The Last Great Time War: part II

Rassilon's council, part III

Author's note: Rassilon's council parts I and II are in part I.
Please let me know if you have any questions, noticed any errors, or have any ideas or suggestions!

Rassilon strode through the halls of the Citadel, flanked by two other High Council members. The other Time Lords they passed were either stone-faced, or almost on the verge of tears. The tense atmosphere in the Capitol was almost tangible. The news screens on walls showed propaganda for Rassilon, altered reports from the front, and wanted renegades such as Narvin, Irving Braxiatel, the Corsair, Romana, Braxnil, Leela, and many others.

Around the outside of the Citadel, a huge urban sprawl had grown up, as many more children were being born to become soldiers for the War. Beyond that, vast areas of forest and wilderness had been leveled to create fields for growing thousands of War TARDISes.

They walked into the council room. The potted plants were gone, instead there was the dead hulk of an Emperor's Guard Dalek that had been captured by the Time Scoop during the first Dalek attack on Gallifrey.

"Report on the colony worlds," Rassilon ordered.

"Ninety six are running smoothly, my Lord," said the head of the CIA. "Five have had local rebellions, all but one have been quelled."

"What of the attacks?"

"Tyrannatia, Ontarion, and Allindor are still under siege. The Daleks have been driven off elsewhere, but are now trying to reach sector 15."

"Why have you failed in protecting Pandakria, Omegon, and Drornid," Rassilon asked.

"There was nothing we could do, my Lord," said a council woman overseeing the colonies. "In all three cases we faced overwhelming opposition. Pandakria was assaulted by over twenty thousand ships and cut off by a vortex blockade. While we were held up fighting off a fleet of Imperial Guard class saucers around Omegon, the Daleks fired a neutron slug cannon through the Yorligian rift."

"I was told that rift was still under our control! What is the excuse for this incompetence?!"

"We needed to use everything we had to repel the elite enemy ships, Lord President," said another councilman. "Every one of them was loaded with planet cracker bombs, de-mat missiles, time destructors, gravity wave generators, stellar destructors, and many other weapons of mass destruction. If we had been guarding the rift as well, that fleet surely would have destroyed the colony!"

"Loop the battles of Pandakria and Omegon in on themselves and send reinforcements," Rassilon ordered.

"It will be done, Lord President," said the hologram of the Cruciform commander, who could not attend the meeting in person.

"The most serious failure we have to address," said Rassilon, "is the loss of Drornid. It was one of our best defended and most important temporal strongholds. What possible excuse could you have for this?!"

"A deadly and underestimated new threat," said the Warrior as he strode in unannounced.

"If you're going to barge in uninvited," Rassilon said, "you should at least be on time!"

The Warrior ignored this comment.
"Drornid was swarmed by Skaro Degradations, Daleks with corrupted timelines from regions where two or more contradictory histories are forced to coexist. When we tried to cut Skaro out of the Web of Time, we just created several alternate Skaros with heavily corrupted histories."

"I've heard of the Skaro Degredations," said Grayvas, a bearded councilman who was always dismissal of anything new. "They're just a legend." He waved his hand as if to wipe the idea away.

"I've seen them myself," the Warrior said. "They are no legend. I was there on Drornid, and saw how ill-equipped we are to fight them. They are more dangerous than any ordinary Dalek. I lost half my fleet and barely made it out alive."

"What do you propose we do," Rassilon asked.

"Stop abusing the Laws of Time! Already the peaceful inhabitants of time-front worlds such as Logopolis and those in the Medusa Cascade are being subjected to endless torment as the battles are fought and re-fought over and over again, and history shifts like quicksand under their feet."

"We must do everything in our power to gain any advantage over the Daleks," said Rassilon, "and if that means causing some discomfort, so be it."

The Warrior clenched his teeth.

"The sooner we win this War, the sooner such practices can be ended. I have another special mission for you."

"What is it?"

"I need you to find and eliminate the Eye of Discord. If we neutralize the main source of the Dalek's temporal power, they can be destroyed like the vermin they are."

"Yes, Lord President," the Warrior said as he walked out.

Paradon watched him leave with disdain.
"Lord President, why do we entrust such important tasks to that loose cannon? We all know he disagrees with your wise policies. He is not to be trusted. In fact, we probably have enough evidence to convict him of treason."

"And yet," said Rassilon, "he's the best fighter we have."