Part 43 – What Was Once Old is New Again

This is where I come in. Sen did his best in grief and pain to setup a base on Zenobia Time Station. The Station's Eye brought us limited TTC capability. We were surviving as refugees in orbit around a dying planet. But the Sisters had foreseen this. They had already constructed a crude base in the distant past, only a few months after SL-Space began to cool, on the first planet in the universe old enough to sustain life. Sen appointed me President of Time Past and sent be back to supervise the construction of a new Citadel.

At first, this was a completely secret plan. While Sen struggled to hold our society together in the present, Kharma, Rowan, and myself survived and eventually thrived in the primordial swelter of New Gallifrey's infancy.

Eventually, things simply couldn't be maintained - Zenobia just did not have the resources to house a Race. Ready or not, the Timelords and others began coming back to move to our new home. It wasn't really ready yet, and neither was I. But they came anyway. Angry, divided, and homeless. Of course, what I wasn't counting on was Sen NOT coming back. I was stuck as President.

Part 42 – Solis

I never really knew Solis. When we were attacked in N-Space, we were rescuing Solis from the dying remains of her TTC when we were attacked by the same entity. Evidently she arrived disparate in time in SL-Space as well, but in the past. She was able to wait until present day, and find Sen and Oolon shortly after they arrived. Together with Drillon, they formed New Gallifrey together. 

Because Solis was Castellan and I was an Agent, we deliberately never ran in the same circles. The Castellan must not know of the actions of the Agency – that's the entire point. We did what the Guard couldn't legally do… but what needed done. Sen rarely involved himself in Agency affairs, so it was don't ask don't tell in our relationship. The newly appointed Coordinator – Lord Abbot – was a busy man, and had several assignments for me.

The Abbot was a being of supreme power and unknown origin. He had attacked before, nearly killing David Abbot and taking his remaining incarnations. We knew that The Abbot was a combined TTC and organic being. What we suspected was that he was actually a future version of Lord Abbot's TTC, named Implacable. Somehow, it became combined with it's organic Timelord pilot, but only partially. Missing most of David's consciousness, it was insane – and supremely powerful.

We prepared for its return as best we could. There was a plan to capture it and get information about its origins. The plan was successful, but we had a traitor. Just as The Abbot was contained by the Sisters and examination by the Arcalians was beginning, Olyesti was attacked. Ar had somehow been alerted of our precarious situation, and took advantage. The amount of power needed to contain The Abbot weakened our Barriers, and the city fell quickly. 

Soon, our power grid began to fall, and we could no longer contain The Abbot. He escaped, and quickly finishing what Ar started. Bodies littered the ground, regeneration energy causing nearly as much damage as the attacks. But Solis committed the ultimate act of bravery… she collapsed the Eye of Harmony. By hand. The Abbot was a TTC, so still tied to its energy. He was sucked in, Solis established a pocket universe bubble around the Panopticon to protect us all, and then detonated the Eye. 

Presumed dead, along with countless others. Our entire planet in ruins. Our Capsules without power. New Gallifrey had fallen.

Part 41 – Build Up

“Bloody damned Prydonians! I'm going to execute the lot of them!!” and a few other choice words I won't put in writing. Sen's latest incarnation – and final we would soon learn – was fiery, emotional, and exceptionally authoritative. 

Let me go back. You last read from Sen that the Olyesti and New Gallifrey Council's were combining, but that the Prydonians were – big surprise – causing issues. Let me pick up the story there, as I know many of you got caught up in the events that followed and never really learned the details.

As we would later learn, the Prydonians of New Gallifrey had been experimenting with Seer abilities, and had formed a new sect of the Sisterhood of Karn. Their initial experiments had met with some success, and they had foreseen a distortion of the Prime Timeline that had disaster befalling New Gallifrey on an apocalyptic scale. Initially, they didn't trust these visions, so never brought the issue before the Council. However, they did make preparations, just in case they were correct.

To preserve this secret project, they refused to combine intelligence and resources with the Olyesti Prydonians, the only Chapter or House not yet fully integrated at this point. They split, and went into exile. In a fiery speech in Council, Sen called for their execution, only to be interrupted as a medium by the voices of the Children themselves, the TARDISes. This changed everything, and brought about the beginning of a huge shift in our society that we did not fully realize until much later.

In the end, the New Gallifrey Prydonians were left alone. They formed the Jade Dreamers Chapter, and maintained their Sisterhood on a remote, secret planet that was shielded against TTC entry.

Of course, what the rest of us didn't know is that this secret location was actually New Gallifrey, just billions of years in the past. The Dreamers were establishing the past and future home of the Capital City that would be our society's long term home. They cast themselves out to do it, but they knew what had to be done.

Then that day happened.

Part 40 – A New Start

Well, this is an interesting find. Sen's diary. Talk about reliving the old days.

I should explain. My name is Phaon Warf, and I am the President of the High Council of New Gallifrey. To anyone reading this, that may come as a bit of a shock… we have some catching up to do since Sen's last entry.

Sen started off his diary introducing himself. Ok, back then it was herself. I'll do the same. I fled Gallifrey in N-Space in the SASTAP. Sen and I went through an array of N-Space adventures before being ripped apart and sent here to SL-Space. We arrived at different times, so I was not initially a part of building New Gallifrey with Solis and Oolon.

 I eventually wandered into the early days of New Gallifrey, but never had much of an appetite for politics. Sen's early organic incarnations seemed to take to it naturally, and I was thrilled to help in any way I could from behind the scenes. On the old Gallifrey, I was nearing completion on my Academy dissertation, entitled The Revival of Ancient Telepathic and Telekenetic Enhancements in the Modern Imprematur Era. I had dedicated my Academy study to mental enhancement, and those abilities were proving quite useful in helping Sen to navigate through the maze of issues with becoming recently organic, and dealing with still being the SASTAP's main computer.

Eventually the High Council was formed, and The Abbot (we would later learn, of course) started sending us others. His contact in N-Space sent us one particularly ambitious one in **REDACTED** who decided to appoint ***self Director of the newly formed SL-Space Celestial Intervention Agency. For a time, I found a home there as an Agent, my telepathic abilities making me able to make a unique contribution.

But fate had other plans. Or perhaps it was the Guardians. Ok, I'm getting ahead of myself. Time to take a break… I need to compose myself before I tell you about the worst day in the history of New Gallifrey.

Part 39 – Ups and Downs

What a night. What do you want first diary... the good news or the bad?

How about the bad, since it's stuck in my head. A thousand years as a Timelord, you would think I would have learned to handle emotions a bit better. I am stunned, ashamed, and vengeful. Again, one of those closest to me has given a life to protect me. Chancellor Sputnik – Sputters – is dead.

The incarnation that was so carefully, and dangerously, crafted stepped in front of a bullet to protect me in open Council chambers. He's fine – resting comfortably in the ETC, or should I say Mother, as he now seems to call her.

After voting to exile Kharma and Abbot, David just... shot me. Or shot at me, I should say. Oolon stepped in front of me, saving me once again. I am shocked.

You see... David and I had an agreement. This was an elaborate plan to allow Lady Kharma and Lord Abbot to go undercover on a very difficult and dangerous mission. It was decades in the planning, every since the Inner Council was attacked in David's TTC. Both of them, and their TTC's, were in on it. More on that later.

I don't know what happened, what changed his mind – if he was every really part of the plan to begin with. I have no idea if Kharma is with David, or still with me. The plan, which would have helped secure New Gallifrey from ever worrying about Daleks again, has fallen apart. We lost Oolon, and it was his mind that was doing most of the planning. Without that mind, I'm not sure I am up to the task of doing what needs to be done.

I did say there was good news, didn't I?

Every since I regenerated, I have felt closer to being... my true self. I know that I am the manifestation of a great computer, one designed to bridge the gap between Timelord and TARDIS Heart. Some time ago – I made contact. First, it was just glimpses, flashes of events from my past from a different perspective. Then, it became an almost empathic level of communication. Then, finally, real contact.

At first, we “talked” in images and concepts. Then, slowly, we began to merge. Now, I am truly one in thought with what I once was – the SASTAP. To protect my Timelord brain, my Heart still has her “eyes” closed, so that I do not burn from seeing all of creation looking down from the fifth dimension. This body still can not stand that. But we are of one mind now, as it should be.

To that end, I began to move to the next stage, and commune with other TTC's. We learned about each other, and I felt a kinship with them. I am... different from them, just as I am from other Timelords. I am resigned to the fact that I will never truly be at home in either place, but the Hearts seem more welcoming somehow.

They wished to have a voice, to express their support for their Pilots, but to also express concern about the actions of House Prydon. They were also part of the plan. You see, we have found a way back. With my mind firmly rooted in our universe, they gained a perspective they never had before. And we now know how we can breach the transduction barriers around Gallifrey and travel back.

I must complete what I have started, but I need something first. I need to regenerate again, this time into a body that can truly be at one with both universes. However, only Rassilon himself has the genetic information I need to create that body. Him, and my original programming. Either way, I intend to find that information. Kharma wanted to explore her inner Seerer, and learn from the great tellers of Gallifrey's past. And Oolon, he wanted to finally track down The Jinn, as we believe him to date all the back to the dark times.

Now, however, nothing is certain. Sputters is regenerated, and Kharma is off the grid, probably planning my death with David. I feel lost here with my fellow Timelords. It may be time for the TARDISes to decide the next move.

Part 38 – Downtime

Where to start. It has been nearly two centuries since I spoke to this diary. My new incarnation has proven to be less.... talkative. I have found sharing my thoughts to be dangerous, but I realize it is necessary.

Lady Judy has done marvelous things with Olyesti. With the help of Councilor Mornington and Zenobia Station, Olyesti was successfully pulled into normal SL space/time and is resting comfortably as our neighbors on New Gallifrey's main continent.

My new incarnation has given me strength and confidence. So to, it seems, has it done for Lady Kharma. She seems to have fit in well with the role of Cardinal of House Prydonian. Typical. Her and Lord Abbot, once staunch allies of the Inner Council, now seem poised to start a civil war.

Let me go back...

Olyesti had stood by themselves, isolated in a time loop, for nearly a millennium. They formed their own High Council, Guard, etc. in Gallifrey's image, just as we did. After they very effectively dealt with some internal corruption, we successfully pulled them into our universe. We then set about integrating them into our government. This went very smoothly... Castellan Solis would remain on the Inner Council as High Castellan, and Olyesti's Castellan – Lord Baron – would retain full Chancellory authority in the City and answer to Solis in all other matters outside of Olyesti. A deputy, really.

And so on, through all other major positions. Each was negotiated separately, and quite reasonably. Until House Prydon. Kharma and Judy could not find common ground. Typical Prydonians. I offered the solution of both Houses retaining separate seats on the Council. But... no. Of course not.

Instead, Lord Abbot and Lady Kharma called for my resignation, called me a traitor, seceded from the Council, and started making threats.

The Inner Council did not feel comfortable dealing with this affording to the strictly secret Gallifreyan Law, so an emergency session of the entire Council has been called. Rassilon help us.

Part 37 - Mysteries

I lie here floating in my Zero Room literally a new man. Regenerated. I think. Not a regeneration in the traditional sense. Let me explain...

Oolon, Terry, and Solis were in my sitting room for a now all-too-rare social call (NO Inner Council business this time). The timing couldn't have been accidental that David Abbot's TTC chose that moment to reach out to me. We received a distress call. Not the mechanical one, but the TTC itself called out to me. It – and its pilot – were in danger. David has been missing for some time, so we instantly went into action.

We traveled to a small desert planet after picking up one of Solis' most trusted guards – Captain Burns. There was David's TTC among some ruins, it's main door hanging open for all to enter. Before entering, Lady Todriya and Lord Avedon arrived. Presumably David's TTC distress call was set to send to his House. I'll be sure to address that in the next Mark refit with the TTC's...

We stepped into the console room, to be “greeted” by three Paradigm Daleks. Instead of gunning us down as we fully expected, they simply trundled away. We figured that they wished to preserve us to help lead them to David. Why he is a valuable enough target to pass up shooting the entire Inner Council I certainly intend to investigate. I quickly used the internal scanners to locate David in his Zero chamber, and initiated a lock down procedure once we reached him.

We found him, after dodging a few exploring Daleks. Upon reaching him, we decided upon a plan. David and a small group would return to the console room, after we lead the Daleks to the ballroom. Upon reaching the ballroom and luring the Daleks in, we would flee and David would eject the room, frying the Daleks into oblivion.

All went relatively according to plan. We lured in the Daleks. Lady Todriya took a hit, and then her and Lord Avedon used their Time Rings to escape. At the time, none of us knew if she was ok. Solis got out of the room, while Captain Burns and I held off the Daleks. We turned to run out of the room..... and blackness.

It felt familiar, and yet somehow different. I was without a body, suspended in the main computer of David's TTC. I wasn't sure what had happened, but I knew this was not the TTC I should be in. So I somehow ordered his TTC to land inside the SASTAP Eye of Harmony. A risky move, for sure. Upon materializing, the SASTAP instantly knew what had happened and pulled my consciousness into its own computer Matrix.

What happened next is what is most interesting. I awoke in the zero room... in a new body. I never felt the regeneration. My body was presumably destroyed when David ejected the room. I don't blame him, the signal was given at the correct time, I just didn't get out fast enough. Is this a real Timelord body? Did I regenerate? Or is this just a SASTAP construct – another fail safe system I didn't know about? I do not have answers to these questions as of yet.

I slept. A lot. Nearly a week. I got up from time to time and left the confines of the Zero Room to test this new body. It's a physical specimen, for sure. Tall, agile, strong, young. I can feel the personality change typical of a regeneration. I feel powerful, confident. Gone is the trepidation of being a comparatively young organic Timelord unsure of my role in New Gallifrey.

In the strangeness that is TTC interior time – David, Oolon, Terry, and Solis stepped out of their TTC nearly seven days after my own body... appeared. I was not fully recovered, still resting in the Zero Room. I felt good enough, however, to reassure them that I was ok, and landed my newly regenerated console room in the Panopticon. A fascinating process with the new modified Type 60 telepathic controls. Obviously, this body is very well suited to telepathic control – exactly what I was hoping for.

We stepped out to the arrival of Lord Avedon's TTC. We were very relieved to find Lady Todriya just recovering from a successful regeneration. Her body, much like mine, was nearing the end of its life cycle, so both of us seem better for the incident. Her and I will both need some time to explore our new selves, but we should be fine in a relatively short time.

Captain Burns, however, was not so lucky. With no miracle SASTAP rescue from the ejected TTC room, he is lost. Our first casualty of what appears to be the SL-Space Time War. A good man. Recruited from the SL-Space furry community by Cardinal Dix into his House Guard, he rose to the Castellan's Guard purely for being good at what he did. He was one of the first living beings not from N-Space to step foot inside our newly built Panopticon all those years ago. He will be missed – and may NO Timelord say that he was less of a part of our world because he couldn't regenerate or pilot a TTC.

For myself, I plan to utilize the self assured confidence of this new incarnation. I am the Lord President of the High Council of the Timelords. Today, I died. Today, we lost one of our own. Today, Daleks invaded the home of one of our officers, and attempted to assassinate the entire Inner Council. How or why they did this, I don't know. Frankly, I don't care at this point. They are done. No more Time War. We're doing this the old fashioned way. We are going to exterminate every stinky, lousy Dalek in existence, if we have to do it with a baseball bat one at a time.