A/N: Own nothing.
Rose's fingers hesitated on the trigger, she could almost hear the silence that was to become of the planet below her and it roared in her ears. Steeling herself she took a deep breath, decided to act. She felt the pressure building in her fingertips, so close to destroying all she cared about.
"Valiant hold your fire!"
Rose snatched her hand away from the console as if it had burned her as a voice rang out in the static of the radio.
"Who is that?" she called, her sensors still refusing to co-operate with her.
"This is the good ship TARDIS," came a familiar and welcome voice, "Rose, take the Bad Wolf offline. I've got sixty ships from Torchwood with me and we got a transmission out to the other alliance planets, reinforcements are on their way."
Rose didn't know whether to laugh or cry as the Doctor's voice rang out around her and the sound of laser fire cut through the atmosphere as the Torchwood ships tore into the Dalek fleet.
"You do like to make an entrance don't you!" she cried, "You're bloody late Doctor! Is Mickey with you?"
"He's in one of the ships, looks like you're not the only one who became a pilot," said the Doctor, "Rasillon, Sumira has a program that creates temporal fields, it can augment any natural abilities your people have. Invert the power cells and you've got one hell of a blaster, just enough to blow a Dalek to pieces. Ero, I need you to put a call out to all craft, get half to form a barrier between the Dalek fleet and the planet, concentrate their fire on the central hub, that's the engines. The other half need to cover the Valiant. Mickey, take your Torchwood ships around to the other side of the planet and pick off any of the smaller ships around there. Everyone understood?"
The ring of enthusiastic affirmatives rang out across the Gallifreyan and Torchwood fleets and Rose felt her heart rising as she picked off several Dalek craft with renewed vigour. She heard the Doctor curse a blue streak and her heart fell once again.
"Doctor what's wrong?"
"I've got a crafty one on my tail," he said, his voiced strained with the effort of piloting the unwieldy blue box in a battle situation, "Rose I'm useless to you in the sky, I'm unarmed. I'm going to the surface but I'm going to help you. I have a plan ok. Just keep doing what you're doing. Ero make sure your boys keep her safe, we need the Bad Wolf programme still."
"We've got her," came Ero's voice over the radio, "East group, North group, get to the Valiant and keep our Doctor safe. Presidential Guard I want you to keep the blue box safe, get the other Doctor to the ground, give him all the support he needs."
"Thank you Chancellor."
"We need you," was Ero's only reply as the fleet broke off, several ships surrounding the TARDIS and the two groups flanking the Valiant.
Rose continued her assault against the Daleks, giving the rest of the Gallifreyan fleet a chance to form a line near to the planet, forcing the Dalek's back as several Torchwood ships and others she recognized from other alliance worlds joined the assault. She heard the cheers as the Dalek force was pushed back from the planet, small ships Rose recognised from Tilif Prime going one on one with the Dalek soldiers and blowing them out of the sky. She saw the TARDIS and her escort disappear behind the line and listened intently for the Doctor's voice to come over the subspace radio. All the time she waited blowing Dalek upon Dalek out of the sky, proving to herself that Rose Tyler was indeed the greatest ever TARDIS pilot.
XXXX
The Doctor exited the TARDIS into an onslaught of laser fire. His idea had clearly worked as he watched the Gallifreyan soldiers, the guns crudely and swiftly adapted, suspend the Dalek drones in a temporal freeze before their lasers swept through, blowing the outer casing apart. Flanked by several grounds troops as the Presidential Guard returned to the battle in the air, he ran to the communications tower, sweeping passed Rasillon as he swiftly took a seat in between Ero and Sumira who were still frantically working away as reinforcements poured in from the nearby alliance planets. The screen before him flashed up the familiar swirling script and he quickly bypassed the access codes with a blast from his sonic screwdriver. The action caught a disapproving look from Ero, who looked more normal than the Doctor would have thought possible, his long robes tossed to one side and wearing the same military jump suit of black and silver worn by the other soldiers, but no comment came his way.
The Doctor could only remember working this frantically when he had been trying to contain the Dalek at Van Stattens museum as he brought up onto the screen the co-ordinates and access codes he would need to follow through with his plan. He pulled on a headset, fidgeting as he remembered how much he'd hated communications duty when he had been on his own planet but committing himself to his task.
"Rose?" he said, "Rose can you hear me?"
"I can hear you," came Rose's reply, "Whatever this great plan of yours is Doctor now would be a good time to tell me, these little cretins are getting a bit pissed off with me, their starting to act like angry little wasps and trust me, they sting. They've knocked my sensors offline totally, I'm flying by sight alone."
"I'll see what I can do," said the Doctor his fingers working over the keys, glad to find that the majority of operating systems did not differ from his own Gallifrey, "That helping?"
"I've got short distance but nothing beyond a couple of miles. Ero can you keep a couple of boys close to act as my eyes?"
"East one, North five, stay close to the Valiant, act as her long range sensors and keep those Daleks off her tail," said Ero, "Doctor you need to re-route power to your shields on your left side, their failing."
The Doctor opened his mouth to speak but Rose cut him off.
"Before you can answer Doctor, he means me. I've got them Ero," she said, "Doctor what do I need to do?"
"Get the Bad Wolf back online but I want you to detach the vortex power supply from it and attach it to the supply for one of your smaller guns," said the Doctor.
He heard the mutterings over the radio and then Rose's pained groan, "Doctor I'm not a weapons tech, I've got no idea how to do it. If I try and re-route the power the Bad Wolf goes offline."
"Its okay Rose, I've got you honey," he said, turning his attention back to the screen in front of him, "I need your override codes, the Valiant's blocking me out."
"Doctor if I give you the codes I won't have any control."
"I only need them for a second," said the Doctor running the sleeve of his coat over his forehead to remove the thin film of perspiration, "Is it me or is it warm in here?"
"We've moved the power from the coolers to the shields," said Ero, his hair dampened down against his head as he worked, "We'll just have to fry for a bit."
"Hear that Rose, they're making me toast," he said humourlessly, "Now what are your codes?"
"Day we met and my birthday," said Rose, "Think you can remember both?"
"Of course I remember," said the Doctor indignantly as he typed in the codes and re-routed the Bad Wolf's power source.
"Well you are a man," said Rose as her ships systems came back under her own control, "Ok, what do I do now?"
"Fly for the mother ship, Ero make sure those troops stay close to her."
Ero relayed the commands to the troops and the Doctor watched their progress on the screen before him, wincing every time a green light flickered and died. He waited until they were in position and then resumed his command.
"Rose, I need you to aim for the engines, just like I told you on the smaller craft. Fire the Bad Wolf and then for God's sake get out of there, that is going to cause one massive explosion and you get caught in the fall out I don't think even full powered shields will withstand it. Knock out the mother ship and the others will get muddled, give us a few seconds to knock them out. All Gallifreyan pilots and all alliance fighters be ready when I give the command and blow those animals to Kingdom Come."
Rose manoeuvred the Valiant within long distance range of the mother ship, her sensors locking onto the ship's hull. She heard the chatter of commands flying back and forth over the radio, heard the encouraging words of the Doctor as he watched her progress from the tower below her. She saw fighters scrambling towards the nearest Dalek ship, ready for the Doctor's command on impact. She fired.
"Targeting Systems offline," came the Valiant's sing song voice as the weapon failed to discharge.
"I've got a problem," said Rose, "My long range systems are offline, it won't fire without them. I need to go closer."
"Rose you go closer and that blast will destroy you. Give me a second, I'll try and get your systems back online, " said the Doctor.
Rose flipped a nearby switch, preventing the control tower from slaving her ship. She watched on the viewer as the massive ship turned towards her, its sensors recognising the magnitude of the weapon on board.
"She's spotted me," said Rose, "I have to go in, blow her up before she blows me up."
"Rose get out of the sky!" cried the Doctor in despair, "You go any closer and the explosion will rip you apart."
Rose paid him no heed as she weaved closer to the ship, avoiding the laser fire that tried to pick her off. She cursed as the side of her ship was struck, forcing her into a tailspin but she pulled the ship back under control. Hearing Ero call for the other troops to get clear and watching as they did so.
"Doctor," came Ero's voice, "You will disengage."
"That mother ship needs to go boom," said Rose through gritted teeth, "You just keep those fighters close to the other ships and when it blows you fire."
Rose could almost feel the heat and anger radiating from the ship before her, its massive hull dwarfing the Valiant despite its battle mode form. Rose ran her hand over the console, silently passing on her affections to her ship. She could hear the Doctor's voice pleading with her, Mickey's and Sumira's joining him as they became aware of her plight. It wasn't long before Rasillon's voice joined them.
"Doctor disengage," he commanded, "You will return to the surface."
"I'm afraid I can't do that sir," said Rose forcefully, "My planet needs me and this time she is going to live if I have to give my life doing it."
"I order you to disengage Doctor!"
"I'm not the Doctor," said Rose, "I'm Rose Marion Tyler and I'm the best God damn TARDIS pilot in the universe. I'll get out of there don't you worry. Doctor?"
"Rose please don't do this…"
"Doctor thank you!" she said, picking off several Dalek drones nearby as the mother ship swung her gun turrets round to face the Valiant, "You showed me how to live and I love you for it. Have a fantastic life my angel!"
"Rose no!" cried the Doctor as he pulled off his head phones, struggling to his feet to watch the massive hulk of the mother ship in the dark atmosphere above him.
He heard Rose's voice yell out in a final burst of energy, crying his name as she pushed the button and released the full onslaught of the Bad Wolf against the mother ship. He watched as the fire ripped through the hull, miniature explosions giving way to one massive fireworks display across the night sky. He heard the ecstatic cheers as the Dalek ships became confused as their communication systems went down and they gradually one by one fell out of the sky. He didn't know how long he stood there watching as fire and debris tore through the sky, didn't know how long it was until he started praying. Any second, any second now her voice would sound over the radio, she'd call in with a cheer and a crow that she was by far the best pilot that ever lived. She'd land and she'd tell him that she loved him as he held her in his arms. They'd dance at the party the Rasillon would call, the Time Lords victorious in the Time War. He'd find his peace in that he had saved this world if not his own and then they'd race through the stars side by side as it always had been, happy and together.
He heard the tapping of Sumira's nails on the keyboards, heard Ero's voice sending message after message out to the Valiant, calling out for the ship, for the Doctor, for Rose. He heard the sobs as the calls went unheeded. Felt the soft, warm hand on his shoulder as Sumira raised herself up from her seat, tears coursing down her face unchecked as she attempted to pull him into her embrace, muttering consoling words that the Doctor turned away from in disgust. He sat beside the console, tapping away frantically on the keyboard. The message flashed up clear as day before him. No signal found. Not a life sign, no signature of the ship, no radio transmissions, just static, dead, useless static. The Valiant wasn't there, blown to pieces by the weapon that had saved the life of every other person in the universe. The Doctor felt the anger burning in him then, the anger that the universe should live when she had to die. She was not meant to have a Time War and yet she had been braver than he had ever been, sacrificed herself for billions upon billions. He cursed himself for bringing the fleet. If she had fired the Bad Wolf she might have survived like he did when he fired the weapon that destroyed his own Gallifrey. He would have found her, got her home somehow and they would have been together but now all he had was the empty cheers of the city below him and the deep, gaping wound where his hearts had once been.
"Report," he murmured softly, "TARDIS Valiant destroyed. No survivors. She's dead."
A/N: Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I can't believe I just wrote that. Please review. I just wrote that part while listening to Learn to be Lonely by Minnie Driver and I was in floods. I always make myself cry! Nova x