timespresident: (lady president)
Romanadvoratrelundar ([personal profile] timespresident) wrote in [community profile] axis_access2014-05-22 08:58 am
Entry tags:
NSFW

I doubt if any of us truly understands what we're about to do. What we may be starting.

Who: Romana and Narvin.
What: So that thing Narvin did at the end of S6? Yeah. That. There are consequences.
Where: Romana's chambers in the Capitol.
When: Some time after the end of S6, in the early days of the Time War.

In the wake of the Matrix affair and the Dalek invasion attempt, Romana had expected that noxious species to retreat to its bolt-holes and stay out of Gallifrey's way. And they did, for a time. For a while, there was nothing from them. A little later, certain far-flung Gallifreyan research outposts reported signs of Dalek scout ships, but there were no overt attacks. They merely seemed to be ... watching.

Things came to a head quite abruptly. In the span of a week, the Monan Host, the Unvoss, and the Virgoans cut off diplomatic ties with Gallifrey. The others became strangely distant. Romana and the High Council were driving themselves half-mad trying to determine the source of the sudden political chill and repairing the damage when she received a confidential transmission from a Nekkistani ambassador—who, he made very clear, was acting outside the remit of his government.

"The Daleks said what?"

"Just so, Madam President. That Gallifrey has acted with unprecedented aggression, contravening its own temporal laws and the treaties signed by the Temporal Powers, attempting to snuff them out at their source."

"But that's—I never signed off on anything of the kind!"

"I am sure you didn't, Madam President. I, at least, have that much faith in you. Hence my desire to warn y—"

The transmission was abruptly cut off in a shriek of static, and minutes later, a terrified-looking CIA officer came running into Narvin's office with the first words of a Dalek attack on a Gallifreyan research outpost that was not-so-secretly run by the CIA—burned to the ground, all hands dead. At the same time, an administrator came running to tell Romana that Dalek fleets were massing in the quadrant around Skaro.

So it began.

timesbureaucrat: (worried)

[personal profile] timesbureaucrat 2014-05-23 02:07 am (UTC)(link)
Narvin had been oddly subdued in the weeks after the attempted Dalek invasion of the Matrix. He'd gotten on with his job and hardly argued with Romana at all over matters of governance.

If he kept down, kept quiet, he thought, perhaps it would all blow over, his rash mistake erased by other concerns. The mission had failed anyway; the Doctor hadn't eliminated the Daleks, history carried on much as it had before, so what was the harm done really?

Then the Temporal Powers began to cut off diplomatic ties to Gallifrey. But, Narvin reasoned, there could be any number of reasons for that. The alliances had always been tenuous, perhaps the High Monan had convinced the others that Gallifrey was simply too politically unstable to maintain treaties with, having gone through four presidents in short succession. He put his misgivings aside and carried on.

When word of the attack on a CIA outpost came, Narvin's first thought was merely to regret that his plan hadn't succeeded. His second was that he had to inform Romana of the attack immediately.

He ran from his headquarters to the presidential office and burst in without even pausing to knock.

"Romana, there's been an assault. The Daleks have taken Outpost 48 Gamma."
timesbureaucrat: (night)

[personal profile] timesbureaucrat 2014-05-24 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
A chill crawled down Narvin's spine. He pressed a few buttons on the holomap to view the situation around Skaro from various angles. It looked awful from every direction.

"The Daleks have never risked an open assault on Gallifrey's territory before, it's always been infiltration and ambushes and strike teams with them. Do we know what's caused them to change their pattern?"
timesbureaucrat: (contrite)

[personal profile] timesbureaucrat 2014-05-24 07:24 am (UTC)(link)
A heavy, sinking feeling settled into his stomach and stayed there, like he'd just swallowed a staser energy pack.

"Ah."

He's tempted, extremely tempted to just leave it at that, act confused, confession nothing. Lie. It's what the CIA does.

But Gallifrey's safety was at stake, and if his actions had provoked this he needed to undo the damage. And do to that, Romana needed to know.

"I...ah...might have some information on that."
timesbureaucrat: (CIA)

[personal profile] timesbureaucrat 2014-05-24 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," he muttered under his breath. Then he stood up straighter, his hands clasped behind his back.

"I ordered a secret temporal strike against the Daleks some months ago. I had a messenger contact the Doctor in one of his earlier incarnations and command him to go to Skaro and prevent the Dalek's creation."

It was all said with a flat, even tone, but he couldn't maintain the facade of calm. He'd broken the nonintervention laws and laws of time in one fell swoop and ultimately to no purpose, no purpose at all.

"I thought you were--!" He broke off that sentence before he finished it. No, no excuses. He swallowed once and tried to hold the mask of Time Lord dignity in place.

"The mission failed, obviously."
timesbureaucrat: (closed eyes)

[personal profile] timesbureaucrat 2014-05-25 01:02 am (UTC)(link)
"You have to admit, if it had worked it would have solved a great number of problems."

If it had worked. It was an unfortunate phrase in these circumstances. Narvin can't regret the attempt itself, only that it had failed. He sighed softly and his hands were clenched tightly behind his back, out of view.

"You know what you have to do. I broke the law. Extradite me to Skaro. Perhaps the gesture of goodwill will appease them, and restore support from the Temporal Powers."
Edited (fixed redundancy) 2014-05-25 01:02 (UTC)
timesbureaucrat: (regret)

[personal profile] timesbureaucrat 2014-05-30 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
Narvin's lips thinned.

"What they do to me doesn't matter. Gallifrey is more important than I am. I can't say I'm happy with this solution, far from it. I'm terrified. But I don't see any other way to fix this."

A sigh deflated his attempts to stand talk and at attention. His shoulders slumped and his hands unclasped from behind his back to free his arms to cross his chest instead.

"Romana, you have a duty as president." He wanted to add "if our positions were reversed, I wouldn't hesitate" but the words stuck in his throat, too big a lie to make it past his windpipe. But that's one reason why he never wanted to be president; someone other than him got to be responsible for the hardest decisions.
timesbureaucrat: (contrite)

[personal profile] timesbureaucrat 2014-06-04 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
"Fortunately for everyone, I don't need to make those sorts of decisions." He evaded the question and Romana's eyes, his gaze drifting instead to a spot just over her right shoulder. "But you know that I would do whatever must be done for the good of Gallifrey."

And if that meant handing himself over to the Dalek parliament for trial, so be it. He wasn't just avoiding telling the truth, he was, in an indirect way, giving her his permission to throw him under the proverbial ground transport.
timesbureaucrat: (it was't supposed to do that)

[personal profile] timesbureaucrat 2014-06-05 06:05 pm (UTC)(link)
"Me? Turn renegade? Rassilon's ghost, I'm the head of the CIA!" Which, on a practical level, actually made Romana's proposed plan easier. He had access to all the codes to delist any TARDIS from the registry. He knew CIA protocol for tracking renegades and knew how to avert them. But on an ideological level, becoming a renegade was antithesis to everything he stood for.

And he would never see Gallifrey again.

"Romana, I...can't. I'm not like you. I never had a wild and dissolute youth." Narvin generally made a point of not thinking too much about what his president had been doing as a renegade, but when he did he imagined that it was wild and dissolute, because he imagined the Doctor was wild and dissolute.

"I wouldn't know what to do with myself as a renegade." His voice was quiet, lost. Without his work, he didn't know what he would be, what use he was.
timesbureaucrat: (emotionless)

[personal profile] timesbureaucrat 2014-06-07 06:42 am (UTC)(link)
Appealing to Narvin's pride focused his thoughts and banished the uncertainty. If the Doctor managed to be a successful renegade, surely Narvin, with his top grades at the Academy and his years of CIA experience should be able to manage it.

He scoffed. "I should hope so." And her words opened up possibilities for him. He could still serve Gallifrey from afar, consider it akin to a long term deep undercover assignment. He could explore possible threats, possible alliances and quietly send the information on to the right people. But there was still one concern.

"Will it be enough to appease the Daleks--in as much as Daleks are ever appeased--and secure again the support of the Temporal Powers?"
timesbureaucrat: (half smile)

[personal profile] timesbureaucrat 2014-06-25 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
"Just make sure whoever you send after me is someone incompetent. I'll give you a list." He knew his operatives well, both the ones he'd trust with important missions...and the ones who barely managed to put their uniforms on straight. Evading the latter would be simple as breathing.

"As for disavowing me, our rather tumultuous history should come in handy. It shouldn't take too much effort to make people believe that you vehemently oppose everything I stand for. Why, it's practically true."
timesbureaucrat: (half smile)

[personal profile] timesbureaucrat 2014-07-04 06:27 pm (UTC)(link)
"All our arguments, just habit then? Or hobby." Narvin admitted to himself at least that for his part it was a bit of both. That and a belief that a President should be challenged once in a while--or often--so they not become complacent.
timesbureaucrat: (focused stare)

[personal profile] timesbureaucrat 2014-07-10 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh good, I'd hate to think that I changed so much that I've become a bleeding hearts liberal idealist like you." But a hint of a smile twitched briefly at his lips. Then his face grew solemn and his gaze unblinking.

"But despite that, I believe that you're the best president Gallifrey has had in a very long time. I tried to alter history because I thought I needed to save you. Because Gallifrey needs you. Since I won't..." He paused for a moment. Swallowed. It was still hard to imagine that he was going to leave his planet, possibly forever. "...won't be around anymore to watch your back, be careful. Keep Leela close. Don't let Matthias or Valyes or any of the others push you from office."
timesbureaucrat: (rly?)

[personal profile] timesbureaucrat 2014-07-13 12:51 am (UTC)(link)
Narvin was about to tell her (insist even) that she answer the communicator call. It could be important. But then Romana continued speaking and Narvin just froze and stared, his mouth still half-open. His brows creased together at the top of his nose as if she'd suddenly starting speaking Jadoon.

There was a long pause.

"I wasn't expecting that."

He should probably say something else. Oh yes.

"But...ah...thank you."

timesbureaucrat: (huh?)

[personal profile] timesbureaucrat 2014-07-16 05:21 am (UTC)(link)
"You mean that these days when I go behind your back at least it isn't with intent to stab you from behind." Not that having good intentions led him to fare much better than his bad intentions had. But unlike his conspiracy with Darkel, perhaps this time, if they're lucky, war might be avoided.

He wondered if he should say that he'd miss them, Romana and Leela. No, far too maudlin.

"Do I get to choose which TARDIS I take into exile with me?"
timesbureaucrat: (contemplative)

[personal profile] timesbureaucrat 2014-08-11 10:37 pm (UTC)(link)
"Of course."

His shoes shuffled on the floor as he shifted his weight.

"How much time do I have?" He said the words flatly. It was still difficult to process that soon he'd be a criminal on the run. He wondered if he should say his farewells to Leela, or leave it to Romana to explain to her what happened.
timesbureaucrat: (CIA)

[personal profile] timesbureaucrat 2014-08-14 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
Narvin calculated in his head, his eyes shifted back and forth as if reading an invisible list. Essentials to gather, TARDIS to acquire, and then he needed to vanish from the tracking grid and put enough space between himself and Gallifrey's defenses so that the planetary scanners couldn't pick him up. Fortunately, he knew all the ins and outs of Gallifrey's security, and had access to all the codes. Three spans...he nodded once to himself.

"Enough to make it work."
timesbureaucrat: (CIA)

[personal profile] timesbureaucrat 2014-08-15 05:00 am (UTC)(link)
He took her hand and gave a formal bow over it. In the back of his mind, the nanospans began ticking down.

"Madam President."
timesbureaucrat: (sinister green)

[personal profile] timesbureaucrat 2014-08-17 10:13 am (UTC)(link)
The hug--even a brief and aloof hug--took Narvin by surprise. It was there and gone again before he could even begin to process it and it left him with a slight, confused furrow in his brow, like he'd been given an equation that he couldn't puzzle out.

He nodded once at Romana's command, hesitated for a nanospan more, wanting to say something deep and poignant in farewell, but nothing came to mind. It was never one of his strengths; Braxiatel was better at that sort of thing.

So he held his silence, turned and hurried out, the mental clock still ticking down, ticktockticktock.