CHAPTER 27
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Lily had one last chance to save Cleo, and she was going to take it. The Vespiform leader had lied to her about Cleo getting a trial. Cleo had already been tried in absentia apparently, and she was due to be executed immediately when they took her back to the Vespiform homeworld. They had failed to mention that little fact to her when they took her. Lily had heard them mention it to each other in their ship to ship communications that she had been spying on from her TARDIS. She wasn't going to let that happen!
She was following the ship that had Cleo in her TARDIS' stealth mode. It was invisible and running as silently as she could make it.
"What are you going to do, mum? Crash the execution?" Allison asked Lily with an incredulous look on her face.
"I wouldn't put it past her," Ron said seriously.
"Even you wouldn't stand a chance against a whole world of such creatures, my lady," Robin warned her.
"Don't worry about her. She always knows what she's doing. I know that she has a plan," Isabella said confidently.
Lily said nothing. She remained silent the whole time as she silently followed the Vespiform ship.
A Dalek ship then came out of nowhere and started attacking the Vespiform ship.
"YOU WILL SURRENDER YOUR PRISONER TO THE DALEKS IMMEDIATELY! CLEOPATRA IS WANTED FOR CRIMES AGAINST THE DALEKS AS WELL. DALEK JUSTICE PRECEDES THE JUSTICE OF ALL OTHER INFERIOR BEINGS," a voice said over the monitor in Lily's TARDIS.
"They want Cleo too? This just gets better and better," Allison said with a groan.
Suddenly a Sontaran ship appeared and also started attacking the Vespiform ship.
"You will surrender the prisoner to the Sontarans at once. We have charges against her as well. She will not be let off easily by inferior execution methods. She will suffer much more under Sontaran methods," a Sontaran said to the Vespiforms.
"What is this?!" Ron said in disbelief.
Then things got even worse as a third ship showed up and started attacking as well. This was a ship piloted by Autons.
"Surrender the prisoner to the Nestene Consciousness. We wish to distribute our own brand of justice. We wish to make her into our servant and use her as our human agent in our new conquests. This would amuse us greatly," an Auton transmitted to the Vespiform ship.
The three ships kept bombarding the Vespiform ship with attack after attack. Lily noted that none of the attacks were actually hurting anyone though. That was good. It also showed that they were all being very precise in their targeting. That showed very good cooperation between them Lily thought admiringly.
She was going to take advantage of this timely distraction to perform a sneak attack of her own.
Lily materialized her TARDIS right next to Cleo's containment cell and quickly rushed out to knock out the nearby guards with lightning fast attacks before they could call for help. She dragged them outside the area and hid them tied up in a storage compartment. Now all she had to do was to get Cleo out of the cell. That was easily said than done though.
She had to act quickly before anyone noticed that she was here. She generated a massive amount of regenerative energy and slowly charged it up. Then she channeled it all into her hands and arms and temporarily increased her strength with it. She began pounding on the metal door of the cell until she smashed it down to the floor. It was all bent out of shape and twisted once she had finished with it.
Cleo was lying unconscious on the floor of the cell. She had been put to sleep while she traveled Lily guessed. They didn't want to take the chance that she would escape.
Lily immediately carried her back to her TARDIS and put her inside. She swiftly dematerialized the TARDIS, and right after she left the holding cell area the whole area was destroyed by a Dalek attack!
"That was close! That could have been us," Ron said upset.
"It wasn't though. We're fine. Don't worry about it," Lily said with a gentle smile.
Robin looked at Lily suspiciously. Why was she so unbothered by such a close brush with death?
"WE HAVE KILLED THE PRISONER! DALEK JUSTICE HAS BEEN METED OUT," the Dalek voice said to the Vespiforms.
"You had no right to do that. She was our prisoner not yours. We demand retribution," the Vespiform leader said.
"DALEKS DO NOT NEED TO ANSWER TO LESSER BEINGS! BE GRATEFUL THAT WE LET THE REST OF YOU LIVE. FOR NOW!" the Dalek voice responded.
The Dalek ship then left followed by the other two ships.
"We regret that we could not give her the fate that she deserved. It would not have been as kind a fate as what she received at the hands of the Daleks," the Sontaran said as he left.
"We have lost a golden opportunity to have a unique servant join our ranks. She would have added a degree of menace to our reputations. Maybe more worlds would have surrendered to us without a fight," the Auton said as it left.
Lily silently moved away from the Vespiform ship as she listened to their transmissions. They believed that Cleo was really dead. They were reporting it to their home world. She had done it! She had saved her!
Lily materialized her TARDIS several light years away from the location of the Vespiform ship. Suddenly the three ships that had attacked the Vespiforms pulled up alongside them.
"Look out! They've come back to attack us now," Allison said alarmed.
"Have they?" Lily said with a wicked smile.
A sudden realization dawned on all of their faces then as they suddenly knew what had just happened.
"They were working with you! You planned the whole thing!" Ron said impressed.
"That's right," Lily said, still smiling.
She met with the Sontarans and Autons and thanked them for their help.
"It is the least that we owe to Rose Tyler for her assistance in finding our new homeworld," the Auton said.
"We consider it an honor to have assisted you in such a noble endeavor. Many of your family have already been given legendary status amongst the Sontaran ranks. I will propose adding your name to their ranks for your having executed such an ingenious strategy," the Sontaran said with the closest approximation that Sontarans had to a smile.
Both of them left expressing eternal kinship to her. Then Lily looked toward the Dalek ship as the lone inhabitant of it came out. A single Dalek glided towards them, and everyone but Lily looked at it warily. The next instant it changed into a beautiful brunette woman.
"Hello, Oswin. Thank you so much for helping me pull this little con job off! I don't really know you that well, but I'm eternally in your debt for this. Thank you so much!" Lily said as she gave her a warm hug.
"It's the least I can do to help. Rose has done so much to help me," Oswin said.
"You're a Dalek?" Allison said astonished.
"Yes and no. I'm a human that they tried to make into a Dalek. They didn't succeed though. I still think and feel like a human. They couldn't convert my mind like they did my body. I now use a perception filter to make myself look like I used to instead of like a Dalek," Oswin said.
"That's one amazing piece of technology. I would never know," Allison said appreciative.
"Thanks! I made it myself," Oswin said with a grin.
Oswin left, and they were all alone now. Lily woke Cleo up and grinned at her mischievously. Cleo looked at her in complete disbelief. She didn't think even Lily would be able to save her this time. She started crying and hugged her friend tightly.
"Thank you! I don't know how you did it, but thank you!" Cleo said with her voice full of emotion.
"You will have to become a different person though Cleo. I've convinced everyone that you're dead. You're going to have to wear this perception filter that Oswin so kindly made for you to change your appearance and your voice from now on. We're also going to have to come up with a different name for you to use out in public. What would you like to be called?" Lily asked.
Cleo thought about it for a moment and then said, "I'd like to be called Ivy I think. It goes with your name. You can say that we're sisters."
"I like that. Hello, Ivy. It's so very nice to meet you!" Lily said with joy in her voice.
The two of them hugged each other with relief for a long time afterwards. Cleo had finally overcome her past at last. Now she was free to start a new life.
Next: Cleo's new look using the perception filter revealed as she starts her life over as Ivy. Lily and company also start a brand new storyline.