The Last Message (short story)

 was the second of four Time Lord Victorious short stories released by Eaglemoss Collections. It was printed in DWFC TLV 1, which came with the Dalek Drone and Dalek Emperor Figurine Set.

Plot
One phrase echoes through the Emperor of the Restoration's chamber on Skaro: "I... am... the... last...". These words had been found echoing through the Dalek City. This message had come from a Dalek Drone; although normally the Emperor pays no attention to Drones, he has made an exception, as the Drone's message has travelled for millennia across space and time to reach Skaro.

From his chamber, the Emperor watches on the signal display as the broken Dalek, embedded in rock, still fights for survival. The message continues: "I survive... I will repair..." This does not surprise the Emperor, as all Drones are programmed to keep going and obey their instructions.

"I will grow stronger" continues the Drone, "no matter how long it takes". The Emperor watches the dataflow to more accurately asses the message's age, and swiftly calculates how many thousands of years the Drone had spent clinging to the rock before it had enough power to send its message. The Emperor then compares the Drone's vital signs with those of thousands of Daleks in similar circumstances, and is briefly impressed, believing that the Drone should have died three thousand years before sending its message.

"There is still time..." continues the Drone. Its voice shifts to a desperate and pleading tone; the Emperor does not care for this, although it wonders if any other civilisations have intercepted the Drone's transmission and what they would have made of it. "I must warn the universe..." it continues. The Emperor glances down at a panel as the Drone's transmission is quickly tagged and analysed, when researchers match the Drone in the recording with another in the Daleks' registry. The Emperor pauses the recording to observe the data, allowing itself to imagine a word barred from Dalek vocabulary: "interesting".

Although the Emperor believes that the Drone in the recording is almost certainly dead by now, it observes from a record that the very same Drone in the recording is currently operating on Skaro as part of a one-hundred Dalek crew in a Dalek Time Squad. The Emperor realises that, at some point, the Drone would travel back in time on a mission that would fail, and it would send the message in an attempt to warn the Daleks of their failure.

The Emperor infers this from the frozen recording of the Drone. For some time, the Emperor has become increasingly aware of small inconsistencies in the universe, as if time was being rewritten. The Emperor has had Dalek Scientists researching temporal science day and night for decades, and has long suspected that the Time Lords have been altering the Dalek race's history. It now wonders if they are responsible for the emerging temporal irregularities. Although Drones are not sophisticated experts on temporal politics or physics, the Emperor considers the possibility that the Drone has learned something that may incriminate the Time Lords.

The Emperor allows the message to conclude. "I must warn the universe," continues the Drone, "about the Doctor." The Emperor finds itself interested once again. Delving deeper into Skaro's systems, it calculates permutations and a vast number of possible actions, while plans and schematics sweep across the chamber's walls. Although the Emperor would normally summon the Dalek Prime Strategist for assistance, it decides not to on this occasion, desiring, in this moment, to construct the Restoration Empire's future alone.

The Emperor realises that the Drone's transmission does not include specific information concerning the era of time that the Drone's message had been transmitted from, nor did it specify how the Doctor was involved. However, there is enough information for the Emperor to wholly commit to an entirely new course of action for the Dalek race. Concluding that history was under attack, and the Restoration Empire was not immune to these attacks, the Emperor decides that it needs more information from a location such as the Archive of Islos, where the Daleks could learn how exactly the Doctor was involved in the temporal anomalies.

Leaving its chamber for the fleet of Dalek ships already prepared, the Emperor glances back at the frozen recording of the Drone's transmission, and briefly considers retrieving the Drone's remains, due to its actions having changed the course of Dalek history. However, the Emperor decides against such an action, as the Drone has already told the Daleks all that they needed to learn.

Characters

 * Emperor of the Restoration
 * Dalek Drone

Emperor of the Restoration

 * The Emperor of the Restoration does not normally pay attention to the voices of Dalek Drones, or even hear them.
 * The Emperor is impressed with the Dalek Drone's persistence to survive, as it would have expected the Drone to have died three thousand years before it could broadcast its message.
 * The Emperor considers if any other civilisations had intercepted the Dalek Drone's message, and wonders what they would have thought of the Drone's desperate tone.
 * The Emperor has an enhanced brain capacity, allowing it to calculate permutations and a myriad of possible actions.
 * Although the Emperor would normally summon the Dalek Prime Strategist for advice in these situations, it decides not to on this occasion, as it secretly desires, at this point in time, to forge the future of the Restoration Empire by itself.

Dalek hierarchy

 * Dalek Drones are programmed to obey orders and survive, no matter how badly damaged.
 * The past self of the Dalek Drone in the message is present on Skaro while the Emperor views the message. The Drone is part of a one-hundred Dalek crew, an "insignificant percentage" of a Dalek Time Squad.
 * Dalek Drones are not sophisticated experts on neither temporal politics nor temporal physics.
 * The Emperor briefly considers retrieving the remains of the Dalek Drone from the asteroid, but decides against such an action, believing that the Drone has already provided the Emperor with all the information that it could provide.

Dalek vocabulary

 * The word "interesting" is not a part of the Dalek race's core vocabulary bank, and although the Emperor does not often allow itself to even think of the word often, it considers that sometimes language beyond the core vocabulary bank is necessary. Only the Emperor has the freedom to use the word "interesting", which it does twice; first in response to learning that the past self of the Drone in the message is also on Skaro, and later in response to learning from the recording that the Doctor is somehow involved.
 * The Emperor almost considers using the word "surprising" in response to it learning that the Dalek Drone in the message is also present on Skaro, but decides that even an Emperor Dalek must draw the line somewhere with regards to freedom of language.
 * The Emperor considers the time sensitive nature of the Restoration Empire's Daleks to be a matter of "pride".

Temporal science

 * The Daleks of the Restoration Empire have been engineered to be time sensitive.
 * The Emperor of the Restoration has become increasingly aware of small inconsistencies in the universe, as if time is being rewritten.
 * The Emperor has had Dalek Scientists researching temporal science on a day-and-night basis for decades.
 * The Emperor calculates that history itself is under attack.

Time Lords

 * Dalek time machines and time corridors are still relatively crude compared to the technology of the Time Lords.
 * The Emperor has suspected, for a long time, that the Time Lords are interfering with the Dalek race's history, and contemplates that they may be responsible for the temporal anomalies occurring across history.

Locations

 * The Emperor views the Dalek Drone's message from within the former's personal chamber, at the heart of the Dalek City on Skaro.
 * The Dalek Drone's message does not include any information concerning the exact era that the message originates from.
 * The Emperor concludes that it needs to travel to a place such as the Archive of Islos to acquire more information on the temporal anomalies.

Continuity

 * The Daleks of the Restoration Empire are time sensitive. (PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times)
 * The Emperor of the Restoration has long suspected that the Time Lords are interfering with the history of the Dalek race. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
 * The Emperor discovers that the Doctor is somehow involved with the divergences occurring across time. (PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead)
 * The Emperor decides to get more information concerning the temporal anomalies from the Archive of Islos. (WC: The Archive of Islos)
 * The Dalek Drone broadcasting the message will later arrive on the Starship Future, when the ship takes on fuel twenty years into its voyage. (AUDIO: Genetics of the Daleks)