Aliens of Torchwood (Spin-off, Part Two and Finale)

by Slitheeno

A special Star Slitheen infiltration unit is finally sent in to Torchwood, only to discover dark realities. Meanwhile, unexpected intruders pay a visit to UNIT, catching Saba and her siblings unaware. The intrepid freelance journalist Sarah Jane Smith tries to uncover the sinister truth herself before getting caught up in a hot war between two rival Raxicoricofalipatorian Familes!

Aliens of Torchwood (Aliens of UNIT Spin-Off, Part Two)

Synopsis: The Star Slitheen Family press on with their devious plan to take over Torchwood; a special Slitheen infiltration unit is finally sent in, only to discover deeper and darker realities. Meanwhile, unexpected intruders pay a visit to UNIT, catching Saba and her siblings unaware. In between, the intrepid freelance journalist Sarah Jane Smith tries to uncover the sinister truth about UNIT and Torchwood before finding herself unsuspectingly caught up in a hot war between two rival Raxicoricofallipatorian crime families!

(N.B. This is a Slitheen story with mature and adult themes. Not for underage readers. Please read at your own discretion).

(N.B. To properly understand the complex story arcs, it is necessary to read, in chronological order, the following stories; Aliens of UNIT, Aliens of UNIT Part Two and Aliens of Torchwood Spin Off, Part One. Enjoy!).

(Torchwood HQ, Canary Wharf)

Yvonne Hartman, the long-term leader of Torchwood, originally an organisation that investigated and combatted alien threats against the then-British Empire back in the 19th century, strutted down the hallways and corridors of her massive Canary Wharf HQ, surrounded constantly by a four-man bodyguard squad of fellow humans covering her from the right, left, ahead and behind, making her untouchable. Alongside her, but always a few centimetres behind her was Officer Montgomery Watson, her most trusted soldier and commander of all Torchwood security personnel. A unabashed neo-Imperialist, Yvonne wanted Britain to take full charge of humanity's destiny in her wildest fantasies. In her megalomaniac worldview, the rest of the Universe with all its vast peoples and resources existed for the Earth - Britain - to exploit mercilessly and coldly. This vision merely needed an excellent leader commanding those below her in the hierarchy. For the egotistical and vanity-infested Yvonne, that leader was none other than herself.

Yvonne had an extreme dislike of aliens. If they were not obvious hostile threats to Britain, her beloved homeland, they were simply a nuisance, an unwanted burden. In any case, every alien visitor had to be controlled, lest they threatened precious human lives, the only lives that mattered to her. Unsurprisingly, she was a big fan of immigration control. One thing that Yvonne did like about her job was that she came to possess many alien cultural artefacts as "souvenirs", many of which she attempted to use to improve herself. Secretly, she was into eugenics and regularly sought to alter her body so that she could stay young and physically fit forever. They aliens had the technology and know-how, which Torchwood simply had to 'appropriate' and reverse engineer for their own material benefits. Yvonne even stopped eating food drawn from the Earth's soil; instead opting to consume extra-terrestrial, and supposedly, luxurious highly-nutritious alien meat from abroad.

Her size and weight increased as a result, making her taller and plumper than before, but she did not care much about her self image these days. Not ever since she realised that a minority, criminal Slitheen Family were not only present on Earth - in her country, coincidentally and out of all places on the planet - but had successfully managed to take over key institutions, murdering Yvonne's fellow British citizens, the crime which outraged her the most. From her point of view, Britain was being taken over from within and it was not even a conspiracy. Soon there would be no Britain anymore. It would be a space filled with non-human aliens carrying out their own agendas. Yvonne was absolutely committed to leading the fightback against seemingly insurmountable odds. One noticeable success that she could boast about was keeping Torchwood independent from outside control… but for how long?

Shortly after the recent privatisation of the British government, all funding for Torchwood was deliberately cut and syphoned away back to UNIT. The Star Slitheen aimed to ensure that Torchwood would die out as a result of financial bankruptcy. The organisation was essentially on life support, surviving on donations from secret parties with obscure links to Far-Right movements. Having their wages either delayed indefinitely or finding themselves laid off abruptly without reasonable justification, the staff at the organisation went on strikes repeatedly. The ever-calculating Yvonne swiftly dealt with this in an exceptionally cold-hearted manner; she fired all the human staff except the security department (the hiring process was highly vetted to ensure only the most bigoted and ideologically-loyal humans were being signed up to Torchwood) and replaced the rest with confused alien life forms who were forced to labour under her dictates.

These aliens were abducted from the streets or captured immediately by Torchwood if they crash landed accidentally on Earth. They were made to work in mine-digging for a clandestine programme that Torchwood had planned for quite some time. In effect, Yvonne instituted slavery at her workplace. She would not have to pay her workforce anything and she kept all profits and the benefits of free labour to herself, and to any sycophant who approved of her egregious policies. Nobody apart from UNIT was aware of alien life on Earth. The slaves had no rights, no supporters and no hope of escape. Nobody was going to come and save them. They were forced to undergo a fatal social death to satisfy the selfish few.

Nonetheless, Torchwood could not hold its poor position in a hostile space indefinitely for something would have to give - Saba Mahmood and her adaptive Slitheen Family were hellbent on taking over and absorbing the organisation into becoming a part of their active business operations. The Slitheen wanted to eliminate their competition and establish their monopoly on British institutions before venturing elsewhere across the globe. America had already fallen to them. Facing such desperate times, Yvonne resorted to a pragmatic alliance with the Raxicorifalipatorians and long-time rival cousins of the Slitheen branches, the Blathereen. This clan that arrived on Earth looking for work after being tipped off by a mysterious figure about the abundantly available opportunities, the Vas Bunkins, were seasoned bounty hunters, providing crucial intelligence to Torchwood about the notorious Star Slitheen Family, a clan that they had been hunting as were so many other security and intergalactic police organisations. Yvonne took the information freely but nonetheless she did not trust the Blathereen, like any other aliens, opting to play the classic game of divide and conquer between them. Ironically though, she was correct to be suspicious of this particular Family.

These Blathereen had become corrupted by the latest galaxy-wide economic recession. Many elderly and children had tragically died in the various famines and natural disasters that nearby galaxies witnessed in recent years, leaving the disheartened Vas Bunkins deeply impoverished, suffering from mass hunger and at the risk of their bloodlines becoming extinct. These new arrivals on Earth though refused to remain in such destitute conditions and become passive victims to material forces lately outside of their control. But they opted to emulate their amoral Slitheen counterparts by prioritising profit over life. As such, they too began to kill human prey and steal their skins. Likewise, the Vas Bunkins did not trust Yvonne at all, seeing her as a useful native idiot to advance their own agenda. At a Family meeting on board their spaceship parked safely on the Moon, the Blathereen collectively assembled and assessed the ongoing situation the evening before they agreed to work in a partnership with Torchwood.

"Our job is to hunt down the Star Slitheen and capture them. We can then ransom them to the Judoon and the High Council back home for more money. Once we have eliminated all the major threats, we will plant our Rakweed unimpeded on this highly fertile rock. Earth will become one gigantic farm for our leisure and benefit." declared Jobi Kax Carly Zan Vas Bunkin Blathareen, the leader of this branch. The Blathereen spent the remainder of the long debate thrashing out the finer details of their unethical business plan. A few hours later, Jobi led the announcements once more.

"Our finalised plan is as follows:

Stage One: We infiltrate Torchwood and gain the trust of the humans. Convert all of them

Stage Two: We hunt down and subjugate the vile Slitheen wherever they are. The preference is to take them alive so that they can be handed over to the relevant authorities in exchange for handsome fees

Stage Three: We neutralise our welcoming hosts. Plant our modified Rakweed all over this rock. Eliminate any outstanding opposition.

Stage Four: We advertise the available land for farming to the other families in the universe, selling/renting it to them for a profit. Earth becomes a majority-Blathereen planet.

Murmurs of consent could be heard amongst the siblings. A Blathereen woman by the name of Baba Sul Neg Vas Bunkin spoke up thereafter.

"So many of our Families have died so that we can be here today. So much sacrifice, We must also use the opportunity to recruit non-Raxicorcoifalipatorians humans into our ranks to replenish our stock. If we take over their planet, it's only fair that we incorporate many of them into our Family. Some compensation for being an inferior party and losing control of their own soil. They can take solace in becoming Raxicorifalipatorians and sharing in our profits." Baba motioned. An interesting debate ensued to manufacture consent for this Family plan.

"The dominant homo sapien lifeforms on this rock lead very primitive lives. Nothing serious. Mindless consumerism. They do not even know why they exist in the first place!." one Blathereen elder remarked with dismay. Many others shared the same sentiments about humans. There was very little to be impressed by.

"We find ourselves in a very unique position: we can either wipe out the humans en masse as we clear space for our planetary farming colonisation. Or we could transform humans. Make them like us in every aspect quite literally. Why, we would be doing them an almighty favour." Jobi declared with a hint of glee in his voice. These thoughts greatly excited him.

"That would still require robbing the humans of their humanity, that which makes them human." The Blathereen nearby Jobi who made this statement generally disapproved of the direction his Family were taking since the onstart of the intergalactic recession. They were becoming something unrecognisable to him. Like splitting reflections of their detested rivals.

"Being human is nothing special, nothing unique." riposted another Blathereen elder with a sense of innate pride and superiority.

"Is this an ethical issue that is weighing down on our minds, or simply a business decision to execute?" enquired yet another senior present at the table, wondering what part of the spectrum the Family sought to operate from. .

"Creating more Blathereen members means a bigger Family which means more issues and disputes. We should certainly think carefully about this." Jobi replied, speaking on behalf of most.

"We have a duty to transform these poor creatures. If we do it now then either someone else will - make the humans into something else, something hideous." Fux Del Fas Vas Bunkin warned.

"Like what, Fux?"

"Like a… Slitheen." Gasps could be heard around the room. Curses were immediately directed towards that rival Family clan. Baba seized the moment to press the case that the humans ought to be converted pronto.

"We are competing with the Slitheen whether we like it or not. Our latest intelligence indicates that they intend to establish the base of a new intergalactic economic empire here on Earth. The fate of the humans will be such that they will not only be reduced to irrelevant but that they might end up becoming extinct. They will realise this but it will be too late to stop it.". A few moments of silence passed after this remark was made. Nobody disputed it.

"The homo sapiens number in the billions. Rather than die miserably, it would be far better to convert their potential into a better life force. I am talking, of course, about making them into us. As Baba said, we need to replenish our stocks. The humans may never agree to our plans but objectively, we are offering the better deal, so-to-speak. It does matter if they realise this beforehand. What matters is that they come to terms with their conversion after we have transformed them, when it's too late to change back. By this point, the newly-converted will have to enjoy their Blathereenhood. They will have our names, marry within our Family, have our babies, share the land with us, become rich and fat together!" Jobi added on, strengthening Baba's rhetoric. Murmurs of agreement were becoming more consistent and louder by this point.

"We must save the humans then. From themselves! From the Slitheen!" announced one senior elder with glee. Although the discourse sounded altruistic, the Blathereen revealed themselves to have inadvertently become imperialists and colonisers. They wanted the Earth for themselves exclusively, so that they could turn it into one giant farm plantation and that meant deciding the fates of the natives. The Blathereen knew that the humans would never accept losing their planet so easily, that there would be armed, violent resistance to their project if it became too public and unabashed. The conversions would have to be very subtle. At the same time, the Blathereen were never known for being mass genocidal killers either. The Vas Bunkins were very careful about tarnishing their Family name. Believing themselves to be somehow exceptional, they used the external threat of the rival Slitheen to dictate their planning. Humanity was to be erased and everyone was to become Blathereen. In that way, the natives would still be natives technically and no crime could be seen to be committed. There would be no injustice to resist. The Vas Bunkins would be able to live guilt-free, able to consistently represent themselves as benevolent and wholly distinct from the murderous Slitheen who only brought death and misery to everyone else as they selfishly sought to gain short-term profits.

"The Earth must be made into a Blathereen paradise! The more of us, the better." This Family prided itself on being so intelligent with such remarks, with such spontaneous planning initiatives.

"Yes. Ideally, we would want to reach a point where the converted find their new forms sweet and pleasurable, to the extent that they will remain in perpetual debt and gratitude to us." Jobi argued carefully, ensuring that the motive would be convincing for all of his siblings.

"Let us vote on this to decide once and for all the fate of humankind!" Baba announced excitedly by seizing the moment, firmly confident that everyone would agree on what needed to be done practically. Proving conclusively that the democratic voting mechanism was simply a masking tool to enact empire-building, the Blathereen Family unanimously voted in favour of this plan and the meeting came to its conclusion; all the Family members went back into their human skins or their work stations back on Earth if they had not unzipped already. Converting humans into Blathereen meant capturing the Natives first. The lorry charity schemes were the perfect cover for this nefarious activity. The Blathereen had decided to start their imperial project by beginning with those humans who had been left to drift from mainstream society, the poor and downtrodden. They had no investments in the existing human social orders and all the more to gain by pledging loyalty to the Blathereen upon conversion.

(Present Day)

(A Torchwood Warehouse)

One evening when a lorry dropped off another supply of human bodies extracted from the lowest rungs of society at a secret Torchwood-run warehouse in the middle of nowhere, one of the bodies slowly woke up in mid-air as a Blathereen carried his thin body, dazed at his blurry surroundings. Unsure of what exactly was going on but realising immediately that a humongous alien was transporting him somewhere, he kept his mouth shut for the moment. The aliens eventually throw his massive body into some large, unlit room. He landed on another human but it was exceptionally dark that he could not see much at all.

"Argh!" Haroon Khan felt the pain as he hit a fellow human who remained unconscious. Getting up, he attempted to get a bearing of his surroundings. He was of average height and slender.

"H-Haroon? Haroon, is that you?" A shaky voice called out from amongst the bodies in the pitch-dark room. The aliens had vacated the space before this human had the guts to speak up. He too had been conscious throughout the transportation process, from when he woke up again inside of the lorry prior to its arrival at the undisclosed warehouse site.

"Yeah…It's me, Eric." Haroon responded positively. He recognised the soft voice of his longtime friend from secondary school - Eric Langley. Born in the Midlands, they both came from working-class backgrounds and often supported each other whenever they found themselves laid off in their ever-temporary jobs. Eric was a white fella with ginger hair, and he was deeply self-conscious about it, having been mocked and bullied in his school years. His classmates used to taunt him as 'the ginger with no soul'. Likewise, Haroon was deeply aware of his light brown skin having undergone severe levels of discrimination not only in his education days but still in broader society albeit it was becoming more and more subtle in recent times. It was the mistreatment that forced this duo to bond well early on in life.

"Oh thank God. What the hell happened to us? Where are we?" The last thing Eric remembered was eating some fresh, hot baked beans in the back of a lorry earlier in the day.

"No idea." Haroon was stumped.

"You got your phone? We could use a light here. I do not know where my phone has gone..."

"No, I do not." Haroon confirmed as he checked his jeans. The aliens had confiscated all their pocket possessions. The humans moved around the room, checking carefully to see if anyone was awake. They were not but the ability to inspect at close range confirmed something.

"We are all here." Eric announced with a gulp in the back of his throat. They recognised everyone as being from the same homeless site that they came from. All of them had been duped by the devious charity scheme offering them free food. Instead, they had clearly been abducted by unknown forces and placed in a sinister environment.

"What the hell…" Eric was at a loss for words. This all felt wrong.

"Let them sleep. Don't disturb them." Haroon cautioned his longtime companion to be as gentle as possible. They tried to work out exactly what happened and where they currently were. After a while, the aliens returned as a large group, content not to hide their presence at all. The lights also came on, illustrating that the room was much bigger on the inside than previously thought. Scores of human bodies littered the floor. Without warning, the aliens grabbed everyone in sight. They did not care that two of the humans were standing upright, fully conscious of what was going on around them.

"What are you doing to us?" Eric cried out as he was seized along with Haroon. The humans tried to struggle but the aliens were very powerful and physically much stronger. They simply tightened their grip which forced the males to stop resisting momentarily.

"Quiet, human boys. We are doing you a favour - saving you from your own primitive selves." one of them said as they quickly transferred the humans to a nearby laboratory chamber. Those humans who had regained their consciousness in this space by now bore witness to a startling sight - hundreds of transparent cocoons in neatly assembled rows, hosting a human body. These witnesses were the latest batch, waiting to be inserted.

"N-No! No! Nooooo!" screamed some of them. Their last human sounds emitted out of their mouths pathetically as they became submerged into a living organism. The Blathereen were resorting to an old method of conversion, a practice they knew full well was outlawed in most places in the galaxy. In a sense, the Blathereen could argue that they were converting humans far more organically than others. Not that ethics mattered by this point. It was all about mechanical technique.

"Aaaaaargh!" Eric and Haroon screamed in unison as they shoved inside their respective individual conversion pods against their own will by a Blathereen adult. They lost consciousness within minutes. A massive cocoon eventually formed around them and inside, the humans were being unnaturally transformed into something radically different… A few days later, the cocoons hatched after a violent eruption. The newest members of a Blathereen family rose to their feet with some struggle.

"Haroon, what happened to us?!" Eric exclaimed as he checked himself out, now eight-feet tall with massive forearms, razor-sharp claws and a pot belly to boot.

"We've become…them." Haroon responded slowly, recognising that an irreversible and extraordinary process had occurred. His sense of smell had increased drastically.

"Aliens?! Oh my God!" Eric exclaimed hysterically as he saw Haroon, no longer a human. It freaked him out. They both felt a severe urge to hunt that they had to repress.

"Shh! Calm down, they might hear and come for us.". After checking each other out and getting used to their new forms - they both realised that their nostril powers of smelling had increased at least tenfold - the new Blathereen began to examine the other conversion pods in the room.

"There must be thousands of them - I mean us…No, I mean them?! Urgh!" Eric was having an impromptu identity crisis. Conversion was only physical; every new member retained a sense of who they were prior to being placed in the pod. In time, the Blathereen reality would have to become dominant otherwise the individual would go insane, become depressed and, as happened sometimes, commit suicide.

"What do they want with us?" Eric continued his speech, hoping to understand what on earth was going on.

"Obviously, they are harvesting our bodies and converting humans into becoming like…them. It seems that they have been on Earth for quite some time, to set all of this up. Looks highly professional. Whoever these aliens are, they are smart. Which makes them very dangerous." Haroon surmised correctly. Unlike Eric, he was more accepting of the change. If it was irreversible as he speculated then there was no point in crying about it. Nothing could change this now. The new converts zoomed in on some of those still undergoing conversion inside their pods and cocoons.

"Hey, I recognise this person…I think?" Eric directed his attention towards a suspended male. They could just about see his human face which was slowly becoming unrecognisable.

"Me too. He slept rough on Rover Street, back when we were doing that warehouse job in Burnley, remember? Nice guy but I forget his name. Lost all his money in a bad inheritance scam though." Haroon recalled. This person was not the only individual that they recognised.

"Beth? Amlish? Jack? Chris?" These were itinerant friends of Eric and Haroon whom the duo had met out on the cold streets of England whenever mass unemployment had hit. Why were they also here, they thought?

"Nothing about any of this random… They are after us specifically - homeless people who have nowhere to live or to go to." Haroon once more ascertained without error.

"So why are they after us?" Eric asked. Before Haroon could formulate an intelligent guess, someone else entered the laboratory chamber.

"Enjoying yourselves, boys?" a soft, feminine voice called out from behind them. A female Blathereen strutted suggestively into their midst from the door entrance to the room, surprising the male converts.

"You!...You're an…a-alien as well!" Eric exclaimed. It was all rather surreal for him.

"Are you okay?... Erm, how long have you been out for?" Haroon asked the woman. He assumed that she too must be a convert from humanity. For once though, he assumed incorrectly.

"Longer than you." she replied, giving a cheeky, confident wink to indicate that she was absolutely comfortable with who she was.

"What have we become?!" Eric again spoke with some hysteria in his voice. The conversion process had utterly freaked him out. He no longer felt human and now he was talking to another alien.

"We are Blathereen. A noble Family hailing from Raxicoricofalipatorius." the female spoke confidently, too confidently.

"B–B-Bladadeen?" Eric tried to repeat the words of his interlocutor faithfully but errantly.

"No, Blath-a-reen. Blathereen."

"So who exactly are you? Do you have a name?" Haroon asked politely, eager to know more.

"I'm Natalie. Natalie Beckford Fas Eew Novi Vas Bunkin Blathareen, at your service." the Blathareen woman gracefully gave the answer, bowing herself, impressing the males.

"Natalie Beckford? That doesn't sound very alien to me." Eric observed correctly for once.

"That's because it is not. Like yourselves, I was once a human being once upon a time." the convert revealed. Natalie had once upon a human lifetime been a scientist working at UNIT but she absconded to Torchwood after a perceived drop in working standards once Brigadier Penelope Warrington formally replaced the missing Saba Mahmood. A few months in and she caught the attention of the Blathereen who had her converted like everyone else.

"So you were converted as well." Haroon said, stating the obvious. So many banal questions were inevitable.

"God, you two are clearly not the brightest bunch… No matter. The Family does not ask you to think anyways… yes, I too was converted at some point. The Vas Bunkins - our tight-knit Family - are targeting the underclass of human societies. As it stands, you two are my newest 'brothers'. Every day, our ranks increase numerically. The Family welcomes every new member with open claws. You will all find a new home in your undying allegiance to the Blathereen!"

"Okay, that explains a lot already… So the goal is to make Earth Blathereen-land or something?" Haroon tried to deduce the masterplan. Eric stayed silent for once and simply tried to follow the explanations.

"Something like that. You will know everything in due course. Follow me this way and no questions." Natalie commanded her new siblings. Haroon and Eric submissively followed the commands of their 'sister'. The trio headed off in the direction of some changing rooms where Torchwood personnel ordinarily stripped naked and bathed themselves at the end of their shifts. After undergoing some necessary showers to cleanse themselves, the new Blathereen converts were made to wait on the benches for a while before another brown Raxicoricofallipatorian arrived.

"You two will be under the command of our noble uncle, Melon Defart." Natalie announced proudly. Melon was her supervisor.

"You two boys will fit perfectly!" the Blathereen senior exclaimed with delight as he began to physically examine the new members of the ever-expanding Vas Bunkin Family. Haroon and Eric felt extremely vulnerable during the whole process. They spent the next few weeks undergoing "induction" into the Family, learning quickly what was expected of them in the coming weeks ahead…

(A Few Weeks Later)

The Natalie Blatheeren approached some young security guards standing tall and firm outside a laboratory setting one day on the upper floors. She was a recognised scientist working at Torchwood. As such, she could roam around the base without arousing suspicion. Collaborating with humans on certain projects was also quite common. Natalie had identified these two slim and highly athletic black and white males as perfect for what needed to be done.

"The two of you are needed at Ground Zero in the basement levels at once." Natalie lied. Technically, only their skins were needed.

"Why?" Liam Wallace asked, suspicious of the request. A thirty-year old, this white male had been serving Torchwood loyally for about eight years. He had seen much action against aliens in his time at the organisation and was well-respected by most staff members.

"It's off-limits to us." Harry Powell explained, hoping to put an end to the matter. He was black, thirty-two years old and had been at Torchwood for the last ten years, demonstrating his competency and experience on numerous occasions. Liam and Harry had been good friends and comrades for quite some time, often doing many things together on a mutually cooperative basis.

"I have full security clearance. Yvonne is waiting for you downstairs. Come with me at once." the Blathereen said casually. Hearing the name of their supreme commander, the two humans naively trusted the alien and followed him submissively to the lower levels, out of sight from any camera surveillance, an agreement Yvonne reluctantly acquiesced to when she wanted the Blathereen in at Torchwood. As they entered the massive room, they saw plenty more Blathereen present minding their own business. None of them stopped to notice the newly-arrived humans being led by Natalie.

"I didn't know that there were this many of them here on Earth." Liam spoke up bluntly. He felt outnumbered and it made his skin crawl.

"Neither did I. But I swear we only hired out a few to begin with…." Harry stated, wondering where all of these new Raxicoricofalipatorians had come from. How odd.

"This way, hurry!" the Blathereen urged his human counterparts to enter beyond a certain point. Some door shutters immediately came down, trapping the humans in a room filled with Blathereen. It was a laboratory chamber hosting some usual conversion pods.

"What is the meaning of all of this?" Liam asked, surprised by the seemingly random chain of events he was witnessing. To their horror, the two human males saw their fellow humans safely contained inside transparent cocoons.

"Blathereen, what is the meaning of all this? Why are there humans inside these cocoons?" Harry asked, exasperated at the ghastly sight.

"It's all for a good cause." the light brown Raxicoricofalipatorian gladly responded but with a cryptic tone. This all felt sinister and malevolent.

"Does Yvonne know about this?" Harry enquired. His senses told him that this was all wrong. If Yvonne did not know then Torchwood was in deep trouble.

"Your idiot human leader hasn't the faintest clue." the Blatheeen suddenly remarked, demonstrating a noticeable shift in tone and passive-aggressiveness. She was in complete control now.

"Pardon me?" Liam thought he heard something unusual from the Blathereen. Signs of disrespect and insubordination. Words anathema to a loyal-serving officer.

"We should go back upstairs." Harry said with a sense of urgency. Everything seemed off.

"You're not going anywhere, boys!." Natalie shouted as some of her naked Blathereen siblings came behind her to form a crowd, making the human soldiers feel terrified that something bad was going to happen to them.

"Code Black on Ground Zero, Repeat Code Black! Hostile Blathereen, illegal operations on Ground Zero! Request backup immediately, over." Only some noisy static feedback on their radios could be heard emitting in response. No technology worked in these lower levels if the Raxicoricofallipatorians did not want them to. Everything was disabled. They tried to radio again in vain but the same static feedback sounded out.

"Let's kill these aliens and claim self-defence. It's not like these fuckers have any rights." Harry shouted ignorantly as the duo cocked and loaded their advanced weaponry. But no laser beam fired out even after repeated attempts.

"What the?!" They exclaimed in astonishment. The Blathereen around them simply laughed amongst themselves.

"Your electronic communications are permanently disabled in this area. Likewise, your weaponry has been deliberately disabled. Your lives are forfeit." Natalie explained before giggling some more. The Eric and Haroon Blathareen suddenly emerged from the darkest corners of the room, slowly making their way to their designated targets. The vulnerable human males felt threatened.

"I call dibs on the ginger one… I was ginger once…" the Eric Slitheen recalled. The bloodlust in his Blathereen veins were rising automatically. The urge to kill was there within his being.

"I don't care about that. Let's finish the job." Harron replied casually as the duo closed in on their victims. The Blathereen had formed a collective body wall that forced the humans to remain backed up against the wall - there was no escape.

"Harry." Liam called out. Harry was transfixed on the aliens approaching them.

"Not now." he said, keeping his gaze focused on the hostile beings who were threatening them.

"Harry, look over there!" Liam shouted again, indicating something nearby. The humans recognised the rubbery face staring at them from a nearby bench. It was Natalia Jackson - Harry's girlfriend and a low-level technician working in the same building. The Blathereen had not only killed the innocent human but egregiously proceeded to make a skin suit out of her corpse. Having no sense of shame, they had left the newly-created disguise on one of the tables, not paying it much attention.

"Whoops…probably should have hidden that out of sight. Oh well." Natalie the murderer commented rather cheekily. Prior to luring these two security guards, she had trapped her human victim here, snapped her windpipe and made an adequate costume for herself.

"What the fuck?!" Harry was at a loss to explain this. Liam was about to vomit but somehow maintained his composure.

"Ahem… The Vas Bunkin Family of the Blathereen sincerely apologies that we are unable to incorporate you two into our ranks. Naturally, we recognise that you are highly competent soldiers, willing to lay down your lives for the safety of your planet and species. Truly a noble sacrifice. Unfortunately, our business plans at this stage require a mass infiltration of Torchwood. My brothers Haroon and Eric will make instrumental use of your identities to further our agenda of taking over this rock and converting the rest of your species into us." Natalie explained, trying to sound as polite as possible about how this duo were going to be killed and reused for a higher, nobler cause.

The Blathereen had taken the early lead in developing modified neck braces that allowed Racicoricofalipatorians to slot their humungous selves inside their smaller victims without a gas exchange occurring. Their rival Slitheen were miles behind in the technological race, so they thought. This way, neither human nor Slitheen could detect a disguised Blathereen. Yvonne too was blindsided.

"Unlike our rival Slitheen scum, we will not chase and hunt you down. We are more merciful - we will kill you in one swift go. You will not even feel a thing… Get them!" Natalie ended the conversation by issuing the call-to-kill. Haroon and Eric submissively complied. Disarming the terrified human males easily by slapping away their weaponry, the Blathereen grabbed their bodies aggressively, squeezing them tightly but clumsily. Once the humans had passed out due to a lack of oxygen, the amateur Blathereen scrambled rather clumsily, understandably for new converts, to craft their unique skins. The whole process was a messy affair. So much blood was being splattered everywhere, on the floor and on the walls. Other Blathereen observers had to get involved. As a reward for their cooperation, they got an equitable chance to chew on the juiciest parts of raw human flesh. Their uncle Melon Defart arrived a while later to see the result.

"Nice to see you in your skins." he said approvingly.

"Its a bit snug on the inside. Chaffing a bit." Eric complained as he adjusted his new disguise, posing now as Harry Powell.

"I'm just amazed that this skin hasn't ripped apart yet." Haroon wondered out aloud as he stood now as Liam Wallace. It was an incredible technological feat that allowed the Balthereen to inhabit such skinny bodies.

"It won't. You are to continue your mission by posing as these thick humans. Got it?" Natalie said as she rose to her feet, effortlessly inhabiting the thin body of Dr Natalia Jackson. The gas exchange has successfully been eliminated.

"Yes." they replied monosyllabically.

"Yes, what, idiots? You need to remember that you are impersonating security guards inside a top-secret military base. Don't forget to look the part. Arousing suspicion will endanger the Family as a whole. We kill those idiots before they get the chance to humiliate us." Defart warned.

"Sir, yes, sir!" The guards responded with a slavish salute that bordered on the comical.

"Much better. Now get out of my sight, remain in character and stay out of trouble.". The two newly-disguised Blathereen promptly slackened up and returned to their normal stationary observation posts upstairs. An hour later, Yvonne and her usual group of compact bodyguards walked past their exact position.

"Ma'am!" they shouted instinctively in unison as she walked past, raising a perfect salute. Yvonne stopped momentarily to stare at these two. It soon turned into a forensic examination. Had she detected something was off? Eric and Haroon were unsure of what to do if they had been found out - they had never even unzipped before.

"Excellent postures, boys. I'm ever so proud of you. Keep it up and you will get that promotion soon enough. Lovely to see that standards are being maintained consistently… unlike some… " the Torchwood leader remarked, shaking his head a little at Officer Montgomery and the guards around her. Their occasional lapses in the smallest of details greatly displeased her. Although they felt too sacred to express themselves openly, the guards were greatly offended by the not-so-subtle allusions to their poor performances but kept any foul comments to themselves. Yvonne carried on with her patrol, disappearing down the corridor eventually. Haroon and Eric stared at each other via their human faces, relieved that their cover was not blown. Natalie never reappeared to them, having been sent by Yvonne across the world on some top-secret mission along with some other people. The next few weeks at Torchwood were going to be very interesting.

(13 Bannerman Road, London)

Sarah Jane Smith, once an active travelling companion of the Gallifreyan Time Lord The Doctor, had recently won an intermittent battle in a long-running war against cancer. Discharged from her nearest hospital after spending the last several weeks there under intensive care, the one-time companion of the Doctor had battled against the odds to stay alive. Sarah proved herself to be a survivor. Her adopted son, Luke Smith, died prematurely a few years ago from an unidentified disease, causing the grieving mother to become more reclusive and withdrawn from society until her chronic cancer issues forced her to reevaluate her life choices. Meanwhile her two other close companions, Clyde Langer and Rani Chandra, had gone off to university together in Scotland to avoid having to pay any interest-based tuition fees, leaving the elderly woman to continue living alone. As ever, Sarah kept herself busy with constructive activities, including investigating extraterrestrial matters as normal.

Lately, Sarah had been following information leads about strange occurrences at both UNIT and Torchwood. Credible rumours of mass abductions and digging sites mining deep into the Earth's core had her naturally worried. But something else was rather odd. Despite her longstanding historical association with UNIT, Sarah found herself suddenly barred from any of the bases without any proper reasons explaining this. Heading into her attic one afternoon, Sarah sought out some basic information to further her independent investigations.

"Mr Smith, I need you." A sentence she never grew tired of saying. Her wall opened up dramatically, revealing an in-built, sentient alien supercomputer inhabiting the space.

"Hello, Sarah Jane. What can I do for you." the Xylok Mr. Smith began the conversation politely.

"An update on the Torchwood case… So according to my research, there are over twenty warehouses across the UK that are linked with Torchwood, which has its HQ at Canary Wharf here in London. Mass digging sites have been reported by eyewitnesses who also state that non-human labour is being used."

"This information is correct, Sarah Jane. The digging processes started only a month ago and they appear to have made considerable progress."

"They are digging deep into the Earth… but what for? They have never done this before"

"I have no direct information on this matter. We can only speculate at this moment in time."

"This is highly unusual and unprecedented. I should pay a visit to Torchwood ASAP. Which reminds me - UNIT. Is there anything from this case that you know they are actively investigating?"

"No, Sarah Jane. UNIT is not currently investigating Torchwood. They seem to be more preoccupied with the reorganisation of British institutions."

"I agree… The behaviour of the current British government has been rather unusual. After a decade of austerity, they have suddenly decided to become warmhearted socialists overnight… the country's military has also been incorporated into UNIT…" Sarah said to herself as she stared out into the open space before her, trying to comprehend what was going on in Britain. Nothing seemed interconnected… yet.

"The Prime Minister has been regularly seen to be meeting in public with members of UNIT." Mr Smith pulled up some pictures extracted from the public domain, showing the leader of the UK government having a few laughs with a large white blond female dressed in smart officer outfit.

"Who is she?" Sarah could not identify this person herself.

"Brigadier General Penelope Warrington. The relevant data I possess indicates that she has been in charge for at least a year since the disappearance of the previous leader of UNIT, Saba Mahmood, who mysteriously went missing, now presumed dead."

"Missing? Presumed dead? How come I was not informed about this? This is most unusual… oh wait!" Sarah remembered that she had once received an urgent phone call from Saba, back when she was human over a year ago and was facing astronomical struggles in keeping UNIT afloat. But Sarah was busy with other matters and so failed to assist her counterpart. She had forgotten about it because of her fixation with beating cancer until this latest reminder.

"I'll arrange a meeting with UNIT and Torchwood separately. It's time we get to the bottom of this." Sarah announced, happy that she at least had some starting points to follow up her bubbling investigations. Something very strange was going on and the journalist just had to get to the bottom of it.

"Do you detect aliens being involved?" Mr Smith asked the most straightforward question possible. It was rhetorical in nature.

"Isn't that how it always is?" Sarah remarked at the banality of the situation before departing the attic space. By the next week, Sarah managed to organise, after some struggle, a meeting with a spokesperson from UNIT. They met at a quiet cafe somewhere in East London on a monotonous Sunday afternoon. She entered the space with some caution but knew that the prominent pale white fat male at the back of the social space was her designated contact.

"Ah, Sarah Jane Smith, a pleasure to meet the legend in the flesh." He began, stretching out a hand to meet his counterpart who finally arrived at the table. Unknown to Sarah, a smart nano-device was subtly planted in the sleeve of her brown leather jacket. It was to record the conversation for the benefit of someone else.

"Hello. And you are…?" Sarah wanted to know the name of her contact prior to shaking his grubby hands.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. Harrison, Harrison Wells. I am the official spokesperson for UNIT Britain. Please." he responded promptly with the utmost politeness, urging his counterpart to take her seat.

"Pleased to meet you… right, now that the pleasantries are out of the way, let's get down to business immediately - why am I not allowed to visit any UNIT base or speak with any senior personnel? I have had long standing associations with this organisation and all of a sudden I am being shown the cold shoulder - what gives?"

"Miss Smith, I hope you do not take this personally but you have been explicitly blacklisted from our organisation. I know this will come as a shock. But let us consider the facts: you have been known to bring trouble wherever you go. We cannot have you jeopardising our planet's security. After a recent internal review, we have decided to cut ties with you permanently." Mr Wells explained candidly, not looking to mince his blunt words.

"Can I not at least meet Penelope Warrington?"

"Absolutely not! She is the one who has given this express ban. Should you approach our bases or officers at any time, we have full licence to shoot you down on the spot." The warning was intensely ominous, as if Sarah was placed on a definitive hit list.

"Oh…this is quite the information." Sarah was shocked by what she was hearing. It was quite disturbing to hear what a dark turn UNIT was taking.

"I'm sure it is… Now then, you have been known to be a companion of the Doctor. Can you identify this figure?" The sudden change of topic to the Gallifreyan Time Lord automatically made Sarah feel uneasy. Why did he want to know about The Doctor?

"Well, he, she - could be anyone as I suspect the regeneration process has probably happened a fair few times since we last saw each other…" Sarah spluttered out a decent explanation.

"Do you know how we could find him?" Mr Wells continued his probe regardless. It all sounded deeply suspect but he made no serious attempt at hiding anything. He was obviously after The Doctor. Sarah could be the ticket to the Time Lord.

"No." Sarah replied monosyllabically, detecting something very strange. UNIT could get in touch with The Doctor through other means; why was Sarah suddenly important for this task all of a sudden?

"Would you be interested in helping us find him?"

"No…. Erm, I'm a little too busy these days. Not got the time to go on wild goose chases. The bills don't pay themselves. Cost-of-living crisis, as you know."

"Okay then. I have told you everything you need to know. Our conversation is over." the male said, killing the mood entirely.

"This probably will not be the last time I meet a member of UNIT." Sarah remarked definitely as she got up and prepared to depart. Something peculiar was going on at UNIT, and she intended to find out just what.

"All the best." Mr Wells maintained his politeness offensive, sporting a massive fake grin to see off the journalist. As soon as Sarah left the café, Rupp Slav-Bon Hungar Star Slitheen let out a massive fart that he had been desperately holding in.

"Prrrrrp!… Finally!" he exclaimed with delight, making the humans sitting nearby look at him in either disgust or amazement. Not that he cared much for human opinion. Sipping the last of his coffee aggressively, Rupp then picked up his large self and exited the cafe with some effort.

Torchwood was somewhat more lenient for Sarah to gain some level of access and a meeting with the hierarchical leader of the organisation, only because they had a tight security apparatus and deemed the journalist a harmless nuisance that could be monitored and controlled easily. Sarah arrived at Canary Wharf that same day in the afternoon, around 2pm, to have direct talks with Yvonne Hartman. Passing basic clearance checks, the security personnel brought straight to Yvonne's offices. The curvaceous Torchwood leader was sitting at her desk. Behind her was a large see-through glass window from where she could survey every worker, human and alien, working in the main areas of the base below. It was a God-like viewpoint.

"Sit down and wait your turn to speak." Officer Montgomery, a muscular white man with a firm, disciplined posture, ordered the journalist, as if he were some senior military officer with authority. Yvonne turned around instantly after hearing this instruction. Her facial expressions switched immediately from emotionless to jubilation.

"Sarah Jane Smith! So glad you could make it! I've read your file. I must say, I am a huge fan." Both took their seats in an office laden with extremely rare alien artefacts. Behind and in front of the two were the human bodyguards carrying large, reverse-engineered alien weaponry, ready to fire if anyone foolishly threatened to intrude on this meeting. Portraits of Enoch Powell, Margaret Thatcher, Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, Priti Patel and Suella Braverman hung on the walls, revealing Yvonne's political leanings.

"You'll have to pardon Monty. Ex-SAS. He can become quite agitated around newcomers to Torchwood." Yvonne continued, maintaining a pleasant smile as she briefly looked at Officer Montgomery's face before returning to gaze at the journalist sitting before her. He was not going to apologise for anything he did whilst on duty.

"That's not a problem at all. I cannot say I am all that familiar with you though, Mrs Hartman." Sarah began her share of the conversation in a like-for-like cordial tone, willing to overlook these blindspots.

"Oh, Yvonne, please. And that's quite alright. We can use this time to get to know each other a little bit better, although I must confess that we have a lot of intelligence about you already. Sarah Jane Smith, a noted companion of… the Galigreyan Time Lord known as… The Doctor." she said, deliberately slow to sound all the more dramatic. The Torchwood leader seemed as though she was expressing nascent interest in meeting this alien. Why?

"We are not in touch anymore. And before you ask, I have no idea where he, or she, is at this moment in time. I would not be able to assist you in tracking the Time Lord down." An already-annoyed Sarah commented, preempting the inevitable line of questioning.

"That's quite alright. We are not interested in this dangerous figure. He, or she, would only prove themselves to be an obstacle to our grand plans." Yvonne said interestingly.

"Ahem… Now that you have brought up the subject yourself… I have information that your organisation is currently digging deep into the Earth. Can you explain to me what all of this is about?" The journalist threw a portfolio of notes and pictures in front of the Torchwood supremo. It showcased everything Sarah knew about the peculiar digging activities.

"Where did you get all of this? This information is highly classified." Yvonne said with an air of frustration. Someone had obviously leaked out this information. They needed to be caught and punished at once.

"Twenty warehouse sites spread out all across Britain. Only Britain. Is there something down there that you are looking for? Or are you looking to hide something in there?" By this point, Sarah adopted a blunt approach. No time for politeness if Torchwood were getting up to sinister activities.

"My, my, you really do live up to your reputation as a nosy journalist. The warehouses all belong to Torchwood and we have secured digging permissions years ago. It's a non-story. You are probably in need of a quick paycheck or something." Yvonne mocked her opposite softly, brushing off any concerns about the digging.

"But what are you digging for?" Sarah asked once again, demonstrating her knack for persistence.

"Spoilers! I cannot say too much but I will say that our digging is crucial for taking back control, for regaining our precious planetary sovereignty. I promise you that the digging is all but designed to restore this wonderful and special country back to greatness." Yvonne proclaimed confidently with a massive

"Taking back control? Planetary sovereignty?" Sarah was at a loss to explain the motivations.

"All in good time, Sarah." Yvonne now sported a massive grin on her face. She enjoyed seeing the journalist suffer from the deliberate ignorance imposed on her.

"I've also noticed some Raxicorifalipatorians at this base - who are they?" Sarah shifted her attention towards another surprise development - the presence of the Blathereen. As she passed through security checks, she was greatly surprised to see them walking about the base causally, either in homogenous pairs or in some collaboration effort with human personnel.

"Correct observation. They are the Blathereen. They are here under my absolute supervision. So, you haven't encountered them before?"

"I've encountered…some similar branches of the same species… Are you sure you can trust them?" Sarah enquired as she peered out the window to watch some Blathereen having some fun bullying some unfortunate human personnel. Her personal experiences with the Slitheen branches in particular understandably scarred her for life.

"No, not at all. They are here to perform, erm… contractual services, should we say? Once they have finished their tasks to my satisfaction, I will make sure that they leave our planet permanently. And if they even dare try to step out of line…" Yvonne stopped speaking momentarily and gestured for a weapon to be passed over to her. It was a water gun?

"Calcium-based lifeforms. A few drops of an acidic substance - we prefer vinegar - down their throats and they go boom!" Yvonne said before laughing heavily with her security staff who all joined in heartedly. Sarah felt uncomfortable for a few seconds before she found courage to continue her probing.

"What contractual services? I know for a fact that you are not sending them down into the mines to do your dirty work. No, you have a vast workforce of other alien species and races to do your bidding for you. No rights, no pay, absolutely nothing! Effectively, you have organised slavery here at Torchwood." Sarah had demonstrated her knowledge and awareness about Torchwood's illicit practices.

"Somebody has been doing their research. Impressive. But I am afraid to tell you that it has been all for nothing: nothing and nobody is going to stop us from carrying out our projects. We have a mandate that we will carry out. I will lead this country to a new Golden Age once the Big Reset takes shape."

"The Big Reset?" What was Yvonne alluding to?

"Spoilers!" Yvonne responded with yet another beaming grin.

"You disgust me. What if it was you who was captured by another species and forced to work to death in the same mine? Do you have no feelings, no empathy? These are beings with children of their own." Sarah continued, utilising an emotional offensive of rhetoric. It failed to effect any change in the cold-hearted and calculating Yvonne.

"Look Sarah, I'll give you a hint at the very least… The time for the British Empire to establish its glory once more is long overdue. We must take the lead in human affairs once more, ahead of our competitors, and expand our power not only on Earth but across the universe." Yvonne finally revealed her fantastical megalomaniac ambitions. The motive surprised the journalist.

"I hate to burst your bubble but there is no British Empire anymore." Sarah confessed her deep reservations about Torchwood's direction. Still, she could not connect the digging with making Britain great again. Yvonne had probably been watching too much of Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Suella Braverman and Nigel Farage, she thought.

"That's what we have wanted people to think for decades. Our history proves that we can and have dominated vast swathes of this planet. It was our greatest era ever but sadly we were criminally forced to stop abruptly and hide our true selves. So no, Sarah, the British Empire never died. It faked its death, waiting to re-emerge when the time is right. With all of this alien technology that we possess and have successfully managed to reverse-engineer, dominating other planets and stars should be a doddle. There is so much out there, Sarah, amongst all those bright dots in the night sky. They should come under our benevolent rule. We would become a wealthy species fairly rapidly. We limit ourselves by foolishly opting to ignore the stars. That is where our destiny lies - beyond this miserable rock. It is high time that everyone takes us seriously again" Yvonne had set Torchwood's eyes on colonising the stars which would inaugurate, in her eyes, a new interstellar stage in the imperialist, colonising British Empire that she consistently insisted never died away officially.

"We should be aiming to live in harmony with the universe and everyone who exists within it - you are advocating that we should become galactic imperialists?" This development deeply concerned Sarah. As much as it all sounded rather ludicrous and nonsensical, she had to take Yvonne's word for it: the digging and imperial nostalgia were therefore interconnected, somehow.

"Life is a lottery. Some people get to live, others must die. It's a dog-eat-dog world. Nasty, brutish and short for most. Tough. Sarah, you are a highly talented British woman with a wealth of knowledge and experience. Torchwood could greatly benefit from having you as one of our employees. You could play a tremendous part in reviving Britain and helping me lead humanity to glory." Yvonne effectively offered her a job, forcing Sarah to pause momentarily.

"Come on, what do you say - let's make Britain Great Again!". The Torchwood Supremo stretched out her hand, halfheartedly expecting her opposite to take up the offer and submit to her leadership. The journalist summoned her principled consciousness.

"No thanks, Yvonne. Although I am a British citizen like yourself who wants the best for this country like any other patriot - and also for this planet that we collectively share with other humans - I do not share the same vision of imperialism and colonisation. The British Empire is dead, believe it or not. The sooner we accept this, the easier it will be for us to move on in a positive and constructive manner." Sarah had no regrets.

"A pity. You would have made an excellent employee no doubt given your prior associations with UNIT. By the way, have you been to that organisation recently?"

"No…they have black listed me in recent times."

"Can't say I am surprised." Yvonne replied rather cheekily.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, would you look at the time? This conversation is over. I have an awful lot of paperwork to file."

"But I haven't finish-"

"Montgomery! Escort Miss Sarah Jane Smith to the exit. Ensure that she leaves our site. Permanently." Yvonne ordered with a noticeable coldness now colouring her tone of voice. With pleasure, she watched on camera as Sarah was escorted out of the premises neatly and without incident.

"Fucking nosyparker. Make sure she does not come back on site ever again. Shoot on sight for this person is authorised. No review process will occur afterwards." Yvonne ordered in a fascistic manner.

"Yes, Ma'am!" Montgomery shouted with a magnificent salute. He relished the prospect of shooting things in general. But pleasing Yvonne trumped all else. The Blathereen, interested in seeing this reporter arrive at Torchwood, researched the human subject in their computer rooms at Ground Zero of the base.

"A very interesting female. Smarter than the average primitive." Fux Zub Bar Seplex Vas Bunkin Blathereen said to his peers as he examined the data banks documenting Sarah's notable activities over the years.

"Look at this - she has defeated the vile and scum that are the Slitheen on numerous occasions!" Melon Defart announced with glee.

"We could incorporate her into our ranks." Baba called for the inevitable conversion process to be enacted.

"Could?...We must, Baba!" Melon answered with enthusiasm.

"She'll be back. She will not be able to resist the first sign of trouble. I know it. I can…smell it!" Fux predicted with the utmost confidence.

"In which, let us prepare for inevitable confrontation." Melon encouraged. The Blathereen chuckled and guffawed amongst themselves as they planned to assimilate Sarah Jane Smith into their ranks. Meanwhile, back at UNIT HQ, Rupp reported back to Saba at her office about the meeting with the intruding journalist in the presence of other senior siblings.

"Sarah Jane Smith? Never heard of her." Saba confessed as she sat comfortably at her desk, looking over a few low-resolution pictures of the human female.

"She's dangerous. She has encountered our kind before." Rupp declared with a serious tone, ensuring that everyone had to take the matter seriously.

"And she has lived to tell the tale, has she?" Zeeshan enquired, amazed at what he was hearing. Who was this human?

"She is responsible for the death of a fair few Slitheen individuals." Rupp read out the information detailing her activities. It made Saba and the rest both intrigued and irked to know that some Slitheen had been tragically killed in their interactions with this troublesome human.

"Who is she then?" Husna enquired, intrigued now to know more. Very few humans, if any, had the capabilities to fight the Slitheen head-on. Even fewer lived to tell the tale.

"Apparently, a freelance journalist who lives on her own. 13 Bannerman Road… A noted companion of… The Doctor." Rupp revealed ominously. That name caused eyes to be raised.

"She must be apprehended by the Family at once. Where's Martha?" Zeeshan asked, grasping the gravity of the matter instantly. Martha Jones Rutvar Tess Star Slitheen was tasked by her seniors to hunt down and secure every known companion of The Doctor since her conversion. She was under Husna's constant supervision.

"She's busy hunting down Mickey Smith, somewhere in the Scottish highlands. We cannot recall her until her mission is over, unfortunately. Mickey is another companion of this vile Doctor character. Understandably, I have told Martha to prioritise his arrest." Husna neatly responded back to her husband's query.

"I suggest we use Sarah without the human realising it then. No doubt she will not be able to resist the urge to interfere with Torchwood's activities. Once we have secured that organisation for ourselves, we can then decide her fate." Saba finally spoke up again, this time with a renewed sense of confidence.

"Sarah is a proven killer. She might like to hide this fact under modest pretensions that she simply helps to defend the Earth but the fact remains that many foreigners have died at her hands constantly. She is deadly. The perfect candidate to absorb and assimilate into our ranks. It would serve as both a reward for her efforts and a compensatory punishment for killing members of our kind previously." Husna vouched for the ageing human's inclusion into the Star Slitheen Family.

"Well, when you put it like that, it's really a no-brainer, dear sister." Saba agreed without objection. So too did the others.

"I agree with Husna - we could use someone like Sarah. Diversity will only strengthen us in the long run." Rupp chimed in with an approving comment of his own.

"You are just saying that because you are struggling to find a partner after your eighth divorce!" Sip-Sep Tuy Tar, Saba's husband, interjected cheekily, exposing his cousin's ulterior motives for wanting Sarah converted.

"It's agreed then. The famous Sarah Jane Smith will become an honourable member of our ignoble Family." Saba announced. The Slitheen present all laughed and giggled wildly as they plotted together about how best to deceive the human female.

"Ahem… There is another tiny problem that complicates matters." Rupp intimated.

"What is it?" Zeeshan enquired on behalf of the ignorant group.

"It's probably best that I show you all.". On the screen projector, the Slitheen all saw what Sarah saw: the presence of the Blathereen at the Torchwood. The nano-device attached to her leather jacket sleeve recorded everything for UNIT to see.

"Oh my - that's the Blathereen!" Husna exclaimed with a palpable degree of alarm as she watched the brown version of themselves perform their daily mundane activities.

"Who?" Saba asked publicly, revealing her ignorance about other Family branches. Rather embarrassingly, she had not yet got around to studying them.

"What the fuck are they doing here?!" Husna once again spoke with noticeable exasperation. She had previously had bad experiences with this Family branch. Conflict with the Star Slitheen was inevitable.

"Apparently, they are working with Yvonne which makes them dangerous." Rupp surmised from all the available evidence collected.

"What for? Are they bounty hunters?" Saba attempted to ask an intelligent question designed to garner accurate descriptions.

"Most likely. At least the goody two-shoes Blathereen have a revulsion towards skinning and inhabiting their victims, unlike us. They will always stay naked and so easy to spot from a mile away". Rupp stated with confidence. He, like all the other Slitheen, were not as of yet aware of the technological leaps that these Blathereen had made in recent times.

"This makes our infiltration operation even more urgent!" Zeeshan interjected wildly with passion.

"Have our siblings launched their operation yet?" Rupp's voice carried a degree of apprehension.

"Tonight's the night, dear brother." Saba confirmed. The Slitheen carried on watching the videos, unsure of what to make of this new complication. Whatever the reasons for the Blathereen being at Torchwood, the designated Slitheen infiltrators would have to deal with this unprecedented development, and live to tell the tale.

"I'll let them know before they set off." Husna spoke up, wary that her other siblings that she dearly loved were in great danger.

"Too late." Zeeshan held up a portable radar scanner, indicating that the infiltrators had crash landed a spaceship purposefully outside of London. No communication was possible.

(An hour or so earlier…)

(A UK UNIT Space Centre, somewhere in the Scottish Highlands)

The special infiltration task force consisting of Kay, Powtan, James Tyler, Taylor Ashcroft and Olivia Jay Star Slitheen decided that the most preferable way to gain entry into Torchwood was to counter-intuitively allow themselves to be captured by the humans. Kay and Oliva, easily the most intelligent Slitheen amongst this motley crew, collaborated together to develop a new technological innovation to assist in achieving the aims of the mission. Together, they were able to modify the nifty neck braces every Slitheen member was obliged to wear at all times. It was this device, stolen and modified previously from another alien species who had a bizarre shrinking fetish of their own to satisfy, that enabled these Raxicoricofalipatorians to engage in the highly unnatural and deeply disturbing act of shrinking their humongous eight-foot physical bodies inside the worthy skins of the countless of victims that they slew, granting the Slitheen Families an extra "competitive edge" in their worldly, material affairs, as they saw it.

The only downside with the traditional neck braces, besides having to find a large-enough prey (until now, skinny people could not be inhabited due to technical limitations), was that they initiated a noisy and smelly gas exchange, which tended to make the double-life of a disguised Slitheen very awkward, if not a prolonged hardship fraught with suspicions and tensions being generated by being constantly around the otherwise unsuspecting, ignorant living natives that the Slitheen were mostly attempting to imitate faithfully. Despite this, many Slitheen members actually enjoyed their gas exchanges as a pleasure in and of itself. As such, the Slitheen Families as a collective whole were not really interested in directing complete efforts into solving the gas exchange technical conundrums permanently. They adopted the principle: if it is fun, do not spoil it.

Torchwood had proved itself to be a wild card and, for now, a thorn, momentarily disrupting the Family business plans, the Slitheen could not take the risk of wandering into enemy territory with their standard technology. That human organisation possessed many reverse-engineered alien technological capabilities that UNIT did not know about. Although they had no idea about the presence of the Blathereen yet, the Star Slitheen wisely and cautiously operated under the assumption that they had lost their usual element of surprise. They simulated their infiltration plans repeatedly via computer programmes, discovering that if they tried their regular tried and tested approach of simply acquiring the human skins of Torchwood staff, they would likely be detected almost-immediately once their uncontrollable gas exchanges acted up consistently and that their fates would be determined by wretched human scum. Saba had warned that a Slitheen captured in this operation would not be allowed backinto the Family; he or she was better off committing suicide in captivity than being an outcast - the harshest penalty that could be handed to a Slitheen for it effectively meant exile, a social death, with an extremely remote chance hope of reprieve.

When Kay and Olivia presented their newly-improved neck brace models to Saba one evening, the UNIT leader reluctantly agreed to allow its usage but only in special operations. She was adamant that the Slitheen were not entirely exposed to the majority populations of humans, that there was no real risk of this occurring anytime soon, and that the Torchwood operation would be a spectacular one-off. Besides being someone who regularly derived guilty pleasure from releasing some heavy flatulence every now and again from the tight outfit of Penelope Warrington that she exclusively wore, Saba did not want to further risk alienating members of her Family needlessly, especially when considering the palpable leadership struggles she was having with her powerful sister, Hibah Mughal, who could simply insist that Saba, if she ordered the new neck brace models to become mainstream, was attempting to impose an unprecedented and unpopular innovation very undemocratically onto a Family that was largely pro-gas exchange. In any case, the new braces would only be used for the infiltration mission for the time being. That meant that the Slitheen could now target skinny prey without having to fear an unbearable gas exchange or the skin costume ripping at any moment so suddenly. Kay and Olivia at least managed to convince their sub-group of the benefits of the new brace models and to wear them for this important mission at the very least.

Next, they had to select the appropriate skins. They had ruled out targeting humans until they got into Torchwood. It was too risky to attempt this anyways as Yvonne had ordered her on-duty staff members to live on-site 24/7 (or risk being shot ruthlessly) whilst anyone going off-duty upon authorised requests was always surrounded by private security. Attacking one human ultimately meant attacking them all, unnecessarily exposing the Family to Torchwood (who they innocently assumed had no idea that the Slitheen were on Earth). James and Powtan jointly deduced that they could easily get into Torchwood if only they acquired the skins of those aliens that might be allowed to become a part of the enslaved, highly-exploited slave workforce which was being forced to dig deep underground for as of yet unknown reasons. The task force collectively agreed that this approach would also give the Star Slitheen a deeper insight into the intentions and motivations behind this mysterious and potentially dangerous phenomenon.

In the build-up to the operation, the Slitheen would-be infiltrators decided to target an extra-terrestrial luxury starcruiser vehicle carrying an innocent mixed party of wealthy alien tourists. The spacecraft was simply scheduled to pass by Earth when instead it was seized by a tractor beam operated by UNIT and forced to land on the planet. The intelligence possessed by the Slitheen indicated that there were five members of the Fenex species hailing from Delta-5 in the Gex Constellation of the Seventh Yula Belt. These were highly desired because their slim, lean yet exceptionally muscular build, suitable for exhausting manual labour jobs, would make them perfect for enslavement by Torchwood. The tourists were filtered out; the Fenex were separated from the majority and given compensation (hush money), allowed to carry on with their grand tour of the galaxies but the Slitheen acquired their latest skins from those forced to stay behind. They were largely satisfied with the results.

"Amazing!" James exclaimed with euphoria. The first skin he acquired without releasing any flatulence. It was a miracle.

"I hope I don't blow up in this at some point." Taylor commented with a slight degree of apprehension. The neck braces were technically still in a trial mode of sorts. Anything could go wrong at any time.

"I am a size nine and I can fit in this size 6 easily - genius!" Kay marvelled at the technological advance she had helped to create. It would benefit the infiltrators well.

"Most importantly, no gas exchange." It felt highly unusual for all the Slitheen involved, and although the disguises still felt exceptionally tight and chaffing, it only took a few days of getting used to. It was a success: no one would be able to detect that this skinny group of Fenex were actually predatory Slitheen. The new neck braces would also prevent any x-ray detections; scans returning back to monitor screens would be manipulated in real-time to give back deliberately deceptive readings.

With their preparations well in place by now, all that was left for the Slitheen was to implant themselves directly into the heart of Torchwood, without Yvonne having any inkling about it. Under Taylor's clever suggestion, the Slitheen decided to fake a crash landing to deceive their adversaries that they were newly-arrived aliens on Earth from outer space. Launching a refurbished Fenex spacecraft from a UNIT surface base located in the Scottish Highlands, the superfast vehicle slingshotted around the Earth twice before re-entering orbit and crashing carefully on auto-pilot near a known Torchwood-affiliated warehouse somewhere on the outskirts of London.

The event immediately attracted the attention of Torchwood personnel, initially fearful that the spaceship crashing was quite possibly a hostile ballistic missile designed to destroy their precious warehouse site. They were relieved, elated even, when they discovered that the fresh and fit alien bodies had innocently trespassed onto human turf and presented no actual threat. The Fenex-disguised Slitheen pretended to be shocked and surprised by the chain of events.

"DO NOT RESIST DETAINMENT! NO SUDDEN MOVEMENTS! WE WILL SHOOT YOU IF YOU DO NOT LISTEN TO OUR COMMANDS!" a security guard officer barked out the orders as his squadron set up a tight perimeter. The disguised Slitheen, having only just excited their destroyed scapecraft unscathed, went along submissively, ending up being handcuffed and beaten viciously as they were forced to march into the warehouse. Oncethere, they were vigorously scanned with so much technology to confirm their identities.

"Six more Fenex bodies… Yvonne will be happy, eh?" one of the guards said with delight as they examined the x-ray scans multiple times. They showed no other form on screen.

"Something doesn't feel right, an alien crash is exceptionally rare and UNIT should have gotten in touch with us about it. Get a Blathereen to sniff them out for absolute certainty." the other more suspicious guard ordered.

"Why? The scans are clear?"

"Better safe than sorry. These aliens are getting more and more clever when it comes to crossing borders." The colleague did as he was told. A few minutes later, he returned with a large brown Raxicoricofalipatorian male, causing disturbed eyebrows to be raised amongst the Fenex. The Blathereen got to work using his magnificent nostrils powers, moving his face up and down the Fenex bodies. A sense of dread engulfed the disguised Slitheen. Surely, this Raxicoricfalipatorian would sniff them out, leaving them compromised before their mission had even begun. The Blathereen, however, was repulsed by what he was forced to smell.

"Pwah!... They're Fenex alright…" he remarked with a groggy voice before pulling away immediately. This assessment reassured all the human personnel present and alleviated the fears of the Slitheen infiltrators. Kay and Olivia's modified neck braces also contained a neat scent deflector to assist in these dangerous infiltration scenarios. At the time, they were unsure if this was going to be an unnecessary decision but it paid off. Whilst the Slitheen were inhabiting a foreign skin, the neck brace could emulate the original bodily scent, masking the ordinarily strong odours they naturally produced. Their infiltration efforts remained untouched, un-smellable.

"Alright, take them for induction at once." 'Induction' was the euphemistic word for enslavement. The human security chained the Fenex together and led them down a few corridors before being made to enter into a yellow shiny portal. Eventually, they ended up at the centre of operations. The disguised Slitheen realised that all the warehouses were connected by portals to the main Torchwood centre of operations, Canary Wharf in London. Everywhere there were slaves being whipped into carrying out arduous labour and digging. Barely-conscious bodies that were on the verge of death lay on the floor awaiting removal. Drilling equipment was dotted all over the place. It was quite loud and you had to shout to be heard. The diverse alien slave workforce, composed of loads of different races and species from across the galaxies, would gather here in this space known as The Atrium in the morning and evenings for their meals.

The Atrium was basically a central hub and centralised all Torchwood activities in one giant wide space from which Yvonne in her office vertically above could look down upon at any moment. There were also vast holding cells nearby where each slave would spend the night, catching precious sleep and recovery before being put to work at the digging sites spanning the length of the British Isles from dawn to dusk. Yet it was the sight of seeing yet more Raxicoricofalipatorians other than Slitheen here as well that irked the Slitheen. As they marched to their work stations, the worried infiltrators deliberated amongst themselves in barely audible whispers, noticing that they were being watched at all times, either by physical personnel or technological cameras.

"Blathereen?!" How and why the fuck are the Blathareen here? In Torchwood?!" Powtan could not believe his eyes. He had bad experiences with this lot in the recent past, including embezzling the charity fund set up by the Blathereen Mayor of Raxicoricofalipatorius that led to a planetary-wide scandal.

"Blathereen working with Torchwood? Saba is going to be pissed when she hears about this." Taylor sighed. It meant that the Slitheen would have to work harder than normal to achieve their aims.

"This complicates our mission." Olivia assessed rather obviously. Canary Wharf was crawling with these Raxicoricofalipatorians, avowed rivals of the Slitheen. How long had they been here? What were they doing here? Their presence could have only been authorised by Yvonne - how did this partnership come about? So many questions, fewer answers.

"Our situation is complicated but it is not compromised." James spoke up, attempting to reassure his Family. But he too was at a loss to explain the presence of the Blathereen.

"James is correct - we have to carry on. Remember, we are not doing this for ourselves but for the Family." Kay affirmed.

"Agreed, sister. This mission gives us a chance to immortalise ourselves for generations of Slitheen to remember. We carry on as normal for the next few weeks. Learn more about this place, about Yvonne and the Bla-...Blathereen. Urgh!...Find a way to report back to Saba and alert the rest of the Family." Powtan recommended. The Slitheen all murmured in agreement.

"NO TALKING UNLESS YOU ARE ASKED TO!" screamed a nearby Torchwood security guard randomly before a leather whip came crashing down on their skins. It stung them badly. But they could not respond as normal. No, they would have to bear it patiently, informed by wisdom and not impulsiveness. The time for revenge would come in due course. The Fenex-Slitheen got on with the mindless labour required of them quietly for the next few days. It was exceptionally difficult to even get through an hour let alone day, picking up stones and transporting them across miles on their back whilst on foot. Hundreds of slaves collapsed and died on the spot daily, necessitating the humans to enslave more and more. This was an old-fashioned style of slavery that returned to the present. Yvonne and Torchwood neither had the time or the resources to invest in technology, A.I. and robots to do the dirty work so they opted for the most conservative approach that required overt mass mistreatment. The Fenex-Slitheen had a minimally better chance of survival. Their super-strength meant that they could perform the daily tasks and suffer marginally less pain than anyone else but only in the short-term. This contradiction needed resolving, and fast.

One day, Yvonne suddenly turned up on the balcony of her office overlooking The Atrium, surrounded by her trusted human bodyguards and standing on a levitating platform that allowed her to effortlessly survey her alien slave workforce everywhere. Nobody could escape her gaze.

"Excellent work everyone. You are the cogs in my wonderful machine! The Big Reset beckons… You will all fuel my glory. Rest assured, a new age is dawning with the Big Reset, and I, Yvonne Elanor Hartman, will lead this magnificent country to greater heights and beyond!". The narcissism was too much. As soon as she disappeared back to her office, the whips came out again, signalling a return to work.

"Wow, she is a complete wacko." James whispered, not impressed at all by the speech he heard as he picked up his axe.

"The Big Reset? What is she on about?" Olivia wondered as she waited her turn to pick up some more rocks for transportation.

"That is what we are here to find out. Let's just go along with it for now., Let's try and stick together as much as possible. Seems like we will be here every morning and evening" Powtan, the oldest of all the infiltrators, counselled.

"If we survive the toil, that is." Taylor interjected, reminding everyone of the grim reality that awaited them per their mission requirements. They all moved into a nearby portal that took them to their designated work area for the day.

(Three Weeks Later)

Some weeks had passed. The disguised Slitheen performing their special operation struggled to survive on a daily basis. Like every other alien slave, they were forced to dig the Earth at various sites under constant stress and the permanent threat of sudden death. In between, they were whipped and beaten severely as well as verbally abused purely for being Fenex. Torchwood was effectively a plantation, an internal penal colony located in the British capital. Freedom for most was forbidden. Yvonne appeared more and more in public proclaiming messianically that the Big Reset "was nigh". There was indeed a sense that something big was coming but none of the Slitheen had a firm clue what exactly it entailed.

Over the last few days, after the slaves had done their gruelling labour, the human Torchwood personnel brought in large trucks through the tunnels, clearly carrying something big. The contents remained concealed. But what was also very intriguing was that this job was only reserved for human labour. The driver of the truck was human, the men and women guarding and marching alongside it. No alien was allowed to even come near the vehicle and there had been some incidents where some who drew close by accident were shot dead on the spot. The infiltrators surmised that these trucks were carrying something highly important

After three weeks had passed since their detainment and enslavement, the Slitheen infiltrators decided to hold a meeting in their holding cell late past one midnight. The Torchwood security protocols were heavily discriminatory; they grouped the aliens according to their species which meant segregation. It also somewhat lowered dissent and anger as family members of whatever race or species could meet even if only to sleep for one night before being separated again in the morning, with the spontaneous chance of death at anypoint thereafter. This did, however, ensure that the Slitheen siblings stuck together and allowed them to plan accordingly.

"I can't believe I am saying this but this is fucking cruel. All of it. It's… inhumane, even for the aliens!" Powtan began the discussion, airing out his disgust with these egregious Torchwood policies.

"At least our kind aims for a swift kill after we hunt our prey. " Taylor remarked, agreeing with her brother's anger. She learnt that lesson the hard way under Husna.

"Quite right. And we only skin afterwards because we have won this right." James, her husband, interjected, furthering the consensus that was building up. Torchwood was an amoral institution, incorrigible and beyond redemption.

"Slitheen are not slaves! We may trade slaves but we do not allow ourselves to become enslaved!" Powtan emphasised his main point. The Slitheen were alpha-predators. They dominated others but they knew little of being dominated by anyone else.

"Any suggestions about how to proceed from here?" Olivia's words shifted the topic from disgust and self-justifications to thinking hard about the next practical steps to be taken.

"We need to liberate this lot. Are you thinking about what I am thinking?" Kay alluded to something obvious.

"A riot?" James wondered if that would be enough. Whatever action was to be taken, it would have to be on a mass scale everywhere at the same time.

"No, a revolt! Revolution!" Kay declared, trying to hide her excitement. The Slitheen knew that there was appetite for this all across Torchwood. Mass mistreatment naturally fuelled mass discontent. The slaves would seek to overthrow their masters once their chains would loosen up a little. However, the humans had anticipated such feelings of resentment and factored this into their exceptionally tight security measures. In a very ironic way, the Slitheen could play the role of liberators without even caring for the oppressed.

"It's the only way we can end this." Taylor agreed with the assessment. The Slitheen once again sensed an opportunity to be exploited to their advantage.

"Agreed." James added his voice to the consensus.

"What about the Blathereen though?" Olivia alerted her siblings to that outstanding problem. These Raxicoricofalipatorians were the wild card factor. The Slitheen had still not managed to work out what was the purpose of their presence here in Torchwood. Any relationship between them and the humans would have to be on a pragmatic basis. They were definitely not enslaved. Nonetheless, they too would have to be eliminated.

"We will deal with them amidst the chaos. Remember, they do not know that we are present here." Powtan reminded them.

"Yes, that is true." Taylor chimed in.

"Someone will need to infiltrate deeper. The revolt will be easy… once we get out of these cell doors open. Best to do it on a night when security will be more comfortable and lax." Powtan suggested. Everyone looked at each other. Who was it going to be?

"How are we deciding this?" Taylor wanted to further the infiltration because it meant no longer being a slave and having to do gruelling labour that was unbecoming for a Slitheen.

"Rock, paper, claws." The Slitheen played out a process of elimination. Olivia lost each round every time so she became the volunteer.

"Olivia, you'll need another skin. Pick one of the smart humans. You will need to find out what the fuck is going on here. Saba is going to be pissed when she hears about all this." Kay advised her sister.

"Very well. My eyes have been occupied with a redhead who comes from the upstairs. Tall. Slender. She'll do." Olivia remarked casually, having long identified a suitable target for acquisition. It meant murder once again but this time the Slitheen woman was more concerned with survival and self-preservation. Besides, this target was working with the oppressors. Her life was already forfeit. No need to feel guilty about this occasion. The next morning, the alien slaves were forced out of their cells and whipped back into their digging routines. The other disguised Slitheen cautiously raised the spectre of revolt with the other inmates, during the labour or during the short five minute lunch break to grab basic nutrients for survival. Olivia was amongst the workers but stayed silent. Instead, she utilised her exceptionally powerful nostrils to locate Dr. Rachel Porter, a thin white female with curly brown hair and a lovely body width. Fortunately, that human female was slowly making her way downstairs from the medical wing to examine some data with some technicians.

Whilst Dr. Porter surveyed the computer records nearby innocuously, Olivia sensed that the moment had arisen. The disguised Slitheen brazenly punched a member of the Geldux Warriors who responded even more aggressively to the provocations. In the ensuing scuffle that drew a crowd, Olivia picked up a few noticeable bruises and cuts before the human security forces swiftly separated the violent combatants. They beat everyone present with their batons.

"Send this one to the medical wing." one of the human guards assessed that Olivia's Fenex body was seemingly badly damaged. It was Liam Wallace, Haroon the disguised Blathereen convert.

"No, there's no need. She can be patched up pretty easily…" Alien lives mattered not to this other guard on duty with the hidden Raxicoricofalipatorian.

"No, she is a Fenex, hard worker. Yvonne gets pissed when this lot die from preventable deaths. Their health and wellbeing are prioritised." The human insisted the Fenex got their rightful treatment or else risk a severe bollocking from the higher-ups.

"Move out of the way… let me see… oh my God, are you okay?... No, you are not. Look at all these bruises and scars… This alien needs treatment at once." the human female said, pleading with the guards to allow this act of compassion to take place.

"Okay, I'll escort." Liam Wallace announced, not interested whether his human colleague would object. Like the Slitheen infiltrators, he too was pained to see the mistreatment the aliens harshly received at the hands of the humans. But he could do nothing about it physically. Helping to facilitate these miniscule acts of mercy made him feel slightly better. He picked the Fenex lady and helped the limping female to Dr. Porter's office which had medical facilities inside. It was a big space filled with all sorts of medicinal and scientific equipment with a big operating bed near a window.

"I will need to conduct examinations alone. This woman is relatively harmless. Stand outside, please. Any trouble and I will shout for you, okay?". Liam had no qualms. He vacated the room at once, opting to go for an unscheduled and unauthorised break of his own, leaving the duo alone.

"Lie down here please." Dr Porter was a very kind human, for a Torchwood employee. Olivia did as she was told, remaining operationally silent. The human doctor conducted all the routine checks.

"Strange… no blood leaked out from your wounds. I'll have you scheduled for a blood test ASAP." Dr. Porter was at a loss to explain the lack of blood. The Fenex body had none but she did not know that. It made the Slitheen chuckle in her head at the deceit.

"Thank you. You are very kind, unlike the rest of your species." Olivia cheekily remarked by speaking up at long last, having been human herself at one point. Dr. Porter indicated that the Fenex could sit back up and that the examination was over. The human female turned her back as she went over to a filing cabinet on the other side of the room.

"We are not all the same, you know?" she randomly blurted aloud, as if to start an ethical debate.

"What?" Olivia did not know what the doctor was referring to. She carefully watched what her prey was doing. Every movement.

"Evil. You aliens think we are all evil." Dr. Porter remarked as she picked up a folder and flickered through it.

"Err…" Olivia did not know exactly what to say. Fortunately, the human had a big mouth.

"I mean, some of us are. The men especially. But that is the same anywhere… I mean, I am only working for Torchwood because I got the job when the bloody Tories put this country under a cost-of-living crisis. I needed the money and this place paid handsomely. It still does… I am trying to organise a union. You know, to push for fairer treatment of all, including for yourself and the other aliens." Dr Porter tried to portray herself as some noble humanitarian trying to fight a lost cause. She somehow felt that she was morally different and superior to everyone else at Torchwood hence justifying continuing to work for the amoral organisation. Still, she did care more so than others for alien life, for all forms of life.

"Do you have any family?" Olivia asked as she aimed to further the conversation to keep the ignorant human distracted. She sensed the opportunity to strike was drawing near.

"Yes, I am married and I have two children. What about you?"

"I'm not married but I have a massive Family. Such wonderful siblings. We do everything together." Olivia declared proudly, carefully watching and waiting for the human to turn her back.

"I wish I had the same relationship. I have no other family. We are quite lonely. I am quite lonely, actually. I barely see my own husband. He's currently in Hong Kong on yet another 'business trip'. But he lies. I know it. He knows it. The kids know it. I don't know why I am still with him…". Whilst the human proclaimed aloud her ethical dilemmas, believing she had at long last found a willing audience to air out her frustrations with Torchwood, the disguised Slitheen cautiously peeled her forehead zip slowly. The jet blue light and electric humming occurred but the human was far too lost in thought to notice the strange occurrence. It only took a minute for the Fenex skin to flop to the floor. Olivia was naked once more.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't really be telling you. We should-". Dr. Porter. Truth be told, Olivia did not give a single hoot about Dr. Porter's social problems. The out-of-skin Slitheen impressively seized her brittle neck and snapped it within a second, resulting in the human's lifespan being cut short abruptly. Dragging the corpse to the back of the room and hiding it carefully underneath a wooden oak table, Olivia quickly proceeded to skin the body and craft herself a new disguise to advance the plans of the Family. There were no cameras to record the incident.

Half an hour later, Dr. Porter's body was back on her feet, inhabited by a Slitheen indefinitely. The redundant Fenex disguise was neatly tucked away inside one of the desk draws. Whilst she was adjusting her human clothing, a security guard walked into the room without knocking. It was Liam Wallace.

"Ma'am!" Haroon said, hoping his absence was not recorded by anyone.

"What are you doing in my office?" Olivia successfully mimicked her victim's accent to perfection. Nobody could tell that a swap had taken place.

"Checking that you are okay. You have been here for over thirty minutes. The worker must be returned to duty…where is she?" The Blathereen guard was confused to see only the doctor here. The rotting skin of the abandoned Fenex costume was elsewhere out of sight.

"Oh, erm, she's gone."

"Gone? How?"

"I discharged her ages ago."

"You did?"

"Yes, I did. Have you been sleeping on the job or something?"

"Oh, err, n-no. Not at all…"

"That will not look good to Yvonne on your yearly performance review, will it?" Olivia teased, seizing the initiative to control the conversation. Haroon was put on the spot.

"Err…" He did not know how to respond. Fortunately, his interlocutor opposite wanted him gone immediately anyways.

"Please leave my offices now. There is nothing more for you to do here." Olivia masterfully saw off the security guard.

"Rest assured, ma'am." the disguised and ignorant Blathereen left yet again. Maximising the privileges of her latest skin, Olivia freely toured Torchwood's secretive HQ without anyone batting an eyelid. Out of their arrogant attitude, the Torchwood hierarchy issued universal access cards for all privileged human staff, allowing them to go wherever they were needed, assuming naively that they were not going to be used inappropriately. Every staff member had proven their loyalty when going through the extremely rigorous placement tests that involved showcasing how much of a bigot and a hater of all things extra-terrestrial one could be.

Eventually, the Slitheen woman found herself spending a few hours inside the Archives section on the upper floors. She had heard some of the other scientists talking about this and asked for directions. Olivia betted to herself that she could find some juicy information in that part of the building. Here, all of Torchwood's clandestine projects were available for inspection upon the scanning of her ID badge. Clearly, only humans were trusted to access this information. A hologram device opened up into midair and began to reveal details.

"Oh fuck! Olivia spontaneously blurted out before silencing herself. She checked to see if anyone else was around. Not a human or Blathereen in sight, the Slitheen carried on with the viewing. Olivia realised the significance of the information at once: the "Big Reset" that Torchwood was progressing with involved digging close to the Earth's core. It was being hardwired with nuclear warheads. Twenty separate nuclear ionic bombs had already been successfully attached thus far. Realising that time was against her, Yvonne was planning to hold the entire Earth hostage and force her demands through. If the Slitheen valued their lives, they would leave the Earth in peace, leaving Torchwood as the dominant organisation that could carry on blackmailing ordinary governments and militaries to bow to its will. From this position of strength, Yvonne could assume leadership of the entire planet, not simply Britain..

Yvonne was all set to blackmail everyone into giving her complete power and authority. If they did not then Yvonne would blow up the Earth, basing her amoral, narcissistic actions on the principle that if she and humanity (the British, that is, and only the minority-ruling elite at that) could not have such power then nobody else can. Once total power was achieved, Torchwood would morph and set up a gigantic one world-state system, ordered on essentially British lines. With dissent crushed or at least controlled, humankind - Britain - could finally expand its imperial and colonial empire deep into outer space, securing a vast array of resources, technology and wealth. Yvonne sought to immortalise herself as the greatest human who ever lived. Olivia, panicked by the startling discoveries, reached for her phone and dialled up a secret UNIT hotline number.

"Hello?" a groggy masculine voice sounded out from the other end.

"Rupp? It's me, Olivia. Is Saba there? I need to talk to her - now!" The Slitheen discussed the situation quickly. Saba advised that the infiltrators carry out their proposed slave revolt and promised that an army of Star Slitheen would arrive within the hour to assist with the conquest of Torchwood. Feeling the sense of urgency, Olivia put her phone away and made haste to where her siblings were being held captive for the night. On her way down to the holding cells to convene with her siblings once more, some Blathereen noticed the unusual presence live on their CCTV camera screens.

"What's up with this primitive human girl lately?" one of them wondered.

"Her behaviour is out of the norm. This is not her usual routine at this time." another said. The Blathereen knew every human staff member inside out. Dr. Porter was scheduled to be killed and skinned tomorrow by a Blathereen sister.

"Zoom in on her. Try to catch what she is saying when you can." a third spoke up. They were all very interested in this human figure. Olivia knocked on the entrance door to the holdings when she arrived there.

"Who is it?" a Torchwood security guard called out. He was an old man with grey hair and noticeable wrinkles on his light brown forehead, approaching retirement.

"Dr. Rachel Porter." Olivia replied very confidently. She held out her ID badge and allowed it to be scanned. A sound buzzed allowing the infiltrator to pass through unimpeded. She walked straight through. Her hurried footsteps could be heard echoing in the dimly-lit area. Another armed security guard, the only one on standing duty at this hour, was waiting there. He was disturbed the appearance of another non-armed human at this dangerous location.

"Ma'am, you should not be here after hours." he began, sounding almost annoyed as was concerned.

"I know. I just need to check on one of my patients." Olivia almost begged the point to justify her random appearance here.

"Oh, it's you…" the man said. He had been having an affair with the human Olivia before it became public knowledge at Torchwood, forcing Yvonne herself to get involved and reprimanding the duo. Olivia the Slitheen of course had no clue about this and found the human male's behaviour to be quite odd. The embarrassed guard let the woman pass, which pleased the Slitheen. Olivia wandered past the cells, using her nostrils to locate her kind. The Blathereen tracked her on CCTV, wondering why she was meeting with some Fenex so randomly.

"Pssst! Wake up!" Olivia urged her siblings to rise to their feet. Luckily, they were all grouped in one spot. Only metal bars prevented a usual meeting but they could still speak.

"Olivia!" Powtan recognised her with a quick whiff. The siblings slowly clamoured for the bars.

"Shh, it's Dr. Porter to you inferior retards!" Olivia looked around to see if anyone heard. Every other alien was fast asleep in their cells, exhausted from the heavy burden of work.

"Nice skin." Taylor complimented her sibling, glad to see her once more.

"Never mind that - what news do you have for us?" Kay whispered the query with a sense of urgency.

"Shit, you're not going to like this. It's worse than we thought…" Olivia related to them the stunning information that she had come across in the archives. It likewise startled her siblings to the core. The Blathereen had to read the lips on the poor-quality camera to get any information.

"Yvonne is absolutely crazy. Bonkers, I tell you." James wanted to shout these words. The window for acting decisively was closing, fast.

"The breakout needs to happen tonight. Here, take my card pass. It's universal access. I'll be waiting in my offices, looking for the sign to unzip and end this deceit. The Family knows about this situation and is currently mobilising to our position, waiting to be let in. May the Supreme Being protect us all!" Olivia prayed earnestly.

"Yeah, we will do it. Take care, sis." Her siblings saw her off before Olivia turned around and departed. The Blathereen who kept a close eye on Dr. Rachel Porter was unimpressed and deliberated next steps accordingly. As the disguised Slitheen made her way back to the entry point which also functioned as the exit point, she was this time stopped by the same security guard who let her in at the gates. The other guard whom the human Porter had an affair with who was on standing duty was on a break.

"Excuse me, Doctor. Where is your access card?" he asked, stretching out his right hand to stop her movement. It was late this hour, and his mind was starting to drift off to sleep, barely controlling his senses properly. He could not remember if the female presented a card when she arrived. Olivia quickly thought of an excuse as she examined her pockets.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry… I think I left it in my office." she said, realising that the old man was close to falling asleep and hoping her confident demeanour and femininity would do the trick.

"You haven't lost it, have you?" the guard asked, not exactly enthralled oh having to fill in any paperwork this late. At the same time, it looked like he was scanning the youthful doctor's body with his lusty gazing. He did not show any sense of shame.

"Oh heavens, no! It is locked up safely in my locker." Olivia continued to play along, hoping this would be enough to satisfy this degenerate person. It was.

"Alright, just double checking. Make sure you retrieve it at once." The doctor nodded in acknowledgment before turning around, desiring to leave immediately. Whack! Without a sense of shame, the male guard had slapped his counterpart's bum without licence. Olivia turned around again, this time with shock and disgust. The guard simply smiled deviously, knowing that nothing else was going to happen. Torchwood had a long running culture of sexism pervading the workplace. Having Yvonne as a female head did little to change that.

"What a fucking idiot…" Olivia cursed the human under her breath as she walked away hurriedly, content to have played a role in the events that will bring the downfall of Torchwood. Tonight. As the disguised Slitheen made her way up a staircase, Officer Montgomery, Yvonne's henchman, and two Blathreen flanking him confronted the doctor.

"Dr. Porter, please come with us at once." the human man said with a stern look on his face. Confused by the appearance of these people but not wanting to arouse any suspicions (yet), Olivia did as she was told and compliantly followed the man and the aliens without any protestations. It felt exceptionally awkward for a Slitheen to share a lift with Blathereen.

(Two Hours Earlier…)

(Elsewhere across London)

Back at UNIT HQ, Saba had given her siblings a night off. The base was vacated for this evening, except for the Slitheen leader and two others - Husna and her husband, Zeeshan. Work, that standardised nine-to-five hourly regime was for the civilised, totally alien to Slitheen culture. These Raxicoricofalipatorians were here on Earth to play and the majority of them went out to see what fun, utterly materialistic pleasures London had to offer them. Only the compliant Harmony Shoal slaves inhabiting human bodily vessels roamed around the site purposefully, slavishly performing all the menial chores that were expected of them.

This peculiar species found itself bound indefinitely to the Star Slitheen for the time being, since their subjugation at the claws of Hibah Mughal. The fortunate Raxicoricofalipatorians did not have to fear a revolt; the Harmony Shoal never turned against their Masters and Mistresses, no matter how poorly they could be mistreated. Regardless, Saba had kindly requested (with no binding obligations or repercussions) that the faithful slaves be treated with some measure of respect. After all, they were technically part of the Family now and so had some rights and privileges to be enjoyed. Their hard labouring was often praised for it saved the Slitheen from performing excessive, arduous tasks themselves and so freed them to focus on more important affairs. Or yet more leisure pleasures.

Whilst patiently awaiting the outcome of the infiltration operation, Saba and Husna were engaged in a highly intense albeit slow-pace chess match in the main office. The Slitheen leader was playing whilst outside of her human costume for this occasion whereas her sister, as ever, remained firmly installed in her tight human outfit. They sat opposite one another, cross-legged. Chairs were for the civilised. The Zeeshan Slitheen was also located nearby, busying himself by reading an engrossing sci-fi novel authored by Hes Don Su Bur Night Slitheen, the greatest Slitheen literary writer ever (actually, he had shamelessly stolen all of his ideas and plagiarised various other works from non-Slitheen writers without guilt, characteristically passing them off as his own).

"Knight to E4."

"A foolish move, Husna… Queen to F8."

"Oh dear. Erm, rook takes pawn, A4." .

"The end is nigh for you, dear sister. Queen takes rook A4.".

"Hah! You have just fallen into my trap, Sabs."

"Eh?"

"Knight to C5. Check". Saba had neglected to secure her King whilst she was mounting a well-thought out offensive in her opponent's half of the board. Husna now controlled the game against the run of play.

"Shit, I should have foreseen that….Err… King to B2."

"Bishop to F5. Check."

"King to A3."

"Bishop takes Queen, A4." Saba's strongest piece had been taken. The King piece could not take the Bishop piece because occupying that square was an impossibility . With that swift change of fortunes, Saba was forced into the losing position. Every chess player who wanted to avoid humiliation usually opted to resign from the game. Saba did not and continued playing, making Husna slightly more cautious in her last few moves. But the result was never in doubt. After methodologically picking off the other remaining pieces on the board, the King piece was forced into a corner by a combination of two bishops. The match was finally over.

"Checkmate!" Husna shouted, satisfied with beating her sister.

"Well played." Saba replied immediately, apparently indifferent at the outcome.

"You did not want to resign and avoid defeat formally?"

"I may have lost the match, Husna. But I have not lost my ability to strike again in a rematch. Indeed, I have only lost if I do not derive constructive lessons from this match. A Queen does not resign; we fight to the death."

"Very well." Saba had given her sister some food for thought. At that precise moment, the room began to shake violently. The entire building was rumbling. It felt like an earthquake. Or a series of them. The tables wobbled, throwing the chess board onto the floor and scattering the black and white pieces everywhere.

"What's happening?!" Zeeshan screamed deliriously as he was flung forth from the comfort of his couch onto the cold floor. The violent shaking continued for a few more seconds, knocking some other suspended on tables or on the walls to the ground. Then it stopped abruptly. The Slitheen quickly sought to recover their standing positions.

"What the hell?! Our base - it's on the Moon!" Husna screamed as she stared out the nearest window, bewildered by how this happened so suddenly. The trio were staring at the grey, rocky surface. The Earth, showcasing Europe and Africa from the side of the planet, looked back at them eerily.

"How?!" Saba was equally confused and disorientated by this new reality.

"Look Sabs, over there." Zeeshan directed his leader's attention to three large spaceships now arriving and docking themselves close to the extracted UNIT base, on a nearby rocky hill. The vulnerable trio of Slitheen were all alone, cut off from the rest of their Family. The doors of these foreign spacecraft opened up. Tightly-formed trained squadrons emerged.

"Judoon?! What the fuck are they doing here?" Husna easily identified the space vehicles and the pairs of troops marching with purpose towards the entrance of their base. The Judoon police - or interplanetary thugs-for-hire, depending on one's perspective - had finally managed to track where the Star Slitheen had crashed. A special task force was marching menacingly towards their location, entering their base. All the usual basic security technological arrangements had been disabled. The Judoon were here to arrest the Slitheen. Saba immediately realised the gravity of the situation: they were going to be executed on sight.

"This can't be good." Zeeshan stated the obvious as the trio were practically paralysed by what they were witnessing. The space police had performed a 'checkmate' of their own on the Slitheen! The ARC Defense Network Grid was still being developed and it was obvious that UNIT boasted inferior security defence measures that had now clearly been bypassed with ease.

"Shit!…Get dressed, Zeeshan. We don't have much time." Her brother was the first to get dressed. Husna did not need to do so but Saba struggled.

"Fuck! Where is my disguise?!" Saba screamed out, panicking. She then remembered that it was neatly hung inside that old wardrobe at the back of the room. Heading over there with haste, knocking a few things onto the floor on the way, the reliable and relatively-unrotten skin of Penelope Warrington was plucked out.

"Quick, help me reinstate my disguise. Hurry. Hurry up!" she said in a panicked tone, revealing a rare vulnerable side to her character she seldom allowed to manifest in public. Husna carried out the command faithfully, standing behind her sister and starting the clothing process from the bottom-up. It took over five minutes and was rather comical to observe. Being in disguise would at least give them additional time to react in the event of a direct confrontation. If not, it would still take the Judoon a little bit longer to ascertain their true identities, should any of them be subjected to a scan. Every second would matter. Meanwhile, the Judoon squadron menacingly marched their way into the heart of the isolated UNIT base, rounding up the human Harmony Shoal personnel in the reception area. Heading out of their office, Saba, Husna and Zeeshan, all disguised in their human forms, watched the interrogation techniques from a safe distance on an upper floor:

"BO JO RO SHO NO LOPO!" the senior commander of the forces barked out as he removed his helmet to reveal his rhinoceros-like head.

"Hello. Can we help you?" one of the Harmony Shoal workers enquired politely. Rather than reciprocate with politeness, a trait they were barely known for, the Judoon grabbed the body, pinned it against the wall and scanned its forehead with a red laser device.

"Language detected! Human English. Language assimilated!". The Judoon could now speak English fluently. But he was not satisfied with what his scanners were also telling him, that this being opposite him was not a native life form.

"You will be categorised… Category: Non-Human. Plea: Guilty. Sentence: Immediate execution." The Harmony Shoal servant was eviscerated in a split second. The aggressive action caused all other nearby aliens to split open their heads and reveal the stocks of already-loaded pistols, sparking an immediate shootout.

"Search all the floors. Identify the lifeforms. Find the Slitheen." The Judoon commander shouted once his faction gained the upper hand in this area of the base. They eviscerated their unprepared opponents out of existence, no longer bothering to obey strict protocols that otherwise restrained their activities. The Slitheen knew that the Judoon had transported the UNIT base to the Moon because it was officially designated as neutral territory according to intergalactical law, which humankind were signatories to. If there was a space for extra-judicial killings, it was here. A massive space bubble enveloped the location. Nobody could go in nor could anyone get out. The Judoon had also limited the oxygen supply but it mattered little for the Slitheen's neck brace could give it additional breathing levels to last for an extra day.

"How did they get our coordinates?" Saba wondered. She was responsible for the security and wellbeing of her Family yet she had clearly failed in this role for this occasion.

"Never mind that. If they get a hold of us and scan our foreheads, our skin suits will be exposed for the deceit that they are. The Judoon will execute us on sight." Husna warned.

"We can't undress, not yet anyways." Saba stated, still unsure of how to handle the new threat presented before her.

"Ah shit!" Zeeshan suddenly exclaimed as if he remembered something very important.

"What?" Saba almost shouted that interrogative.

"Our unguarded mothership in the hanger. The Judoon will discover and confiscate it." he explained quickly.

"Oh fuck." Husna cursed. That ship was the real base inside of UNIT, housing all clandestine information relating to Star Slitheen operations.

"What are we going to do then?" Zeeshan wondered, hoping his feminine counterparts might have the answer.

"Husna - lead a distraction away from the ship." Saba finally seemed to have come up with a plan of action by this point. It was now or never. And it would have to be daring.

"My pleasure." Saba and Zeeshan watched her jump effortlessly from the floor, landing on top of a Judoon and crushing its body to death without apology.

"Oi, walking rhinos! Think you are fit enough to catch me?" Husna shouted out in a playful accent, taking off her hat and cheekily bowing to her alien counterparts before rising back up,

"Halt! Surrender immediately!" the Judoon commander urged.

"Hah! Like that is ever going to happen! Catch me if you can!" Husna screamed hysterically before she speedily ran in a direction away from the Judoon. The intergalactic law enforcers were too busy trying to decide a course of action as Saba and Zeeshan stealthily crept past the hostile intruders and cautiously made their way to their beloved spaceship. The senior Judoon commander finally delegated the task of capturing the lone wanderer to his deputy. He set off with a marching-in-pairs patrol of his own in pursuit of Husna. Ten minutes later, the other two Slitheen arrived without having to undergo any ordeals. The Harmony Shoal workers were instructed to stop what they were doing and to obstruct the progress of the Judoon.

"Saba! The Judoon are here. They mean harm to us." the lead scientist amongst them said in a terrified tone.

"I know, I know. I'm going to need you all to sacrifice yourselves. Your 'Empress' would want you all to save Slitheen lives." Saba announced. She saw them as nothing more than useful canon fodder to be manipulated. It was the Slitheen who ultimately had to survive in this desperate situation.

"Of course she would, you're right. We will happily sacrifice ourselves for you and the Family." it said with a sense of jubilation, reaffirming its servitude to the Slitheen exclusively.

"Splendid. Just keep the Judoon busy for us… Right, we need to get inside." Saba said, looking up at the spacecraft. She had a devious inkling of what to do next.

"But then what? We are effectively trapped". Zeeshan bemoaned the poor situation and severe lack of options. He failed to see what his sister saw.

"Trust me. I have a plan." Saba announced before a massive grin appeared on her face. The duo entered their ship together. After half an hour, the majority of the Judoon steadily approached the Slitheen spaceship located in a massive hangar at the heart of the base. The Harmony Shoal in this sector were going to be annihilated without hesitation, and the space police would gain direct access to all the information they were looking for, after breaking the encryptions, revealing the illegal presence of the Star Slitheen on Planet Earth and the various criminal activities they had been indulging in with impunity; converting humans, organ trafficking, enslaving other species, taking over native governments - the lot.

Once this information was confirmed, not only the Judoon and the Shadow Proclamation but a vast alliance of anti-Slitheen forces would assemble and invade the Earth overtly, with the benevolent intention of capturing these notorious Raxicocricofalipatorians and imprisononing them for over a timespan encompassing a hundred lifetimes. Either that, or the Star Slitheen would all be executed mercilessly after lengthy court trials. Their sacred business plans would be brought to a definitive close. It was therefore imperative that the Judoon were stopped in the here and now. The Slitheen functioned best whenever they were backed into a corner and forced to fight for their survival.

As expected, the professional Judoon forces fought their way inside the hangar. Hundreds of Harmony Shoals were killed as they attempted to prevent any infiltration. In the end, the space police stood before a magnificent spectacle.

"Scan the ship." the senior commander ordered one of his silent subordinates to carry out his orders.

"Scans show the ship to be empty with all but two life forms present."

"Board it." The Judoon formed a fashionable line of twin pairs and began one of their menacing marches into the stationary vehicle. The door was already open quite suspiciously but the Judoon were never known to possess high IQ. The Slitheen spacecraft was a massive labyrinth of rooms, hallways and corridors filled with technologies or cash deposits. The space police diligently sweeped every inch of the space they encountered but there were no signs of the Slitheen. They then reached the main deck where the main computers and encrypted data banks were available to access.

"INTRUDER ALERT!". A strong feminine voice suddenly rang out of the noisy headphones. The Judoon males raised their weapons but there was no obvious target.

"Naughty boys, what are you doing on our ship without an invitation?" Saba asked playfully.

"Show yourself at once!" the Judoon commander barked. He was growing impatient. He wanted a direct confrontation at once.

"Ah ah, you are in our playground and we do not like any feds on our ship. We will show ourselves to you, not because you asked for it but because we want to!" Saba proclaimed with a wild cackle. The lights on the ship went out abruptly. Fear occupied the Judoon for once. They were rendered powerless. Neither their weapons or communications worked onboard this ship. They were trapped. Saba and Zeeshan freely roamed about in the shadows. One by one, the predatory Slitheen picked off the police officers, plucking them from their partners and dragging them into an obscure dark corner before mauling them to death ferociously. Once the Judoon commander realised that the terrain had resoundingly shifted against them, he ordered a swift retreat to avoid an embarrassing rout.

"Let us give chase, dear brother. Not a single Judoon can be allowed to leave our base and tell the tale." Saba demanded before the Slitheen began running after their prey.

"Let the hunt begin!" Zeeshan screamed in a childish , Husna found herself wandering around the base before the Judoon patrol after her intercepted the alien from either side of the corridor in a narrow passage. She was trapped… or was she?

"Halt, human female!" the deputy commander barked out a standard request.

"What, me?!" Husna exclaimed, pretending to act surprised and destitute. The Judoon closed in on her position, surrounding her from all sides. The possibility of escape was zero.

"You have the wrong person, governor!" she cried out playfully, thoroughly enjoying the moment. The professional Judoon scanned her forehead with a red laser.

"Disguised Slitheen detected. Member of the Star Slitheen Family. You will be arrested for the murder of humans. Resistance to arrest will result in summary execution." it said with an ominous warning. It did not faze the Slitheen one jot.

"Yeah, I'm not going to die at the hands of a fed!" Husna arrogantly mocked the police officer for whom she had nothing but contempt for. The police, of any kind, were signifiers of civilisation. Rules and regulation. Things the Slitheen detested and spat upon with their actions.

"Resisting arrest assures instant death." The officer aggressively grabbed his target and smashed her back against the wall, causing the Slitheen some harm. That was the final straw.

"Fuck me!...I hope you have a high tolerance for my gas exchange, honey." the Slitheen woman remarked rather cheekily. As the Judoon raised their weapon and prepared to summarily execute the UNIT Sergeant, Husna cleverly farted wildly, deriving ecstatic pleasure in the process.

"Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp!... "Prrrrrrp!... Pzzzzzap!...Oh god, yeah…"

One by one, each Judoon officer collapsed to the floor with a loud thud. The air became too toxic for them to breathe, depriving them of vital oxygen supplies. Soon enough, the disguised Slitheen was the only one left standing. Her opponents were rendered unconscious and left where they were. Their deliberate deaths would come later.

"Hahahaha! And some of our noble brothers and sisters want to get rid of the gas exchange? They are blind to its beauty!" Husna cackled before she resumed skipping joyfully across the hallways and corridors, sniffing out the location of her husband. He was not too far away.

"Gotcha ya!" When she arrived at the reception area, Saba and Zeeshan were already there, awaiting her arrival. They had successfully managed to hunt a few scattered Judoon. Their dead bodies surrounded the naked Slitheen.

"Ah, there she is." Saba announced as she saw Husna approaching their location from the east.

"Had fun being chased by the Judoon?" Zeeshan enquired rhetorically, having no doubt that she did.

"Hell yeah! They are a bunch of thickos that play into our claws." Husna laughed at that comment. She could now claim firsthand experience.

"UNIT internal defence mechanisms have been activated, Sabs, for what its worth. Nobody can get in and nobody can get out. It's just us and whatever is left of the pathetic Judoon. I've summoned the Family; they should be back here within an hour. Enough time for us to finish them." Zeeshan said, licking his green lips and salivating at the prospect of hunting. Every Slitheen lived for these moments.

"Excellent. We still need to finish off those that we can… Husna - hunting should be naked!" Saba exclaimed as she encouraged her sister to get undressed. Husna eagerly unzipped within the space of a minute, the first time in a considerable while. Their opponents vulnerable, the three Slitheen predators seized the initiative and sniffed out the remaining Juddon intruders across the base. The hunters became the hunted. One by one, the fragmented Judoon squadron, trapped on hostile territory with no hope of escape, were slaughtered as they found the Slitheen predators overwhelming even though they were few numerically. It was all over before the full hour had passed. The return of various Slitheen to base from their evening of debauched entertainment sealed the victory which was cemented when Husna decisively decapitated the head of the senior Judoon commander, leaving the remaining survivors of his squad leaderless and thus defeated. Saba and Husna roared in delight, victorious. The surviving Harmony Shoal slaves gathered the Judoon bodies into a hall room before the Slitheen commanded some of them to be brain-swapped. Other Judoon bodies had their skin expertly stripped from their flesh; they made for excellent disguises as well. The deputy Juddon commander that Husna had rendered unconscious was deliberately reawakened to witness the ugly treatment being meted out to his squad members.

"Why are you here?" Saba began the interrogation, hoping for swift answers. Being targeted by the Judoon was very suspect. It required high levels of intelligence. Or a mole within UNIT…within the Family….

"To arrest and detain the Star Slitheen Family of Raxicorocifaliptaorians." He responded immediately as well as honestly.

"You have obviously failed in your mission. But how did you know exactly where we were and how did you know exactly when to teleport us?"

"We were given specific information… you have a mole within your ranks" the Judoon revealed ominously, causing an immediate sense of fear to predominate over the victorious Slitheen present. This was not excellent news at all but a cause for immense concern.

"Impossible - the Slitheen Family are not snitches. Our Family Code is always respected, even if it means we die defending it in the process. You lie." Husna spoke up as she joined in the interrogation, annoyed with this information being leaked.

"Code or not, someone has betrayed you. You might have stopped us on this occasion but we will not be the last. The Judoon will return and you will all be arrested." the alien warned defiantly.

"The hell you will." Saba hissed aggressively before she lunged into the Judoon commander's chest, viciously ripping out his heart without much effort. The alien crashed to the floor slowly, his life cut short spectacularly.

"Why did you do that? I was not finished with my questions?" Saba was really annoyed by her sibling's unrestrained behaviour. It seemed impulsive.

"It's not like he was telling us the information we need. We have access to their bodies. We can go and get the information ourselves." Husna defended her actions and by extension offered a course of action to follow. The Slitheen leader hesitated for a few moments before agreeing. Saba ordered those who had managed to install themselves inside a Judoon body - Slitheen and Harmony Shoal - to line up before her immediately.

"Your mission is to infiltrate the Judoon space station from which this lot came from. Prevent any more alien incursions upon our precious rock. Sabotage any further operations aimed at us. And of course kill anyone who might be a danger to us.". By way of revenge, the Star Slitheen were going to infiltrate Judoon space stations and render them subservient to the interests of the Family.

"Yes, Saba!" They shouted back in unison. Boarding the stationary Judoon spacecraft outside on the Moon, the Judoon infiltrators took flight. The UNIT Base then shook violently again before it returned back to its usual location on Planet Earth. Everything was back to normal.

"I cannot believe that this has happened." Saba spoke up openly, dismayed that such a terrible situation arose on her watch. She put a claw to her head.

"Indeed. How could this have happened?" Husna wondered innocently.

"Unfortunately, our proposed planetary defence network grid is still in the process of being approved… Zeeshan, place UNIT on lockdown indefinitely. Nobody goes in, nobody goes out. A full investigation needs to be carried out pronto."

"As you wish, dear sister." He promptly left the scene to carry out his sister's demands.

"Oh no!" Saba suddenly blurted out.

"What?" Husna enquired.

"My skin, it's ruined…" She lifted up the Penelope skin that she had been wearing and had become accustomed to for quite some time. It has been ripped somehow during the struggles against the Judoon.

"Oh dear, that is most unfortunate."

"Fuck me…" Saba decried before she retreated back to her office. Opening up a wardrobe at the back of the room, the Slitheen women sought out a new skin for once. Husna arrived unannounced after a while.

"Ah, looking for a new skin already, sister?"

"Penelope was a great fit. I had no issues when I was squashed inside her." Saba lamented the unfortunate loss of her favourite disguise. She felt somewhat lost without it.

"Oh well. Shit happens. About time you wore a new skin." Husna advised. After all, there were over eight billion humans to choose from. The Slitheen were spoilt for choice.

"The problem is, after you wear a skin for quite some time and it fits you perfectly, you want more of the same. None of these skins match my exact size." Saba further lamented as she cycled through all the available skins neatly hanging on the rack.

"I wouldn't know, actually." The Slitheen lady inside of Husna Rashid knew only that disguise the entire time she had been on Earth.

"Sigh… I'll find a suitable costume later. Right now, I need some rest." Saba said before stopping and sitting on a nearby sofa chair. She was exhausted by the impromptu hunting.

"Why don't we go somewhere and relax together, hmm? We are not humans. You especially, Saba." Husna suggested. All that physical tension and tense struggle needed compensating with some leisure.

"I could do with a swim, you know.." The duo headed across the capital with a heavily armed escort, to Saba's private and undisclosed residency. She had a massive indoor swimming pool where any Family member could relax. There, a group of predominantly male Slitheen stood guard, protecting their leader from any harm. Sip-Sep Tuy Tar Star Slitheen, Saba's husband, was waiting anxiously beside the pool. Word had reached him about the incident with the Judoon.

"Saba! Babe, are you okay? I heard about what happened at the base." He warmly embraced his vulnerable counterpart. Husna looked on.

"I'm fine, honey. I-I just need some rest." Saba replied, demonstrating some emotions.

"Yeah, agreed. Don't worry about any threats here. It will not happen again. We are here to protect you." Sip-Sep pointed out all the other Slitheen who were present and indulging in leisure, either alone or in pairs or small groupings. They were all glad to see their usual leader alive and physically unscathed.

"Thanks.". She jumped into the pool and awaited her sister to join her. Husna unzipped first, leaving her rubbery skin on a plank to gather water before she canonballed her huge Slitheen self into the pool, making a splash that resembled a mini-tsunami. The Slitheen duo spent a few minutes simply floating on the water. Saba was grateful to the Supreme Being to merely be alive. They then began to swim a few stretches and even raced a little. After a while, whilst they were more settled at the edge of the deep end, Husna initiated conversation again.

"Saba, you trust me, don't you?" Husna asked innocently whilst she placed her green hand on Saba's large Slitheen bum.

"Of course." Saba replied, not understanding why this question was being posed to her. She did not, however, mind the hand placement. She felt she could do with a long-overdue massage.

"You showed once again your amazing leadership… I've always admired that about you. I'm envious about it, actually." Husna continued, stroking her buttocks delicately, giving a few aggressive rubs now and again.

"Thanks…" Saba simply acknowledged the praise before closing her eyes in relaxation. Her loud, paced breathing became more noticeable. She was enjoying the massage.

"I've always admired you, Sabs. Since day one. Since you were incorporated into our glorious Family." Husna confessed all of a sudden. In rapid time, this born-Slitheen was able to become a close confidant of the Slitheen convert leader, gaining an important position within the Family as a result. Husna wanted to build up further intimacy for very particular reasons. None of it out of genuine love or anything.

"You are a wonderful asset to the Family yourself, Husna. Don't forget that." Saba complemented her counterpart as she gasped a little. But nothing more would come of this interaction: Sip-Sep caught up with them and the exhausted Slitheen leader collapsed into her husband's chest, dozing off. Her husband clutched her firmly but gently. Nobody was going to harm the Star Slitheen leader. After a while, a dissatisfied Husna exited the pool, picked up her wet skin and returned alone to her sleeping apartment a few blocks away. Her nude husband Zeeshan was hanging up his wife's latest trophy skin: the deputy senior Judoon commander that failed to kill Saba. Husna was the mole allied to Hibah Mughal, and she had given the space police a massive tip-off about the laxed security measures at the base this evening.

"Silly fool. He had one job and failed miserably… Hibah won't be happy about this." she said, examining the rubbery costume that now adorned their bedroom wall. In Slitheen culture, it was customary to hang the most prominent victim after a hunt as a mark of triumph and celebration of Slitheen ways.

"What are we going to do now? Saba will increase security measures. We won't be able to strike her again anytime soon." Zeeshan bemoaned the missed opportunity his wife had this evening to finish the one job. The Judoon skin looked magnificent on display.

"We wait. That is what the art of hunting teaches every mature Slitheen. Wait until Saba makes a mistake. Let her open up again. Then we will strike." Husna suggested, carefully calculating multiple potential future scenarios in her head. She was willing to play the long game. But nobody, neither Zeeshan nor Hibah, knew of her true intentions. Husna had never revealed to anyone whether or not she wanted to be the Star Slitheen Family leader or something. Whatever she did, she did it precisely so that an aura of mystery surrounded her character, whilst allowing her to retain face. Nobody knew the real Husna Rashid Star Slitheen.

"We are playing a very risky game, Husna. We jeopardise our existence in the process." Her hesitant husband warned with caution. He was very conflicted and unsure about continuing along this deadly and murderous pathway. Innocent Slitheen members were going to be killed as a result of it, something that made him feel anxious whenever he thought about it.

"Don't you want to be leading this Family?" Husna interjected, revealing a part of her strategy.

"Yes, I-I do." Zeeshan declared. The Slitheen were always encouraging one another to be ambitious, never to be content with their present situation and to always strive to be on top.

"Then we have to eliminate our obstacles but be discreet in doing so." Husna counseled, hoping he would see sense.

"Do we really have to kill our own kind though?" Zeeshan sighed at the implications.

"Yes, if that is what it takes to get to the top. Do I detect that you are having some doubts about our plans?" Husna never liked hesitation or anxiety. She was either out or all-in when it came to making a decision. Life was meant to be lived on the edge, however wild that might have entailed.

"N-No…" Zeeshan pleaded otherwise. But it did little to persuade his suspecting wife.

"I married you because I want you to be beside me when I - I mean we - inevitably take over this Family. If you are too chicken about this, there are plenty of other Slitheen men who are queuing up to fuck me and become the fathers of the next generation of Star Slitheen Alpha leaders." she announced rather bluntly. Husna wanted to make him aware that he was at the end of the day disposable and that it was she who ran this relationship. Her words were law, to be obeyed without question.

"No… I am with you all the way, Husna. Until death do us apart." Zeeshan renewed his wedding vows on the spot with such a solemn declaration exhibiting newfound certainty. He was really terrified of losing his wife to another Slitheen man. Husna was the one who brought him into the Family in the first place. He would follow her to the ends of the stars.

"Splendid! I know I can rely upon you, Zeesh… Anyways, we still managed to butcher the pathetic Judoon on this fine occasion. Oh, the feeling is ever so glorious! I think this calls for a celebration, don't you?" Husna laughed ecstatically as she stared momentarily at the hollowed out skin. It was totally lifeless and the sad Judoon face would ordinarily frighten any other observers.

"Absolutely." The two Slitheen adults proceeded to make passionate love to one another under the watchful gaze of the hollowed skin suit face of that veteran Judoon commander. After an hour of fun,a phone next to the bed rang loudly. News reached this couple about the events that were taking place in Torchwood. They promptly made their way back to their base where they rejoined Saba and their other concerned siblings, debating the next steps to take.

"Summon the Family. Everyone must go to Torchwood at once. Our brothers and sisters are in danger!" Saba urged her kin to take action immediately. They were running up against the clock.

(Present Time)

(Torchwood HQ, Canary Wharf)

Dr. Rachel Porter stood in the lift with the security guards. Ping! She was led to some obscure office room where she was forced to sit in silence for a while before the same personnel returned, bringing with them another human female to sit beside her for a collective interrogation session.

"Who are you?" Olivia had never met this female before.

"Sarah Jane Smith, investigative reporter. I could ask you the same question."

"Erm…Rachel." The woman said somewhat unconvincingly as if she had forgotten the name of her disguise. Officer Montgomery, flanked by the Blathereen, began the interrogation process.

"You two are here because you have both been caught entering areas out of bounds." He began, indicating to the duo why they were here.

"Dr Porter, what were you doing visiting the cells at this late hour?" The first question came at the disguised Slitheen who was surprised to realise her moves had been monitored.

"I was checking on a patient of mine." The explanation was straightforward enough for a doctor.

"But you know it's company policy not to do that. We deliberately have no health and safety standards. These aliens are cannon fodder. Expendables. We use up their energy potential and then dispose of them when we see fit." the arrogant human male continued quite arrogantly.

"Yeah, that does not sit well with me, actually. I am not going to let my patients die. I, err, swore an oath before I became a doctor." Olivia remarked with frankness, pretending to care about her human profession. It was somewhat of a convincing display.

"Oh, we have one of those woke justice warriors in our ranks. We will deal with you separately then… And you, Miss Smith - what were you doing snooping around our base?" The attention turned towards the other female.

"Oh, I erm, detected some unusual radioactive readings that might present a danger to the local environment. I had to check to see if everything was alright."

"We do not believe you. And this item that we have confiscated from you appears to indicate otherwise." Officer Montgomery held up a lipstick.

"Sonic lipstick. Enables access into areas that are usually out of bounds for most.". Sonic lipstick? This was a pretty advanced technological device for a human. Olivia began to reevaluate what she thought about the human sitting next to her. Definitely higher-IQ than most.

"Torchwood - Yvonne - now suspects that you two are agents of a nefarious organisation hellbent on interfering with our affairs." Officer Montgomery charged these two for espionage. The punishment would be execution.

"That is preposterous!" Sarah protested strongly against the unfounded charges.

"Do you work for UNIT?" the officer acted as if he was a judge or something.

"NO!" Sarah continued denying the charges. Olivia nodded in agreement, wary of opening her mouth and saying something revealing. The Officer and the detainees underwent a back and forth. After half an hour, it was clear that no progress was being made. Both sides stuck stubbornly to their positions. Nobody was budging anytime soon.

"Alright, it seems you two are allergic to the truth and do not want to reveal your true identities… That's quite alright." He lifted up the black baton that he used in beating up defenceless alien slaves around the base.

"There are other ways of making you talk." With a sincere smile, he threatened the females with torture, making Sarah feel internally revolted by such unbecoming behaviour. Olivia was unfazed. It was a sign that she was soon to unzip. The issue for her was when, exactly. Suddenly, the officer's stomach genuinely began to rumble. He ate a dodgy kebab earlier in the day.

"Oh… I need to go to the loo. Keep an eye on these two whilst I am away." Montgomery left the scene, leaving the aliens in charge. They just stared at the humans who were not interested in conversing with one another anyways. Silence filled the room during this interval as both attempted to calculate an escape in their minds.

That same evening, Olivia's siblings snuck out of their cell. They pounced upon the guards in the area from the darkness, stealing their ID access cards. This allowed them to open up every other cell, freeing the slaves who ran out at the first opportunity. They made their way to the Atrium and all the other warehouses via the portal access points. The alien slaves on night shift, seeing their freed counterparts, collectively rose up! They attacked their oppressors with righteous anger and by utilising the construction equipment as makeshift weapons. Chaos and mass panic predictably ensued all across every site under Torchwood's grip. Slaves from the warehouses were pouring into the Canary Wharf HQ. This was the first step. The next one required the Slitheen to take advantage of the chaotic drama and lower Torchwood's defences. They could smell their other Star siblings waiting to enter from the outside.

At the time, Yvonne was hosting a late night security review meeting with her subordinate colleagues in her office. The past year had seen no incidents at all. The Torchwood leader was impressed and most pleased with the work.

"... So I encourage everyone to keep up the good work… What on Earth is that noise?" The emergency alarm sounded out, warning everyone that something was wrong at the base. Yvonne and her bodyguards surveyed what was going on below them through the cameras. It was her worst nightmare: a slave revolt.

"The Slitheen are here." one of the females in the room announced with a sigh of resignation as she pointed out their presence outside Canary Wharf on camera. It meant only one thing - war.

"What the fuck!" Yvonne exclaimed from a supposedly safe distance as she witnessed some of the alien slaves do the unthinkable: revolt against Torchwood. The arrival of the Slitheen only confounded her even more. Everything had happened under her nose.

"It was only a matter of time. We have prepared for this moment." another one of the security guards present at the meeting declared bizarrely.

""What are you waiting for? Kill them! All of them! No survivors." Yvonne ordered her colleagues to run into action guns-blazing. But they were not her colleagues at all. Her counterparts stared at her silently with eerie smiles.

"Time for us to enjoy this moment." the man said before he and every other guard in the room reached for a hidden zip. The Blathereen took this as their cue to also unzip as they were inhabiting a human skin, revealing that Stage One was almost complete. They had taken possession of most security personnel at Torchwood, successfully posing as them without anyone else realising it. This would come as a big surprise to the only human in the room.

"Oh my god…" Yvonne realised it too late: the devious Vas Bunkin Blathereen Family had murdered her staff and used their bodies as skin suits. They had betrayed her trust. She looked on worriedly as she saw the human faces of her longtime human colleagues nastily being pushed to the back, allowing a lovely Blathereen head with its long neck to pop out. Lots of groaning and moaning could be heard at this point. These Raxicorciofalipatorians then pushed down their human skins in unison together, revealing their massive bodies and forearms as well as their own razor sharp claws. The Torchwood leader put her hands to her face in despair when the rubbery skins flopped to the floor. For Yvonne, there was no difference between the Blathereen and the Slitheen; they were all the same, in appearance and behaviour. Her harsh attitudes towards aliens were justified, she thought to herself fiercely.

"So nice to be free at long last!" one of them said. The Family began to flex their muscles. It had been a stuffy experience, after all. None of them cared about the only human in the room momentarily. The balance of power had definitely shifted within mere minutes.

"YOU FUCKING VILE SCUM! YOU KILLED MY FELLOW HUMANS!" Yvonne unleashed her fury at her ex-business partners. They did not really respond to this tantrum of sorts. Instead, one Blathereen male simply picked her up by the throat and choke slammed her onto the table.

"Our partnership is over, Yvonne, Your services are no longer needed. Torchwood is ours. We will deal with the Slitheen ourselves." Jobi declared with authority. Now naked and no longer interrupted by a human voice, the leader of the Vas Bunkin commanded his siblings into action.

"Kill every Slitheen you come across. We must advance to Stage Four immediately." The Blathereen ran out of the room, hungry to slaughter some Slitheen, leaving Yvonne alive albeit semi-conscious and briefly out of action…

The Fenex-Slitheen easily overpowered the guards manning the control room. They quickly imputed command codes into the technological system that successfully deactivated Torchwood's defence shields; the site was vulnerable from an external offensive. With the gates opened, an army of Slitheen outside swarmed into the building and joined the fray. UNIT had the public space outside on lockdown, censoring any human investigative eyes. The battle of Canary Wharf to determine the future of the Earth had begun in Blathereen all over the base unzipped quickly from their human security outfits and mobilised for action, confirming that they had pretty much taken over most of the human security apparatus. The Raxicoricofalipatorians now clashed fiercely in a straight up confrontation.

"Combat must be naked!" Tyler exclaimed loudly and proudly as he and his siblings began to unzip at long last before they too joined the spontaneous melee from the control centre. They had fulfilled their mission. Now they were tasked with helping to secure Torchwood along with the rest of the Family. The blaring of loud siren alarms distracted the guards who were interrogating Sarah and Olivia. Whilst they looked the other way, the disguised Slitheen seized the moment; she aggressively grabbed their heads and bashed them into one another aggressively, knocking them out cold. Officer Montgomery returned shortly thereafter.

"What the hell happened here?" he asked the females as he watched the unconscious Blathereen lay there on the floor.

"The same thing that is going to happen to you, fool." Dr. Porter threw a mean right hook that knocked out the security guard in one swoop. Sarah was astounded as much as she was impressed. The impact of the fist did not seem to affect the doctor though. No pain, no feelings.

"I believe this belongs to you." Smiling, Dr. Porter handed the lipstick device back to Sarah to build up a faux trust.

"What's going on?" Sarah pondered aloud, surprised to see two Blathereen and a senior Torchwood guard knocked out cold before her. Hardly what she envisaged when she woke up this morning to begin another mundane Earth day. This doctor certainly knew how to fight.

"This way, I know the way out." Olivia declared quite confidently, answering the question in another way. Sarah did not mind the aggression for it allowed the duo to escape. Running up and down the stairs, the duo had to push their way past the various alien slaves. It was clear that an unprecedented revolt was taking place. Sarah Jane arrived out of the door and into the Atrium to witness the beginning of a momentous occasion.

"Oh no! Slitheen?! And the Blathereen?!" This human had unsuspectingly stumbled into a rivalry that was now turned into a hostile hot war between the two Families. War had broken out. Totally not what she had been expecting to unfold tonight.

"Quick, this way." Seemingly undisturbed by anything, Dr Porter grabbed the human's hand and forced her to come along an empty corridor.

"Where are we going now?" Sarah shouted as she struggled to keep up.

"We're not safe here. I know a way out. Don't ask questions." Olivia politely requested to temporarily allay any fears that the journalist might be having. Sarah relented and decided to go with the flow. A party of Blathereen predators led by Melon Defart spotted the suspicious duo from afar and decided to follow from behind slowly. Olivia led the human back to her office.

"We should be safe here for a while." Dr Porter announced, trying to hold back a wry smile. It was a convenient lie. The circumstances were perfect for an unzipping.

"There is no way out from here. Surely, there must be another exit?" Olivia stood in front of Sarah, as if she was going to do something.

"No, there is no way out, I'm afraid - prrrrrp!" Olivia emphatically announced before her modified neck brace developed a timely technical fault that forced the reinstitution of the gas exchange effects.

"Oh, that wasn't supposed to happen… hehe." The masquerade was fast becoming a farce. Olivia enjoyed teasing her latest prey. More flatulence ensured as the neck brace technology began to falter.

"Prrrrrp!...Oopsie!" Olivia began to giggle wildly. It had been a long time. The time for hiding was over. Freedom for her personally beckoned.

"Oh no, you can't be!" Sarah decried in despair. A human standing before her, farting usually meant only one alien - a Slitheen. Her avowed nemesis.

"Hahahahahaha!" Olivia cackled wildly before deriving a perverse pleasure from the unzipping process. Although she had witnessed the Slitheen do it many occasions previously, the human female remained rooted to the spot, paralysed once more by seeing the unzipping process. The sight of the Slitheen head popping out as soon as the human face slid off made her squirm inside; Sarah instinctively knew that a human had been killed so that they could become reified into a skin suit for the privileged Slitheen. The Raxicoricorifalipatorian quickly undressed the rest of herself; her rubbery skin slid to the floor in no time.

"I AM SLITHEEN!" it roared mightily proud. For once, Olivia was excited about the prospect of an impromptu hunt. Sarah did what she did best - run for her life.

"Run, smelly, soapy human girl, run!" Olivia relished the occasion as she sniffed the environment, detecting the human runner with ease. It had been so long, the repression had been too much. The bloodlust in her veins was skyrocketing. Sarah escaped the office and ran back to the staircases. She decided to go downstairs as upstairs was teeming with conflict, betting to herself that she could either wait out the conflict or find another means by which to escape the premises.

"I have your scent! You won't escape me, Sarah!" Olivia screamed as she pursued her prey with diligence. The Slitheen tracked her to Ground Zero, the space where the Blathereen conducted their clandestine operations and harvested humans for conversion. The space was already in the process of being destroyed; the Blathereen wanted to hide all evidence of their deviant practices. Mini-explosives on the conversion pods had already gone off, killing any human awaiting a transformation inside of them. Meanwhile, many other human corpses lay on the floor. The Vas Bunkins did not want any witnesses to give testimony. Although the revelation of Blathereen activities was a great surprise to her, the Slitheen was primarily interested in finishing off Sarah first. Sniffing the air, the predator located the human prey in a nearby storage room.

"I know you're in here, I can smell you. You're trapped, Sarah." Olivia took her time prolonging the hunt. Sarah was hiding behind a few boxes at the box of the room which was cul-de-sac. She wondered how she could escape.

"You enjoy my smell do you?". Sarah shouted out, happy to give away her presence. She recalled being hunted by a Slitheen once upon a time and escaping by using the Slitheen's powerful nostrils against them.

"Love it! We Slitheen have the best nostrils in all of the galaxies!" Olivia boasted as she made her way to the human's location. Sarah prepared a strong fragrance she had surreptitiously in her purse.

"Run, Sarah, run! Oh, it's no fun if you do not run!" the Olivia Slitheen violently smashed the boxes aside, pushing the defenceless human over onto the floor. She was closing in for the kill.

"Hey, smell this!" Sarah squirted various perfumes in the direction of the Slitheen. Olivia could not cope, coughing and spluttering, waving her huge claws everywhere. Whilst the hunter gasped for air, the human prey successfully ran past her and out of sight. At that moment, the room filled up with the Blathereen who had followed her and Sarah to this part of Torchwood.

"You are not going anywhere." Melon Defart declared emphatically. The numbers favoured these Raxicoricofalipatorains over the solitary Slitheen woman.

"Oh shit." Olivia commented tersely as she recovered from the overdose of scent. The Blathereen squad dogpiled her and forced her to pass out. They dragged her unconscious body to an unknown location at the base where there were no witnesses. A few minutes later, a rocket launched into outer space. Olivia had been taken captive by some members of the Blathereen…

Back in the exhibition room, the deadly hot war between the Slitheen and Balthereen families raged hard. Torchwood personnel caught in the middle attempted to contribute to the fight; killing a few Raxicorifallipatorians here and there but soon enough they found themselves overwhelmed by the situation. Most were killed viciously not by the claws of a Raxicoricofalipatorian but other alien slaves who had found liberty once more. The bloody revenge against the guilty wardens was inevitable. Awakening after a while with a bloody nose, Officer Montogomery gathered himself and caught up with Yvonne, making sure she was unharmed and attempting to explain his temporary absence.

"Ma'am!" he saluted on sight when he caught Yvonne in her office, plucking out a water gun from a nearby cabinet. She turned around in a state of fear and immediately shot out some vinegar contents. It had no effect on Montgomery, confirming he was a human and therefore trustworthy.

"Where the fuck have you been?!... Never mind, protect me from these wild beasts!" she commanded. The Officer faithfully complied with the command as she accepted the weapon from his superior. Together, the duo left the office, the battle-hardened officer staying slightly in front. They had to escape immediately. Traversing the corridors, they had to meet up with other security personnel who would have activated the emergency procedures in the event of an alien attack. It would be their duty to ensure the Torchwood leader be evacuated unscathed. Kay had located Yvonne's whereabouts via her nostrils and made way to her location with alacrity, opting to climb the walls than take the stairs.

"Ma'am! Behind you!". The security officer protecting the Torchwood leader screamed with some vigour in his voice. Kay was running like a bullet train, her forearms coalescing to form a spear. Yvonne turned around late but Montgomery took the fatal blow intended for Yvonne. Kay, believing she had a moment to indulge herself, laughed as she effortlessly plucked out some of Montgomery's organs with her claw fingers, dousing her face with his warm red blood. It was a very animalistic ritual being performed before the beleaguered human who screamed in despair. This only incensed Yvonne, who noticed that the dead human slid his gun pumped with acidic contents towards her before he breathed his last.

"Give me that!" she said with a hiss as she picked up. Kay roared as loud as she could, recklessly unfazed by the gun and the contents it might contain. With all her might, Yvonne pressed the trigger, leading to a burst of vinegar unleashing itself into the Slitheen's mouth. It absorbed the acid uncontrollably. Looking around helplessly as the effects on her body began to occur, Kay uttered her last too.

"Oops…" A farting sounding soon followed her being blown up spectacularly into goo everywhere in a humiliating death. Powtan automatically detected the loss with some pain and made his way to the spot. He knew that it was the Torchwood leader who was guilty of this most heinous crime, and tried to lunge for her. Meanwhile Yvonne fired a vinegar shot straight into his mouth. Powtan promptly blew up spectacularly. Similarly, Powtan approached the Torchwood leader from the opposite direction and almost landed his claws onto the human but was crucially missed by a headshot. Yvonne instantly turned around and shot out some more vinegar. Fatally again, some of the acidic contents entered his mouth. He too blew up spectacularly, covering the human killer with his remains.

"Powtan?! Nooooooooo!" James screamed from a distance as he detected the death of his brother. But he could not immediately avenge the death as three Blathereen blocked his pathway.

"Fucking hell, how many of you are there?... Absolute filthy vermin!" Yvonne cursed as she demonstrated her deadly prowess, mightily satisfied with the destruction. Two green Slitheen aliens had been killed by her human hands. She looked out across a barrier and down below. The whole building was being swarmed by green and brown bodies. It represented something akin to an apocalyptic vision to Yvonne, an end to her megalomaniac plans. Arriving as if on cue, some other surviving Torchwood guards arrived on the scene. She shot them with vinegar just in case but none of them reacted except in confusion, confirming their humanity.

"Ma'am, we need to escort you from here. It's not safe." one of them said, barely being able to catch his breath.

"No shit. Let's get the hell out of here at once." Yvonne wanted to kill more but she realised that the situation was no longer in favour of the humans. It was either the Slitheen or Blathereen who were going to emerge victors on this occasion. A helicopter awaited the Torchwood leader at the top of the building. Ordering the soldiers to form a ring around her and remaining armed with vinegar, the human survivors cautiously made their way to a nearby lift. The Raxicorciofalipatorians were too preoccupied with themselves to bother giving chase. Yvonne, frustrated by the proceedings, safely evacuated herself from the base, preferring to live to fight another day. She had escaped from the Slitheen. But for how long?

The vast majority of alien slaves had left Canary Wharf after they enacted their personal revenge. UNIT did not care about them for the time being. More Slitheen members arrived as the hour progressed. The Blathereen were losing numbers by now that they could not afford to replace. Zeeshan Mahmood and Martha Jones, recently returned from duty in Scotland to answer the emergency call to action, arrived initially in their human disguises, posing as Lieutenant Edwards and Sergeant Katherine Stewart Jones to see out the inevitable triumph. They were joined by Sip-Sep who was dressed as Harrison Wells for this occasion, borrowing the skin from Rupp. They had to travel through human traffic to get here hence why they were dressed temporarily.

"Status update." Martha requested from a sibling, Guz Paxbar Yu Bu Star Slitheen, who had successfully managed to fend off two Blathereen women.

"The battles are fierce. We have lost many, unfortunately." he said with a sad tone.

"Never mind them - what about Yvonne and Sarah Jane Smith?" Sip-Sep asked brazenly. Slitheen who were felled in combat died a humiliating death according to Slitheen cultural traditions. They would be mourned later but then ultimately forgotten. Only winners fundamentally mattered.

"Yvonne is making her way to the top of this building. A transport evacuation is already awaiting her. It is unlikely that we will capture her… Sarah Jane Smith was last seen being pursued by Olivia Jay and a party of Blathereen in hot pursuit." Guz relayed the level of information he possessed faithfully. It was a bit outdated by this point but none of the Slitheen were aware of the real-time developments.

"One Slitheen woman against a party of Blathereen - I hope Olivia mauls their sorry asses!" Martha commented with unbridled emotion. She was confident Olivia could defend herself. A strong Slitheen woman could take on any challenge.

"Where did they go?" Zeeshan demanded a location.

"That way." Guz indicated towards an open door at the back of the Atrium.

"We will pursue them. Your job is to hold the position here. The lower boundaries of this base are out of bounds to anyone else. Understood?" Sip-Sep commanded.

"Yes, dear brother.".

"You there, come with us." They recruited a random Slitheen brother to accompany them for this mission.

Going past the door, the Slitheen surmised that Sarah and Olivia would probably have gone down to the lower levels. They chose the lazy but time-saving option of descending via lift rather than stairs.

(Ping!)

The squad of elite Slitheen killers promptly entered and crowded themselves inside the lift.

"Let the sport begin." Sip-Sep declared in a banal tone. He had lost count of how many hunts he had participated in his life thus far. As the lift slowly descended, Zeeshan's gas exchange acted up and out from his stuffy disguise.

"Prrrrrrp!… I'm getting poisoned by this gas exchange." He found his Lieutenant Edwards disguise to be quite stuffy. He then felt a large slap hitting his buttocks causing him to release some more.

"Better out than in, brother! Rejoice in it. Your body is magnificent." Sip-Sep declared with a magnificent solemn stare as he returned his human hand back to his side. There was nothing to be ashamed of.

"Thanks." Zeeshan said, relieved that his gas exchange troubles were over, if only temporarily.

"Why are we still in our skins by this point?" Martha wondered as her own gas exchange troubles also kicked into effect. The complaint was the signal for an unspoken consensus. The trio silently reached for their forehead zippers and began to unzip casually. Beams of blue lighting and loud electric humming emitted out of the shaft as it reaches the lower levels of Torchwood.

(Ping!)

The door opened, and a gang of four Slitheen adults walked out, carrying their neatly-folded skin suits in their forehead claws.

"We'll keep this floor as the final hunting ground before the triumph is declared…" the Zeeshan Slitheen stated which garnered positive affirmation from the others immediately.

"Let's dump our costumes here." Sip-Sep found a nice, convenient sofa lounge setting. The Slitheen stacked their clothes on top of each other before attempting to gain precise bearings.

"This way. My nostrils are detecting about five non-Slitheen in that direction not too far from her." Martha requested her siblings to go east from their location. The squad ran together in a tight formation. Sarah managed to escape death by Olivia's claws but then bumped into a squad of Blathereen including Jobi, Baba, Meanwhile, Sarah found herself hiding under laboratory tables, carefully manoeuvring from one to another. But the Blathereen squad inevitably knew her location. Her fragrance was not going to be much use this time.

"Sarah Jane Smith. The Blathareen Family would like a word with you." Jobi called out playfully. Capturing this human would be a decent consolation prize. The Blathereen swarmed into the room.

"We can smell you, human girl. We know exactly where you are." Baba warned, hoping that the human would simply surrender. Haroon covered the only entry/exit point leaving the human trapped.

"You should know that we are only prolonging this hunt. The longer they are, the more our prey stink!". Baba continued the tease. Sarah shut her eyes, praying for a miracle to save her. Another minute passed. Suddenly, the voices stopped. Sarah wondered why that was so. She slowly began to push her head up. But it was a ploy. Jobi was right behind her.

"Hahahahaha!" The Blathereen laughed maniacally as it smashed away the table and revealed to everyone the location of the human female. Four of them converged onto her exact coordinates.

"Aaaargh!" Sarah screamed hysterically, expecting to be killed in an instant. But her death was not scheduled for today.

"Peakaboo." Zeeshan stuck his big Slitheen head out from a corner. They had arrived on time.

"Oh no!" Eric shirked like a girl, frightened to see the rival Family. He was not ready for combat at all.

"Oh yummy, it's the accursed Slitheen!" Baba was delighted by their appearance. She was itching to kill another, having already dispatched about five a little earlier upstairs.

"It's time for a slaughter!" Sip-Sep exclaimed with glee as the Slitheen came out into the open. A major battle ensued as all the Raxicorciofalipatorians locked claws. It was an even contest for the first few minutes as neither side was physically weak. But when claws broke ranks and the battles became more individualistic, the gulf in quality was apparent. Haroon and Eric were the weakest link; they could not handle fierce close-quarters combat with experienced opponents.

Baba was the first to be slain. The Blathereen woman had actually managed to knock Martha over onto the floor at some point in their duel. As she was going in for the kill, the Slitheen warrior lifted her finger and shot out a poisonous dart that paralysed the attacker. Making the most of this cheapshot, Martha quickly returned to her feet and pounced on Baba, sinking her claws into the throat and ending her life quite gruesomely. Jobi, who had managed to kill the other Slitheen member of that party in his individual duel, felt the pain of losing someone he loved for many years and swiftly sought to engage with her murderer. Eric and Haroon were knocked out of action by Sip-Sep and Zeeshan pretty easily. Realising that these two were complete amateurs in combat, they decided not to kill them but to take them captive indefinitely.

Jobi, the leader of the Blathereen, was the last to be killed. He had fought well and unsurprisingly made it as the last Blathereen left standing. But not for long. The ruthless Slitheen formed a circle around him, taunting the Blathereen and the loss of his family. Jobi was a proud Blathereen, however. He was not going to surrender. He was going to go out as a free Blathereen. He lunged for Zeeshan but missed. Sip-Sep immediately charged the brown Raxicoricofalipatorian down to the ground and the Slitheen began to beat down on him, slowly wearing out his will-to-live. Once it was adjudged that Jobi was breathing his last, the Slitheen had him sit up.

"Send our kind regards to the rest of your family in hell." Sip-Sep commented rather callously. The hatred between the two families was too much, blinding all to a fit of anger.

"Aaaaargh!" Zeeshan and Martha jointly took turns slashing the Blathereen with their claws, mauling him to death painfully. The Slitheen had managed to annihilate their opponents. The death of Jobi signified the end of the battle. Amidst the combat, Sarah took advantage of the chaos and slipped away again. She tried to run back upstairs. The Slitheen took their time.

"God, these Blathereen are puny pussies!" Martha was totally unimpressed by the fight. It was almost completely one-sided. Two Blathereen males had been taken captive. Haroon and Eric stayed silent as more Slitheen from upstairs arrived to secure the area.

"What a magnificent victory. Something to tell the grandchildren." Zeeshan exclaimed as he cleansed his claws of unholy Blathereen blood.

"Where is the target?" Sip-Sep wondered aloud. Sarah was nowhere to be found.

"This way, she is getting away! Hurry!" Martha urged her siblings to join her pursuit of the journalist. The Slitheen hunted down Sarah collectively. She eventually returned to the upper levels but Torchwood was by now crawling with triumphant Slitheen who were conducting mucking up operations by this point. There was no escape. She headed for the lift, naively thinking she could get out via the roof but when the lift pinged, the three Slitheen who were looking for her re-emerged.

"Seize her." Martha ordered her siblings to snatch the human fugitive. They did as they were told.

"Ah, the famous companion of The Doctor." Sip-Sep said heartily as he, Zeeshan and Martha arrived back to the main area of the building with the journalist on his shoulder.

"What are you doing? Why haven't you killed me already?" Sarah protested wildly in a futile struggle to break free.

"Why are the humans always this fucking annoying with their constant questioning?" Sip-Sep questioned his two other siblings, both converts from humanity. It annoyed him greatly.

"It's, erm… complicated." Zeeshan simply responded. He could not be bothered explaining the complex behavioural phenomena of another species of being.

"Answer me!" Sarah once again spoke up like some petulant child. The Slitheen lost their temper in response.

"Silence, primitive girl! You forget your place before the mighty and inglorious Star Slitheen Family!" Sip-Sep screamed at her as he lifted the human in front of him and shook her hard in mid-air. It frightened her as the harsh reality kicked in: Sarah was a captive of the Slitheen. She had to do as she was told, wary of any further backlash. It was obvious that the Slitheen wanted her alive for some unknown purpose. The Slitheen whisked Sarah into a dark green painted UNIT Van parked outside at Canary Wharf. A military escort accompanied the journey.

The Husna Rashid signified a confirmation of victory. Most of the Blathereen had been killed with few survivors. Saba had personally ordered the latter to be transported back to UNIT for undisclosed reasons. They were not to be harmed. The Slitheen who remained at the place were astonished by their findings at Torchwood; the slave regime, the mass digging sites, the nuclear warheads. They were astonished about the presence of the Blathereen, how they managed to innovate their neck braces and adopt Slitheen behaviours, including a plan to turn the Earth into a vast farmland for settler-colonialism to take place. Likewise, the (now destroyed) conversion programme found at Ground Zero further disturbed the Slitheen investigators. There were several consecutive Stages to enact but the Blathereen had barely got around to completing the first, converting all Torchwood humans to Blathereenhood. Jobi tried to accelerate to Stage Four in desperation. The Vas Bunkins were truly devious and almost got away with it. It was as if they were students of the Star Slitheen…

Husna was even more mind boggled when she personally examined the archives. She was due to report back any significant findings directly to Saba. Yvonne Hartman the megalomaniac wanted to establish a neo-British Empire but this time expand its rule across the stars into a proper intergalactic power formation. This was what the Great Reset was all about. With the Earth hardwired with nuclear warheads, Yvonne planned on holding everyone hostage, including the Slitheen. Torchwood and UNIT would unify as one and Yvonne would rule over Britain and at some point the entire Earth with an iron fascistic fist before leading humanity out into the universe under her astute leadership, per her wildest fantasies. All alien life on Earth would be suppressed and any alien on Earth would be enslaved, forced to spend the rest of their material existence working to support humanity's constantly growing needs. The rest of the universe existed to be dominated, exploited, extracted and the like by powerful humans. Saba was going to enjoy listening to all this, Husna thought to herself as she observed everything carefully.

By taking down Torchwood, the Star Slitheen, many of whom boasted converts from amongst British humans in their ranks, finally abolished this nostalgic imperial fantasy conclusively. The British Empire was well and truly dead, with no hope of resurrection. The Slitheen had eliminated another imperial competitor and not for altruistic reasons. Either Yvonne would have controlled Earth or them. The final outcome had been settled. Torchwood and UNIT were united as one under Slitheen rule. The future of Britain and the Earth was going to be decided by these clever and powerful Raxicoricofalipatorians exclusively. Husna left the site when she felt it was appropriately secured and made her way back to the London HQ.

Dragged into the popular UNIT base, a blindfolded Sarah struggled to make sense of her bearings. In the dining room where she was unveiled and paraded, rows of Slitheen were sat cross-legged as they prepared to feast on the remains of all those they hunted this evening. Blathereen meat and organs were in plentiful supply. The human was forced to sit amongst them although there was no pressure on her to eat. The Slitheen laughed heartily and raucously amongst their human captive, making Sarah feel deeply uncomfortable, and they knew it.

"Ah, the famous Sarah Jane Smith. At last. Welcome." a voice called out from behind the captive journalist. Sarah turned around to see a large black woman dressed in a military outfit standing besides her, beaming with a smile. It was as if she had been expecting the human.

"I demand to speak with whoever is in charge around here." Sarah put in her request. This person was the only other human-looking person in the room. However, she was quite big physically and the fact that no Slitheen around her noticed her suggested that she was one of them. Sarah cared little for stereotyping at this stage.

"That would be me… prrrrp! Oh, I'm not feeling the gas exchange in this skin!" Saba bemoaned, momentarily forgetting Sarah. She had yet to find for herself a new skinsuit that had a decent gas exchange.

"You? You are one of them?!" Sarah asked frantically, hoping that it was not true.

"Prrrrrrrrp!… I'm positive you will understand that form of language." The hidden Slitheen confirmed her identity to the journalist. The gas exchange was really off.

"Oh no!" Sarah lamented having to see yet another unzipping…

"Oh yes! Victory should be naked!" Saba exclaimed excitedly as she raised her hand to her forehead. Sarah watched as the hidden alien unmasked. The Slitheen groaned and moaned as she extracted immense pleasure from the unzipping process. It was hot, deeply imbued with erotic imagery and sensations. Sarah, as ever, watched on paralysed as she saw the Slitheen's big green head pop out shortly before the human skin began dropping down the shoulders to reveal the Raxicoricofalipatorian's large forearm, claws and belly before it flopped to the floor in a rubbery mess. Relieved of her gas exchange troubles, Saba was free once more.

"I trust you have been treated amicably whilst you have been with us, hmm?" the leader of the Star Slitheen inquired with a soft intonation of enquiry as she began to flex her impressive muscles.

"How long have you been controlling UNIT?" Sarah began yet another investigation to seek out the truth.

"Quite some time now. Not that hard to infiltrate." Saba commented very cheekily.

"And what on Earth do you want to do with this defensive security organisation?"

"Isn't it obvious? Think about who we are and what we are all about."

"Profit. That's what your Family is always after, by any means necessary.. You are here to make profit out of UNIT…but how can you do that with UNIT…you murdered your way to the top, you have access to all the resources and facilities…resources, technology! You have complete access to everything UNIT possesses."

"Correct."

"And you also - what has happened to Major General Saba Mahmood? She was… 'big' enough for you to fit inside of - where is her body?" Sarah dreaded to think of what happened to that human.

"You are talking to her." Saba replied with a smile.

"What?!" This was not the response the captive was expecting.

"That", the Slitheen pointed to a portrait of the UNIT leader on a nearby wall which was taken only a year ago, "was me". Donning a black hijab scarf tucked neatly underneath her red army beret cap, the British-Pakistani Saba Mahmood was smiling in the official portrait picture, all-the-while showcasing her dominant figure signified by her impressive height, massive chest and long legs. The UNIT flag was in the background, as was the Union Jack, demonstrating her allegiance to Britain and humanity at the time. Indeed, she was big enough for a Slitheen woman to slot herself inside of the body. The gas exchange would have been reasonable.

"You lie." Sarah found it very hard to believe.

"I do not." A few moments of awkward silence passed. Sarah concluded that the Slitheen was indeed telling the truth.

"What happened to you, Saba?" That question gave the Slitheen convert an opportunity for exposition.

"I was somewhat naive as a human. The Family outsmarted me. Originally, they were hellbent on turning my body into yet another skin suit for a fellow sister but they ended up turning me into one of their own. Let me continue leading UNIT so really there has been no change of personnel. I have no complaints."

"The Slitheen converted you? Since when do they convert non-Slitheen?"

"Not all Slitheen families will opt for this approach. And our family has only done so out of desperation. We were initially very low on numbers. Luckily, the Earth has billions of many bodies, so much potential. The Star Slitheen Family never has to worry about losing numbers anymore. We have complete, unrestricted access to your species so if we need to create new members, we can at a moment's notice." Saba explained ominously. The atmosphere in the room was jubilant. The meat was being gorged upon, as was the abundant supplies of Rakweed and Rakjuice. The dead slaves who died fighting for their freedom also provided an additional source of protein and nutrition for the victors.

"Sarah, you've come across our kind before. Be perfectly honest: what do you think of the Slitheen?" Saba was very keen to hear what Sarah had to say, seeing as this was not the human's first encounter with them.

"I think you are a cruel, monstrous and murdering bunch of criminal thieves." Sarah said very honestly. She had enough hard evidence to back up her claims.

"That's stereotyping. Now, we Slitheen do not kill indiscriminately. Our hunting and slaughtering of others, which is an intrinsic part of who we are, always has a purpose behind it. If you are upset about the humans we have had to kill to advance our business plans, then know that we kill for very specific reasons. We hold no grudges against humankind. We simply do what we need to do". Saba retorted, passionately defending her Family's record.

"Listen to yourself! You delude yourself into thinking that you are actually one of them." Sarah protested loudly.

"Nor do we Slitheen apologise for whoever we hunt, slaughter and skin, human primitive. The Slitheen Family simply do, and we dare anyone to stop us in our tracks!" The Slitheen leader guffawed raucously after that last remark and completely ignored it.

"So you have taken over UNIT, taken over its assets. You have now taken over Torchwood and its many valuable assets. You are probably looking to turn some short-term profits somehow, yes? But why have you kept me alive?" The Slitheen nearby all began laughing and sniggering amongst themselves once they heard this question

"What? What's so funny?" Sarah found the behaviour of the aliens bizarre.

"You would make for a good 'sister' within the Family." one of them spontaneously speculated.

"What does that mean?"

"Sarah, I think lovely light and dark shades of green will suit you perfectly…" another shouted politely.

"And I can see you and I hunting together…" a third commented candidly.

"Admit it - you want to wear a skin suit of your own!" an anonymous Slitheen cried out but whom Sarah could not identify from amongst the crowd. The Slitheen all guffawed and laughed loudly as they teased their human captive. Sarah was designated for conversion but she still remained clueless.

"What? I don't understand."

"Someone help out Miss Smith, please." Saba politely requested of her brothers and sisters.

"We plan on converting and assimilating you into our ranks, human." said a Slitheen nearby bluntly.

"What?!...I will not become like you." Sarah retorted defiantly but she too had reached this conclusion. It was the only explanation that made sense as to why she was still alive.

"Yes, you will." Saba retorted as she sipped a cup of Rakjuice noisily, her favourite beverage by default.

"No!" Sarah maintained her defiance.

"You don't have a choice. The Slitheen Family have captured you. You are our captive. We can do whatever the hell we want to you. Nobody, including The Doctor, will help you." Saba declared with firm authority.

"If you think I'm going to become one of you…"

"I have already decided, human girl: you will become an honorary member of the Slitheen. You will serve our Family business interests the moment you attain Slitheenhood. And you will thoroughly enjoy being a Slitheen, contributing sincerely to our collective prosperity." Saba announced with even firmer authority.

"No, I will-"

"Silence! Saba bellowed at the human. It shut the captive up.

"God, it's like babysitting a whiny child!" another Slitheen present shouted out, making the human feel quite embarrassed. Saba continued her lecturing.

"Sarah Jane Smith, as both a punishment and a reward for your services against various Slitheen families and for being involved in the death of many Slitheen, my Family hereby condemns you to undergo conversion as a form of compensation to the Slitheen. You will become a permanent member of the Family and fully expected to participate in our collective activities. No ifs, ands or buts. You will do as you are told or I will snap your windpipe. It's your choice." Saba was not really giving the human a choice at all. Sarah was forced to sit amongst Saba and the Slitheen cross-legged on the floor during the remainder of the feast celebration.

Afterwards, Husna marched alongside Sarah with an escort of Slitheen siblings. They went into the operating theatre. Sarah was resigned to her fate. Stripped naked and placed into a vertical tube, a suction vat was attached to her face and body. Her body was flooded with liquids and chemicals over the next hour. Her transformation meant that the shortcut approach to conversion had to be taken.

"Now, this won't take too long, girl." someone handling the technical equipment said. Sarah could not see. She had no idea what was going on,

"Three. Two. One…"

"Aaaaaaaaargh!" The human screamed hysterically throughout the process. Her body size and width grew exponentially until she became eight feet tall with a large pot belly. Her white skin turned light green. Her hair began to fall to the ground, flock by flock. To cap it off, she grew massive forearms complete with razor sharp claws. Sarah Jane Smith has been made into a Slitheen! Her new body collapsed to the floor after the process finished itself. Sarah tried to pick herself back up immediately but it took some effort getting used to a new material existence.

"Looking good, Sarah!" A soft feminine voice called out from behind her. It was a Slitheen lady who seized the moment of confusion to place a neck brace onto the newcomer's elongated neck.

"Change me back! Change me back at once!" Sarah demanded angrily as she attempted to take it off immediately. It was stuck there permanently. In truth, she had no authority whatsoever to effect any change.

"You are now a member of the Star Slitheen. Nice to meet you, Sarah Jane Smith Des Nud Star Slitheen." the mysterious Slitheen woman said, giving the newcomer an extension to her human English name.

"Who are you?" Sarah asked. She thought she was looking at herself in the mirror.

"I'm Martha. Martha Jones Rutvar Tess Star Slitheen, at your service. You may remember me when I was more… human-looking." she said rather cheekily before laughing a little to lighten the mood.

"Martha, Martha Jones?!… No, not you too ! What have they done to you?" Sarah was aghast at this unnatural transformation.

"They made me into them. I am now a Slitheen!" Martha was proud of her transformation, even showcasing her body off to the perturbed human observer. Sarah too had the exact same features.

"Why are you behaving as if you are enjoying this? How much have they brainwashed you?" Sarah could not believe that Martha was actually content as a Slitheen and enjoying her Slitheenhood.

"No brainwashing, dear sister. I am a proud member of the glorious and ignoble Star Slitheen Family!" Martha proclaimed triumphantly, raising a claw and roaring a little to the ceiling to prove her sincerity. Sarah was slowly being convinced by the empirical evidence that her initial intuition was false. The truth was much, much worse.

"And you enjoy this life, this thuggish criminal behaviour?" Sarah queried, wondering what exactly was so attractive about the Slitheen, a bunch of Raxacoricofallapatorian thugs wanted in numerous galaxies for various crimes and offences.

"The Slitheen Family might do so…unsavoury actions. But we are a serious Family, wealthy and mighty. Winners. If you cannot beat them, as I found out the hard way, then it becomes an obligation to join them." Martha explained eloquently.

"So you have murdered native humans on this planet?" Sarah, the former human journalist, continued her investigation.

"I have." Martha confessed almost-immediately. Her neutral tone neither affirmed nor denied a positive or negative take. It was hard to tell whether she took pride in such acts or not.

"And you skinned them? Made a nice costume for yourself?" Sarah enquired, finding it almost natural by now to ask these types of questions.

"Yep." came back the monosyllabic response.

"So they-"

"Sarah, look at yourself in the mirror. You are a Slitheen, for fucks sake. Welcome to the Family. No point in repressing it. What, you don't think I suffered when it was my turn to convert? We all have this moment but you learn to get over it. The sooner, the better." Martha demonstrated a sudden burst of emotion, swiftly turning the conversation on its head. Now the subject was Sarah. Sarah Jane Smith - the latest Slitheen convert to Saba Mahmood's Star Slitheen Family.

"I cannot believe this has happened to me." The last thing the former human ever expected was to become her longtime enemy physically.

"I'm here to help you integrate more smoothly, Sarah." Martha continued, revealing why she was here besides Sarah and not any other random Slitheen.

"I-Integrate? Have you heard yourself?!" Such words were blasphemous. Martha had betrayed her humanity and was now encouraging Sarah to give up any opposition. Integration into Slitheenhood or bust.

"Sarah, listen to me! The Family are exceptionally ruthless. They have no hesitations in disciplining us. I'm trying to help you survive…. But you will have to listen to me, okay? The Slitheen Family has no qualms about eliminating the weak ones. It's survival of the strongest that governs our way of life." Martha further clarified, hoping Sarah would see sense. Instead, the new convert moved away and entered a bout of absolute silence. It took Martha over ten minutes before she came up with something to motivate her newest sibling.

"Sarah, smell me." Martha spontaneously suggested. The peculiar demand caught Sarah's attention.

"What?"

"Go on, sniff me. You know you want to.". The urge to smell was indeed quite strong, especially after conversion. Sarah was unnaturally attempting to suppress this urge but it was becoming too much, and Martha knew it. The new Slitheen gave in and followed her nostrils, taking her right up to Martha's face.

"Mmmmm…" Sarah moaned out loud, struggling to contain her newfound passions as she moved up and down her 'sister's' body. Martha had such a lovely raw body odour.

"That's it, spend as long as you like… As part of your Slitheen privileges, you have the best nostrils in the galaxy. No scent will be able to escape you." Martha openly advertised their biology. Sarah carried on as if she were in a trance-like state for the next few minutes, not feeling any inhibitions whatsoever. Once satiated for the time being, Martha brought the newbie before a mirror.

"Look at us - we are fabulous!" Martha proclaimed loudly and proudly as the duo examined their impressive physiques in the mirror. She slapped Sarah's large Slitheen bum a few times without prior authorisation, encouraging the neophyte to embrace her new beautiful and uninhibited form.

"I'm quite surprised, actually. I thought having long forearms and massive claws would be a strain on agility but no, not at all." Sarah began to let go of the suppression and embrace her Slitheenhood, at least the physics that it entailed.

"I know right, I thought the exact same thing!" Martha chuckled as she agreed heartily. She had succeeded in getting Sarah to open up. In fact, the new Slitheen began to slap Martha's bum without permission as well, laughing as she did.

"Right, we need to get you an outfit." Martha declared once the duo finished their session of fun.

"An outfit?" It was all happening a bit too fast for the newcomer.

"You know, a skin suit." Martha said that quite casually.

"Oh." Sarah remembered the highly-unnatural activities that the Slitheen shamelessly indulge in: they compressed their gigantic beings into the hollowed-out skins of their victims before embarking upon a deceitful masquerade. The Slitheen opened up a nearby, conveniently-placed wardrobe: dozens of prepared, neatly folded-up skin suits were already placed inside. Judging by the lack of decay, these victims had been skinned recently.

"Take your pick." Martha said casually. Sarah adopted a trial by error approach. It felt really weird to do this. Martha watched on judiciously, noting Sarah's comments and reactions. At last, Sarah settled on wearing the skin of the chubby UNIT Captain Linda Higgenbottom.

"She should be your size. Right then - get inside. I'll get dressed up as well." Martha encouraged her sister to take the initiative. Sarah felt the effects of the skin compression kick in and she forced herself into the disguise suit. Surprisingly, it was a somewhat pleasant experience, barring a bit of struggle of settling into the skin. Linda Higgenbottom was a redhead who had served UNIT for only two weeks before a Slitheen got their hands on her curvy, plump body.

"Uff!" Sarah exclaimed as she struggled to get to her feet. Martha, back in her costume already, helped the new member of the Family adjust the disguise from the waist-below.

"Wow! Sarah Jane Smith, inhabiting the skin of a Homo Sapien! Ah! Splendid!" Martha exclaimed triumphantly. Sarah did not respond immediately because she felt as though her stomach was rumbling.

"Oh dear… Prrrrrrp!" Sarah unleashed a loud fart. She knew that this was the side effect of the infamous gas exchange. It felt extremely awkward.

"Hahahah! Rejoice in it, sister. It is…magnificent!" Martha proclaimed loudly as she sniffed the air around here vociferously, thoroughly enjoying the shared experience.

"Prrrp! It's a bit tight around the middle." The new Slitheen complained a little. It was something that she had to get used to.

"I wouldn't worry too much about the gas exchange. You can always hunt someone else who you may judge to be… prrrrp!... the right size!" Martha unleashed her own gas exchange as she made light of reality.

"It's…not so bad. I'll get used to it - Prrrrp!" Sarah remarked as she naturally began to adjust the skin from the outside for comfort. Martha was ensuring that Sarah was being subtly socialised into the Family, making everything she was doing seem "natural". Sarah was being disciplined by the Family very intelligently and she had no idea. All Slitheen behaviour had to be normalised, rationalised from the get-go.

"No need to feel guilty, Sarah. We are the superior predators. We must enjoy our dominance over this silly and nonsensical species. Our prey should be more careful when we are nearby if they value their lives." Martha had left behind humanity a long time ago. She encouraged her 'sister' to do the same.

"I guess…"

"The humans would do the same to us if our biology were switched around. Better us than them." Martha cautioned. It was a poor but convenient justification. Sarah nodded silently, uninterested in any form of argumentation. She was going with the flow.

"Right, you need to eat a special meal that we have prepared for you in the cafeteria section of this base. Come on, this way." Martha led her out of the conversion chambers and to another area of the UNIT base. Sarah walked into the cafeteria: it was a mixed setting. Although everyone present was definitely a Slitheen, either in nude form or in costume.

"Enjoy your meal. I will be back later to fetch you. Our siblings will keep you company."

As Martha left, Sarah stared at her surroundings. It was surreal to see the Slitheen up close but this time as 'one of them'. Her humanity had been stripped from her and she failed to do anything about it. She was coerced into becoming a winner.

"Mmm…a new Slitheen!" shouted someone. Sarah was somewhat startled when that person came up to her.

"I'm Chris. Christopher Davison Oli Fup Star Slitheen." Clearly, judging by the name alone, he too was a convert.

"Sarah. Sarah Jane Smith…Sarah Jane Smith Des Nud…Star Slitheen." She was elated to get her full name right, as was Chris.

"Welcome! Come and sit with us!" She was made to feel right at home instantly. The meat on offer was abundant. It was an amorous occasion, a joyous feast. Lots of food and delicacies were eaten. The conversations flowed naturally, allowing Sarah to get to know her newest family members. Progressively, Sarah's personal opinions about the Slitheen. She could no longer hate the Family because she was an accepted member now. A few rooms away, Martha was busy tucking into her evening meal as she watched on a plasma TV monitor screen how Sarah was settling in. Everything was going to plan.

"And then we unzipped. The look on that reporter's face was priceless!" A Slitheen spoke hysterically as he recounted hilarious past experiences. All the Slitheen present burst out laughing, including Sarah. The dinner celebration lasted another two hours which included a collective victory dance that required everyone to unzip if they were not naked already. Sarah was introduced to the famous Slitheen dance and ritual chant known as The Wayflipper. It was the best fun the new convert had had in her life, full of energy and excitement. Once Sarah had headed off to her new bedchambers with some excited male members who took great interest in her after the event, Saba appeared to where Martha was.

"I take it that she has behaved with more resistance than usual, hmm? The famous Sarah Jane Smith, now owned collectively by the Slitheen Family. Wonderful.". She was thoroughly delighted with the latest acquisition. It was quite the coup, converting yet another known companion of The Doctor.

"Obviously, she was one of the smarter humans. Her stubbornness is only to be expected. It will take some time but progress has always been made." Martha assessed, knowing the difficult nature of the task. She high-fived her sister enthusiastically. The Family was well-coordinated at all levels, resulting in an abundance of success.

"Excellent work, Martha. Our insurance against any appearance by The Doctor is only further assured.". The Star Slitheen still operated under the assumption that their activities could result in a possible confrontation with The Doctor.

""All thanks to your superior leadership. The safety of the Family is paramount, Saba." Martha was content.

"Absolutely… Oh, before I forget, send an extraction team to 13 Bannerman Road. There is a Xylok hidden away in the attic that needs extracting. We can reprogram it and insert it into our Mothership's mainframe. A Xylok is a highly intelligent being, Martha. We can use it to spot unique business opportunities across the galaxy."

"As you wish, Sabs. What is happening next?"

"Our victory remains incomplete without the capture of that vile human Yvonne Hartman. We do not make any new moves until she has been hunted down. My preference is that we take her alive." Saba wondered where the powerless and destitute Yvonne might be hiding. It was only a matter of time before the Slitheen got their claws upon her.

"And Olivia Jay? She was the only Slitheen member not accounted for at Torchwood." Martha was alarmed by this sudden, unexplained disappearance. Nobody could be sure whether she had died or not. Or if she had been abducted.

"No idea. It's a mystery. But it does not matter. She performed her duty to our glorious and ignoble Family faithfully, a model for generations of Slitheen children to come. However, no Slitheen individual, Martha, is bigger than the Family. That goes for myself." Saba concluded, nonplussed about the fate of one of her own. If she was alive, Olivia would have to make her own way back to the Family by her own actions. Over the next few days, Yvonne was hunted down in her own native homeland of Britain by the Slitheen. A bounty was placed on her head by UNIT. Nowhere was safe. A few days after the events at Torchwood, the ousted leader moved throughout London, from safe house to safe house. Fundamentally, she realised that she could trust no one because anyone might be a Slitheen, an alien. No one… except perhaps one human.

"Margaret?…Oh, Margaret! You have to help me. They are here!" Yvonne cried out on the doorstep of Margaret Blaine's residency, somewhere in one of the highly-affluent areas of Kensington one sunny morning.

"Whose 'they'?" Margaret found Yvonne's words highly confusing, even more surprised to see the ex-Torchwood leader like this on her doorstep this destitute. It was as if Yvonne had become a poor beggar overnight.

"It's a national security issue. Let me in, Margaret, I'll explain everything inside." Yvonne pleaded with even more desperation. Seeing the desperation of this human, Margaret relented and allowed her in, settling Yvonne in the luxurious living room with a cup of warm tea.

"Well?" Margaret wanted a proper explanation. Yvonne drank the tea whole in one go before beginning.

"Aliens - the Slitheen. They have taken over our country, our planet. They have invaded Torchwood. Its' gone, Margaret, all of it. Gone…" Yvonne began, assuming recklessly her counterpart had the same levels of knowledge and experience as she did.

"'Sli-theen'... Never heard of them. Are they some gang or something?" Blon Fel-Fotch Pasameer Day Slitheen pretended to play the role of an idiot. It provided her with some amusement. She rarely had any guests over.

"Worse, they are terrorists, illegal migrants to our planet and now they are taking over everything! They have taken over UNIT, they have taken over our national government, they have not taken over Torchwood! Nobody is safe!" Yvonne was beginning to sound more hysterical and deluded the more she attempted to reveal the information. Margaret gestured her hands and face that she was not still not following.

"Are you sure about this? It all sounds rather far-fetched? It would make for a good science fiction novel, certainly."

"Whatever, now is not the time for an argument. I need you to provide me with protection." Yvonne demanded, thinking she still retained authority over other humans and that this human was obliged to protect her from the Slitheen.

"And why would I do that, hmm?" It sounded as though Margaret wanted something, as if this whole ordeal was a business proposition.

"Margaret, what do you mean? We are good friends, aren't we?"

"You think so?"

"Margaret, I am being hunted down by big green aliens who want to destroy our people and country. The last thing I need are sardonic comments coming from you. Oh god… they're going to kill me… eat my organs for dinner… turn my skin into a disguise for themselves…" Yvonne said aloud to herself dreaded the humiliation that beckoned for her if a Slitheen caught her out in the open. She began to pace up and down the room frantically.

"Prrrrrp!" A loud fart sounded out from the MI5's head's bum. Yvonne thought she had heard something and turned around again to face her counterpart.

"Margaret?"

"Prrrrrrp! Whoopsie!" Margaret exclaimed before giggling a little. Yvonne realised too late. She was now trapped before a Raxicorifallipatorian. The chubby blonde began stretching her arms.

"I've been so lonely on this god-forsaken rock for so long. Stuck inside Margaret's skin for so many years, so much so that I have deluded myself into thinking that I am a native. That I'm…human." the hidden Slitheen decried from the dead lips of Margaret Blaine.

"M-Margaret, why are you talking like this…?" Yvonne knew the reason. The question was wholly rhetorical but it prolonged the drama and delayed the inevitable.

"I deluded myself into thinking I could live a normal life side by side with the dominant native life forms of this planet. Sorry, Yvonne, but you are my golden ticket to getting off this rock with a Family of my own. I'm so done with Homo Sapiens." the blonde announced decisively. Reaching for her hidden zip, Margaret peeled back her forehead skin to reveal to the astonished. Blon guffawed wildly as she stripped for the first time in years, moaning and groaning spectacularly as she clearly derived immense pleasure from the act. In a frenzy, Yvonne tried to leave the room but it was sealed off. The technologically-infested door of the living room activated a lockdown procedure.

"Noooooo! Nooooo!" The human screamed deliriously as she switched her sight back and forth between looking at the unzipping Slitheen and smashing her fists on the door, crying out for aid that was not going to be forthcoming. Her last refuge was her worst nightmare. Eventually, the electric humming and jet blue lighting stopped. Yvonne slowly turned around to see an adult Slitheen woman gracefully rising to her feet, growling a little as she did.

"I AM SLITHEEN!" Blon exclaimed loudly and proudly before she snatched her human prey by the throat.

"Aaaaaaargh!..."A few hours later, Margaret Blaine turned up at UNIT Britain's main headquarters in a black Range Rover car.

"Margaret Blaine, MI5. I need to see your boss." She showed some basic ID to the disguised security officers at the gates.

"I'm afraid that meetings with the boss require appointments." came back the standard response.

"I have something that she would want, related to Torchwood… to Yvonne Hartmann." That did the trick. Escorted immediately to the main offices, Margaret received the desired audience. Saba and Husna were standing in the office, the former wearing yet another skin suit that did not really fit her.

"Ah, Miss Blaine of MI5, what a surprise." Saba said, wondering why this human had come to her office so randomly.

"I have something that you want. Something that you will not refuse." Margaret stated promisingly, generating immediate interest amongst the Slitheen sisters. There was no need to complicate matters.

"And what could you possibly have that we will not refuse, hmm?" Husna doubted that a human could summon something or someone that the Slitheen were after. Fiddling around with a green finger ring on her left hand, the MI5 boss summoned up the body of Yvonne Hartman in an instant flash.

"Margaret?!…What have you done?" Yvonne decried as she came around to her senses on the floor. Her vision was very blurry and she was terrified when she realised that she was a prisoner. A green forcefield forming a circular perimeter prevented the human from running anywhere.

"Oh, look who it is!" Husna relished this moment. Public enemy number one had been captured at last.

"My name is not Margaret!" she screamed with an animalistic hiss. The frustration Blon was feeling was reaching its apogee.

"Then what is it?" Saba asked innocently. She correctly suspected that this blond female had another tale to tell, something else to reveal.

"It's been so long since I have done this in front of my own kind." Margaret announced gracefully as she unzipped. Saba and Husna were pleasantly surprised by what they were witnessing. It was a Slitheen inside this costume all along.

"My real name is Blon. Blon Fel-Fotch Pasameer Day Slitheen, at your service." The Slitheen woman neatly bowed before her kind after she unzipped once again successfully. The rubbery human skin suit that was Margaret Blaine lay messily on the floor. Saba and Husna were the first Slitheen she had seen in decades.

"The last surviving Pasameer Slitheen in existence." Husna commented factually upon hearing the name. She even went forwards to touch Blon's body, a living legend amongst the other Slitheen Families across the stars.

"How is this possible?" Saba enquired, bewildered by what she was seeing. The official records indicated that the Pasameers were all annihilated in a missile strike on Downing Street back in 2005.

"I got out at the last moment before my family was blasted into smithereens. Forced to continue a miserable and humiliating existence on Earth living alongside these carbon-based primitives. Becoming like them, eating and drinking like them. Doing their boring jobs and lifestyles. Having sex with their males… not that that has been a problem" Blon explained how she survived by successfully assimilating to human culture and life in 21st Century Britain.

"I knew it…you were one of them…" Yvonne decried the betrayal on display. Nobody else present paid attention to the powerless prisoner. The human was wholly irrelevant.

"I want into your Family - take my captive as your payment." Blon suggested, hoping the currency would be tender here in UNIT. A moment of silence passed.

"Very well, Blon. We will be happy to receive you into our ranks." Saba announced, happy to incorporate yet another stranger into the Family.. Blon breathed a sigh of relief before she was embraced by her new peers. Blon Fel-Fotch Pasameer Day-Star Slitheen suddenly felt a sense of joy in her existence that she had not felt for quite some time. She had found a home again in another Family.

"Make me a member of your Family as well. Don't I deserve it? I've proven I've been a naughty bad girl as well." Yvonne spoke up in a desperate bid to get the attention of her superiors. It worked, somewhat. She was willing to give up her humanity if it meant survival.

"She has a point, Saba…" Despite the adverbial animosity that existed between the two, Husna actually found much to admire in her enemy; Yvonne was a ruthless, cold-calculating actor. She would easily make for an excellent Slitheen predator.

"The Slitheen Family is not an open club, for now, anyways. Membership is exclusive. Besides, many of our siblings were killed during the Battle of Torchwood… Hmm… We will have to decide her fate democratically. A… tribunal. Yes, that's it." Saba announced after some immediate consideration.

"No! I-I'm sorry that your kind were killed-" Yvonne attempted to protest further but the Slitheen had no interest in listening to any further begging. Pressing a buzzer on her desk, some more Slitheen came into the office.

"Take her away." Saba ordered authoritatively. Her brothers faithfully executed the command.

"N-No, you can't do this to me! I'm Yvonne Hartman! Let me go!... Argh!" Her cries of anguish echoed off the walls as she disappeared from sight. The Slitheen had reduced the once all-powerful Torchwood Supremo to nothing, to becoming an irrelevant nobody at their mercy.

"Good riddance." Blon spoke on behalf of everyone present.

"The tribunal shall sit tomorrow in the morning. No delays. I want a swift decision." Saba knew that the Family wanted justice and they wanted it immediately. Too many had died to take over Torchwood. Everyone would want the ex-Torchwood leader dead, no doubt. The following day then, Yvonne reappeared in a white-grey prisoner outfit before a tribunal of Slitheen. The sight of these green aliens terrified her consciousness. Although many Slitheen admired her cold-blooded behaviour, they were not willing to forget or forgive Yvonne at all as many of the Family died gloriously in the Battle of Canary Wharf. The Family voted to decide whether or not this human should be incorporated into the Star Slitheen clan. The decision would have to be a collective one. Over the course of the next few hours, the human captive listened to a plethora of criticisms and condemnations from many of the Slitheen jury who had a deep grudge, an axe to grind against the defendant. It was obvious to all what the verdict was going to be.

"All rise!" shouted the Slitheen Judge of the tribunal at the end of the process. Everyone complied mutually.

"Yvonne Elanor Hartman! By the order of the Family, you have been sentenced to death by controlled hunt. There will be no possibility of an appeal, this sentence is decisive and binding. Do you have any final words?". The verdict brought a few tears to Yvonne's eyes. This was not how her life was meant to end.

"Whatever I did, I did it for King and Country." she declared solemnly before she was taken away to a detention cell. She spent the hour praying to God for a miracle. Some naked Slitheen led by Husna Rashid arrived suddenly. Hardly the answer to her prayers. Or was she?

"Take a blood sample from the human female". One of the intimidating Slitheen grabbed Yvonne's arm and jabbed in a syringe, extracting some of her red human blood.

"Argh!… What's going on?" Yvonne wondered in confusion as she recovered from the medical stabbing.

"Technically, we are breaking our Family Code by doing this. But a significant number of us believe that you would make for a terrific Slitheen. It would be a shame to see your… potential go to waste, should we say?" Husna said rather cryptically.

"Oh… What about the death sentence though?" Yvonne was perplexed by the apparent contradiction. She was supposed to die and go free simultaneously?

"Don't worry about it. With this sample, we'll create a clone of you that our other vengeful Family members will hunt. Once your human form has been erased from existence, we will induct your new Slitheen form into our loving Family. By all technicalities, this resolves any outstanding issues the Family has with you. You will be fully protected by our Family Code once you turn green." Husna explained with a beaming smile on her face. Yvonne would be a useful pawn to advance her own agenda within the Family.

"Oh, I see…" Yvonne realised precisely at this point: she was going to be let go; she was going to be made into a Slitheen!

"Follow us and keep your mouth shut." Yvonne did as she was told. The Slitheen under Husna's command escorted the captive elsewhere across base. Nobody stopped them on the way to the conversion rooms, with the assumption that the human female was on her way to being executed extra-judicially.

"Take your clothes off…. Right, step inside this conversion pod." came the order when they arrived. Yvonne obeyed instinctively, fully trusting the aliens who would become her closest kin soon enough.

"Argh!-" Before she knew it, the pod extended itself over the human and enveloped the body, making her lose consciousness within minutes. Quite fortunately, Yvonne escaped a miserable death. She had dedicated her entire adult life towards fighting aliens… only to end up becoming them quite literally. She realised then and there that the Star Slitheen were a superior species, perfectly matching their predatory prowess with expert intelligence. There was no shame in joining the winners, an exclusive club, after all. A few days later, the cocoon hatched as usual and a new Star Slitheen emerged. It took Yvonne several minutes to adjust to a new reality but once she saw herself in a nearby mirror, she quickly acceded to the new physical reality. As usual, a Slitheen member came around tasked with socialising the newest convert into the family.

"Welcome to the Family, Yvonne." He said, holding a neck brace in one hand, and a random skin suit in another.

"It's nice to be here." She put on the items without any complaints. Once she had slotted her new gigantic self inside the skin of her former species, and released some of the infamous gas exchange, Yvonne headed out of the room and quietly allowed herself to be assimilated into the Family. The next morning after the conversion, the Yvonne clone commissioned by Husna was transported to a massive woodlands area. Nobody else realised the swap. Stripped completely naked, the human captive was given a thirty minute head start to run in whatever direction she wished. It would not matter at all; a Slitheen hunting party composed of the veterans who fought at Torchwood, would be giving chase. The hunt lasted over twenty minutes until a Slitheen caught her scent: The terrified, clueless clone was hiding behind a thick green bush before a group of three came upon her, striking her down before they peeled her alive from the forehead down like a banana. It was an excruciating death.

After the corpse was brought back to the starting point of the hunt and paraded for all to see publicly, the Slitheen skinned her and gorged on her nutritious fleshy remains. Her material remains were then temporarily hung in the sleeping chambers. In a humiliating death, the Yvonne clone had become a 'trophy'. The Family kept it as a souvenir and a positive affirmation of their violent culture. Saba was presented it later as a free skin suit gift, which she gladly adopted as a new intermediary disguise was still being sought by her. At her office standing alone before a vertical mirror, Saba slotted herself inside of Yvonne's rubbery skin without any assistance. The human skin was a slightly tighter fitting than Penelope which meant that the gas exchange would be more noticeable.

"Prrrrp! Pzzzzaz! Praaaap!" It was something the Star Slitheen leader would have to become accustomed to.

"Hahahaha!" Saba chuckled wildly as she bent her body over the round table, relieving herself casually. Much fun was to be had with this skin suit.

"That's my suit troubles over for the time being. It looks like you were good for something in the end, Yvonne." Saba remarked before cheekily winking at herself in the mirror. Content with her new skin, the leader of UNIT headed out of her office and embarked upon an evening stroll of her base.

"You look fabulous, Sabs!" This was the common compliment her brothers and sisters gave to her when she walked past them with a beaming smile. Victory was sweet. Saba would go down in Star Slitheen history as The Conqueror of Torchwood. It satisfied her ego for the time being.

"I know. I always do." The Slitheen leader responded with dazzling confidence, joining in the month-long celebrations. Her position as director of all Family operations was no longer threatened by her leading role in the capture of Torchwood. If anything, her authority had been reaffirmed, vindicated. Nobody, including Hibah Mughal, was going to take that away from her.

(Epilogue)

With Torchwood firmly under UNIT control and thus Family rule, Saba decided to reorganise relationships. Rather than being shut down permanently, James was made its new boss and all staff employed had to be members of the Family exclusively; humans were irreversibly banned from employment. In the meantime, Torchwood would continue to serve Britain's domestic security needs against any non-Slitheen interference. This freed up the Slitheen controlling UNIT to concentrate on their bigger external targets as they looked to secure their domination over Planet Earth.

Except for the Elders and some other prominent individuals, all of the original born-Slitheen had been killed since the crash landing on Earth. The converts led by Saba easily dominated the Family makeup. Saba re-authorised human conversions to compensate for the losses at Canary Wharf. The surviving Blathereen abandoned by their brethren were arrested and detained by UNIT forces. After much argumentation within the Family about how to decide upon their fates, these Raxicorifalipatorians were forcibly assimilated into the Family on the pain of being viciously vinegared for any refusal. In a highly private ceremony, Saba in her new Yvonne skin addressed the newcomers.

"Blathareen. Blathareen. Oh Blathareen." she began. Haroon and Eric were amongst the crowd of survivors.

"Make no illusions: you are our brothers and sisters and we are your brothers and sisters. Join us. I hereby offer you a general amnesty. In exchange for your pleading allegiance to me - I mean, my Family, the Star Slitheen, I am willing to grant you full pardons for any offences you may have foolishly decided to commit against us in the past." This was the proposition she put forth to her fellow Raxicoricofalipatorians. She wanted to integrate the survivors permanently into the Family. The Blathereen were allowed to discuss and deliberate upon the choice presented to them. After an hour, Saba asked the question:

"Blathereen! Do I have your allegiance?" Saba concluded her speech with the same appeal. One by one, the captives came forward. They were asked to kiss Saba's claws as a recognition of accepting Slitheen power and authority. Those who still refused to submit were vinegar-ed on the spot, an act designed to instil fear and discipline amongst the survivors, encouraging them to opt for the more sensible choice of submission. Haroon and Eric wisely opted for submission. The pledge of allegiance was only to Saba individually, not to the broader Family. She deliberately secured this as the intelligent Slitheen woman began thinking ahead, anticipating clashes with other senior members with the Family. Saba needed to secure her grip on power, and that required a creative and dynamic defence strategy. The newly-incorporated Blathereen was her insurance policy.

Further reorganising relationships at UNIT, Saba removed all Harmony Shoal slaves from her presence. From now only green Slitheen and orange Blathereen graced her presence. The latter group of Racicorifalipatorians became her personal bodyguard class. Blon also became one of her close advisers, bringing a wealth of practical experience and factual knowledge. Married to Slitheen spouses, the Blathereen reproduced wildly to produce a mixed offspring branch: the Slitheen-Blathereen. Once again, The Family grew expansively larger to incorporate new members into its ranks, further complicating the already-complex internal dynamics and makeup of the Star Family.

"What have you done?! Interbreeding with rival clans is explicitly forbidden by the Elders!" Husna was aghast at what she was witnessing with each successive birth over the following months. She was not against inter-Family marriage per se but this Slitheen was wary about reproducing with the Blathereen, their recognised rivals. Any other Raxicoricofalipatorian Family was perfectly fine to reproduce with.

"I know that. But I care little for the outdated opinions of five senile pensioners who should be retired by now. The Family must not only expand; we must remain dynamic and flexible if we are to compete in the cutthroat world of business." Saba said in response, exhibiting a pragmatic outlook towards things. She wanted the Blathereen to feel welcome and genuine members; that meant giving them a decent slice of the pie. She also regularly began meeting with business executives from other Slitheen Families and alien species, behind the backs of the Elders without express permission, discussing free trade opportunities on Earth and the leasing of mass land currently inhabited by humans to non-Slitheen. Earth was to become the financial hub of the Family economic empire. The Star Slitheen were going to need foreign investment and business partners from everywhere.

(A Month Later).

(UNIT America HQ, New York City).

Meanwhile, a group of human Harmony Shoal scientists led by Sergeant Husna Rashid arrived at a secret UNIT base in America a month after the events at Canary Wharf to update her powerful sibling. Analysing the decrypted data stolen from Torchwood during the heat of battle, the information was handed over to Hibah Mughal who had been totally absent in the war against Torchwood. Instead, she had been busy consolidating this country of humans and only now had she heard about Yvonne Hartman's Big Reset scheme as well as the intrigues of the Vas Bunkins Blathereen. The Slitheen travellers were received in the office. Husna was here on an unofficial visit. Saba had no idea about it.

"And these ionic nuclear warheads, are they still lodged in the Earth's core?" Hibah inquired very innocently, highlighting what she believed to be the most salient piece of information from the meeting. These super-ionised bombs would prove to be potent in the right claws.

"Yes. They cannot be removed by this point otherwise the Earth will be destroyed" Husna gladly explained, still allied to Saba's rival sister. UNIT would have to manage them and prevent any other malign actor from touching them.

"Excellent." Hibah simply said. A huge grin appeared on her face. The Star Slitheen Family could use a big reset of its own, she fantasised hard about. It was she who had put Yvonne in touch with the Vas Bunkin Blathereen in the first place from behind the scenes. Everything had unfolded precisely according to her calculations. She presumed herself to be ten steps ahead of everyone else, in control of reality and (re)creating it as she saw fit. It was all a patient waiting game for her. Let her rival competitors knock each other out and then swoop in for the kill. Divide and Conquer, a timeless strategy.

"We can use this to our advantage." Husna speculated, seeking to garner interest, deluding herself into believing that she would be an equal partner in this venture. This comment triggered the leader of UNIT America who proceeded to grab her sister aggressively from the human neck skin and lifted her into the air, suffocating her vital airwaves.

"H-Hibah, wha-what are you doing?" Husna could barely breathe. Although this was not the first time that this had happened, this time was markedly different. The Slitheen could detect the direct intent to harm her. It was not an enjoyable experience at all.

"Silly girl. You always talk about this "we" but in reality there is only me at the top. And that's how it's going to remain. I control you, weakling. You do exactly what I tell you. And if you dare go against my commands, I'll chop your head off with a clean strike that it wouldn't even be funny." Hibah explained rather ominously. She did not rate her sister much at all, despite the loyal service. The dominant Slitheen pulled her sibling closer to her face.

"I. OWN. YOU. Do you understand me?" Hibah said, enjoying the level of control before the slavish audience of her Harmony Shoal slaves who were in awe of the performance. Her breath stank of Rakweed, which repulsed the weaker Slitheen.

"Y-y-yes!" Husna blurted out in between the desperate gasps, hoping that she would survive this night. Hibah finally let her vulnerable sister drop to the floor with a thud. A small act of mercy.

"Now get out of my sight!" Hibah screamed, demonstrating yet more aggression and coldness towards her 'ally'. Realising the public humiliation, Husna gathered her pace and swiftly exited to a chorus of laughter and derision from her other siblings and the slavish Harmony Shoal slaves. She made her way to the nearest airport, hoping to get back to London immediately.

"Who the fuck does she think she is?!" Husna bewailed loudly onboard her private jet. Saba never mistreated her like Hibah did. The aggressive threat of the alpha Slitheen woman automatically forced Husna to reconsider her position. She now harboured an intense detestation of her sibling, the one that she originally preferred to lead the Family over Saba. The situation demanded a decisive, calculated response.

"I'll show you who is in control, bitch." Husna shouted aloud hysterically, deeply angry at her sister's exceptionally arrogant conduct. This wound would not heal anytime soon. The Star Slitheen internal power drama saga was only going to become more intense and ferocious from this point onwards…

(The End).

(To be continued in: Aliens of UNIT, Part Three).

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