Aries Residence , London: March 7th, 2006

Aries was frowning as she looked over the latest results of her DNA comparison test when she felt the wards around her home shift, alerting her to someone approaching her front door.

She glanced up towards the doorway of her study before she sighed and stood up, dropping the negative results onto her desk before leaving the room.

It had been seven months since she had asked Alistair if there was any chance she could access the DNA samples they had of the various aliens UNIT had come across. But even with those samples, she was coming up empty. She had been surprised when she noticed that a few of them had come from Torchwood and had questioned the man about how he managed to get them, but he never told her.

The last one she had just tested had been the last that Alistair had been able to get and she was rather disheartened that she still hadn't answered the one question that had been bothering her since she had realised she had almost stopped aging.

Aries opened the door and was surprised to see a blonde male dressed as a postman standing there holding a small box. She had a private postal box at the Post Office down the road from her house that her mail went to, so was quite surprised to see him standing there.

"Aries Prince?" the man asked.

Aries couldn't help but frown slightly as she answered, "Yes." There was something about the man, something she couldn't pinpoint.

The blonde seemed to realise that Aries was confused and wary by his presence as he started to explain why he was there, "I was asked to deliver this to you personally," he held out the box.

Aries' gaze flickered to the box, but made no move to take it as she looked back to the man. "And who sent it?" she questioned.

The blondes lip twitched upwards slighty, "The Brigadier said you'd be cautious," he said as he pulled out a small letter from his pocket, "Alistair said you'd know it was from him when you read this," he continued as he held the letter out to Aries.

Aries took the letter off the man, glancing at him curiously as she wondered why Alistair would have sent anything to her without telling her first, as well as getting a feeling that the man wasn't truly a mailman. She couldn't see Alistair sending her something via someone the man didn't trust or know, especially to her door. He knew how much she valued her privacy and neither he or Sarah ever came to her house without prior invitation.

She opened the letter and read it, her eyebrows raising as she did so. She knew it was Alistair who had written it, recognising his messy handwriting.

Aries,

I'm sorry for not telling you that I was sending this, but after speaking to you and knowing that you haven't been able to get a positive result with your research, I ended up getting my hands on something that might be able to give you some answers.

If this sample provides fruitful in your research, please let me know and I'll send further information in regards to it. I would have sent the information now, but the rarity and what would happen if the wrong people found out about the sample, has caused me to not do so.

I hope it holds your answers,

Alistair.

When Aries had finished reading, she looked back to the man who was still holding the box out to her. "You're not a mailman, are you?" she asked. The note she had just read told her as much, not even counting the feeling she was getting from the man.

The blonde shook his head, "No, I'm not," he agreed as he slipped his free hand into a pocket to pull out an ID card that Aries recognised as a type of UNIT identification. "Commander Aspen," he introduced himself.

Aries frowned at his title, never having heard of him before. "Commander Aspen?" she repeated, looking at his ID card and noticing that it was a Liaison card.

Aspen nodded, "Commander Aspen of the Ministry of Defence, liaising with UNIT under the request of Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart."

Aries nodded in understanding, knowing why she wouldn't have heard of him before. She didn't have anything to do with the MoD, but had heard about them from Alistair. "Thank you for dropping the box off," she said as she finally took the small box from Aspen.

Aspen nodded, placing his ID back away. "It's no worries, Ma'am," he said before he turned and started walking away.

Aries watched him go before closing the front door. She looked down to the box with a slight frown, wondering what could be so important for Alistair to have sent a MoD Commander to drop it off.

Aries walked into her study and placed the box on her desk.

When her eyes fell onto the paperwork she had left earlier, she scowled. With a wave of her hand the negative results went up in flames before vanishing, leaving nothing behind.

She sat down in her chair and slid the box before her. After opening it, she was surprised to notice another smaller box inside surrounded by shredded paper. There was also another note laying on top. With furrowed brows, Aries took the note out and placed it beside the packaging before taking out the smaller box.

It was made of a lightly vanished wood and was about eight centimetre's long. The ends were the shape of a pentagon and had some very detailed carvings on it. The top two sides had a carving of a wolf howling at a moon. On the front of the box was a small latch which she undid, only to be confused when she noticed a Cryptex inside.

"Why would he sent me a sample in a Cryptex," she muttered as she stared at the small cylinder shaped device inside that had a five letter combination lock. It was a beautiful piece of work and Aries couldn't help but admire it.

They had once spoken about making one after reading the novel, "The Da Vinci Code', a few years ago, but they never had actually put those plans into production. But as she looked at the cylinder, she realised Alistair had gone ahead and made one. It did make Aries wonder why he had gone to all this trouble to send her a sample.

She looked back to the note, wondering if it would hold any answers as she picked it up to read it.

To know your future, you must remember your past.

Although I am yours, you had it recast.

Others use it more than you,

Though it is only known by a few.

Aries frowned as she repeated the words, her eyes falling onto the Cryptex. She gingerly pulled it out, remembering from the book that it would be booby-trapped, and held it in her hand.

"Others use it more than you," she muttered as she tried to figure out what the riddle meant. Her eyes fell on the box the Cryptex had been in and her eyes widened when they landed on the wolf. A smirk appeared on her face as she started rolling the letters around to create a word. "Alistair, you brilliant man," muttered as she finished setting the word that would unlock the Cryptex.

R-I-E-K-A

There was a click and Aries waited with baited breath, hoping the word worked, and let it out in relief when one end popped outwards. She carefully twisted the end off and peered inside, noticing a small vial. She gently slid the vial out into her hand and placed the Cryptex on her desk.

Peering at the vial, Aries furrowed her brows as she noticed it contained a small amount of blood. Once again she was wondering why Alistair had gone to so much trouble sending her a sample for her to test.

Without another thought, however, Aries got up and headed to her lab, wanting to test it straight away. There was a tiny flair of hope that had ignited inside her that just prayed that this would come up positive, that she'd finally figure out what she was.

After setting up the comparison test, all Aries had to do was wait for the results.

She was still pondering what the sample Alistair had given her could be, but as she ran a hand through her hair, she sighed. No matter where it came from, she just hoped that it would give her some answers.

Realising that it'll be another hour at most, Aries left her lab and headed to her bedroom to change into some more comfortable clothes, thinking that a run may do her some good to settle her nerves.

Once changed, she grabbed her phone and set off out the door. She had no idea where she was heading and just let her feet guide her as she focused on her breathing.

She had made it a few streets from her home when she paused when her phone started beeping. Frowning, she pulled her phone out and looked at it, her eyes widening in surprise before looking up, just in time to see a large spaceship appear in her field of vision. She winced and had to cover her ears as a horn seemed to blare from the ship.

She looked back down at her phone, and even as the streets turned chaotic as the spaceship seemed to crash in the middle of London, Aries couldn't help but think that her Atmospheric Breach Software could use a little bit more tweaking.

She had no more time to think about it as her phone started ringing and she answered it as she headed in the direction of where she saw the spaceship heading.

"Kate, what can I do for you?" Aries said.

"Aries, I can already presume that you've noticed our visitor," Kate stated, "I need you at Headquarters as soon as you can get here."

Aries furrowed her brows as she stopped walking, her gaze lingering towards the direction the ship had gone. "Is there a reason you need me there?" she asked as a small frown appeared on her face, "Instead of ground zero?"

"As far as we know, there hasn't been a sighting or a Code Blue instigated. Since he is MIA at the moment, I'm calling you in as the Royal Commander to run this operation. You're the only competent alien expert besides him, that will be able to get this situation under control and hopefully let us know what we're dealing with."

Aries' frown deepened, "You know, Kate. One day you're going to have to tell me how I ended up with that title," she said as she headed towards her house, "Just send a car out to my residence and I'll be there shortly."

There was the sound of a sigh on the other end, "Thank you, Aries. I'll send the car out now."

"See you soon, Kate," Aries said before hanging up.

She paused as she pocketed her phone and glanced back towards the Thames where the ship had headed. She shook her head and continued back home, her earlier research forgotten as the thought on why a spaceship had picked today to crash into the middle of London circled her mind.

By the time she turned into her street, there was already a black SUV parked at the front of her house. She nodded to the driver as she went inside, needing to grab a few things as well as change before she left.