Earthshock w/ The Fourth Doctor

 “Scott to TARDIS, Scott to TARDIS, come in please.” The small handheld radio perched on the TARDIS console shone as Scott’s voice modulated.
Nyssa grabbed hold of it and pressed down on the trigger and spoke hurriedly. “This is the TARDIS, we have Cybermen on board.” From behind her, a hulking biosynthetic monstrosity grabbed hold of the radio.

Scott’s message left a pit of dread in the Doctor’s stomach. “We’ve managed to escape the freighter, but Adric’s still on board.” Feeling around his left pocket, he suddenly realised that Adric had given him his golden-edged star of Mathematical Excellence.

The Cyber Leader effortlessly crushed the radio in his hand and threw it at the floor.

“You’ve failed, Leader. In trying to destroy the Earth, you’ve aided in its very creation. Your Gambit has ended before it even started!” said the Doctor gravely.

“The plan is not yet abandoned, Doctor – I am still in control of your TARDIS, and on my command, you will pilot this vessel back to Cyber Control on Telos. Once we arrive, we will be in control of a working Time Vessel which we will then duplicate and replace our Cyber Fleets. With a fleet of Time Vessels, we will change future defeats into absolute victories!” proclaimed the Cyber Leader.

“You know very well that I can’t allow you to do that. I refuse to help you achieve total dominance over other life forms. I would rather destroy this TARDIS before helping you.”

The Cyber Leader grabbed hold of Nyssa’s hair and moved her in front of the Doctor, aiming his gun at her head. “This attitude has been accounted for. If you do not operate the controls within five seconds, I shall kill the female. “

The Doctor seethed in anger. “No!”

“Then a logical impasse presents itself, Doctor. I shall now kill her.”

Tegan jumped onto the Cyber Leader’s gun arm. With an astounding level of strength, the Cyber Leader threw her off, her head connecting hard with the Console Room wall, cracking one of the roundels. Acting quickly, the Doctor followed suit and stabbed the golden star right through the Cyber Leader’s chest plate. In a last-ditch attempt to destroy the TARDIS, the Cyber Leader wheezed laboriously, turned and opened fire at the Time Rotor with another blast fracturing the scanner in two.

The Doctor jumped the Cyber Leader and was thrown at the console. Looking for another weapon to use, Nyssa grabbed hold of the hat stand that stood by the console room doors and hit the Cyber Leader across the back repeatedly. Using all of his body weight, the Doctor wrestled the gun out of his hands; once in his own, the Doctor fired, causing the Cyber Leader to spark and burn. The Cyber Leader feverishly gripped the Doctor’s sleeves as if his emotional inhibitor had short circuited. As it slid to its knees, the Doctor’s left sleeve was torn completely off, leaving a severe grip imprinted into his arm .Firing again caused the interior of the Cyber Leader’s helmet to dislodge and leak circulatory fluids while the final shot destroyed his helmet completely.

Nyssa had collapsed to her knees. As he went to help her to her feet, the Doctor called out in pain. “Doctor, are you ok?” she inquired.

The Doctor spoke through clenched teeth. “I’ll be fine. Is Tegan ok?”

Nyssa checked Tegan’s head only to find that her head was only lightly bruised. “She’s alright, but she’ll have a serious concussion when she wakes up.” Nyssa held onto the Doctor’s now sleeveless arm. “Let me take a look at your arm, Doctor.”

The Doctor pulled his arm away from her. “We’ll sort it out later. Right now, our main objective is to get Adric off the freighter and pick up Scott and the others.”

“Apart from your left hand I think that the Cyberman has crushed all of the bones in your left arm. You have to let me check it for you!” begged Nyssa.
“No!” demanded the Doctor. The seriousness in his voice took him by surprise. “It’ll have to wait for a while.”

The Doctor hit both of his hands against the Console. “The Console is damaged! The TARDIS isn’t following any of its command inputs!”

“We must get Adric off the freighter, there’s so little time!” said Nyssa. As she moved herself to another panel of the Console, she realised that two more Cybermen had just entered the Console Room. “Look out!”

“Destroy them!” commanded the Cyber Lieutenant. Salvos of shots were fired from both sides of the console. Nyssa dove to the floor and fired a shot at the Cyberman nearest the door causing him to double over and partially combust. Another series of shots narrowly missed Nyssa as she fired again, causing the Cyber Lieutenant to fall through the door leading to the corridor.

Nyssa stood up and shouldered the rifle. “Are you ok, Doctor?”

The Doctor stood at the console in a state of catatonia. He opened his mouth in order to speak, but he couldn’t find any words to say. The Doctor had felt this before on Skaro – both of his hearts had stopped working. He stumbled, trying to regain his footing. Nyssa ran to his side in order to brace his fall to his knees.

Tegan murmured and rubbed the front of her head, then sat up. “Ah, cripes, that hurts. Doctor, are you alright?”

“Tegan, you’ve got to help me! I think the Doctor’s been shot!” pleaded Nyssa.

Taking a moment to get to her feet, Tegan’s gaze was captivated by the cracked scanner. “Is Adric still on board the freighter?”

“Yes, he is, and I think we’ve almost run out of time to rescue him.”

“Fast... fast ret... urn switch...” moaned the Doctor, pointing at a set of switches on the console.

“I’m sorry, Adric. I’m sorry, I don’t think I can...” said the Doctor as he forced himself to his feet. The Doctor managed to make his way to the console and press a series of buttons. Slowly, but surely, the Time Rotor began to spin and rise. Tegan stayed transfixed on the scanner as Nyssa rushed over to help the Doctor, and could see that they were making their way towards the freighter. However, the TARDIS did not stop once it met the freighter; instead, it flew past it and headed further into space.

“Doctor, no! You can’t just leave Adric there!” fumed Tegan.

The Doctor didn’t respond because he couldn’t hear her; all of his sensory functions had malfunctioned. He couldn’t tell that he’d spun around raggedly in circles before landing on the console room floor, nor could he tell exactly what he was thinking. He couldn’t tell from Nyssa and Tegan’s tears that the freighter had collided with the Earth. All he could see was an instantaneous flash of light.