Disclaimer
I don't own Torchwood, Doctor Who or Star Wars. All I own is the plot and the OCs.
The Curiosity's of the Rifts
Chapter 1
The smell of smoke. The sound of groaning metal, cascading sparks, and screams. The metallic taste of blood. The feeling of pain, and an unfamiliar weight pinning you down. All of these things are unwelcome and concerning when you wake up however, it was even worse when the last thing you remember was an army of silver men marching past you. Certainly, if it was then followed by a large "Bang!" from nearby. That "Bang" was probably the reason why he had what seemed to be a ceiling support laying across his torso, and why his head felt like it had been used as a bowling ball. He glanced around, and swiftly closed his eyes as the world span like a demented fairground ride, if he didn't move soon, he was a dead man. Or worse, he would become one of those metal men. Fortifying himself with what little energy he had left, he arched his back and was able to lever the twisted metal off him long enough to be able to scramble free. Risking his eyes once more, he was glad that the world was a bit steadier now, he saw something that made his blood run cold. At the end of the corridor was a body. A metal body. Stumbling over to get a better look, meant he could notice some irregularities. One of them was that it was still holding a big black gun, which was odd because they didn't need them earlier - they were deadly enough with just the arm mounted version, and the second oddity was that it was apparently dead. What was even stranger was that there was little damage to the body. Since they had appeared several hours ago, he had only seen two killed. He had killed one by complete fluke, shooting a fire extinguisher near it's head causing it to lose it's head, and the second way he had seen out the window, when a soldier hit one with an RPG. Both these methods caused quite a bit of damage however, this one looked like it had just dropped dead. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, he grabbed the gun and started to stumble away from the scene. As he was doing this, he also tried to work out how his life came to him stealing a weapon from a dead alien in a London skyscraper.
His name was Orion Archer and unofficially, he was one of the smartest people on the planet. While most geniuses have one area of expertise, he didn't. He wasn't like a university professor who had one subject that he knew inside and out. He was someone that knew a little bit of everything and what he did know was more varied than most encyclopaedias. Born into a working-class family from the midlands, he joined the army when he turned 18 in 1999 and became a doctor in 2002. He had several tours of Iraq before coming back to the U.K in 2006 to retire. However, that plan was scuppered when a U.F.O crashed into the Westminster clock tower. It turned out that when the spaceship crashed, he was the only army trained doctor in London, meaning he was press ganged into joining the diving team entering the vessel. Having an alien encounter with what was essentially a dead pig was not what he had planed for his last day of military service. After that crisis was over and swept under the colossal rug that governments have for these occasions, he moved on only to find that there wasn't many jobs going for an ex-army doctor. So when, a few weeks later a government agency came round and offered him a job, he grasped it with both hands. Which led back to him stumbling around One Canada Square, with a stolen alien gun. One thing you should also know about Orion was that he had unparalleled instincts and luck most gamblers would beg for, it got to the stage that he banned from playing cards with his old unit, because of this, he followed his instincts more normal people. That is why, when in a tower under attack where every bit of advice said to go down to ground level and find medical help there, he went up. Glancing out of a window as he passed, he witnessed the strangest thing he had ever seen. London with small fires, from the clashes between the army and the silver invaders, was being swarmed by what looked like bronze saltshakers that had gotten hold of a whisk and a toilet plunger. Shaking his head at the scene and pinching himself just to make sure that this wasn't all just an odd dream, he carried on up the tower until he reached the top. The top of the tower was the most top-secret part of the building where all the big wigs hanged out so he was only mildly surprised when he could here voices coming from in main room. After all when a base is under attack, you usually find the officers in the most secure room, although it is surprising that they are still in the building after all, he was out for a good hour or two and the metal men had found someone new to shoot at. He stumbled through the glass doors, noticing five people, four of whom he hadn't seen before and one he had passed in the corridors once or twice in the last month or so. Two of them where in suits, two females had civilian clothes, the one he had seen before was wearing a dark grey jumper, and one was in the standard black paramilitary getup. The entire group looked up in surprise as I made my entrance, and I have to admit I looked quite the sight with black hair covered in blood, dark steely eyes with a gash just above my right eyebrow leaking more blood down half my face. The clothes that I was wearing was in a slightly better condition, with a blood-stained lab coat and a formerly white shirt. The cargo trousers that I was wearing where torn. Using the silence, I asked the question that I had been asking myself since I regained consciousness.
"What the bloody hell is going on?"