John Benton wandered aimlessly around the Enterprise, exploring the endless corridors to fill time. Tentative discussions had been initiated shortly after the meeting of the five powers, and once it seemed unlikely violence would erupt he had excused himself. He wasn't cut out for endless hours of theoretical debate and going in circles, he was suited for his job as a Sergeant in the field and missed setting his teeth into a challenge. But all he could do was go and do a few lengths in the pool, and considering the ship had been put on yellow alert for the duration of the negotiations he had complete privacy.
"I take it you would never have chosen to be an astronaut, even if you had the choice," Benton had headed to Ten Forward after his swim and the enigmatic Guinan quickly started a conversation.
"I joined the army to be on the frontline, I need to be active or at least be alert. This sitting around doesn't suit me," Benton sighed.
"You've only been waiting for three hours," Guinan said as she slid a drink towards the man.
"On the return journey from the planet the Doctor knocked us out of the time stream so they could cure the Captain. It's been nearly a day since we were in the corridors below the planet surface," Benton explained.
"Well, with the ship on yellow alert I am low on customers, so how about some practice? There is a phaser range programme on the holodeck for practicing. It'll keep you occupied for a short while?" Guinan offered kindly.
"It would be useful, and I would pay to see the Brigadier's face when I beat him at the UNIT annual challenge," Benton smiled, downed his drink and gestured for Guinan to lead the way.
Barely an hour later the announcement that yellow alert had been cancelled echoed throughout the ship, and life resumed its normal pace. Benton tried to get back to the cargo bay, but the sudden swell of people in the corridors returning to their scheduled appointments made the journey twice as long. Before the yellow alert had been activated all the senior staff had agreed that the alert would be dropped only when the meeting had gone successfully and reached a satisfactory conclusion. So Benton guessed that the most logical place to find the Doctor, and perhaps Commander Riker, was within the TARDIS.
Had he been more alert and concerned about his surroundings he would have noticed that the usually unflappable Enterprise civilians were rather interested in him. Who was this tall green-clad soldier who rushed through their midst, unshaken by their technology but obviously not from their levels of sophistication? Another mystery to feed the rumours that were circling below decks.
As predicted, Benton opened the door to the ward and found Riker standing by Captain Picard's bed filling Beverly in on the meeting. Benton's Doctor was also in the room, but was sitting next to the Brigadier and was picking at the bowl of grapes.
"So you managed to get them to arrange a truce?" Benton asked quietly as he moved further into the room.
"Of sorts, yes. President Salixa will find himself facing severe opposition if he tries anything, as the other four countries present at the meeting decided to join together. But then those four decided that their arrangement did not tie them to engaging in a war that any of them started unless they felt it was justified. For a planet that seemed to be in such turmoil it is quite a neat solution," Will smiled happily.
"It seems almost too easy," Benton said apologetically.
Further conversation was halted by the Brigadier's heart monitor beeping softly. Benton looked alarmed until the Doctor reassured that he had programmed it to announce any changes, and that the Brigadier's heart rate had accelerated slightly as he surfaced. A short while later the Brigadier's eyelids fluttered open and he gazed around the room, slowly analysing the discrepancies in his memory.
"So how long have I been here?" the Brigadier's confused voice sounded hoarse.
"Not even two days, including the period that we were stationary in the Time Vortex," the Doctor replied, pouring his friend a glass of water from a decanter the Benton would swear wasn't on the side table previously.
"Long enough then," the Brigadier accepted the drink and gingerly sat up, waving off the offers of help.
Benton watched Beverly purse her lips in disapproval as the Brigadier succeeded in sitting up unaided, and it was clear she would have preferred him to rest further. Quickly to ensure a debate on patient recovery procedures did not occur, he started to recap the events of the last day again for his commanding officer's benefit.
"You were right, it does seem too easy," the Brigadier murmured as he sat thinking. "I'm not certain we are out of the woods yet."
"It seems promising, uniting due to an interested party pointing out their common interests rather than their differences," Riker said in defence.
The Brigadier remained silent and just raised an eyebrow, before swinging his legs over the side of the bed and standing up.
"Hey now, you should be resting still. It is not a good idea to be up so soon after the kind of poison your body has just been through," Beverly strode forward and put a hand on his shoulder to try to force him to sit.
"I wasn't planning on going down to the planet's surface and starting a war. I am sufficiently recuperated that I am going to my quarters on the Enterprise and waiting there," the Brigadier insisted.
"I'm not sure that is wise," Beverly said.
"I've allowed Benton to lead an assault team with severe concussion, I think I can walk to my quarters with a small wound," the Brigadier said stiffly and stepped round her.
"You aren't going to win this one, he is as bad as the captain," Riker murmured to Beverly as the two UNIT soldiers left the room.
"I'm glad you didn't side with the others," the Brigadier said in a moment of frankness as they searched for his uniform.
"As you said, sir, you allowed me to lead the charge on Stangmoor Prison when I was supposed to still be in hospital," Benton replied. "And we are not going to be doing much for a while. If the situation has settled down then we just have to wait for the Doctor to take us home."
Oddly the Brigadier's uniform had been repaired and cleaned, and was laid out in the room that Benton had discovered earlier. Benton lay on the bed with his boots on the bedframe and waited whilst the Brigadier showered and changed in the en-suite bathroom. He was just starting to nod off when the door opened and jolted him awake.
"Haven't you slept recently?" the Brigadier queried as Benton almost fell off the bed in his haste to get up.
"An hour or so whilst in the ward, then probably four maximum whilst you were in surgery," Benton replied sheepishly.
"Warm drink and a decent night's sleep is in order, I think," the Brigadier stated in a tone that brokered no argument.
"It is going to be very odd going back to our time. That is if the Doctor can get us back," Benton added thoughtfully.
"You almost sound hopeful that we will get stranded here," the Brigadier said sharply.
"I don't want to stay here, Sir. But it is quite interesting seeing how far the human race has gotten in this universe, and I hope we make it this far," Benton said quickly.
"You enjoy it here?" the Brigadier realised he probably hadn't made as much of his time here as Benton had.
"I can't deny I enjoy the fact that practically any recreational facility is within an easy walk of your room," Benton said ruefully.
"As you said, we may be here for a while whilst the Doctor figures out how to get us back to that crisis we were supposed to help out with," Alistair admitted as they headed through the corridors to the control room.
The conversation petered out as they sunk into individual thoughts of the future, Benton imagining life permanently on the Enterprise, and the Brigadier thinking about his daughter and what would happen to UNIT.
Four days later and the Brigadier was returning to normal activities with Benton, despite Doctor Crusher's cautions of overexertion. Lukas had also awaken and had been moved to a private room in sickbay where he was starting to adjust to his new surroundings. Dafydd was often with him as a familiar presence, and Benton had started to become a welcomed visitor as he smuggled unhealthy food past the doctors. The Brigadier had visited a couple of times and had started to relax more with the situation. The three of them were sitting around Lukas' bed and were playing cards when Beverly interrupted them.
"I thought I might find you all here," she smiled.
"Well I had to win my chips back somehow," Benton said as he placed his bet.
"I'm not complaining, it beats you smuggling in chocolate," Dr Crusher laughed as Benton looked embarrassed. "We knew you were doing it, but decided to let it slide considering everyone tries. You were the best at hiding your intent."
"Was there a reason for the distraction?" the Brigadier asked mildly as he folded and passed his cards back to Benton.
"I thought I would let you know that the Captain woke up a short while ago, and we consider his condition stable enough to move him up here," Beverly sounded relieved as she spoke.
Of the four Lukas seemed most relieved, as in his opinion the majority of the damage was done because of his lack of action. However whilst the other two were distracted the Brigadier quickly nudged him to get his attention.
"It wasn't your fault," he said pointedly.
"I was his guard, I watched as Kreed hurt him and I did nothing," Lukas frowned as the feeling of guilt welled up inside him.
"But when it came to it you helped us get him out of there. You were only following orders, how were you to know that the captain wasn't a spy? You'd never had experience of other planets visiting until now," the Brigadier countered.
The three of them continued to attempt to distract him for as long as they could, until Doctor Crusher came to send them away for Lukas to rest.