The Last Great Time War: part III

The Ultimate Sanction

After the Fall of Arcadia, the fleets of the New Temporal Alliance were routed and massacred. The scattered survivors were no longer a major power or a great threat to anyone else. The Renegade ran like a madman across time and space, always just one step ahead of the armies chasing him as he searched and tried to find a way to end the War that was better than his final backup plan. He knew there wasn't much time, because time itself was hanging by a thread.

----

"What news from the front," said Rassilon as he took his seat.

"The New Temporal Alliance has fallen, my Lord President" said Chancellor Darkel. "The Doctor is on the run. We are doing everything we can to regain what was stolen."

"However," said a council woman, "our other enemies are regrouping. The advantage we gained after Arcadia will not last."

"How quickly can the weapons of the Omega Arsenal be replaced," asked Rassilon.

"Not fast enough," said the Chief Engineer. "We've detected ten million Dalek ships approaching Gallifrey, and many more will soon follow. Before long the heart of the War will converge upon us once again."

"That is unacceptable," said Rassilon. "We must use everything we have. Gallifrey must stand and rise!"

"We can never defeat the monstrosities out there with the weapons we have," said another councilman. "We can't repel an attack of the magnitude we just suffered a second time."

"Only you can save us, Lord President," said the Chief Engineer. "All reports indicate that this War is not winnable by anyone. Time has stretched and cracked too far. There is no victory that cannot be undone, no triumph that cannot be turned into a defeat. Nothing is fixed anymore. The War will continue shredding reality until all corporeal form is gone and only the warring minds and concepts remain. The multiverse stands on the brink. Time is so fractured that a severe paradox in the wrong place could shatter it and destroy reality, leaving not even the meta-forces behind. We've spent all our effort on this but cannot think of a solution."

"Then it's time," Rassilon said, "for the Final Sanction."

----

"Ladies and Gentlemen," said Rassilon to the entire assembled High Council in the Panopticon. "The hour we have long dreaded is upon us. The armies of evil are once again massing to destroy us. In their battles with our noble troops they have laid waste to creation. The universes are ravaged beyond repair. Even here, the shining world of the seven systems, we have not been unaffected. The abominations have even marred our shining Citadel, the mighty symbol of our glory. The Renegade possesses the capability to destroy us all. Some might say that all is lost.
They are wrong! All is not lost! We are the only true masters of time, and we will never be defeated! We will go where none can follow. We will complete the Ultimate Sanction. At my hand a mighty rupture will tear the time vortex apart, putting an end to our enemies and this miserable reality! We will shed these bodies and take our true forms, to be bound by cause and effect no more! We will ascend to godhood! Once the plan is in place, we will vote to complete our destiny as the one true divine form of life!"

Thunderous applause filled the Panopticon. Susan bowed her head as a tear ran down her face.

----

"You must do this," Susan said, "and I forgive you. For all our sakes, please forgive yourself."

"I know," said the Renegade. "I will do what must be done, but I can never forgive myself."

"No," said Susan. "There is light out there, you just have to find it. Just go forward in all your beliefs, and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine."

"I have failed in my beliefs, Susan. I have no choice in what I do, but there is no place for me after what I do today. This is the end for me. After this I have no desire to carry on."

"Grandfather-"

"You have been a good person, Susan. I wish I could say the same of myself. I am so proud of you."

He hugged her one last time.
"Goodbye Susan, goodbye my dear."

"Goodbye, Grandfather. You did the best you could. Remember that."

They separated, both with tears on their faces. The Renegade went to his TARDIS and dematerialized.

The TARDIS landed on the top of Mount Perdition, overlooking the Citadel.
The glass dome was shattered, smoke pouring from the damaged buildings within. The buildings on the outside were crushed under the wrecks of hundreds of Dalek saucers. Gallifrey was in ruins.
Still though, there was beauty left. There were still the magnificent mountains and glaciers, just as the Renegade remembered from his childhood. The twin suns still shine, reflecting on the sharp, jagged edges of what was left of the dome, and on the winding purple river and sea in the distance. As the suns set, the sky turned a brilliant blood red.
They were setting for the last time.

The Renegade had thought the Time Lords had become just as evil as the Daleks. He was wrong. They were even worse. The Daleks at least were true to their nature. They knew nothing of life but hatred and destruction. It was not their fault, their potential for good had been taken away at their very creation.
The Time Lords were different. They had good in them, but had chosen evil. More evil than anything else had ever been.

Absolute power really did corrupt absolutely. Even an entire civilization with good intentions was not immune. The Time War proved that no person or people was meant to have as much power as the Time Lords did.

The Time War had many names. The Time War, the Great Time War, the Third War in Heaven, or simply the War.

But the Renegade knew what it would be called afterwards. What it had to be called. It would be the Last Great Time War. It could not ever be repeated. And there was only one way that was going to happen. Only one way to end it for good.

The War would only end when there was no one left alive who could fight it.