Chapter 4
They decided to make their stand at a small shack half a mile down the road from town, across from a small copse of trees.
"I'll take the woods," River commanded, "you wait in the shed." She pointed towards the deteriorating building.
Tam nodded. "Shoot once they pass?"
"Yes. And stay low. They're Sontarans, they might just shoot everything they see."
The girl nodded again and went for the door. River waited until she was out of sight to go crouch in the trees, hiding in as much shade as the withered branches offered.
It wasn't long before a slightly shiny blotch appeared on the horizon. They were on the plateau flat now, away from the edge and the Falls, and River estimated the Sontarans were still at least two miles off. The only sound was a feeble breeze fluttering the leaves. River waited, gun ready, as the blotch grew larger and clearer. Soon, she could make out individual figures.
Suddenly, Tam yelped. River almost jumped up, but held herself still and silent as the girl burst out of the shed and sprinted across the road, flinging herself down beside River.
"What are you doing?" River hissed angrily. She glanced at the approaching Sontarans. There was movement in the ranks, shuffling to position.
"Too many!" Tam whispered frantically. "There are too many!"
"Not nearly," River responded fiercely. The girl couldn't hide in these trees, her pink dress would stick out like a sore thumb. But it was too late to move now. The Sontarans were almost within range for their lasers, but not River's or Tam's own weapons.
"Yes!" Tam cried quietly. "There are more, I heard them, from over there––" Her finger jabbed over her head, back toward the town. River half rose and turned around to peek between two trunks, just in time to see a second troop of Sontarans pulling to a halt and leveling their guns at the trees.
"Down!" Tam cried, pulling her flat to the dirt. A wave of fire ripped through the trees above their heads. Both women rolled to avoid falling branches. One old trunk broke completely in half.
"Damn it," River muttered as the din eased. "The full troop must have been around the town, and once they found Skrag they called for backup..." She groaned. "We've been played."
"Attention human females!" A rough voice hailed from the group they'd been planning to ambush. "We know you are there, you cannot hide from the might of the Sontaran Empire!"
River rolled her eyes. "Cannot hide from our scanners" was more like it. Dammit, the soldiers they'd taken in town hadn't had scanners!
The Sontaran continued: "You have fought well, and brought down mighty warriors. Come out in peace, without weapons, and you will be treated as prisoners of war."
"They're lying," River whispered to Tam. "Sontarans believe in honorable death for Sontarans, but they don't care so much about humans."
Tam didn't respond. She had abandoned her gun and had both hands pressed over her face, eyes squeezed shut and on the verge of tears. Sontarans' brains were dull and one-track, but that many minds fixated on killing...Tam was a fairly strong psychic, but inexperienced. No wonder she was breaking down.
"We will not surrender!" River called from her place on the ground, bluffing blindly. "We have many weapons far greater than your puny light show." Yes, like dry branches.
"You lie!" the Sontaran responded. "You have but one meson pistol, and a primitive powder weapon."
Dammit, they had good scanners. River looked around frantically. Tam was out, might be able to pull it together but couldn't be depended on. They were surrounded by forty Sontarans, and all she had was a pistol and a shotgun. And some branches. She looked up, searching for inspiration. Sometimes at times like this, a blue box appeared...
There was a dot in the sky. A moving dot. It didn't feel like the Tardis, but it seemed to be getting bigger. River played for time.
"We have screening!" she yelled to the Sontarans. "You don't know how many of us there are, or how we are armed!"
"If you were a large force with great weaponry, you would not be stalling for your lives," the Sontaran replied logically.
River glanced up. The dot was bigger, definitely flying closer. It looked a bit like a large bird. Well, anything would help at this point.
Tam's eyes snapped open. "He's coming!" she breathed almost hysterically, pulling at River's sleeve. "Almost late, all out of time. But come to help. It'll all be okay now."
River's breath caught in her throat. If this was who she thought it was... The dot's shape was distinct now, it was definitely bird-like. She had to keep the Sontarans distracted.
"Be ready," she hissed to Tam, pushing her the shotgun. River palmed her handgun. "All right," she called, "We surrender! Our weapons are on the ground!" She started to stand, moving slowly towards the edge of the trees and keeping one eye on the sky. The Sontarans shifted and raised their guns, ready to shoot. Behind her, Tam was getting to her feet, shotgun in hand.
"Come out now!" the Sontaran yelled.
"Coming." River replied, taking a small step forward. "Just don't shoot!"
"We have said we will not!" the Sontaran said impatiently.
River was almost out of the copse now, standing strategically out of view behind a tree. Tam crouched just behind her. "Just moving slowly!" she answered in a friendly tone. "Don't want any mistakes." Now would be a good time, she thought at no one in particular.
As if in response, there was a great predatory shriek from skyward. River ducked in sheer instinct, but there was no need. The creature that flew out of the sun swept straight through the nearest Sontarans, completely ignoring any movement in the trees. At the bottom of its dive it grabbed a struggling warrior, and dropped it among the troop on the other side of the trees on its way back up. A small grenade fell with it, and River leapt forward as the concussion shook the trees, dropping branches once more. Tam followed her into the crowd of disarrayed Sontarans, and both started shooting through the rising dust.
The bird-creature dived again, and this time machine gun fire from its back took out the scattering Sontarans. River was certain she heard gleeful whooping amid the blasts.
Tam had dropped her shotgun again and started hitting Sontarans conscious and not with a heavy branch. Despite the makeshift club, she still looked like a ballerina.
The creature flapped over to River, hopping awkwardly over the downed Sontarans. She recognized it now from old Earth history books: a pterodactyl, famed lizard-bird of the dinosaur age. A man slipped off it's back, clipping his semiautomatic onto the pterodactyl's saddle. He shrugged his greatcoat into place and held out a hand to shake.
"Captain Jack Harkness," he said with a come-hither grin. "And who are you?"
-{+}-
A/N: Hope you liked it. It you have any really good (or really bad) ideas for innuendos you want in River Song and Jack's conversations, tell me in a review. Thanks for reading!
