Restoration of the Cyber-Empire

The Restoration of the Cyber-Empire was an effort undertaken by Ashad to restore the Cyber-Empire following its fall at the end of the Cyber-Wars.

Fall of the Cyber-Empire
During the Cyber-Wars of the far future, the Cyber-Empire was eventually defeated, leaving both the Cybermen and humanity decimated. The survivors of humanity were hunted by the survivors of the Cybermen with many humans fleeing through the Boundary to other parts of the universe. (TV: Ascension of the Cybermen)

During the war, the Alliance, including General Ko Sharmus, sent the Cyberium back through time and space to hide it from the Cybermen. (TV: Fugitive of the Judoon, The Timeless Children) Ashad, a partially-converted Cyberman survivor, began searching for it in an effort to restore the fallen Cyber-Empire (TV: Fugitive of the Judoon, The Haunting of Villa Diodati), transform the Cybermen into a purely robotic race and use the death particle in order to wipe out all organic life in the universe. (TV: The Timeless Children)

A Warning from an Old Friend
In 2020, while the Thirteenth Doctor was battling the Judoon on Earth over a mysterious incarnation of herself, her former companion Captain Jack Harkness abducted her current companions Ryan Sinclair, Graham O'Brien and Yasmin Khan by mistake while trying to get the Doctor. On the run and low on time, Jack informed Team TARDIS about the fall of the Cyber-Empire and that the Lone Cyberman was searching for something and that the Doctor must not give it to him no matter what. The Doctor's companions passed this warning on to her upon being reunited. (TV:Fugitive of the Judoon)

Battle for the Cyberium
Ashad eventually managed to track the Cyberium to Earth in June 1816 where the AI had taken the host of Percy Shelley at the same time that Team TARDIS arrived in the era in an attempt to learn the truth behind the famous story of Frankenstein's monster, something which Ashad himself ultimately proved to be the inspiration for. Recalling Jack's warning, the Doctor and her companions fought to keep the Cyberium out of Ashad's hands with the Doctor managing to become the AI's host herself. However, after Ashad threatened to destroy the Earth by summoning his ship, the Doctor reluctantly handed over the Cyberium rather than risk the Earth being destroyed in 1816. Ashad departed for his own time, victorious and the Doctor and her companions followed using coordinates supplied by Percy. (TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati)

Destruction of the last human settlement
After returning to the far future, Ashad led his forces in hunting down the surviving humans on the refugee planet who were aided by the recently arrived Team TARDIS. Ashad's Cyberdrones quickly destroyed the defences set up by the Doctor and her companions and killed Fuskle and another survivor. Although Feekat and Yedlarmi wanted to fight, the Doctor warned them that it would be a massacre and they needed to escape while she bought them some time. With all of their defences destroyed, the Doctor ordered her companions to join the rest of the humans as they would never make it back to the TARDIS alive. Though they were reluctant to leave, the Doctor insisted upon it as Ryan, Graham and Yaz would be converted if they were captured.

The Doctor confronted Ashad as he arrived, but he was joined by two Cyberguards. In order to keep the others safe, the Doctor decided to act as a bait to lure them away. Spotting Ryan, Yaz and Graham, Ashad sent his Cyberguards after them and Ryan got separated from the others who made it to the Gravraft where Yedlarmi, Bescot and Ravio were preparing for takeoff. Even though they were missing the Doctor, Ryan, Ethan and Feekat and the Gravraft was not yet ready, having been damaged during landing on the planet, the group was forced to leave when the Cyberdrones returned and joined in the attack.

As the Doctor and Ryan linked up, Ethan and Feekat hid from Ashad who detected their presence. Ethan surrendered and lied that he was the only one left, but Ashad knew that he was lying and killed the hiding Feekat. The Lone Cyberman pondered whether or not to kill Ethan so as to spread the tale of his power to every other species and to warn them that humanity was gone and that the Cybermen would rise again. However, the Doctor created a distraction with a small explosive device and Ethan, the Doctor and Ryan managed to escape. Unable to reach the TARDIS and with the Gravraft gone, the Doctor led the others to Ashad's landed Cyberfighters and they stole one. After Ethan managed to hotwire it, the Doctor, Ryan and Ethan escaped in the ship as the Cyberguards tried to stop them without any success. (TV: Ascension of the Cybermen)

Chase Across Space
On the Gravraft, Yedlarmi and Ravio argued about the piloting of the ship which had limited power and life support while Yaz and Graham worried about reconnecting with the others. Bescot revealed that they intended to travel to Ko Sharmus and the Boundary, their only point of safety. While Yedlarmi expressed doubts about its existence, Ravio explained that the Boundary was a gateway out of the galaxy into another random part of the universe and that the Cybermen couldn't follow them as the Boundary's patterns were never the same twice. However, the damaged Gravraft's systems experienced a meltdown due to being pushed too hard.

On the captured Cyberfighter, Ethan programed the ship to travel to Ko Sharmus and the Boundary as well, although with the figher's warp drive they would arrive first. Ethan was unable to detect the Gravraft on the sensors and suggested that they might be ahead of the others already and explained that his father had trained him in how to hijack, pilot and destroy Cyber ships when he was four. As the three discussed the war, Ashad made contact via hologram and promised that the Cybermen would find them. The Doctor challenged Ashad to ask the Cyberium about her and informed him that she had stopped the Cybermen many times before and would continue to do so. However, while the Cyberium did know her, Ashad was confident that both the Doctor and humanity would be destroyed. Ashad proclaimed that he would bring the Cyber race to its greatest ever glory.

The Doctor pointed out that Ashad had quite a grudge against humanity, particularly as he used to be one, but the Lone Cyberman explained that he was a willing recruit when the Cyber-Empire arrived, but was denied as he began his ascension. Although Ashad had originally hid in shame, he came to the conclusion that he was chosen to "revive the glory of the Cyber race." The Doctor taunted Ashad about the lack of glory in being a Cyberman and how the anger and hatred that was driving him were human emotions and recognised that as Cybermen didn't do emotions, Ashad was filled with self-loathing since emotions were what was driving him. To the Doctor's surprise, Ashad admitted that she was correct, but stated that the Cyberium had given him understanding and distilled his purpose. As a result, everything was in him for "the ascension of the Cybermen... and beyond." The Doctor questioned what he meant and the Lone Cyberman stated that it was all of their deaths and that the death of everything was within him before cutting the transmission.

On the Gravraft, Ryan, Yaz, Ravio, Bescot and Yedlarmi survived the systems meltdown, but had to shut down the ship's systems in order to conserve what little power they had left. Hearing noises outside, Yaz and Ravio checked outside to see that they were floating through a massive field of dead Cybermen floating in space and Ravio realised that they must be floating through one of the last battle sites of the Cyber-Wars. As the ship turned, they spotted loads of dormant Cyber ships which Yaz called hope. Looking through the window himself, Graham spotted an open docking bay in an intact Cybercarrier and he and Yaz suggested taking power from life support to reach the ship. Knowing that they were dead if they didn't try something, the group channeled all of their remaining power towards propulsion and vented the remaining air pressure in order to help spin the Gravraft enough to reach Cybercarrier. Despite a rough ride, the plan succeeded and the Gravraft made it aboard the other ship. (TV: Ascension of the Cybermen)

Rise of a New Cyber-Army
Emerging inside the vessel, Yedlarmi determined that they had set off automation sensors when they arrived which had turned some of the ship's systems back on for them. However, as the group headed out to explore the Cybercarrier, Ashad's Cyberfighter arrived, having tracked the Gravraft to the location. Ashad was pleased, calling the location the site of the Cyber-Empire's greatest defeat which would soon become a shrine for their rebirth.

On the Planet of the Boundary, the Doctor made contact with Ko Sharmus who, to her surprise, turned out to be a person rather than a planet. Ethan explained that they were humans come to cross the Boundary which surprised Ko Sharmus who believed that there were no living humans left in the galaxy. The Doctor informed Ko Sharmus that he was wrong and they were approaching in a stolen Cyber ship and were friendly, but that there were more Cybermen on the way. Ko Sharmus watched in joy as the Doctor landed the Cyberfighter nearby.

On the Cybercarrier, Yedlarmi led the other humans towards Cyber Control based on a previous experience he had raiding a Cybercarrier during the war. After Bescot identified the ship as a war carrier, Yaz and Graham became alarmed and wondered what the ship was carrying. Reaching Cyber Control, Yedlarmi discovered that the ship had full power and could take them to Ko Sharmus and across the Boundary. The humans began discussing the idea of using the Cybercarrier as a settlement ship and Graham and Ravio departed to explore the ship while Yedlarmi brought all of the systems back online, quickly restoring power and getting the carrier moving.

As they explored, Graham and Ravio discovered pods containing Cyber-Warriors within. To their horror, Graham and Ravio realised that they were on a troop carrier carrying fresh soldiers to the front lines. With several hundred decks containing thousands of Cybermen each, they were in the middle of stealing a Cybercarrier with hundreds of thousands of Cybermen troops onboard. Elsewhere on the ship, Ashad was pleased that the Cyberium had led him to the Cybercarrier containing the Cyber Army he needed for his plans.

On the Planet of the Boundary, the Doctor, Ryan and Ethan met with Ko Sharmus who was pleased to see three survivors. Ko Sharmus showed the group around his settlement and explained that he and a handful of others had started it after fleeing the Cyber camps during the war. Having heard stories of the Boundary, the group fled to it and, as the war hadn't spread that far yet, built a settlement for survivors. However, everyone else had gone through the Boundary while Ko Sharmus had stayed behind to wait for any other survivors, although he hadn't seen any in a long time. Ko Sharmus confirmed that the Boundary was real and agreed to take them to it.

On the Cybercarrier, alarms went off warning the humans that the ship had been boarded. Yaz used the ship's comms to warn Graham and Ravio to get to the control deck as Cybermen had just boarded. The two managed to escape as Ashad and his Cyberguards closed in and the Lone Cyberman entered one of the chambers containing the dormant Cyber-Warriors, pleased that with his new army, his plans for ascension was near. In the control room, Yedlarmi declared that the ship had the most advanced systems that he had ever seen and at their current speed, they would soon arrive. However, Graham and Ravio were adamant against it as they couldn't risk bringing hundreds of thousands of Cybermen to the Boundary. However, Yaz pointed out that their options were to surrender the ship or land it on another planet and release the Cyber Army there. Instead, Yaz declared that they would the Doctor and defeat the Cybermen together. Through the Cybercarrier's cameras, the group observed as Ashad, joined by his Cyberguards, began awakening his new army and cutting out their organic parts, causing the Cybermen to scream.

On the planet, Ko Sharmus led the others to the sea shore and stated that he'd seen people go through the Boundary and could only hope that they were alive and well elsewhere. Although it was quite a risk that everyone took, Ko Sharmus pointed out that the risk was preferable to the alternative. On Ko Sharmus' order, the Doctor stepped closer and the Boundary opened. He admitted that he didn't know how it was possible, but that it was the last way out of the galaxy.

On the Cybercarrier, the ship came out of hyperspace near the planet while all of the Cybermen began waking up. Making contact with the control deck, Ashad warned the humans that the Cybermen knew that they were there and that his warriors were coming for them. As thousands of Cybermen marched on them, Yaz began calling out to the Doctor across all frequencies and managed to make contact. Yaz warned the Doctor that they were approaching in a Cybercarrier with the Lone Cyberman and a lot of Cyber-Warriors that were starting to wake up. With the Cybermen outside of the door, Graham quickly sealed it and the Doctor ordered Yaz to get off of the ship. However, they were trapped and the Cybermen were about to break in.

Suddenly, the Boundary changed to display the Citadel on Gallifrey. As the Doctor tried to understand, emerged from the Boundary and told her to be afraid as everything was about to change forever. (TV: Ascension of the Cybermen) The Master demanded the Doctor come with him back to Gallifrey and threatened her friends with his Tissue Compression Eliminator in order to get her to reluctantly comply. Moments after the Master and the Doctor departed, the Cybercarrier emerged from hyperspace over the Planet of the Boundary.

On the ship, the Cybermen burst into the control deck and opened fire on the humans. Bescot found a ventilation shaft for them to escape through, but was killed by the Cybermen while providing the others with covering fire. Although most of the humans escaped, Ashad was satisfied as his forces now controlled the ship.

After their escape, Yedlarmi had to be held back from going back for Bescot who had always had nightmares about being captured and converted into a Cyberman. Yedlarmi felt that they didn't stand a chance anyway, four humans stuck on a ship full of Cybermen, but Graham revealed that he had an idea that was dangerous and might not work with Yaz backing him up. Graham led the others to a deck where the Cybermen had not yet awakened and explained that his plan was to use the Cyberarmor to avoid notice by the Cybermen so that they could move around and get off of the ship. Yedlarmi objected as a human couldn't fake being a Cyberman for any length of time, but Yaz pointed out that they only needed to do it for long enough to escape. Ravio observed that if Yedlarmi handled removing the organic parts, she could disable the suit's connection to the shared neural network. While the group knew that the plan was crazy, it was also the best one that they had and so everyone agreed to it.

In his settlement, Ko Sharmus led the others to his armory and to the very limited number of weapons that he had, much to Ryan's dismay. Although Ko Sharmus had thought he'd fought his last battle a long time before, he still knew a few tricks. Ryan wasn't sure about using weapons, but Ko Sharmus warned that with Cybermen, you had to either fight or die which Ethan confirmed. Ryan reluctantly accepted a large bomb from Ko Sharmus as they began preparing defences against the inevitable Cyberman attack.

On Gallifrey, the Master led the Doctor to the Matrix chamber where he opened a hologram transmission to the Cybercarrier. Introducing himself to Ashad, the Master invited him to come through the Boundary to the horror of the Doctor. The Master revealed to the Lone Cyberman that the Boundary connected to Gallifrey and that the Time Lords were dead because the Master had wiped them out. The Master sent the navigation patterns to the Cybercarrier and invited Ashad to do what his predecessors had fantasized about: land his ship in the ruins of Gallifrey. The Master instructed Ashad to send a death squadron to kill the three humans left on the Planet of the Boundary, believing them to be weak and easy to kill. Once the Master cut the transmission, Ashad ordered the Cyberguards to send three execution units to the surface and to set course for Gallifrey. The execution units began tranmatting to the surface, observed by a hidden Yedlarmi. Spotting their arrival, Ryan, Ko Sharmus and Ethan prepared for battle.

On the ship, Yedlarmi and Ravio managed to prepare the Cyberarmor, but the ship's sensors detected the malfunction that it caused. With surveillance of the location unavailable, Ashad recognised that the humans were responsible and decided to deal with it himself rather than sending in a unit. The humans managed to enter the Cyberarmor and hid in the chambers of the Cyber-Warriors that it had belonged to before Ashad could reach their location and pretended to be the still-deactivated units. Despite the Lone Cybermen checking their chambers, the humans managed to fool him long enough for Ashad to be called away by a report that the Cybercarrier was on optimal approach for the Boundary which was reopening. The group then managed to escape from the ship just before it passed through the Boundary to Gallifrey. Upon arrival, the Cybermen parked the carrier over the ruined Citadel on Gallifrey. (TV: The Timeless Children)

Hunting the human survivors
On the Planet of the Boundary, with the Boundary closed again and the humans cut off from escape, the execution units began hunting for them. The initial wave fell for the old bio-dampener human signal decoy trick and several were felled by sentry guns. However, the other Cybermen quickly destroyed the guns much to the dismay of Ko Sharmus who had thought that they'd last longer. Spotting him, the Cybermen opened fire on the old man who fled with the Cybermen following him. Ko Sharmus signaled Ryan who tossed his bomb into the midst of the marching Cybermen, blowing them up. As Ryan celebrated his victory, more Cybermen appeared on the ridge behind him and Ko Sharmus ordered everyone inside immediately.

Racing into the settlement, Ethan noted that it was like a maze which Ko Sharmus admitted was how he'd designed it in case of such an eventuality. Ko Sharmus armed himself, Ethan and Ryan with rifles and ordered them to hide well, take what shots they could and to kill the Cybermen before the Cybermen could kill them. Playing a game of cat-and-mouse with the Cybermen through the passages, Ko Sharmus and Ryan managed to take out a couple, but Ethan was captured. Connecting to the humans' comm system, the Cybermen demanded that Ko Sharmus and Ryan surrender or they would execute Ethan. As the two desperately attempted to reach Ethan in time and surrender, the Cybermen reached the end of the countdown and shots were fired. When Ko Sharmus and Ryan arrived, they found the three Cybermen that had been holding Ethan captive dead and four more Cybermen responsible. The four then revealed themselves to be the disguised Yaz, Graham, Yedlarmi and Ravio who had managed to arrive just in time to save Ethan's life. (TV: The Timeless Children)

Alliance with the Master
In the Citadel, Ashad met with who congratulated the Lone Cyberman for achieving something that no other Cyberman ever had. The Master offered Gallifrey to Ashad as a gift and claimed to have witnessed the atrocities perpetrated upon the Cybermen during the Great Cyber War and as such wanted to help put that right. Ashad revealed that the new Cyber Army's single goal was going to be the destruction of organic life and showed the Master the death particle in his chest that, when activated, was capable of destroying all organic life. Ashad explained that the Cyberium had created it through him and the Master recognised that the Lone Cyberman was the host for all of the Cyber knowledge and strategy.

The Master pointed out that the Cybermen were part-organic, Ashad more than most, but Ashad stated that his new Cyber-Warriors were purged of all organic components. The Cybermen were rising towards full automation driven by the intelligence of the Cyberium. When that work was done, Ashad intended to join his warriors and make the ascension to full mechanization. The Master was less than pleased that Ashad's plan was to make the Cybermen fully robotic, but Ashad declared that they would be dominant. The Master questioned the strategy, calling it good, but not great. The Master pointed out the number of robots in the universe and that any idiot could make themselves into one, causing Ashad to grab him by the throat.

Undeterred, the Master promised that if Ashad wanted to become the dominant force in the universe, he could facilitate it. Released by Ashad, the Master questioned how fast the conversion processors were on the Cybercarrier and was pleased to learn that they had been restored to optimum efficiency. The Master told Ashad that although he had burned the Citadel, he was "a bit of a hoarder" and left his consciousness to deal with the Doctor as the Master showed the Lone Cyberman what he had meant.

Taken aboard the Cybercarrier, the Master was pleased with the ship's conversion chambers, a whole Cybercarrier worth of them. The Master questioned what Ashad planned to do next and he stated that the Cyberium would process and dictate the strategy. Having heard a lot about the Cyberium over the millennia, the Master expressed interest in it as it was the heart of all the Cybermen's power and the center of all their knowledge. The Master attempted to draw the Cyberium out of Ashad, but was informed that it would not leave the Lone Cyberman while he was still alive. In response, the Master shrunk Ashad with his Tissue Compression Eliminator, killing him and releasing the Cyberium from his body. The Master expressed disappointment that Ashad's compression didn't activate the death particle and end everything. Having absorbed all of the knowledge from the Matrix, the Master convinced the Cyberium to take him as a host, believing that the combination of all Time Lord and Cyber knowledge would allow him to achieve absolute supremecy in the universe.

After showing the Doctor her true past as the Timeless Child, the Master revealed that after he killed all of the Time Lords on Gallifrey, he had kept the bodies just in case they became useful in the future. To the Doctor's shock and horror, the Master revealed that he'd used the conversion chambers onboard the Cybercarrier to create an army of CyberMasters: an invincible race of regenerating Cybermen that would make the perfect army for him. The Master then tested it out by having one CyberMaster kill another who subsequently regenerated. The Master then trapped the Doctor back in the Matrix before leaving with his new army. (TV: The Timeless Children)