Hello everyone! New chapter! And oh my god this one kicked my ass! I think I had to start over something like 7 times. I almost cried lol. But I finally finished it. Hope you will like it. Again, thanks for reading, let me know if you're enjoying the story! And as always, a million thanks for my beta, Penandpaper83 (who was a life saver on this one).

Chapter 4:

The reign of terror of the Master disappeared from memory, making him a passing dream in some minds, becoming 'the year that never was' for the few in confidence. Martha returned to her studies and family, never forgetting those who helped her during the darkest moment of that forgotten history.

In fact… Everyone continued their life, never knowing how they fought for their life and freedom in the name of the Doctor.

Rose smiled proudly the day she heard that Martha had been recruited by UNIT. Every person who had become a companion of the Doctor had the potential to achieve greatness; it's usually what draws him towards someone as a potential companion. And Martha was no exception to that rule. However, Rose didn't knew it was her own actions, and the bravery of so many UNIT men and women, that was a major factor in Martha's inspiration to join this institution.

Sometimes, Rose would sit and think about how she would enjoy to talk to Martha about her time on the Tardis. To know how the Doctor has been doing, to hear about his latest adventures. But those ideas do not last long, just enough to yearn about that life again, before running head first again into action.

Little did she knew that day would come way sooner than later…

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Rose was an happy camper for once. She had asked to be assigned to the Valiant for a few weeks, yearning for a change of scenery and to discuss science with people who weren't going to roll their eyes after a few moments. She really needed the break after a string of missions which became harder and harder, and what better than the only place in UNIT who was filled to the brim of scientific and people eager to share everything they knew? Even the science department of London UNIT was less enthusiastic than them (and they have Dr. Malcolm Taylor).

"We're working on improve our engines. We recovered a few spaceships in the last ten years, and if we can understand and reverse engineering some of them, maybe in a few years we are going to be able to travel into the stars!" One of the engineers named Liam Scott had enthused as soon as he saw Rose. She had been seized as soon as she had set foot in the engine room. Everyone who knew her, or about her, knew how she loved to talk or listen about science with anyone.

Rose smiled. "So the problem at hand is understanding what we have right in front of us. And if I read the department memos from last year correctly, we are still stalled somehow."

The look of pure joy he gave her made her almost laugh out loud. That what she missed sometimes, the simplicity and the delight. It was a refreshing change from past experiences. It always came onto her shoulders when push came to shove. And while she was glad to do her part, it grew tiresome to be the only one expected to make a decision around here.

He opened his mouth to reply, but the speaker cut him off. "Colonel Wolfe is urgently requested on bridge. I repeat, Colonel Wolfe is urgently requested on bridge!"

She rolled her eyes with a chuckle. "I seriously can't have five minutes." She smiled at Liam before departing. "I will try to come back later to finish our discussion."

It didn't take Rose long to reach the bridge. "What is wrong?" She approached the second in command of the Valiant, Sergeant Azarmov.

"We are receiving a very strange reading from our people on the ground. At first I was thinking it was probably an issue with our radar, and asked Private Hillman to check in with London. But it's not just a problem with the Valiant, but it's worldwide!" Azarmov explained, not bothering to mask the extreme anxiousness in her voice.

Rose frowned at the news. "Show me."

Hillman waved her over, and pointed at one of the multiple screens around him. "Screen two has the results."

Rose squinted at the multiple numbers and lines that scrolled without interruption. "Wait, am I reading this correctly?"

Azarmov nodded as she stood behind the two. "I'm afraid so ma'am."

"How can our atmosphere suddenly became poisonous?" Rose turned around. "Has UNIT sent any information in the last 24 hours on anything that could point to the culprit?" Normally, she would had been contacted on her mobile if something really catastrophic had happened. But of course, she had asked for a sort of downtime (first in almost four years - so she definitely was entitled to it) after two months of continuous hellish missions. So, now that she thought about it, It was most likely they hadn't bothered her with this until it got to this level.

One of the men raised his hand. "We have a report from Colonel Mace from today 0100 GMT stating they were investigating the ATMOS incident…"

"Yes, the suspicious manner in which 52 people all died at exactly the same time. I read the memo." Rose answered impatiently. "But how does this related to our atmosphere being dangerous for people down there?"

"Just they are entering the ATMOS factory and starting operation blue sky. No communication since 0800 GMT."

Rose raised her eyebrow. "Operation blue sky? Someone want to tell me what that is?" One week on downtime and she was already out of the loop.

"It's one of..." Someone had begun to explain before Hillman frantically interrupted with, "Atmosphere saturation at 38%, and it's rising again!"

"Okay, everybody stay calm," Rose commanded and turned to the first person she saw. "You're Private Vasquez right? Call Geneva, request a status update, and then ask why the Valiant was not informed." She then turned to another soldier. "Call Colonel Mace, I need to know what is exactly happening on the ground." When the soldier acknowledged his task, Rose let out a small sigh. The holiday was officially over.

While everyone were furiously working at their stations, Rose took a second to send a message to the people she had worked with, asking about what they knew about the situation. But unfortunately they were as much in the dark as she was. Something that she did not like. As that almost always meant the situation had come out of nowhere and they had either missed the warning signs or whoever was behind this was an ace at stealth. Both were never a good thing, as one would involve competency questions from higher up, and the other was just really bad news

"45% now and rising!" Tillman called out.

Rose put a hand on her forehead. "That's not good. Not good at all...That's rising too quickly..." She mumbled to herself, before realizing that Vasquez was looking at her with a sort of anxious yet concerned look. "What did Geneva say?"

Vasquez rolled her eyes. "They put us on hold."

Rose wasn't expecting that. "What? Why?"

"They said that the Valiant was not top priority right now, and that we could hold or be called back later. The United Nations is holding an emergency session."

"Fine. We'll have to get by without them." She scowled then turned to Azarmov. "Did any of our scanners pick up anything abnormal around the Earth? Any spaceships? A weird light, perhaps?"

Azarmov lifted his chin, already pulling up a few communications logs. "Our men are looking at it right now. We've also asked the other Unit bases to report their findings."

"Level rising at 50%! " Interrupted Private Hillman, his eyes glued to the screen.

"50%? Do we even any idea what is in that fog? And where on earth he is coming from?" Rose tugged at her hair before calling over to someone, "Has anyone been able to reach Colonel Mace?"

"Channel two, Colonel!" said one of the technicians.

"Finally! Maybe I'll get some bloody answers now…" she muttered while crossing her arms. "Ok! Onto the big screen now!"

Colonel Mace's head and shoulders appeared before them. "Trap One for big Hawk! You wanted to speak with me?"

"Colonel Wolfe, acting command of the Valiant." Rose watched him blink a few times while processing her words. Like every high rank officer of UNIT, he that when Wolfe was brought into the situation, that it was extremely serious.

And that didn't always apply just for their enemies.

"I'm going to be brief, Colonel Mace. With the situation at hand, we don't have the time to run around blindly. What is happening down there? Is this connected to your investigation on ATMOS?" She looked at him very seriously, waiting for answers.

"Yes, it involves ATMOS," Mace admitted, "but we don't have a clear answer as to what is the cause of the problem. But, we strongly suspect that it's alien, and originated in all ATMOS devices. We've passed a message for people to stay away from their cars."

Rose shouted a very nasty curse, making the Sergeant beside her look at her in surprise. "Are you sure? Because do you know how many cars have ATMOS on it?"

"Yes, we're sure!" Mace nodded, pleased with himself that it was his people who discovered not only the origin of the devices, but their inner workings. "It's good you called me, I was just about to contact you. We require the Valiant as back up. We're sending in a fresh batch of soldiers right now, and we are probably going to need you to clear the frog from the area. And be ready to shoot on my command. We need to be prepared on all front."

Rose had stopped listening after the revelation that ATMOS was responsible, and that they clearly had no idea on what to do. She was now too busy tinkering with something on her wrist. "Colonel, I need your coordinates. I'm coming down. I will be more helpful on the ground than up here."

Mace looked affronted. "Colonel, we have the situation completely covered! And you are well aware that your machine is not that good! You yourself have said that you don't know if it's still working!"

"Yeah, I know this thing is dodgy at the best of time, but it's not the time to discuss semantics! The Valiant will remain completely functional under Sergeant Azarmov. You however obviously need help on the ground."

"I'm the head of UNIT England, you can't just-" Mace sputtered as his face grew red with frustration.

Rose interrupted him with a scowl. "Mace. Don't make me pull seniority on you. Remember that I'm not Brigadier only because I refused the promotion." She clenched her hands, wishing for the ability to smack him through the screen. "Right now is not the time. So, if you have a problem with my decision, then you can still file a grievance with Geneva or the prime minister. But only after I've saved your sorry arse. Am I clear?"

"But the D…" He tried to start again.

"For Pete's sake, Colonel!" Rose's eyes flashed and she looked so angry that the men besides her took a cautious step back. "The whole world is choking! Do you really want to debate on who has the biggest toy?"

With a resigned sigh, Mace transmitted the coordinates of the mobile HQ, and waited for the her to show up. Wolfe was one of the most mysterious agents of UNIT, and probably the very best they had in the years since the Doctor was about.

Speaking of the rather frustrating alien… He took a moment to consider the potential of them crossing paths, wondering if he could survive a meet up between the her and the Doctor (who easily proved that he could be just as hard headed).

Rose was still typing on her machine, which looked a cross between a steampunk watch and intricate bracelet. "Right, so in fifteen seconds I'm going to move down to the ground. Stand by and wait for my signal or for Colonel Mace to make a move. Am I clear?" she commanded, not even looking back over her shoulder. She knew her crew well enough to know they would obey her order.

Sergeant Rinkins, who had been with the Colonel for the week nodded his understanding. Like almost all UNIT agents, he knew the legend of Colonel Marion Wolfe. It said she was with UNIT since its creation, and that she even had superpowers. She was the wild card when everything was supposed lost. And he didn't want to be the one to contradict her. "Crystal clear, ma'am."

She looked at him for the first time since the beginning of this situation and smiled. "You're going far Rinkins. See you later." And in a flash, she was gone.