Serena
- You may wish to consult
Serena (disambiguation)for other, similarly-named pages.
Lady Serenadellatrovella (Serena for short) was a Time Lady assigned to help the Second Doctor by the Celestial Intervention Agency.
Following the Doctor's trial on Gallifrey, the CIA had him perform tasks for them, offering to amend his original sentence of execution in favour of exile if he would act as a deniable agent in matters they would prefer not to be seen getting publicly involved in. Serena was at this time a student who was approached by the CIA to act as the Doctor's monitor when he was in the field, investigating the Players' attempts to interfere with the history of Earth, and in return the Agency would provide her with support in her future political career.
Serena was a deeply ambitious Time Lady, and though her family had already reached and attained its glories, she wanted to take it further and believed the CIA could help her. She also believed that there should be more Time Lady Presidents.
Although their initial meeting was hostile, with Serena coolly stating that she was the Doctor's supervisor as he was just a convict on parole while the Doctor regarded her as an assistant he didn't want, Serena had already expressed some admiration for the Doctor's actions, noting that his originally-planned sentence of execution seemed a harsh 'reward' for his role in ending the war games. During their time on Earth, Serena came to understand more about the Doctor and his attachment to the planet, recognising that he left Gallifrey because there was no place on it for someone like him. Although Serena only met Admiral Horatio Nelson for a few moments, she found herself deeply impressed by his courage, despite his injuries which he had endured during his career, and mourned the news that he had died during the Battle of Trafalgar.
Serena sacrificed herself to save the Duke of Wellington after she and the Doctor had learned that the Players intended to create a new timeline by assassinating the Duke before the Battle of Waterloo. The Player called Valmont attempted to shoot the Duke at a ball the night before the battle. Serena intercepted the shot, but the musket ball tore through both of her hearts and killed her instantly, which made regeneration impossible. She was buried in a simple grave, marked only by her name, with Wellington assuring the Doctor after the Battle of Waterloo that he would always remember the role he and Serena had played. During a later confrontation with Serena's killer, the Doctor's grief over her death was so intense that he found it easy to allow a duel to take place with Serena's killer despite his usual distaste for violence. Once back on Gallifrey, the Doctor refused to go on any more missions for the Agency until certain conditions were met, including an order that Serena's name be placed on the Gallifreyan Roll of Honour and that he be allowed to tell her family how she had died, noting that the Agency's cooperation would influence whether he presented her death to her family as a heroic sacrifice or a pointless accident caused by her being out of her depth. (PROSE: World Game)
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