The Time War: Rebellion

Seven

Somewhere above Gallifrey, one month later
Even the console seemed to be apprehensive. It whirred and flashed randomly, and the newly-added Wibbly Lever moved of its own accord.
I didn't know how, but I had done it: I had persuaded two incarnations of one of the most powerful Time-Lords in the universe to help me defeat another one of the most powerful Gallifreyans in the universe: Rassilon.
After the confrontation between the two men, plans were made. The Doctor recruited people: two young Earth women, named Jenny and Clara, I later learned; a young man in a long coat that, much to the Doctor's dismay, quickly introduced himself to me as Captain Jack Harkness; and even a cool-headed lizard woman and a loud Sontaran that didn't seem to understand the concept of more than one gender.
We had spent a whole month planning our first move- a scouting mission that would tell us where the weapon Rassilon was looking for was.
"I spoke to some very friendly Council members from the Capital." said Captain Jack. "They said that Rassilon thinks that this thing is hidden somewhere just past the Medusa Cascade. Planet 1, they called it. Apparently it was-"
"The first planet in the universe." The Doctor looked up from a complicated-looking blueprint and pointed his sonic-screwdriver at a holo-projector resting on a table.
A beautiful planet appeared, floating in the air before us. Pink-tinted clouds swirled gracefully over the surface of the planet, and I could see colossal mountain ranges, vast oceans, continents coloured a deep scarlet colour, and pure white ice caps at either end of the planet. With another buzz from the sonic-screwdriver, pictures of endless rainforests, towering cliffs and exotic wildlife materialised. There was a collective gasp around the room as another image appeared, showing a very large ferocious animal, with rows of needle-sharp teeth, a tail leading to an ominous stinger and deadly claws, caked in dried blood. It was about to pounce on an innocent boar-like creature, oblivious of its impending doom.
"I've been there before." said the Doctor, pocketing his screwdriver. "But only once, didn't see much of the place. I've heard a lot about it though. It's said that the first few Silurian Dinosaur arks settled there, which is why a lot of the wildlife is very Jurassic-looking. Not really looking forward to meeting him." He gestured towards the large carnivore.
"Any idea where the weapon could be on this planet?" Clara asked.
There was a short silence, until the old man, who up until this point had been silently taking this all again, spoke. "There have been tales of secret temples, massive stone structures hidden in some of the rainforests. Underground tunnels, concealed passageways... Of course, a lot of it is just vague accounts from pretentious explorers, but I've always thought, or at least hoped, there was some truth in it, especially as it's such an old planet, with such a deep history. The chance that there's something there is plausible, if not likely."
The Doctor nodded. "I remember talking to a hunter, a long time ago. He told me that he'd been on a planet, which I later realised was this one, and he'd found an underground lake. He said it was surrounded by bodies: Humans, Vinvocci, Slitheen, Chelonians, even a mangled Dalek shell. He got out of there as soon as he could, but knew that whatever this lake was, it must have been hiding something valuable, if that many species were trying to enter it."
Jack stood up and said "Very Indiana Jones. I'll get my ship ready, I'll find the coordinates." He walked out the room, and the Doctor said, "I think Strax, Jack and Vastra should be the ones to go. They're the best equipped for this sort of terrain, and they know exactly what they're looking for. And I need Jenny here with me, to plan what we're gonna do next." The old man nodded and put his hand on my shoulder. "Beo should go too," he said. "After all, all of this was his idea."
So that was how, just a day later, I was cautiously stepping out of the sleek ship, along with Jack, Strax and Vastra. While Vastra and Jack stealthily entered the eerie forest, Strax ran past them, randomly shooting at trees and shouting battle cries.
"Stop! What do you think you're doing!?" Vastra was standing in front of Strax, her steely gaze instantly dwindling his excitement.
"Thought I saw something moving over there. Could've been an enemy." Strax said in a small voice. Vastra sighed and turned around, looking at a scanner that had started bleeping. She looked at it for a moment, and pressed a button on her ear piece.
"Doctor? We have a problem." There was a pause and she said "Our scanners are showing that there's an active super-volcano about twenty miles from here. If that thing erupts, and at the moment it looks like it's about to, we're all dead. We have approximately three hours."
There was a tense silence. I heard a faint bird call in the distance. And then everyone's walkie-talkies bleeped at once. The Doctor's voice emanated from them. "You have to find it. The lake. It has to be where it's hidden. Once that volcano erupts, it'll be lost forever. You need to find it, and fast. I'll be here if you need anything." There was another bleep, and it his voice disappeared.
Vastra pressed a button on her scanner. "Scanning for notable water sources more than ten metres underground... There." She handed me the scanner and pointed at a blue shape on a dark map, showing underground tunnels and large cave systems.
Ten minutes later, and we were making our way towards what we hoped was the lake.
Strax hadn't lowered his gun, and was pointing it at every single animal he could see, although not firing. Jack was typing coordinates into what looked like a Time-Vortex Manipulator, and Vastra was worriedly checking an image of the volcano on her scanner.
I took in the colourful environment. The rainforest was sweltering hot, and ginormous trees scraped the underbellies of fluffy clouds that sailed across the rich blue sky. Brightly-winged birds darted from branch to branch, and I caught glimpses of strange ape-like animals, hiding in crudely made cubby holes in various different trees.
Through the trees I could see the volcano in the distance. There was a rumble, and it belched out smoke. "We should really keep moving." said Jack. We all mutually agreed and quickened our pace.
After what felt like days, Vastra agreed to let us rest, and we lowered ourselves the soft ground. The heat was becoming more intense as the day went on, and we had to ration our water supplies carefully.
It was as I was sipping the blissfully cold water that I heard a low growl coming from the patch of trees behind Vastra. I noticed a dark, hulking shape moving through the leaves, and saw two bright green eyes, reflecting the blinding sun.
A blur of dark orange fur pounced on Vastra, and I saw the glint of razor-sharp claws about to swipe her neck.