#SUB FOLDER: verse five. arc tba

[unitleada]

 Pen tapped absently against the edge of the clipboard. Fifth interview of the morning and well, she'd been off to an interesting start. References from everyone from the Queen of Denmark to the, what was that again? Oh right, the new Princess of Padrivole Regency nine. She wasn't entirely sure if that last one was an alien or just completely mad. Either way, she'd never be able to verify that contact, so it wasn't a terribly urgent concern. Kate sighed, flicking over to the next page on the clipboard. On to the next one.

❝ Let's see, ❞ Ushered him in with the wave of a hand, scanning the first page with a slight frown. She'd seen this file before. Application sent in before he'd even been discharged from a hospital bed. At the time she'd received it, she'd been slightly impressed at the initiative.Staring at the man before her now, she was more concerned than anything. Terrible incident. She'd read the file. Seemed he was still recovering from the worst of it. Nevertheless, tenacity she appreciated. A brief smile, setting down the clipboard to offer him a hand.

. ❝ Lieutenant Southgate, was it? Kate Stewart.chief scientific officer. ❞

@strtravels

[unitleada]

❝ No. nothing like that. ❞ Never again. UNIT will not be run by the military nor would she allow their influence to taint their technologies. Science leads. Because it must. Because it was time for change. A better way of doing things. ❝ We will never have anything like that-that key at UNIT again, not under my watch. You have my full assurance. ❞

She knew that words alone would make little difference, to someone so obviously traumatised. The Osterhagen key. Nasty business..... There was also the matter that Martha hardly knew her. How could Kate expect her to take at her at that word? Would she, in her place? ❝ You should pay us a visit sometime. See the difference for yourself before you've made up your mind. ❞ Don't write us off just yet.

@yoakkemae / accepting.

[unitleada]

Oh, her clever Moira, bright as the north star. Good to know these recent turbulent times haven't affected her completely. It made her feel a little less guilty. She closed the door behind them, picking up the backpack Moira had discarded and setting it neatly upon an empty seat instead.

With Gordy, it had been so very different. He had barely learnt his own name let alone his father's before it was just her and him against the world, for so long that she didn't think Gordy had noticed when it suddenly wasn't anymore. —— But Moira? What must she think? Her whole world turned upside down in such a small space of time.

Whatever uncharitable thoughts Kate harboured towards her ex-wife she knew that Siobhan had been the one to be there for Moira when she could not. In the end, that had been the problem really. Her fault. Not anyone else's. But she couldn't dwell on those thoughts. It would consume her if she did. And it wouldn't bring back the time lost. All she could do was continue to be present in the here and now as much as she could.

❝.... An exoplanet? Oh my, that is exciting. You have my complete approval darling... In fact. I think I know someone who could even lend a hand .... Now, we wouldn't want to give you an unfair advantage, it would be strictly your project. Your responsibility, But what would say to that? ❞

moira slouches off the backpack on her shoulder as she bounds into the house. she isn't disappointed kate doesn't have to work - she's excited, in fact. always is when it gets to be just the three of them. she's definitely biased, but it's mum and how can she not be? her mama is fine, but it's mum who always asks her questions and helps her with school work and the like. she doesn't always want to leave.

"---i've been working on an extra credit project for the science and maths fair in a few months. i have to start early." moira explains, a bit proudly. she's deeply committed to her project, and is rather hopeful her mum approves. "i'm building my own telescope! well - a small one. not one of the big fancy ones. i want to do a study on this one star and map it's path and brightness over the course of the next few months. i found an article that talks about it maybe being an exoplanet instead of a star and i wanna find out."

[unitleada]

Decidedly not who she had suspected then. That didn't exactly clear things up or provide a clear indication of how to proceed, but she estimated that a good seventy five percent of this job involved simply, going with it.

❝ Chloe Smith. ❞ An alias? Kate suspected so. No one hesitated that long to give someone their name. Not without a reason. ——A moment of deliberation of her own followed. She was torn between two equally persistent thoughts. The safety of Earth and all people's therein came first....but that should extend to anyone, regardless of species. As long as they do not present a threat. Preliminary scans of this time machine showed no trace of weapons. If whoever was in there truly was injured, then they were taking a very big risk in trusting her. One risk should be rewarded with another, surely. ❝ ...You have my word. ❞

Staying where she was, Kate moved a hand up to her ear, switching her microphone back on. She spoke clearly, a little louder than normal, if only to make it very clear to Chloe that she was a woman of said word. ❝ .... This is chief scientific officer Kate Stewart, All UNIT operatives are to stand down immediately. I repeat, all UNIT operatives stand down. I'll need a medic on standby as well. target is not hostile and possibly injured. over. ❞

She could practically feel the tension on the receiving end of that message before she'd even finished speaking. She'd expected nothing less. Their military arm did so love an excuse to shoot first. Right on cue, a voice crackled back over the comms in response, asking with incredulous belief for her to repeat the order. She did so, albeit irately, and a moment later, to her satisfaction, their operatives complied.

. ❝ Right, that's my side of our agreement! ❞

Chloe sighed, only just not rolling her eyes because of the way her head was pounding. A taskforce. Surrounded. Lovely. Of the possible options, the current situation was definitely not anything she would have preferred. But she supposed she had no choice in her landing and welcoming party, lucky to be alive at all. At least she did have a choice in what she did now. Dying TARDIS or not, the shields of her ship were still impenetrable and she had always felt safest here. She would use that to her advantage until she really could not stay, and even then...

The mention of a doctor had the confusion taking charge of her mind for a moment. Doctor? Was someone hurt? Faint whispers of her TARDIS soothed the thought away, assuring her that it was all right. The inclination to step outside was there now, but Chloe's own wariness and her stubbornness superseded it all. She coughed a little as her TARDIS groaned once more. A part of her hoped it was all only a bad dream, that any moment now she would wake up at least safe and unharmed. She didn't particularly want to be dealing with people who certainly sounded like they were ready to shoot at the first indicator of some trouble.

"My crash landing was- was not meant..." She groaned softly at the sting of pain when she decided to take a step towards the door, coughing again at the fumes that had begun to fill the console room. "My name's Chloe." Noble? Tyler? "Smith. I'm unarmed." She winced, leaning against the door. She very much doubted Kate or those who had her surrounded could say the same. "I mean no harm. I'll- I will come out. If there are no guns pointed at me. Hold them if you need to. Just not at me. Please."

[unitleada]

Her once tidy kitchen, now in utter disarray. Shopping bags deposited on the only bit of clear space she could find, Kate moved to inspect the full extent of the damage.

. ❝ Darling... next time, if you want an electromagnet, or-or any other sort of part, all you have to do is ask. ❞  One hour. She'd been gone a grand total of one hour. Never again.

“ can i ask… what happened? ”  From Kate, for Moira ❤

oh, she's so grounded.

moira looks up from the toaster she's elbow deep in disassembling, a variety of parts neatly spread out before her in carefully organized patterns, including the rest of her tools that she's used in order to dismantle the toaster into it's current state - which isn't much of a toaster anymore at all.

"----i needed some of the parts for something." she decides to answer with the truth, brows furrowed. "mostly the electromagnet. i figured it'd be the easiest to pull apart and something not missed - gordy already told me i couldn't use his xbox." she frowns. "besides, it had it coming - it burnt my toast."

@unitlead