Amor Lupus
Chapter One
August 2345 AD - Pete's World
The ground shook with a deep rumble as yet another explosion rocked the damaged planet. Fires had taken hold all over the ruins of the once great city of London filling the air with a dense acrid smoke. Hardly anything was left standing as most of the buildings were either flattened or left in ruins. The city was a near ghost town, nothing much had lived in the once metropolis for years. In fact, nothing much had lived on the island that was once known as Great Britain for many a year. Just a few scattered nomadic pockets of people were left, trying to find enough food to live off and to avoid the raiding parties that occasionally arrived for some sport. Most of the people had either fled for the continent, were long since dead or worse; been taken by THEM.
It was to the north of the once great city that a figure walked. Unlike any of the cowering wrecks that it occasionally encountered, this figure walked with confidence; if not with some degree of cunning and trepidation about what it would find - or what would find it. The figure was not tall, barely taller than five and half feet, but the figure walked with an air of confidence that made it seem much taller. Dressed in sturdy black combat boots, with black military fatigues, the ensemble was finished off with a long black leather coat that almost reached the ground. Over its shoulder, on a nylon strap was a large weapon of some kind; and strapped to the left thigh was a long wicked looking knife. The figure walked quickly, a destination clearly in mind and paid little heed to the muffled cries of the dying. Suddenly there was a shout from behind the figure.
"Stop Human! Stop and face you masters!" came the guttural sound of the Sycorax warrior that had appeared. The figure stopped and slowly began to turn.
"Drop the weapon human and bow before me!" the tall creature grated in glee, the anticipation of the kill evident in its tone.
The figure had fully turned, but kept its head bowed, its face hidden in the shadows. What was visible was a curtain of dirty bleached blonde hair. The woman, for it was now evident that figure was a woman; a slim beautiful well figured woman, smiled a smile that contained no happiness in it. She had a lithe figure, lithe but strong, evident by the muscles showing through the fatigues she was wearing. Her whisky coloured eyes were staring at the skull helmeted creature in front of her with hatred. Her wide expressive mouth, that when she had smiled with genuine happiness would light up her face, was pinched with suppressed rage. She looked about twenty-five years of age but there was something about her that seemed older; the way she held herself, the weariness of her eyes that bellied an age that was almost impossible to comprehend.
"Oh I don't think so!" she whispered, her voice however carrying across the intervening space well enough for the creature to hear the words.
"Drop the weapon NOW human scum!" the Sycorax warrior repeated, its blaster trained on her. The woman slowly began to remove the heavy gun from her shoulder, her eyes on the warrior all the time. Seeing that she was complying the warrior began to relax. He was so used to the humans obeying that the thought of them fighting back after so many years of subjugation had slowed his reflexes. It was this that was his undoing; as the heavy weapon was flung to the ground with a loud thump, his eyes were drawn to the sight of the weapon and he totally missed the woman snatch the knife from its holster and with a speed and strength that was impossible for a human, she threw it with deadly accuracy at the warrior. With a sickening crunch the knife embedded itself deeply into the warrior's skull. The creature blinked twice in amazement and without any grace whatsoever it slowly collapsed to the earth; dead before it hit the ground.
Rose Marion Tyler sighed to herself; another life taken despite her promise she made centuries ago to the one and only man she had ever truly loved. She strode across the ground to the fallen Sycorax and quickly retrieved and cleaned her knife. She would have to move quickly now, more of the warriors would soon be here. All Sycorax warriors carried a life sensor on them; if and these days it was a 'if', one of their kind was killed, then central command would be notified and more warriors swiftly sent to suppress the human rebels. It had been many years since such a sensor had been activated in any great numbers; but in the early years of the invasion such attacks were common place. Rose herself had caused untold hundreds of such activations, but now even she had not killed a warrior for many months. The reason being was that there was nearly nothing left to fight for. The world was nearly dead, most of the population either dead on slaves on other worlds. The remaining humans were scattered across the globe in small frightened groups. In the early days of the occupation a few ships escaped the massacre, but no word had been heard of their whereabouts or status. With a glance at the body in front of her, she walked back to her dropped weapon and flicked a switch on the casing. With a practised aim she pointed the weapon to the creature and fired at the dead Sycorax. With a glow the body vanished, leaving a scorched outline on the ground. It was best to incinerate the dead; it sometimes slowed down the response from the rest.
Rose looked around quickly and set off for her destination, this time at a slow run, keeping to the shadows and using any cover she could find. After about three miles of jogging she found herself at the remains of what was once a set of large imposing metal gates. Now they were both hanging on their hinges and rusted. Rose gently ran her hand over one of them, the touch bringing back memories of happier times. This was the Tyler family estate; or what was left of it. She jogged up the drive to what was once the large imposing house; now however nothing more than a pile of discarded bricks and rubble. The once beautiful gardens were overrun jungles, and the large lake that she once swam in with Tony was now stagnant and green. However, despite the tears that were threatening to fall she steeled herself and walked quickly to the back of the remains of the house; to a small clearing in the jungle that covered the rear of the plot. As she entered the clearing she knelt down to something buried in the ground. With a groan of rusted metal, she opened a small metal cover on the ground, and reached into her pockets. Pulling out a small power source she quickly attached it the panel now exposed. With a beep, the panel lit up in the dying light of the day and Rose entered a long series of the numbers and letters. Once done, she pressed a final button and stood to watch the area in front of her shimmer and suddenly there appeared a walled area with a single metal gate in the centre. As she approached a red light scanned her and with a click the gate opened and she entered the area behind the gate. She was in a walled garden, the grass neat and with late summer flowers still blooming in the borders. The automated systems she had installed years ago still functioning to maintain the garden. In the centre of the grass stood four grave stones, each clean from moss and with the engraving still gleaming in the light.
Now with the tears flowing un-hindered she approached the first two of the graves.
"Mum, Dad it's me." she whispered, "I've come home for the end."
She placed her hand first on the grave of her mother, Jacqueline Andrea Suzette Tyler or Jackie as she was known before moving to the grave of her father. Both graves as well as that of her baby brother were empty. They were all killed one night not long after she and John married in a horrible zeppelin accident. The airship had collided with one of the few primitive aircraft that Pete's world possessed and both had been destroyed. The zeppelin landed on a petroleum factory and the resultant explosion had destroyed the zeppelin and the bodies within it completely. There had been nothing left to bury, so Rose and John had buried coffins containing items that meant so much to her family.
"I'm sorry Mum, Dad; I tried but in the end there were just too many of them. Dad I've instructed the last few Torchwood agents to enact the final sanction. I received word that two of the agents had reached their goal, only one left now and it won't be long now. Maybe this time I will finally be able to die and see you all again." she whispered the last part.
"Know that I love you both and I always will." She uttered before moving on.
As she walked slowly to the last of the four graves, she passed the one of her beloved baby brother, who had died so young, a life only just starting cut cruelly short. She fondly caressed the cold marble of the stone, but by now her eyes were fixated on the last one. She walked to the front of the stone and knelt sobbing on the ground. This was HIS grave, the grave of the only man she had ever truly loved; well one of them - there was always the other one in the other universe. She traced the letters with a finger as she once more read the words she knew so well.
"Here lies John Noble-Smith, born out of fire and taken too soon - Fly amongst the stars my lonely god"
Rose had realised very early on that she was changed by the events on the Game Station. At first it had seemed subtle, a slowing of ageing, an increase in telepathy and she suddenly found complex theories and problems easy. She could learn more quickly, things that would baffle all except HIM were suddenly within her grasp. Off course the Doctor, or John as he liked to be called had run tests, a battery of tests, but nothing other than some minor changes to her DNA had been found.
Then about a year after they had both found themselves on that beach in Norway, everything changed for them. Rose died! Well she was killed in the line of duty by an angry and confused Judoon who had been injured when his ship had crashed. Rose, or Commander Tyler as she was also known then had been dispatched along with her team to intercept the alien. Only to find the intergalactic policeman was more confused than first thought. He had suffered a head injury, one that would have killed any other creature than a Judoon. But with his thick armour and the very tough skin of his head, he was only concussed and disorientated. He thought the Torchwood party were attacking him so he responded in the only way a Judoon could. He started shooting. Most of Rose's team managed to find cover, but Rose lead from the front and was too close to the injured creature as he opened fire. Despite her quickened reflexes she was hit point-blank in the chest. After a brief battle by the shocked remaining members of her team the Judoon was finally stunned and Rose airlifted to Torchwood base for medical treatment. She was immediately rushed to theatre but despite the best efforts of the surgical team there was nothing they could do and a few hours later she died surrounded by her grieving friends and John's hand in hers.
That would of course have normally been that, but minutes after she was pronounced dead, her body began to glow with the familiar golden light that John had seen coming from her all those years ago when he was surrounded by Daleks on the Game Station. With a sudden cry and pained gasp she sat up, her wounds healed and her body irrevocably changed. Despite everyone's relief and happiness, there was worry about how such a miraculous feat had been accomplished. At first everyone thought that it was a one off, but after she died for a further three times people close to her came to the same conclusion. John conducted another battery of tests and the results were incontavertable; Rose Tyler was seemingly immortal, not only that but she was also genetically incompatible with her beloved half Time Lord. Despite their best efforts, no children were ever conceived. The small team at Torchwood that knew about Rose's immortality were all sworn to secrecy and any reference of her was purged from all records and computer files. Despite her father once been the director and herself been a high ranking commander they were worried about people using Rose's powers for nefarious means.
The couple, despite the lack of children tried to make the best of the situation, but the 'Forever' they thought they had was now mismatched. John found it hard to find the shoe was now firmly on the other foot, and he was the one that would wither and fade leaving Rose to live on, perpetually young. But they made the most of it and life continued as best as it could. Both he and Rose were happy and very much in love and they soon married. However even this happiness was cut cruelly short, as less than ten years after been stranded in Pete's world, Rose found herself alone once more. It seemed that despite everything, John was too human; too human for the Gallifreyan half of himself. It started as a small lump he found in his abdomen, but within months he was riddled with cancers and tumours. Rose and the doctors at Torchwood tried everything they could think off but despite all their efforts, John passed away in his sleep, days after their eighth wedding anniversary. Since that day Rose had been alone, there was never anyone else that came close to her Doctor, and so the centuries pass, year by lonely year until the Sycorax came.
The first encounter with the Sycorax was nearly eighty years ago, and passed in a similar vein to the one Rose had encountered in her home universe. However, this time Rose played the part that the Doctor had once played. She thwarted the invasion and saved all the people stood on the buildings with the push of that great big red button. However, Rose made a fatal error. Off course at the time she didn't view it as an error, but an error it turned out to be. She showed them mercy; she didn't act like Harriet Jones had done all those years ago in another Universe, and instead of destroying the single invading ship, she let it depart their space in peace. This was a mistake as within twenty years they were back and not a single ship this time, but a massive armada of ships. Earth was apparently rich in resources and humans made such good slaves. Within a decade all resistance was almost crushed and the human race found itself on the brink of extinction. Rose had tried to stop them but there were just too many and after consultations with the few remaining leaders a final plan was put into action.
"John, my dear darling John, it's over my love. I've failed my love...I tried so hard but despite everything I've failed. Everything is gone, nearly everyone is dead and within minutes the last of the Osterhagen keys will be activated. I pray that we will be together, my love, My Doctor!" she wept and she knelt on the cold earth. She stayed there crying for minutes when suddenly she heard a cry from behind her as a small group of Sycorax finally caught up with her. The battle wearied warrior slowly rose to face them, but as she did so a bleep could be heard from her wrist communicator. This was it, the final agent was in place and awaiting her final order.
She raised her face to look at the Sycorax troop leader stood in front of her, its weapon raised and its face smiling in cruelty.
"Today you will die human scum!" it grated and he moved to press the trigger on its weapon.
Commander in Chief of all Earth Torchwood forces, Rose Marion Tyler, grinned and pressed the red button on her communicator, signalling the end of all things.
"Sorry but not today boys, today the human race says 'Fuck You!" she snarled. With an enormous sound, like all the thunder storms that have ever been all occurring at the same time, the earth beneath their feet buckled, throwing everyone to the ground. With cries of alarm the Sycorax fled leaving Rose to crawl to the grave of her husband where she lay on top of the earth and closed her eyes.
"I love you Doctor, I always will!" she cried as the ground beneath her suddenly vaporised, taking her and everything around her. Rose welcomed the blackness that she suddenly encountered.
Deep in space the Sycorax command ship monitored the world below it in horror as the crust of the planet began to glow a deep red. With alarms and klaxons blaring on the ship it tried to break high orbit and flee; but before it had chance to do so the Earth exploded in a fiery ball of plasma, obliterating the hundreds of ships in low orbit within an instant and finally destroying the command ship seconds later. It seemed that the human race had had the final word, and that word was "No More!"
After days the force of the explosion slowly waned, and amongst the now massive meteoroids that once made up the planet spinning into deep space, a golden light of glowing particles could be seen. These slowly grew closer together and began to coalesce into a vaguely humanoid shape. This shape began to writhe in apparent agony until the glow subsided leaving the shape of a naked blonde haired beautiful woman, screaming silently in the vacuum of space. The blood vessels began to pop on the surface of her skin as her blood boiled, until mercifully the absolute cold of space froze the body. Her mouth in a rictus grin of absolute agony, her eyes blooded and wide; the terror of her situation evident on her beautiful face. Silently the living corpse span further and further into deep space for eons until suddenly and unexpectedly a mile-wide rip opened in space. The crack in space and time glowed with an eerie white light. The floating body was pulled into the crack with a silent pop and was gone. The rip after a few minutes suddenly sealed shut and Rose Tyler finally left the universe she had been trapped in for centuries.
AN - This is a new story for me, I hope you like it. Please let me know if its worth continuing.