Defender of the Earth
By Lumendea
Chapter Ten: Horath Academy: One More Thing
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.
…
Rose stood staring at the place where the Doctor's TARDIS had been only a moment earlier. Her fingers brushed over her lips without her really being aware of the action. The Doctor had kissed her! He had saved her and stolen her first kiss!
Rose's brain was stuck in a strange loop as she grasped the journal and letter to her chest with one hand and traced her lips with her second one. The sound of a helicopter overhead snapped her out of her daze and she spun to look around. Headlights announced the arrival of a group of trucks and a helicopter landed on the ripped up lawn where Apep's ship had been.
Rose straightened her back and tucked the journal under her arm before she started moving towards the helicopter. The lights from the trucks and the helicopter made it hard to see exactly what was happening, but she could at least navigate around the holes and rips in the lawn. Rose saw a tall figure step out of the helicopter and look down the large hole in the middle of the lawn. She kept approaching until two UNIT soldiers moved to block her path, but at least they didn't point their weapons at her.
"I need to speak with Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart," Rose informed the taller of the two soldiers. "It is materialised."
"Where are the civilians and Colonel Adams' men?" The tall brown haired man asked in return.
"Well, I believe that the students and the teachers took refuge in the administration hall. Colonel Adams and his men are all dead." Rose paused and tried to think of what the right thing to say was. "My name is Rose Tyler and the Doctor told me to speak with Lethbridge-Stewart."
The soldiers glanced at each other and then the one Rose had been speaking to nodded. "Follow me," he said, sounding a little stunned.
He led her past the helicopter and towards a large truck that had arrived. It was a huge lorry and Rose could see the UNIT insignia on the side of it. A short staircase led up into the back of the lorry, guarded by two more soldiers. As they walked in, Rose blinked in surprise at the numerous computers and crowd of people inside of the compartment.
"Follow me and stay close," the soldier said as he led her down the centre of the room. Rose did as he said, but did glance around at the advanced equipment.
She smiled slightly as she spotted Captain Alan Mace, who she met after the Mona Lisa Incident, and he looked up and gave her a respectful nod. Rose did not stop to say hello but followed her guide until they reached a door on the far side of the main room. A female soldier was standing guard on the door and looked at Rose in mild surprise. "This is Rose Tyler and she says she has a message for the General from the Doctor."
The door opened and Rose was allowed to step into a very small office, tucked in the back of the truck. An older man with straight posture and a dignified air was seated behind the desk. He wore a brown uniform with numerous pins and ribbons under his UNIT insignia.
"Sir, this is Rose Tyler, she says she has a message from the Doctor," the female soldier said as she showed Rose in.
The officer looked up at Rose and his lips twitched into a slight smile. He had grey hair, a neatly trimmed moustache and eyes that had a spark in them. "Thank you Private Marks. Please sit down Miss Tyler."
Rose did as the man suggested and sat down in the chair in front of the desk. Private Marks closed the door leaving them alone. The General glanced at a clock that showed it was just after midnight. "Good morning Miss Tyler, I am General Lethbridge-Stewart."
"Pleasure sir," Rose said politely, watching his eyes flash in amusement.
"I read your file on my way here. You've had quite a career with aliens and the Doctor at your age." He paused examining her face before he continued, "Doctor Taylor called Geneva late last night after finding a disturbing message on his answering machine at home. When Geneva realised at all contact with the leadership of the British UNIT division had been lost they contacted me and ordered all remaining British UNIT personnel here immediately.
"Yes, the Doctor said you might be in a slightly bad mood over your retirement being cancelled again. I'm sorry about that."
The General chuckled and relaxed back in his chair, "Well I'm pleased that Colonel Adams hasn't completely made you hate UNIT. His actions in ordering you to Horath Academy were illegal."
"Really?"
"The protocols allow for drafting any Earth citizen, but there is a clause protecting minors. Something he ignored."
"Well, that wasn't the worst of what he did," Rose assured him. "And for the record, I don't particularly like your guns and way of operating since no one with the UK stopped him from sending me here." Rose sighed, "But the Doctor said you were a good man and that I could trust you."
"I see," the Lethbridge-Stewart replied with a nod. "Well then Miss Tyler, I can tell you that the civilians are being tended to by our medics with no serious injuries reported and my men have started cleaning up the alien technology we have detected. There is no sign of Colonel Adams, his men or the space ship that was reported earlier so why don't you tell me exactly what happened?"
Rose forced herself to remain calm as she told General Lethbridge-Stewart about being ordered to attend Horath Academy and her concerns about the initial report. She recounted her investigation of the school staff and determining that the staff was not the aliens. General Lethbridge-Stewart remembered that she hadn't slept last night and the early morning hours were slipping away. Rose was given some food and water, but she continued to speak about the events wanting to have it done with. On and off the General would stop her in order to give further orders to the troops in the area before gently asking her to continue. Rose was telling him about Apep, smashing the Key and being trapped within the stone circle as it fell apart and watching the soldiers burned to ash when she started to shake and get teary eyes.
The General quickly moved around the desk and handed her the glass of water, urging her to take another sip. "I imagine you're having a touch of delayed shock," the General said kindly. "Your brain has finally caught up to how close you came to dying."
"I'm sorry," Rose whispered as she tried to collect herself. "Give me a moment."
"Take three," the General told her. "You've already outperformed many officers I've known over the years."
"I just did what had to be done."
"I know," the General said retaking his seat, "But some people can't even do that right."
Another man entered, also dressed in an officer's uniform and Rose quickly wiped away all traces of tears. He had grey sandy hair and gave Rose a small smile as he turned to the General.
"Doctor Taylor says that the men can start clearing the remains of the circle. There isn't any sign of a machine there, just a large cavern under the area. It looks like it was completely vaporised."
Rose sighed in relief, drawing both men's attention back to her.
"Ah, Miss Tyler this is Colonel John Benton, another poor retired soul that was ordered back into service to handle this."
"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Tyler," Colonel Benton said, warming shaking Rose's hand. "I've heard a lot about you tonight from Doctor Taylor. He was very relieved to hear that you were safe." He turned back to the General, "All the civilians have clean bills of health sir."
"Then start moving them to London," the General said. "This cleanup is going to take a long time, no reason to expose them to any more of this."
"We've given them the terrorist plot story and most have accepted it."
"Standard discussion with everyone else," the General said. "We'll make sure that their belonging have no alien traces on them and return what we can within the week."
"What about the three who came up to help Miss Tyler, what can I tell them about her condition?"
The General turned back to Rose, "Miss Tyler was there anything else."
"Just that the TARDIS materialized around me and the Doctor took me away from the explosion. He told me Apep escaped having been far enough away, but all of Adams' men died either from the explosions or the energy beams."
The General nodded, but his eyes went to the journal Rose was holding. She clutched it tighter to her and he moved his eyes away. "Very well then, Colonel Benton please escort Miss Tyler back to her friends and make sure they get back to London safely." The General paused, "Are any of them good candidates?"
"The boy Mister Smith is the only legal adult," Colonel Benton replied. "Our check on him suggests that he might make a good addition."
"Make the offer then when you return him to London."
General Lethbridge-Stewart stood up from his desk and gently shook Rose's hand. "You did a great service for your planet today Miss Tyler. Thank you and have a safe trip."
"What will happen with the school?"
"I'm afraid we will have to close it down, there is far too much alien technology in the area to have the school remain open. Given the information you provided on Adams, it appears that the school was constructed for this purpose and a much deeper investigation will need to be launched to determine how far this corruption went."
"I see," Rose said. "Good luck then."
Rose followed Colonel Benton out of the truck and towards the car park where students and staff were being loaded into cars and trucks.
"You going to be okay?" the Colonel asked her. "This is a lot of take in."
"This wasn't my first time dealing with aliens," Rose told him. "Course it was the first time the Doctor didn't help me stop them, but yeah I'll be fine."
"I can see why he likes you," Benton said with a smile. "He always did value intelligence and determination."
"You know him?"
"The Brig- I mean the General and I worked with the Doctor at UNIT many years ago, he was out the scientific advisor." Benton gave her a wink, "Before we tried to retire that is." They reached another truck and Rose's friends leapt out to hug her to the amusement of Colonel Benton. "Have a safe trip back to London Miss Tyler and do try to stay out of trouble."
"I make no promises," Rose replied out the window with a smile, to which the Colonel just laughed as they started to drive away.
Sharon, Shareen and Mickey told Rose that Astra had gone back to London with a different transport over an hour ago, but assured her that Astra was fine. All of the students were leaving under UNIT's orders without their personal belongings, having been told that military terrorist group had sought to set off a major explosion. Rose managed to remain awake long enough to tell her friends most of what happened. She left out the kiss, for now, not wanting to discuss it in a UNIT car or with Mickey present. The journal remained tucked against her chest and was explained as a simple saving the world gift rather than telling them the whole story. Rose decided that she might tell Sharon and Shareen one day when she understood it better herself. As she finished the story, she began to nod off and listened to Sharon start to tell Mickey about the Mona Lisa incident. Rose was planning on closing her eye only for a moment but didn't wake up until they were back at the Powell Estates.
Jackie had been furious about her daughter being close to a terrorist group and kept asking about what kind of compensation Rose could get for her trauma. Rose had tried to shrug it off in public and refused to speak of it in detail, insisting that she hadn't seen anything. Of course, rumours still spread given Rose's odd history being seen with military men and women near the estate. She received a phone call from Astra on her first day back in London and her friend revealed that she had left England and was back with her family in Paris. They had talked about what happened with Horath and Astra apologised for not being present when Rose returned but promised to call as often as she could. A letter from Eve congratulating her had arrived on her second day home, teasing her slightly about her first kiss and dropping some frustrating hints that made no sense to Rose. She spent the rest of the week lying low on the estate, staying her room with the painting supplies that UNIT had returned to her along with her other personal effects on her third day home. Rose puttered around the estate while Jackie made arrangement for her to join Sharon and Shareen at a local sixth form school to finish her A-Level studies starting the next week.
It was Sunday, six days since the Horath Incident as Rose had deemed with one when a letter arrived for her, this one not from Eve. Rose recognised the handwriting from the ring gift she received during Winter Break and slipped into her room to read it.
Dear Rose,
One more thing, you're right I do keep saying that, I forgot to tell you that I sent you the ring. The stone is a fire heart stone from the planet Plesadius and gives off a very at energy signature. I sent it to you to make sure that the TARDIS could lock onto to you despite the explosions and energy waves in the stone circle. I certainly didn't want to get it wrong given the very small window of opportunity. Don't worry about the ring being detected by UNIT or anyone else since you really have to know what you're looking for. You did an amazing job and I am very proud of you. No matter what you decide to do with your life I know you will be absolutely fantastic. Take care of yourself, Rose Tyler.
Love, The Doctor
Rose smiled and folded up the letter, setting it on her bed before she stood and walked to her bookshelf. With a small smile, she gently pulled out the leather journal from its place next to The Time Machine. Returning to her bed, she gently opened the journal and smiled. In the last few days, she had written her adventures against Spellman and the Mona Lisa, complete with drawings of both enemies and the Doctor who wore the leather jacket in the first few pages of the book. A section on Eve filled the next few pages and included drawings of her friend and the ship as well as the two strange men she had met. Rose calmly found the section on her adventure at Horath Academy and flipped to the drawing of the Doctor who had kissed her. Smiling, she placed the letter with the page and closed the journal. Returning the journal to her bookshelf, Rose turned back to her latest painting with a large smile on her face.