Paul McGann: The Missing Years

[Dominic Smith]

Okay, I finally got round to putting together the first few synopses for my revised 'Time War' series, ready for your viewing pleasure. Please do let me know what you think of them, then there should be more to come

2004 (Season 8 / 40)
The Time War [/i]

The Beginning of the End

The TARDIS has been hijacked by the Time Lords who are at battle with another race. Over a telepathic link Romana explains that all Time Lords have been drafted to help, and the Doctor has already been sent on his first mission; to infiltrate the main enemy base and remove the main logic circuits of the main computer.
He soon arrives on a desolate planet where he makes his way to a vast city, and there to a large tower in which is held the main battle computer. He arrives to finally realise who his enemy is; it is the race he fears above all others…the Daleks.
He sneaks to the main control room and from there manages to evacuate the building after activating an attack alarm. He uses his precious time to remove the logic circuits but is caught on his way out. Then he is held at gunpoint as a hostage. Romana is forced to come to the planet to bargain her friend’s freedom and upon landing is also held hostage.
The Daleks explain that they will only let her go if the Time Lords surrender, but the Doctor has other ideas. He manages to use the sonic screwdriver to free himself and his friend and together they get outside, but it is then the Doctor realises they are yet to take the logic circuits which were taken back from him when he was caught.
Suddenly a thousand Time Lord ships are overhead, attacking the Dalek cities. Stunned at his own race’s actions, the Doctor looks on but Romana takes him back to the main Time Lord ship where he finds that the TARDIS has been taken onboard.
The main tower is attacked and begins to show signs of weakness, and is eventually destroyed despite heavy Time Lord losses. They all prepare to leave as Romana theorises the Daleks will have many more powerful battle computers.
Alone with his old friend, the Doctor manages to get Romana to admit to him how the war started; ever since the Time Lords tried to avert the creation of the creatures the tensions between the two races has grown until the final straw was broken when a Dalek ship attacked a Time Lord observation ship. Romana was forced by the rest of the High Council to declare war and now both sides are preparing for the main battle.
The Doctor comforts her and promises that he will always be there for him; he will never let him down. He returns to his own TARDIS to collect a few items and realises that the oncoming years are not going to be pleasant, he will have to protect a race he never really cared for…maybe even die for them…

[Dominic Smith]

The First Battle

Returning to Gallifrey the Doctor is placed in the science core and sets about analysing the remains of a captured Dalek ship. He realises that the creatures have managed to perfect time travel as well as the Time Lords can, the war is not for rule over the universe, it is war over time itself.
He prepares to report his findings but an alarm is sounding; the Time Lord base on the planet Kalen is under attack. He is drafted in to help and is soon being taken in a Battle TARDIS to the planet to help fight the first major battle.
Once there he finds the main base in disarray, but the Dalek onslaught is not the only problem, the Time Lords working at the base have contracted a deadly virus from seemingly nowhere. He begins to search for the answers, theorising that the virus could prove an effective weapon against the Daleks.
He finds himself in the underground caverns of the planet and finds a polluted water store is the blame. Naturally occurring poisonous minerals have been absorbed by the water as it corroded into the planet’s surface and has now contaminated the entire water supply.
He warns the other Time Lords not to use the water supply then manages to lure the Daleks beneath the planet’s surface. There he forces them into a cavern underneath the great lake of contaminated water and tricks them into shooting at the cavern wall.
As he runs for his life the water drowns the Daleks and rots the organic insides of their casings. He proceeds to take a sample of the water for future use before returning to the surface where small factions of Daleks are fleeing. He realises they too will have a sample of the water and will be working on an antidote and he prepares to leave with the others before a familiar voice calls out to him.
He turns to see a face from his past lying contaminated on the floor of the base, a face he thought had remained on Earth so many years ago; it is Susan.
She explains that she left Earth when she met another Time Lord who told her he could take her home but when they took off their ship was damaged by a meteor storm. She assumed a false identity to avoid being identified in case she was still known as being the Doctor’s granddaughter.
He leans over her and watches as the virus takes its toll on her body. He begins to apologise for not going back to see her and that he should never have left her in the first place. She maintains he made the right decision and then says goodbye to him. His eyes fill with tears as she slips away, out of his life forever. He tries to take her body back to Gallifrey but the others tell him they cannot take the risk of spreading contamination. He is forced to bury her on the dusty planet’s surface, her grave marked with a makeshift cross and his coat spread out over her grave… “to keep you warm”.

[Dominic Smith]

The Alliances

The Doctor has returned to Gallifrey and been there for sometime, working in the science corps. Still upset over his loss back on Kalen he begins to bury himself in his work and is soon reporting on a predicted Dalek attack on the planet Gorisa.
He leads a troop of soldiers to the planet but find no Dalek ships, only those belonging to another deadly race; the Sontarens. He leads them into the mothership in an attempt to find out what is going on and when they arrive, the Doctor learns from an outlet of the ships computer that the creatures are indeed allies of the Daleks. Not only them but so many other races have joined them in attempting to smite the Time Lords; including the Ice Warriors and the Rutans.
He tries to locate the Cybermen’s position in the war but from the reports he receives he realises they have already been wiped out in a battle with the humans in which their entire race was destroyed via the use of an atomic bomb.
No sooner has he read this the Doctor is captured and taken for interrogation but after answering questions regarding his name and place of origin he is sentenced to death. He is put in a cell but manages to escape and flee to the ship he arrived in. He finds a telekinesis gun and makes his way back to the control room, where he blasts the Sontarens out of his way and contacts Gallifrey, warning them of the alliances made and asking them to come to the planet immediately. The neutral inhabitants of the planet have been killed but the Sontarens can still be captured.
He is too late however to stop one of the creatures from initiating the launch procedure of the ship and soon they are hurtling through space. The Doctor strives to take control of the vessel and in his confusion one of the Sontarens takes his gun and blasts him away.
He threatens them with the sonic screwdriver and begins to pilot the ship back to Gallifrey but there is more trouble ahead. A secret signal has been sent to the Daleks to warn them of the liberation of the ship and they have just docked. They soon spread out across the ship and the Doctor then realises that they are a suicide patrol, ready to crash the ship into the Gallifrey and destroy the Capitol.
He manages to warn the Time Lords and they send up another ship, which also docks. They attack the Daleks and the Sontarens and the other Time Lords manage to take control of the override the Daleks have placed on the ships computer. The Doctor steers the ship clear of Gallifrey but he is too late to avoid a crash with the second moon of Gallifrey, known as Laosa. As the Dalek screech out that they won, they will all die, the Doctor braces himself for the impact and within seconds there is an almighty crash…

[The Thinker]

Good, very good!