Veritas

== Origin ==
Veritas was the model student back on Gallifrey. After she was forced into the Prydonian Academy at the age of eight, she abandoned her old family life and fully devoted herself to her studies. Veritas had very little friends, beyond her meticulous notes and textbooks. However, she was always on good terms with many of her professors, but there’s one that she despised, though that’s not important now. One of Veritas’ only friends was one of the guards protecting the school. His name was Rhylus. Even though Rhylus was just a guard, he was rather intelligent, and often helped Veritas with her studies when the two had a moment. Though the two got on remarkably well, Rhylus was promoted to Castellan, and Veritas didn’t see him again for quite some time...
One day, only a few years later on in her life, around her 20th birthday, she started to think about life beyond school. She had no idea what she’d do after graduating, maybe she’d work with the TARDISes? She hadn’t thought of that before... And so, in pursuit of knowledge, the very next day, Veritas slipped away from the Academy and down to the TARDIS repair bays. 
The TARDIS repair bay was dark, and some humans might even go so far as to call it “steampunk” to describe all of the odd piping and tools that were scattered everywhere. There were so many old, broken, TARDISes. They almost seemed to mourn aloud, like creatures in so much pain, that they were relishing the thought of death. Veritas looked around for an intern, or a mechanic, or-- someone. She had so many questions. Not a soul was around though. Both disappointed, and lucky, Veritas walked through the halls of broken TARDISes. They all seemed to be silently suffering, but one, in particular, called to her. It was so unusual, so new, but so old-- something that seemed to make sense in her head. The red telephone booth was crushed, wood splintering, paint peeling, and the glass shattered. So broken Veritas could see right into the console room. It called to her, but then, there was that noise, the mournful cries of a Time Lady. Veritas looked all around her but saw that it was coming from the telephone booth. Something about the noise pulled on her hearts, and with a cautious look towards the other TARDISes, approached it. 
“Hello TARDIS!” She cheerfully called. 
No reply, but it was almost as if it was looking at her, though it’s broken glass, something still called to her, inviting her inside. And go inside she did. The console was in pieces, literally. Several sections of the console weren’t even attached anymore. The orange and cream spirals on the ceiling were indistinguishable from the gouges in the metal. And then, there was the worst of it all. The Time Rotor, shattered, and it’s components lying on the floor. The sobbing still rang in Veritas’ young ears. But then, she noticed something-- or more like-- someone. A Time Lady sat hunched over at the base of the console. She had short brown hair, pale skin, she wore full Gallifreyan battle armour, and seemed to be glowing... She had her hands over her eyes and was crying. Veritas, still a mere child, did the only thing she knew to do. She walked over to the Time Lady and sat down next to her. The Time Lady stopped crying for a moment and looked over to Veritas. Her face was red, and her eyes were glowing orange. Veritas wondered for a moment if she had just regenerated. 
“Child, do not bother yourself with a widow. Go see the other TARDISes. I am destined to die. Just look at me. I’m a living wreck-- and by no means worth your time. Please, spare yourself my suffering, go, find a TARDIS worthy of Gallifrey’s honour.” The woman sniffed and looked as if she wanted to go back to crying. 
“TARDIS, tell me, why should I not pick you? You called to me. I can feel it. And I know I can help you. So, please, TARDIS, let me stay. I only want to be with you.” 
The TARDIS perked her head back up and seemed to truly look at Veritas for the first time. 
“You have no idea what you’re getting into. I have seen things, been through so much, lost so very much... I don’t want to burden another soul with it-- I should die with it.” 
Veritas smiled, and moved closer to the TARDIS, leaning up against her. 
“Please, TARDIS, tell me of what you’ve been through. I want to know what’s beyond these walls.” The TARDIS surprised to find herself still with another being. Wrapped her arms around Veritas, and brushed the broken glass away from where she sat. Then, for the first time, the TARDIS smiled. 
“If you insist on staying, Veritas, then I must insist on you calling me by my name.” 
Veritas looked up, surprised that the TARDIS now knew her name. 
“What is your name? I’d be delighted to call you by it.” 
The TARDIS cleared her throat, she looked over at Veritas, still smiling somehow. 
“Call me Iota”
Veritas smiled, the name somehow calming her and the TARDIS. She grasped Iota and felt the warmth of her beating hearts warm her. They knew that in the other, all of their concerns were suddenly vanishing. Outside, the sound of mourning was replaced with that of chatter and laughter, but only the occasional tear.
Over the course of the next one hundred years. Iota and Veritas visited as often as Veritas’ studies would allow. The two worked very hard on trying to repair Iota, but a regeneration seemed to become more and more likely. They tried not to think about it, since if a regeneration would help Iota get out of the repair bay, then the two would never see each other again. It hurt Iota. But she knew that Veritas’ visits were more than worth it. And whenever she could, Veritas would try and repair the odd component, just to make her life that bit more pleasant. 
As Veritas grew up, hitting her 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, Iota also matured and changed. She knew that as part of her life with Iota, she had to let go of the past.
One day, Veritas was working on repairing some of the computer wires with a tool she ‘borrowed’ from the floor outside. Iota was piecing together the console, and singing quietly to herself. 
“Iota, you mentioned, in our first meeting, that you lost your first pilot. What happened to them?” 
Iota put her tool down. She was silent for some moments, then resumed her work. 
“Omnicron was his name. He and I were paired together as part of the war effort.” She paused again, then plugged in some wires, and the console lit up with beautiful lights. “I loved him.” 
Veritas realized that she had hit a nerve. She was hesitant to continue, but she knew it was good for Iota to talk about it. 
“How did he die?” 
“Omnicron died in this very room. We were in the middle of a Dalek assault under the watchful eye of Commander Preeda. But everything went wrong. My crew-- Isha, Flavia, Sandar Rundgar, Benny, Pressius, Greydred, and Rullpax. They-- a lot of them died. Benny, Greydred, Sandar. Not much older than 100. Just kids. They all sacrificed themselves in the name of Gallifrey. The rest I teleported to another TARDIS under Omnicron’s orders. I was then shot several times by a Dalek saucer, and I almost bloomed. But the life support failed, and Omnicron died. He gave me my name, Iota, in his last moments of life... I tried to tell him that I loved him, but I was choked back by my automated warnings that the life support had failed and that I was going to crash. I managed to dematerialize shortly after his death, but I miscalculated and ended up crashing on Gallifrey not too far from the Capitol. Everything shattered, and then, I had to deal with Omnicron’s body... He never regenerated. I still don’t know why to this day. Maybe he had just had enough of the war. Maybe he was content to die.” 
Veritas was speechless. She nor Iota said anything for the rest of that day.
Eventually, Veritas neared the end of her studies on Gallifrey. She had just hit the age of 125, and her graduation from the Academy was the very next day. She would choose a TARDIS and then start her life in the many cities of Gallifrey. However, as she lay in her bed that night. She realized two things, and she made one decision. And from that moment on, her future changed forever.
The next day, while all of Gallifrey’s eyes were on the graduating students of the Academy. Veritas made her way down to the TARDIS repair bays, one last time. She rushed down the hall, running with all of her might, she quickly ran around, looking for her mystical red telephone booth. However, someone was following her. Veritas looked to her left, and there it was, but different. Iota’s red telephone booth exterior-- but brand new. It seemed brighter, fresher, and the windows were repaired for the first time since she had met Iota. It called to her more than ever. She hastily ran over to it and knocked eagerly on the door. It creaked open, and Iota poked her head out. She smiled, and Veritas smiled back. 
“I’ve been expecting you.” 
Iota offered her hand to Veritas, and together they walked inside. As the door closed, Rhylus ran to the telephone booth, and demanded entry, though, Iota rigged the TARDIS so Veritas couldn’t hear him. The two wouldn’t meet for a long time yet... Iota’s console room was as good as new. All the lights were on, and the sliver walls sparkled, complimented by the streaks of gold and bronze that adorned it. Iota turned around to face Veritas, and back up towards the sparkling console, arms outstretched. 
“What do you think?” 
Veritas’ eye was wide, she smiled like a kid again. Iota had regenerated. And this meant only one thing. 
“You want to run away, don’t you? You’ve seen what Gallifrey has to offer, and you have shunned it. But why? I’ve looked into your mind as you have looked into mine throughout our visits. But I can still not determine why.” 
Iota put her hands down, and neatly held them behind her back. Veritas blushed, then tried her best to not let her gaze sink to the floor. 
“I-- I-- Do you remember, how you were telling me about Omnicron?” 
Iota nodded. “A good man, and an excellent pilot. I will remember him always.” 
“Well, Iota, the thing is. Like Omnicron, I see the beauty in you. To me, to think that Gallifrey has trapped you here for two hundred years, it makes me sad. And for me, as a Time Lady, what do I have here on Gallifrey? I want to see the universe. But I’ll only see it if you, the widower, would make yourself whole once more. And allow me the honour of being your pilot-- no, your companion.”
Veritas, more nervous now than ever before in her life, waited, as she stared into Iota’s brown eyes. It was like an eternity, just-- waiting. The second ticked by like whole lifetimes. Iota smiled, flipped a lever on the console. The Time Rotor roared to life for the first time since Omnicron’s death. And as she stood in front of it all, the TARDIS known as Iota, smiled, but not for a fleeting moment of happiness, but her resurrection. She gazed at Veritas with eyes that only creamed for adventure. 
“Where to, Veritas, pilot of Complement Iota?”
In the old TARDIS repair bay, something made new again, dematerialized. Never to be seen again, for a very, very long time. Castellan Rhylus backed away from where the TARDIS had been. He bowed his head, not only in defeat, but in the name of a friend who had slipped away from his grasp.
Iota and Veritas had several journeys together. They enjoyed each other’s rich company. However, it wasn’t all sunsshine and beautiful galaxies. They soon encountered their first enemy. Another renegade Time Lord, who only went by “The Professor.” To date, this has been the only professor Veritas ever had a problem with. He was haughty and liked to think that the universe and all of Time was his oyster. Of course, Iota has a lot to say about that. But then, after about several months of travels. Something happened that took Veritas by surprise. Rhylus, and a few members of the Chancellery Guard found her. Veritas had missed Rhylus-- especially when under the dictator-like rule of The Professor. Rhylus and her both confessed that they had feeling for each other, and after passionately kissing, Rhylus promised her something, though it seemed irreverent after a few months, Veritas had no idea how much that promise would change her future.
“I will have your enemies flee at the sound of my TARDIS.” He began to her “They will beg for mercy, but I will not give it to them. And by the time I bring you back to Gallifrey as my own, I will have the Professor’s sonic screwdriver as the only remnant of him. Everything about him will die for what he’s done to you.”
With those words, Rhylus faded away, and Veritas was forced back into her hell that was The Professor’s torment on her.
Months passes, and The Professor crossed Iota’s line. He brought with him a group of four “good” Daleks. They met in secret on his TARDIS. Iota, knowing of his plots, decided to put an end to it. Veritas was drunk in bed (Long story, goes something like, she went to a pub, got fish and chips, accidentally order ginger beer, and got drunk. Of course, the Daleks showed up, and then Kombucha got invented. But, that’s another story). Iota offered to do some repairs on the Professor’s TARDIS. But, upon seeing that the Daleks were in the middle of a meeting. She broke down the door using her telephone booth exterior and blocked the door with it. After pleading with her, Iota burned them all to death while she watched, thinking about all of the loss that the Daleks had caused her. So many lives, so little left. They deserved to burn, and burn they did... Several months later, Iota had had enough with the Professor after he sent her and Veritas to a planet in pursue of a Dalek “friend”. And so, upon arriving. Iota told him what for and then left with Veritas for new travels.
After they left the Professor, Iota and Veritas have started to open up to new people, making allies and new friends. However, all of the travels, and familiar faces all come to an end one day. It’s just an unfortunate fact of life... Iota and Veritas had known each other for a total of 110 years, and their relationship was only growing, never growing old. 
Veritas and Iota were well antiquated with the fact that their days together would not last forever. After a normal trip that involved responding to a distress call on a human colonist ship, The Professor’s TARDIS materialized just as Veritas and Iota were preparing to leave. Unexpectedly, The Professor walked out of his TARDIS, gun in hand, and began to harshly speak to Veritas.
“You, Veritas, have betrayed me! I have been on the run ever since you left me! Now I’ve got your boyfriend on my back, and I’m just about ready to tell him what to do!” The Professor aimed his gun, giving Iota or Veritas very little time to act. “This is my order, Castellan Rhylus, back off or I’ll kill again!”
Knowing he was about to die, The Professor decided that if he was going to die, that he would take Veritas with him-- the woman who betrayed him. Aiming his gun quickly at her, he fired several rounds into her chest, shoulders, arms, legs, and neck. She collapsed in a small puddle on her own blood. 
Enraged-- more like livid, Iota seized The Professor, and threw him against the damaged TARDIS exterior. His hands were impaled, and he hung from the TARDIS. Iota pulled him off, ripping his hands apart. Piercing his lungs, The Professor began to die, but Iota wasn’t finished with him yet. Taking his leaking regeneration energy, Iota converted it to Artron Energy to fuel herself, but left enough for him to remain alive. From the anger of Veritas’ fatal wounds, Iota entered her supercharged state of old, she was like a wild animal, but with all of Time torture her victim. Drowning out his screaming, Iota ripped The Professor apart, limb by limb, cutting his head off and completely dissecting his body.
As she rose from the bloody, mushy remains of the Professor, as his body started to glow with regeneration energy, Iota saw Castellan Rhylus arrive, together with a host of TARDISes and military members. Nodding to him, Rhylus shot the Professor through his hearts, killing him mid regeneration.
Iota had no time to greet the Castellan, though she knew with the power of Time Travel she would come back to him soon. Rhylus, understanding the severity of the situation, helped to get Veritas into her TARDIS.
Iota acted quickly immediately launching the TARDIS into the vortex. As Veritas laid in her arms, dying, Iota struggled to find faith in herself that Veritas would regenerate. After all, Omnicron had refused to regenerate, and he was someone she held so dear. She had to land the TARDIS, she had to.
Deciding to pull out of the Vortex, Iota found herself materializing on Earth, in the mid 19th century. Quickly flying the TARDIS door open, Iota rushed Veritas outside, trying her best to help Veritas regenerate. As Veritas laid on the grassy hill, bleeding out, with Iota looking down at her, she managed to find a voice. Between coughing up blood, and comforting words from Iota, Veritas managed to try and comfort both herself, and her TARDIS-- for whom she cared so dearly.
““I-- I’m going to die. An-- and I’m scared. But I fear one-- I fear one thing more than death: I-- I’m scared of loosing you. I don’t want to change-- I don’t want to be different because you may not like me in a new body. What if I can’t deserve you? What if I’m not good enough?”
Standing up, arms outstretched, Veritas took in one final deep breath, her body glowing orange.
“Remember me, Iota”
As she gritted her teeth, and bowed her head, her features became blurred, but she mouthed one final message.
“Goodbye”
With that, Veritas regenerated, and Iota, trying her best to save her, outstretched her arm-- accidentally touching Veritas’ regeneration energy. Her hand was badly burned, whisking away both skin, flesh, and even bone-- but all of it being Iota’s TARDIS matrix. It all went to Veritas’ head, literally. Iota was heartbroken. Veritas’ regeneration ended in a bang, and she collapsed to the ground.
With her new life on the line, it’s up to those Veritas holds dear to protect her. And to see her safely returned to her normal state of mind. But even though she is in a new body, her future with her beloved TARDIS, Iota, will be guaranteed. That will never change, not in all of Time or Space.
== Abilities ==
Regenerating, in addition to higher amounts of regeneration energy because of a Nexus Shard she has embedded somewhere in her chest.
Veritas also absorbed a small about of Iota’s matrix during her regeneration, allowing her better control over her TARDIS. This includes better connection to her Time Lady-form TARDIS, heightened translation, and communication. However, no Time or Space travel on her own. Veritas is also capable of feeling a fraction of whatever pain Iota goes through, although, it’s only a very small amount, and Iota is able to toggle it. After her first “adventure” in her second regeneration, Iota implanted a microchip into Veritas’ head giving her better control over her TARDIS nature. Though, given enough time, it’s fully possible that the TARDIS matrix in her head will affect her DNA making her part TARDIS.
== Weaknesses ==
Despite regenerating, Veritas is still very much a scared child in an older body. She’s scared of the unknown and becomes only half of the Time Lord she needs to be without her TARDIS by her side. Veritas is terrified of death, and can’t bear the thought of dying, this includes regenerating. Under stress, Veritas’ mental and physical strength degrade quickly when without her TARDIS, although, this is less so than her first regeneration. Veritas is quick to scream, although less-so in this regeneration. She’s not independent, and quickly goes into states of alarm, and possible panic-attacks without a hand to hold, or a familiar face. She also is less open to new ideas, but less so than her TARDIS. She likes to have things her way when she hasn’t got Iota, and won’t hesitate to order people around to get it done.
== Paraphernalia ==
Type 103 Mark Two TARDIS (Iota). Veritas carries a sonic screwdriver (Listed below), a Gallifreyan staiser riffle, a Gallifreyan staiser pistol, and sometimes a small pocket knife, although she never uses it.
Category:Time Lords