River's pretty young in this one. She hasn't learned all of her tricks quite yet.

River rifled through the desk drawers around her, but found nothing of interest. It wasn't often that she got to sneak around top secret military headquarters.

Okay, that wasn't quite true, but it was true that she didn't often get to do it with a member of said military personnel willingly helping her out. But she was sure the Doctor had something to do with that.

Those two were off somewhere, investigating a different sector of the facility. One would think that having a UNIT member on board would make this type of mission easier, but she hadn't seen proof of that yet. They were investigating a small number of UNIT personnel that were suspected alien criminals, but only the three of them suspected a thing. The other UNIT soldiers just looked at them like they were barmy.

The three criminals were scientists that had made several consecutive "breakthroughs", ones that were not meant to be made on Earth for another twenty years. The Doctor expected Zygons more than any other alien species, but he was not completely certain. He didn't want her to assist them at the beginning - saying something about how she was far too young and this was too dangerous - but she muscled her way in anyway.

She crept to another office and broke in easily. All of these rooms looked the same to her. She never much liked offices; too stuffy and plain. The offices of scientists were slightly more interesting, except that they were in 2007 and everything that had been developed at this point in history was completely ancient to her. She preferred to excavate the past, get down in the dirt and grime, not to read it on a GoogleWiki page. Records were too well-kept for this time and place to interest her.

As she moved on to a rather interesting and hidden laboratory, she heard quick footsteps echoing down the hall. She quickly broke into the room and hid behind a lab bench. She almost cursed aloud when the person, whoever they were, came into the room.

The scientist, for she could see their white lab coat from beneath the bench, froze when he or she realised that their lab had been broken into. River saw them take a blaster from their pocket - a blaster of Zygon design - and she almost cursed again. "Come out," said the scientist in a woman's voice. "I am armed. I will shoot if I have to hunt through this place for you."

River silently pulled her own blaster from her pocket. Or rather, she would have, except that she remembered too late she'd given it to The Doctor's friend as protection. "Blast it..." Defeated, she raised her hands and slowly stood from the floor.

The Zygon disguised as a woman spotted River and quickly turned the blaster on the half Time Lord's head. "Don't worry," said the Zygon soothingly. "This won't hurt much."

River screwed her eyes shut as the sound of a blaster reached her ears. After a moment, when she felt no pain, she opened her eyes to find The Doctor's friend standing in the doorway with her smoking blaster and a dead Zygon on the floor. The creature had reverted back to its original form, all slimy and covered with strange suckers like an octopus or a squid.

River could have sighed with relief. She had no regenerations left and she wasn't quite ready to die just yet. "That was close," she said, speaking to the man. "You saved my life. Thank you, Alastair."

Brigadier Sir Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart merely gave her a smile and a salute of the hand. "My pleasure, madam. My thanks for letting me borrow this. I'm not as young as I used to be."

At that precise moment, frantic footsteps echoed down the hall, ones that could only belong to a certain Time Lord. The Doctor burst into the room. "I heard a gun, what ha- Oh. Squishy oogly Zygon on the floor."

"Yes," River said mildly. "We still need to figure out what they're doing here. Shall we run?"

"Oh, no running," Alastair scoffed. "My bones are too old for running." He handed the blaster back to River. "With all due respect, Miss Song, I think you'd be safer having that than me."

River pretended to be offended while the Doctor carefully inspected the body on the floor. "Well I never!" She sauntered past him, planting an unseen thank-you kiss on his cheek, then ran off before the Doctor could see which direction she'd gone.