Salyavin Point Detention Station, Outer Wastelands, Gallifrey
The next time Romana awakened, it was to total blackness. She sat up, panicky and confused. She actually had to touch her fingertips to her eyelids to make certain they were open. It took her another moment to realize what had roused her from her sleep in the first place. An alarm, blaring off in the distance. She coughed and tasted smoke and began to understand what the blackness was about. Her cell was full of smoke!
Was the prison on fire?
Instinctively, Romana rolled off her cot onto the floor and lay flat on her stomach, seeking oxygen below the smoke. Her hearts thundered in her chest as she assessed her situation. She crawled along the floor, feeling her way around. Nothing was hot to the touch, so the smoke wasn't from a fire within her cell. It must have entered through the ventilation system and become trapped.
There was no way out of this cell unless somebody opened it from the outside. Salyavin Point was constructed from the sturdiest materials in the universe. Not even a TARDIS could breach its security. The cells were self contained and totally indestructible. Which meant at least that it was unlikely she would burn to death.
"I'll just die of smoke inhalation then." she murmured dryly
Now, along with the blaring alarm, she could hear voices. There were no discernable words but she thought it sounded like men shouting. Men fighting. Then, staser fire.
Romana coughed and tried not to panic. From the sound of things, there was more going on here than a structure fire started from some innocuous electrical fault. It was starting to sound like a full blown riot out there. But a riot to what end?
Comprehension dawned mere seconds before she heard the click of her cell door being unlocked.
The radicals. The uprising.
The door to her cell swung open and the inrush of air from the corridor circulated through and thinned the smoke just enough for Romana to see who had entered.
"Wrayvius?" she coughed and started to climb to her feet. He moved to help her but she shook him off, standing on her own. "What the hell have you done?" she shouted, and shoved him away from her, hard.
"There isn't time for arguments." he reasoned. "In ten minutes, the Chancellery Guard's Tactical Unit will have this facility surrounded. This place is about to become a warzone. And I promise you, Chancellor Samaria will be only too happy if you are killed in the crossfire."
"Are you mad?" Romana hissed. "People will die because of you!"
This time when he reached for her, he grabbed her by the upper arm in a viselike grip she was unable to shake off. "You can reprimand me later. For now, we need to get you away from here." He pulled her along with him, down the smoke-filled corridor. Behind them, she could hear more staser fire and someone screaming for help.
She glanced up at him as they made their way. She wished he wasn't so damned good looking. Even sweaty and beaten and bruised, Wrayvius was absurdly attractive
"I suppose this is the handiwork of your fanatic friends." Romana struggled futilely against him as he dragged her along. "Come to break you out?"
"Come to break us out." he corrected. A radio at his hip emitted a burst of static, followed by a breathless voice. "Branimir to the Cardinal."
"Go ahead Branimir… what's our status?" Wrayvius replied as they came to the end of the corridor and stepped out of the cell block, into a stairwell. When they turned to climb the stairs, they had to step over the crumpled form of a dead guard. Romana gasped as she recognized him. It was Keeris. The despicable guard who had arrested her.
"The facility is secure," the voice on the other end of the radio assured. "All guards have been accounted for."
As they started up the stairs, Romana realized that in addition to the smoke, the smell of death hung heavy on the air. They'd killed all the guards- that's what Branimir meant. Killed them and ensured they wouldn't regenerate. They'd murdered sixty men and women who were only doing their jobs. Keeris had been a vile man with a terrible attitude but he hadn't deserved to die.
"What's your current position, Cardinal?" Branimir inquired on the radio.
Wrayvius took the stairs two at a time, forcing her to match his pace. "Approaching sector six. How much time left?"
"A little under six minutes."
At the top of the stairs, they swung right, then stopped in front of a locked door. Wrayvius used a security access card to gain entry and they stepped into the darkened dining hall. It appeared to be one section of the prison untouched by the raid. When the door closed behind them, the unnerving smells and sounds grew distant and hushed. He switched on the lights and scanned the room.
Romana noticed for the first time that he was armed with a staser himself. She watched with growing despondency as he drew it from the holster at his hip and gripped it expertly. He swept the dining hall and adjacent kitchen. He radioed to Branimir that the area was clear and pulled her into the kitchen.
She didn't even resist him anymore as they made their way through the kitchen to an exit at the back near the dishwashing unit. Up until now she'd been angry- furious even. She'd felt betrayed and shocked and disappointed. But it was the sight of the man she'd loved holding that gun that completely broke her hearts. The Wrayvius she had known had hated guns. He had told her all about how his father had expected him to join the military but that his distaste for weapons and fighting had pushed him toward academia. He really wasn't who she thought he was at all.
He reholstered the staser and reported back to Branimir. "We're at the door. Do it now."
He looked down at Romana and explained, "We found a way to interrupt the prison's transduction barrier for up to thirty seconds at a time. Just long enough for a TARDIS to materialize and take us away." Wrayvius spoke as if trying to reassure her. As if she were afraid they wouldn't escape.
Her eyes narrowed. "I'm not going anywhere with you. You're nothing but a liar and a traitor."
He made a sound of exasperation, as if he thought this had already been settled. "We need to leave." he told her sharply. "It isn't safe here."
"Cardinal, we're almost ready." Branimir's staticky voice broke in. "Standby."
He let go of her arm and she took a few steps back from him. "And I'm to believe you're going to keep me safe?" she spat. "You have ruined my life as well as my reputation. You destroyed my presidency and made it possible for a simple-minded, power hungry parasite like Samaria to supplant me."
"Samaria knows you're not really involved in the Pythia plot." Wrayvius sighed. "She's been waiting for any excuse to make her move."
"Exactly! And you provided her with the perfect ammunition." She fought to keep her voice from quavering, to keep her eyes from overflowing.
"Had I known our relationship would end up implicating you…"
"You what? Wouldn't have become involved?" she chuckled humorlessly. "You got what you wanted. Chaos at the capital. The perfect opportunity for a coup."
For the first time, he looked genuinely wounded. "Romana… you can't really think that I became involved with you just to gain control?"
"Ten seconds Cardinal."
"Does it even matter what I think, Wrayvius? We played a game and I lost. Whichever way you care to dress it up, the end result is the same."
"Romana I love you." His dark eyes were so intense she had to look away. He wasn't lying now and she knew that. Somehow the fact that he loved her made all this even worse.
"And look what you've done to the woman you love." she whispered, a tear finally breaking free and running down her face.
She only had a moment to register the look of despair on his face before Branimir announced. "We're materializing now. Come on!"
He unlocked the door and pulled it open, then looked back at her. "Hate me if you must but if you don't leave with me now, you will die here." there was desperation in his voice and his hand trembled as he held it out to her.
"I guess I'll take my chances. Better to die on my own terms than have anyone believe I would ever go anywhere with a traitor like you." She crossed her arms defiantly.
The area just outside the kitchen exit was poorly lit but Romana could still see that the radicals' TARDIS was beginning to materialize.
Wrayvius made a sound of frustration and grabbed her underneath the arms. "If I have to throw you onto this TARDIS, I will!"
She gripped a sturdy shelving unit that was anchored to the wall and resisted as he pulled and yanked at her. Behind them, she heard the TARDIS fully materialize and the door creak open.
"Let's go!" a man shouted. "The advance team has already arrived!" Even as he spoke, the unmistakable sound of a Chancellery Guard airborne unit roared overhead. Wrayvius cursed and let go of her.
"You'd better listen." Romana warned him "Sounds like the advance team has already engaged with your fanatics." Heavy artillery and staser fire could be heard from the other side of the prison.
His jaw hardened and he pulled his weapon. It almost didn't even surprise her when he aimed the staser right at her. Almost. "You will come with us!" He shouted.
The sounds of weapons firing outside were being drowned out by another noise, growing louder and louder. Romana was so intently focused on the gun in his hand, it didn't fully register that a second TARDIS had materialized.
"Cardinal, we have no time for this. We must go now." The rebel in the doorway-Branimir presumably- yelled.
Romana faced Wrayvius, unblinking. Her former lover who was now threatening to shoot her. "Looks like your timing's a bit off Cardinal." Romana observed. "Not a great look for a Time Lord."
"I'm ordering you to get in this TARDIS." His eyes were hard but there was no mistaking the tremble of his lower lip. He'd never shoot her. She knew.
"Cardinal I'm boarding now. We will go without you!" Romana heard the sound of the TARDIS door open and close.
"Go." she commanded.
"I cannot leave you here!" Wrayvius bellowed, his eyes reddened and wet. He sniffed and lowered the gun.
"Fortunately, you won't have to." The voice that came from behind him was far too cheerful for their current situation. They both turned in that direction.
"Who the hell are you!" Wravvius demanded, pointing his staser.
"Doctor!?" Romana couldn't believe it. Not just because he'd arrived just in time to save her, but because of which Doctor it was.
"Forgive the intrusion," the blonde man said cordially, settling his hat on his head. "Though to be fair, your radicals friends here did intrude first." He grinned at Romana and she couldn't help but return the smile. Impossibly, it was his Fifth incarnation. He never failed to surprise her.
"You called him?" Wrayvius asked her in disbelief, gun still pointed at the Doctor.
"She didn't have to call me." the Doctor's eyes hardened as he walked over and snatched the staser as if he were taking a toy from a child. He powered it down and threw it across the room. "Because unlike you, I will always look out for her."
He moved in closer to Wrayvius who took a step back. The Doctor's voice was calm but burning with barely contained fury. "Under other circumstances, I'd hand you to the Chancellery Guard myself. But I have far greater concerns at the moment. I strongly suggest you catch up to your friends. Madame President has a ride home already."
Wrayvius paused for only a moment longer before looking her in the eye one last time, then walking away. Romana could only stand there, frozen, watching him escape. She didn't even bother to wipe the tears away as the rebel TARDIS dematerialized.
The blonde Doctor had come to stand beside her. He placed an affectionate hand on her back and spoke softly. "Brave heart Romana."