The Last WarLord
Episode Two: Last Man Standing
It transpired that ProMarHab Three didn't actually rest directly on the seabed, but on six telescopic legs. These were currently raised to their full extent to make room for the unusual vehicle that rested beneath,
"A Sea-Devil submarine!" The Doctor said. "That must be how they got in here. Look, the top hatch is linked up to the moon-pool at the bottom of this base."
"We can go down there, see if they're still aboard and get them to take us back to their base, so we can meet with their leaders."
"That might work." The Major noted. "This General Tussq may be in charge of the Vanguards, but he won't be the submarine commander. Once we're on the sub, the Commander will be in charge, and if we call for a truce, he or she would be able to override the General. Unless the Commander shares the Generals' opinion of humans, of course."
"Well, we have to try!" The Doctor declared. "One colony of Sea-Devils could cause an awful lot of trouble for humans, but once UNIT or SHIELD got involved, they'd all be killed. The Sea-Devils won't know that, we need to tell them they can't win!"
"Well, we'd better be convincing, then." Graham muttered.
XXXX
Surprisingly, and much to everyones' relief, there were no guards in the moon-pool room. The pool itself had some kind of seal attached to its rim, and a ladder led down into the interior of the submarine, which also seemed empty.
"Why is there air in there?" Ryan asked. "Don't the Sea-Devils live underwater?"
"Not normally." The Doctor said. "They're reptiles, air-breathers. They have special tissues in their lungs that can store oxygen, so they can survive underwater for a long time, but they have to come up for air eventually. Their original cities floated on the surface, they only built on the seabed for exploration or military bases."
By this time, they had reached what appeared to be the bridge, which was quite empty.
"Where is everybody?" Ryan asked.
As if in answer, a screen flared into life. The face in it was that of a Sea-Devil, his dark green skin more ridged than any they had seen, and seeming to imply greater age. A livid scar ran the length of his face on the left side, pulling the eye there half-shut.
"General Tussq, right?" The Doctor said. "I'm the Doctor. We need to talk!"
"Ssssilenssse!" Tussq replied. "The one called Penton isss dead? He musst be, hiss devotion to duty wass almosst equal to mine.
"No matter, I am not sso foolissh ass to rely on a ssingle plan."
The view on the screen changed. It now showed a large room containing two pergola-like structures, each supporting a cluster of six long, thick metal rods. Two armoured Vanguards had clearly already removed two of the rods from one pergola, and were in the process of removing the second of another pair from the remaining structure.
"Without the rods, the coolers will not lower." Tussqs' voice came over the image. "The reactor will reach critical masss very ssoon. You, your invassion basse, and the traitorouss crew of the ssubmarine will perisssh, ass will the ape inhabitantss of the nearby isslandss."
The screen changed again to show a chamber where maybe a dozen Sea-Devils, of the smaller, lighter-skinned breed, wearing uniforms that looked like they were made from fish-scales milled around.
"Right!" The Doctor snapped. "They're in the hold. Yasmin, Ryan, get down there! Left out of here, find the ladder and down two levels. Get them to the TARDIS!"
The two youngsters took off. The Doctor turned to Graham.
"Graham, I've got to try to stop the explosion. You can't help me, the radiation in that room would kill you in minutes. But I'm not human, I can absorb it.
"Now, listen! Here's the key to the TARDIS. Get the others and the crew into it, then put the key in the blue slot next to the starting lever. That'll bring the TARDIS straight to me. Don't go out, wait for me! You'll be safe from the radiation in there, and safe if I don't do it, and the reactor blows up.
"Graham, even if I do succeed, the radiation will...Well, let's say there'll be a...change. I need you to help the others through it, and the new one as well.
"Now, off you go!"
Graham was about to set off, when the screen caught his eye.
"Err, Doc," He said, "I think somebody had the same idea!"
"What?" They looked at the screen, which had changed back to a view of the Cooling Chamber. The Major was just slotting the first of the four loose rods back into place. As they watched, he turned and effortlessly picked up the second - something that had taken two Sea-Devil Vanguards to achieve.
"That's not right!" The Doctor said. "The radiation should have killed him by now, and he shouldn't be able to pick those rods up like that!"
"Oh, he's strong enough all right!" Graham said. "I mean, Ryan managed to shift that beam a bit, but it was the Major who got it off me. He bent it like plasticine! Even left fingermarks in solid steel. He thought I didn't notice, that I was too busy watching Ryan.
"What is he? An alien? A robot or an android? Some kind of metahuman or cyborg?"
"Not human, or metahuman." The Doctor said. "Not an android or robot, either. If he's who I think he is...If he...It'll be all my fault, again!"
By this time, the Major had all four rods back in position. He seemed to be flagging a little as he made his way over to the control panel. He pressed a sequence of switches and the pergolas slowly sank into the floor of the chamber.
The Doctor was looking at the control panel. "Reactor's cooling down." She said. "Radiation in the cooling chamber back to normal. He must've absorbed a lot of it - more than I could've done.
"C'mon, Graham!"
The Major was emerging from the chamber as they arrived. He seemed a little pale and tired, but not much else. The Doctor scanned him with the sonic.
"Gallifreyan DNA," she said, "two hearts and so on. But heavy-planet muscles and skeleton, and you're crawling with nanotech! You're a WarLord!"
"Took you long enough!" The Major commented. "Now I have to get off this tub and back to my ship, and I'll probably need some help. Can't go absorbing that much radiation without consequences!"
He stepped froward, but the Doctor stopped him, a hand on his chest. "I'm sorry." She said softly.
"No need for that." He said. "It was family, after all. We're all Gallifreyans. And whatever anybody says, nobody could've prevented it. The Daleks were going to come after us all sooner or later."
"How did you survive?" The Doctor asked as they began to move.
"Accident." The Major said. "At the Siege of Baratsavi, just after the Silver Devastation. I was materialising just as some lunatic detonated a Warp Bomb. I was thrown into the Interstitial Net. By the time I got myself disentangled, back into the Vortex and then out again, the War was over. Or at least somebody had Time-locked it so I couldn't get back."
"That'd be me." The Doctor said.
"Good call." The Major replied. "So I went back to doing what WarLords used to do."
"Hang on a minute!" Graham interrupted. "So you come from the same planet the Doc does?"
"My ancestors did." The Major told him. "They had a bit of a falling-out with the TimeLords -the rulers of Gallifrey - and left to follow their own path."
"The Army of Peace." The Doctor said. "A race of warriors so powerful, so skilled, so terrible that even the rumour of one arriving would put an immediate stop to any war."
"If you know you can't win, why fight?" The Major said. "But we never quite got there, did we?"
"You did some good in the Universe." The Doctor countered. "WarLords always fought on the weaker side."
"Because the stronger side didn't need us." The Major replied, then stumbled. The Doctor and Graham rushed to support him. His face was grey now, and sweaty; he was clearly in some pain.
"Through here." He said. By now they were back in the base. He led them into the Security Room he had been using and went up to an innocuous-looking cabinet, which he opened with a key and stepped into. The others followed.
Graham was not surprised by what was inside, but he was curious. The space was more compact and much more Spartan. Floor, walls and ceiling were a uniform gunmetal grey, illuminated by a sourceless white light. The hexagonal control desk, by contrast, had panels of what seemed to be black glass, rather than the assortment of dials, switches, cranks and levers that characterised the Doctors' TARDIS.
"This is your TARDIS, then?" He asked.
"No." The Major replied. He touched the black panel in front of him and the entire control desk lit up with a mass of green icons. He swiped a few panels sideways, then tapped one icon and the doors closed behind Graham.
"Same core tech." He went on. "Different application. This is a SIDRAT - Support, Intelligence, Defence, Reconnaissance And Tactics. She can be configured as a supply depot, field hospital, fortress, CIC or recon vehicle as needed. "
He turned around and slumped down, back against the control desk, long legs stretched out in front of him. "Been quite the day." He said.
The Doctor knelt beside him. "Can you regenerate?" She asked. "Only I've heard different things..."
"I can." He replied. "But should I? I mean, this isn't murder, or illness or an accident. I was saving lives and all that. An honourable death, a useful death, a good death. We're not supposed to regenerate from those, you know. Code of honour and so on."
"Ohhh, right!" Said the Doctor with heavy sarcasm. "What does your code say about unfinished jobs? The Sea-Devils are still out there! They're in danger, so are the humans, so how honourable are you if you don't get up and do something about it?
"I've got to sort this mess out, and I need your help to do it. And I don't often admit that! So pull yourself together, soldier, and do your job!"
He looked at her sourly. "I am Groot." He said.
"There's no need for that sort of language!" She said severely. "Now, I've got to go and find the others and see what the Submarine Commander has to say. You catch up with us when you can!
"C'mon, Graham!"
The Major sat looking after them for a while. "Good death, bad death?" He muttered. "Unfinished business? Still needed?"
He looked at his hand, then spread it in front of him. On the back of it, a small hexagon of bright metal had appeared, as if growing out from the skin. As he watched, another appeared next to it, and another, and another. The pattern was repeating on the other hand.
"Looks like I've made my mind up!" He said.
He dropped his hands to his thighs, leaned back against the console and closed his eyes. a few seconds later, the metal appeared on his neck, and shortly after that, his whole head was covered. Through the tiny gaps between the hexagons, a golden light began to pulse.
XXXX
The Doctor and Graham found the others gathered around the TARDIS.
"We didn't have a key." Ryan explained. "Where's the Major?"
Yasmin who had been talking with a Sea-Devil woman with a gold insignia on her tunic, broke in.
"Doctor, this is Commander Sakalya, she's the captain of the sub."
"You are the leader of these humans, yess?" Sakalya asked. "The reactor sshould have gone critical ssome time ago, so I asssume you managed to undo Tussqs' sabotage?"
"The Major did it." The Doctor said. "But it took a lot out of him, so he needs time to recover. Now, Commander, what can you tell me about Tussq?"
The Commander shrugged. "He woke myself and my crew ssome days ago and told us he had a misssion for us. He ordered us to convey a squad of Vanguards and a cargo to this place. When we arrived, he revealed the plan he had concocted with the human called Penton, to wipe all of humanity out. He assked for my loyalty and support. I refused, and demanded he wake the Council and conssult with them. He told me he would not wake the Council until every human was dead, then he and his Vanguards overpowered my crew and locked uss in the hold. We thought we would be killed, until Yassmin and Ryan came."
"Happy to help." Yasmin said.
"So where will Tussq be now?" The Doctor asked.
"He and his Vanguards will have sswum back to our base." Sakalya said. "It iss not so far, but they needed the ssubmarine to carry the virus pods."
"Right!" The Doctor said. "We need to get into your base and wake the Council. If they can't get Tussq to stand down, at least they can relieve him of command, or get other forces to contain him.
"Can you help us, Commander?"
"Of coursse." Sakalya replied. "Tussq only has the codes to open the military dock, but I have codes to open all of them. There iss one closse to where the Councillors sleep. But I do not know how to operate the waking devices."
"That's all right, I do." The Doctor said. "They should be the same as Silurian pods."
"Good." Sakalya said. "But you will need to work quickly. Tussq will know when we enter the base, and realisse our intentions. My crew are brave and loyal, but we cannot stand against Vanguards for long. Once a Council member is awake, they can be ordered to ceassse, but until then, they will obey Tussq."
XXXX
Fortunately, the Sea-Devil base was a large one, so even though alarms began to shrill as soon as the party left the dock area, it took some time for the enemy to reach the Council Hibernation Chamber. This was a very large room. The six pods were set in line in a sunken area at one end. The rest of the room was taken up with tables, chairs, beds and medical equipment designed to provide whatever the newly-awakened Councillors might need. Sakalya and her crew immediately began to build a barricade across the room using this furniture. The Doctor got to work on the pods, grateful that they were identical to the Silurian ones she was familiar with. The waking process took some time, however, and none of the Councillors had emerged before the Vanguards arrived in force.
Sakalyas' crew were outnumbered and outgunned, and it might have been over very quickly, if not for the fact that more than half of the Vanguards seemed unwilling to fire even in the general direction of the Council pods. Nevertheless, several were killed or wounded on each side as the Vanguards, protected by their armour, inched closer to the barricade. Then one of them reared up, holding something in his hand.
"Grenade!" Graham yelled. But before the Vanguard could throw there was a sharp, staccato noise and he fell back. The grenade rolled clear of his hand and his fellow Vanguards scattered to avoid the small but fierce explosion. Sakalya and her crew took that moment to fire a volley from their hand blasters which sent two Vanguards down and added to the disorder of the rest.
Yasmin looked up and behind her, where the strange sound had come from. There was a gallery part way up the back wall where a figure was standing. Human or Sea-Devil, she couldn't tell, as it was wearing grey armour with a closed helmet. As she watched, the figure took aim with a sleek, rifle-like weapon and fired -the same high-pitched chatter she had heard before.
The Vanguards returned fire, but the newcomers' armour seemed to project some kind of force-field that shrugged off the blasts, while it's own weapon punched through Sea-Devil armour easily. The Vanguard warriors were clearly becoming demoralised, as Tussqs' sharp orders changed to bellowed threats.
Then another voice sounded, as deep and powerful as Tussqs'. "Cease fire! Stand down in the name of the Council!"
Another Sea-Devil had emerged from the pods. As tall as Tussq, and as dark-skinned, but gaunt, with the ridged skin of age. He wore a long white robe with a black sash across it, a complex insignia was stitched onto the sash in gold thread.
"High Councillor Karass!" Tussq said. "I requesst permisssion to remove the intruderss and traitorss from thiss ssacred place!"
"Be ssilent!" Karass answered. "You will have your chance to sspeak! The Doctor hass already told me ssome of what has occurred. I will hear more before I pass judgement!"
In the silence that followed, the armoured figure in the gallery vaulted over the railing down to the floor, handling the twenty-foot drop with ease. As he approached -he moved like a man, Yasmin noted - they saw that he was some inches shy of six feet, but broad-shouldered and stocky. His rifle seemed to fold in on itself in some way, the barrel, butt and sights retracting, and he swung it over his shoulder, where it clipped into a rack in the armour. As he reached them, he removed his helmet. Short sandy hair, a squarish, clean-shaven face with a snub nose, ice-blue eyes and a mobile mouth.
"Action seems to suit you!" He told Yasmin in a pleasant, gravelly baritone. "You're looking all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!"
Something about his tone, the broad grin and an unmistakable twinkle in the eyes left Yasmin unaccountably, but not unpleasantly, flustered. Unlike the Doctor, who looked him up and down and said "You took your time!"
"Yeah." Was the reply. "Sorry about that, but I had to get used to the change -it's a bit of a head-rush -then find out what sort of trouble you'd got into and dress for the occasion!"
"In 23rd Century armour?" The Doctor asked. "And that's an M-454 assault railgun, isn't it?"
"Rail- rifle!" He corrected her. "There is a difference, you know!"
"Never mind." She told him. "Better late than never!"
"Who is this bloke?" Ryan asked Graham.
"I'm pretty sure it's the Major." Graham told him. "If he is, that sort of explains some things."
"I am and it does." The Major told them. "Recovering from some injuries needs radical steps.
"Now I take it that this lovely lady is the commander of the submarine?"
"Sakalya." She told him. "Nice to meet a human with taste! That is, if you are human...?"
"Much as I disslike hurrying matters," Karass broke in, "we require a ressolution to thiss situation.
"Doctor, pleasse finish what you began telling me."
The Doctor explained everything that had happened, and that she had learned, since they'd arrived at the Marine Habitat. Karass listened closely, then asked Ryan, Yasmin, Graham and the Major to corroborate and add anything else they could. Karass then asked Sakalya for her report, which she gave succinctly. Finally, the Councillor turned to Tussq, who had clearly been seething with impatience.
By this time, several more Councillors had emerged, and ranged themselves behind Karass. Ryan noticed that they seemed to come from several different groups, having differing builds and skin tones, that there were as many women as men, all had the ridged skins that seemed to indicate age, and all wore the same white robes, but with different coloured sashes. The fact that they all seemed to be staring at Tussq with the same air of frank disapproval apparently contributed to the Generals' irritation.
"The apess lie!" He growled. "I disscovered a military basse closse to ours. They meant to desstroy us as we sslept!"
"Do you take us for fools?" Karass snapped. "You are the most ssenior of our military officerss, General, but that doess not mean that we will ssimply take your word on any matter.
"Commander Sakalya reportss that you illegally removed her from her command and imprisoned her and her crew. She reportss that you decided upon an act of genosside without ever intending to conssult with thiss Council - another illegal action. The Commander further reportss that she can produce evidence from her scientific logss that demonstrates the peaceful nature of the human installation.
"You stand condemned upon the Commanders' evidence alone, General! As to the otherss, their honesty and truthfulnesss is there to be seen, for those who will look. These are not ssoldiers or politicianss, simply ordinary folk who your actionsss have placed in danger.
"No, General, it is upon you that the final decision ressts. Unless you can provide thisss Council with a compelling reasson for your actionss, you will be relieved of your command."
"The apess do not belong here, on our world!" Tussq yelled. "They are ssavage, treacherouss, unruly! They will never sserve uss or tolerate uss!
"They have poissoned the ssea and the air. If they are not sstopped, they will make the planet barren!
"I assk the Council to allow me to revive all Ssea-Devil and Ssilurian armiess. To lead them in a war of extermination! To ssave the planet for uss!"
"Doess the General sspeak truly?" Karass asked.
"Yes and no, Councillor." Graham said before anyone else could answer. "The General's right, some people are pretty nasty, treacherous and vicious and all that. And yes, we have made a bit of a mess of the environment. But there are a lot of people, like the ones on that base, who're trying their best to put it right.
"No, a lot of us don't like being told what to do, even by our own governments, but we aren't savages, we manage to get along, usually. We've got our share of villains and idiots, but most of us are just ordinary people, trying to do our best. Some people won't like the idea of sharing the world with your people, but so many things have happened in the last twenty years that a lot of us will just take it in stride!"
"Humans sound very much like us." Karass remarked.
"There's another thing you need to consider." The Major said. "There can't be more than three or four million Sea-Devils and Silurians surviving on Earth, and less than a quarter of them soldiers, probably. There are billions of humans out there. They have large armies with weapons that may be crude by your standards, but are still very powerful."
"And they can fly!" The Doctor added. "That's something you and your cousins can't do, isn't it, General? Genetic acrophobia. You're all scared of heights. You never developed manned flight, you only ever built one spaceship and the crew of that didn't survive.
"But the humans did develop flight, they did go into space. They'll bomb you from the sky and from their satellites and there'll be nothing you can do about it except retreat back underground or underwater. And they will come after you. They're as clever as you are, when they want to be!"
"Sso, General," Karass said, "how do you ansswer thiss? On the one hand, the humanss do not threaten uss at the moment. But if we threaten them, they will likely desstroy uss. No, if the other Council memberss agree with me, there will be no war. We will either return to our ssleep, or find a way to co-exisst with our human cousinss."
Tussq drew himself up. "I invoke the Challenge!" He declared. "The Council iss weak and unable to act in the best interesssts of our people. I demand that they prove their strength or ssubmit to military rule!"
Karass leaned forward, his voice more sibilant than usual. "Were I but a little younger, boy, you would regret that challenge!"
"Were you younger, father," Tussq replied, "you would be sstanding with me. You were a warrior onsse.
"Now, of coursse I sshall kill your treacherouss Commander. Sshe iss your only available Champion."
"Actually, she isn't." The Major said. "As a WarLord, under Section 333, subsection 8 of the Shadow Proclamation, I offer my services to the Council. At the usual rates, of course!"
"Accepted." Karass said. "We sshall wake our finest cooks!"
"Cooks?" Ryan asked.
"WarLord standard fee." The Major explained. "One hot meal per day of service. I've had to eat some pretty odd stuff!"
As he spoke, he had been removing his armour, revealing a grey bodysuit underneath. Then a Vanguard approached.
"I am Colonel Meross." He said. "I will be Arbiter of the Challenge. I am to enssure that the combat is honourable, only sstrength, sspeed and sskill musst decide victory. If I ssee or ssenssse the usse of hidden weaponss or mental powerss, I will kill the offender."
"Understood." The Major replied.
"Do you wissh to borrow a blade?" Meross asked.
"I have one." The Major said, picking up a cylindrical object. "Shall we make a start?"
He followed Meross into a cleared space in the middle of the room. A Vanguard and a member of the submarine crew were marking a circle on the floor. Tussq was already there, brandishing a long, heavy curved sword. The Major lifted the cylinder he was holding and a white shaft of energy as long as the Generals' sword extended from it.
"A lightsabre?" Graham said. "Seriously?"
"Mohk-Tan plasma blade." The Doctor said. "The honour weapon of the Mohk-Tan monks of Carissaba. Instead of wars, they choose two monks by lot, and they duel to the death to decide who wins. Hate to think how the Major got hold of one, but at least I know where George got the idea, now!"
"The duel takess place within the circle." Meross said. "If a combatant leavess the circle voluntarily, he iss forfeit, and I will kill him. If one is forsssed out, the other musst sstep back to allow him to return. You are fighting to kill, not to wound or maim, and I expect each of you to aim for a clean kill at all timess.
"Begin on my command!"
The instant the word was given, Tussq leapt forward, using his greater height to deliver a massive downward slash. But the Major wasn't there when the cut arrived, he had moved in a blur and Tussq was only just in time to parry the counter-cut. With the blades locked, Tussq roared and tried to overbear the Major, only to find that his opponent was actually far stronger than he. Strong enough, in fact, that he was able to send Tussq staggering to the far edge of the circle with a shove. There was a pause, then the opponents charged each other. They crossed in the centre, then stopped, back to back; Tussq upright, the Major on one knee.
A drop of blood fell from the end of Tussqs' sword, then he put his hand to his midsection and slowly turned. The Major rose to his feet, blood trickling from a shallow cut along one side of his head, and also turned.
"SSSuperb!" Tussq said, then went to his knees. "It wass...an honour." He gasped, before pitching forward to lie still. The Major lifted his blade in a solemn salute, then deactivated it.
"General Meross," Karass asked, "do you accept the rule of the Council?"
"I do." Meross said. "I would have offered mysself as champion if the WarLord had not spoken."
Karass inclined his head, then went to kneel beside Tussqs' body.
"He was your son." Graham said.
"Perhapss too much sso." Karass admitted. "He accused me of weaknesss when I gave up my military career to ssit on the Council. He alwayss believed the world wass too dangerouss to allow civilians to govern our people.
"At leasst he had the end he would have wanted. In honourable battle againsst a worthy foe."
Karass got to his feet, then looked around him. "But mourning can wait." He said. "We musst now decide what to do. The hibernation equipment will not lassst very much longer. A century at mosst.
"Doctor, do you think it is time for our people to come forth?"
"If you can help us repair the damage we've done to the world, then yes!" Yasmin said.
"Hang on a minute!" The Doctor said. "You can't do this in a rush! People don't like surprises. There's people on both sides that'll need to be talked round. Look at poor Tussq -he didn't stop to think, he just wanted to wipe out humanity!"
"He'd have got away with it," the Major commented, "if it hadn't been for you meddling kids!"
"Oh, ha ha." Yasmin said.
"Never mind." The Doctor said. "Karass, you've got a century. That gives you time to find all the others, all over the world. You need to wake them up bit by bit, leaders first, and get them up to date, so they know what to expect.
"Now there are already people on the surface who know about the Silurians. Just a few, but they've been spreading the word. UNIT knows about you as well; they'll be on their guard, but ready to listen. Once you convince them you don't mean any harm, they'll probably help.
"But your best bet is to get in touch with Namor in Atlantis. He's got experience in normalising relations between humans and forgotten races. He's not exactly easy-going, mind you, but he's honest."
"I'll get in touch with SHIELD." The Major added. "Director Rogers will definitely want a peaceful relationship. Bloke's seen a few too many wars to want another!"
Karass nodded. "I think we will discuss thiss further over dinner." He decided. "We owe the WarLord a meal at leasst, and I'm ssure the rest of you will be hungry!"
XXXX
"Think this'll work?" The Doctor asked the Major the following day. They'd returned to ProMarHab Three and the two of them were outside the SIDRAT base. The Doctor had sent the others ahead, saying that she and the Major had things to discuss. "I mean with the Sea-Devils and Silurians and all?"
"No need to be coy!" The Major replied. "We've both been there! I did wonder why no Silurians ever joined StarFleet, until you mentioned the genetic acrophobia thing."
"What are you going to do now?" She asked.
He shrugged. "This base has to be destroyed, because that's history." He told her. "I'll plant some charges on the seabed - Sakalya and her crew will help. Then I'll leave and Sakalya can set the bombs off. It'll look like a quake. No survivors, no bodies. Tragic, but necessary. Which about sums up my line of work, now I think about it.
"After that, I think I'll leave Earth for a bit. I'm sure I'll find some trouble to get into!"
She nodded and put out a hand. "It's been..." She hesitated.
"Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra?" He said.
"Well, I wouldn't say that." The Doctor replied. "But you're right. I don't like saying it, but there has to be someone to do the tragic necessities I won't."
"Isn't that why you saved the Captain?" He asked.
"You know about that?" The Doctor was surprised. "No, it wasn't like that. Titus is family, and anyway..."
"A three-metre tall Adeptus Astartes is a bit of a blunt instrument!" The Major finished for her. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were accusing me of subtlety!"
"No, just a broader skillset." Was the reply. "Travel well, My Lord Major."
"You too, My Lord Doctor. Until next time."
"Next time?" She asked.
"Spoilers!" Was all he said.