Doctor Who_ Warmonger Part 24

President Saran said firmly, 'We shall resort to major temporal intervention only when every other possibility has been exhausted.'

Ratisbon sighed and turned to the Doctor. 'Since you brought us the problem, Doctor, perhaps you can bring us the solution. What do you suggest?'

The Doctor had used his waiting time in the oubliette suite to good effect, brooding over the problem until the only answer suggested itself.

'Morbius is a military problem,' he said. 'The only possible solution is a military one. He must be defeated in battle so that his reputation is destroyed.'

'There's a problem with that,' said President Saran. 'We don't have an army. There's the Capitol Guard, of course, but their function is largely ornamental.'

'If you don't have an army, then you must raise one,' said the Doctor.

'Where from?' asked Borusa. 'We could raise a volunteer militia from the Shobogans, I suppose. They like fighting.'

'You'll need more than a few Shobogans to deal with Morbius,' said the Doctor. 'He can call on the combined resources of several planets.'

'So what can we do?' asked Borusa.

'You must call upon the great empires,' said the Doctor.

'Draconians, Sontarans, Cybermen. The Earthmen and all their various colonies.'

'Why should they help?'

'Because, in the long run, Morbius is a threat to them as well.

For the moment, he's gobbling up isolated planets. When he's strong enough, he'll turn on the big powers as well. You'll have to convince them, play them off against each other. You'll need to set up some kind of central military command as well, or the different elements will spend all their time squabbling.'

'And how do we go about achieving all this?'

'You need a kind of roving amba.s.sador. It'll take a real diplomat, someone with great persuasive powers. A senior Time Lord, someone with real authority.'

'Quite a task,' said President Saran. 'It will call for someone with wide experience of the cosmos.'

'Someone used to dealing with many different alien species,'

said Ratisbon.

'Someone with imagination and daring, not afraid to risk his life,' said Borusa 'Well, I'm sure you'll find someone,' said the Doctor briskly.

'After all, you've got the whole of Gallifrey to choose from.

Now, if you'll forgive me, I've delivered my message and I must be on my way. I've got a s.p.a.ce yacht to return and a missing companion to find.'

He started to rise, but Ratisbon put a hand on his arm.

'Not so fast if you please, Doctor. There are one or two more matters to discuss.'

'Such as?'

'There are various charges still standing against you, Doctor.

With rigorous investigation, more could be discovered.'

'Or manufactured?'

'If necessary,' said Ratisbon. 'There is also the question of the roving amba.s.sador, the one chosen to carry your warning to the great powers of the galaxy. You see, we think we've found a suitable candidate.'

'Really?' said the Doctor. 'Who's the lucky ' He broke off, seeing three pairs of eyes fixed upon him. 'Oh, no! No chance. I told you I'm far too busy to '

'We offer you a deal, Doctor,' said Ratisbon. 'All charges against you will be wiped from the records and you will be unconditionally released provided that you agree to accept this mission.'

The Doctor considered for a moment but there was little to consider. He was trapped. He could do nothing while he remained a prisoner on Gallifrey. He still had to find Peri but that wasn't incompatible with the mission.

And there was something else. Years of pa.s.sive observation had made the Time Lords dull and unenterprising. He really was was the best candidate for the job and in his hearts he knew that he wanted to take it. the best candidate for the job and in his hearts he knew that he wanted to take it.

'Very well,' he said. 'I accept.'

'Excellent,' said Ratisbon. 'The Draconian and Sontaran Empires are the most powerful in contemporary time.

Concentrate on them...'

Chapter Nineteen.

The Mission 'But Amba.s.sador,' said the Emperor of Draconia, 'why should my people concern themselves with the problems of faraway frontier planets of which we know little?'

Inwardly the Doctor groaned. This was his first, and perhaps his most important, meeting in his new role as Amba.s.sador.

It was not going well.

He was standing before the throne of the Emperor in the Audience Hall at the Draconian Court. It was a handsome chamber, magnificently furnished in the green and gold the Draconians always seemed to favour.

Robed court officials were grouped around at a respectful distance. On the raised dais before him, the Emperor of Draconia sat on his golden throne, magnificent in his formal robes.

In his white and gold Time Lord amba.s.sadorial robes, if possible even more elaborate than the uniform provided by Karn, the Doctor blended well with his opulent surroundings.

He felt a sudden pang of nostalgia for his beloved cricket blazer.

Clearly intrigued by the arrival of a messenger from the usually reclusive Time Lords, the Emperor had received him courteously. His long, thin face impa.s.sive, the slanting green eyes alert and curious, the Emperor had listened politely to the Doctor's impa.s.sioned plea for military aide.

His first reaction, however, had not been encouraging.

'These planets are inhabited mostly by humans, are they not?' the Emperor went on.

'Humans and humanoids, your majesty,' agreed the Doctor.

'The Earthmen are not precisely our enemies, but they are certainly not our friends. And as for the Time Lords we bear them no ill will, but we know too little of them to see them as friends or allies. I cannot see that the actions of this renegade Morbius are of any concern to the Empire of Draconia.'

'Not as yet, your majesty,' said the Doctor grimly. 'But they will be. By now at least a dozen planets have come under his sway. Each planet is looted, and Morbius uses the combined resources of his conquests to attack the next... and the next! He is a military genius with the charisma to win over his former enemies. Somehow he persuades, or compels, their armies to join his forces. All the thieves and rogues and s.p.a.ce pirates of the galaxy are flocking to join him too, drawn by the lure of loot and the false promise of eternal life.' He paused to draw breath.

'Morbius grows stronger with every conquest. Unless we stop him now, he will grow too strong to be stopped at all.'

The Emperor smiled. 'You speak eloquently, Amba.s.sador.

But all the same...' He broke off as an official hurried into the audience chamber, approached the throne and bowed.

'Well?'

'My humble apologies, your majesty, but there is important news. I judged that you would wish to hear it without delay.' He glanced meaningfully at the Doctor.

'Shall I withdraw, your majesty?' asked the Doctor.

Impatiently, the Emperor nodded his head which, from a Draconian, as the Doctor knew, meant 'no'. He waved to the official. 'You may speak.'

'A scout s.h.i.+p has arrived from one of the newly founded outer colonies, your majesty, carrying the survivors of an unexpected attack. The rest of the garrison was ma.s.sacred.'

The Emperor rose to his feet. 'Who has dared to do this?'

'The attackers carried a black flag, your majesty, emblazoned with a red "M".'

The Doctor felt a sudden surge of relief a feeling of which he was immediately ashamed. All the same, the timing... For once, it seemed, Morbius had overreached himself.

'That is the banner of Morbius, your majesty,' he said.

The Emperor's slanting green eyes flashed with rage. 'It appears that your warning comes too late, Amba.s.sador.'

'I greatly regret that it does, your majesty. But it is still not too late for action.'

For a moment the Emperor stood poised. 'Summon the War Minister!' He turned to the Doctor. 'We shall discuss your proposition further...'

In a secure conference room in the heart of the Capitol a secret meeting was being held. President Saran presided. Also present was Junior Cardinal Borusa.

The purpose of the meeting was to receive a highly confidential report from Councillor Ratisbon of the Celestial Intervention Agency.

'You are sure that nothing can be traced back to us?' asked Borusa.

'Quite sure,' said Ratisbon. 'The mercenaries were hired through three distinct cut-outs.'

'One of them may talk,' said Saran worriedly.

Ratisbon smiled. 'I doubt it. The second link in the chain suffered a fatal accident shortly after the arrangements were made. The first agent knows nothing of the third.'

Borusa nodded approvingly. 'Very thorough.'

Ratisbon shrugged. 'Merely a routine precaution.'

'The mercenaries' instructions again?' asked Saran fussily.

Ratisbon sighed. 'To attack the Draconians' newest and most lightly defended colony, with the banner of Morbius prominently displayed, and to allow one scout s.h.i.+p to escape.'

'And afterwards?' asked Borusa.

'To do the maximum damage in the shortest possible time and then disappear.'

Borusa frowned. 'Surely Morbius occupies and loots the planets he attacks? Won't the Draconians be suspicious?'

'Possibly. But the precise nature of the incident will soon be forgotten in the fog of war.'

'I dislike the use of these unscrupulous methods,' said Borusa unhappily.

'As do we all,' said Ratisbon. 'But we ran matrix projections to determine Morbius's future strategy in the case of continued success. He would have attacked the Draconian colonies eventually, and in greater force. We merely recognised the inevitable and used it to our advantage. If the Doctor is to succeed in his mission, he needs a little help.'

'Is he aware of these schemes?' asked Saran.

'We thought it better not to trouble him, Lord President.

The Doctor has a somewhat overactive conscience.'

Borusa said, 'And what of the Sontarans?'

'A more complicated affair and considerably more expensive. It involved the purchase of an obsolete battlecruiser from a somewhat disreputable arms-dealer. The s.h.i.+p was then renovated and re-armed for one last mission, and a crew of mercenaries hired. The mission has now been successfully concluded.'

'How?'

'A message was sent to Sontaran HQ on Sontara itself, demanding the immediate surrender of all Sontaran colonies to the Army of Morbius. Shortly afterwards an unknown craft attacked and destroyed a Sontaran transport s.h.i.+p. Then the unknown s.h.i.+p itself blew up some fault in the s.p.a.ce drive, triggered by the firing of the missiles apparently. Soon after that, a second message reached Sontara, demanding immediate surrender of the colonies and threatening reprisals for the destruction of one of Morbius's battlecruisers.' Ratisbon chuckled. 'The Doctor should be warmly received when he reaches Sontara.'

Saran looked appalled. 'Two s.h.i.+ps, and all their crews, destroyed!'

Ratisbon looked surprised. 'One s.h.i.+p was crewed by s.p.a.ce pirates, the other by Sontarans. Small loss.'

'Not to mention the destruction of most of a Draconian colony garrison,' said Saran. 'Are such methods really necessary?'

'We shall get nowhere with half measures, Lord President.'