Post by Fitz Kreiner on Feb 3, 2006 21:29:06 GMT
“I have already told you.” Vansell said. “We are here at the bequest of the High council of Gallifrey and the representatives of the Celestial Intervention Agency to halt the mass disruption of the time lines. The Web of time is threatened and we must act ourselves to save it. Our unit has shown the danger it is in, despite his disappearance and the Doctor has not acted.”
“He didn’t know!” Jess shouted at him. “I’m guessing you’re the ones who made us come here.”
“The Doctor does act on our behalf at times, yes, and we foresaw trouble, and thus engineered the Doctors flight so he would land here. It is the price he pays for his freedom.”
“You mean you just send him to do the things you can’t be bothered to do?” Jess yelled back at Vansell.
The Command Deck merely watched the confrontation between the two.
“Gallifrey must not be seen to act. We have a policy of strict non-intervention.” Vansell replied.
“Then what the hell do you call this?” Jess retorted. “It looks like intervention to me.”
“Only in extreme cases where the whole of history is threatened may we involve ourselves, however in the afterwards we must not have been seen to act.”
“Oh, how convenient, you alter the rules to fit yourselves.”
“When the whole of history or the Galaxy is threatened the council have to decide whether intervention is in the best interests. Now you are hindering our work.” Vansell snapped, ending the conversation.
Jess opened her mouth to argue back, but realised it was futile. This man; Time Lord, was even more narrow minded and directional than the Cyberman.
“You may as well be the Cybermen.” She muttered quietly to herself.
“Where is our agent?” Vansell asked, turning to Edwards.
“Who?” Edwards asked.
“He would have no doubt been given a human name. His Gallifreyan name is-was Toraan.”
“Toraan. Tom Rowan.” Sanders mused.
“I would assume that Tom Rowan would be a suitable sounding name for humans.” Vansell said, sounding like he had trouble with saying Toms name and the word “human”.
“Why did you put him here? What was his mission? Sabotage or to spy?” Edwards asked.
“So many questions.” Vansell almost purred walking round the command deck. “Toraans’ role was not that of sabotage, merely an unwitting observer. His reports came back via a neural implant that we activated before implanting him in this time stream.”
“But why? The Doctor said that putting him here you were breaking many of your own laws.” Edwards asked.
“The only reason must be to spy, surely? Earth has nothing that can threaten you, we didn’t even know that there was a planet called Gallifrey or your race existed!” Sanders added.
“Admittedly it is an unusual practice for the council.” Vansell retorted. “However, in exiling Toraan and the others involved, the council decided that they should be placed in time streams that were deemed problematic. They simply provided us with further information about the events to determine whether action needs to be taken. In the case of Toraans time stream, action has been necessitated.”
Around the Command Deck, the red guards had taken up the key positions, to make sure that there was no descent from any of the command crew. Jim Ford had been disarmed and the other crew members had surrendered peacefully. Dorlin had busied himself at the array that was being constructed in the centre of the Command Deck. The array was now standing at two meters tall, with two small control consoles, one on either side. The top of the array was a glass column, about a foot in diameter. Metal pylons ran up the side of the column, with wires attaching them to the main body of the array. At the top of the column there was what appeared to be a small transmitter. The array was supported by a thick hexagonal base, the main body of the array, on which the consol panels were, was circular. Dorlin was attaching wires from some of the nearby station consoles to the array. His two guard helpers had been bringing more pieces of the technology out of the TARDIS box.
“What others?” Jess asked Vansell. “You mean there are more Time Lords around here?”
“Not quite.” Vansell said twirling round to face her. At least he had that consideration, Jess thought. “Toraan wasn’t the only academy student to have been exiled from Gallifrey at the time. The others involved were sent to different times and places and observed.” Vansell turned again to face Edwards. “So, you see, Commander Edwards, we have not exactly been spying on you, more, looking out for you, and here we are now, to help you when things are getting beyond your control.”
“Enough with the arrogant superiority.” Edwards snapped, causing one of the guards to raise their staser warningly. “We have managed for the past few years, what makes you think that we can’t win this war on our own?”
Vansell chucked lightly. “You call us arrogant?” He snorted “You humans, you think you’re the most important species in the universe. You may have had a few lucky escapes in the past; however, you can never see the full picture seeing in only three dimensions. You are dealing with an old enemy, an enemy that you may have defeated in the past. We do know about the Cyber Wars. But now, this enemy has spent centuries building strength and eliminating their weaknesses, whereas you,” Vansell paused and looked round his audience. Jess got the feeling that he was enjoying insulting them all. “You,” he started again looking at Sanders. “Are small compared to everything in the universe, but you’re adaptable. We have seen the extent of the Cybermens plans and the extent of their invasion force. They have almost destroyed two of the galaxies biggest war fleets, and you thing that a society dedicated to trying to promote peace will stop them? They are even beating the Daleks back and they are reaching the point where,” Vansell paused again, a slight emotion flickering across his stern face. “They have got to the point where they threaten even the oldest civilisations.”
Fear! Jess thought, he was scared. “You mean you, the Time Lords.” She said.
“Our temporal simulations point to the Cybermen ransacking Gallifrey, succeeding where other races fail at the first step.”
“And it’s your fault as well, isn’t it?”
The whole Command Deck stopped and looked at Jess.
“If you hadn’t put Tom, or whatever you’re now calling him, in this time stream then the Cybermen would never have captured him and got to know how to time travel.” Jess continued.
“That eventuality was unforeseen.” Vansell retorted. “Events have changed in recent times, both Toraans capture by the Cybermen and the Doctors involvement, the only change is the speed of the outcome.” Vansell stopped, angry at himself for letting a mere human challenge him and win.
“Don’t stop there.” Jess almost snarled. “Carry on with your story. Because of what you’ve done, you’ve given the Cybermen the advantage. Go on, admit it!”
“Careful Jess.” Edwards warned putting his hand on her shoulder.
Vansell glared down at the human. “Our operations are meticulously planned and carried out. Nothing is left to chance.”
Edwards put his hand on Jess’ shoulder again, to stop her from arguing back with the Time Lord. “I’d like to know what you’re doing to my station.” He demanded.
“We are implementing a solution. A final solution to the situation.” Vansell said before turning on his heel and disappearing back inside his TARDIS.
“That was quite a performance.” Sanders said standing up and moving over to Jess and Edwards, watched by the Chancellery Guards. “You really riled him, well done.”
“I never knew I had it in me!” Jess exclaimed, breathing out in almost exhaustion. “I just hope he’s not going to have me executed though!” She added, suddenly look alarmed.
Dorlin looked up from his work at the young human female and smiled. “He won’t have you executed.” He said. “The CIA can be very tetchy and pedantic at times, and Vansell is one of the worse, but he’s never ordered an execution before, he’s not the type. But the human is right, you did rile him. Never seen anyone do that before.”
“I have a name, you know.” Sanders snapped at him.
“I must apologise. This is my first mission away from Gallifrey in a planets time stream.” Dorlin apologised. “But Vansell meant it when he said that this crisis is out of your hands. What we’re doing is a total last resort, one we really don’t like having to revert to. Strategically, your station is perfectly suited, as was Toraan, until he disappeared from this timeline, so now I’ve got a slightly harder job to do.”
“What is your job?” Jess asked.
“To stop the Cybermen, at any cost.” Dorlin replied.
“He didn’t know!” Jess shouted at him. “I’m guessing you’re the ones who made us come here.”
“The Doctor does act on our behalf at times, yes, and we foresaw trouble, and thus engineered the Doctors flight so he would land here. It is the price he pays for his freedom.”
“You mean you just send him to do the things you can’t be bothered to do?” Jess yelled back at Vansell.
The Command Deck merely watched the confrontation between the two.
“Gallifrey must not be seen to act. We have a policy of strict non-intervention.” Vansell replied.
“Then what the hell do you call this?” Jess retorted. “It looks like intervention to me.”
“Only in extreme cases where the whole of history is threatened may we involve ourselves, however in the afterwards we must not have been seen to act.”
“Oh, how convenient, you alter the rules to fit yourselves.”
“When the whole of history or the Galaxy is threatened the council have to decide whether intervention is in the best interests. Now you are hindering our work.” Vansell snapped, ending the conversation.
Jess opened her mouth to argue back, but realised it was futile. This man; Time Lord, was even more narrow minded and directional than the Cyberman.
“You may as well be the Cybermen.” She muttered quietly to herself.
“Where is our agent?” Vansell asked, turning to Edwards.
“Who?” Edwards asked.
“He would have no doubt been given a human name. His Gallifreyan name is-was Toraan.”
“Toraan. Tom Rowan.” Sanders mused.
“I would assume that Tom Rowan would be a suitable sounding name for humans.” Vansell said, sounding like he had trouble with saying Toms name and the word “human”.
“Why did you put him here? What was his mission? Sabotage or to spy?” Edwards asked.
“So many questions.” Vansell almost purred walking round the command deck. “Toraans’ role was not that of sabotage, merely an unwitting observer. His reports came back via a neural implant that we activated before implanting him in this time stream.”
“But why? The Doctor said that putting him here you were breaking many of your own laws.” Edwards asked.
“The only reason must be to spy, surely? Earth has nothing that can threaten you, we didn’t even know that there was a planet called Gallifrey or your race existed!” Sanders added.
“Admittedly it is an unusual practice for the council.” Vansell retorted. “However, in exiling Toraan and the others involved, the council decided that they should be placed in time streams that were deemed problematic. They simply provided us with further information about the events to determine whether action needs to be taken. In the case of Toraans time stream, action has been necessitated.”
Around the Command Deck, the red guards had taken up the key positions, to make sure that there was no descent from any of the command crew. Jim Ford had been disarmed and the other crew members had surrendered peacefully. Dorlin had busied himself at the array that was being constructed in the centre of the Command Deck. The array was now standing at two meters tall, with two small control consoles, one on either side. The top of the array was a glass column, about a foot in diameter. Metal pylons ran up the side of the column, with wires attaching them to the main body of the array. At the top of the column there was what appeared to be a small transmitter. The array was supported by a thick hexagonal base, the main body of the array, on which the consol panels were, was circular. Dorlin was attaching wires from some of the nearby station consoles to the array. His two guard helpers had been bringing more pieces of the technology out of the TARDIS box.
“What others?” Jess asked Vansell. “You mean there are more Time Lords around here?”
“Not quite.” Vansell said twirling round to face her. At least he had that consideration, Jess thought. “Toraan wasn’t the only academy student to have been exiled from Gallifrey at the time. The others involved were sent to different times and places and observed.” Vansell turned again to face Edwards. “So, you see, Commander Edwards, we have not exactly been spying on you, more, looking out for you, and here we are now, to help you when things are getting beyond your control.”
“Enough with the arrogant superiority.” Edwards snapped, causing one of the guards to raise their staser warningly. “We have managed for the past few years, what makes you think that we can’t win this war on our own?”
Vansell chucked lightly. “You call us arrogant?” He snorted “You humans, you think you’re the most important species in the universe. You may have had a few lucky escapes in the past; however, you can never see the full picture seeing in only three dimensions. You are dealing with an old enemy, an enemy that you may have defeated in the past. We do know about the Cyber Wars. But now, this enemy has spent centuries building strength and eliminating their weaknesses, whereas you,” Vansell paused and looked round his audience. Jess got the feeling that he was enjoying insulting them all. “You,” he started again looking at Sanders. “Are small compared to everything in the universe, but you’re adaptable. We have seen the extent of the Cybermens plans and the extent of their invasion force. They have almost destroyed two of the galaxies biggest war fleets, and you thing that a society dedicated to trying to promote peace will stop them? They are even beating the Daleks back and they are reaching the point where,” Vansell paused again, a slight emotion flickering across his stern face. “They have got to the point where they threaten even the oldest civilisations.”
Fear! Jess thought, he was scared. “You mean you, the Time Lords.” She said.
“Our temporal simulations point to the Cybermen ransacking Gallifrey, succeeding where other races fail at the first step.”
“And it’s your fault as well, isn’t it?”
The whole Command Deck stopped and looked at Jess.
“If you hadn’t put Tom, or whatever you’re now calling him, in this time stream then the Cybermen would never have captured him and got to know how to time travel.” Jess continued.
“That eventuality was unforeseen.” Vansell retorted. “Events have changed in recent times, both Toraans capture by the Cybermen and the Doctors involvement, the only change is the speed of the outcome.” Vansell stopped, angry at himself for letting a mere human challenge him and win.
“Don’t stop there.” Jess almost snarled. “Carry on with your story. Because of what you’ve done, you’ve given the Cybermen the advantage. Go on, admit it!”
“Careful Jess.” Edwards warned putting his hand on her shoulder.
Vansell glared down at the human. “Our operations are meticulously planned and carried out. Nothing is left to chance.”
Edwards put his hand on Jess’ shoulder again, to stop her from arguing back with the Time Lord. “I’d like to know what you’re doing to my station.” He demanded.
“We are implementing a solution. A final solution to the situation.” Vansell said before turning on his heel and disappearing back inside his TARDIS.
“That was quite a performance.” Sanders said standing up and moving over to Jess and Edwards, watched by the Chancellery Guards. “You really riled him, well done.”
“I never knew I had it in me!” Jess exclaimed, breathing out in almost exhaustion. “I just hope he’s not going to have me executed though!” She added, suddenly look alarmed.
Dorlin looked up from his work at the young human female and smiled. “He won’t have you executed.” He said. “The CIA can be very tetchy and pedantic at times, and Vansell is one of the worse, but he’s never ordered an execution before, he’s not the type. But the human is right, you did rile him. Never seen anyone do that before.”
“I have a name, you know.” Sanders snapped at him.
“I must apologise. This is my first mission away from Gallifrey in a planets time stream.” Dorlin apologised. “But Vansell meant it when he said that this crisis is out of your hands. What we’re doing is a total last resort, one we really don’t like having to revert to. Strategically, your station is perfectly suited, as was Toraan, until he disappeared from this timeline, so now I’ve got a slightly harder job to do.”
“What is your job?” Jess asked.
“To stop the Cybermen, at any cost.” Dorlin replied.
