Author Note: Hello and welcome to my first fanfic story, which a collaboration with FryConfesses, who is currently writing a story called Excalibur, in the Torchwood category (just a brief note, they are alternative versions of the Torchwood team, but they are significantly different - this is a different Universe.) This is a spin off story based on a brief chapter in Excalibur, called Brief Encounter, in which the main character, Captain James Harknell, meets the 10th Doctor between The Waters of Mars and The End of Time, in which it is hinted at that they have met before. This chapter is largely written by FryConfesses, as it contains his characters and so he wanted to write in their first chapter.
I have also been told by any of you who may be following Excalibur, that Chapter 6 is almost finished and will be up here soon - possibly next week.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story. The Doctor and all other Doctor Who related stuff doesn't belong to me, obviously...belongs to the Beeb.
Captain James Harknell swung the heavy bar door open and stepped into The King's Head pub. The pub was noisy and crowded, and James paused in the door to brush a stray hair off the ridged shoulders of his coat, and some dust that had gathered on his left shoulder. He then walked along the threadbare burgundy carpet that separated two sides of bar tables. As raucous as the bar was as James entered, as his brown booted feet, and long military coat swept through the pub, his authority seemed to inspire fear and respect, and subsequently, silence. As he slowly walked through the pub, he brought his left hand up to his hairline, to tug on a strand of his brown hair that was hanging over his forehead. He gradually approached the bar, and the noise of the bar seemed to return to normal, the healthy hubbub of a normal pub. James approached the bar, which was a right angled shape bar, taking out one corner of the pub, with a pillar at the corner of the right angle, perched on a bar stool and placed his order for a glass of coke with the bald, slightly beer bellied landlord.
On the opposite part of a bar was a pretty blonde haired woman, who was just coming up to the bar. After she ordered her drinks, three pints of real ale and a pint of cider, she looked over at James, and smiled.
"Hello," she stated.
"Hey there," James replied, "James Harknell. And you are?"
"Jane Asher," Jane replied, stretching out his hand over the bar to shake hands. "Pleased to meet you."
"Sorry for being forward, but what do you do for a living?"
"I work at Southampton Observatory, I'm a scientist, and my specialist area is meteors. Do you know anything about recent meteor activity?"
"I know more than you'd think," James replied. Jane gave him a look, and reacting to it, he stated, "It's a little bit of an obsession of mine." Jane accepted his reasoning, and her drinks arrived on the bar surface, and Jane handed over a ten pound note, and paused for her change.
"Would you like to join us?" She asked.
"Who is us?" James asked, inquisitively.
Jane pointed to a table, which seemed to be surrounded by tables full of University students, occupied by three people, one of whom was staring fiercely at James, wearing a white t-shirt, a black jacket, and jeans, with black, slightly curly hair, with side burns, and a gaunt face, another woman, with brunette hair, wearing a red strappy top and a plaid skirt, talking to another man, with a slightly rounder face, who James could only see from behind, but he guessed that he was wearing a suit. Meanwhile, Jane got her change from the landlord.
"That's another scientist from the observatory, Laura Prince, and an assistant there, Robert Jones. And that's my boyfriend, Doctor Alex Brown. Please will you join us?"
James nodded, and picked up his drink, and one of the drinks Jane had ordered. They moved through the groups of students, carefully carrying the drinks. James put the drinks down on the table, and then grabbed a chair from an adjacent table. He stood at the table, and the three occupants looked up at him. Jane settled at the table.
"This is James Harknell, he's interested in meteorites," she stated.
"Pleased to meet you," Alex added shortly.
"And you, Alex. I hear you're a Doctor. Where do you work?" James asked.
"Southampton General, I'm sure I've seen you there. I was fairly sure someone brought you in, thinking that you were dead?"
"Now, that can't possibly have been me," James replied, with a wry little smile, "now could it?"
Alex looked puzzled, but James was already moving on to Robert and Laura.
"So, Laura, what do you do at Southampton Observatory?"
"I'm the brains behind the operation. I'm the one who projects what goes on, and tries to trace meteorites and asteroids from their sources to the destination." Laura replied.
"And you, Robert?" James asked, turning to the suited man, with spiked up hair.
Robert straightened his tie, and simply stated, "I've just joined the observatory. Basically my responsibility is making the tea. But I do a lot of administration and also archiving in the observatory."
Later that evening, James was staggering back home after an evening in the pub with the trio. Walking past the chapel, under which, he had his secret base. If he had been completely sober, he would have noticed a blue police box by the door of the disused chapel. For a moment, he thought he saw and heard the swish of a long coat, and saw someone move in the shadows. He dismissed it, and moved towards the side door to the Chapel, and disappeared inside. The door clicked as the latch hit the lock.
Meanwhile, moving in the shadows was a man with a mess of brown hair on his head, slightly sad brown eyes, a brown pinstripe suit, and a long flowing brown coat. Watching, and waiting for his time to approach Captain James Harknell.