Child of Earth
By Lumendea
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Durmino Empire: Fighter
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.
…
Staring at the alien warlord, Rose tried to keep her breathing steady and look calm even as she kept carefully shifting her right wrist to find an angle that would allow her to summon her sword and cut the chain. Khandrin smirked and a soft chuckle escaped him, seemingly amused by her refusal to be frightened of him.
"I hope," Rose forced out past the bubbling anger in her stomach. "That my relationship status wasn't the reason for this attack."
"If you are in danger then the Doctor will come," Khandrin announced before a booming laugh that echoed in the room escaped him. "He will be distracted and stupid! Love is a weakness and I will make sure that he never thwarts me again."
"You can destroy him to protect your empire and take Durmion in one great move," Perijacks cheered beside Khandrin.
"Seriously," Rose growled, her fingers tightening around the chain. A burst of adrenaline rushed through her and Rose recalled those years of gymnastics, using the extra strength to hoist herself a little higher. "That's what this is about!" Rose shouted, not even trying to contain her anger. "You killed Emperor Reikigot to get at the Doctor!?"
"No," Perijacks chuckled. "It all come together though in the end. When Princess Alenica sought to summon you my great master allowed it on my suggestion. We already had the Durmion Empire, but the Doctor has meddled in the past. With Alenica bringing you here we could finally once and for all destroy him."
"Well one I'm relieved that my personal life isn't what started this given that you killed the father of a friend of mine," Rose admitted tightly as she fought to control her voice. "But you've missed something very very important about me and the Doctor."
"Don't try to deny it," Perijacks insisted. "You are the Doctor's love. You love him and he loves you."
"Oh, I'm not going to deny that." Rose laughed as she carefully adjusted her hand and gripped the chains tightly. Her arms were beginning to ache, but she still had enough strength to try something very heroic and dramatic. "But here's the thing, I love that daft Time Lord, but I certainly don't need or want him to be always rescuing me. We try to keep in even: I save him and he saves me, rinse and repeat. That's the important thing you missed because it reveals that at the end of the day I'm no damsel in distress."
With one more burst of strength, Rose pulled herself a little higher and called her sword. For a moment her shoulder screamed in protest of the position, but there was a sharp slick metallic sound. Rose could feel the expanding blade striking something and a second later the pressure eased. Falling to the ground, Rose growled as the shackles of the chain kept her hands bound and her knees hit the cold tiled floor.
There was a roar above her. Rose dove to the side, rolling away from the sound of Khandrin. The weight of the shackles was a bit difficult to manage as she tried to adjust her sword. As she started to climb to her feet, Perijacks came rushing towards her, bending over to grab the chain.
"Oh hell no," Rose growled, swinging her arms to make the chain slash wildly in the air. She caught a bit of it in her left hand and swung again, this time with more control. The cut end of the chain struck Perijacks across the face and Rose glanced towards the doorway. She could hear a commotion already rising out there and wondered how and when they'd triggered the alarm.
Khandrin was marching towards her, his armour making his footfalls echo in the room and Rose found herself torn between fight and flight for a moment. The alien was upon her and Rose swung the chain again. With a deep laugh, Khandrin caught it and tugged, bringing Rose skidding across the floor. He pulled sharply and Rose fell forward to the ground. The air rushed from her lungs, but as the adrenaline pounded through her veins Rose kept fighting back. Her sword shifted and returned to bracelet form in a second giving Rose a chance to shift her wrist as Khandrin tugged on the chain. Summoning her sword again, Rose listened to the sharp metallic hiss as the right shackle was cut off as the sword shifted into blade form.
Khandrin roared again, but Rose was already moving and sliced cleanly through the start of the chain on her left wrist leaving the shackle. The chain held by Khandrin dropped uselessly to the floor with a loud clang. Rolling to the side, Rose forced herself up onto her knees and slashed forward with her sword. Khandrin leapt back across the room in a tremendous arc that took him over thirty feet back. As he landed with a crunching sound echoing from the tiles, he gave Rose a sharp pleased smile.
"Excellent!" he roared, the word resonating through the room.
Looking around frantically, Rose didn't see her bag or more importantly her phone and sonic pen anywhere. She caught sight of the door again and heard the sounds of more robots marching towards them. Flight won this time and while Khandrin was laughing, Rose bolted for the door. Thankfully the double doors were open, but three of the large robots were bearing down on her. Swinging her sword, Rose grimaced at the high pitched sound of metal on metal as she sliced into the leg of the first one.
A second made a grab for her as the first one tumbled to the side and stuck the third robots. Rose ducked down to avoid the metallic arms and thrust her sword back into its leg. There was another terrible sound and Rose turned her whole body and began dragging the sword up through its leg. As it began to collapse, Rose pulled her sword back and sliced off the head of the second robots which was trying to get up from under the weight of the first. She had to half jump over the pile of metal and started running to the right, sparing a glance back towards the doorway. Khandrin didn't seem to be following her just yet.
Rose rushed down the corridors, noting that the elegance of the ballroom vanished at the junction up ahead and returned to being smaller corridors of reddish metal. There were small nooks every couple of feet in front of service panels to keep the main corridors open for traffic and Rose slowed down enough so she could glance into them all, bracing herself for an ambush. In the distance she could hear the pounding of more robots and glanced down the forking corridors, feeling fear clawing at her as she accepted that she had no idea where she was going.
Another pair of robots came around the corner as Rose slipped into the small cranny and waited. At least these things were loud enough to give her plenty of warning she reflected as she held her breath and waited. They appeared a moment later and Rose dropped low and sliced into the leg of the closer one. It tried to grab onto the wall and she slipped out from the cranny before it could fall on her. Her sword flashed in front of her, slicing into the arms of the robot as they tried to grab her. There was a shower of sparks and Rose flinched as some of them fell on her bare arms, but she felt moving the blade. Both of the robots collapsed with a high pitched whining sound and Rose released the breath she'd been holding.
Stepping around the carnage, Rose made herself keep moving. She kept her sword out and ready as she listened for any more sounds. Yet the ship had gone strangely silent. She was surrounded by the loud hum of the engines and could feel the vibrations in the floor and walls. It wasn't the smoothest ship but based on what Alencia had told her that made sense. Rose began to slow down a little more and being more mindful of the noise she was making. As the rush of adrenaline began to ease, Rose ran a hand through her messy blonde hair and tried to start making a plan.
She ducked into one of the small nooks with an access panel as she heard the thumping of more robots. Opening the clasp of her necklace, Rose slipped the bidamper ring off the chain and quickly slid it onto her thumb. At the end of the corridor, the robots suddenly stopped in surprise and a soft sigh of relief escaped Rose. Panting slightly, Rose knelt down and pressed her fingers against the edge of one of the access panels. It opened with a soft scratching sound, folding up above the square opening.
There was something horribly universal about crawling through service access tunnels. This one was fairly large, but the robots would never have fit inside. Rose hadn't seen any humanoid crew members except for the one that greeted them and Perijacks which made her wonder if these access tunnels were even used much. Shifting all the way inside, Rose carefully lowered the hatch down behind her just before the robot lumbered by. She stayed still until the crashing noises of the robots past and then breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Okay," Rose whispered to herself. "Alone on a strange alien ship. A dangerous alien ship that they know you're on. I've got my sword, translator and biodamper, but not sonic pen."
There were piled running down through the straight tunnel above her head and up ahead she could see a small loose bundle of cables. The problem was that she had no idea what did what without access to a terminal of some kind so sabotage was right now. With a soft sigh, Rose started the awkward crawl through the space, keeping her head done. She just needed to put some distance between her and Khandrin. And come up with a plan.
She crawled until her hands were turning red and her knees were aching. She stopped beside yet another one of the access panels and listened, but everything seemed quiet. Pushing open the panel door, Rose grunted when the door resisted for a moment. Then it swung up and she quickly looked out. The corridor was quiet and Rose carefully climbed out of the service tunnel.
Rose paused and frowned as she took in the different looking corridor. This one was much brighter and there were visible cameras hanging from the ceiling in orbs. Her fingers twitched and Rose took a careful step forward. There was no rush of robots or alarms so she hoped that the biodamper was still doing its work. Khandrin might have taken her bag with the sonic pen but at least he hadn't thought to check over her jewellery too closely.
She told herself to keep moving and started walking slowly, doing her best to keep her footfalls silent. Up ahead the corridor met at a three-way intersection with a large room straight ahead of Rose. Rose paused and watched for any movement. In the distance, she could just hear some robots moving over the constant hum of the ship and wondered just what Khandrin was doing about her escape. She'd heard no alarm or anything over an intercom system.
As she moved forward, Rose could see more of the large room. It seemed to be round with much brighter lights with small niches behind shimmering transparent walls. It was some sort of prison she realised as she stopped in the doorway. A robot stood completely still at a set of controls. In one of the cells, Princess Alenica looked up at her in surprise and then looked at the guard in alarm. Gesturing for her to be silent, Rose slipped around behind the guard. She walked very slowly, unsure if making noise would still attract its attention. Then she ran it through and slid the sword out through its side.
It fell to the floor with a shower of sparks with small noises escaping it. For good measure Rose swung her sword down on the head, once again feeling a rush of relief that Khandrin seemed to mostly use robots.
"Rose," Alenica breathed in relief, moving towards the clear wall separating them. "Thank goodness you're alright."
"They put you in nice accommodations than me," Rose chuckled with a slight smile as she eyed the controls at the edge of the cell. "I had to take Khandrin's company while hanging from chains."
"Oh Rose how barbaric, I am so sorry."
"Not your fault, now give me a minute to figure this out. Thankfully Khandrin didn't take my translator."
"If he wanted to talk with you then he'd know that you needed it," Alenica reminded her. "Why did he want to speak with you?"
Rose paused, uncertain if she wanted to answer that. It seemed like Khandrin had planned on invading regardless, but Rose couldn't' help the flutter of worry that maybe her relationship with the Doctor had made things worse for the Durmino Empire. She pressed the small button on the side of the controls and smiled when the translucent wall vanished.
"Rose?"
"Not now," Rose replied tightly, holding her hand out to Alenica. "Come on, we need to find a way out of here. Do you know what happened to the guards they sent with us?"
"Yes," Alenica nodded tightly. "They're dead."
Rose swallowed, guilt gnawing at her stomach again. She found herself selfishly hoping that Khandrin really had plans on the Durmino Empire before discovering her relationship with the Doctor. How he knew was a mystery to her, but she supposed someone noticing how often he was around Cambridge was inevitable. Alenica gave her a searching look, but say anything more. With only a quick glance down the corridors, they began to creep through the ship.
"There aren't any guards," Alasania whispered to her. "Why?"
"Not sure," Rose answered carefully. "But I escaped and nothing seems to have happened."
"I hope that doesn't mean he's begun a physical invasion," Alenica said with horror as they came upon an opening in the wall and Rose moved towards it.
Alenica caught her arm in a tight grip forcing her to stop moving and pointed into the nearest room. It was a simple small space with a worktable, but she could see in an instant what had caught Alencia's attention. Her black shoulder bag was open on the table with the contents spilt across the surface. Rose glanced around them once again fearing a trap, but the corridor was quiet except for the sounds of the sparking robots behind them.
Stepping into the room, Rose braced herself and jumped to the side in case anyone was hiding against the doorframe. The room was empty, but her sonic pen was in some sort of device that someone was clearly about to use on it. Thankfully they hadn't gotten that far. Rose reached over and carefully disengaged the clamp holding it and plucked it up, noting that it looked intact. The pen appearance of it had probably saved it from being noticed first. She took in the other items. Her wallet had been opened with notes scattered across the table and the back of her phone had been removed. As Rose scooped it up she groaned as she noticed the battery was gone as part of the interior was cracked.
"Bloody hell," Rose growled.
"What?"
"No calling for help," Rose muttered as she picked up her bag and slung it across her shoulder. She turned on the sonic pen and smiled as the familiar whirring sound filled the room. "At least they didn't break this."
"What now Star Knight?" Alenica asked as she picked up the nail file and handed it to Rose who as putting everything back in the bag.
"You're the Empress," Rose pointed out as she put the back on the phone and slipped it into the front pocket to deal with later. "What do you say?"
"Do some damage," Alenica hissed, fisting her hands and looking thunderous. "We're on their ship. Let's find a way to communicate with Durmino and see what we can do from here."
"I knew that I liked you," Rose chuckled with a wide smile. "Damage it is."
As it turned out Alenica was much more familiar with this sort of ship than Rose was. While she'd been running around what mostly felt like a rat maze, Alenica quickly used the controls set into the wall at the side of the room to bring up a map. Apparently rather than staircases or large obvious transport rooms each level had small circular teleport points that took a person on them to the next floor. Rose just stood back and guarded the door while Alenica plotted their route.
"I can't open communications with Durmino from here," Alenica announced with a huff of frustration. "We have to move to the higher levels," she said as she left the controls and began to sweep out the door past Rose.
"Wait," Rose hissed, catching the Princess' arm. "Here you should wear the biodamper. It shouldn't be difficult for them to locate you."
"You're human, it would be a simple matter to scan for you as well," Alenica pointed out calmly. "You keep it on Rose. It will allow you to sneak up and destroy anything that tries to trap me. I would not be capable of that."
"Alright," Rose agreed uneasily with a nod before stepping to the side and allowing Alenica to take the lead.
They followed the long red corridor to where it opened into a large dead end. At first glance, Rose didn't see anything, but then caught sight of a small set of controls on the wall. It was much smaller than the teleport they'd used to get to the ships in the first place. Pointing the sonic pen at the controls, Rose grabbed Alencia's hand and kept a tight hold of the Princess. A ring descended from the ceiling created a soft blue field around them. Then Rose felt the tingle of energy over her skin and a tug on her gut.
A new room formed around with three robots all pointing large weapons at Alenica. As a cry of alarm escaped the Princess, Rose dropped her hand and launched herself forward. The first robot didn't have time to react to her as Rose swung around his side and brought the sword down into its arm, slicing through it and causing the weapon to drop. The robot reeled back in surprise giving Rose access to the next one as it began to turn. She repeated the process of slicing off its arm and then slashed into the chest for good measure.
The sword caught in the twisting metal and Rose had to recall it as she dropped to avoid a wild shot from the last of the robots. It couldn't see her but knew there was a threat. Alenica shouted an unnecessary warning and Rose crawled forward as she summoned her sword once more. She cut off one of the legs and allowed the robots to fall into the wall before bringing the sword slashing up to remove the arms. Sparks were showering around her and the robots were trying to say something as Rose drove the sword into their heads one at a time to silence them and hopefully keep them from relying more information.
When the room fell silent, Alenica stepped forward and scooped up one of the heavy looking firearms. To Rose's surprise, she easily adjusted it in her two hands and rested it snugly on her hip. Alenica looked towards Rose expectantly.
"No thanks," Rose murmured. "Not really a gun person."
"I suppose you wouldn't be able to use your sword as efficiently," Alenica conceded. "Let's keep moving."
They didn't have to go far to the new level before they found a large window looking out into space. Looking out the window they both froze. Below them, they could see numerous ships holding around the planet and three large different style ships holding in a position against them. The battle hadn't started yet, but Alencia's warning about the dangers of Khandrin's ship being destroyed echoed in her head. That bad feeling returned and Rose was left wondering what they could possibly do.