"Greyhound 6 to Greyhound 1. Yellow zone YCC6 has been cleared of civilians. Maintaining a 5km perimeter around distortion hot zone," a voice said through the radio at Kate Stewart's hip.

She continued to cling to the passenger side door handle with one hand as the black van careened over the bumpy terrain on its way towards the time-space distortion UNIT's sensors had picked up less than half an hour ago. With her other hand, she struggled to unclip her radio from her belt.

"Very good, Greyhound 6," she responded. "Greyhound 1 in route. Any updates on the distortion readings, Greyhound 2?" she asked.

"Erm, no," Osgood's familiar voice replied. "Energy readings still increasing at a steady level. If my calculations are accurate, whatever is coming through is going to be arriving in 7 to 10 minutes."

"Well, then, I guess I'll be just in time for the party," Kate said. If they'd been taking actual roads or going at anywhere near a reasonable speed, it would take at least 10 minutes to get to their destination, but at this rate, they'd be there in 5. If they didn't crash into a tree, that is.

She was hoping all of this fuss was unnecessary, but she wasn't planning on it. Whatever this thing was, it was putting out a lot of energy, not to mention the readings were weird. The only time she knew of where there had been similar readings was when what people thought were ghosts and had ended up being Cybermen had broken through from another dimension. That situation had ended with hundreds dead and an entire organization being destroyed. Kate was not taking any chances.

The van screeched to a stop next to a line of three soldiers in full gear. Kate was out of the door in seconds.

"Ma'am," one of the soldiers greeted her.

"Lieutenant," she acknowledged the woman, "are we ready for this?"

"As ready as we can be ma'am. We have a Beta-Luther formation around this clearing. We could only get 27 soldiers out here in time, but more are coming. Those will stay 10km away so they can try to contain the situation in the event of a disaster scenario.

"Good. Thank you Lieutenant Mansoor." Just as the words left her mouth, a blue streak of light crackled through the air near the center of the clearing. "Now I think it's time to get in position."

Lieutenant Mansoor relayed the order over the radio and reminded them to hold their fire until ordered to shoot.

"Greyhound 2 to Greyhound 1," Ossgood's voice crackled through the radio. "energy reading indicate whatever it is will be her in 5, 4, 3, 2…"

Kate felt every person in the field collectively tense as there was a sizzle of electricity. A figure fell from about 5 feet in the air and hit the ground with a "thud."

"1."

It was quite enough that Kate could hear the figure mutter a curse (in English, she noted) even from her position about 20 meters away. It moved, rolling so it was face up. Thirty or so guns clicked at the movement. The figure (it at least appeared to be human) froze.

"You just fell through a time-space distortion into my jurisdiction." Kate broke the silence. "We're not going to hurt you unless you give us a reason to. However, as you can see, we do have the tools to hurt you if necessary. So, I suggest you tell me what you're doing here."

It sat up slowly to look at her. It appeared to be a human woman, perhaps a bit older than herself. Her hair looked as though she'd been repeatedly shocked with electricity, standing on edge. In fact, little sparks of blue light still seemed to be jumping from her curls. "I would," she informed Kate. "But I'm not precisely sure where "here" is."

"England, Earth, 21st century," she didn't bother with anything more specific than that. "Who are you and where are you from?" Kate walked toward the woman as she spoke, motioning for a couple of the soldiers to flank her.

"That's a bit complicated really," the woman said sounding almost amused.

"Simplify it." She gave a hand motion and the soldier at her right holstered his gun.

The woman sighed. Kate was right in front of her now, staring down at her. She slowly moved to stand up and the soldier who still had a gun shifted anxiously. Kate waved her off and the soldier settled a bit.

When the woman had gotten to her feet, she offered her hand to Kate. "River Song, the moon, 51st century," the woman copied her tone from earlier. Kate took the woman's hand firmly just as the man at her side lunged forward to stick a needle in the crook of her neck. Song's reaction was a few moments too late to stop him from drugging her, but her free arm still slammed into his face, sending him to the ground. She tried to yank away, but Kate held firm. Before Kate could register what was happening, there was a flash of silver. Only Kate's quick reflexes kept her from being slashed by the knife in Song's free hand. She managed to catch the woman's arm on her second attempt and twisted. Song kept ahold of the knife longer than most people could with the fast acting sedative roaring though her system, but she eventually ended up dropping it. Kate watched as the woman's eyes started to lose focus, but there was also a bit of wild panic in them that almost made her feel bad about the drug. Song's knees buckled and Kate went to her knees to keep ahold of her.

"It's just a sedative," Kate felt compelled to inform her. "It won't hurt you."

In response, Song glared at Kate, her eyes suddenly focusing again for just a moment. She jerked forward and bit Kate's wrist while trying to pull her arm away. Kate hissed in pain, but if she let go every time some creature bit her, she'd have been dead a long time ago. It only took a few more seconds for the woman's jaw to loosen as her body listed to the side. Kate waited a few moments before detangling herself from the now unconscious River Song. The rest of the soldiers had come closer during the violence and were barley a few meters away.

"Take her back to HQ," she instructed, holding her wrist. She started walking back to the van she'd arrived in, "and check her for more weapons," she order over her shoulder.