Defender of the Earth

By Lumendea

Chapter Four: Horath Academy: Arrival and Astra

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

…

The morning Rose left for Horath Academy had been a blur of hugs, crying and double checking that she had everything. The night before had been spent having one last sleepover with Sharon and Shareen while Jackie fussed over them. Her last day of training, exactly one week ago had been spent going over every last detail of UNIT's suspicions, her new laptop that had been specially built for communicating with the ground team and being wished luck by Doctor Taylor. Rose had the layout of Horath all but memorised, knew all the staff from their photos and had recited parts of the suspicious reports so often she'd made them into a song. In short, Rose was ready for whatever was waiting for her, even if she didn't feel like she was at all.

Now it was the mid-afternoon, just after two o'clock on the day she was due to arrive at the potentially alien boarding school. Beneath her feet, the train she was on slowed down. Rose looked out the window as the automated voice announced the next stop. Sunshine was streaming down onto the platform which was only partially covered. Rose could see trees in the distance and rolling hills. Rose's feet itched and she wanted to take off running. It didn't matter where to, she just wanted to be rid of the nervous energy. Worries about getting her Mum, Sharon and Shareen in trouble with Colonel Adams were all that kept her in place.

The long metal train pulled up at the platform with a high squeak and as the doors opened, a few adults stepped out, but it was mostly teenagers. Rose stepped off of the train from London, quickly pulling her two suitcases behind her and setting them down with a thud. She looked around the platform and noted with a smile that more kids her age were departing with luggage from the train from London. It had been one of the longer train trips Rose had ever taken and had been horribly dull. One of the girls who had departed with a backpack and two suitcases turned and smiled at Rose. She had long brown hair with a slight curl at the tips, long side swept bangs that partially covered one of her brown eyes and a wide warm smile. The girl grabbed her things and headed over to Rose.

"Horath Academy?"

"Yeah," Rose said. She gave the other girl a smile as she pulled out a folded piece of paper out of her pocket and glanced at it. "This says that a coach is scheduled to meet this train from London."

"I suppose that what we get for attending a school in the country." The girl sighed and glanced at the train. "Pity Daddy couldn't just drop me off there. I'm not really a fan of trains or travelling alone. I spent the whole trip checking each station to make sure I didn't miss this stop." She laughed and held out her hand,

"Forgot my manners for a moment, I'm Astra Wolfe."

"Rose Tyler." Rose took her hand and gave it a firm shake. The knot in her stomach eased a little. She'd been so busy worrying about the staff that she'd sort of forgotten that there'd be other students at the school. "Nice to meet you, Astra."

"So, Rose shall we?" Astra picked up her suitcases again and nodded towards the exit.

"Right, we should get to the coach," Rose agreed.

Astra stayed right next to Rose as they slowly inched their suitcases down a flight of stairs, thankfully a very short one to reach the station hall. It was only a small town so they had no trouble finding the large coach that was waiting. Locals nodded pleasantly to them and Rose noted in surprise that there really was only the one platform here.

There were about twenty other teenagers ranging from her age to a couple years older already loading their suitcases with the aid of the driver. Rose's eyes swept over the other students. Many of them were dressed much nicer than she was and paid them no attention. Astra stepped forward into the line first and Rose followed, eying the driver, but he hadn't been in the files. As soon as their things were loads, Astra darted onto the coach to snag a pair of seats before motioning for Rose to join her.

"It doesn't look like many students came from London by train."

"Their parents are probably driving them." Rose shrugged and watched as the others climbed aboard. Most of them sat spread out from each other. "My mum would have liked to in theory, but she doesn't have a license, much less a car."

"My parents had other obligations," Astra said. She looked out the window and sighed, a sad expression taking over her face. "I'm not even sure where they are right now."

"They travel a lot?" Rose asked.

"Yeah," Astra said. She forced a smile, but it just made her nervousness apparent. "I've never spent much time with other people my own age since we moved around so much so they decided to give boarding school a try."

"So this is your first boarding school too?" Rose asked.

"First boarding school for you huh? Yeah, this is the first time for me. I've always been homeschooled." She gave a sheepish smile and tugged on a strand of her brown hair. "I'm a bit nervous really."

"You shouldn't be," Rose said. "I'm sure we'll both do fine. Besides, it's a pretty new school so I bet a lot of the others students haven't been at boarding school before."

"Yeah, think positive. You're an optimist, I like that," Astra said.

"Well panicking certainly won't help matters."

The girls lapsed into silence for a moment before Astra giggled. "Sorry, I'm just trying to get over the name, Horath Academy. The information boasted about the scores their students get on A-Levels, the picture perfect campus and the wonderful staff, but no explanation of the name." Astra giggled and settled back into her seat as the coach pulled away from the station, "Horath. Just seems like there should be a story to that one. Is sounds like a noise you make when sneezing."

Rose couldn't quite help by giggle too as Astra rolled the name off of her tongue. As the coach pulled off the main road and started to follow a narrow private road towards the schools they started chatting about their families, favourite topics and anything else that popped into their minds. Rose occasionally checked on the other students, but most of them seemed happy with their phones or their headphones. Nothing unusual at all.

When they arrived at Horath Academy, Rose took a long look around at the small campus. It consisted of five buildings, all brick with ivy growing over them. A large trimmed lawn, perfect for playing football on dominated a large section of the campus with the five buildings arranged in a horseshoe shape around them. Two of the buildings were dorms, standing on opposite sides of the green to each other, one for boys and one for girls. One of the brick buildings' roof was dominated by a radio tower and satellite dishes, marking it as the science building. There was the tennis court from the photos and apparently, there was indeed a small stable.

"Well, it's not so bad," Astra said. She pulled out her phone and held it up. "I've got a signal at least."

"Me too."

Rose gripped her own phone tightly. Suddenly it felt like a lifeline to the outside world. She couldn't help but be very aware of just how far they were from any major city. At least she'd be able to stay in touch easily with her family. Especially Sharon and Shareen who had demanded regular check-ins out of worry for her safety. The new laptop computer that UNIT had provided her with had excellent communication abilities, linking into UNIT's satellite network, but she had been warned against using it outside of an emergency.

Their things were unpacked and loaded onto small motorised carts to be taken to the dormitories. A few other coaches were in the parking lot, having picked up earlier trains from other cities and several cars remained where parents were still saying goodbye. Rose lost herself for a moment remembering her own tearful farewell to her mother only three hours before. Her stomach turned uncomfortably and she bit her lip. It had just been the two of them for so long she wondered how her mum was really going to handle her being gone.

"Come on," Astra said. She grabbed Rose's hand. "Let's see if we can room together. That staff person, don't ask me her name, just said that roommates can be changed at this point."

"Sure." Rose pulled her backpack on and double checked that her bags were heading to the right building before she followed Astra towards the girl's dorm. "Lead on," she said.

…..

Astra was a near force of nature, Rose decided an hour later when the brunette girl had managed to get five people to change their living arrangements so she and Rose had the two person corner bedroom on the third floor of the building. Rose was under the impression that she rambled them into submission. Of course, her pretty smile and wide eyes combination hadn't hurt anything, but it seemed like the others changed just to get her stop talking. If Rose had understood how Astra had managed the feat she would have taken notes, but it seemed to be a case of pure charm and talking circles around other people. The girl in question set her backpack down on the desk nearest to her bed before stretching out on the bed with a pleased sigh.

Their prize was the top corner room that looked out over the green lawn and towards the rolling hills beyond the school. The dorm rooms were all small in size, fitting two or three people based on the space. Theirs was a smaller room, but the large windows with the great view and having no one making noise above them balanced that out. There were two beds, one against each opposite side of the room, a desk with a bookshelf mounted above it next to each bed, a wardrobe for clothing and a small nightstand. It was extremely simple and plain compared to Rose's room at home which she thought of with a twitch of longing. Setting down her own backpack at her desk, Rose followed Astra's lead of lounging on the bed.

"Our things should be here when we get back from dinner," Astra said. She sighed again and kept looking up at the boring ceiling. "I hope the food is good."

"This is a nice school from everything I've heard," Rose said. "I'd imagine they'd make sure the food is decent."

"I suppose." Then Astra suddenly leapt up and off her bed. "Come on then Rose, let's explore a bit and then be the first to the dining hall." Astra glanced around the empty room. "It's not like we can get settled or anything like that."

Rose smiled and climbed off her bed to follow Astra out of the room. Both girls, grabbed their new keys and jackets before they set off. As they walked down the hall to the stairs, they waved and greeted the other girls who were passed them. Once they were back down in the entry area, Astra made a point of poking her head into the common room.

"Not bad," she declared. "At least we don't have to share a telly with the boys."

"It would never be on anything other than football," Rose agreed seriously. "That's what happens whenever my mate Mickey visits."

Astra grinned, grabbed Rose's hand and headed for the front door. "Come on, one hour to dinner and I want a look at the science building."

"You're going to get me into trouble this year aren't you Astra," Rose said. She couldn't help but laugh as they stepped out into the sunlight.

Astra took a deep breath of the fresh air and looked out at the green lawn where several boys were already playing a game of football. She gestured around the school. "This is where we are for the next twelve weeks before the next break. Five buildings on campus and a small village, that's all we have to work with."

"Is that a yes," Rose asked the brunette with an amused smirk.

"Oh, Rose that is a definitely! Come on!"

Rose laughed as Astra grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the science building as Astra muttered something about getting some sodium to test the plumbing with.

"Well," Rose whispered with a smile. "This year is looking up."