History Update for realityshifted

[grip_on_reality]

Menzies has been at RS for three years now, putting her at age 35 and meaning (with the time adjusted for extended Plane stays) that it's now November 2013 for her in Manchester.


Over the course of several years on the Plane, Menzies finds herself building the sort of personal connections there that have rarely been part of her life back home. Many of these close allies, like so many Plane residents, disappear over time. However, there are some who seem to be staying put at the moment, including Riku, Jacqli, York, and the Tenth Doctor. Agent North in particular is someone whom she finds herself drawn to, and after extended experiences together on the Plane, they have even started dating. This marks a change in Menzies' social interactions that she's never quite sure about, but she's all the happier for it.

Meanwhile her dangerous lone-wolf alien policing back home sometimes gets her into serious trouble, though she uses the Plane to get help when necessary. One major turning point is when, with the help of allies from the Plane (Agent K, Conan, Mu, Riku, and Ten), she is rescued from Frank's mindscape generator. With no good way to handle the dangerous Frank through official channels, the Doctor puts her in contact with UNIT. At his insistence, they allow her to continue to work with aliens on her own, though they insist that she contact them with any further matters of national security. This is the first time her duties are put under the Official Secrets Act.

Though she faces numerous other cases and dangers after that, there are no more substantial changes to her job until she is nearly assassinated at home as part of a large-scale alien coup attempt. Several different alien races who want control (each with their own motives) actually band together to form a coalition and come up with a plan for taking control of the Earth, starting with England. This plan hinges on instilling fear through examples, first in small areas and slowly on a larger scale. Most of the aliens are based in Manchester, and media is a major part of their plan, so they start by targeting Manchester and London.

The first step in creating fear to dissuade any opposition is arranging the assassinations of key figures that might defend the Earth against them in three major areas--the human government, sympathetic aliens with clout, and those who act as liaisons between humans and aliens, like UNIT. Because of her close alien connections in Manchester, Menzies also falls into this category and is targeted. The attempt on Menzies' life is unsuccessful only because of her ability to flee to the Astral Plane and the help she receives from York. She returns to Manchester only once she has enlisted the help of York, Riku, and North to come back with her. Between North's bubble shield and Riku's darkness shield, they are able to return to her flat and disarm her attacker without sustaining any injuries (although all three of the men punch her attacker, despite her protests).

The attacker, Susjeb, laughs at their attempts and is very open about the plan due to his belief that it cannot fail. He reveals that he is part of a much bigger group and boasts that, even though he has failed, someone will be sure to take care of her soon enough. He also informs them that this was just one of many attacks--and that wider scale attacks will soon be coming.

Once she has as much information as she thinks she is liable to get, Menzies calls in UNIT, both to warn them about the potential for attacks on others and to get them to take Susjeb into custody. Once UNIT arrives, the group from the Plane returns there as Susjeb is arrested and Menzies herself is taken in under UNIT's protection. She learns that there have indeed been other attacks, many of which have been successful, though a handful have failed. While UNIT focuses on protecting government officials (and their own men), Menzies' focus is on contacting the best-connected aliens she knows to flood that community with warnings.

As a result of the efforts of UNIT, Menzies, and others, the assassinations fail to take out some of their biggest targets, but they do take out a sizable amount of people--and instill the fear they were hoping for in many others, including many of the aliens who would have ordinarily been eager to help the humans. After that, they move on to the next stage of their coup. They launch gas attacks in both MediaCity UK in Manchester's Salford Quays and at the Broadcasting House in London, going in to seize control of all programming. They then flood TV broadcasts with a declaration of their intent, as alien powers from throughout the galaxy, to take over this planet. They include footage of both the assassinations and their attacks and demand that terms are met within the next 12 hours. These terms include the surrendering of governmental controls, the return of any of their own number who were captured during the assassinations, and the handing over of any of their targets who escaped death.

Naturally the government is not prepared to meet any of these demands. However, the multiple races of aliens being represented presents a challenge to UNIT as they cannot zero in on any one weakness. As they try to devise a strategy for retaking the buildings, where the leaders of the alien coalition are openly broadcasting their positions, that isn't a missile strike or nuclear option that would cause even more civilian casualties, Menzies works on eliciting the aid of other aliens in Manchester both in the form of non-human "man"power and in the form of technology. Many of the aliens are distrustful or at least wary of UNIT, so she is able to gain a number of allies who likely would have not taken part otherwise. She also manages to get a hold of some alien equipment of dubious legality but claims ignorance about who exactly has provided it. As lawful as she is, she still believes that some situations trump those sorts of concerns.

Right before the end of the 12-hour time limit, UNIT enacts a swift and decisive strike in both locations. Menzies is not allowed to take part in the strike itself, much to her frustration, but it is successful, though with additional casualties. The masterminds of the coup are detained or killed, as well as all their supporters within the buildings. UNIT remains on high alert immediately after this in case another sect rises up elsewhere, but the aliens who planned this had underestimated what the humans were capable of and the support that they would be able to muster. Their remaining allies, leaderless, are too wary to make further attempts at this time. Despite this success, the final death toll of the attempted coup is still 179 lives lost.

In the wake of the coup, Menzies is at first required to stay in temporary housing provided by (and under the surveillance of) UNIT, restricted from outside contact "for her own safety." After another 48 hours has gone by, however, she and the other survivors are allowed to return to their lives. She does go back to work, but knowing that enemies clearly have her address, she opts to remain in UNIT's care briefly as she finds a new place to live.

Once she has a new flat, life seems to return to normal. What she doesn't know, however, is that her actions during the coup and the importance that the alien aggressors put on her life have led UNIT to reevaluate her usefulness toward national security. They consider requiring her to join their organization but, remembering some aliens' inclination to work at her request rather than theirs, decide that it is ultimately more beneficial for her to remain as a "neutral" party.

Even so, they decide that it would be safer if they had more than one officer in such a position. They look into some of the newer officers and identify one, Scott Pierce, a Police Constable looking to become a Detective Constable, as the most likely to be able to handle the knowledge of aliens and aid Menzies in her efforts. Pierce is a tall, stoic young man who says little but has shown a sharp mind through his police work. He shares Menzies' ability to roll with the punches and is generally calm and good-natured, if taciturn.

Using their authority, UNIT step in with the police force to have Pierce promoted and transferred to Longsight, both Menzies and Pierce assigned as special liaisons to their organization, and the two of them partnered up for all cases involving UNIT interests (i.e. all alien cases). For Menzies, this now means that she no longer has to work her alien cases in complete secrecy. When possible, she still adjusts details of alien cases in order to submit regular police reports, but UNIT allows them to submit reports (with details withheld to protect their neutrality) about the more complex alien cases, allowing those cases to also be part of their regular job duties. UNIT is willing to work under this state of affairs since they have the authority of the Official Secrets Act to require both her and Pierce to notify them immediately of any cases dealing with "risks that pose a threat to national security or worse" and to transfer all authority for those cases to them.

Thus, Menzies and Pierce are able to work without fear of job repercussions on cases that are too strange for police reports, and they are able to officially assume authority for cases in any way related to UNIT (alien) interests--something which Menzies has been doing for a long time but without any official sanction. Menzies can clearly see the advantages, but it's also a challenge for her to shift from years of a secret one-woman operation to a two-man job with some degree of UNIT oversight. For a start, she has to learn to work with Pierce, as well as help him cope with the sudden alien revelation so that she can train him up in his new job. Beginning to do this is where we meet her now.