Part 52 – A Gruesome End

It came as no surprise to any of us that Deimos was not only alive inside Implacable, but both his mechanical implants and his TTC got an upgrade out of the deal. Immediately upon his return to active duty, the Agency and Guard solidified our plans to wrap up and deal with Tethseram.

 

Between the undercover intel and Gothess, we knew who Tethseram was, what his motives were, and most of the details of his invasion plan. Deimos locked down the flow of information tight, and we began slowly leaking indications of just how desperate and in the dark we are. The joys of propaganda.

When the time and day came, we were ready. Here's how one of New Gallifrey's best days went.

We knew that the rift at the Eye of Orion would be the Chronarch's entry point. So Lord Rasa, an up and coming Arcalian scientist and Chapter Ordinal, went to investigate. Since we had the end game planned, Agency medic and research Dr. Markan went along. I just so happened to be on my semi-regular shift in Temporal Control that day. What a coincidence.

As planned, the Chronarchs came streaming through a portal that ripped open within the rift at Orion. They instantly shot Rasa, as planned. Markan was ready, and set off an emergency transport device that took him and Rasa directly into Rasa's console room and automatically initiated an emergency demat. As Rasa's capsule dematerialized, the final sensor readings registered another portal opening directly to the surface of New Gallifrey, as expected.

I gave the “go” order in Temporal Control, which set in motion a number of Executive and Inner Council orders to both the Castellan and Agency Coordinator. Number one authorized Rasa's Capsule to breach its own time stream and arrive on New Gallifrey with the injured Lord Rasa and Dr. Marken approximately twenty minutes before it left Orion.

Upon arrival, every available Arcalian, Chancellory Guard, and anyone else in the Citadel moved to intercept the Chronarch portal, which had been carefully and subtly diverted by Control to a pre-determined “last stand” location.

The next thing set in motion was the Incursion mission to Vanishing Point, Tethseram's HQ station located in a reality bubble between Madspace and SL-Space. A few seconds after my “go” command, I heard Deimos at the station next to me in Temporal Control lean into his own comm and whisper to code word to “go” for his team. Commander Dovgal, Agent ***REDACTED***, Agency mission specialist ***REDACTED***, and The Madman departed from the TTC bay, their arrival carefully timed with events on New Gallifrey.

Earlier in the week, Madman had been arrested by the Castellan and placed under house arrest inside his capsule – Bifrost. The key to that arrest was to secure a special weapon in Madman's possession in such a manner as to not arouse suspicion by Tethseram. The weapon was developed during Madman's time as House Castellan of the Jade Dreamers, and was the result of an open project from the days of raw hostility between the Sisterhood and the High Council back in N-Space. You'll see why this is relevant later.

As the Timelords and Guards gathered on the surface of New Gallifrey, the Sisterhood passed out carefully brewed elixirs to each of the Arcalians present. The rift opened, Chronarchs began streaming out, and a series of carefully orchestrated events took place.

One, Castellan Allen initiated a localized Transduction lock down around all the invading Chronarchs. Two, Rasa's delayed regeneration began. Three, all of the Arcalians mind linked with Rasa. Four, everyone present from the Citadel telepathically assisted in stabilizing the mental link between the Arcalians. Five, Rasa's regenerative energy poured forth, captured by the genetically similar House Arcalians, routed through their elixir enhanced bodies, and directed at the barrier surrounding the Chronarchs.

Here I need to stop and share some Arcalian history. One of the founders of the Arcal Chapter was Tepesh, a Great Vampire disguised as a Timelord. This is ancient history, and long since dealt with by the N-Space Council, but very relevant. Our intel revealed that Tepesh had not been killed all those eons ago, but escaped to Mad-Space. There his DNA was utilized by Dalek Drillon to build the Chronarchs.

This is relevant because this means the Chronarchs and the Aracalians share enough genetic material for Rasa's regenerative Imprimatur to latch onto them. With the exponentially magnified energy of the Arcalian Chapter and the temporal characteristics of the barrier surrounding them, it didn't just vaporize the Chronarchs on New Gallifrey. The energy tore through the rift straight through to Vanishing point, clearing the station of all Chronarch guards. Just in time for Commander Dovgal and her team to arrive…

The Incursion

Upon arriving on the Vanishing Point, Commander Dovgal and her team proceeded to sweep the station. Their mission was two fold. The primary objective was a carefully planned assault directly on Tethseram. The secondary objective of the mission was to find and rescue Dracony, the Patrexe abducted by Tethseram some time ago.

They found Dracony first. After sweeping through the station, thankfully void of Chronarchs as planned, they found Tethseram. Or rather, he found them.

Based on our intel, we knew that Tethseram was a future incarnation of the Madman. In order to exist off Vanishing Point and not be affected by the manipulation of his own past, Tethseram must have a Paradox Machine. One very close, likely worn. The only device known to us Timelords that can shield a paradox on that scale is a TTC itself. Tethseram's armor suit must be a TTC, or at least pieces of one. The sword back in Madman's possession that had been so carefully guarded was a weapon designed to cut through the outer skin of TTC's. The project was revived in order to penetrate the skin of a Dalek Capsule, if that need ever arose.

The team threw down covering fire while Madman sneaked in and sliced a gaping hole in Tethseram's plasmic shell exosuit with his sword. Commander Dovgal and Agent ***REDACTED*** reacted quickly, grabbed Tethseram and held him down while ***REDACTED*** stepped forward with a special weapon and stabbed Tethseram through both hearts. He began to regenerate. ***REDACTED*** stabbed him again. He regenerated again. And again. And again.

When the substantial energy field of the opened paradox machine and the multiple regenerations died down, what was left was the mangled and burned body(s) of the final three incarnations of Madman, a.k.a. Tethseram, fused together on the floor in a grotesque visual of Timelord biology at its most disturbing.

The body was brought back to the Panopticon. Unknown to us, Cardinal Maltheus had arranged with the Sisters for a special elixir to ensure that he would loose an incarnation instead of Rasa. His regeneration had happened during conclusion of the incursion, and seemed touch and go. But he was alive. New Gallifrey was saved, Tethseram was dead, what was left of the Chronarchs in Madspace stranded behind a sealed portal.

A gruesome end, but a good day.