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Shirley rolled the footage back again, she didn't want to watch it again, but she had to. She had to be sure, once more, before she did this. So she closed off her emotions and reviewed the footage one last time. She clicked her cursor on the screen, ensuring the two angles she was viewing were enhanced as much as possible. She watched it happen again. Watched the glass shatter, watched Kate sprawled on her back on the floor, the shard protruding from her abdomen, watched Colonel Ibrahim call over to her, watched what Kate did. It was clear from this angle that Kate was hidden from view, Shirley was completely certain of that. Colonel Ibrahim couldn't see her, none of them could have seen her. Shirley was sure. This footage was the only way of knowing.
Shirley clicked several keys, hacked into the system ensuring nobody could trace this back to her, typed several commands and entered different pass codes, finally clicking multiple confirmations.
Footage erased.
Whether it was the right decision or not, it was done now, Shirley thought to herself. Nobody would know. He wouldn't know.
The UNIT team were in action, a well oiled machine, a perfect team. On alert as soon as the unidentified ship had set off initial warning alarms. Staff took to their various positions, some researching, locating, identifying, others preparing for combat, readying defence systems and weaponry protocols. Then the ship was confirmed hostile and battle mode was engaged, the weapons platform and canon were activated. Then a sonic boom shattered the glass of the tower, before beams shot across the area, scattering staff into new positions.
Kate had been thrown backwards, she was laid on the floor staring up at the ceiling. She tried to sit up but felt pain in her abdomen, she moved her head and confirmed what she felt. A large shard of glass was sticking out of her stomach. Her combat first aid training kicked in, she knew not to remove the glass, to avoid bleeding out, but it was unstable. In an ideal world she would pad around the protruding glass to secure it and wait for medics. But this wasn't an ideal world. Maybe she could just lay still long enough for medics to come before it dislodged. But then she heard him.
"Commander! Kate! Kate are you alright, are you there?!"
Kate couldn't see anyone from her position on the floor behind the desk but she knew Colonel Ibrahim hadn't been far from her, and from the sound of his voice he was just across from her.
"Yes... I'm here" even shouting out to him hurt Kate's stomach, the glass moving slightly and blood seeping around it. "is everyone OK?!"
Christofer inadvertently sighed with relief to hear Kate's voice, then called out his reply "some injuries, no fatalities I don't think, but we're all pinned down by these beams. I'm OK, but I can't move, beams blocking me. We can't get to the combat stations. Can't fire the cannons or the galvanic weapons."
Kate's mind reeled, trying to think of possibilities and tactics. They needed a break from these beams just long enough to reach their own controls, needed to change their position slightly...
"Kate can you reach the wheel? If we can turn the tower a few degrees it would give us a chance to reach the controls, you're behind the wheel aren't you?" Christofer asked, remembering Kate's last position. "The beams are just missing your location at the moment, if you could stand and turn the tower then I could reach the cannon controls, we need you to turn us"
Kate had arrived at the same plan herself, but she hated that Christofer had suggested it first. Hated it because she knew what it meant, knew what was about to happen and how he would feel if he realised. She decided she would hide this from him, it was her decision, he didn't need to know, didn't need to think he'd made her do this.
Kate steeled herself as much as possible, trying to talk through gritted teeth. "Yes. I can reach... the wheel. As soon as I turn...us...you need to engage the cannon."
"Understood commander. I'm ready"
Kate tried to sit up without touching the glass, but as expected it dislodged and pushed deeper into her, stopped her moving. She bit her lip, swallowing her groan of pain. Her shaking hands grabbed the glass, her eyes squeezed shut and her jaw clenched, she let out a silent scream as she pulled the shard out and let it drop from her hands. Kate took shuddering breaths as a wave of dizziness hit her, the blood beginning to pour out of her wound.
"Kate?! are you ready? We can't wait, we need to go now!"
"Yes, going now!" Kate shouted, using all her adrenaline and energy reserves to stand and grab onto the tower wheel. She turned the wheel, hoping her grunt of pain was lost in the sound of the battle. As her body moved with the wheel she felt a searing pain overcome her, her eyes watering. "Colonel NOW!"
Christofer jumped into action immediately. Kate held onto the wheel until she knew Christofer had successfully made it to the controls. Then when his attention was focussed on the cannons she let her body slump back to the floor. A pool of blood already forming around her. The sounds of battle increased, cannon fire and beams shooting in all directions around her. Kate felt herself falling under, she slumped onto her side, her breathing shallow. She was no longer fully aware of her surroundings, but it sounded like UNIT were getting things under control now. She could vaguely hear Shirley's voice and Christofer's shouting commands, could hear Mel calling instructions to medics. UNIT was in safe hands. Kate felt herself sinking further away from the world, but she heard some glass and rubble flying around. Hopefully Chris would think she'd been hit later in the battle. Her kids wouldn't blame him, he wouldn't blame himself, she hoped.
"Where's Kate?!" Christofer's voice was the last thing Kate heard. The threat now neutralised he found her a few moments later, pulling her limp body into his arms.
Colonel Chidozie stood with Shirley leaning over a computer screen. She explained again that there was no footage, making something up about magnetic resonance from the beams wiping some of the cameras. Chidozie didn't fully believe her but something in her eyes told him not to pursue it. "Colonel Ibrahim wants all the footage we have, he wants to analyse what happened, wants to know when, how...the Commander"
"Where is he now?" Shirley asked, even though she knew the answer
"He's still in medical with... the Commander...the... Commander's... body. He won't leave her. All the medics can tell him is it was blood loss from a penetrating wound. Mel's with him, trying to get hold of her children. He wants the footage to know more"
Shirley continued to keep her composure but spoke curtly "it must have been flying debris after the tower moved, in the midst of the battle, that's all we can surmise. There's not going to be any retrievable footage, I'm sorry" with that Shirley turned away and Colonel Chidozie knew the conversation was over.
Shirley would wonder about her decision many times over the years. In her new role as Commander of UNIT she would constantly have to make morally grey, conflicting decisions. But it was this decision about Kate's last moments that always stayed with her. When her mind drifted to it she wondered if she had any right to have made the decision, wondered what Kate would have wanted. Sometimes she even thought about how undignified and unfair it was, that everyone should think Kate died on the sidelines, instead of knowing she sacrificed herself carrying on for everyone. But actually that was the one aspect she knew Kate wouldn't care about. The thought that really haunted Shirley was if it was right to leave Christofer with the turmoil of not knowing exactly what happened, to have this one piece of information he didn't. But more often than not she concluded that the truth would torture him more.