milliways_bar | (no subject)

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The exploratory mission into the caves under Wenley Moor did not go as planned. Between one thing and another, Frankly, it was the closest Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart ever came to uttering the words 'hold your fire' in a situation where a surrender flag was not immediately evident. And Baker got attacked anyway, damn the luck.

Frankly, he's glad his quarters turned out to be the Bar instead. He could use the breather.

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Oooh, look, just the person Ace was looking for.

...

Alright, so it wasn't, but the Brig knows enough about this (she hopes) to at least appreciate it.

"Oi! Brig! Think fast!" She calls over the din of the bar before tossing a rolled up something in his direction. It's actually a bit of hide, with the fur still attached.

Long, thick, somewhat greasy fur.

Perfect for high mountain ranges.

...

Or the London Underground.

He's barely even started to look in the direction of the shout when something comes flying at him. It's just a lucky thing that he's a little tired after the day he's had, or there's a real chance he might've shot at the thing. Instead the next reflex in the queue kicks in and he snatches it out of midair. "What in-" He pauses, examining the object, and is quiet for a moment. "Hm. Haven't seen the likes of this in a while."

"Found it botherin' a fishin' village over in Canada, that's the largest bit left. Seems its circuitry went bad somewhere, an' it got rather lost. I was goin'ta show it to the Professor, but I haven't seen him about lately." Ace explains, leaning on the Bar. "He never told me they were so bloody ugly."

The Brig rolls the bit of hide between his fingers briefly. "They're even uglier when you meet them in the Underground," he mutters. "That's a night I shan't forget soon, I'll tell you."

"Bit harder t'blow'em t'bits in the Underground. Bet the engineers get tetchy about structural damage." See, there are definite advantages to working in the open air.

"At the time, that was really our only choice," he says. "We were rather hoping to seal the things in there. Didn't work out, unfortunately."

"Yeah, it'd take a bit more than some collapsed brickwork t'keep'em down. Y'gotta admire the tenacity, if nothin' else. Great big stupid lumbering juggernauts. They also explode very nicely." Ace now kinda wishes that it had been her Doctor that went and dealt with the Yeti in the Underground, instead of the second version. That must have been brilliant.

"I'll keep that in mind if they turn up again," the Brig says. "One more thing to add to the dossier, I suppos. At least this time the monsters in the dark don't appear to have been the furry sort."

He gestures over his shoulder at the door.

"No? What they up to this time, then?" It's... almost a relief to talk to someone who knows about the things that go bump in the night and has no qualms about making them eat lead.

"Hmm." He thinks for a moment. "Did I say anything last time about what's going on at the facility where I'm currently stationed?"

Ace pauses and thinks about it.
"Um... don't believe y'did. Havin' fun out there?"

"I've had better times," the Brigadier says. "UNIT's investigating a series of failures and extremely peculiar issues going on at a nuclear research facility at Wenley Moor. I'd been hoping for saboteurs."

It does not sound like he got it.

"You wanted a conventional problem?" Ace isn't laughing at the poor Brig. Not even a little. Really.
"Didn't y'sign some sort of 'I swear t'never go on a conventional mission again' thing when y'joined UNIT?"

"If nothing else it would have made the reporting simpler," he- if it was anyone else, one would say he grumps, but that's simply not his style, now is it. "Unfortunately, no. Some sort of bipedal humanoid that didn't correspond to any sort of human proportions I'm aware of turned up in the caves, and when Baker shot at it he got attacked by some form of dinosaur."

"Bipedal reptilian semihumanoids?" Ace asks, trying to condense the commentary down to a simple description. It's a game, you see - Identify the Nasty before he can name it.

"I can't vouch for the reptilian part, I'm afraid. Didn't get a good look at it before Baker fired. It definitely wasn't the same as the dinosaur."

"What sort of dinosaur? Pteredactyl? Triceretops? T-rex? Barney?"

Ace considers the last option the most terrifying, naturally.

"A bit like a tyrannosaur, but rather shorter. I don't believe it could've been much taller than a man, really."

Barney means nothing to him. It's one of the few blessings of living in 1970.

"..." Ace has to think a bit to come up with the Human terinology for the dinosaur she wants.
"Velociraptor?"

Whooboy.

He's got to think about that one.

"It might've been," he concedes. "A bit big for a raptor, if I'm remembering my palaeontology correctly."

The really big raptors don't get discovered for a few decades yet, his time.

Ace goes blank for a few moments, thinking.

Quite honestly, if left to her own devices, she'd never get it - there's just not enough information to go on, and too many species pop up on Earth over the years.

But. She did pay more attention when it was a species the Doctor was known to have encountered.

Then she cracks up.

"Oh bugger, I hope y'have lots of explosives."

Somehow he hadn't quite expected that reaction.

"I think," he says stiffly, "that that will not be a problem. We'll have to call in reinforcements to set them, of course, but once I've verified the problem that shouldn't be an issue."

That's alright, he's only just met her. Eventually he's going to realize her usual reaction to something particularly nasty is giddy glee because that means she'll get to blow it up eventually.
"Oooh, bet the Professor's well miffed 'bout that. He'll want t'have a chat with them of course, try t'come to a peaceful end."

Ace will even agree that sometimes this works.

But with Silurians?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA NO.

"That does seem to be his preferred course of action more often than not," the Brigadier says. "We'll see if he's still singing the same tune tomorrow. The creature Baker shot at's escaped. I've ordered a manhunt across the moor first thing tomorrow morning."

Ace doesn't say a word.

You can read it in her eyes, however.

You're going to chase a carnivorous dinosaur down on foot across the moor? You are daft.

"The humanoid, not the dinosaur," he points out. "There's farmhouses out there. I don't want that thing going after the local residents."

"Ahh, aha. Well... Don't let the Doctor bully y'too much. He's not as all-knowin' as he sounds, y'know. Needs someone t'remind him of that from time t'time."

Ace. Spreading the ego-puncturing love since the 1980's.

Even if it was the dinosaur, he'd still be sending out the manhunt. That thing came damnably close to killing Baker. UNIT doesn't need civilian casualties on his watch, thanks ever so.

"I'll keep that in mind," he promises.

The Brigadier gets another look.

Then she just giggles.

"Sure y'will. Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it." She knows for a fact that once that eventually, the Brig has no problem whatsoever in telling the Doctor he's full of it. Of course, he's also a few decades older, but what's a few decades between friends?

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