The Protector

The Protector grew up on Gallifrey to two, loving, Time Lord parents. They weren’t rich, and they weren’t prosperous, but they made enough to get by. Above all, they praised education, always reminding the young Time Tot that if he worked hard, he could become a high-ranking member of Gallifreyan Society. Being taken from his family at the young age of 8 and joining The Prydonian Academy, he mainly stuck to himself, while sometimes agitating others. Excelling at a remarkable rate, he progressed smoothly, while making more friends as well. However, they were a bit of a bad influence on him, inspiring him to perform more elaborate pranks on his fellow Time Tots, meaning he would often see more disciplinary action.

This continued all the way until his final years at the academy, until eventually, his need for entertainment and excitement diminished, replaced with a drive to pursue his studies to ensure his graduation. Graduating from the Academy with flying colors, he, along with his fellow Time Lords and Ladies, were immediately placed into the Time War. When the Time War began, he, and his allies, had fought against the Dalek forces, performing many horrible acts in the name of the Time Lords. At the time, The Protector was very excited to fight and kill the Daleks, willing to go to any means necessary in order to ensure a Time Lord victory.

But as time went on, and the war never ceased with producing carnage and death, The Protector’s excitement and enthusiasm diminished, now wanting nothing more than the war to end. One night, while on a patrol, he stumbled upon a Gallifreyan family about to be exterminated by a small group of Daleks. Knowing what he had to do, he drew his blaster, firing three shots into the Daleks, causing them to now be focused on him.

Turning and running from the Daleks, he jumped behind the nearest cover he could find, hoping that they would lose his trail. As the Daleks approached his location, he could hear the shifting and twitching of both their eye stalks, and their blaster stalks. After a few minutes of hiding, the Daleks abandoned the search for the Time Lord, and left the area. Standing from the cover, he quickly rushed over to find the previously doomed family, helping them all to their feet, and examining them for any serious injuries.

Acknowledging that they had been unharmed, a strange feeling filled the Time Lord’s body. He had an overwhelming feeling of victory, more so than he ever did killing Daleks. And suddenly, without even knowing it, he looked to the ground, finding that he had dropped his rifle on the sands of Gallifrey. Turning around, he began to walk towards his Type 89 TARDIS, the ship that had been issued to him by the Time Lords for battle. Before he left, one of the family members, a small boy, stepped forward, asking for his name.

Suddenly, the Time Lord froze for a moment, knowing that this would be a defining moment throughout his lives. Slowly turning around to face the boy, he took a few steps forward, and said a single word: Protector. Unfortunately, the Daleks had returned to finish the family off while The Protector was still there. Telling the family to run, The Protector made a beeline for his TARDIS, drawing the Dalek’s attention, while allowing the family to escape. Inches from his TARDIS door, one of the Daleks fired a single shot from its blaster stalk into the Time Lord.

Knowing regeneration was imminent, he quickly opened the door to his Type 89 TARDIS, sealing himself inside. Taking a few, stumbling steps forward, The Protector knew that this body was dying, and that regeneration was now imminent. Slowly spreading his arms open, he felt the golden energy surge into his neck, as his face finally flowed with regeneration energy, as well as his hands. Lasting for a few moments, the energy subsided back into the Time Lord’s body, sealing him into his second form. Taking a few steps forward, he examined his new face within a blank, TARDIS monitor. After finishing his examination, he held his right temple, trying his best to remember what exactly had happened, while beginning to come to terms with regeneration. He had a hard time remembering who he was, and what had happened that had caused him to retreat into his TARDIS?

“What’s happened to me? I feel...different….like I have been rejuvenated...” he exclaimed, in a voice he had never heard before. Was that his new voice? He liked it! Continuing to talk to himself, he knew what he had to do. Speaking in as confident a tone as possible, he made a vow to himself. “If I truly am a new man…...then I shall make this life count. I shall make all of my lives count. From this day forward, I shall atone for the sins of the Time Lords. Just you wait, universe! I’m not finished yet!”

Filled with a renewed sense of excitement and vigor, he began to run around, quickly flipping a few red, blue, and green switches. As the TARDIS engines roared and whirred, the exterior shell was suddenly and violently rocked by an explosion. Gripping onto the console for stability, The Protector made his way around to the same monitor he had observed his face in, stopping in his tracks out of bewilderment and shock for a moment. Gallifrey was…. Gone. The Dalek forces were gone as well. The war was over, the thing he had wished for the most. But he didn’t think that he would be the last of his kind…

Standing within his TARDIS in a moment of shocked silence, The Protector’s head would slowly lower in sadness. He felt a great amount of remorse for his people, planet, and most of all, the massive amount of lives that had been lost. “If I am the last….” The Protector would trail off, his voice filled with grief and remorse, “Then I shall never take another life again.” After saying this, he would continue to pilot his TARDIS through the cosmos, forever scarred by the horrors of war, and traumatized by the loss of his people..

Over the next 600 years, The Protector has mainly kept to himself, yet never failed in helping the little people of the galaxy. Even while keeping himself under the radar, evil beings still managed to attract his attention. Sontarans, Weeping Angels, Daleks, Cybermen, and a plethora of other evil beings constantly threatened to destroy all that he had worked so hard to protect. But even after every knock-down, after every exploit where beings of darkness had made him feel like nothing, he had kept faith in himself, the faith he had in others, and the faith he had in the rest of the universe.

Even while being a lesser-known figure, he has had some larger exploits that are well known throughout the universe, such as fending off an attack by the Dalek Empire on Earth in 2034. He had accomplished this massive feat by creating a makeshift force field from an assortment of Earthly technology, mixed with TARDIS technology. This powerful combination caused their weapons to bounce back into their fleet, rendering them unable to attack.

However, the Daleks initiated plan b, launching a ground assault on the city. The Protector did manage to stop them, but paid for it with his life, as a single Dalek managed to pierce through the shield, blasting him with a bolt of energy from its blaster stalk. Knowing regeneration was imminent, he managed to get the lone Dalek out of the city, but could not get to his TARDIS in time to regenerate, and ended up bursting with the golden energy in the middle of town’s square, landing him promptly in his third form.

After getting back into, and sealing himself within his TARDIS, The Protector thoroughly examined his new face, before running around the TARDIS console, soaring into and through the cosmos in his red Telephone Booth. In The Protector’s third form, he contained an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and adventure, always wanting one more trip before his eventual regeneration.

In this life, he is most notably recognized for discovering and curing a Vampiric creature in Venice, 1734. He managed to accomplish this by forging a cocktail of Vampire suppressants, containing garlic, holy water, and a concoction of potions in his TARDIS laboratory.

Upon finishing the serum, he purchased a raw, bloody, slab of meat from the local butcher, and left it in a strategic location in order to administer the cure. And sure enough, the Vampiric creature was devouring the meat within moments. Jumping onto its back, he took a syringe of the cure, stabbing it into the creature’s back. The cure worked like a charm, beginning to instantly transform the creature back into its true form.

However, just before the beast had been fully transformed back, it sank its fangs into the neck of The Protector. Bursting with regenerative energy then and there, the creature was thrown backwards from the blast, being knocked unconscious in the process.

As the energy subsided within The Protector once more, the Time Lord stood there, panting from the sudden death of his predecessor. Removing his sonic screwdriver, he scanned the human male sprawled onto the concrete, ensuring that the cure had fully removed the infection from his system.

Turning on his heel, he ran from the scene and into his TARDIS, deadlocking the door closed behind him. Slumping into a sitting position against the door, The Protector was still in a slight amount of shock from the sudden death he had suffered.

Sitting there for a few moments in an intense silence, The Protector finally rose from his position in the TARDIS, walking over to the centralized console. He needed to do something vitally important. Wheeling around the TARDIS monitor, he gazed into the blank screen, having it act as a mirror for his new face. Not bad.

The eyes were definitely some of the best he’s had, and the chin was spectacular! Beginning to walk around the console, he started flight procedures for the TARDIS systems, dematerializing from Earth, and spinning through the cosmos.

The Fourth Protector went on many adventures and exploits. A notable one was the Siege of Formian, a planet laced with a highly valuable material known as Unobtanium. It also contained several tribes within the planet, tribal-like humans known as Formians. Discovering the Formians completely by accident,

The Protector was presented with their situation: the Formians had been driven from their home by a galactic mining company that knew about the Unobtanium mines, and who had driven them underground to ensure its collection. Scheduling and hosting negotiations in order for the Formians to get their land back.

However, he failed in this attempt, and so, inspired the Formians to launch an attack on the mining facilities. Launching successful, non-lethal raids on the camps, the mining company removed their presence from the planet. And so, The Protector succeeded, earning both the land, and the Formian’s respect. From this point on, he continued his traverse and exploration throughout the universe.

But even with all these adventures, he has always made sure that he remains invisible. Through these actions, the few people he has managed to help have given him titles such as “The Watchful God” and “The Survivor.” He soon found himself journeying to Earth more often, finding that aliens had a strange attraction to the planet. One day, after having successfully foiled an attempt to destroy Earth’s moon, he arrived on the planet to inform the planetary defenses were no longer needed.

Suddenly, he found his TARDIS swarmed with black SUV’s, all containing the word “UNIT” on either side of the vehicles. As two, UNIT agents stepped out to interrogate him as to who or what he was, The Protector explained everything to them in a fast, effective manner, as he didn’t want to be forced to regenerate once more.

Realizing he wasn’t a threat, they deemed him an ally, and from that point on, he went on to aid UNIT many times throughout his fourth life, helping as a powerful force when dealing with alien based threats.

Some time after this, he stumbled into UNIT once more, having gotten an alert on the TARDIS that the Cybermen were planning a massive attack against Earth’s Sun, seeing as it would be an incredibly valuable power source for their technology.

Creating a plan with UNIT, The Protector flew his TARDIS into the Cyber Mothership, doing his best to get through the halls and passageways undetected by Cybermen, until finally, he reached the central power core of the ship, destabilizing it.

Knowing that destruction of the ship was imminent, he used his sonic screwdriver to summon his TARDIS to his current location, dematerializing of the ship, just as it exploded. Nearing the end of his life, The Protector never lost his stride and dedication towards defending and looking after the universe in every way he could.

His final mission was performed on a mission to the planet known as Ferraxis Prime. He had gotten reports of corruption and a governmental hierarchy within the ruling power, known as the ‘Eyes of Ferraxis’. Upon arriving on Ferraxis Prime, he was almost immediately discovered and recruited by a group of people who had planned a revolution against the ruling power, known as “The Insurgents.”

After explaining who he was and why he had come here, he devised a plan with the Insurgents over the next several months, using his tactical skills and intelligence to account for any mishaps they may suffer. Finally, the day came, the Insurgents were prepared, the Eyes of Ferraxis knew nothing, and The Protector was ready.

The attack was launched, and unfortunately, The Protector could not convince them to use non-lethal force. They successfully took the capital of the city, forcefully disbanded the hierarchy that the Eyes of Ferraxis had instilled. But the battle did now come without losses. Many people were killed in the assault, all to The Protector’s regret and sadness. He had tried to convince them to use non-lethal tactics, but sadly couldn’t break through.

But it was only for when the battle had ended when The Protector paid the ultimate price. As one of the eyes was forcefully placed onto the ground, he quickly managed to grab a blaster and fire three shots into The Protector's chest.

Almost immediately, the being was gunned down by the Insurgents, but The Protector had already disappeared from the group, making his way back to where he had landed his TARDIS when he had first arrived on the planet.

As the regenerative energy spread to his hands and neck, he stopped not 15 feet from the red Telephone Booth. He knew he couldn’t get to his TARDIS, and furthermore, might damage it with the massive energy build-up he had used to get here. Not being able to contain himself any longer, The Protector burst with regenerative energy, yellow beams shooting from his face and hands. This only lasted a moment, as The Protector then landed into his Fifth Form.

She was taken aback by how quickly the process had begun and ceased, knowing regeneration typically takes a few seconds longer than that. It was almost instantaneous. Taking a few moments to gather her bearings, the Time Lady wobbled slightly on her new legs, doing her best to gain balance in her new form.

Doing her best to walk over to her TARDIS, she removed a small, silver key from her pocket, unlocking the doors and stepping inside. Closing and locking the door shut behind her, she slowly made her way towards the primary console, resting both of her hands on the nearest control panel. Then, beginning to slowly make her way around the console, she approached a nearby display monitor that had been attached to it.

Wheeling it into position, she used it as a mirror to examine her freshly regenerated face. He was stunned that he had become a Time Lady this early. Usually it takes seven or eight regenerations before you get the upgrade! As a slight smirk of excitement and joy made its way across her new face, The Protector began to gradually pilot the TARDIS, increasing in speed as she settled into her new body. Soon, the TARDIS departed from Ferraxis Prime, and began to soar through the cosmos, carrying the brand-new, Fifth Protector.