Alistair Finch was lost in his thoughts as he drove towards Cardiff. He had spoken with Capt. Harkness only moments before and he could tell from the other man's responses his impending arrival was not welcome.
He really couldn't blame the man. Lately Torchwood had taken a back seat to more pressing issues of state. The last decade has seen Torchwood 4 disappear and Torchwood 1 fall. Archie's heart attack two months ago has resulted in the complete closing of Torchwood 2. All of which had left poor Torchwood 3 the only ones left to defend the planet. Even at "full staff" Torchwood 3 only averaged five to six members and the unfortunate deaths Dr. Harper and Ms. Sato had left the team decimated.
Even after the whole "Daleks steal the Earth" catastrophe, the crown accountants had persuaded Her Highness that the royal coffers could afford a vacation from Torchwood's excess. The problem was, the money that they had been saving had actually represented living humans who guarded the world from alien attack.
"Dammit, Harriet Jones had been right all along." He thought bitterly.
"There will be a time when the Doctor doesn't come. When the Earth will need defending." She had constantly repeated that mantra while she struggled to stay in power. Harriet had always felt that Torchwood needed more backing and support. She constantly begged for the Crown to listen, even as she was being forced out of office.
"But we didn't and had allowed the world's primary defense system against alien attack be reduced to virtually nothing. It was only a matter of time before the Earth would be attacked again. We should have never left ourselves so weak." Alistair fumed.
The details behind the attack on Torchwood 3 still didn't make any sense. Brian Green still couldn't explain why his office failed to let anyone on the planet know that they were dealing with an alien contact in the first place. His excuses that he was protecting British sovereignty by killing everyone associated with the previous dealings with the 456 were utter rubbish.
Then there was his attempts to blame the crown for not telling him about the importance of Torchwood 3. That had truly upset the Queen more than she wanted anyone to know. His lame response to Her Highness' questioning was that he would have never ordered the attack on Torchwood 3 if he had been informed about the hub's purpose and the rift it protected.
All arguments aside, it was his officer who negotiated 10% of the world's children into slavery. And yet, he and his cabinet still claimed the current worldwide catastrophe wasn't their fault. They tried in vain to dismiss the video evidence where they are selecting the British units. Both Mr. Green and Mrs. Riley argued that the video was being taken out of context and they were trying to make the best out of a bad situation. Regardless of their pleas Brian Green, Denise Riley and most of the cabinet officers were going to pay for their treachery with their lives.
"There will be no trial of their peers. No solicitors on telly pleading forgiveness and understanding and no chance to garner an ounce of sympathy from the public. Even though each of the world's governments had their own meltdowns during the height of the initial crisis. It was the Green administration who had led in the betrayal of the Earth's citizens."
"They even built the tank to safely house that filthy bastard in. Christ! What kind of idiots build such a device without putting a failsafe option into it? Unlike everyone else on the planet these people had records of the first contact with his species. They had to have some idea of what those bloody bastards were coming back for." He thought angrily to himself.
He fumed over the events of the past few days for a couple more miles before deciding that he needed to quit wasting time raging over situations that he couldn't change. He had a long trip ahead of him and he needed to focus his energies on the tasks at hand. Helping with the fixing of the "Rift Crisis" and re-building Torchwood. He was at least an hour away from Cardiff and there would be plenty of work for him when he arrived.
In spite of the limited travel due to the world's crisis, Cardiff Airport was still fairly busy. Gen. Bradford stood out on the tarmac as she waited for Dr. Jones and her husband to arrive from America. The General had been in contact with the young doctors via cellphone for almost two days now. As they had to hop from commercial flights from Hawaii to Atlanta, then Atlanta to New York.
After being stuck at John F. Kennedy International Airport for hours during the "456 Harvest". The General organized seats aboard UNIT transport from New York to London for the couple. They were now only minutes from arriving via helicopter to Cardiff.
Through their various phone calls the General learned that Martha had been unable to reach the Doctor during the events with the 456. The young woman was very upset that he still hadn't replied to the dozens of messages she had left on his cellphone. Out of panic and desperation, she had contacted Mickey Smith after Monday's events to see if he had heard anything (which he hadn't). She also asked him to check with Donna and Sarah Jane to see if they had any news.
Donna's grandfather had told Mickey that the family hadn't seen or heard from the Doctor since he brought her home over half a year ago. It had been the same with Sarah Jane. She hadn't seen the Doctor since he showed up at her disastrous wedding months earlier. None of the Doctor's former companions had any idea where he was. And everyone (except Donna of course) were in a blind panic about it. They all insisted the Doctor would have never knowingly left the Earth in this dire a situation. They were certain of it. General Bradford only wished she could be as sure of the Doctor actions as his friends were.
The world was coming to grips with the crisis of the 456. Most of the responsible parties involved were already being punished. And hopefully the catastrophe with the rift would soon be corrected as well. Also all documentation on the Doctor's past activities revealed he wouldn't be persuaded to go back in time to "fix" the current situation. So in her opinion, the Doctor's whereabouts really didn't matter anymore.
She was confident that human society would survive this current alien encounter. They would have to. Because it was more than likely the 456 would threaten humanity again one day. And Gen. Georgia Bradford knew she would dedicate the rest of her life making sure that the Earth would be ready when they returned.
The sound of helicopter blades alerted the General to Dr. Jones arrival. The former companion and her husband hardly looked like a couple of young newlyweds fresh from a Hawaiian honeymoon. Both doctors looked exhausted. And as they approached the General, she could see obvious signs that Martha had been crying.
"Ahhh...Dr. Jones and Dr. Milligan welcome to Cardiff! I'm glad that you've finally made it. There's a car waiting to take you straight to the hub." Said the General, shaking the couple's hands and then leading them from the tarmac.
"What?...Wait...why are we going to the hub? I thought that Torchwood 3 was destroyed?" Said Martha, confused at the brash American commander manor.
"Oh...it was...but Capt. Harkness and the others will need as much help as possible in the next few days. And since your already familiar with Torchwood 3 you're a perfect candidate to help the Captain during this current crisis."
The General was moving non-stop throughout the airport and Martha and Tom were desperately trying to keep up with the diminutive woman as she rushed past security checkpoints and headed towards the front entrance.
The doctors were completely surprised that no one attempted to stop them as they too rushed past security to catch back up with the General.
"But...but...what about Tom? He's a civilian!" Martha said as she stopped a few meters away from the waiting vehicle.
A young officer exited the driver's side door and took the shocked couple's luggage from them and loaded it into the car. He then opened the backseat and waited for his passengers to enter the vehicle.
"Like most of the civilians currently at the location his services have been drafted. Here's a brief explaining the current situation." Gen. Bradford said as she handed Martha the file and gently pushed her and Tom towards the waiting transport.
The stunned couple looked at each other with confused expressions and entered the backseat. Their driver then closed the door, quickly jumped back into the driver's seat and sped off towards the damaged hub.
The General stood on the sidewalk and watched as the car carrying the exhausted couple drove into the distance. She then walked to her own waiting vehicle and instructed her driver to take her back to the UNIT command centre. There was still much work to do and they were quickly running out of time.