"Tell me would you kill to save a life?

Tell me would you kill to prove you're right?'

- 'Hurricane' 30 Seconds to Mars

It was Rose's fifty-sixth trip when she came across the worst land she had ever experienced before. The minute she landed Rose immediately smelled the burning wood and rubber and complete destruction around her. She looked up at the sky and found it filled with smoke that was burning red with the sunset. Rose ran into an alley hiding as she looked out at the streets where she heard screams. She watched as families huddled in their houses horrified and scared. Rose could hear the sounds of marching in the air and her mind started racing through the possibilities of who might be invading. It was only a few minutes later that she heard one soldier approaching letting out a war call:

"Sontar-HA! Sontar-HA!" He yelled loudly in a chant.

Rose's blood ran cold. Sontarans were fierce warriors who she hated with a passion from her time at Torchwood. Initially she regarded them as nothing more than feisty Mr. Potato Heads, but once she saw their true war tactics come to life she knew that they were more deadly than they appeared. Merciless was their very nature and if they were invading this earth than Rose was going to need more help than not to survive this endeavor. She looked around for anything she could use as a weapon and when she saw what was lying in a nearby lawn Rose surveyed the area before she sprinted and dove rolling on the ground to grab the shovel as she crouched behind the brick wall watching as the Sontaran neared. What she would do for a gun right now…

No, please run, Rose mentally pleaded as she watched a family scrambling towards their house. Sontarans were beasts as Rose saw this warrior arm his gun she flinched. The family ran as fast as they could: mother and father running with their two children, a son and daughter, aged thirteen and three respectively it seemed.

"Return to your residence or be taken prisoner by the Sontaran Empire," He ordered fiercely.

RUN! Rose mind screamed and they did so but in doing so as the Sontaran neared the daughter fell and tripped. Rose's mind went completely blank in a sheer panic as her heart raced. She found her feet moving before she could even realize what was going on and started sprinting.

"Human scum!" He announced as he raised his gun to shoot the terrified girl, causing the mother to scream. "Prepare to die for the glory of the Sontaran Empire!"

Just as he went to pull the trigger the family heard a loud bang and the Sontaran fell to his knees before collapsing to the ground revealing Rose armed with the shovel. Hit them in the vents, Rose mentally reminded herself as she saw him go down. She tossed the shovel to the side reaching down and grabbing the gun before she offered a hand to the child pulling her up.

"Go to your family now," Rose said firmly and the girl nodded as she ran towards her father. "Get inside. All of you and hide."

"Please," the mother answered. "You can hide with us. Come."

Rose looked at the woman stunned at how she didn't even know this woman and was standing with a gun and she was offering to let her into their home. Rose nodded and followed them, running the rest of the distance to their home where they locked the doors and drew the shades. She noticed immediately that this was a house of refugees stacked with people in various state of health. She was immediately stunned as she saw people from the age of three to eighty lining the home. This was completely deplorable; no one should have to live like this.

"What happened here?" Rose asked the father of the children.

"You don't know?" He asked skeptically. "How can you not know what's going on?"

Rose sighed, "I'm a traveler. Please?"

He looked her over before he nodded, leading her to the kitchen which had less people in it, "My name is Timothy. Four months ago the first Sontaran ships came and waged war with the planet. They've taken most of the land and humans as a cloning planet. The rest of us are just waiting to be converted or used as slaves."

"Dear god," Rose whispered as she looked at the people around her. "Who is still fighting?"

"No one," Timothy scoffed as he looked at her stunned. "There's no way to defeat these things. How you took that one down I have no idea-"

"There's a vent at the back of their suit by their neck," Rose cut him off as she thought of what she could possibly do to help them. "One solid whack there and it stuns them into unconsciousness. You should have a few hours. Otherwise they're like us when it comes to wounds from bullets. You just have to aim at their heads as their armor is quite impervious to standard bullets."

Timothy looked at Rose confused, "Just who are you?"

Rose smiled sadly at him, "A traveler as I said, nothing more. How can I help?"

Before Timothy could answer the three year old walked up to Rose, pulling on her hand and making her turn to look at the child. Timothy immediately went to push the child away from Rose, but Rose ignored it as she crouched down to the child's level. The girl said nothing but just pulled Rose into a tight hug. Initially she flinched but reached around and hugged the girl back. She was so small; much like Tony was now back home if she ever saw him again. Every hop was always a risk and Rose never knew if one of these times they would end up bringing her body back rather than her strolling through. Closing her eyes Rose rested her head against the child's with a sigh as she ignored the single tear she let fall.

"It's alright," Rose said softly to her, pulling away to look at the girl. "I'm going to do whatever I can to keep you safe."

"Promise?" She whispered and Rose nodded.

Rose looked up at Timothy and saw the look on his face; it was one she had seen a few times before in the other worlds she had traveled to before engaging in battle. This man and these refugees were likely ready to begin a rebellion anew if Rose ever saw it. Sighing, Rose turned back to the girl with a sigh as she reached in her pocket and held out something for the girl.

"Here," Rose smiled as she held out the small piece of candy. "Just between us okay?"

She nodded and grinned at Rose as she took the small candy in joy that made Rose's heart ache. She had to do something to help these people, but one person cannot take on an entire Sontaran invading army.

"Charity, go with your mother dear," Timothy ordered with a gentle tone sending the girl away as Rose straightened. "You want to know what you can do to help. Tell us everything you know about these things."

Rose sighed but did so. She told them about how they were a very militant species of alien that needed to clone in order to reproduce. She explained when she had come across them before and how she had learned their weakness with the vents. Eventually they began to build a strategy as Rose learned that they patrolled in pairs. If they were able to knock out enough via the vents they could get the guns and perhaps make somewhat of a stand against them. Finally one of the other men stepped up to Timothy with a sigh.

"Why don't you just show her already," he stated confusing Rose completely.

Timothy sighed as he looked at Rose before nodding for her to follow. She was led along with a few others down to a door which led them into the cellar where she was instantly stunned at what she saw. There was an armada of guns stockpiled. Not nearly enough to stop the fleet but enough to definitely put on a fight. She had asked who was still fighting and now she had her answer. It was this group of rebels in the end. Somehow she always managed to find the fighters no matter where she went; perhaps there was such a thing as fate out there.

Rose turned to Timothy, "So what do you all do exactly? How did you get this many weapons?"

"We make raids during the night to do what we can," Timothy answered. "We're not the type to sit back when they attack us."

They worked late into the night, Rose trying to keep in mind that she had no idea when she would be taken home. As they gathered in the basement, Rose, Timothy, and fifteen others they created their main plan and they snuck out to initiate it. Tonight would be the night Rose accompanied them on a Sontaran raid to see how they worked exactly. Rose crouched in a few bushes with Timothy beside her as they watched the patrol pass them. Rose pointed to her own back showing about where the vents were and Timothy looked closer seeing exactly what she was talking about.

"Do not hold back. Hit it as hard as you possibly can," Rose whispered. "Ready?"

Timothy nodded and so they struck. Rose moved silently which surprised her cohorts as she raised the rubber mallet and slammed the one closest to her as hard as she could, sending him to the ground. Timothy swung taking down the other with almost as much relative ease. As soon as the bodies hit the ground, the others ran out dragging the bodies into hiding where they stole the weapons and stood above the Sontarans. Rose stood next to Nikola as he aimed his gun and shot one of the Sontarans dead. The others looked at her waiting for her to kill the other and she was torn.

These aliens she knew to be completely indifferent to any suffering around them; merely tools to complete a mission. They had tortured and tormented these people for months and would likely for years to come until they got what they needed. Rose swallowed hard as she lifted the gun and fired, killing the Sontaran. She had finally answered the question that Pete had asked her long ago. In her travels she had killed before yes, but that was while she was being actively pursued or shot at herself. Never had she proactively killed another being of any kind. Pete had taken her aside one night as Jackie was placing Tony to bed before her first hop and asked her a simple question: Would you kill to save a life?

The question had taken Rose off guard but as she walked back with the others to the next ambush point she knew what she had done and how that question was finally answered. Kill another to save the lives of even one innocent? Any day. Did that make her a warrior and a soldier and everything that the Doctor was against? Possibly. She remembered back years ago when the Doctor replied that he would rather be a coward than kill others to achieve an objective, but Rose looked at her options now. She was fighting for innocence and she would do so any day. She only hoped that the Doctor wouldn't look at her any different if he found out just exactly she had been forced to do during her travels.

Two more hours later they returned with six more weapons after successfully stopping a few patrols nearby. They added them to the weapons that the group had already stockpiled and Rose found herself sitting amongst them in the living room in silence. They were everywhere on the spectrum. Rose watched as a woman rocked her infant to sleep, an elderly man slept with his wife in a corner, a teenager sat sharpening what he could of his knife. They were all lost travelers and needed help in any way they could get it. Rose allowed herself to relax with them which was a mistake as they heard the sound of marching once more fill the streets.

Timothy's eyes widened, "Everyone do what we normally do. Those who can grab arms, everyone else in the cellar now!"

"This a regular occurrence?" Rose asked stunned.

"Whenever we make a raid as we did tonight they do patrols and get revenge in some way," Nicola spat as he armed his weapon. "So far we have avoided being the household that's gotten annihilated but in case we're not lucky this time we always stand ready."

Rose looked at them stunned; what did they mean annihilated? She got up, running to the window where she watched as about thirty Sontarans busted in the house across the street and started shooting. Screams of horror and terror filled the air and Rose felt sick. Turning to her side, she took the gun that Timothy offered her.

"We have to do something," Rose pleaded.

"It's not us," Timothy countered.

"But they are! They're humans as you are. There are children in that house. Listen to their screaming! You're the only ones who have the ability to fight but you hide and cower instead like selfish cowards," Rose spat at them all before she armed the gun, moving toward the door.

A big burly man held the door knob blocking her way as she approached it, fueling her anger until she looked him in the eye ready to fight him to get through the door if needed. He turned to the others and Rose turned to see about ten people behind her waiting to go. Timothy still stood at the window unmoving but the others were ready.

"Ready when you are," Nicola whispered.

With that they flung the door open and engaged in battle. Since the Sontarans were mainly focusing on the house across the way most of their backs were turned and they never saw it coming. With quick ease Rose fired and took out at least three before the others even managed to get out of the door. Torchwood had taught her well it seemed. Shots filled the air and Rose moved with military ease and grace to the front fence where she knelt behind cover firing along with the others. The engagement seemed to go on forever and the noise was almost deafening as Sontarans were yelling, people were screaming, and guns were firing left and right. Rose paused to turn to her comrades in arms who were standing firm except for two who were taken down while trying to get to cover. That was when she noticed the teenager who had been accompanying Timothy earlier when she had first met him.

His son was firing at the enemy, but his gun malfunctioned at the wrong time. Seeing the Sontaran at the side about to fire and more likely than not kill the kid, Rose abandoned her cover and took off running. She would not let an innocent die on her watch. Sprinting across open fire, Rose felt her nerves turn to ice as she ignored the shots flying by. She reached the son and tackled him just as the Sontaran fired. Her actions making one of the rebels turn and kill the Sontaran on the flank. Rose hit the ground hard, her body covering the teenager completely from any potential harm as he looked at her stunned. Rose breathed heavily at the exertion and noted that the air was finally beginning to silence. She looked down at the teenager and then she saw the panic in his eyes. She was completely confused until suddenly she looked down and saw the blood on his chest. She looked at him for injury but froze as she saw the blood dripping from a gouge in her jacket. How the hell did that get there?

"Dad! Help her!" he screamed as the rebels began to clear the area and bring the families from across the street in to safety.

Nicola and Timothy ran over, pulling Rose off the teenager and she found herself on her back staring up at the black sky. One, two, three, four, five, six stars visible. Better than other worlds, Rose mused feeling her body being jerked around before she looked down to see Timothy ripping her jacket open. That was when she saw the huge graze that had taken out a chunk of her side. Looking at the damage her eyes widened. Timothy immediately put pressure on the wound taking off his own shirt and using it as a bandage as he started yelling to the others just as some of the pain was starting to register in her mind.

Rose was staring at the blood seeping into the shirt easily as she had a realization that chilled her to the core. She had known that this may happen at some point in time, and although she thought that yes, maybe getting involved may mean this trip would be the one, she never dared believed it true. The blood soaking the shirt however answered that doubt for her.

I'm not making it home. Oh god, I'm not making it home.