A leap of faith on my part...please don't shoot me down in flames

The attack when it came was as brutal as it was short. Our soldiers fought hard, giving the civilians as much time as they could to escape to the mountains and the caves.

General Ianto Jones and myself were amongst the last to leave, leaving many dead and wounded behind and the screams of those men as they were put down like animals will haunt us forever.

But if we thought that would be the end of it, we were mistaken.

Now we are on the move again and I am glad it's spring and the snow is finally melting.

It's been a year since that fateful day on the old hikers trail and we have had no word since of the whereabouts of General Jack Harkness...we could only assume that he was still in one of the Master's dungeons.

As for the Doctor, our spy in the palace says his condition hasn't change...a Time Lord Sleeping Beauty but with no Prince Charming to wake him with a kiss.

We can only hope that one day he wakes up and perhaps the Master will be less cruel and rein in his daughter.

She is as cruel if not more cruel than her father and the people of Earth have a new Time Lord to fear...the Huntress.

General Gwen Cooper- Commander 2nd Resistance- April 29th 2031(Year 19 New Gallifrey)

The laughter of a child rang through the palace and a small boy ran along a marble lined corridor.

"Lord Jakaar!" a woman's voice rang out but the tiny figure ignored the voice and kept on running, heading for a room they shouldn't be heading for.

The boy was running at full speed but was stopped in his tracks by another adult.

"Whoa there, little brother," Seska said and scooped him up. "You know you can't go in there."

Jakaar squirmed in his brother's arms. "Want to see mama."

"You know you can't, only when father says so."

"No...mama's calling...want to see mama."

Seska frowned...could it be?

He shook his head, it was just Jakaar.

His nanny came running down the corridor all skirts and fluster.

"I'm sorry my Lord Seska, I was distracted for only a minute and he was gone," she said and curtsied.

"It's alright Margaret, he is quite the escape artist. You can carry on with your duties, I'll mind him."

The woman curtsied again and walked back along the corridor.

Seska looked at Jakaar who was still squirming. "Stop running away, you'll get poor Margaret executed."

"Want to see mama," Jakaar whined and squirmed harder so Seska put him down and kept a firm grip on his hand.

Seska shrugged his shoulders, what would be the harm...father wasn't here and if by some miracle mother was awakening then maybe his father wouldn't angry at him anymore.

This last year his father had hardly acknowledged him and Seska knew he blamed him for the condition of his mother.

Seska didn't need his father to make him feel guilty...every night he visited that room when his father was sleeping or away, aiding his sister in her war against the humans.

When he thought of his sister his hearts became heavy...she had changed and had become more and more like her father...worse in fact. She and her father were running this war and Seska was becoming more and more sidelined; as his father had put it...he lacked the killer instinct.

His thoughts were interrupted by Jakaar, who had managed to slip his grip and was in the room before Seska could stop him.

He blinked at the glare of the white on white walls as he stepped in and he could feel the static from the stasis field.

Jakaar in the way of all small children had climbed onto the bed and being so small had managed to pass through the stasis field without breaking it.

He sat on the bed next to his mother's head. "Mama talk," he said and giggled.

Seska moved closer, his mother was still...frozen in time...unchanged and silent; he could hear no voice.

He shook his head and reached through the stasis field and picked Jakaar up. "Come away little brother, mother is not talking."

Jakaar began to cry and stretched out his arms. "Mama talk," he said again, reaching out his hands towards his mother.

Seska's hearts ached; poor little Jakaar, almost motherless and his father only interested in war.

Jakaar was wailing now as Seska took him away from the still form on the bed and Seska knew it would take hours to console him.

Jakaar let out an ear piercing shriek as the door began to close and Seska had to clamp a hand over his mouth.

"Hush brother," he said as he took Jakaar into his own rooms and placed him on his bed.

There was only one thing he knew that would calm him; it was the same thing his mother had done for him. He began to sing a lullaby, the one mother had sung to him when he was fractious.

"The moon laughed and the star shone brighter,

Silvery fish leapt with joy,

The trees and the flowers sang,

Crimson Wings take flight,

And Rassilon's children sleep safe at night,"

He stopped when Jakaar ceased crying...that was easier than he thought.

Then he heard it...

"Sleep safe my golden child,

Dream of red grass wild,

Oh Rassilon's child, sleep safe tonight."

Seska's eyes widened in shock...he couldn't believe it...it was mother's voice.

"Mama sing," Jakaar said sleepily.

"No...it isn't possible!" Seska breathed and his eyes widened again when he heard his name.

"Seska..."

He leapt off the bed and ran as fast as he could to that room and nearly took the door of its hinges.

"Mother!" he cried

"Seska," the reply came, only this time his mother spoke, although his voice was hoarse and no more than a whisper.

"Oh thank Rassilon!" Seska cried and turned off the stasis field.

He moved to the bed and looked into his mothers dark eyes for the first time in a very long year.

He smiled even though there were tears wetting his cheeks.

His mother moved then and placed a hand on his cheek and he leaned into it.

"No...tears," his mother said.

Seska took the hand and kissed it, then let go and ran out of the room and bellowed at two surprised guards.

"Contact the Lord Master...tell him the Lord Doctor is awake!"

Down in the lowest level of the palace a figure that was chained to the wall suddenly jerked awake as he heard shouts echoing down from above.

He stood, albeit on shaking legs and moved to th front of his cell...something major was happening, but what?

Then he heard one of his jailers take up the cry and despite the fact the he'd suffered a year of torture he wept...not tears of sadness for his plight...but tears of joy as he heard the cry.

"The Lord Doctor is awake!"