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Fic: The Great Escape
Title: The Great Escape
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tarnera
Appearing in this work: Romana
Spoilers/Timeline: Sometime after Romana has been Lady President; before the Last Great Time War. This fic is completely AU.
Word Count: 1,635
Rating: None
Summary: Romana is tired of being the Lady President, and she decides to take a leaf out of the Doctor's book.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, save my crazy theories.
Author's Note: This was written because the lovely people at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
brb_gallifrey put interesting thoughts in my head, and my brain is too continuity-happy to just let Romana leave Gallifrey. This fic is prior to Romana's continuing adventures in both brb_gallifrey and earthrevisited. Not beta'd, all mistakes are my own.
I'll use a lock that has no key
Bind you with chains
That no one else can see…
How long can you hold your breath?
While you hold mine I'll count and wait
Just to watch you perform the Great Escape.
****
Romanadvoratrelundar, Madame President of Gallifrey, was sitting in her office, writing a letter. She finished marking the last complex symbol of Gallifreyan with a flourish, and then signed it with the symbol that was her name. She added a Presidential seal below that. Smiling slightly, she regarded her handiwork. "Yes, that will do quite nicely," she remarked to no one.
Well, almost no one. K-9 MkII's ears whirred behind her chair. "Miss-tress?" he inquired.
"K-9. You're a good boy, aren't you?" Romana got up and walked to her dog. "Good boy. You're my very good boy." She leaned down to rub his head.
"Affirmative, Miss-tress." K-9's ears and tail went *whirwhirwhir* as they waggled back and forth.
"Stay here, K-9. You can do that, can't you? Stay here and help…help them when I'm gone. For such an advanced and supposedly superior race, Time Lords can occasionally be as helpless and bumbling as Human Beings." She smiled. It wasn't precisely a sad smile; it would be closer to the truth to call it nostalgic. She gave his head one more pat and then straightened up.
"Miss-tress? You are retiring to your room?" K-9 asked.
"Yes, briefly. But I'm leaving almost right away," Romana replied softly.
"What is your intended destination, Miss-tress? Take me!" K-9 said.
"No, K-9. You should stay here," Romana whispered. It hurt to leave him behind, the only thing the Doctor ever gave her. But she couldn’t take him with her.
"Entreat, Miss-tress!" K-9 begged.
"No!" Romana snapped. She took a calming breath and then said, "No, K-9. You have to stay here, all right? Promise me."
"Affirmative, Miss-tress. I pro-mise," K-9 said sadly. His head went down toward the floor.
Romana sighed and rubbed his head again. "You're a good boy, K-9. Do this for me, all right?" She went to her desk and picked up the letter she had just finished. "After I've been gone for the equivalent of one Earth day, give this to Chancellor Threllip. You can do that, can't you, K-9?"
"Affirmative, Miss-tress. Inquiry: what does that missive consist of?" K-9 asked.
Romana folded the paper over in two places and inscribed the Chancellor's name on the front of the letter. "It is to inform them that I, Romanadvoratrelundar, Madame President of Gallifrey, hereby relinquish my position. I have also named a successor; a responsible young Time Lord, I hand-picked him personally. Damon, with the will of the Counsel of Cardinals, will become the new Lord President. Although," she added in an undertone, "since Damon also knew the Doctor personally, perhaps they won't approve. The Counsel might just be a tad leery about letting another one of the Doctor's friends into this position."
She leaned down again to slip the letter into K-9's casing. "Don't forget, now. One Earth day; 24 Earth hours. No sooner than that, and not much later."
"Affirmative, Miss-tress."
"And obey the new President as you would me or the Doctor no matter who he or she may turn out to be, is that clear?"
"Affirmative, Miss-tress." K-9's tail wagged half-heartedly.
Romana smiled her nostalgic smile again. "You good boy. I'll miss you." She kissed his metal head just behind the ears. "Be well, old friend." She walked to the door, and her robes swished around the door frame as she exited towards her room.
K-9 raised his head. "Good-bye, Miss-tress. Your absence will be noted." His squeaky little voice sounded sad, if robot voices can sound that way.
****
Once she got to her room, Romana changed quickly out of her robes and into something that was far more appropriate for running. Some blue jean-like pants, a white dress shirt, and practical boots. She threw a long beige coat on top of it all and the look was complete. She took a moment to examine herself in a nearby mirror, rather amused at her vague resemblance to a certain other Time Lord she knew.
She took a moment to look around the room one last time. It was a good, serviceable room, like most things Gallifreyan. For all the time she had lived in this room, it wasn't really hers—she had no paintings or wall hangings to brighten it up, just a few papers in a neat pile on the desk. She hadn't been able to bear adding any sort of personalizing element. Every time she had tried it had felt wrong, like she was trying to lie to herself. Gallifrey was not her home, not any longer. It hadn't been home for centuries for all that she had been Loomed here, for all that she had grown up here and gone to Academy here. Home, for her, was a small time-traveling blue box. If she couldn't have that, she was willing to settle for something nearly as good. After scooping up and pocketing a small gadget from the bed she turned and left the room for the last time, striding confidently down the hall towards the TARDIS bay.
****
Arriving at the bay, Romana nodded to the man on duty. He bowed to her, of course. "Good evening, Madame President," he said. "Are you going on another one of your trips?" She could hear the faint disapproval coloring his tone.
"Good evening, Naxten. And yes, I thought I just might do so," Romana replied.
"Very good, Madame President," Naxten said dryly. "And where might you be going?"
"Oh, I thought I might take a trip to the planet Rianal, make sure the rebuilding is going according to plan. I feel rather like I'm responsible for that planet ever since that nasty coup business, so I thought I'd just check on it," Romana smiled. More importantly, Rianal lay not quite exactly in the opposite direction of her intended destination, the planet Earth. That ought to buy her quite a lot of time to get herself lost to the Time Lord's sensors.
Naxten pursed his lips but all he said was, "Very good, Madame President."
Romana turned away, intending to walk to her usual TARDIS. "Ah, Madame President?" Naxten said diffidently from behind her.
Romana stifled a sigh. "What is it, Naxten?" she asked patiently, turning back to look at him.
"Your request was so sudden, we had no time to prepare your TARDIS," he explained. Romana raised her eyebrows and nodded at him to continue. He hesitated, then said, "The only one we could prepare on such short notice was an older model. A Type 70. If you want to wait a day or so, we could—"
Romana interrupted him. "A Type 70 will do nicely for a short trip like this, Naxten. Where is it?"
"Over there, My Lady. Here is the key," he scooped up a small crystalline widget from the control panel in front of him. "If I could just have the key to your usual TARDIS, My Lady? So that you do not lose it accidentally, you understand."
Romana sighed, rapidly losing patience with this rubbish. "Yes, yes, all right! Here." She hastily lifted its chain over her head, fumbling with the thin bio-data wafer for a moment before placing it on his console gently. "There we are. Satisfied?"
He nodded. "Yes, Madame President. That seems to be in order; here you are," he handed her the Type 70 key. She pocketed it without bothering to inspect it, nodded to Naxten, and walked in the direction he had indicated. She wanted to leave before any more delays or obstacles cropped up. And before Naxten had a chance to study the bio-data wafer and notice that she had wiped it. No sense in giving the Time Lords more ways of tracking her; she had already done the same to all such records pertaining to her.
Reaching the ship she had been assigned, Romana took a moment to run her hand over the smooth, featureless side of the TARDIS, getting a feel for it. "Hello," she murmured. "I hope we're going to get along, because we may be together for some time." She pulled the key from her pocket and stuck it into the lock. The TARDIS hummed for a moment, and then the door opened with a slight mechanical whine and Romana stepped inside.
And then she stopped abruptly, looking at the decoration. "Sweet Rassilon, who last had charge of this TARDIS?" she asked, looking around with extreme distaste at the leopard-spotted surfaces. "That is the first setting I shall have to change once we dematerialize. But first things first…" she removed a gadget from her pocket and attached it underneath the console. It began blinking red immediately. "Good," she murmured. "And while that deactivates the recall circuit, I can set the coordinates!" She started pressing buttons on the console, and muttered, "Careful, Romana, you're starting to act a bit too much like the Doctor…strange things in your pockets, stealing TARDISes, and talking to yourself! Why, the next thing you know, you'll end up with a ship full of companions and you'll start saving random planets left and right. Anyway. Time to go to Earth…"
****
As the Type 70 started to dematerialize, Naxten looked up. "Oh, I forgot to tell you…oh, there she goes. Hmm. I suppose a dodgy Chameleon Circuit won't matter for one short trip. I'll just have to remember to send that ship in for repairs when she gets back." He continued about his work, blissfully unaware for the next few hours that he was the last person to see the Lady President Romanadvoratrelundar before she left Gallifrey, a self-declared renegade Time Lord.
Author:
tarneraAppearing in this work: Romana
Spoilers/Timeline: Sometime after Romana has been Lady President; before the Last Great Time War. This fic is completely AU.
Word Count: 1,635
Rating: None
Summary: Romana is tired of being the Lady President, and she decides to take a leaf out of the Doctor's book.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, save my crazy theories.
Author's Note: This was written because the lovely people at
brb_gallifrey put interesting thoughts in my head, and my brain is too continuity-happy to just let Romana leave Gallifrey. This fic is prior to Romana's continuing adventures in both brb_gallifrey and earthrevisited. Not beta'd, all mistakes are my own.I'll use a lock that has no key
Bind you with chains
That no one else can see…
How long can you hold your breath?
While you hold mine I'll count and wait
Just to watch you perform the Great Escape.
****
Romanadvoratrelundar, Madame President of Gallifrey, was sitting in her office, writing a letter. She finished marking the last complex symbol of Gallifreyan with a flourish, and then signed it with the symbol that was her name. She added a Presidential seal below that. Smiling slightly, she regarded her handiwork. "Yes, that will do quite nicely," she remarked to no one.
Well, almost no one. K-9 MkII's ears whirred behind her chair. "Miss-tress?" he inquired.
"K-9. You're a good boy, aren't you?" Romana got up and walked to her dog. "Good boy. You're my very good boy." She leaned down to rub his head.
"Affirmative, Miss-tress." K-9's ears and tail went *whirwhirwhir* as they waggled back and forth.
"Stay here, K-9. You can do that, can't you? Stay here and help…help them when I'm gone. For such an advanced and supposedly superior race, Time Lords can occasionally be as helpless and bumbling as Human Beings." She smiled. It wasn't precisely a sad smile; it would be closer to the truth to call it nostalgic. She gave his head one more pat and then straightened up.
"Miss-tress? You are retiring to your room?" K-9 asked.
"Yes, briefly. But I'm leaving almost right away," Romana replied softly.
"What is your intended destination, Miss-tress? Take me!" K-9 said.
"No, K-9. You should stay here," Romana whispered. It hurt to leave him behind, the only thing the Doctor ever gave her. But she couldn’t take him with her.
"Entreat, Miss-tress!" K-9 begged.
"No!" Romana snapped. She took a calming breath and then said, "No, K-9. You have to stay here, all right? Promise me."
"Affirmative, Miss-tress. I pro-mise," K-9 said sadly. His head went down toward the floor.
Romana sighed and rubbed his head again. "You're a good boy, K-9. Do this for me, all right?" She went to her desk and picked up the letter she had just finished. "After I've been gone for the equivalent of one Earth day, give this to Chancellor Threllip. You can do that, can't you, K-9?"
"Affirmative, Miss-tress. Inquiry: what does that missive consist of?" K-9 asked.
Romana folded the paper over in two places and inscribed the Chancellor's name on the front of the letter. "It is to inform them that I, Romanadvoratrelundar, Madame President of Gallifrey, hereby relinquish my position. I have also named a successor; a responsible young Time Lord, I hand-picked him personally. Damon, with the will of the Counsel of Cardinals, will become the new Lord President. Although," she added in an undertone, "since Damon also knew the Doctor personally, perhaps they won't approve. The Counsel might just be a tad leery about letting another one of the Doctor's friends into this position."
She leaned down again to slip the letter into K-9's casing. "Don't forget, now. One Earth day; 24 Earth hours. No sooner than that, and not much later."
"Affirmative, Miss-tress."
"And obey the new President as you would me or the Doctor no matter who he or she may turn out to be, is that clear?"
"Affirmative, Miss-tress." K-9's tail wagged half-heartedly.
Romana smiled her nostalgic smile again. "You good boy. I'll miss you." She kissed his metal head just behind the ears. "Be well, old friend." She walked to the door, and her robes swished around the door frame as she exited towards her room.
K-9 raised his head. "Good-bye, Miss-tress. Your absence will be noted." His squeaky little voice sounded sad, if robot voices can sound that way.
****
Once she got to her room, Romana changed quickly out of her robes and into something that was far more appropriate for running. Some blue jean-like pants, a white dress shirt, and practical boots. She threw a long beige coat on top of it all and the look was complete. She took a moment to examine herself in a nearby mirror, rather amused at her vague resemblance to a certain other Time Lord she knew.
She took a moment to look around the room one last time. It was a good, serviceable room, like most things Gallifreyan. For all the time she had lived in this room, it wasn't really hers—she had no paintings or wall hangings to brighten it up, just a few papers in a neat pile on the desk. She hadn't been able to bear adding any sort of personalizing element. Every time she had tried it had felt wrong, like she was trying to lie to herself. Gallifrey was not her home, not any longer. It hadn't been home for centuries for all that she had been Loomed here, for all that she had grown up here and gone to Academy here. Home, for her, was a small time-traveling blue box. If she couldn't have that, she was willing to settle for something nearly as good. After scooping up and pocketing a small gadget from the bed she turned and left the room for the last time, striding confidently down the hall towards the TARDIS bay.
****
Arriving at the bay, Romana nodded to the man on duty. He bowed to her, of course. "Good evening, Madame President," he said. "Are you going on another one of your trips?" She could hear the faint disapproval coloring his tone.
"Good evening, Naxten. And yes, I thought I just might do so," Romana replied.
"Very good, Madame President," Naxten said dryly. "And where might you be going?"
"Oh, I thought I might take a trip to the planet Rianal, make sure the rebuilding is going according to plan. I feel rather like I'm responsible for that planet ever since that nasty coup business, so I thought I'd just check on it," Romana smiled. More importantly, Rianal lay not quite exactly in the opposite direction of her intended destination, the planet Earth. That ought to buy her quite a lot of time to get herself lost to the Time Lord's sensors.
Naxten pursed his lips but all he said was, "Very good, Madame President."
Romana turned away, intending to walk to her usual TARDIS. "Ah, Madame President?" Naxten said diffidently from behind her.
Romana stifled a sigh. "What is it, Naxten?" she asked patiently, turning back to look at him.
"Your request was so sudden, we had no time to prepare your TARDIS," he explained. Romana raised her eyebrows and nodded at him to continue. He hesitated, then said, "The only one we could prepare on such short notice was an older model. A Type 70. If you want to wait a day or so, we could—"
Romana interrupted him. "A Type 70 will do nicely for a short trip like this, Naxten. Where is it?"
"Over there, My Lady. Here is the key," he scooped up a small crystalline widget from the control panel in front of him. "If I could just have the key to your usual TARDIS, My Lady? So that you do not lose it accidentally, you understand."
Romana sighed, rapidly losing patience with this rubbish. "Yes, yes, all right! Here." She hastily lifted its chain over her head, fumbling with the thin bio-data wafer for a moment before placing it on his console gently. "There we are. Satisfied?"
He nodded. "Yes, Madame President. That seems to be in order; here you are," he handed her the Type 70 key. She pocketed it without bothering to inspect it, nodded to Naxten, and walked in the direction he had indicated. She wanted to leave before any more delays or obstacles cropped up. And before Naxten had a chance to study the bio-data wafer and notice that she had wiped it. No sense in giving the Time Lords more ways of tracking her; she had already done the same to all such records pertaining to her.
Reaching the ship she had been assigned, Romana took a moment to run her hand over the smooth, featureless side of the TARDIS, getting a feel for it. "Hello," she murmured. "I hope we're going to get along, because we may be together for some time." She pulled the key from her pocket and stuck it into the lock. The TARDIS hummed for a moment, and then the door opened with a slight mechanical whine and Romana stepped inside.
And then she stopped abruptly, looking at the decoration. "Sweet Rassilon, who last had charge of this TARDIS?" she asked, looking around with extreme distaste at the leopard-spotted surfaces. "That is the first setting I shall have to change once we dematerialize. But first things first…" she removed a gadget from her pocket and attached it underneath the console. It began blinking red immediately. "Good," she murmured. "And while that deactivates the recall circuit, I can set the coordinates!" She started pressing buttons on the console, and muttered, "Careful, Romana, you're starting to act a bit too much like the Doctor…strange things in your pockets, stealing TARDISes, and talking to yourself! Why, the next thing you know, you'll end up with a ship full of companions and you'll start saving random planets left and right. Anyway. Time to go to Earth…"
****
As the Type 70 started to dematerialize, Naxten looked up. "Oh, I forgot to tell you…oh, there she goes. Hmm. I suppose a dodgy Chameleon Circuit won't matter for one short trip. I'll just have to remember to send that ship in for repairs when she gets back." He continued about his work, blissfully unaware for the next few hours that he was the last person to see the Lady President Romanadvoratrelundar before she left Gallifrey, a self-declared renegade Time Lord.
no subject
I'm currently listening to the Gallifrey audios, and so I wouldn't consider this AU because in the audios, Romana really sounds like she wants to escape Gallifrey...
no subject
I really need to listen to those...