Driving through a stretch of road in the English countryside, a four-seated Jeep with a soft top, a woman in her late twenties drove while a man in his early thirties beside her stared out the passenger window.
"This has been our third patrol this week, nobody's daft enough to come through a controlled road, again. Not after Perry nearly blew his top the last time!" complained the man as he briefly turned his head, his stringy black hair briefly swayed as he looked to the woman, focused on driving, her soft hazel eyes reflected the road ahead of them.
As she drove, the woman says, "You know Perry's paranoid about something going wrong, at the end of next week's the review, remember. He doesn't want anything looking bad reaching the board of directors. They're still sore about the last time we had issues with the local teenagers"
Despite the clear sign on the fencing, meetings with the local governments warning them of the consequences of trespassing on military land, bored teenagers from the nearby villager still wandered through the blocked off countryside willingly to meddle with things beyond their comprehension, much to the base's dismay.
Brigadier Perry made it abundantly clear that if any unauthorized personnel wandering too far into the military sphere gets caught, they're taken into custody pending charges, and he's already caught the same set of heads mucking about where they didn't belong, now they're spending time thinking about what they done in prison for a few years.
They wouldn't have gotten that much, but patrolmen caught the teenagers near the satellite on top of the hill, with clear intentions of causing mischief, that Brigadier Perry made examples of them.
It's fortunate they didn't get a higher sentencing for their foolishness and their story made for a good time with the local papers.
Exhaling sharply, the man settled in the passenger side beside her, his dull uniform crumbled as shifted in his spot, his dark eyes staring out to the road as the woman drove through the stretch.
A long stretch of road that spans 40 kilometers, it's privately held by the military base situated at the end of the road, before one of the substations that powered much of the base.
"I wish this thing had a radio, unfair that Perry's gets one," the man tried to fill the dead air as the woman's busied driving.
The woman reminds him, "We don't get any radio stations this far into the country. Protected airspace and satellite, remember?"
Due to the military base situated in the countryside, normal radio stations couldn't travel far from the village, and even then, they weren't able to listen because of the restrictions.
Radio waves became restricted because of the airspace surrounding the military base and the giant satellite that sits on top o the tallest hill meant the restrictions expanded further from the base, only certain bandwidths were recognized this far, and it's worse back at the base, that often, privates must make trips to the nearest village to make tapes to bring back with them so they'd have something to listen when working.
"Maybe I can find a tape deck at the charity shop and some audiobooks, it'll keep us busy," the man motioned with his hand, saying that he's certain the charity shop had at least one tape deck that the other privates haven't gotten their hands on for them to use on their patrols around the countryside.
With those audiobook tapes so cheap, he could haul them for free, and wouldn't spend much, at all.
When asked about the size of the deck tape, the man assures the woman he'll find the smallest one that'll fit between them in the seats.
The gun rack fit snug without issue in between them, so can a tape deck.
"I'm not sure Perry's going to let you go to the village until after evaluations," the woman thoughtfully remembered how Brigadier Perry wouldn't let anyone leave the base until after their evaluations following the review.
That time of year came again for their base, having to go through motions to ensure their place in the military.
"Well, maybe I'll find a good one, then, I'll just have to be quiet about leaving the base once the dust settles," the man decided on what he'll do the moment he passes evaluations and the review goes smoothly.
Once those happen, he's going to sneak off the base in the early morning, head down to the village, see if the charity shop has any working tape decks for sale.
"Maybe find some music, too," he thoughtfully added as their conversation ended when ahead of them, they see an unusual electrical disturbance happening at the substation.
His mouth gap, the man goes, "What was that?"
The woman replied with a thoughtful, a surprised look on her face, "I don't know."
The CB radio suddenly ringing out, "Dewitt, Ramsay, come in."
Taking the receiver into his hand, he held it to his mouth, holding down on the side button as he replied, "Dewitt and Ramsay, here. Who's playing war games at the substation?"
He heard back, "Dunno. There's an energy spike. Command wants you to investigate for possible damages or other. Over?"
Chortling, the man goes, "Since when did we get promoted to electricians, Isaac?"
He heard back a sharp, "Rules are rules, Jamie. You know that. They disabled the substation due to the spikes. Command needs you to report back your findings. And don't do anything stupid, again. Perry's still mad about your hijinks with the bridge the other week."
Had to bring up that interesting part of Jamie's military career.
Exhaling sharply as they're ordered to investigate the unknown disturbance, Jamie radioed back, "Fine. Dewitt and Ramsay, over and out."
Resting the receiver on the hook, Jamie crossed his arms as he exhaled, "Since when does patrols investigate electrical disturbances?"
Shaking her head disapprovingly, her short chocolate curly hair stiffly moved under the dull bonnet, the woman goes, "We'll just have a look over and go back to the base, Jamie. It's probably those idiots, again. Lord knows what goes through their minds when they come up with those stupid games of theirs."
Probably another set of teenagers bitter that their mates wound up in prison for their own stupidity, wanting a bit of revenge, got too bold for their britches that they're causing trouble at the substation.
"Why would they do a thing like that, Ròs, of all things, mucking about at the substation, cooking themselves just to spite us?" Jamies questioned this as the woman stopped short of the substation, giving them buffer, and preventing any suspects from seeing the Jeep further up.
Stepping out of the Jeep before reaching out for her issued M15, the woman goes, "Teenagers aren't known for their rational thoughts, Jamie. Standard procedure."
Reluctantly, Jamie nodded as he grabbed his issued M15, before joining her side. He hoped that it's just a misunderstanding, but it's quickly dashed when in the corner of his eye, he saw movement on the left side of the road, before he's instructed to pursue.
Nodding as he held his M15, Jamie agreed, but not before saying, "Be careful, Ròs."
That nickname of his.
He started calling her that nickname months ago and never once elaborated why, ever since they met that day, he's been an enigma, and a miracle that Brigadier Perry hadn't tossed him in the cell for possible conspiracy for the stunts he pulled.
"Always," Ròs tells him before they splintered off to search opposite sides of the area.
Heading towards the fenced-off substation through the steep grassy knolls, hearing the low humming as electricity flowed through the coils, Ròs went up to the iron gate, checking it.
It's been disabled.
Her eyes narrowing on the lock that's impossible to circumvent without an authorized keycard, Ròs opted not going through the iron gate, going around the back, while avoiding the fences, and using an undisclosed means, she got inside the substation.
It being disabled, she's able to move around safely through the substation, mindful of where she steps, her gloved hands firmly around her M15 as she patrolled the substation.
It could've been any number of things, a short, a part going bad, overfed, but with Jamie catching something in the corner of his eye, it's another instance of an unruly teenager, bitter about something, and thankfully, the base gave patrolmen like her and Jamie ways of pacifying them until they're brought back to the base for questioning.
Going to be a long questioning because of the substation.
Whether the teenager did this alone or with the help of their mate, Ròs knew that when there's one, there's always another.
Teenagers never liked getting into trouble by themselves here, it became evident when the base first began operating thirty-years ago.
Her breathing controlled, Ròs moved around the substation, hunkering low, using everything she can use as cover as she patrolled for any signs of what the teenagers done this time and if there's indeed another one lingering in the substation.
Slowly, Ròs paced herself, until she caught sight of something….
It took training not to utter her thought, but her eyes conveyed her silent words as she's staring at an unusual object situated inside the substation.
A blue…
Police box?
Those teenagers and their damned pranks, think they're making their points, really causing undue stress among the privates working double shifts.
Annoyed that a pair of teenagers deliberately snuck a police box through the substation, Ròs began her patrol again, certain that the one half of the pair's lingering out of reach, ducked when the disturbance happened, and probably came out of hiding when they realized that the military shut the power to the substation.
As trained, Ròs sidestepped as she crouched, her soft hazel eyes glanced at a pair of footsteps, not hers, obviously.
One's bigger than the other…
There's no marks indicating they dragged the police box inside, and the way the footsteps were positioned, there's no way the pair carried it, either.
Ròs walked alongside the cooling pumps that continued to keep the temperature of the substation controlled, despite it shut-off, as she followed towards the end, she noticed subtle movement of someone crouching.
Carefully, Ròs climbed up on the thick pipes pumping cold water through the substation, hunkered down, she sees a man haphazardly walking while crouched.
He wasn't a teenager, that much apparent.
Her soft hazel eyes narrowing on him, Ròs crept, mindful of her steps, controlling her breathing as he's going up towards a chokehold.
The moment the opportunity presented itself, Ròs surprised the man, unable to escape from her, as she dropped behind him the moment he realized that he couldn't get through the wall of pipes, forcing him to turn around.
"Do anything stupid and it's your head," Ròs warned him that it's his fault if she had to do anything drastic to him, causing him to point out that it's her that should be careful, pointing out they're in a substation.
No-nonsense, Ròs tells him, "Salt's a good way of getting our point across."
Though taller than her, Ròs forced his cooperation, he raised his hands as she then cuffed them, before pushing him out of the substation back to the Jeep, where Jamie caught the other half of the pair, a woman.
"It's an honest mistake!" Ròs heard the woman complain, her accent, foreign.
Joining them with the man, Ròs asked if Jamie had any problems, and Jamie informed her that he did as trained, didn't see him until it was too late.
The woman responded with, "You know, with that haircut, I didn't think you could surprise me."
Opening the doors, Jamie and Ròs forced the two in the backseats, locking their cuffs to an apparatus attached to the middle of the cushions, keeping them from getting any ideas.
"It was an honest mistake!" Ròs heard the man plead with her, telling her they didn't mean to end up in the substation, but she wouldn't listen to him, reaching for the receiver and radioing to command.
Clearing her throat, Ròs goes, "Dewitt and Ramsay to command, over."
She heard back, "Acknowledged, what's the verdict, Ramsay?"
Ròs went on to tell them, "We have two people in custody. A man in his late thirties and a woman… late twenties, early thirties. We need foreign object removal at the substation, over."
There's silence for a minute before command responded, "Acknowledged, are they dangerous?"
A glimpse towards the two situated in the back, Ròs replies, "Unknown for now. Treat with caution. We're returning to the base, over."
Hanging up the receiver as she gets into the driver's side with Jamie taking his spot at the passenger side, looking over to the man and woman locked into place behind them as he goes, "I don't recognize these two from the village, do you?"
As she turned over the engine and began driving the Jeep, in the mirror, Ròs sees them briefly, before replying, "Nope."