Chapter Text
It was a normal day on Gallifrey well for those outside of the capital it was. Shal still couldn’t believe what was happening. It was a holiday, things like this shouldn’t happen on holidays. Families should be together on holidays free to show how much they cared for each other when every other day it would be frowned upon. Yet that wasn't the case because to Shal at least it was clear that to most people she was just a mistake and mistakes don’t get happy endings.
A crowd had gathered outside the court house shocked but mostly curious. A high ranking official, a member of the Celestial Intervention Agency had been accused of a serious crime.Though most were unaware of the crime he was accused of as Shal and her father entered they curiosity and shock faded to disgust. Shal was used to it but her father was not so he chose not to focus on the crowd and instead on her trying to shield her from their jeers like he always had. As they were nearly at the door a little kid managed to sneak past the guards holding back the crowd.
“Here,” the little kid said, holding out a small bouquet of wildflowers “My mom helped me pick them. Everyone should have something nice to hold on to when something scary is happening, especially on a holiday. Hope you like them.”
“I do, thank you. Go back to your family, they’ll probably be worried,” Shal said calmly, noticing a guard coming over.
“Okay,” said the kid happily following the guard back into the crowd.
Shal stood there for a while longer looking at the wildflowers in her hand. The little kid had no idea what they truly meant for none of these flowers to grow in the cities. They were everything that those in power despised, free, wild and to them dangerous. To add to it these flowers in particular were one of the symbols of Bad Wolf, one of the old pantheon (though not all saw her as such) that they also despised. She held them close; her family needed help and now they most likely got some. For Bad Wolf is the god of travelers, the lost, and what those in power hated the most, time.
Shal sighed walking into the court room where not only here but her father’s fate will be decided. As she looked at those who would decide her father’s fate she sneered they were the richest of the rich covered in several layers of clothes embroidered with metal and wearing high collars that shown in the sun that filtered in though the courts many windows. Looking towards the corner of the room she fought the urge to growl at the man who dared accuse her father of being a criminal. Braxiatel who got his nickname “the icicle” for good reason he always cared little for others and from what she heard it had been that why thought every single reincarnation he’d had. Though Shal’s father had let her in on a little secret Braxiatel did care about someone his little brother The Doctor and maybe more though that only made him more dangerous. His way of helping was cold calculated and would hurt you just as much as it helped you and hurt several unrelated people as well.
“Trilven you stand here accused of high treason, of using your position to share classified information. We have received sufficient evidence of such from reputable sources. However we are fair, we will give you a chance to explain yourself since you have claimed innocence. Such has been the law ever since the founders first built the great cities. We do have to warn you though the evidence is stacked against you.” said the judge.
“This is bullshit,” came a cry from the entrance of the room, in English of all things which almost no Galifreyen, especially those in attendance would dare speak, seeing it as a primitive language not worthy to be uttered by a Time Lord.
Shal and everyone else in the room then turned to see Ace, the only human member of the Celestial Intervention Agency standing in the doorway. She wore the patch filled leather jacket over her uniform and had a look on her face that she knew sent chills down the Time Lords spines. Shal couldn’t help but beamed with pride because there was the tutor that taught her English, who taught her all about the wonders of the far away planet of Earth, and to always stand up for herself. Ace was intelligent though most Gallifreyans underestimated her, seeing her as just being from a primitive planet and not worth anyone's time. This only made her more effective at her job proving others wrong time and time again.
“You are offering your testimony on his behalf,” the judge said pointedly in Gallifryen.
“Yes, I will. I don’t let my friends get pushed around. Just ask Braxiatel he knows,” Ace answered back in Galifreyen causing Braxiatel to stiffen up, “Just wondering what sort of classified info are you accusing him of sharing.”
“Info that only Omega, The Other, and Rassilon should know,” the judge said.
“Then you don’t truly know what knowledge he supposedly is sharing then,” Ace said pointedly.
“I don’t, that is irrelevant to the case however,” the judge stammered.
“Okay I see, so if no one was supposed to know about whatever it is he's been talking about. How did he learn about it and how was supposed to know he wasn’t supposed to know or talk about it,” Ace asked.
“What are you getting at,” the judge asked as everyone else in the room started whispering to each other.
“What I’m saying is you have bigger issues at hand. It’s highly likely someone set him up, like you said the classified information he’s been sharing should be impossible to get yet somehow he got it. Listen if only the big three are supposed to know, then despite how intelligent Trilven is I doubt he is able to find a way to get such information,” Ace said flippantly.
“You’re treading painfully close to treason yourself with such statements,” the judge yelled.
“Maybe but you guys made it clear with paper work and everything that I'm a Gallifreyan by my adoption by The Doctor, but not a citizen of Gallifrey due to him being technically exiled at the time. So I can not be tried for treason,” Ace said happily leaving the court room.
“Now that distraction’s out of the way, the real trial can begin," the judge said happily.
“Sir, the trial has already started. Ace was the first testimony, you approved it. So the trial recordings has already started,” Trilven said timidly.
“Rassilon damm it,” the judge yelled, “fine let’s just get it over with.”
The trial after that went just how Shal expected. Ace’s testimony had deeply upset the judge so she just tuned him out for the rest of the trial. That’s why when the verdict finally came several hours later she was shocked.
“This court finds Trilven guilty. As such he will be sentenced to exile via timeloop. I hope the court finds this sentencing just for due to the nature of his crime there is no chance for retrial. Except of course if the three will it,” the judge said sharply.
Shal stared at the floor defeated. Her worst fear had come true; she had lost one of the few people that cared about her, that didn’t see her as a mistake. So as the guards came to haul her father off she ran past them out of the court room as fast as she could. Shal only stopped when was in front of her fathers Tardis. It opened like it always had and Shal sat down and cried as the Tardis played over the speakers one of her favorite songs “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia”. It was fitting because an innocent man was gone for good, her father. Wiping her tears she walked up to controls and sent the Tardis flying far away from the only home she had ever truly known.