The Last Great Time War: part II

Conspiring in the dark

Narvin, former Head of the CIA, ran as fast as he could through the corridor of the crashed saucer. A Skaro Degradation was hot on his tail.
"EERRAADIICAATE," it shrieked in its distorted, metallic, yet disturbingly human voice. It glided along on a slug like, half biological, half mechanical base. It fired a spray of plasma bullets from the machine gun fixed just below the eyestalk. Narvin's ear flared in pain as one of the the deadly projectiles streaked past it and burned it to a crisp.
Time seemed to slow down (or did it actually slow down? One could never be sure anymore) as another bullet streaked toward his head. This one would be fatal. No regeneration.
Just before it hit its mark, Narvin was yanked aside, and the Degradation burst into flames.

Narvin turned to his rescuer, who was holding a modified plasma rifle. He had a hardened, somewhat lined face with 5 o'clock shadow and disheveled brown hair that had a few streaks of gray. He wore cracked and muddy rubber boots, faded camo combat pants, a small ragged scarf, and a black Victorian waistcoat. Over it he wore a bandolier loaded with various devices and explosives, and a long green jacket that was so stained, torn, burned, and patched that Narvin could hardly tell what color it was supposed to be. It looked like it should have been thrown away decades ago.

Narvin immediately knew who this was.
"If you've come to torture me or turn me in, forget it," he said. "I'll die before I'll tell you anything."

"I'm not going to do any of those things," the Warrior said. "But I do need your help."

"Why would I help you?"

"Because I'm trying to overthrow Rassilon, stop the War, and save the Time Lords."

Narvin stood silent for a moment to let this sink in. The Warrior, the man who had turned against the name of the Doctor to fight for the Time Lords, wanted to overthrow Rassilon? Of course, he could be trying to trick him. How would he know?

"Why," Narvin asked.

"Because Rassilon is almost as xenophobic as the Daleks, and even more dangerous. Long ago, he tried to destroy all other time-travelers in order to maintain his power. That's why we locked him away. We should have left him there."

"How do you know this?"

"I read it in the Black Scrolls of Rassilon."

Narvin knew he was telling the truth. He had read part of those scrolls, and Romana would have destroyed them before letting them fall into the hands (or plunger) an enemy.

"I can help you," Narvin said. "We need to collect a part from this ship, then come with me. I have something for you."

They made their way to the heart of the ship, slaughtering Degradations along the way.
When they reached the engine room, the Warrior asked,
"what part do you need?"

"It's right behind here," Narvin said, pointing to a panel right above the power source. "We need to disconnect the engine feed before we can get it."

Narvin unhooked a suction cup taken from a Dalek manipulator arm off his belt and plugged it into a control pad. Then, he pressed it against a control interface to disconnect the engine feed.
"Tear off that panel, will you," he asked.
The Warrior removed the panel. Inside was a white-hot glowing crystal scarcely an inch long. As it cooled to red, he could see a maze of tiny circuit patterns just underneath the gleaming surface. The pathways were filled with vortex energy.
Narvin pulled it out with a pair of magnetic tongs that held it without physically touching it.
"This type of crystal is only found on one alternate Skaro, and nowhere else," he said. "The people I work with need it to boost their defenses."

"Who do you work with," the Warrior asked. "I need to find the other Temporal Powers, if they even still exist."

"I'll explain everything back at my ship," Narvin replied.
Just then, the area below where the panel was started to glow and vibrate.

"That's never happened before," Narvin said.

"It's going critical," said the Warrior. "RUN!"

They ran back through the corridors to the edge of the ship, where they found Narvin's TARDIS. It was still a hundred feet away, when the hallway behind them caught fire. The flames raced up to them, lapping against the edge of the Warrior's jacket. They jumped in Narvin's TARDIS and dematerialized just before the saucer exploded.

It was a beat up, outdated Battle TARDIS from the beginning of the War. The Warrior's TARDIS was parked inside of it.

"I can't believe you have a hard time getting to your proper destination in that thing," said Narvin, "yet you can land inside another TARDIS without causing a time ram."

"She mostly pilots herself," the Warrior said. "But we digress. Do you know where the other Temporal Powers are?"

"Yes," Narvin said. "I work with them. They tried to come to our aid when Romana summoned them earlier in the War, but Rassilon sent an armada back in time to stop them. They survived by fleeing to Phaidon and their other surviving homeworlds and hiding them in a bubble universe."

"What? How?! The calculations alone-"

"I don't know. What I do know is that we desperately need your help. The Time Lords haven't found our Sanctuary, but the Daleks have."

"I'll come as soon as I can, but I need to win a major battle first. What was it you were going to give me?"

Narvin opened a hatch underneath one of the three consoles. He pulled out what was inside and handed it to the Warrior. It looked like a magnifying glass, but with embedded technology.

"It's a translator for the Black Scrolls of Rassilon," he explained. "It's also a key to the Sanctuary. Don't lose it!"

"I won't," the Warrior said. "I promise."
He walked to his TARDIS and opened the door.
"And find a doctor for your ear, Van Gogh," he said before he went in, closed the door, and dematerialized.