(MAIN RANGE): Seaside

 

(MAIN RANGE): Seaside 

A rewritten thing, because the original files are lost to time 

Featuring Tracy Ann Oberman as Yvonne Hartman and Tricia Janine Helfer as The Master

2005

Yvonne was relaxing on the beach, sipping her cocktail, as the breeze gently flowed through her hair.

She was a newcomer here, to the Lighthouse. A high class resort, for secret operatives like herself. It was a favorite of UNIT, MI6, Counter-Measures, and many other organizations, because above all of the ostentaciousness, it was in fact, extremely discreet. 

It was efficient. 

Yvonne liked that.

The Lighthouse was named for it's titular lighthouse, which in fact, was the least impressive thing about it. The private mansion, the bar, the yacht, the beach, all of them dwarfed the small decrepit lighthouse for which the resort was named. It seemed to Yvonne to have been abandoned for many years. 

Yvonne leaned back in her chair, struggling not to think of work. She was extremely efficient, that way, and she allotted carefully the time she was allowed to relax. 

It helped that being high strung so much of the time, made it easy to fall into relaxation. Anything would be relaxation in comparison to Torchwood. 

Then she heard the splashing in the distance, there was yelling, and...was that gunfire? Yvonne got up, out of her chair, and wrapped her towel around her. 

The woman came splashing out of the water, dragging herself onto the land with considerable effort. She was a blonde woman, drenched by the sea, kelp sticking out of her hair. Her beach dress was similar to Yvonne's, but torn and ragged from her journey through the water. She huffed for breath. 
Yvonne helped her to her chair. "Are you alright?" She asked. 

The woman coughed, collapsing into Yvonne's chair. "They'll be looking for me any time now." She said. 

"Who?"

"The resort staff, who else? You get a resort full of secret agents, you need secret agents for the guards to keep everything in line too." She coughed. "Hold on. I recognize you. You're the other blonde woman in charge of an secret alien fighting organization."

"Please don't mention Kate Stewart to me." Yvonne snapped. "I'm on vacation."

"Well, I'm afraid it's about to come to a close." The woman said. "You see, I am the Master. And not to be commandeering, but I think you're going to do exactly what I say..."

Yvonne sighed. She was right. There goes her vacation...

The Master leaned back and gasped for breath. "Oh, and before you think of trying to eliminate me in my debilitated state, know it will do you no good. I hold on my person many discreet forms of weaponry that I could quite easily hit you with before you struck the blow."

"Why would I kill you?" Yvonne said, bluffing.

"Oh, come on now, I know exactly what the Torchwood protocol is on that kind of thing. And you know, I can make this whole thing worth your while."

"Mm? Why should I piss off the security of the best resort in the world?" 

"Because there's an alien behemoth under the lighthouse." The Master grinned. Yvonne paused. The Master could be playing her. She knew that an "alien behemoth" was higher on Torchwood's to handle list than the Master. After all, it was a much easier problem to consider, and probably more world damaging in the long run. 

The Master smiled. "Now I've gotten your attention, Ms. Hartman, I need my energy back. Let's go have a snack, shall we?" The Master struggled to her feet, but seemed capable of walking as she moved on. 

"A snack?" 

"I'm positively famished."

Later...

Yvonne and The Master made their way to the bar, a tiki hut sort of place with tables for food. 

 

The Master sat at the bar, and twiddled for the bartender. 

The Bartender came up to her. "Hello, Miss. Haven't seen you here, recently."

"She's with me." Said Yvonne. 

"Name's Adele." The Master said, in a sort of deadpan. "Now, I'd like some food. Positively Lots. And a drink too. No charge." 

Yvonne looked at The Master, mildly irritated. "I can pay." She said.

"No, the bartender's going to." The Master said.

"Mm? Why's that?" The Bartender asked, laughing. 

"Because I am The Master...And You...Will Obey Me." The Master said, laughingly. "Empty your cash register, and transfer it to a Mister Harold Saxon's bank account, I'm certain past me will appreciate it. Then bash your head into the counter until you fall unconscious." The Bartender's hands shook as he did what he asked, and he rendered himself unconscious. 

Yvonne and The Master sat down at one of the tables. 

"That was unnecessary." Yvonne said, uncomfortably.

"Oh, but you don't understand. I needed to do that." The Master said. "It factors into what our plan is, next. And it was fun." 

"You didn't need to do that. It was unnecessary, especially since you've left more evidence for these guards you're so afraid of to find."

"But of course. We need them to sweat." The Master said, eating a french fry. 

"We need to be efficient." Yvonne stated. 

"Oh, you say efficiency, but I know what humans are like. You're all squeamish of blood. I do what is necessary." The Master said darkly.

"I'm not scared of blood." Yvonne said, calmly, without a flinch. "I've killed plenty of people in my career."

"Ah, but you avoid it."

"I do what gets the job done. True efficiency. Not wanton slaughter."  Yvonne responded.

"You know, I may end up liking you, Ms. Hartman." The Master said. 

"...Why does it matter if you like me. I don't know much about this behemoth, nor if it really exists. You could be pulling my strings." Yvonne said.  "How long is this going to last? I know you're going to betray me as soon as I'm no longer useful to you. You'll shove me into the gutter as soon as I can't be used for your own ends, and you'll run off into the sunset to do the same thing to many other gullible people."

"Yes!" The Master said, laughing. "I just haven't decided whether I'm going to kill you yet." 

Yvonne sat there in silence. 

"You know, public restaurants always amuse me. They give out so many free knives!" The Master said, taking a paper bag from behind the counter and stuffing it with plastic knives. "One wonders why people are surprised when murders are committed." 

"You're trying to distract me. I know what I am to people like you." 

The Master smiled, looking at Yvonne. "I'm glad we understand each other." She whispered. 

Later...

The Master and Yvonne, shopping bag filled with knives, made their way across the beach to Yvonne's old chair.

"I'm surprised we haven't gotten any attention yet." Yvonne muttered, looking around. 

"Well, it shouldn't be long. If anything, that's what the restaurant trip was for." 

"You've been trying to get their attention?!?" Yvonne snapped. 

"Of course. After they kicked me out of the Lighthouse, I realized the only way back into the secret lair under it is to be taken there as prisoners. All part of the plan." 

"How'd you get into the lighthouse in the first place?" 

"...I dematerialized my TARDIS into the behemoth's gullet." 

"What exactly is this thing we're up against?" 

Guards in heavy military gear raised themselves out of their cover. Yvonne hadn't even noticed them. She reached into her dress and pulled out a pistol, making aim at all of them. 

"Lower your gun. We're trying to get in, remember?" The Master whispered. 

The guards surrounded them.

"Take me to your leader." The Master laughed. 

Yvonne was astonished, as they were led into the entrance to the lighthouse, which in fact, she noticed up close, was not decrepit, but a facade for an elevator, which took them down into a massive facility.

"Who could be responsible for something like this?" Yvonne asked. 

"I don't know her personally, but ever since the Doctor destroyed her plans, she's been making her rounds through the galaxy as a Business Woman." The Master said. "You'll know her when you see her."

The Soldiers escorted the two of them into the base, which Yvonne could hardly concieve of. It was like a gigantic shaft, sort of like an opening into the underworld, a giant metal circular excavation like area, surrounding a inner circle of dozens of miles wide, where in lied a gigantic beast.

"And this is our goal. The last of the Galeen, the great and powerful Star Whale." The Master said, gesturing towards the beast. "Hell of a behemoth, huh?" 

"Pity neither of you are going to have her." Said a woman, from behind them. She walked closer, a sort of strange short blondehaired woman. She looked unnaturally pretty, as if made in some sort of laboratory like a boiled sweet, that was then dolled up like a disney princess. Firmly in the uncanny valley. 

"I'm Cicily, and I'm in charge of the lighthouse project." She said, laughing. "Any questions?" 

The Master and Yvonne stood there, surrounded by many of the guards. 

"Tell me you have a plan?" Yvonne whispered. "Or something more offensively capable than a bag of plastic knives?" 

"You said any questions." Yvonne yelled. "I have one. Why is all of this stuff's cover story a resort for secret agents?"

"Come now. When a secret agent goes on vacation, they're very unlikely to investigate." Cicily laughed. "Not to mention they'll make very good patsies if all of this goes belly-up. My turn. I read about you in the guest files, A Ms. Yvonne Hartman. Tell me, what exactly are you doing with The Master?"

"Well, we're trying to take your star whale."

"Take? No, my dear, The Master, she wants to kill it to get her TARDIS out of it's throat." Cicily mocked. "Oops? Now it sounds to me like your two goals are rather contradictory. Torchwood wants to keep it alive, I should think?" 

Yvonne gritted her teeth. "What do you want with it?"

"Oh, a little of both. Star Whales are self regenerating. A perfect source of meat, actually." Cicily said. "It's why the species has been whaled to near extinction. But I'm certain I can get quite a bit more out of it than those idiots in Cardiff..."

Cicily moved over to the Master. "I've been wanting to meet you for quite some time. I'd ask what you think of the new body, I built it from scratch, but I don't think you've exactly seen the old one!" 

The Master turned to Yvonne and nodded. 

Yvonne swung the pointy end of the bag of plastic knives into a guards' face and as he yelled in pain, she swiftly grabbed his gun. 

The Master calmly took a staser out of a fold in her beach dress and shot two more of the guards. 

"WHY DIDN'T YOU CONFISCATE THAT?!" Cicily yelled. "SHOOT THEM! SHOOT THEM NOW!!" 

The guards yelled, and charged, but Yvonne and The Master dispatched them in an overdramatic really well choreographed fight scene. 

Cicily attempted to rush ahead, but Yvonne grabbed her, and took her real personal knife out of her pocket and held it to her throat, and pressed.

Cicily's metal skin repelled the blade. "New android body. Aren't you paying attention?" Cicily growled. "I do so hate having to get physical like this. Look what you're doing to my carbon fiber!" 

The Master shot Cicily, and she collapsed. 

Yvonne and The Master stood there, glaring, knife and gun in hand. 

"Well, like she said, our goals don't exactly align." The Master said, waving her hand. "But you, you will do what I say. I...Am The Master...And You Will Obey Me!" Her voice echoed with hypnotic force.

"That may be true," Yvonne said, glaring at the Master... "But Torchwood Operatives are trained against hypnosis." Yvonne swung, and The Master's gun fell out of her hand.

The Master attempted to swing back, but her knee buckled from the combat they had endured, and the crawling through the sea from earlier. Yvonne saw the weakness, and struck, stabbing The Master's damaged knee with her blade. The Master, slammed into the floor, fell into unconciousness.

Yvonne realized how lucky she had just been. Any other day, and she would have been killed by The Master. Lucky for that knee. 

She picked up her cell, turning away. "Ianto. Ianto Jones." She said into the speaker. "I have two bodies and a star whale for Torchwood to pick up." 

Behind her, the Master slowly stood up, taking the knife out of her knee. The Master shuffled forward, a psychopathic look on her face.

"Set the containment cells for a time lord, and an android synthetic." She gasped for breath. She turned around, and The Master was gone. "Ianto. I, um. Belay that. Just the Synthetic. What? No." Gone. The Master was gone.

The Master had escaped, and had the opportunity to take her revenge, but had not. Yvonne smirked. 

She had just...for some reason, been given a victory she didn't deserve. 

The Master made her way into the hallways and made her way out of the lighthouse. Fine. She liked that woman, whoever she was. She was going to have a hard enough time at Canary Wharf. 

The Master limped out into the open beach of the Lighthouse resort, now free of Cicily's bureaucratic plot. 

She hoped she'd see Yvonne again sometime. 

Yes...That was something to hope for. 

Let her have her victory for now. The Master would always triumph another day. 

Now...to find a way off this planet...

Later...

Cicily sat in her Torchwood cell, her plot having failed. She had failed, and the star whale had gone free. Ah, she'd escape. The Master, Yvonne Hartman, Torchwood, they would all pay. The Doctor too, while she was at it. But for now, Cicily had a strange feeling. Like as if what had happened was right. 

That whatever that creature was going towards, it was a good thing.

She had heard whisperings from her cell, about some kind of space project the whale was to be included on. And it seemed right...She had the feeling, thousands of years from now...it would be right...

And Cicily was right. Thousands of years in the future, the Star Whale had a purpose again. 

Thousands of years later, the Starship UK floated through space...fully dependent on it's beast below...

The End

This Story (Hypothetically) Starred

Tracy Ann Oberman as Yvonne Hartman

Tricia Janine Helfer as The Master

Dove Cameron as Cicily 

Fintan Mckeown as The Bartender