Soulforged

Chapter 17

-/-

Gritting her teeth, The Mistress did her best to rein in her murderous tendencies.

The Doctor had tasked her with investigating Gallifrey's once powerful planetary shield. It was a task suited to her, as her engineering skills far surpassed his own, and although there were other competent engineers on Gallifrey, they suffered from an endemic lack of imagination. Yet it seemed that where their engineers lacked innovation, other members of the High Council were more than capable of creativity, at least when it came to interpreting orders....

Orders that now had her surrounded by a squad of 10 armed guards, and more trying on her temper, a whole cadre of crumbly academics, that seemed to exist solely to argue with her.

Missy was certain she could see Brax's hand in all of this. The little pest had waited years to extract every ounce of petty revenge for childhood slights, and The Mistress knew, that any step out of line, and he would have her locked up, or worse executed, before The Doctor could intervene. It would be just like him, to deliberately set out to wind her up; to surround her with people who would question, limit, and generally test her non-existent patience, until she snapped, and thusly snapped their necks.

It was simple, and clever, and used her weaknesses against her. It had every chance of success, only Brax had miscalculated one tiny thing...Missy hated letting anyone else win, she had once chosen to die rather than let The Doctor win, and she actually liked him...well most days she did.

The Mistress now had centuries of experience at setting up a long con. If she could last eighteen months, playing the part of a human politician, surrounded on a daily basis, with the most banal, and stupid of that smelly species, without accidentally murdering one of them, in a fit of irritation, and all of that, whilst being tortured by those damn drums. Well a few hours, with even the most traditional of her own people, was something she could manage. She could always think of a way, to take it out on The Doctor later, and least the Time Lords didn't stink.

Still, that didn't mean she couldn't have a little fun with them.

They were taking a troop transport out to one of the old army outposts, where one of the shield generators had been located. Even getting out here had been a small victory. The Academy engineers had actually proposed, working exclusively from their guild house, and sending out students, or worse the army troopers, out to take the readings they needed.

The moment the ship touched down, Missy strode out onto the surface, her nose wrinkling slightly, as the dry desert sand that had been whipped up by the ships engineers, continued to whirl around, and sting her face. This area had once been lush, red grasslands, and now it was barren, and lifeless, the ugly domed army barracks jutted out of the stark landscape.

"Ma'am, you should wait for us to secure the area." The trooper commander instructed, as his squad jogged up to take form around her, a cross between an honour guard, and a prisoner transfer...half the guns were trained out, and the other half, were trained back on her.

Snorting in amusement, Missy was wondering just who they were going to secure the area against, when the large doors at the front of the barracks opened, and out poured a handful of civilians...armed civilians.

"Well that wasn't in any status report." Missy muttered, under her breath, as she watched the army troopers, and the civilians size each other up.

The civilians were clearly out matched. Their equipment was mishmashed. Some was from the very beginning of the Time War, and Missy recalled, almost fondly, the unexpected way it would recoil, and sometimes even blow up, when it got overloaded. The army troopers had body armour, and the support of the guns of the troop ship, and yet they were still reluctant, to press that advantage.