The Fight for Survival

"Hawk, where are you?" Sala said into the communicator she had acquired off one of the members of her unit.

Hawks reply crackled over the comm. "We've set the cannon on the edge of the jungle about quarter of a mile from the main gate. Are their communications still down?"

"Affirmative. We have no com traffic detectable to or from this base. Prepare to blow the main gate." She commanded. "The Minister and I will direct the prisoners when they come out."

"Quickly." The Minister called to her and the others as they crept through the final valley before the prison camp. "This silence is too deep. Too deep."

The agitation in his voice was contagious and did precisely the opposite of calming her nerves. However, one thing she absolutely could not do at this moment was drop her strong front. Her people did not need a weak leader. "Relax." She said to him. "Their communications are still down."

"I know," he said, not sounding the least bit relaxed. "I ... feel something."

Something nagged in her brain telling her to listen to him. He had mysterious powers, had materialised seemingly from thin air, had healed her injuries. He could probably sense things too. But she couldn't drop her focus now, not when they were so close to freedom, she could almost taste it.

Since they had stood, listening together to the sound of the lilies, the Minister had not said anything else. The words she had said then had seemed to flow out of her mouth before her brain had had time to process them. Even so, she had meant every single one of them. He really was better than any man she had ever known. And when she'd told him - it was probably just the cruel filter of hope - but she could had sworn she'd noticed a straightening of his stature, a sudden attentive gaze in his eyes.

Sala would admit she had grown fond of the Minister in their time together - hells, very fond of him. Over their travels she had become so accustomed to his rhythm, his presence, that she could somehow sense whether he was with her or not. His absence was formed an increasingly noticeable hollow in her heart whenever she lost track of him amongst the crowd. It was ridiculous, of course, and her dignity would scarcely allow the thoughts currently flooding her brain. Sala didn't care though; she would hold onto the shred of hope that perhaps the Minister had come to feel something for her too.

They reached Hawk and the rest of the resistance a short while later. A tense hush fell over them all as they began preparations for the final assault. With the Minister close behind, Sala made her way over to where Hawk was standing at the edge of the vast clearing before the prison gates. Her chest tightened as they shot down each gun turret on the prison walls, which tumbled to the ground with a might crash every time. It was like a sort of slow, explosive countdown to the moment when they would be able to free the prisoners.

Hawk's voice boomed, amplified loud enough for the inmates inside to be able to hear him. "Prisoners of the Canisians, this is Senator Hawk of the Santine Republic. We are here to free you. Say goodbye to Luria."

The responding cries and cheers from within could be heard even from where the resistance had gathered at the edge of the forest. Sala felt a swell of pride at the sound. They were so close now.

"Stand as far from the gate as you can." Hawk commanded

The resistance gunners aimed for the prison gate and let loose. Within seconds the solid metal gate had been blasted off its hinges and the stream of prisoners pouring out of it at first, turned into a raging river. The prisoners sprinted across the field, faces alight with their new freedom. There was a range of ages, some disturbingly youthful, Sala thought with a flash of rage at the Canisians. Nonetheless, it was the army they needed.

"We were right. Good work. Pull back, Hawk." She shouted at Hawk over the increasingly loud chorus of cheers. Mercifully, the rain had stopped and with the backdrop of the glowing afternoon sun, it was the perfect picture of rebellion.

Sala found herself turning back to the Minister, who was watching the scene unfold with a somewhat dark expression. The plan had worked, why did he have to look like he was about to receive a telling-off in the principal's office?

"Look at them. Over here. This is wonderful." She beamed at him, threading her arm through his. "You did this. Now we have an army. This is the greatest..."

The slight upwards quirk of his lips at her joy caused her own smile to widen as he said: "Oh nonsense, I only ..." All trace of the mirth that had been growing on his features a moment ago rapidly vanished as he hurried her back towards the forest. "Shh, shh, shh. What's that sound?"

A chill trickled it's icy fingers down Sala's spine turning her stomach to stone. No... It couldn't be... She could just make out a steady whirring coming from above them, faint at first, but it marched over the horizon with a cold, precise rhythm she knew only too well.

"Canisians." Sala whispered, tightening her grip on the Minister's arm. "How did they know?"

"I don't know." Said the Minister, his voice low. She probably would have been frozen to the spot if he hadn't spoken, lost in the hypnotising rhythm of the Canisian helicopters.

"Get them out of the open ground!" The Minister fought to be heard over the anguished cries of her people.

Sala sprang into action as if her brain had gone into autopilot. Without another moment of hesitation, she ran out to the stampede of prisoners, waving her arms frantically to direct them into the cover of the forest. "Here. Over here. Take cover!" She yelled.

She was not afraid. When she had been appointed resistance leader in the event of an invasion, she had known that it could result in a scenario like this. There was nothing she wouldn't do for her people. Each terrified face that passed her into the shelter of the trees only increased her burning instinct to guide them all to safety, and then to victory.

Someone behind her was calling her name. She didn't want to turn her attention away from the prisoners, but she knew it was the Minister's voice and she spun around anyway. "Sala, go back!" His voice was urgent and pleading. Didn't he understand that she needed to do this, that this was her duty? "I'll do it! Into the forest, quickly. Stay down, please!"

Just as she opened her mouth to tell him to go back, the clearing exploded.

The helicopters opened fire, raining down a hailstorm of bullets. The ground erupted, torn up in a way that made it appear almost liquified. A churning sea of rolling green.

The Minister's heart shattered as he watched Sala's face fall. "No! No, they're massacring them..." She cried, distraught at the sight of her people dropping like flies in the torrent of gunfire from above.

To the Minister's horror, she ran out further into the destruction. "Sala, come back! Stop!" He cursed internally. Why did she have to be so stubborn?

"Make it stop!" She practically howled at him. "Stop them, use your power!"

His infernal power. He just couldn't use it; he didn't know what would happen if he did. "I can't. Come under cover!"

Why wouldn't she just listen? If she was hit, if anything happened to her... No. He couldn't bear thinking about it.

"No, please. I'm begging you. Forget your code, save them." She cried. Oh, it was so damn tempting. The war within himself reared its ugly head once more. He could break the code, or he could let everyone die. His heart and his head clawed viciously at each other, wrestling inside him. The consequences if he did save them... He just couldn't. His head gave a bitter laugh as it pinned his heart to the ground.

"I ... I can't." He said, his voice strained. "Stay down. Come back!"

Around them the prisoners were helpless against the slaughter. Hundreds had made it out but hundreds more were bleeding out into the soil. They screamed and flailed as they or those around them were struck down. It could easily be Sala too if she didn't come back with him.

"Please Minister, please, do it for me. Save my people!"

He realised, in that moment, that she was the most beautiful being he had ever beheld. He had seen the birth of worlds, stars collapse in on themselves in a spectacular display of destruction, saved an entire planet with his own thoughts. But none of that compared to Sala. The way her eyes burned into him with determination, the way she held herself with such dignity as she fought for the survival of her people amidst a barrage of gunfire.

Sala had been tortured, seen her people murdered around her and those who had survived become slaves. Now she was watching them be massacred again, still standing up against certain destruction. She was so strong, Sala. But what could he do? Did he have it in him to violate the code of the universe on this scale once more?

"What difference does a code make here?" She screamed at him, as if she had read his thoughts. "This is..." Her eyes widened as a stray bolt seared through her abdomen.

"Minister... please..." She whispered as her body crumpled to the ground.

The chaos around them faded to nothing. All the Minister could do was watch her fall.

Senator Hawk rushed to her side, saying her name as if its a prayer. But the Minister just stared. He felt something inside of him break, something which had been disintegrating for a long time now.

He had failed her. The words churned around his his mind, over and over, louder and louder.

Failed her. Failed her. Failed her.

He had failed her.

Now she was lying broken on the bloodstained ground, her and so many others, all because he hadn't had the strength to stop it. His heart struck down his head with one fatal blow as all sense of reason deserted him.

He found himself thrown back to the moment when he had first seen Sala after the Canisians had tortured her, her brave face masking the hurt underneath. The blistering red injuries she had suffered at the hands of the lieutenant. The deep rage that had taken root in those moments surged to the surface with such a force he nearly lost his balance at the violence of it.

The calm before the storm was the way Sala had looked at him when he had caught her after her jump across the river, the warmth of her in his arms, the overwhelming urge to protect her. There had been such relief and adoration in her eyes he had almost melted into the ground then and there, despite his joking nature at the time. He had asked her to trust him and look where that had gotten her.

They had taken Sala, hurt her, gunned her down, but they couldn't stop him now. He had nothing left to lose. What was he now, where would he go now that Sala was gone?

"Leave." The Minister's voice crackled, a deep and violent sound which no human could make, reaching out for miles and miles around. The shock wave sent everything around him into a standstill. Trees lining the edge of the clearing flattened upon the impact. Cracks in the stonework began to snake their way up the prison walls. There were no more blaster bolts, no more screams. There was no more suffering.

"Now!" The sky burned as each and every Canisian vessel exploded, as if crushed by some invisible hand. The debris rained down around them, screeching and blazing as it entered the atmosphere. They could burn in hell, all of them. He'd set every last one of them on fire and watch them burn. It was no less than they deserved after what they had done. What they had done to Santiny, to Alnelan and countless other planets. And what they had done to Sala. No, he was wrong. The quick death he gave them was far less than they deserved. Every last Canisian neck would snap, every Canisian ship would explode before he was through with them. All they pain they had caused – the Minister would make them feel it tenfold.

The sky burned and burned. Not a scrap of the night sky was visible beyond the exploding ships. As he watched, the brilliant orange almost reminded him of the morning sky on Gallifrey.

At last, the field before him fell silent, though it was rather more of an expanse of scattered grass and soil, littered with bodies. The Canisian fleet was no more - but he'd made a right mess.

At last, the Minister's wits returned to him, and he let himself rush to Sala.