Doctor Who: The Star Wars Chronicles

Episode 10 - Fight For Life

"And there we are. Cyrillia."
The planet hung in space with dark masses of gas filling the atmosphere. It was difficult to tell what lay beneath.
"The Ark - state you name and-"
DarkRula flips a switch and lazily replies back before the announcer had finished.
"Jedi DarkRula, requesting a visit with Jek Nori."
The first voice had sounded like a droid, but the second one was definitely human.
"Ah. DarkRula. Yes. Kronis mentioned you last time he was here. Where is he now?"
"With The Force," DarkRula answers. "Killed on a mission. Or rather, invasion."
"Ah. I'm sorry to hear it. Perhaps when you're on the surface we can talk some more."
"Sure thing. Are we cleared to land?"
"Bring yourself down. It'll be a pleasure to meet Kronis' padawan at last. It's a shame you couldn't meet mine, though."
The comm clicks off.
"Oh, I already have," DarkRula says to himself.
Instructions for the landing site came through, and DarkRula beamed them to the Scimitar's computer. He then turned away from the computer and looked at The Doctor.
"No offense, but... Would you mind sitting this one out?"
"Why would I do that?"
DarkRula laughs. "Come on, Doctor. It's a simple pick up job. I don't need an escort."
"When you say it like that, it makes sense."
The Doctor turned to one of the viewscreens and looked out at the planet below - legs apart, hands behind back.
"Same rules as before," DarkRula states to the bridge at large. "Make no contact with anyone. If anyone wants to board, check with me first. And don't let any Neimoidians on board."
"There will be no problems, sir," one of the droid commanders state.
DarkRula turned on his heel and left the bridge. At the Scimitar, he checked the route before setting off. It was a simple flight down.
Setting off, he reached the designated hangar quickly. Waiting for him was a droid. A protocol droid. It led him to a lift, which took the two of them down a few levels before moving off on a horizontal plane. Stopping again, the lift moves upward and stopped at its destination.
The door opened, and the two stepped forward. Sprays of air removed any toxins from them, and then the second door opened.
"Well, well. Don't you look older now."
"Yes," DarkRula says. "Master Nori."
"Oh, dispense with the 'Master', please," Jek Nori reprimands. "I've already tired of it."
"Well, the Jedi finally want you to come home."
"Do they? Do they really? I guess Kronis coming here was a stroke of luck after all. But the fact of the matter is - I simply cannot."
"Why?" DarkRula quickly questions. "Is there something keeping you here?"
"Yes, my boy. This air. Everyone here is droid except for me. The gases in the air, the pollution of this planet, is too great. I simply cannot move from this room, and I can no longer call on the Force to keep the gases away."
"What about breathing apparatus? Surely that would do?"
"We've tried. The workers used them, but even they couldn't keep the gases out fully."
"What about for a short time? The ship I used is only a lift ride away."
"I suppose it would do... But the pollution must have become more immense since then. I could probably only be guaranteed a few minutes..."
"Sir, you must be free of this place," the protocol droid speaks up. "It would do you good to get away from here."
Jek Nori stands up from his seat and stretches out. "If the Jedi really want me back, then I will present myself. However, I have no idea what condition I will be in when I return."
"We've got medics on board," DarkRula states. "I'm sure they could rid any pollution poisoning out of your system before we return."
"Very kind," Nori says. "Now. There should be a breath mask of some kind around here."
The three of them search the complex of rooms, which DarkRula comes to realise is actually the traffic control station and the place where Jek Nori lives. As such, a spare breath mask was found within the traffic control station itself. The station could still be manned by organics, but the reputation of the planet's pollution had meant no-one wanted to work there. Even with the promise of a whole complex airtight to such pollution poisoning, no organic had wanted to take the risk. Jek Nori told him how he was the only organic left on the entire planet. All the rest were droids.
With the breath mask found, and in place, Jek Nori stood by the other two at the lift entrance. The door behind them closed. The one in front opened. All three step into the lift, and it takes itself downward. Coming to a stop, it then moves on a horizontal plane. It then stops again.
The tubing housing the lift exploded.
DarkRula lifts himself from the floor and looks to see how Jek Nori had fared. Lifting him up, a beep then comes from DarkRula's waist. A droid's voice comes through the comlink.
"Sir. There are pirates. They came out of hyperspace and landed on the surface. Should we do anything?"
DarkRula considers for a moment before answering. "No. Just stay hidden and hopefully we can be gone before they do any further damage."
"That's exactly what we have done," The Doctor comments. "When we saw the warning, we moved behind the planet from their point of entry."
"Good. We'll be with you shortly."
Finished with the conversation, DarkRula looks up to see Nori had helped the droid up. But with the lift now out of action, they needed another way out to the Scimitar.
"What's directly above us?" DarkRula quizzes.
It was the droid that answered. "The main building. This lift system was built directly underneath the corridors of one of the factories."
"The admin building," Nori corrects.
"So if I cut us out of here, nothing will be broken of an unstable nature?"
"No," the droid says.
"Then stand back."
DarkRula activates his lightsaber and cuts a large hole. The two layers of ceiling and floor crash with a clatter. DarkRula jumps out and helps Nori out. Both of them then help the droid out. Looking around, DarkRula sees the corridor is shorter than the lift shaft had been.
"We need to go..." DarkRula reaches into the Force for guidance. He could feel the Scimitar through Kronis' lightsaber, which he had left on board. He sensed it behind him a few hundred metres away. Pointing out the direction, which took the shorter of the distances in the corridor, the group moved.
At the end of the corridor, the group turns left. Then right. Then another right. Then another left. This corridor had a number of doors on it, but the group didn't stop until the end of the corridor. An intersection faced them.
There was a left path, a right path, and a middle path. The middle path was the way they needed to go, but it was not a corridor. It cut directly through one of the admin buildings. And DarkRula could hear voices. Mechanised. Rough. Gravely.
Daleks.
"Ark. Can you map a route to where I landed?" DarkRula says lightly into the comlink.
"If you go back the way you came and turn left, you should come to a tower you'll be able to climb to get to the rooftops," a droids replies after a few moments.
"Okay." He turns the comlink off. "Back the way we came," he tells Nori and the droid.
The three run back down the corridor and turn left. Half way along the next corridor is an accessway into the tower the droid had described. Climbing the spiralling stairway up two levels brings them out to an open area where they could drop down to the rooftops. DarkRula just stared out at the view.
There was nothing interesting about the scenery - it was just endless factories and landing platforms. It was the fighters making their way around the facility, dive bombing and letting lasers fly, that interested him more. The rooftops had good cover points, but also had points that might be difficult.
DarkRula stood back to let the droid through first. He uses the Force to lower the droid down, then Nori. He gave another great cough, then jumped down himself.
Running at a slower speed than in the corridors, they climb over slopes before sliding down the other side. A fighter then flew above them, and they ducked in between two vents. While waiting, it gave DarkRula time to think.
What would the Daleks hope to achieve by coming here? And was it best to keep the fact that the Daleks were here a secret from The Doctor? He knew the answer to the second one straight away. If he told The Doctor that Daleks were around, he'd probably want to come down and sort them out himself. But the first one left him stumped. Maybe it had something to do with Jek Nori, and that was why the Jedi had ordered him to bring him back. But that still didn't explain how they knew. Or why they hadn't told him. After all, they knew he was on the hunt for them.
A poke brought him out of his thoughts.
"Are we moving?" Nori asked.
Instead of answering, DarkRula indicates that they should follow him. Diving out from the vents, he charges to the next slope, climbing it to check the area was clear. Nori and the droid catch up to him, and all three slide down the slope and move on.
Running between the two slopes, DarkRula vaults a pipe stuck between the two without thinking. A clang and a shout brings him to a halt and spin.
"Catherine!"
DarkRula sees nothing but the droid, fallen - having tripped over the pipe - and Nori, knelt down beside it. The droid then spoke, giving DarkRula a jolt of confused understanding.
"Go, Jek. Leave me and run!"
"No!" Nori shouts. He turns to DarkRula. "Help me lift her!"
DarkRula resigns himself to the inevitable. To him, it was a droid. But it meant something to Nori, and his happiness mattered in the eyes of the Jedi. Taking a step back and lifting his left hand, he settled his mind on one thing - lifting the droid.
Without realising what he was doing, he had jumped to the side and let his hold of the droid go. He heard a pained scream.
Lifting himself up, he saw droid parts scattered across the rooftops, with Nori still where the droid had been floating. DarkRula could see him sobbing uncontrollably.
Looking up, he saw the fighter that had fired upon them. It looked as though it was coming around for another pass.
"Nori!" DarkRula commands. "We have to move. Now!"
If Nori had heard him, there was no reaction.
DarkRula quickly scouts out a hiding spot, jumps to it, and uses the Force to pull Nori to him. The fighter could be heard screaming overhead.
"Now then," DarkRula says in a quiet voice. "What was that about?"
"She's gone..." Nori solemnly says. "Gone..."
"Nori... What- Who was i- She? Who was she?"
"A good friend," a hoarse voice says. "Catherine worked at the Traffic Control Station when me and my padawan first landed. Over the years, I bonded with her. I had given up on the Jedi ever finding us, though I suspect that was more down to my padawan's influence. But me and Catherine shared a bond, a bond that I have felt with no other person, perhaps not even my padawan.
"There came the time when all people were converted to droids. Except me. I refused. And as such, over the years I was subject to the same poisoning these people had suffered for many, many years. Even my connection with the Force felt as though it was fading.
"I chose not to have the conversion as it was my choice. I felt that I had done my padawan wrong. Allowing him too much free reign. So when it came to a choice I could make, I chose non-conversion. That choice has not haunted me since. And that reason is - was - Catherine.
"When the poisoning became too much for me to handle, she had the Traffic Control Station sealed off, with only one way in or out. She was the one who took care of me, and as a droid our relationship continued. But something felt odd about it. She could express emotion with her voice, but not her movements."
DarkRula sat, devoid of motion. Something inside clicked, and after checking the coast was clear, said "Come on. We have to keep moving."
Jumping over pipes as they travelled across the rooftops, DarkRula thinks about what Jek Nori had said about the human to droid conversion. It just didn't seem right to him, either.
Checking in with The Ark, he guides Nori around another tower, thanking that the roof here was flat with no pipes or other things jutting out of it. But then he hears a ship coming, and pulls Nori down. As they land, both cough.
Hoping it hadn't spotted them, the two stay as flat as they could. Lasers flew wide of them, but came nowhere near hitting them.
"They appear to have gone," Jek Nori says. His voice seemed to be getting weaker, almost even more hoarse.
"Yes. But I think it might be better if we crawled from here," DarkRula informs. "if another comes, it might not spot us."
"I'll try, but I don't think I can."
DarkRula starts moving forward. Looking up to check their progress, he realises the roof soon comes to an end. Continuing to move, he goes to pull himself up, but then stops when he senses danger. He felt Nori move in beside him, and look down upon the scene.
Mandalorians surround the Scimitar, armoured up in different colours. It appears that they were investigating it, probably even recognised it as former Mandalorian property.
"And how are we going to get to that?" Nori asks.
"The Force," is all DarkRula replies. Closing his eyes, he puts one hand just over the edge.
First, the guns of the Scimitar fire, making the Mandalorians near the front jump out of the way. The others react to the gunfire as well, making it easier for the Scimitar to be lifted up through the protective gauze. The Scimitar pulls to a stop, and the ramp opens at the same time DarkRula opens his eyes.
Both he and Nori were stood up and the Scimitar had its engines active, hovering with its ramp open next to the roof. Both DarkRula and Nori run in and get to the bridge. Taking the controls, DarkRula engages forward thrust to blast away from the chaos of the city.