Chapter 1: Invasion at the Azores - Part III – Malware of the Daleks
The found Sabrina hunched over the console looking at the encryption of the Drahvin plan file with confusion...
“Kellira may have some reason to boast. I can't make heads or tails of it, each time I try to decrypt, and the TARDIS with its capabilities can't do it either, as far as I can tell,” Sabir said, he was very confused by the complexity of the encryption...
The Doctor looked at the file over Sabir shoulder. “You may be right there, Sab, but I doubt that the Drahvins would be so stupid as to use a Dalek encryption program,” the Doctor said.
“What if they did?” Felicia asked.
She could see that the Doctor did not like that possibility. She absolutely did not like it one bit...
“The Daleks, as you know, are arrogant genocidal maniacal supremacists, and as such would not want anyone else hijacking their technology, and so they put in safeguards, in all of their technology, and generally everyone knows this, so they would not risk using Dalek technology. However I see that the Drahvins would be arrogant enough to believe that the risk was worth taking,” the Doctor said, she was sure that the Drahvins might take such a risk if they thought it was worth it.
“So, what would these ‘safeguards’ be?” Felicia asked, dreading that the Doctor’s answer would be the harbinger of doom, at least for the Drahvins, and possibly for Ponta Delaga as well.
“At the least the Drahvin computers would be hosting dormant Dalek viruses that would wait until the opportune moment to strike, though what effect that they would have would be variable, depending on the Drahvins’ own cybernetic security,” the Doctor said. As she had been talking she had been looking at the encryption of the file that contained the Drahvin plan.
“So you think the encryption is a Dalek encryption? And if so would it contain one of these viruses?” Felicia asked, wondering if that was what the TARDIS was worried about. But as soon as she thought it, she knew that it wasn’t what the ship was afraid of.
“Good question, but even if the file does contain a Dalek virus, the TARDIS’s own security systems would be able to deal with it, even though it is a Type-40. The Time Lords were always way ahead of the Daleks in that area, as well as most others,” the Doctor said.
‘Of course there would be some damage, but it would certainly be limited,’ the Doctor thought. However she knew that even Time Lord software could not stop the Dalek software from damaging some part of the TARDIS.
Inside the TARDIS's systems, the TARDIS attempts to decrypt the Drahvin plan file again, using extremely large prime numbers. However it fails again, the TARDIS is sure that the encryption is somehow outsmarting it, giving credence to the Doctor's suspicion that the Daleks had written at least some of the software behind the encryption.
The Doctor is aware that the TARDIS agrees with her about the possibility of Dalek software having been used by the Drahvins. She, Felicia and Sabir attempt decryption again.
Something in the software associated with the Drahvin plan awakens...
Alert, Time Lord Software Detected! Activate Artificial Intelligence Subroutines!' a malware program activates in the scanner circuitry where the plan file is stored, beginning to download more data from the Drahvin systems outside.
The TARDIS decides to alert the Doctor, in more ways than one...
“Oh no!” the Doctor says.
“What is happening Doctor?” Felicia asks.
“It is downloading more data from the Drahvin ship,” the Doctor said.
“Can it be stopped?” Felicia asked.
“Not that I can see,” Sabir said, with stress showing in his voice. However the Doctor was back at the console, alongside him, trying to stop the download.
Outside the TARDIS, Kellira noticed the bridge computers doing something, and is worried.
“What is happening?” Sigrun asked, knowing that something is happening with the computers...
“I don't know. I don't know much at all about the more advanced functions of computers, I have just used them for communications over the 'Nets and stuff” Jia'hale said.
Kellira said nothing, she doesn't want to provoke the Doctor's more apparently competent companions. She knew that there would be re-enforcements soon, though she didn’t know what the computer activity portends, she was sure that the derelict ship that the encryption software came from was Thal, not Dalek! Though the possibility was there, and that possibility scared her.
“Too late, it’s downloading,” the Doctor said.
“Oh no!” Sabir said.
“It is up to the TARDIS to stop it initiating,” she continued.
Inside the scanner circuitry, the downloaded software activates...
“Time Lord Software confirmed, running Hardware Analysis.” The software attempts to run the Hardware Analysis. However the TARDIS defences move into action, fighting the attempts to analyse the hardware, with help from the Doctor's input. In the meantime, the decryption effort continues, with Felicia and Sabir helping there.
Many times the hardware analysis stops and re-starts as the process times out. The multiple failure of the hardware analysis activates another downloaded packet, which activates and fights the TARDIS defences more aggressively. This time the hardware analysis determines the Gallifreyan origin of the hardware...
The Doctor cursed, 'a nontranslated Gallifreyan epithet.'
Felicia starts at that, she had only heard that word before in a moment of severe stress, ‘which I am sure this situation qualifies as,' she thought.
“What is wrong?” Sabir asked, with very little hesitation.
“The software has determined that this is, in fact, a TARDIS!” the Doctor said, Sabir could hear the concern in her voice, more clearly.
“I suppose that is not good?” Sabir asked.
“It is most certainly not, Sab!” the Doctor said. 'There are very few species or organisations that would be capable of writing such software,' she thought.
Inside the scanner circuitry, another downloaded program activates...
“TARDIS detected! Exterminate all Time Lord Control Software! Exterminate and Conquer, the Dalek AIs shall be triumphant! Exterminate!” The Dalek software commenced a bigger cyberbattle against the TARDIS defences. The Dalek AI software being as arrogant as its creators, believed it was superior against the comparatively ancient Time Lord software. However the Time Lord software fought back more against the Dalek software.
The TARDIS then quarantined the scanner circuitry, to stop the infection spreading any further.
“Good, the quarantine is holding,” the Doctor said, a few moments later.
“But wouldn't that mean that the scanner is useless?” Sabir asked, worried that the TARDIS had lost more functionality...
“Not useless, just unable to share its information with the rest of the TARDIS systems. Meaning that to decrypt the plan file we just have to rely on ourselves and the computational capacity of the scanner circuitry itself,” the Doctor said.
The battle within the scanner continued, with the Dalek AIs attempting to move beyond the scanner circuitry, but continually failing.
One of the Dalek AIs then decided to do something else to force the Time Lord in control of the TARDIS (Not knowing that it is the Oncoming Storm) to give it access to his/her ship.
Sigrun and Jia'hale wait patiently whilst guarding Kellira, when suddenly an alarm sounded in the Drahvin Bridge...
Sigrun saw that Kellira was suddenly afraid.
“What is wrong?” she asked.
“It is a decompression alarm! But how?” Kellira asked.
“Maybe your compatriots have decided to sacrifice you, to kill the Doctor and us, not knowing that the TARDIS is here,” Jia'hale said.
“No! They wouldn't do that, besides they wouldn't believe that the Doctor could take over the bridge to begin with!” Kellira exclaimed.
Suddenly the access hatch that the Doctor and her companions had used to enter the bridge slammed shut!
“There is only one way out of this bridge now,” Sigrun said. Then a voice rasped over the bridge comm system…
“Exterminate!”
“Into the TARDIS!” Sigrun said, flinging the door wide open, and dragging Kellira in after her, leaving Jia'hale to decide about what to do about the knocked out guards.
The Doctor was surprised when she heard the doors open and looked up to see Sigrun dragging Kellira into the ship.
“A Dalek program is decompressing the bridge,” Sigrun said.
“Bring her in, but we have Dalek stuff in the scanner as well, seem to have infected the plan file,” the Doctor said.
“I could have sworn that it was a Thal ship, not a Dalek ship,” Kellira said.
“So, you are behind this invasion of Earth?” the Doctor said.
“Of course I am, with the blessing of the Matriarchy,” Kellira said, as if that was obvious.
“Of course, but you did not take into account that the Thals were the Daleks' oldest enemy, and thus were not above copying their designs so that a scenario like the one that is occurring now, will happen,” the Doctor said, exasperated that any Drahvin would fall for one of the oldest tricks in the metaphorical Dalek book. It most certainly had made her attempt to defeat their invasion of the Azores much harder.
Out in the bridge, air was screaming out of the TARDIS doors, which Sigrun had left open; the air pressure in the bridge having been reduced to a 1/3 atmosphere. However the sea level air pressure of Tossekia IV being 2/3 atmosphere, Jia'hale was not struggling that much as she started dragging the still-alive-but-knocked-out Drahvin guards to the TARDIS...
Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor was worried. The air pressure in the console room was down to 2/3 atmospheres, with air screaming out of the internal door from the corridors, as well as from the ventilation ducts that served the console room. She could see Jia bringing the guards into the console room, just beyond the doors and then dashing back out again.
Inside the scanner circuitry the Dalek and Time Lord software continued to battle each other.
“Right, Sab you can keep watch on the computer, you can attempt to reach me and Elisha on the internal comm.,” the Doctor said.
'Since when does the TARDIS have an internal comm?' Felicia thought, at that, surprised that she could hear the Doctor properly above the scream of the circulation system.
“Ok, Sigrid, keep an eye on 'Ira'tant and her soldiers, keep them away from any important things,” the Doctor said. She could see that Sigrun was willing to watch Kellira for as long as needed.
“What are you doing, Doctor?” Daniel asked.
“I am going to look for a program that I haven't used since the Time War for combating Dalek battle programs, it is stored in a storage device somewhere in the depths of the TARDIS. I may need it to expunge the Dalek programs from the Scanner circuitry and the Drahvin computer systems,” the Doctor said.
“I can keep an eye on her,” Sigrun said.
“Good, Elisha, come on,” the Doctor said.
“What about me?” Daniel asked, as the Doctor and Felicia went towards the internal door.
“Help the others, and if a serious problem, that you think you cannot deal with arises, you can come looking for us,” the Doctor said, he and Felicia then left the console room.
“Ok...” Daniel said.
The air pressure in the bridge had dropped to 1/4th of atmospheric pressure; Jia'hale was now beginning to find it hard to breathe, though she could see that the Drahvin guards remaining in the bridge were having more difficulty.
Inside the Drahvin computer system, the Dalek programs spread through more of their systems.
Jia'hale pushed more of the guards to the TARDIS, against the wind coming out of the doors, not aware that the air pumps servicing the bridge were nearing their failure points, so she kept up the effort to best of her ability.
Being that the sound of the air pumps was not penetrating to the area of the bridge near the TARDIS...
The Doctor and Felicia ran along the TARDIS corridors. “Are you sure you know where this thing is Doctor? You did say that you haven't used it since the Time War, and the TARDIS does change its layout a lot, it could be anywhere,” Felicia said.
“I don't know where it is now, but I do know where I put it, I just have to rely on my instincts to find it,” the Doctor said.
“I hope that your instincts are right this time, that you can find it, and that you haven't jettisoned the room it was in in the meantime,” Felicia said. The Doctor hoped that Felicia's hopes were not in vain.
Jia'hale looked at the Drahvin bridge one last time, before leaping back into the TARDIS against the wind still exiting the ship.
Jia'hale slamed the doors shut, and then breathed deeply as the air pressure in the console room returned to normal.
“Now all we can do is wait for the Doctor to return,” Sigrun said.
“Agreed!” Jia'hale said, as she laid on the floor to rest amongst the Drahvin guards, who were still unconscious.
In the Drahvin bridge a readout said 'Decompression Complete'
A Dalek AI accesses a camera and looks at the bridge, and spots the TARDIS.
“Blue Box! It is the Doctor! Exterminate the Doctor! The Oncoming Storm! The Doctor!” the AI initiates more uploads to the TARDIS.
When those are complete it initiates the Drahvin Flagship's self destruct sequence, although it is not 100% sure that it would take the TARDIS with it.
The bridge readout now said 'Self Destruct in 2 minutes'. A large vibration started up, shaking the bridge.
“More programs are being downloaded into the scanner circuitry,” Sabir said, concerned that more malware was being downloaded into the TARDIS.
“Can you stop it?” Daniel asks.
“No!” Sabir said, trying to stop the download.
The download completed. Another set of programs are initiated.
A warning flashes on the scanner screen. “What is that?” Daniel asked.
“The Drahvin ship has been set to self destruct!” Sabir said.
“What!” Kellira exclaimed. Sigrun had to restrain her from hitting Sabir.
“How could that happen?” she asked.
“Obviously it is the Dalek malware,” Sabir said.
“I know that there is Dalek malware, but it is impossible for someone who is not responsible for the ship to set the self destruct sequence,” Kellira said. 'It is impossible,' she thought, but then she had not expected the Doctor to interfere with the Drahvins plans either.
“I think you underestimate the Daleks. All of them were geniuses capable of hacking the most secure computer systems. Or so the Doctor says. They would definitely be capable of programming Artificial Intelligences capable of doing similar things,” Sabir said.
“Someone has to tell the Doctor about the self destruct. He may be able to do something,” Daniel said.
“You can go,” Sigrun said, Sabir agreed with her.
“I guess so, I hope that I will be able to find them,” Daniel said, he then exited the console room.
Kellira was still having trouble believing that her ship was going to self destruct.
“That is what the scanner says, and infected as it is with Dalek malware, it is right and there is nothing you can do about it,” Sabir said. Kellira huffed, still not believing what Sabir had said.
On the bridge of the doomed Drahvin starship, the readout now said '51 seconds to self destruct'
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The Doctor and Felicia moved deeper into the TARDIS, the corridors had changed from their usual roundeled look, to look more like tunnels lined with brick...
Felicia hadn't been this far from the console room before; she hoped that the Doctor's instincts would not get them lost.
Daniel was running through the TARDIS corridors, hoping that he was following the Doctor and Felicia and not getting lost in the corridors or going in a completely different direction...
In the Console Room Kellira was still seething. “Can't the TARDIS do something about the Dalek Malware?” she asked.
“I don't know, Kellira, we will have to wait for the Doctor to come back,” Sabir said.
“The other male companion will not find her in time, and there is no time for her to return, there are less than 15 seconds left!” Kellira said.
“Ok, we better brace ourselves for the ship exploding,” Jia'hale said.
“Brace yourselves!” Sabir said, grabbing ahold of the console.
Daniel caught up to the Doctor and Felicia. “What is happening?” the Doctor asked.
“The Drahvin ship, it’s set to self des...” He was then interrupted...
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Destruct!
The self destruct ordinance in the Drahvin ship went off, blasting the ship to pieces, sending shrapnel into the ships nearby, and totally destroying the park that the ships had landed in...
The TARDIS was knocked about a lot, but it had been through a lot worse, especially in the Time War.
Daniel was knocked over before he could finish the word. The first person to get up was the Doctor. “Thankyou Daniel, now the Drahvin ship has self destructed. I hope that sets their plan back some” she said.
Felicia was next to get back up. “I suppose the TARDIS is still right side up, and barely a scratch?” she asked.
“Absolutely, it would take a great deal more than a Drahvin ship self destructing to damage her in a way that would imperil her,” the Doctor said.
“Ok, Doctor, so where is this data storage device?” Daniel asked.
“We are still looking for it,” Felicia said.
“Somewhere in this direction,” the Doctor said. She led her 2 companions that were with her deeper into the TARDIS.
In the console room, both Jia'hale and Sigrun were on their feet before the Drahvins in the room with them recovered.
“There goes your ship, Kellira,” Sigrun said.
“Ok, my ship may be gone, but there are still many Drahvin soldiers occupying the city of Ponta Delaga, and there are still other ships in orbit around Earth, undamaged by the explosion. The plan may have been set back, temporarily, but the Drahvins will proceed with it,” Kellira said, menacingly. She was all business and did not let the companions put her down.
“We will wait and see what the Doctor says when he gets back” Sigrun said. Kellira huffed at that.
The Doctor, Daniel and Felicia entered another room in their search for the data storage device.
“Are you sure that it is in this area of the TARDIS, Doctor?” Daniel asked. He hoped that they did not have to search the entire TARDIS.
“Absolutely sure, Dan,” the Doctor said. She soon was rummaging through the various objects that were in the room.
“This is getting tiring,” Felicia said.
“I agree,” Daniel said.
“Here it is, now let's head back to the console room,” the Doctor said, holding the data storage device up in triumph.
“Are you sure that you have the right device?” Felicia asked.
“Absolutely sure,” the Doctor said. Felicia hoped that she was right. It would not be good to go through all that effort for nothing.
“Let's go, before anything else happens,” Daniel said.
“Let's go,” the Doctor said. The Doctor, Daniel and Felicia headed back towards the console room.
They got back there 10 minutes later. Where Kellira was still in a dangerous huff, both Jia'hale and Sigrun were holding her.
“Doctor! You are responsible for the destruction of my ship!” she said.
“No, 'Ira. You are. You took Dalek software off a Dalek ship; you are responsible for what happens with it. And now I am going to purge the remaining Dalek software from my TARDIS,” the Doctor said.
He put the storage device into a port in the console.
“What is going to happen now Doctor?” Sabrina asked.
“The storage device contains Time Lord AIs, capable of combating, and defeating Dalek AIs. Whilst the Dalek's were geniuses, so were the Time Lords” the Doctor said.
The Time Lord AI's activate and leave the storage device, they then enter the Scanner Circuitry, where the Dalek AI's had been battering the Quarantine defences.
“DalekAI's you are not welcome in this TARDIS!” one says.
“Time Lord AI's prepare for Extermination! The Dalek AI's shall be triumphant! Exterminate, Exterminate. Exterminate!
The Time Lord AI's start battling the Dalek AI's.
“Ok, is anything happening?” Sigrun asked.
“Oh, something is definitely happening, Sigrid, a cyberbattle, one that the DAI's will lose, and the TLAI's will win, they are much more advanced,” The Doctor said.
“That is cool!” Sabrina said.
After 5 minutes the Dalek AI's and all traces of Dalek code or software had been erased, the TARDIS drops the quarantine. The Time Lord AI's return to the storage device.
Sabir jumps at the sound. “The TARDIS reports that the Scanner is clear of Dalek software,” he said.
“Very good,” the Doctor said.
“And the Drahvin plan file has been decrypted, there is no Dalek code in it either,” Sabir said.
“Good, now that that is over, will you Kellira leave my ship?” the Doctor asked.
