapped from INC. INC's computer. Now they had used their money, expertise in drilling and siphoning underground resources and their extremely clever computer, the Sontarans would leave Zodge and Himmle and their petty schemes. But just to live up to their reputation, the Sontarans had wiped out an entire workforce, left them bankrupt and now Skarr was on his way to destroy their master computer.
'We'd better get after him!' said a worried Zodge
They scampered down the corridor wondering just what the Commander had planned for them. In the distance, the faint sound of a TARDIS.
~~~
'Now, gentlemen...business has been concluded.' He made for the door but they barred his way. 'Ha!' One short blast from Skarr's gun and Prillet was thrown across the room, killed instantly. Skarr made his way back out of the building quite easily, although he had to manage a few people who stood in his way.
He emerged from the building shouting at his Major. 'Prepare us for takeoff. We have what we want.'
Straker leapt out from a nearby bush, with a stubby laser pistol he always carried in case of emergencies. This was an emergency. he gave them a lot. Skarr, he decided, took the first blast and fell back chocking. They were taken by surprise. Sontarans were dropping like flies.
The Doctor and Jamie were hiding behind a large boulder, waiting for things to quiet down. Jamie, however, decided to peek from behind the rock and was surprised to see two Sontarans lifting the TARDIS on to some sort of trolley, taking it away.
Unfortunately for Jamie, he was hit on the head by a large chunk of rock, (thrown up by a laser bolt), and was knocked senseless.
'Jamie!' The Doctor cried. He dragged him to a slightly safer spot before planning his next move.
~~~
Then finally Straker's power pack ran out, he died instantly in Sontaran fire. Skarr was carried into his ship for treatment.
In the confusion, the Doctor made his way through to the INC. INC. building and into the main complex, which was in quite a mess. He found his way to the main control room. Prillet wasn't the only death. More bodies lay in thick red pools of blood, some still twitching their last.
'W-who are you?' whispered Zodge.
'I'm the Doctor.'
'Most of these people are beyond medical help...'
'Hmm...funny. A lot of people make that mistake.' The Doctor began examining instruments, those that were still functioning anyway, and came up with an idea. 'Now, as I see it, there's no time to lose because the Sontarans are leaving any moment. I don't know about you sir, but I want to stop them.'
'How?'
'Well, quite simply, we need a strong magnetic force to repel Ashralis away. We need to be able to direct it wherever we want. We need to be able to do it within two minutes.'
'I beg your pardon?' Technicians looked back at him in disbelief.
'Ah....is that an open ended power bank over there? Splendid!' Nobody moved. 'Come on, I can't do this all on my own, can I?' Somehow the Doctor's enthusiasm had jolted them into action and soon they had arranged the surviving equipment into a very large, but crude magnet.
~~~
On board the Sontaran ship:
'What do you mean by bringing this...this thing onto my ship?' Skarr was roaring at two Sontarans who had wheeled on old Earth Police Box on board.
'I think you should look inside it, sir.' But before the injured Commander could do that alarms and sirens called everyone to attention. They were now under attack from a Rutan battle fleet. Each fleet began to open fire at each other.
~~~
The Doctor was making final checks. 'Yes...yes...yes, mmm, yes...oh dear!' The Doctor made an adjustment. 'That's better...yes...yes...good. There doesn’t seem to be any problem. It should work. Now, just do exactly as I say.'
At that moment, Jamie stumbled into the main control room, clutching his head and groaning.
'Ah, Jamie. How are you feeling now?'
'Any more of you?' enquired Zodge. He was ignored
'What are you up to now?' Jamie asked.
'Well, Jamie, any moment now we're going to reverse the polarity of the neutron...I mean reverse the polarity of this magnet here, so we can send that planet crashing into the Sontaran fleet!' The Doctor waited for Jamie's response but it wasn't the response he was expecting.
'You're going to do what!?'
'Oh,' the Doctor sounded disappointed, 'I'll explain later. Now, everyone,' he looked around the room at the remaining technicians, 'Ready, steady,' he paused, 'GO!'
Ashralis began to spin off into space towards the battling fleets.
'Doctor! You canny do that!' shouted Jamie.
'Why can't I?'
'Because they've got the TARDIS!'
'Oh my giddy aunt!'
They watched helplessly as Ashralis sped through space towards the two warring fleets. Then they converged. A massive explosion of light and sound. Then silence as an assortment of organic material drifted off through space at an incredible speed.
The Doctor turned away from the scene which he had viewed through one of the large glass panels set into the wall. Jamie remained dumbstruck.
'The TARDIS...what are we going to do?'
'Well,' the Doctor began, 'I only hope I remembered to...' He was interrupted by the unique sound of the TARDIS engines, '...set the HADS!' he finished with a smile across his face as his ship solidified before them both.
'The what?' Jamie asked, confused more than ever.
'I'll explain later, Jamie.' as he ushered Jamie aboard the TARDIS.
'What's that?' Zodge exclaimed.
'Well, the whole thing is based on the theory of dimensional transcendentalism co-related to...' The Doctor was cut short again, this time it was Jamie.
'Doctor, something's happening to the TARDIS!'
The Doctor said a quick good bye and ran into the TARDIS. 'Whatever is the matter?'
'Look!' Jamie declared.
Since the Doctor was sent to Space Station J7, the TARDIS had been under the control of the Time Lords, so he could be brought back for trial immediately after he had completed one or two tasks they needed doing. But for some reason, the Time Lords were slackening their grip. But why?
'Surely, they're not releasing me? Are they? Well, we'll soon find out...with the Time Space Visualiser.' The Doctor made a few adjustments and discovered why he had regained his freedom.
A face began to appear upon the screen of the giant Time Space Visualiser, whom the Doctor recognised instantly. 'That's Morbius! It seems he's been captured by the Time Lords...and he's being put to trial...about time too. Well, they're obviously been putting all their energy into his capture and imprisonment. Not even enough power left to hold my TARDIS. It must have been quite some battle.'
'So you don't have to go back then?'
'No,' sighed the Doctor and smiling to himself he continued to operate the TARDIS controls.
'Shall we go and fetch Victoria then, Doctor?'
'I don't see why not, Jamie.'
written by
DAVID HANKINSON
copyright 2010
artwork by
COLIN JOHN
copyright 2013