h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

And now ladies and gentlemen I present the final episode of Trap of the Daleks...

In the space above Federation capital the final battle had begun.
On the bridge of the lead Earth battleship General Williams watched through a large viweport at the battle, one that was possibly his last.
On the bridge of the lead alliance ship the Cyberleader stood with his lieutenant observing what they had no doubt would be a great victory.
The battle was chaos, fighters, kill cruisers and battleships engaged one another in a vicious battle.

* * * * *

The Doctor and Ace were inside the Tardis having escaped the chaos at federation capital. The Doctor was confident on his theory about Rasputaltron but wasn’t sure how it all came about.
Ace pointed to a blinking light on the console. "Professor!" she called.
The Doctor emerged from his room and triggered a control on the console and an image of President Flavia appeared.
"Flavia, you look terrible!" the Doctor said with his usual tact, little did he know the reason why she looked so distressed.
"Doctor, I am sending you to Mio Simea Gorea, The Rani's planet, you must recover the stolen artefacts before they destroy the galaxy!" Flavia said.
The Doctor realised that the time lords were using him once again but he nodded. "Very well madam president I shall go at once." The Doctor said.
The image of Flavia vanished from the Tardis scanner.
"Professor if the planet belongs to the Rani?" Ace urged.
"Then be prepared for the worst!" The Doctor said with an ominous sense of dread...
The surface of Mio Simea Gorea was rocky, treacherous and barren. Columns of grey rock stood, pointing from the ground at strange angles. At the bottom of a cliff face on a small island on the northern hemisphere of the planet a rushing, groaning, throbbing sound groaned through the air. Slowly a blue box began to form itself into existence. Once it was fully real the light on top ceased its flashing and the front doors creaked open. Ace and the Doctor stepped out of the darkness of the TARDIS interior and took in their new surroundings.
"Is this it Professor?" Ace asked her friend.
"It is Ace." the Doctor replied, a grim expression etched on his ancient features.
"Do you know we're going to find the Rani?"
"There." the Doctor replied simply, pointing to a large metal and glass structure on top of the cliff. "And when we do get there she's going to have a lot of explaining to do."
"What do you mean?"
"She's guilty for the death of Zigrosi."
"I never saw you as the vengeful type." Ace smiled.
"I'm not, I merely want an explanation as to why she felt the need to kill an old man."

* * * * *

Inside the giant metal and glass castle on the cliff face Davros inserted the coordinates for Galifrei into the hand of Omega and closed it up. The Rani entered.
"The eye of harmony is in position, its power is now ours.” She announced triumphantly.
“Excellent.”
The Rani turned to a large window showing the interior of her lab, the master and the Monk were chained up.

* * * * *

Ace pulled herself up the last couple of feet and collapsed onto the cold, jagged ground, gasping for breath. Regaining her composure she turned back to call over the edge to the Professor.
"Professor!"
"What is it Ace?" asked the faint Scots voice from behind her.
Ace snapped around to face the Doctor. He was smiling pleasantly down at her." How did you get up here before me? You were behind me!"
"Ace the multiverse is infinite and time an infinite loop." the Doctor explained knowingly.
"Meaning?"
"I came by TARDIS." he indicated to the friendly blue box behind him. "Anyway, onto breaking into this fortress." The Doctor seamed strangely confident seeing as the vast construct seemed very sturdy indeed.
"How do you plan to get us in there?" asked Ace, staring up at the spidery glass towers that struck up high, spearing the air on their steeples.
"Well if the Rani has followed the first rule of fortress construction there should be a secret escape exit, about" he kicked the metal wall softly and a section of it slid quietly aside. "here"
Davros looked at a viewscreen which showed an image of Ace and the Doctor sneaking into the fortress. He reached for a button on the control panel in front of him and pressed it. A small lift shot down from the above him and he glided into it as it descended down to the lower levels.
The Doctor and Ace walked down a dark passage edging themselves along the wall so as not to lose themselves in the darkness. The Doctor spotted a familiar blue glow at the end of the tunnel and suddenly the lights flickered and turned on revealing the Doctor and Ace surrounded by Davros and a dozen guards.
"Welcome Doctor!" Davros smiled.
"Is it just me or do you have a habit of waiting in dark places?"
"Its you."
The Doctor and Ace were escorted to the main control room where The Rani was connecting the eye of harmony, the hand of omega and the sash of Rassilon together.
"What are you doing?" The Doctor asked.
The Rani turned around.
"Ah Doctor, allow me to explain, all three artefacts are connected together, each feeds off each others power, when they are at maximum power we shall launch them to Galifrei, together they shall destroy the time lords forever!" she said in her usual tones.
"However the best is yet to come Doctor, with this new device we can create and alter the very dimensions of time!" Davros ranted.
"Your meddling with powers you cant possibly understand!" The Doctor told them.
Davros signalled to a guard and the Doctor and Ace were escorted to the room in which the Master and the Monk were being kept and chained up along with them.
"Good of you to drop in Doctor!" the Master smiled as the Doctor and Ace were chained up along side them.
"Oh you know me Johosavan, can't resist poking my nose in." the Doctor gave his rival a smile back.
"Oh dear me we are in a bit of a pickle aren't we?" asked the Monk, looking at the ground in sadness.
"Will you stop repeating that?" the Master asked the pathetic little man in his brown cowl. A was a fizzing sound in the air as Davros activated the microphone and spoke to them.
"All of you have proved to much of a threat to my um…our plans. So I'm afraid you'll all have to die." the mutant switched the mic off and flicked a switch. With a hiss a deep pink gas billowed into the room.
Davros chuckled from behind his observation window. "Goodbye Doctor!" he muttered.
Suddenly the fortress shook. Davros nearly toppled over, he switched off the gas release not wishing anything to spoil his moment of triumph and glided over to the Rani who was staring shocked out of the far window. Davros glared out with her. Hundreds of Galifreian troop transports had landed outside the fortress.
The Rani spoke into a microphone. "All guards to the entrance destroy all resistance!"
They observed their guards run out in their thousands and shoot down the Galifrei security forces. But the Galifreians fought back laser blasts filled the air.
"How long until we can activate?" Davros asked.
"Twenty minutes and counting!" The Rani announced.
Davros whirled back to his window and to his horror saw the Doctor had escaped and was untying the others.
He jammed his fist on the gas switch but to his horror found that the laser blasts from outside had knocked out the power for the room.
A voice came from the comm. "Eighteen minutes and counting!"
The Doctor untied the Master and the Monk with a sour expression on his face. "As much as I hate to do this I need your help!" he said.
The Monk made a dash for his Tardis but the Doctor pulled him back with the hook of his umbrella. "Oh no you don’t!" he said.
The Master had already got to the control room and the Doctor the monk and Ace ran after him.

* * * * *

On Skaro The Supreme Dalek, Sil and Tor Garane were panicking over recent events.
"Our attack will not succeed we’ve lost the war the alliance is over!" screamed Sil.
"We have not lost!" The Supreme Dalek announced.
The Supreme Dalek glided up to his aide. "Launch every ship we have! destroy everything in our way NOW!" he ordered.
"I obey!" the aide said.
Billions of ships zoomed from Skaro to help with the final battle...

* * * * *

The Doctor skidded to a halt next to the Master and looked down at the control panel that he was working on.
"What are you planning to do?" he asked his old rival.
"I'm attempting to re-route the power from the artefacts into the time drive of the Rani's TARDIS and then form that energy into a field around this room," the Master explained as he worked.
"And for those of us that speak English?" asked Ace,
"He's trying to use the energy from the artefacts to throw this room into the vortex and hopefully land somewhere safely.” the Doctor explained to his companion.
"We can't let you do that Doctor." came the cold drawl of the Rani's voice from across the control room. She was carrying two blasters. "Goodbye gentlemen." she fried and the Master pressed the final button.
A swirling vortex engulfed the room. The Doctor, the Master, the Monk, Ace and the Rani were tossed into it.
Davros had been watching events from a safe distance. He had not been sucked into the vortex. None the less he was furious that the Doctor had gotten away, and even more furious that the artefacts were no longer within his grasp. He glided away from the room, realising his defeat and entered the Rani's Tardis, It dematerialised from the fortress and out into space.

* * * * *

The Doctor had been separated from the others some how as they spun through the infinity of the endless vortex. The face of Flavia had appeared in front of him and smiled.
"I am afraid Doctor that this is the end for you. You have returned the artefacts to our grasp and have fulfilled your usefulness."
"Why do you seam so intent on killing me?" asked the Doctor as he drifted lazily through the time eddies.
"Because due to your intervention Rasputaltron will destroy all Time Lords!" the Galifreian president explained "unless you are killed." she added with a mean grin.
"Now you and I know that's not true." the Doctor pointed out. "Because you see madam president, I know your big secret!"
"What big secret? I have no secrets!" the face scoffed.
"Oh yes you do." the Doctor smiled evilly back. "we both know that your control room isn't exactly legal is it?"
"What do you mean ?" Flavia was looking scared now.
"I mean that all this is one little game to you, isn't it?"
"No."
"No, exactly. It is a game. That time disturbance was you, not me, not Rasputaltron, not the Cybermen, you!”
"No!"
"That control room had everything you need to manipulate time. You twitched time so that the Daleks would fake Ace's death and hold her captive. You changed time so that they'd hunt me down to Earth with their time experiments. You made it so that Davros created the Davrites. You gave the Daleks the idea of an alliance with the Cybermen, and you changed time so that Rasputaltron would become a senator and then Emperor!" he shouted at the face before continuing in a much quieter tone. ."But why?"
Flavia scowled, "It interested me to see which was the supreme race in the galaxy, so that I could go back and stop them existing and stop them becoming superior to the Time Lords!"
"On Earth, early twentieth century ,there was a man, an evil dictator, he was like you, believed in a master race, look where that got him," the Doctor's voice was cold and calculated now. "So your little experiment has taken in the death of so many innocent people Zigrosi, Saeehe, all those thousands of soldiers, and now you’re planning genocide!" he spat the last word.

* * * * *

The Final battle above Federation Capital had begun. The Dalek kill cruisers and Cyber warships headed the front of the lines. Dalek fighters shot through any gaps in their enemies lines committing suicide attacks.
From the bridge of his ship General Williams could see that his time was at an end. All over the ship people were running for exits and bumping into one another as the ship became more likely to explode at any minute. Williams took one last look out of the bridge screen sadly before the bridge erupted into flame.
Lord Izlyr and Ssorg were heading the Ice warrior fleet with quite some success.
“General Williams ship has been destroyed!” Ssorg reported.
“Commence all fire on kill cruisers!” Izlyr ordered.
On the surface of the planet the Skellions had wiped everyone and everything out. Now they swarmed the planet in complete control. From the balcony in his office Rasputaltron watched, his victory complete.
Barok urged from behind his master. "Master, shouldn’t we leave here now?”
Rasputaltron looked at his servant, he was right really, this planet could be destroyed in the fire of war.
"Very well. Lets go." He said.
They made their way down to the launch bay and entered a shuttle. The shuttle shot into space avoiding the battle fleet and the war and shot safely into space.

* * * * *

The face of Flavia glared angrily at the Doctor.
"What of Ace and the others?" The Doctor asked.
Flavia still glaring said. "Each of them has been returned to their own Tardis, they are safe."
"Have you discovered the master race then?" The Doctor asked.
Flavia straightened up. "The Daleks." She said.
"As I thought…" the Doctor said.
"Now Doctor the time has come for your demise, Rasputaltron will destroy us, I did not lie." She said.
The Doctor suddenly realised something. "What of Rasputaltron? Will you kill him once he has served his purpose?" he said.
"No." Flavia said simply. “He shall be allowed to rule the cosmos as an Emperor, but not everyone will follow him."
"And the alliance?" The Doctor said.
“They shall meet their doom at the final battle which is going on now.” Flavia said. "The Daleks though will survive and recover to ally themselves with Rasputaltron, as far as I know the Cybermen will never be heard from again."
"And the others?" The Doctor said finally.
"The Federation will die and Galatron mining corporation will join the intergalactic banking alliance to create the corporate alliance."
The Doctor had nothing further to say, for once he was beaten and could not think of a means of escape…

* * * * *

The Battle above federation capital seemed to be going better for the federation than it had for the alliance.
On board the alliance command ship the Cyberleader received a report from his lieutenant.
"Leader, we have lost the shield generator for our bridge!" he said frantically.
"Order all dalek fighter to defend us!" the Cyberleader said, realising that he couldn’t allow his ship to be destroyed.
Before he could see his order carried out a pulsating beam of energy came towards them. The Cyberleader screamed in pain as he realised his defeat. An immense fireball charged through the bridge.
From the bridge of his ship Earth officer Captain Hanik could see what a brilliant hit he had gotten in.
"All right!" he shouted. "That should do it!"
The lead ship exploded into flame taking several other with it.
"Right, there’s a break in their lines! all ships advance!"

* * * * *

"Your defeated Doctor!" Flavia spat at the drifting man. "And now you will die!" A red ribbon of energy coursed its way through the vortex towards the Doctor. He tried to evade it but it simply swung around and cam at hi again. Flavia was cackling mercilessly at his plight. "There's nothing you can do Doctor! It'll follow you anywhere in space or time!"
"Is that so?" asked the Doctor and a smile began to form on his face. Pushing hard on air the Doctor shoulder barged the image of Flavia. There was a blinding white flash as he exited the vortex and came crashing to the ground in Flavia's control room. The President screamed as the red ribbon of energy sliced through the wall and then through her. He skin was stripped away, followed by her muscles and then her bones, all in a matter of nanoseconds, her screams lingering in the air as she died. The Doctor grimaced before remembering the ribbon and dodging it again. He rolled to his feet and began working at the controls as the ribbon swung around for another pass. The Doctor's fingers flew across the electronic keyboard and a sucking pierced the air as the ribbon collapsed in on itself.
The Doctor turned around his work complete, he was still in disbelief that Flavia could have been so evil. He saw a familiar face come rushing in, a short grey haired man in a black technicians uniform.
"Coordinator Engin how good to see you again!” The Doctor smiled at his old friend.
"Hello Doctor, what happened?" asked the small old man.
The Doctor looked at the pile of ashes that was all that was left of Flavia. "The President has retired, and I think an election should take place don’t you?”
Engin gave him a strange look. "I don’t understand!" he said.
"Never mind, I wonder if you could do me a favour and bring my Tardis here?" The Doctor urged.
Engin nodded and hit a few controls on the control panel and the familiar shape of the Tardis appeared.
"Thank you Engin, and goodbye." The Doctor said and he entered the Tardis, a few seconds later it dematerialised. Engin smiled and shrugged.

* * * * *

Ace flew out of the vortex with a rushing sound flooding her ears and hit the ground with a hard smack. She blinked to clear the bleariness and examined herself. She was okay apart from a couple of bruises and a cut on her cheek. She was lying in the middle of a road and after a couple more minutes of looking around she realised that she was back on the Capital World. A hover car shot past her, the driver shouting alien insults as he went past.

* * * * *

The battle was in it's final stages. Since the loss of their command ship the alliance had begun to lose the battle.
Lord Izlyr gave the order from the bridge to the rest of his fleet. "It is clear that they are defeated attack in full force!" he roared over the com channel.
The Federation fleet opened maximum firepower on the alliance ships, kill cruisers went up in flame, cyber warships went flying out of control and into one another and the dalek fighters fled the battle realising that they had lost.
On the bridge of his ship Captain Hanik received some news from his android subordinate Laran.
"Sir, reports indicate that the alliance has left Earth and all its other worlds to help defend Skaro." the posh voice of the android said.
The bridge crew cheered their victory was complete.

* * * * *

Onboard is TARDIS the Doctor watched the battle on the time visuliser. Sighing he turned to the main console and shook his head,
"What have you done Flavia?" he asked himself, "Well, back to Galifrei"
Flavia's secret control room was brought to life with the sound of a materializing TARDIS. The blue police box appeared and the Doctor stepped out. He walked over to the control panel and began tapping at the control panels and pulling the spring loaded levers. There was a wush as the door slid open and Rasputaltron stepped in. He looked surprised (or as surprised as possible for a skeleton) at the fact that the Doctor was already there,
"What are you doing?" he asked in outrage.
"Correcting time" the Doctor replied.
"What?"
"Undoing Flavia's damage. Her plan is heading Pall Mall towards the end of the universe!"
Rasputaltron thought about this for a minute before realising the Doctor's plan. "But you can't! I'll lose my power!"
"And that's a bad thing?" the Doctor smiled over his shoulder at the Emperor.
"Yes!" Rasputaltron cried, to horrified to move his legs.
"Oh well." the Doctor turned to face Rasputaltron. "Say la-vi." and he pushed forwards the final switch.
Rasputaltron leaped forward and grabbed the Doctor as Flavia's damage was undone.
The Doctor realised what had happened, he and Rasputaltron had not been effected. Rasputaltron turned and smiled.
"Well well Doctor it would appear that your intervention to undo the great war has been successful the chaos in the galaxy has been successful, but not your attempt to destroy me!"
"What can you do now, I undid all your damage, so now your fellow delegates know your a vicious murderer!" The Doctor said.
Rasputaltron seized the Doctor by the throat and threw him against the wall in a fit of madness. The Doctor struggled to his feet only to be blasted by an energy beam from Rasputaltron’s hand.
"Your finished!" the black skeleton screeched his purple cloak flailing wildly behind him.
Suddenly a baseball bat came crashing over his head. He turned around to face Ace behind him, the baseball held just above Rasputaltron's energy crystal embedded in his rib cage.
"I wouldn't do that." he said.
The Doctor shook his head at Ace and she signalled for Rasputaltron to get up. He got to his feet realising that the girl still had him at bay. If his crystal went then so did he.
"I advise you to leave for where ever you are planning to go." the Doctor said.
"Very well," the skeleton growled. "But we shall meet again Doctor, and when we do I shall destroy you!"
Rasputaltron engulfed himself in a beam of black energy and cackled insanely as he vanished from the room.
The Doctor turned to Ace. "Well, shall we go." he said making his way to the Tardis.
"What did you do?" asked Ace. "I just found myself in the Tardis after being tossed into the vortex."
"I undid the war which Flavia caused and altered things so that Rasputaltron could never become Emperor." The Doctor explained.
"So everything that has happened-"
"Not everything, the daleks time experiments and the Davrite invasion still happened and Davros, The Rani, The Master and the monk still know what happened, but I wasn’t able to undo some of the damage like Zigrosi's death." The Doctor said.
They entered the Tardis the doors closing behind them.
"But Rasputaltron's still alive!" Ace said.
"There had been too much killing Ace, besides, perhaps we'll meet again someday." The Doctor smiled at Ace who smiled back.
The Tardis dematerialised into space their work done...
THE END.