Battle for the Tantalus Eye: Difference between revisions

|[[Rassilon]] declares the [[War Doctor]] a traitor}}

|first=Engines of War (novel)}}

The '''Battle of the Tantalus Eye''' was a major battle fought during the [[Last Great Time War]] and one of its last. Its fallout was immense as it convinced the [[War Doctor]] to destroy both the [[Dalek]]s and the [[Time Lord]]s to save [[N-Space]] from further damage. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Engines of War (novel)|Engines of War]]'', ''[[The Whoniverse (novel)|The Whoniverse]]'')

After being attacked by [[Dalek stealth ship]]s, losing an entire [[Battle TARDIS]] fleet to the ships, the War Doctor crashed on [[Moldox]], meeting the rebel fighter [[Cinder]]. Though she was initially hostile to him for being a [[Time Lord]], she warmed up to him when he offered her passage off Moldox and away from the Time War. Upon being informed that the ruling Daleks, a group called the [[Eternity Circle]], were rounding up [[human]]s as [[prisoner]]s instead of [[Extermination|exterminating]] them, a suspicious Doctor convinced Cinder to investigate the Dalek base, discovering the [[Temporal Cannon]], a weapon capable of [[temporal dissolution]] that the Daleks intended to both mass produce and fire a large scale version at [[Gallifrey]] itself. Upon securing a Cannon, the Doctor and Cinder left for Gallifrey.

Granted an audience with the [[High Council]], the Doctor informed them of the threat with [[Rassilon]] deciding to use the [[Tear of Isha]] to close the [[Tantalus Eye]] and deny the Daleks the power source they needed, uncaring that this would cause the death of trillions of humans living there. Furious at the plan, Rassilon's treatment of [[Borusa]] and the Time Lords' treatment of Cinder, the Doctor swore to stop the plan, prompting Rassilon to arrest him. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Engines of War (novel)|Engines of War]]'')

Setting course for the Eye, the Doctor and Cinder arrived on [[Partheus' TARDIS (Engines of War)|his TARDIS]], hijacking it and deploying the Tear at the [[end of the universe]]. With no weapon, the Time Lord armada retreated from the area. Concurrently, the Doctor returned to the [[Death Zone]], retrieving Borusa, since turned into a [[possibility engine]], for his help in stopping the Daleks.

Following Cinder's death, the Doctor realized that Borusa's powers had been augmented by the Tantalus Eye and he could make possibilities into reality. Though Borusa confirmed that he could make real a world where Cinder lived, the Doctor realised that doing so would squander the chance to stop the Daleks, the chance that Cinder had died for. Instead, the Doctor asked Borusa to erase the Dalek presence in the Eye, the former [[President of the High Council]] doing so and contentedly dying from the overexertion. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Engines of War (novel)|Engines of War]]'')

In the aftermath of the battle, the War Doctor returned to Moldox and observed the people rebuilding. Though their memories of the Daleks had been erased, he was quite sure that they would eventually return. The Doctor spent three days tracking down what had been Cinder's home before the Dalek invasion, exhuming her family's remains for a proper burial alongside Cinder. After honouring his friend, the Doctor promised "No more", resolving to end the Last Great Time War. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Engines of War (novel)|Engines of War]]'') In the last days of the conflict, he used a stolen [[gunship]] to burn this pledge into the [[Dalek City]], ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (novelisation)|The Day of the Doctor]]'') and carved it into a wall during the [[Fall of Arcadia]]. Having declared his intent, the Doctor proceeded to steal [[the Moment]] from the [[Omega Arsenal]], with which he planned to destroy the Daleks and Time Lords together. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')

Following the Time War, the [[Ninth Doctor]] was drawn into a trap for his [[Memory|memories]] on [[Nomicae]]. When the orbiting fleets began fighting, the Doctor projected his memories of the Time War into the various adversaries battling for access to his mind, among them his grief when Cinder had perished in the Battle for the Tantalus Eye. This memory among others caused the dueling to cease, as the combatants found them too terrible to bear. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Bidding War (comic story)|The Bidding War]]'')