Series 27 Episode 2: Warriors Game Part 2

Warriors Game

Part 2

The Doctor, Gina and Nathan watched on in terror as the Sontarans continued to march towards them, desperately clutching onto the surface to avoid their descent into the atmosphere. The Doctor did not know what to do. The Sontarans continued to edge towards him, and his levels of panic slowly increased. They all were stunned.

The leader of the Sontarans grabbed the Doctor and pulled him towards them, whilst Gina and Nathan continued to grapple on for security.

“Why thank you!” The Doctor exclaimed, as the Sontaran continued to hold on to him. “The atmosphere is quite ferocious tonight, I must say.”

The Sontaran grunted and pushed the Doctor back towards the rock. He wished he had his umbrella to aid him in clutching onto something concrete, but he had left it back in the TARDIS. He did all he could to keep hold of the rock that was standing between life and death. Gina and Nathan panicked as they struggled to grip on to the hazardous layers of rocks and minerals.

“Help us!” Gina demanded to the Sontarans. “You cannot leave us here!”

The Sontarans grabbed the Doctor, Gina and Nathan, with each of the three soldiers carrying each one of them back towards the base respectively. The Doctor was confused, unsure why his enemies had rescued him from a potential deadly fate. Gina and Nathan had no familiarity with the Sontarans anyway, so they were unsure whether to consider this as a surprising turn of events or not. The atmosphere began to cool down, and the environment became more hospitable. Gina and Nathan both breathed a huge sigh of relief.

“You can let us go now!” The Doctor commanded the Sontarans. “The environment is tolerable enough for us to survive now.”

The Sontarans dropped the Doctor, Gina and Nathan on to the floor, leaving them with a slight bump on the head, but the conditions did not mean they would be accelerated into the air as they did moments before.

“What happened back there? The temperature should not become that tempetorous, surely?” Nathan explained, “It wasn’t possible for those conditions to take place. Especially while the Snowzone base is under full control.”

“Unless of course there are more Sontarans in the base manipulating the levels of temperature,” The Doctor responded, “Isn’t that right?”

The Sontaran Commander nodded. “I am Commander Kergg of the Thirteenth Sontaran Battle Fleet. Me and my men are here to storm the Snowzone base. However, we cannot control it without your assistance. We have not yet stormed the base.”

“So if the Sontarans were not responsible for the Temperature strike, then that means that they are not the only forces of evil at work here.”

Inside of the Snowzone base, Ace was still held captive, surrounded by figures who she believed to be evil. In front of her was Destari, the woman who she claimed had manipulated the Doctors memories and wiped Ace from existence as far as the Doctor was concerned. Next to her were the beings that were formerly the three Security Guards of the Base, but had now transformed into peculiar and horrific Jellyfish type creatures. Destari was chuckling away to herself. Ace was wearing a face of anger.

“What are these things?” Ace questioned, demanding answers.

“I told you, they’re the Rutans,” Destari announced. “They are here to conquer the Snowzone base and use the Earth as an intergalactic battleground against the Sontarans, if that’s alright with you.”

“I can’t believe you would give the plan away so easily.”

“Oh, I’m only telling you because there’s no way you can stop them. I’m going to do something to you that means you will never see the Doctor again.”

Ace groaned. “There’s nothing you can do to separate me and the Professor. I will always find a way to get to him, like I did this time.”

“That’s because I implanted the memories in your mind, dummy,” Destari claimed, cockily, “I wanted you to find me and try to inform the Doctor of who I am because I knew it would be fun. I knew that you could never find a way to tell him the truth. It’s impossible.”

The Rutans moved towards the control panel. “It is time to activate once again,” Announced one of the Rutans, “Our first test strike was successful and now we shall disarm the atmosphere entirely so it is inhospitable to human kind.”

Ace screamed at the top of her voice, “No you don’t, you stupid jellyfishes!”, before launching herself at the Rutans, kicking them and punching them and attempting to pull them away from the control panel. Destari held out a weapon towards Ace, causing Ace to step down for a moment. Destari placed her finger over the trigger of the weapon. Ace turned towards Destari.

“The Doctor’s distracted,” Destari claimed, “You can’t defeat our alliance alone.”

“You aren’t going to fire that at me, space witch,” Ace replied.

“You see, Ace, I might not be like the other enemies you’ve encountered, because I actually have the intention of winning.”

Destari reached for her weapon and shot at Ace, causing Ace to vanish into thin air. She laughed for a moment, before reaching towards the control panel and joining the Rutans. She noticed the Doctor, Nathan and Gina heading towards the base through the window, which was still protected by exterior shielding. She then noticed that the three of them were being escorted by Sontarans.

“Now Ace is dealt with, we need to find a way to keep them away from the base until we have been successful,” Destari schemed, “You need to work out how to keep them away.”

“There is a reason you are in this operation,” The Rutan replied, “You must achieve your purpose or you shall be assimilated, just as the deal was laid out.”

“I know what the deal was, and that was not the deal.” Destari looked towards the Rutans, and fearful of her potential death at their hands, strolled outside of the room and through the rest of the Base until she reached the door. She spotted the Doctor, Nathan and Gina, whose movements were being restricted by the Sontarans. She walked through the destroyed entrance of the Base, which was still in ruins following Ace’s attack earlier on. Her face suddenly switched from one of confidence to one of panic. One of the Sontarans grabbed her and pushed her towards the other prisoners. “You need to get away from the base immediately.”

“We need the base,” The Sontarans exclaimed, “Who are you?”

“This is my companion, Destari,” The Doctor announced. “What do you mean an explosion? An explosion caused by whom?”

The Sontaran interfered in the Doctors conversation, swiftly changing the subject matter. “You have not informed us of who you are. Are you also a worker of this base? We did not see your name on the files.”

“My name is the Doctor. I’ve come into contact with your race before.”

The Sontaran Leaders face turned, and grabbed his weapon swiftly. Nathan quickly panicked, while Gina looked like she still did not care about anything that was happening. The Sontaran prepared to pull the trigger on the Doctor, recognising that the Doctor was a notorious enemy of the Sontarans.

“No!” Nathan exclaimed. “We cannot use the Snowzone base without him.”

“Then we shall kill the two of you instead,” The Sontaran bellowed.

Destari interrupted, “Please, we’ve got enough on our cards here. The Snowzone base is about to implode, and it could set the whole world on fire in the process. Please, Doctor, you need to get in there and prevent the explosion.”

The Doctor attempted to rush inside but was restrained by the Sontarans. “Please, I need to sort this out. If I don’t, then we cannot go forward with this and there is no way you can do whatever you wish. Please, set me free for a moment.”

The Sontarans released him, while holding Nathan, Gina and Destari in their restraints. The Doctor rushed into the building, armed with nothing. He rushed into the main section of the base, and was shocked instantly by what he had seen. The Rutans hovered over the control panel, testing around with various pieces of equipment. The Doctor looked on in disbelief. Both the Sontarans and the Rutans were in Antartica, and he knew that was not a good sign. After all, they were sworn enemies, and would take any opportunity they could to cause destruction in the midsts of their never ending war.

The Doctor slowly strutted towards the Rutans, as they dangled their tentacles over a button, not yet noticing that somebody was moving towards them. The Rutans turned around, and noticed the Doctor. He grinned at them.

“Hello, Rutans,” The Doctor began, “It’s been a while since I’ve come across any of you lot.”

One of the Rutans questioned, “Who are you?” to the Doctor.

“My name is the Doctor, and I’ve encountered your race on numerous occasions before. I’m guessing you used your shape shifting abilities to take the form of the Security Guards, but you did not expect my imminent appearance and were not able to change your form in time. Sorry for foiling your guises so easily.”

“It is of no consequence to our plot, Doctor,” The Rutans announced, “It is time to activate the next test on the atmosphere.”

Outside, the atmosphere became tempestuous once again. Luckily Gina, Nathan, Destari and the three Sontarans were just outside of the base, so had the ability to cling on to the exterior of the building before they could fly away. The environment became more and more hazardous by the second, and less and less hospitable. It was only because of the safe structure of the building nearby that they managed to hold on. It seemed to last much shorter than last time, and after about half a minute, the strike on the atmosphere ceased, and everything was back to normal.

“Is everybody alright?” Destari asked, maintaining her innocent guise for the time being, “That was horrific. I’ve never seen whether like it.”

“What source is interfering with the controls?”, The Sontaran Commander asked.

“There are these creatures inside of there called the Rutans. They said they were going to take control of the Snowzone base and destroy the Earths atmosphere so they could use it as a battleground against another force.”

The Sontarans stormed into the building. “The Rutans are our sworn enemies. They must be destroyed at all costs.”

The Sontarans vanished, leaving Destari, Gina and Nathan alone together. The Sontarans stormed into the main room of the Snowzone base, where the Doctor was being held by the Rutans. The soldiers grabbed their weapons and shot at the Rutans for a while, as a short battle took place between the two rival races. One of the Rutans dangled their tentacle over one of the buttons and pushed it down, turning everything to white. Everything suddenly faded into nothingness.

Gina and Nathan looked physically baffled by all that had happened to them, whilst Destari was attempting to give the impression from her facial expressions that she too was confused.

“What the hell were those things?” Wondered Destari, acting as if she was oblivious to everything that was going on.

Gina shrugged. “I don’t know. I can’t say I was paying attention.”

Nathan planted his hand in his face, irritated by Gina’s words. “You weren’t paying attention? We nearly died back there, Gina. Quite a few times.” He turned back towards Destari. “I’m so sorry about my colleague here. They were called the Sontarans or something. They were hidden deep within the Ice, just like Ace said. Apparently they were old enemies of the Doctor. He seemed to know who they are. To be honest though, I’ve lost track of all that is going on. Tonight has been too much for me. The Doctor, the Sontarans, Ace. So many questions are flooding through my brain and at this rate I don’t think I’ll live long enough to get all the answers.”

“We best get inside,” Gina suggested, “Otherwise there may be another temperature strike, and then we’ll be good as dead. It’s best to be somewhere where there’s a little more security. The atmosphere is too deadly to stay out here.”

Nathan and Destari acted upon Gina’s suggestion, and strolled back inside of the base. The glass that remained on the door closed, causing more shattering, and they figured that they would be safe. They realised that the main section of the base which the Sontarans and the Doctor had both gone to would be too dangerous for the time being, and decided to remain in the area where they were.

“So you’re saying that Ace was right?” Destari remarked. “There was something buried deep within the Ice after all?”

Nathan nodded. “It seems so. Doesn’t mean she was right about all the stuff she said about you and the Doctor. I think she may have something to do with this whole thing.”

“I think that’s a pretty obvious examination. Of course she’s something to do with all this. She knew that those things were buried within the Ice, which means she must be working with them. She must have hidden them in the Ice for some reason. She created all those things about me and the Doctor to turn us against each other, and make us feel anger. Ace is evil, and I think we can confidently say she was behind all of this.”

Gina turned towards Destari. “I’m afraid I cannot trust you on that one, Destari. It’s all been coming back to me, slowly, but surely. I can remember what-”

Suddenly Destari grabbed her weapon and shot at Gina before she could finish her sentence. Nathan stared at her in shock. Destari put the weapon back in her pocket, and grinned at Nathan. Nathan was taken aback at what had happened.

“You killed her!” Nathan exclaimed, “You bloody killed her!”

“I didn’t kill her,” Destari announced, “But soon she’ll wish that I did.”

Nowhere

Gina woke up on a hard concrete floor, unfamiliar with her surroundings and suffering a massive headache. She rose up and searched around her. She was not sure of what to think or what to do. She lifted herself off the floor and searched around the barren landscape. It was an endless nothingness. Just ground and dirt and filth and emptiness. Nothing. It was the blandest landscape imaginable. She squinted to see if there was anybody else in the distance, but there was not. She was alone. She did not know how far away she was from the Snowzone base, but she expected she was not close.

Gina was still struggling to get over all of the other experiences she had been through today. She had encountered aliens, or at least beings who claimed to be aliens. It had been the strangest and most alarming day of her life, and she was still in it. She began to increase her pace, desperate to find a way back and to save Nathan from potential danger now he was occupied by Destari.

She felt a tap on her back. Gina turned around, spotting a figure in a black cloak behind her. This had frightened her. Gina did not expect somebody to sneak up behind her but they did. The person did not reveal their true features, keeping their hood up at all times.

“Excuse me,” Gina began, “Where am I? I’m not meant to be here.”

The person in the hood remained quiet for a moment. Gina chuckled to herself for a moment, but she was not sure why. Perhaps it was due to nervousness, or shock, or fear, but she did not know. They stared at each other for a few moments.

Gina grinned. “This is all a joke isn’t it? The attack on the base. The people with the silly potato head costumes. The mad man called the Doctor and his little box. Me being beamed here. This is all on a TV show or something, isn’t it? I’ve seen things like this before. I bet Nathan set me up to this. I knew this wasn’t real!”

“Oh it is real,” The other person uttered, revealing themselves as female.

“Well, that’s what you would say, to try and make me believe that this is real. But this is all fake, isn’t it? I’ve foiled it! I’ve foiled Nathan’s little scheme!”

“It is not fake,” The woman responded, “Only I wish I could say it was.”

“Then where exactly am I? That woman, Destari, she teleported me here, because I remembered something. But now it’s gone out of my mind what I remembered. I’d seen Destari before, I know that, but I just can’t remember then. Her teleporting me here must have deleted my memories or something.”

The other woman pointed to a mountain, which had the number six transplanted on it in huge, white writing. Gina looked on in confusion, unsure of what this meant.

“What is that?” Gina asked. “I’ve got a lot of questions as it is, and I don’t need more.”

The woman explained, “Destari. We have heard of that name. She is one of them. She is one of the apocalypse bringers. She is one of the Six.”

“The six? Sorry, I have no idea what you’re talking about or what is going on.”

“The ancient books have prophesied that the Six will bring the destruction of all life in the universe, and plotted out the order of existence from the start. They brought the start, and they will bring the end. Six eternal gods who our worlds will stand no chance of defeating. The Dominatrix, the Overlord of Time, the Doomslayer, Airmid, Azazel and Destari.”

“Destari? She seemed pretty normal to me. She seemed a bit evil by the end, but she didn’t appear to me as an eternal god.”

“The bible said they each have different powers, but they can all manipulate in different ways. Everything they are doing is for a reason. If Destari brought you away, it must mean you found something out about her. A deep and dark secret that would stand in the way of her oppression of reality.”

“Look, I just need to get out of here, and back to the Snowzone base in Antarctica so that I can stop Destari from doing something to my friend. My friend Nathan might be in danger right now, as may the Doctor.”

“The Doctor?” The woman questioned. “It has been a long time since that name has been said to me, but it is rather pleasant to hear of it.”

“You know the Doctor? He’s a very strange man.”

“Yes he is,” The woman confirmed, “But a brilliant one.” She walked away into the distance, before turning back. “You must return and destroy Destari. We are not sure of how long we have before the Six destroy our universe, but we assume it must not be long. You must defeat Destari at all costs, before she brings an end to all things.”

Gina nodded. “I’m trying, but it’s proving quite hard. I don’t even know where I am. I don’t even know how I’m going to get back to Antartica.”

“You’re already here,” The woman replied, before strolling off into the distance.

Gina was stunned. She had so many questions. She did not know what to do. If this was Antartica, then what had happened to Nathan, and the Snowzone base? She intended to find answers to her ever growing list of questions. Everything was going too fast for her and there were too many things going on around her. What could she do?

Back in the Snowzone base, Nathan looked in shock following Gina’s teleportation away from the Zone. Destari addressed him with a sinister grin, as she stalked the Snowzone base, making her presence known to him. He seemed intimidated.

“What did you do that for?” Nathan asked. “There was no need to do such a thing.”

“I did it because she knew too much about me. And now you know too. You know who I really am. You know that Ace was telling the truth. And I know you probably have so many questions that I’m happy to answer.”

“I have a lot of them, yeah. Who are you? What do you want? Why are you at the Snowzone base? What do you want with the Doctor? Who was Ace?”

“My god! So many questions. I think I’ll try and remember them all. My name is Destari, as you know, and I am a figure with infinite power and potential. Prophecies and myths claim I am the reason the universe came into existence, but they’re wrong, of course. That was the Big Bang, and we can blame the Cybermen for that. I am the reason a lot of important stuff occured in this universe, meaning we are here, and meaning you will not be here any longer. I may not have the abilities of my renowned associates, despite the legends claiming that I am even more powerful. Maybe one day, but you never know. I can manipulate the mind, and the soul, and the body, to dictate anything I want. I can implant any memory I wish, into any person I desire. I can divert the course of the timeline of any being in reality. I could change your entire past with the click of a finger if you step a wrong foot. I am here because I am helping the Rutans, and they want the Snowzone base. I’m only helping them because they struck a deal with me, and I got caught out. I always wanted the Doctor. All of my kind have. He is a complicated being and I desire his memories to feed from. Ace is his companion, although I wiped his mind of her to make the Doctor believe that I was his companion all along, so I could easily slot in and get what I want. I don’t want him to know who I am just yet. It’s too early. My plan is only just slotting into place. I’m just getting started. And everything that happens here today is going to help me. The Rutans, the Sontarans, you, Gina, Ace, the Doctor. Everything that happens here will get me where I want because I’ve seen what happens as a result. All our lives will be changed forever as a result of my actions today. And you’re going to stick in line.”

Nathan sighed. “That’s a lot of information to take in a short amount of time.”

“Look, Nathan, I’m happy to strike a deal. If you don’t tell the Doctor about my deal with the Rutans and my manipulation of his memories, then you can keep your past and Gina will be safe. If you don’t stay in line, she will lose her life, and you will lose your own.”

Nathan nodded, “Me and Gina may not see eye to eye, but I cannot condemn her to death at your hands. I could never do such a thing.”

Destari grinned. “Good good. Well done.”

Elsewhere, Gina was still unsure of what to do. The hooded woman was gone. She was away from the Snowzone base. Nathan was in potential danger. She had no clue of how to get back to the base and stop Destari. She had many questions. She had not even thought about the Sontarans properly yet. Nothing had sunk in.

She turned around, and saw a very familiar figure racing towards her. It was Ace. Gina headed towards Ace, happy to see a recognisable face at last. She thought this meant she may be in the right place.

“Gina, isn’t it?” Ace asked. “I see she’s put you here too.”

Gina nodded. “I’m so sorry about earlier. I can see now you intruded in the base for the right reasons. You wanted to stop Destari.”

“Why did she get rid of you? What did you find out?”

“I don’t know. When I was teleported away by her device, it just left from my memories.”

“Same with me,” claimed Ace, “I know I saw her before the Snowzone base, and I could remember my encounter with her before she transported it away, but her device must have stunned our memories so we could not remember much.”

“What is this place? How long have you been here?”

“It’s a death trap. There’s things here. I’ve managed to fight them off, of course, but they’re still coming. I don’t know where we are. I haven’t come into contact with any human forms of life. Only these weird snake things.”

“I saw a woman earlier on. She was hooded, and told me this was Antartica. She told me Destari was some kind of eternal god or something. If I’m honest, I have no idea what’s going on today. Too much has happened, and I’m struggling to deal with it.”

Ace’s attention was piqued. “Wait a second-You say this is Antartica? We’re still in Antarctica? This can’t be now. We must be in our futures. The future of the Earth.”

“How do you know?” Gina asked.

“I don’t, but I’m just assuming. Both the Doctor and Nathan are probably in genuine danger, not only by Destari, but by those talking Jellyfishes, and by whatever was buried in the Ice. We’ve got a lot on our plate left to deal with.”

“The thing that was buried in the Ice revealed itself,” Announced Gina, “It burst out of the Ice and came towards us. It was like a humanoid potato. I don’t know what it wanted with the Base, but I’m sure that’s another element of trouble that we have to add to our ever growing list. How do you suggest we get back home?”

Ace sat herself down on the cold, dank surface. “I don’t know. Usually I have hope. Hope that the Doctor will save me, wherever I am. But he doesn’t even know who I am.”

In the Snowzone base, an awkward silence between Destari and Nathan lurked for a few moments. Nathan was not sure what to do. He was frightened by Destari. He knew both him and Gina were in genuine danger. If he stepped a foot out of place, then he would be placed in danger.

“Don’t you think we should go inside the main sector of the Base?” Nathan asked. “I need to check up on the systems to ensure everything is in place.”

Destari shook her head. “You’re not going in there, but I will. The Rutans are in charge of this operation now, as I am. With any luck, they would have blasted the Sontarans that went through that door to smithereens. I will be back soon.”

Destari walked through the door, and closed it swiftly behind her. Nathan heard a scream from behind the door, and what sounded like a gust of wind. Nathan hurried towards the door, opening it. Suddenly, from the point he opened it, he looked out to nothingness. The whole room of the main base had vanished. All that was left was the door. The wind was unbearable. The Doctor, the TARDIS, the Sontarans, the Rutans and Destari had all vanished. Nathan slammed the door in his own face, and stepped backwards to where he was before. The whole base had gone. He was shook.

He turned around, as the temperature decreased once again, and an intolerable gust of wind burst into the room. He had nowhere else to go. This small, self contained room was all that was left of the base. T he doors had been smashed in by Ace, although now he realised for good reason, and the main segment of the base had been destroyed somehow, alongside everybody else who was inside it. Nathan clutched onto one of the walls, unsure of what to hold on to. The temperature rapidly declined, with conditions worsening by the second. Things became colder, and colder, and colder, and colder. Soon the lighting in the room vanished, and everything descended into pitch black.

Three figures descended onto the room suddenly. It was the Rutans. They shifted towards Nathan, who became even more terrified than he was beforehand. One of the Rutans launched into Nathan, shifting into his form. Nathan screamed as he and the Rutan became one and the same. Nathan grinned, or more so, the Rutan grinned.

Meanwhile, the main area of the Snowzone base found itself elsewhere, alongside those who were placed inside of it, the Doctor, the Sontarans, the Rutans and Destari. All of them found themselves in the same interior, but probably in a different area. The Doctor woke up, only to spot Destari above him.

“What happened?” The Doctor interrogated. “The Snowzone base got teleported elsewhere.”

“Exactly, Doctor,” Destari replied, “That’s exactly what they intended to happen.”

“Why? I thought the Rutans wanted to take out the systems? I thought the Rutans wanted the end of the world.”

A Rutan nodded. “Yes. We have caused the end of the world, and now we wish to escape it. Except we have brought along some intruders. Only the Rutans and Destari are secured in our deal. Our enemies shall be eradicated.”

One of the Sontarans grabbed their weapon, blasting the Rutan to smithereens. Another Rutan used their tentacles to release the shield that was containing the base. It was clear now that from the visible exterior, they were no longer in Antarctica. The base, and the people inside of it, were now in outer space. The Sontarans were all sucked out into space. The Doctor managed to clutch on, reaching towards the TARDIS and entering the safe solace of his ships interior.

Destari then signalled the Rutans to place the shield over the window once again. Destari and the Rutans had all managed to remain inside of the base, unlike the Sontarans who had  been forced out due to the overwhelming pressure. Destari knocked on the TARDIS door.

“Doctor, open the doors!” Destari demanded.

The doors of the TARDIS opened, and Destari rushed inside. The TARDIS doors slammed shut once again behind her. The Doctor plugged in some coordinates. Destari moved towards the TARDIS console.

“What are you doing?” Destari asked, still acting as if she was oblivious to everything that was going on around her, “Those things are out there. You need to stop them.”

“I know, Destari, but first we need to pilot the Snowzone base back to Earth. The Rutans played around with the controls, meaning that the temperatures on Earth sky rocketed below freezing. We need to get the base back to Earth so that we can fix the atmosphere of the planet. If we don’t, then the whole world will be destroyed.”

“The Rutans managed to change the Earths atmosphere?”

“Yes, and it will gradually become more and more inhospitable. The Rutans managed to pilot the base into space so that there is no way to reverse the atmosphere. But if I get the base back to Earth, then we can change things back.”

“No, Doctor,” Destari said, now aiming her gun at the Doctor. “I don’t think you’re going to do that. You’re going to go outside of the TARDIS and surrender yourself to the Rutans.”

“What are you talking about? Destari? What has happened to you?”

“Nothing happened to me, but I can tell you what will happen to you if you do not surrender yourself. You will regenerate. You do not want that. The Snowzone base shall remain in space, and the Earth shall be frozen. The Rutans will win, and the Earth shall become their battleground. Surrender, or die. Make your choice.”

To be Continued...