All Time Lords had a special relationship to time, existing as perpetual outsiders. She could shrug off the aggressive weave of the years that Halogi-Kari was spinning about her, if she only had the right locus to fix herself upon. And so she chose to focus on a single second, a syllable of Ace’s cry from beyond the Quantum Anvil. Such a sad and heartbreaking sound; one that needed an answer in the here and now. The Doctor made it her anchor. I’m coming to get you, Ace. She would not leave this moment, wouldn’t leave Ace alone. Not now.

And so she began to navigate the temporal riptide, using it to pull herself back down to the ground. Halogi-Kari hunched over, redoubled his efforts, energy radiating from his horns, his misshapen fingers. But now the Doctor was walking towards him, teeth gritted, moving onward through the storm. She felt her clothes start to tatter, felt her skin line and tighten, her face shrivel against her skull. But the Doctor endured, and glowed with golden light, and renewed, and inched closer.

Until, suddenly, she glimpsed movement behind Halogi-Kari. The vault had opened. A Wraith staggered in, Kim Fortune still strung about its neck, Chantelle powerless in its grip. As the Doctor’s concentration wavered, Halogi-Kari got the upper hand and pushed her back, tossed her into the air like a doll and then twisted. She closed her eyes, fighting back through the maelstrom of energy erupting about her.

Then came a single shot that seemed to ring out for an eternity. Halogi-Kari’s shoulder burst apart in a liquorice fountain. The storm around the Doctor howled itself out as if giving voice to his agonies as he fell, eyes creasing shut.

The Doctor tried to move but her body seemed caught in slow motion, her vision blurred and head splitting. She recognised Legate Aquillon, her laser crossbow freshly fired, as she reared up and struck at the Wraith that still clutched hold of Chantelle, knocking both to the ground. The Doctor shouted out, but the sound was caught in her throat and time was still distorting. She felt powerless.

Halogi-Kari, still bleeding, veins tracing black and swollen over his body, propped himself up on one elbow and emitted a sound like some sinister war cry. The blinding brightness in the chamber dimmed to reveal Wraiths in waiting around the outer walls, humans strapped to their backs, sparking, shaking and smoking as the creatures they rode staggered closer.

Trapped beneath the body of the Wraith, Kim’s head lolling beside hers, Chantelle looked up at the approaching forces in terror. Aquillon reared up again, and her heavy infantry aimed their cannons.

‘WAIT.’

Ace’s voice cut through the chamber, and through whatever invisible bonds of time still held the Doctor. She rolled over, panting for breath – and saw a sight to chill her blood.