Tea With Moses: We Ran Like the Doctor

The Sontaran's Tremor (2/2)

Jack stood and gather his  coat, but Clara was already gone, she took off through the mazework of halls and out into the plaza, not stopping for a breath until she had already reached the TARDIS, and rushingly typed some commands into the console.
Ashildr hurried after her with a curt nod to Jack. She found the diner room doors unlocked. Clara didnt have many options to go to outside, but inside the TARDIS it was proved more difficult. Her room, which was bare, containing just the TARDIS-generated furniture and some simple clothing, was empty, as were most of the other odds and ends, the pool, the library, the living space they had created for catching up on pointless human TV. In the end, it appeared that Clara had simply collapesed in the corridor outside of the library, into a shaking, sobbing mess. Upon finding her, Ashildr sat back against the wall, sliding down like a child.
"I'm sorry, I-I dont know why I ran, just, I dont know....." Clara stuttered, Ashildr placed a hand on her knee reassuringly.
"I know why, you hate Jack, for being able to see him, you thought you might hurt him, that scared you, you didn't know what you could do if you let yourself." She sighed " It was a fine reaction, it was human." As usual, Ashildr was right, stunning clara.
"You always know so well, how do you always know?"
"I lived a very long time, I did things you wouldn't ever dare me to. The other night, I had a nightmare. I still get them, through billions of years, I still do, I got up and I read one of my journals. There was a time, after I lost my children, I was going insane, the pain was everywhere, in every kids eyes. I saw some of the governess's children talking about the disease. They said only the peasants and the unimportant ones got sick. They said that the ones who died were wrong, they were not human. I was angry, I was really angry. I killed them, I killed them all. The oldest was ten years old. The youngest was 7." She stroked Clara's hair back from her face. "You could've done the same but you are strong. You didn't hurt Jack." Clara shook as she cried, she couldn't imagine Ashildr killing innocent people. Though at the same time, she could.
Ashildr turned to look at her, it took her by surprise at first. The kiss. Clara leaned over, and kissed her. Shocked, Clara pulled back, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" she pushed herself up from the wall and ran off in the direction of the console room.
Angrily, she sat there for minutes longer. She should've told her to wait, she could've said something. Billions of years, and she was still struggling over one girl. Prepared with many different things to say, she arrived at the console just in time to see Clara smash one fist into the wall. The TARDIS groaned angrily back at her. She turned and looked at Ashildr, "Earth is going to burn, millions of humans dying. I sent him back, I was cruel I was cowardly, I-"
"Am going to be able to make amends by saving his world" she gently guided clara towards the Centre. "You know you have a plan, you were going to tell Jack, I saw you."
"I do!" Clara's energy was back, the bounded towards the rows of buttons, typing fast. A model of the ship was directed to the screen. "So based on the signal it's sending out, it's either sontaran or rutan. Nobody has heard anything from the rutans for a very long time, not a whisper, so it's doubtful that it's theirs."
"A sontarans weak point is situated on the back of its neck, you need a forceful hit, aimed almost exactly on point" Ashildr was skimming through the informtion in the TARDIS data banks. "Produced in clone batches, the sontarans are all genetically the same. They look identical."
"If we could get the TARDIS on board, I can work the controls and send the ship into the void. There's a weak point in the universe, I saw it once, the-the doctor, he told me that if you wanted to break into the universe you would chose here. I suppose the same goes for breaking back in." Clara typed a few more commands in, and the blueprint of the ship changed, highlighting one specific end. "The TARDIS with its current disguise won't fit into a sontaran ship. Not without a lot of problems anyway, so we can get it up top, right above the ship. And follow three gas shafts down into the body. The only disadvantage to that path, is the distance, they are at the furthest back end."
"Say we go in this way, are you sure you can control a sontaran battle ship? It's going to be an entirely different software than any TARDIS?"
"That's the part I'll be best at. When I first met him, I had more computer knowledge than most people will ever learn spliced into my mind."
Ashildr stood, debating for a second on what to say. "I was there" she finally decided. "I saw almost all of your selves, I figured out the mystery long before the doctor did. Long before he saw you."
"You watched all that?" Clara was shocked. She didn't know what any of her echos had been, she wasn't present in all of them.
"Yes, it hurt"
"I'm sorry. Here we go! I can get us there now! You ready to do this?"
"Most certainly" Clara pulled down the lever allowing them to take off. The TARDIS gave a shake as it materialized atop the battleship.
Exiting the diner room, Clara was doubting her own plan. The lack of oxygen and the gasses being emitted would put them in some pain, if not kill Ashildr once. Ashildr on the other hand, was happy that Clara was back, although in the back of her mind, questions kept returning like she was just a young girl again, or a teenager in one of the many movies about grade school.
Clara turned out to be right. The wind in this layer of the atmosphere blew forcefully. She immediately began to cough and choke, Ashildr wasn't doing any better. They found the shafts with muchdifficulty, three long rectangular holes cut 8 or 9 feet down. She looked at Clara with bravery that made her smile. The shorter woman slid easily down the space, though with her hight, the fall felt longer than it was. She was quickly followed by Clara, who landed beside her with a grace only she could master.
The room around them was bare white and empty. It wasn't very large, although an opening led to an even whiter coridor. Clara stepped out, checking out her surroundings. A sontaran raised its light gun, ready to  fire at her, when it toppled foreword. Standing behind it, was Ianto, his face still cold and expressionless even in the current circumstances.
"Come on, Jack's back this way" he turned and led them down a long corridor, and to a fork in the path, where jack and Owen were waiting.
"So look who's arrived" Jack said with a smile "was afraid I wouldn't see you until the end of the century" Clara was almost jealous at his easy, flirting tone, but Ashildr didn't seem to care so she let it go. "The doctor disapeared, was that you?"
"Do you have a plan, or will you Americans go in there and shoot up the place?" Ashildr's cold demeanor had returned.
"We have one of our own" Clara tried to match her partner.
"Jack, we have to move" A thick welsh accent said. A tall woman with dark hair, one from torchwoood no doubt came from one of the endless halls. Neither Clara nor Ashildr bothered to remember her name. "Good, more hands" she held a gun out to Clara. Torchwood evidently loved their guns.
"You get Clara to the controls, trust us from there."
"Who put you in charge?" Owen asked, hostile.
"I have a plan, that's why" she gave him an intense stare. Owen was smart, there was something about her, an air that made him follow her instruction.
"Alright, You're job is to get her there, do whatever it takes. Clara, you're with Gwen, don't worry, she's straight" he teased Ashildr. "Let's go"
They moved in with quick military efficiency. The room was huge, with a commander at the front, and troops in their legions, rows of 4, lined perfectly behind it. The controls for the ship were in a small, bean shaped device standing beside the commander.
Clara followed Gwen's movements, staying close to the walls. Meanwhile, with Jack, Ashildr had her gun raised, ready. It was her who fired the first shot, as a sontaran turned, noticing the intruders, aimed at Clara, and hit home.

She saw the shot coming, she knew it was there. It hit squarely in the chest, right into her heart. She may have been Immortal but she was still open to pain. She fell foreword, hardly noticing the room around her turn to chaos. An image of the doctor flashed through her mind, what would he tell her, what should she do? Gritting her teeth she stood, pushing off the wall for support, she had to make it to the unit.
Ashildr hurried after her, adding to the chaos on her own. She reached the unit first, and stood for a moment, guiltily deciding whether to go find Clara or begin the commands. In her moments hesitation, her choice was made for her when clara arrived at her side.
"You were hit"
"You hit a sontaran, I'll heal amyway. Watch for the sontarans, I'll get started." The symbols which ashildr had seen, we translating to English now, a good sign the TARDIS was still near by. Ashildr focused on her for a second, how easily she seemed to work under pressure and in pain. It must've been the doctor. He made her this way.
It didn't last, there were still troops in the room, holding ground. They were annoyingly good at combat, they were born for the job. Luckily,most of the focus was on the torchwood team, who were definetly dominating. Ashildr wondered what they must be trained in to fight this well against a race born to defeat you.
Clara worked fast, her thin fingers typing in coordinates, commands, steering an entire ship towards hell. "Run! Now, take them and run, get up to the TARDIS!" She pushed Ashildr towards the door.
"You can't stay, the void is hell! I can't stand by and let you do that!"
"It won't be hell if I know you're safe and you have a TARDIS of your own. Take torchwood down with you, bring them home." With that statement, Ashildr formed a plan.
"I'm going, but Clara, I'm coming back. Just you wait" she took off, running out the door, Jack fired his last round, and seeing her, followed. His team, knowing his every move, we're gone as well.

The sontaran ship crashed into the void with a force that broke it entirely to dust, the sontarans and clara were scattered around the darkness. It was a black that no starless night would match, darker than the human mind could ever account. She was conscious, barely, to here the sound of a TARDIS being materialized around her.
"I told you I'd be back for you" Ashildr whispered as she picked her up and sat her down on a booth. She was awake quickly, her mind a bit fuzzy from the void, but she was well.
"The TARDIS couldn't have had the power to do that" she said, sitting up slowly.
"So I landed her in Cardiff, she can recharge." Ashildr stood up. "How do you feel?"
"Surprisingly well. No human would have survived it, but the almost-instant healing must've protected me"
"Well enough to go out for a drink?" Ashildr asked "the TARDIS needs a while, and she's boring me on purpose now."
"Absolutely, that's exactly what I need" Clara smiled and they left the diner room in search of something to do.

Sorry for missing capital letters or something like that, typing on a new tablet. I tried to check it over but I might have missed something.