Kate huffed loudly, striding around the small space they'd been unceremoniously thrust into when their initial meeting with the Haxi had gone downhill. If she was completely honest, the meeting hadn't so much gone downhill, as it had started at the bottom of the hill and they'd just ended up tunnelling underneath it. Huffing again as she realised that she was thinking like her wife, the blonde pushed her hands into her trouser pockets and slumped against the metal wall.

Osgood had been the one to identify their captors, their file coming up in her research when she was modifying the ear buds. The Haxi were a race from the outer edge of the galaxy, in possession of psychic weaponry that sent out a pulse of sound that was capable of incapacitating anyone in close proximity. The psychic field that they'd been monitoring had been set on a low frequency when they approached the Haxi craft and Osgood had been relieved that her devices were holding up against it.

During their conversation, however, it became clear that by dialing the pulse up the Haxi could cause a lot more damage to the UNIT troops – even killing them when it reached a certain level. Kate had done her best to negotiate, to convince their extra-terrestrial visitors that there was absolutely no need for that, but they hadn't been particularly keen to compromise.

"Are you sure you don't know what artifact they were talking about, Osgood?" Kate demanded for about the twelfth time. The Haxi had claimed that they had tracked down something incredibly important to them, which had fallen into UNIT's hands. "If it's something that we can give them back all this would be avoidable."

"Unless it's a weapon of some kind." Colonel Shindi pointed out cynically. "It's usually a weapon of some kind."

"Honestly, Ma'am, I have no idea." The brunette shrugged, shaking her head. "I don't remember anything that would fit the description they gave. If only I could get hold of Malcolm or McGillop… I can't even hear Osgood over this telepathic field…"

"Well, we can't just sit around here all day like damsels in distress, can we." Kate reasoned, pushing away from the wall and striding towards the door. "Who knows what's going on out there?"

She turned and pressed her full weight against the door, moving slightly and assessing the surface for any weaknesses. With a sigh, she realised that she was unlikely to find anything, before turning back to Colonel Shindi hopefully. He shrugged, not needing her to ask the question before he held up his radio and motioned that it was completely dead.

"The psychic field." Osgood explained needlessly. "It's knocked out all of our communication signals."

"Well, at least Sam's out there passing on the message to the rest of the troops."

A loud explosion from somewhere outside the room caused the floor to shake. The trio exchanged a slightly relieved look and Shindi laughed. "Seems as though the message got through loud and clear, Ma'am."

"I'd much have preferred not to need to be rescued, but under the current circumstances…" Kate muttered, rolling her eyes at her wife, who just grinned back, before reaching into her pocket for her inhaler.

Time passed slowly in their makeshift prison. They could hear shouting and gunfire out in the corridors on the other side of the door. From the shift in atmospheric pressure Osgood deduced that the psychic field had been dialled up and was further relieved that her devices seemed to be continuing to hold their own.

"Ma'am?"

A shout from outside, slightly distant and muffled, caused Kate to jump towards the door, banging on the metal and calling back. The game continued until the voice was right outside and then the blonde stood back, preparing herself for the inevitable implosion as the door was blasted open. She moved to stand beside Osgood, squeezing her wife's hand reassuringly for a moment, before focusing on the doorway once more.

"Fancy meeting you here!"

Despite their relief at being freed from the room, none of them could prevent themselves from rolling their eyes at the very familiar, very teasing tone of Lieutenant Emily Stewart as she poked her head around the doorframe and grinned cheekily at them. She stood aside and Josh Carter's face replaced hers, motioning for them to join him outside in the corridor. Kate noted that her daughter seemed to have disappeared around the corner and flinched involuntarily as a peel of gunfire sounded from the same direction.

"What are you doing here?" Colonel Shindi couldn't help himself demanding of his Captain with a frown. "I thought you were in the Pacific?"

"We were, Sir." Josh confirmed with a nod. "We'd just debriefed and were ready to stand down when we got the call that we were needed here."

"Call from who?"

"Geneva."

"Apparently you needed the A Team?" Emily teased, reappearing around the corner looking slightly dishevelled and out of breath. "Come on, that should keep them busy for a couple of minutes, but we need to get clear. Josh? I've done a sweep and our best bet is looking like the North-West corridor."

"Right. With us."

Kate, Osgood and Colonel Shindi were given very little choice but to let themselves be ushered in the direction that Emily had suggested. Josh led the way, checking for any hint of their enemies around each corner before signalling for his unarmed superiors to follow. Emily brought up the rear; occasionally firing off a couple of rounds as Haxi fighters appeared in her eye line.

As soon as they were clear, Colonel Shindi took charge – clearly put out by the fact that the Captain and Lieutenant had been in a better position to do so until then. Out of the range of the psychic field, he was able to communicate with the other units, quickly ascertaining the situation was as dire as he'd been expecting. As he relayed the information back to Kate and Josh, he kept one eye on Osgood who was checking her scanner device and being guarded closely by Emily.

"Right, it seems as though we're winning this thing, but we've taken a huge hit." He explained quickly, speaking more to Josh and Emily than Kate or Osgood. "Now that Greyhound One and Two are clear, I'm going to order most of those still standing to retreat. I want you two to convey Ms Stewart and Ms Osgood back to base. I'm going to join Colonel Parks in the control centre and see if we can't finish this."

"Sir, I'm not sure–"

"We've got no chance of finishing this without Osgood getting her hands on their control centre." Emily pointed out, briefly forgetting herself (as she so often did). "… Sir."

"She's got a point, Vikram." Kate interjected, seeing the irritation flicker over the Colonel's face. "I doubt anyone but Osgood would have the knowledge to be able to shut down this psychic field."

"I'm not even sure I–" The scientist started, before she was interrupted.

"Perhaps Captain Carter and I should accompany Osgood to the control centre and you and Ms Stewart can oversee the withdrawal?"

"Lieutenant Stewart–"

Kate cleared her throat, sending her daughter a warning look. "Remember your place, Lieutenant Stewart."

"Sorry, Ma'am… Sir." The young woman hung her head contritely.

"She does have a point, though, Colonel." The Head of UNIT conceded, almost reluctantly. "Although I think you can handle the withdrawal on your own. I'd quite like to see this control centre for myself."

With a scowl that made Emily wince as she thought about all the punishments that would no doubt await her when they got back to HQ, Colonel Shindi nodded curtly and strode away. Josh immediately pulled out his radio and started speaking to Colonel Parks, asking what the route back through the ship to the control centre was looking like.

"Are you alright?" Emily asked her mother causally, knowing not to make a big deal out of the situation.

"Better than you're going to be when Vikram gets hold of you on the training grounds." Kate replied with a snort of amusement.

"Great…"

"You can't act the victim, Em, it's your own fault."

"I'm well aware." She admitted with a huff. Then she glanced over her shoulder. "We'd better get moving… I don't like just standing out here in the open, Ma'am. Josh, we need to get Greyhound One and Two somewhere safer. How's it looking?"

"There's no way in." He informed her, shaking his head and looking worried. "Colonel Parks says that all routes are completely blocked."

"That's not good." Emily muttered, chewing her lip. "Who's he got with him?"

"Beth. Simmonds and McGregor are making their way round to us as we speak. Apparently the Colonel thinks they'll be alright in the control centre until we can get to them; the doors are deadlocked."

"Osgood, do you think you could deactivate the system remotely?" Kate asked, turning to look at her wife quickly. "If we could get Parks to send you the schematics, do you think you could talk him through what to do?"

The brunette blinked at her unsurely for a couple of moments, turning over the request in her mind. Then she nodded slowly. "I can give it a try?"

"Excellent." The Head of UNIT nodded briskly. "Josh, tell Parks what we need."

"We can't just stay out here." Emily told them, anxiously, looking around. "We're sitting targets. We need to find somewhere defendable. We need to ensure the safety of Ms Stewart and Osgood."

"I'm no damsel in distress, Lieutenant Stewart." Kate reminded her, arching an eyebrow at her daughter.

"Oh, I'm well aware of that." The younger woman agreed. "But I do have my orders, Ma'am."

"This way." Josh nodded, motioning to the left of the doorway they'd not long walked out of. "Simmonds and McGregor will meet us this way. Looks like there's an outbuilding of some sort we'll be able to defend while we work on the system."

"Oh…" Emily paused, reaching into her medpack and pulled something out, holding it in her mother's direction with a smirk. "Thought you'd appreciate this?"

Taking the handgun, Kate smirked back and nodded at her, before striding forward to follow Josh closely. Emily shook her head lightly and wandered forward, nudging Osgood gently with her shoulder and indicating that they should follow. The scientist blinked a couple of times, as though she'd only just realised that they were alone, before nodding and walking quickly after the others.

They'd barely taken half a dozen steps when they were ambushed. Dozens of the strange, almost ethereal creatures were swarming towards them their hands raised and the lightening that they emitted as a weapon already gathering in their palms. Their delicate facial features were twisted into something sinister and warped as they scurried ever closer.

"Osgood, behind me." Emily ordered, raising her gun and shooting at the advancing aliens.

She reached out one hand and dragged her stepmother more firmly out of sight squeezing her hand reassuringly for a moment. She glanced sideways to make sure that Josh was similarly protecting her mother, before doubling her efforts.

Very slowly they managed to push the creatures back, allowing them to find cover. The Haxi weren't giving up, swarming and regrouping, emitting the high-pitched sound that was starting to break through the ear buds that Osgood had provided them.

"Carter! Stewart!"

Emily exhaled in relief at the sight of McGregor and Simmonds sprinting towards them with a couple of other UNIT soldiers. Together they continued pushing the creatures backwards, taking out more and more and thinning their numbers considerably.

"Josh!" Emily called out, catching sight of one of the soldiers to her left pressing both hands to his head before collapsing to the ground, completely motionless.

"Ma'am, Osgood, get inside." Josh requested breathlessly, nudging them towards the outbuilding he'd seen on the scan of the area. "We've got this covered."

"Don't be absurd, Captain Carter." Kate snapped back. "There are far too many of them. You need to come with us. Now!"

"No, Ma'am. You and Osgood are our best bet of getting this finished." He argued. "The psychic field is getting too strong for the ear buds. We'll hold them off while you work on getting it shut down. Emily?"

She nodded at him. "You go left, Josh. Cover from that side and I'll take up a position here. Simmonds take the right and McGregor round the other side."

"Where's Beth?" Simmonds asked, looking confused.

"She's safe with Colonel Parks." Josh replied, just too quickly to avoid Emily grinning at him.

"I knew you fancied her!"

"Em. Not the time." Kate warned her sharply.

"Sorry, Ma'am." She nodded and focused again. "He's right; she went with the Colonel. I'm sure she'll be fine."

Josh nodded. "Right, Ma'am, Osgood, you need to get inside and coordinate from there. We'll ensure that you've got time to do what you need to do."

Kate seemed reluctant, but her daughter didn't give her any time to argue. Ignoring the fact that bundling the head of the organisation she was part of through a door and slamming it behind her might be considered a punishable offence, Emily turned away from the door and shot Josh a look. He grinned at her actions, before chuckling and walking a little way to the left to take up a defensive position.

Only a few moments passed, before a creak behind her alerted her to the fact that Kate had opened the door again. Turning to look at her in exasperation, she took a step forward.

"Ma'am, please stay inside." She requested, forcing herself to stay professional. "We need that psychic field shut off and we could really do with getting in contact with the units we've been isolated from, too."

"Osgood's working on it. She thinks maybe ten to fifteen minutes."

"Wonderful. Now... in!"

This time when Emily shut the door on her mother, she moved the large stone that was resting against the wall of the building slightly to the left, preventing Kate from opening the door again. Realising what she'd done, the blonde immediately attempted to order her to remove the stone, but her daughter simply shrugged and pretended she couldn't hear, before turning back to hold her position once more.

The numbers of Haxi rushing towards them were decreasing significantly. Shouting out to each other as they fired off shot after shot, the team realised that it was a consistent thing from all angles and relief gripped them as they deduced that they were winning.

Finally all four soldiers felt the pressure in the air lifting. The few remaining Haxi dropped their hands immediately, as though receiving an order that their opponents couldn't hear. Emily hesitated for a long moment before lowering her weapon slightly, glancing sideways at Josh in confusion.

Both of them jumped violently as a heavy pounding on the wooden door Emily had jammed shut started up and Kate's demands that they let her out became clearly audible. Exchanging a look with her colleague, wincing slightly at the irritation she could hear in her mother's tone, she motioned imperiously for Josh to move the stone out of the way and release the women from the outbuilding.

He rolled his eyes at her as he bent and hefted the rock away, narrowly avoiding being hit in the head as Kate slammed her way out of the hut. The blonde scowled at her daughter for a moment, before turning to the Captain and explaining that Osgood had managed to disable the field and release them from the Haxi's grip. The creatures surrounding them had retreated quickly, apparently the source of their power being taken away at the same time as the psychic wave.

"Right, clean up time." Kate commanded firmly as Simmonds and McGregor joined them. "Round up what's left of the Haxi so we can deal with them. I want a full inventory of their weapons and technology for Osgood and her team to analyse. Then we'll be having a full debrief as soon as we get back to the Tower."

Before she strode away with Osgood, she shot her daughter a dark, meaningful look. Emily exhaled sharply, before heading away with the others to carry out Kate's orders. They jostled her, teasing her mercilessly for getting into trouble with her mother, before she shoved McGregor hard in the shoulder, causing him to bounce off the closest wall with a cry of complaint.

"How much trouble are you going to be in for shutting Kate and Osgood in the hut?" Josh asked in low voice so no one would hear as soon as they were engrossed in their tasks.

"Officially, not much, I shouldn't think." She replied equally quietly. "Mum won't want too many people knowing I got the better of her with a big stone. Unofficially, I think she's pretty pissed off. I can see this one lasting a while."

"Even though you potentially saved her life?"

Emily snorted. "Because I potentially saved her life."