Doctor Who_ The Infinity Doctors - Lance Parkin [45]
By hearing the reason the war started from the horses’
mouths, the Doctor wasn’t just hoping to solve an academic puzzle, he thought it would help the two sides to settle their differences. If they realised that it had all been a terrible misunderstanding, the Sontarans and Rutans could shake hands and agree to differ.
The Rutan spoke first. The War had started when a Sontaran armada had invaded Rutan space. Eight hundred warships had emerged from hyperspace in the Constellation of Zyt, and systematically destroyed all evidence of Rutan colonisation in the area, from planetary capitals to remote deep space observatories. There had been no warning, no attempt at diplomacy or even communication. No prisoners had been taken, there were no survivors. When scoutships arrived to respond to the emergency broadcasts, they found twenty-seven Rutan colonies in ruins, the destroyers long gone.
The Doctor listened to every word of the Rutan, but he watched Sontar. The ancient General’s wide mouth was curled into what would have been a smirk on a human face.
He was leaning back, clearly enjoying every moment as his ancient enemy was forced to recount details of a Sontaran victory. The other Sontarans mirrored his actions, either because of genetics or good Sontaran manners.
‘You glory in this, General,’ the Doctor stated.
The Sontaran grunted. ‘That was a good day, I was on the flagship as we burned the Rutan from threetimes threetimes three worlds. But the Rutan is not telling you the whole story.
We were on a mission of vengeance. Two days before, a Rutan raiding squadron had devastated the world of Holfactur, on the edge of the Established Space, and killed many millions of civilians.’
‘Established Space?’ the Doctor asked.
Krax glared at the Doctor from across the wide table. ‘It is a self-evident fact of nature that the Sontaran Empire spreads across the three edges of the universe, containing galaxies and clusters of galaxies beyond number. However, the Sontaran race has yet to establish its presence in the whole of its domain. The area currently under the direct control of the Sontaran race and its dominions is Established Space, the rest of the universe is Soon-to‐be-Established Space.’
‘Thank you for the clarification,’ the Doctor said.
‘There are no civilians,’ the Rutan shrieked.
The Doctor was about to ask whether it meant generally, or amongst the Sontaran population, but the Rutan didn’t let him get a word in edgeways.
‘This so-called civilian planet of Holfactur was a military training camp. We know this because the Sontarans had deployed forces trained on Holfactur in the Purple Areas of Rutan Space.’
‘The home of your biological warfare programme,’ Grol snapped. ‘An area devastated, with native populations sacrificed in your quest to create a virus that would wipe out the Sontaran race.’
Krax was leaning forwards, hands clasping the edge of the table as though he was about to tip it over. ‘We sent our men in to prevent another Mancastovon.’
General Sontar stared straight at the Rutan. ‘While I sit on my throne there will never be another Mancastovon!’
‘You are powerless to prevent it, mud-creature!’
‘As you were powerless to prevent our victory in the Battle of Hwyx,’ Sontar bawled. ‘One Sontaran ship wiping out ten thousand Rutan warcasters. No wonder you shifted your research efforts to underhand methods of combat.’
‘The Battle of Hwyx was a freak, a fluke, a luckiness.’
The Doctor clutched his head in his hands. This wasn’t working out the way he had expected.
The Magistrate had chatted to Larna as they’d walked up to the Infinity Chamber. He was very senior, with a reputation as a rather forbidding, humourless figure – ‘his hearts as black as his robes’. His job, as enforcer of laws from the Citadel bylaws to the First Law of Time,