Orders Are Orders

1. Hell on Skaro

mist, as stealthy as the object that roamed the outskirts of the dead planet, lingered into view. It hid the object that swam in the darkness before it vanished as the mist grew in height. It covered the surface hiding the rocks that lay about the ground and the dead grass that no longer grew on the planet.

Beyond the mist lay the ruins of a once great city. A city destroyed following a missile strike that almost wiped out its population. Those who survived had tried to make for the ‘bunker’ once rumoured to exist but had emerged a while ago following another missile strike and with it something unearthly.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

he Doctor was hunched over the controls of his ship. He held one control down while flicking another, and then re-programmed the randomiser to take him wherever he felt like going. He felt slightly wary of where he might arrive next but that was all part of the excitement of the adventure. He held yet another button down, not quite sure what to expect and as he did so the console suddenly began to rise and fall.

The Doctor had only wanted to relax and listen to a bit of jazz. but the console wildly wheezed and shuddered, knocking him over onto his back. The clutter of the sheer drop from the console and onto the metal barrier below him made an awful noise. He struggled to get back up off his hands and knees to check over the console’s data banks. They all read the same four words, which meant nothing to the Doctor. They simply read – ‘You have been summoned!’

The Doctor looked slightly worried. "What? What? What?' he shouted, holding on tightly to the metal barrier that circled the console as the TARDIS continued to shudder as it pasted through the time vortex. He looked genuinely shocked. The console room had been shaken up, almost like a cocktail, but the Doctor was thinking about who it was that had summoned him. At one point he had thought it might have been ‘the almighty Salem’, but then changed his mind as he had already defeated Salem with his mind on the ice railway station on Kara.

The console room continued to jerk sideways, backwards, and forward in time whilst the Doctor gathered pieces of disguarded equipment off the console, and after making slight adjustments, he wrapped himself up in his light brown over coat ready for the inevitable materialisation of the TARDIS.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

here were three citizens who had made it to the bunker alive. Their names were Kathy, Scarlet, and Johanna, they were survivors of the Thal race. All of the same family, and each wore exactly the same military style uniforms, covered in dust, and cuts made from stray shrapnel which had dug into their flesh and continued to bleed. The planet had been swollen up by the mist and the dust, and the sun had been bled also, draining the lives of thousands on the planet. Skaro had fallen under the rubble and the chaos.

Johanna knocked on the metal block, which looked genuinely new, under the circumstances. The metal block that Johanna had thought was the door slowly rose into the air which revealed inside some steps leading down into the ground. She slowly led the way, Kathy slipping in after her, as did Scarlet who covered Kathy’s back keeping an eye out for trouble.

There were no lights, and no sign of life. Kathy let out a slight scream upon hearing the bulk of the metal block behind them shut, and they all suddenly felt very worried and unsure of themselves in the dim light of the bunker.

'I knew we should have stayed in the city!' said Kathy, worriedly.

'What good would that have done any of us?' asked Johanna, starring into the face of her daughters, both teenagers and were both still mildly upset with their mother’s determination.

Scarlet looked her mother straight in the eyes, as a tear ran down her cheek. "We should have thought long and hard before we set foot here!" she said, turning to avoid her mother’s explanation.

'We came here so we all had a chance. I want us all to be safe. If only I could say the same for your brother!'

Kathy almost broke down with anger. 'Leave him out of it. It was entirely his own fault. If he had left that package on the out skirts of the city alone, then maybe he would have still be alive too!'

Johanna showed no response to Kathy's outburst but cut her a sharp look.

'I hate you!' said Scarlet, to her mother, and Johanna wept in silence.

2. Worry on the face of evil

he console had stopped rocking to and fro as the TARDIS finally settled down on a planet the Doctor thought he recognised. He slipped his glasses on, over his eyes, and pulled open the TARDIS doors to reveal the landscape beyond but all the Doctor could sees was nothing but fog. A mist that completely enveloped the entire surface of the planet, and whatever may have lurked in the darkness. He stepped out, and felt the ground beneath his feet.

'How very unusual,' he observed. 'This world reminds me of a place I once lived..." he paused. He spun on his heel, and shut the police box doors behind him. He then twisted back around and prepared himself for what he was about to do.

Taking a deep breath he swung out his arms, embracing the fog. He could hardly see a thing through the black mist that circled him. It almost came up to his neck, walking on tip toe to avoid being consumed in the darkness. He came to a halt when his foot hit what felt like a rock, in front of him. He crouched down into the darkness and found that what he had come across was in fact not a rock, but a dead body.

'Oh,' he said, 'I am so, so sorry!" He closed the eyes of the humanoid life form. 'I wonder...' he began as he examined the body closely but suddenly he felt something prod him in the back. Suddenly, he could see clearly now as the fog had left him. He stood up, and spun around. He was now stood facing a familiar face.

'Ahhhhh,' exclaimed the Doctor. 'It had to be something nasty, didn't it!' he said, 'it always is.' he muttered. Stood before him was a tall ape like creature dressed in uniform and pointing a weapon of sorts in his direction.

The Doctor had recognised the creature before him as an Ogron. It brandished its weapon in front of the him. He felt for his sonic screwdriver, but the Ogron took notice and held it's weapon up at the Doctor.