Kate Stewart, was reading through another report. She glanced over at the remaining pile of paperwork and wondering why it never seemed to diminish, when her door flew open. Osgood, skidded in. The annoyed look on Kate's face disappeared as she looked at the young woman. Osgood opened her mouth but just wheezed.
"Inhaler!" Kate snapped.
The young woman grabbed the inhaler from her pocket, took two puffs, and then stammered out,
"Ww..we, have a computer breech, someone is hacking into personnel files!"
Kate, pushed past Osgood, sprinted out of the door heading down to the Computer Room.
She skidded in to see Bishop giving orders to one of the young techs.
"Power back up, but keep us isolated from any outside links, including microwave! We need to know what they got!"
"Well?" Kate demanded.
"Just one file," the tech said with relief, "from the historical list," she said smiling.
Kate's heart sank! "General Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart," Kate whispered. Her face turning white.
The Tech, looked at Kate surprised, "Yes, Ma'am!"
Bishops squeezed Kate's arm. He set off to muster chopper teams, to evacuate the General and his family.
Kate grabbed the nearest phone and just prayed her Dad and Doris were home!
The phone on the table next to Doris beeped five times. As she picked it up she looked out of the window at her husband, who was dead heading the rose's. She must have dozed off, she realized that she should have taken him a cup of tea out half an hour ago.
She answered the phone, "Kate, how lovely" Doris's face fell, as she listened to her step daughter.
Doris dashed over to the window, leaned out and yelled "ALISTAIR! STUDY NOW!"
Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, didn't hesitate, his wife was not a woman to panic, if she considered it that urgent then something must be wrong. He was no longer a fit man, but he was in the house within a minute and was inside the study within two.
He was met by his wife, she thrust a phone and his pistol at him, then proceeded slam the door shut to lock it.
Alistair put the phone to his ear and watched in amazement as his wife pulled down the security shutter over the internal door. She also pushed the button that lowered the internal metal shutters that covered the windows. His study was set up as a secure area, in case of an emergency.
"Lethbridge-Stewart!" he snapped into the phone.
"Dad," he could hear the relief in his daughter's voice, "there is a team coming to get you both! Bishop is in charge, you don't leave your safe room for anyone else!"
"Kate, what's happened?"
"We've been hacked, and they only seem to be interested in you! Stay on the line, Dad. We are bringing you to secure accommodation at the Tower Base! When Bishop gets there tell Doris to pack for two or three days we'll sort you from there!"
Alistair smiled as he saw his wife pulling two, already packed, emergency bags from the hidden panel in the room. Bless Doris, she would have been the best Quartermaster in the British Army. What had he done to deserve this woman, no recriminations, no panicking.
He heard Kate's voice, "Dad?"
"Sorry love. We'll be ready to go as soon as they get here! No worries about packing, Doris, already has bags packed in case of emergencies!"
He heard Kate laugh. "Not, like Mum, you'd be getting an earful while she tried to decide what shoes she needed!"
Alistair grinned.
Ten minutes later they could hear the helicopters, they saw two touch down on the lawn and UNIT troops fan out toward the house. Another stayed aloft maintaining surveillance.
"That, will have put paid to any prizes in the best kept garden competition," Doris muttered sadly, as she saw the prop wash destroying her flower display.
But she gave her husband's arm a little squeeze,.
"Do you think we could fly low over Elise Greenlace's garden as we leave?" she asked smiling wickedly.
Alistair grinned and pulled his wife in for a hug!
Sam Bishop, knocked on the door, "Sir Alistair, it's me, Sam!"
Alistair looked at the man on the monitor.
"ID," Alistair said.
Sam Bishop sighed, he'd met Sir Alistair and his wife numerous times! The guy would know him by sight. No wonder Kate, was next to paranoid about security with this guy for a father!
"Right, Lieutenant, finger on scanner!"
"Sir, the system is down!"
"Your system may be, Lieutenant, but mine is working. I have a back up that is, let's say, out of this world!"
Bishop didn't know what to make of that, but as soon as he touched the screen it turned green. He heard the shutter on the study door being opened.
Kate sighed with relief, as she saw her father and step mother getting out of the helicopter. She hugged her Dad and then Doris! Kate led them down into the elevator, that would take them to the VIP accommodation on level 5.
Alistair nodded approvingly as he noted the Decanter of scotch on the table near an easy chair and Doris homed in on the TV to watch Neighbour's. Alistair grinned at his daughter.
"I'll have Osgood, bring you a tea in, Doris, you and she can watch neighbour's together!"
Her step mother smiled her thanks.
Alistair followed Kate out of the suite.
"Right, so when did UNIT personnel files get computerized?" he asked.
Kate, looked sheepish.
"Before my time Dad, by all accounts it was Crichton's idea!"
"Always knew he was a fool!" Alistair muttered "Don't tell me he put secure operation files on computer as well!"
Kate looked even more unsettled, "It had been started when I took over, I put a stopped to it! But they had archived 1970 to 1983 on to computer! I'm sorry Dad, I couldn't get them taken off. But I did have Osgood, remove any mention of the Doctor!"
Alistair smiled grimly at this news.
"Did they get all that stuff as well?" he asked resignedly.
Kate nodded.
"I heard there had been a couple of freedom of information requests about, UNIT and me!"
Kate sighed.
"Yes, I managed to stop them with the 'Defence of the Realm' rule." she said.
"Pound to a penny, it was a journalist, behind the requests!" her father remarked with distaste.
Kate nodded, " A young man from the Morning Courier!"
"I'll contact Sarah Jane, and..." the Brigadier started to say.
"I've already contacted, Sarah, seems this guy tried to get info from her and Professor Shaw about the early UNIT adventures."
Alistair looked pained at his daughter's news.
"UNIT operatives, have had him under surveillance and by all accounts he is holed up in a 3rd world embassy in London. Basically it's a pay to stay out of the laws way place."
"Well, at least it's just going to be a sleaze feast, rather than an assassination attempt!" her father said resignedly.
Kate hugged her Dad.
"Sorry Dad, but I can't see it as being sleaze. I know you hate publicity, but those files read like a boys own adventure. The UNIT boys, and you, battling Cybermen, Autons, Silurians, Daleks, the Master, and all the rest!"
"I hope they don't include all the battles with the M.O.D. over funding! I'm still considered a traitor, by many in the Government for taking Geneva's side!"
"But not by the Queen, she always asks after you. So does the Duke, he always asks for me to remember him to you. He reckons the Queen has a crush on you. He says she even tried to get him a UNIT uniform!"
Alistair snorted!
"Those terrible uniforms, I was so glad when they got rid of those!"
Two days later the Morning Courier published part one of 'The Man Who saved the world!'
Alistair just shook his head sadly looking at the photo of himself in the UNIT uniform he so disliked.
Doris, was over the moon to find out more details of Alistair's work. She almost missed Neighbour's, as she got caught up watching the news programme that had picked up on the story.