Homecoming (audio story)

Homecoming was the fourth and final audio story in Time War: Volume Four, the twelfth series of Gallifrey.

Publisher's summary
Rassilon receives an ultimatum from an envoy of the Dalek Emperor while Leela and Narvin return with a dangerous strategy to end the Time War.

All roads lead to Gallifrey. For some, this is where the fight will end.

Plot
On their way to see the reclusive Rassilon, Livia tells Mantus that she is worried that the President's regeneration went wrong and asks why he is not leading Gallifrey or devising strategies, but Mantus says that he is simply the Rassilon of legend. They knock on Rassilon's door and are surprised when he appears behind them, having gone to look at the sky. He says that he is content to leave matters with Livia, Ollistra and the General and tells Livia and Mantus to win the Time War for him.

In a one-of-a-kind Stealth Battle TARDIS, Leela and Narvin prepare to travel to Gallifrey to target the Untempered Schism whilst Eris helps relocate the resistance following the Dalek attack on Nisteria. They dematerialise, but are stopped by something in their way.

Mantus tells Livia that a Dalek fleet has bypassed all of Gallifrey's security, having arrived without using normal space or the Time Vortex. Rassilon arrives and communicates with the Dalek Emperor, who calls him a false god and a blasphemer. He angrily kills a Time Lord and declares that they will ascend beyond the reach of the Daleks' fire; he orders that the armies be sent out to wipe the Daleks out.

The Dalek Emperor orders that they be transported to Gallifrey, but the Dalek Time Strategist informs him that the drive must first be recharged. He commands the Dalek Supreme to begin the attack and to obey the Time Strategist in all things.

Leela and Narvin, invisible and undetectable to all scans, watch as Daleks descend from the lead saucer and Battle TARDISes materialise to meet them. They pick up the communications between Rassilon and the Emperor and see that the Daleks have new weaponry which can dissolve TARDIS shells, allowing them to massacre the Time Lords.

Romana joins the communication as a prisoner of the Emperor and tells Rassilon to call off the attack to avoid pointless deaths, explaining that, whilst Braxiatel is gone, she returned from the Beyond and was captured. The Emperor and Time Strategist offer to allow the Time Lords to live in return for Rassilon's surrender, after which Romana will be installed as Caretaker-President of the survivors. When the Dalek Supreme asks the Emperor why he is willing to show mercy, he orders him to be exterminated and upgrades the Dalek Technician to commander of the forces.

Leela has Narvin send her onto the main saucer using a short-range transmat so that she can save Romana, planning to return with the transmat so that they can enact their plan to blow up the TARDIS at the Untempered Schism. Aboard the saucer, Leela destroys a Dalek and finds Romana in the cells, removing her shackles and forgiving her for lying to her on Unity. Romana says that they have to find Braxiatel's TARDIS, despite it having a Dalek trace on it, and tells Leela that the Time Strategist prevented the Emperor from killing her.

As the troops depart the TARDIS bays, Rassilon informs Livia and Mantus that they too will be joining the fight and has Captain Caulder force them into a Battle TARDIS despite their protests before contacting the Emperor to refuse his offer. The systems of Livia and Mantus' TARDIS stop, as though affected by a deception field, and Narvin materialises his TARDIS around it. He tells them of the plan to destroy the Vortex, but Mantus laughs and says that the Daleks have developed another way of travelling through time.

Romana uses a door control to access the central network and send the saucer schematics to Eris' data pad. She learns of the null space drive and realises that the Daleks are using the space between dimensions to travel through time. She and Leela are detected by two Daleks.

Narvin sets the coordinates to take him, Livia and Mantus to the main saucer to save Romana and Leela, although Mantus has no interest in abandoning Rassilon. Rassilon takes control of the TARDIS using his override over new models and, as a hologram, admonishes Livia and Mantus for associating with an exile and lands it in the heart of the Dalek fleet before arming the detonation. He gives them the choice to leave the TARDIS and die fighting the Daleks or remain inside and die in the explosion. Narvin, Livia and Mantus arm themselves and exit the TARDIS, Livia killing a Dalek for the first time.

Romana and Leela run into Narvin, Livia (who has been injured) and Mantus. Romana tells them of Braxiatel's TARDIS and the null space engine and her belief that the Daleks want the Eye of Harmony, hence their newfound reluctance to destroy Gallifrey; Narvin suggests that they move the Stealth TARDIS to the engine room and poison null space instead of the Vortex. Mantus chooses to try to negotiate with the Daleks instead and surrenders to them, telling them of his position on the War Council and offering to give the Emperor the whereabouts of his accomplices. The Daleks, however, decide that he is insignificant and exterminate him.

The Time Strategist tells the Emperor that they will soon be at the Capitol, but that the intruders on the saucer must first be destroyed. The Emperor sends the Commander to exterminate them.

Narvin and Livia decide that they will deal with the matter of transporting the Stealth TARDIS to the engine room, with Narvin saying that they are only pen-pushers, whilst Romana and Leela escape in Braxiatel's TARDIS, being warriors. Leela hands Narvin the transmat bracelet before she and Romana head off with the Daleks in pursuit.

The Emperor orders for the jump to the Capitol despite the Time Strategist saying that they are not yet ready.

Narvin and Livia, who reveals that she is dying and has used all of her regenerations, move the Stealth TARDIS to the engine room and are contacted by Eris. Before he is cut off, Eris says that he has found a way to do something. The TARDIS explodes.

The detonation is detected and the Time Strategist says that they will have to regroup. He orders that the Emperor be evacuated and plans to return to Skaro, the Emperor vowing to return and to make Gallifrey theirs.

Romana and Leela reach Braxiatel's TARDIS and manage to break the Dalek lock and enter killing the Commander. With the saucer's condition critical, Romana presumes that the Stealth TARDIS has exploded and, given Narvin's absence, he must not have used the transmat bracelet to escape. They dematerialise and travel home to Gallifrey as the saucer is destroyed.

Rassilon watches the destruction of the saucer and sends his officers to attack what remains of the fleet.

Romana and Leela land in the cloisters, having been directed there by Rassilon, and are confronted by the President and his guards. As he does not wish to make a martyr of her and exile has proven ineffective, he has decided what alternative punishment Romana will face; inspired by the Emperor, he tells her that she will be confined alone to a pocket dimension with the records of her great deeds, doomed to curate the past for eternity. To keep her alive, Leela will join the fight against the Daleks. Leela shouts that they will meet again over Rassilon's grave.

Rassilon sends Leela to the War Room to meet with the General, who wants to discuss tactics. She says that she will come for him once he has dealt with the Daleks, but he just laughs. Later, he mentions the Final Sanction and how he might see it through other eyes, but the Time Lords will one day destroy the Vortex and become beings of consciousness. Until then, he has neglected the War Council for too long and assigns a visionary to it. A scribe will make records for posterity, perhaps for Romana to file away, as he believes that the universe must know the Time Lords' path to victory and ascension.

Cast

 * Romana - Lalla Ward
 * Leela - Louise Jameson
 * Narvin - Seán Carlsen
 * Livia - Pippa Bennett-Warner
 * Mantus - Samuel Clemens
 * Eris - Samuel Gosrani
 * Time Lord - Francois Pandolfo
 * The Daleks - Nicholas Briggs
 * Rassilon - Richard Armitage

Continuity

 * Rassilon teases Livia about whether she'll send another assassination squad for him. (AUDIO: Assassins)
 * The Dalek Emperor calls Romana “Prisoner Unit 117”. (AUDIO: The Apocalypse Element)
 * Romana’s Matrix trace showed her leaving the universe with Braxiatel. (AUDIO: Beyond)
 * The Dalek Emperor believes itself a god and condemns blasphemy against itself. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)
 * Leela forgives Romana’s trickery on Unity. (AUDIO: Unity)
 * Rassilon is planning a “Final Sanction” which may require the destruction of the Time Vortex. (TV: The End of Time)
 * Rassilon adds a Visionary from the Sisterhood to the War Council. (TV: The End of Time)