Till the End of Time – Part One, Chapter One
Okay, so what happens is, we find our beloved Captain on a planet known with the slang term of Euchre – no one really knows why it's called this. Romana and the Doctor are also headed to the same planet due to TARDIS problems and the three find themselves becoming kidnapped by the locals. Romana befriends a young girl who has the strange ability to turn people and objects into playing cards. This, my friends, is just the first season...
The dream came to him again like a clouded memory. It was during happier times, Christmas; the pair sitting on the dock enjoying a bottle of expensive wine. He was boasting about his past again, his war time history and the younger man watched on in loving interest. It was fun getting the younger man quite intoxicated, seeing him becoming much more honest than usual. Not to mention, his shy nature seemed to disappear completely in the bedroom – and being Christmas Eve, the older man was expecting just that.
Captain Jack Harkness drew his arms around Ianto Jones' broad shoulders, pulling him close to his chest. He ruffled the younger man's dark hair gently and planted a kiss on the top of his head.
"I won't let anything happen to you, I promise".
Somewhere at the edge of the Universe, the older man woke. He ran his fingers through his thick blonde hair in frustration, and slammed a fist into the dusted old pillow. Jack let his sheet drop to the top of his thighs as he struggled to keep tears from falling. The same dream repeated over and over again, and for a moment – for one brief moment, he wished the Doctor could... somehow... fix it, bring Ianto back to him. But, no. The Doctor would say that it was something fixed in time, something that could not be changed for it would cause a massive disturbance in not only the rift – but the universe. Ianto had to die. Jack had to accept it, but he couldn't.
There could never be another Ianto.
--
Hours later, Jack found himself in the middle of a rather large museum. He was following a tour, for the planet was known for its strange and wonderful treasures. Still keeping to his con man roots, Jack wanted a little bit of treasure for himself. Something to help him start his new life as he travelled through time and space, helping him to continue life but still keep the memory of his beloved Ianto at the back of his mind, and Gwen. He loved them both dearly – but Ianto was something more. Something no other being could be. It was as if Ianto was his second heart... they understood each other, they completed each other, and the 456 took him away. For what? Jack had questioned the thought over and over again, until the tour guide finally noticed Jack wasn't paying attention.
"Sir?" The strange creature asked him, it was a woman, obviously, but she had bright silver hair and something that looked like gills on her cheeks. Way to destroy her attractive figure, Jack thought bitterly. "Are you coming?"
"Yeah", Jack replied, quickly. He didn't want to make it look too obvious he was planning to steal this device – something that could help his vortex manipulator work a bit better. Hopefully if the Doctor didn't sneak up behind him and destroy it again – all the merrier, "Just fascinated by this wonderful painting", he lied through his teeth. The painting was horrible, just a streak of red paint across a holographic canvas. No texture, no feeling, no emotion, it was just called... 'Red Stripe'.
The tour guide eyed him carefully and Jack continued on their way, briefly taking a second to step to the left and sneak under the velvet rope where he then proceeded to hurry toward a locked door. He took a device from his pocket and ran it across the lock – something similar to the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, but it mainly worked on locks and combinations. He pushed the door open and stepped inside, locking it behind him, and then turned to see the room bathed in complete darkness.
He took a step forward and the lights switched on, breathing over the intimate objects before him. Jack examined each one with a brief swift glance, not wanting to spare too much more time than necessary. He finally saw what he came for, looked over his shoulder, and grabbed it off the shelf. It was marked unknown and alarms suddenly rang through the building.
Shit, he thought, thinking the guide must've noticed he was missing. Jack opted for a way out. The front door, right, he ran for it and let the screwdriver do its job, unlocking the door in turn, and seconds later he managed to get out, locking the door behind him, hugged the wall and turned left. The tour guide came running down the hallway as Jack made an exit from what looked like the men's room.
"Sorry. Nature called", Jack replied with his ever so cocky grin, as the guide shook her head. "What's with the alarms?"
"Someone stole one of the jewels from the fifth floor. Everyone has been ordered into lock down until they find the..." she was cut off when a man came running past them, obviously holding something very big and shiny. Jack took out his pistol and shot the man clear in the leg, causing him to fall.
"That him?" Jack asked, holstering his weapon. Yes, of course it was. Jack had 'met him in a bar' and the pair had discussed this event, Jack promising to give the man some money in response if he played as a thief. Of course – the whole shooting part was something all together. Jack knew that the little bugger was going to turn him in regardless when he got captured.
The guide nodded, as security filled the room and they applauded Jack for his quick actions.
"So, I guess that could mean dinner?" The woman questioned, as Jack raised a brow.
"With you?" He enquired, the brow still raised as he looked her over once more, still feeling the object grinding against the insides of his pocket.
"No. A friend of mine... I think you'll like her". She added with a smile and disappeared down the hall, leaving Jack to wonder what that was all about.
--
Sometime later, Jack was in one of the local bars of the city with the friend the tour guide had told him about. He still hadn't obtained her name, sometimes it was best not to know a potential one nighter's name. He of course – had boasted his name like no tomorrow as he always did, and she merely replied with a cocky smile as her long, thin fingers graced the bottle of local ale.
She had asked him about his wrist device, which seemed to attract a few attention spans along the way, so Jack noticed.
"It kind of works as if you're pointing your thumb out on the side of the road", Jack Harkness started to describe the device to the blue woman opposite him. She was incredibly beautiful, so he noticed. Smooth, blue skin with pigmentations of sparkling silver throughout, her hair was a thin white, with two large blue 'rabbit' ears coming from the top of her head and twisting down to the base of her spine. Jack however continued to talk. "A nearby ship picks up your signal, and off you go. Ever read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? Brilliant book, I reckon you could learn a thing or two, such as why you should never read poetry to the barman", he jabbed his finger in the direction of the thing behind the bar, wiping a glass with a dirtied cloth, his cold, grey eyes hiding a sneer for his lips were nothing more than something that resembled jelly – much like the rest of his body. "So, you were asking about how I got here?"
"Yes..." the woman reached behind her and pulled a weapon from her holster, training it upon Jack's face. "...we've been looking for you, actually".
"So", began Jack, raising his hands. "I guess you don't want to come back to my place?" Dammit, he thought to himself. The Tour Guide was in on it all along.
His answer was a quick slap to the cheek by the butt of the weapon, causing him to black out completely.
--
"Doctor, I must stress that this is in complete violation of Gallifrey's rules regarding containing hazardous objects. Simply placing a band-aid over it will not solve the problem!"
The Doctor completely ignored his Companion, for, with his tongue stuck out in concentration, he was sticking a band-aid over a leaking pipe over the TARDIS' control panel. He stepped back and let out a sigh of admiration, followed by his arms crossing over his chest. "There you go! Perfect. It'll hold until we get to our next destination where I can find some reasonable welding materials".
"Doctor! Are you even listening to me?" The former President of Gallifrey stood within close proximity of the Doctor, to the point where he turned his head and finally made eye contact with her.
"Oh yes, Romana, do me a favour. Here's some sticky-tape, fix up that broken leaver, will you?" He tossed his companion a roll of sticky-tape, extra strong mind you, and the dark haired woman stomped her foot in frustration.
"I will not! This is in complete violation of rules regarding TARDIS maintenance. I suggest you find a place to land immediately where we can obtain suitable welding materials!" Yes, Romana had just quoted two different text-books, but the Doctor seemed to be forgetting both major rules when it came to hazardous objects and how to maintain your TARDIS.
"That's what I just told you", the Doctor said, without a hint of frustration in his tone. "The band-aid will hold, as will the sticky-tape. We just need it to make a descent. Then, I'll go fishing, and you can find those materials you treasure so much. The planet of Euchre will hold many treasures – I'm sure! Mind you, that's just the slang name... but I'm sure you are aware of that", he grinned broadly, as he skipped around to the broken lever and pointed at it. "Here. I'll even hold the end while you wrap it around the lever".
"No wonder you failed in your exams". Romana added with a grunt, and finally giving into the temptation of holding the sticky-tape, she aided the Doctor and helped fix the broken lever.
--
Jack awoke in a daze. Lately he seemed to have a bad habit when it came to attracting women, they all wanted to kill him. Some succeeded; some didn't, usually ending up becoming the victim themselves. He stretched and yawned, then let out a violent "OUCH!" as his hands slammed against a concrete roof. Great. He was in a match box. Upon a quick feel of the pitch black room, Jack realised it was big enough just for him to lie down and sit up. Obviously they didn't care about deep vein thrombosis on this planet.
"Hey! Can anyone hear me? Hello!" Jack called to the roof, vaguely being reminded of the time when he had the horrible sensation of being flooded with concrete from above. It took him weeks to get it out of his butt crack. "This isn't fair you know, I don't even know what I've done..."
Something slid open at the top of the room. A bright light blinded Jack and he shielded his eyes, briefly catching a pair of beautiful emerald green eyes in return. They blinked in rapid motion and suddenly Jack felt something being dropped on his lap. Food, or so he thought.
"I demand to talk to your leader!" Jack ignored the hunger pain in his stomach for a moment and the figure leant in a bit closer. Barrels of red hair tickled the top of Jack's head and he heard a soft giggle emerging.
It sounded child-like.
"Um, excuse me", Jack continued. "Is there someone I can talk to?"
"PRUDENCE!" shouted a violent voice, which made Jack shudder a little. "Get away from there! I told you not to play with him!"
She's not exactly playing with me, thought Jack, remembering the name. Prudence. Entirely Earth-like, then again, the planet Euchre was in the same time line as Earth's 30th century, and he knew that humans had migrated to other planets due to the Earth's population imbalance. The lid closed and Jack had been plunged into darkness once more, frowning a little. His hands clasped around the small bag of crisps that had dropped onto his lap, and he tore them open eagerly. He chewed on a chip and grunted, nothing like Earth crisps, it had a strange sweet potato flavour hinted with a dash of caramel, not to mention the chip itself crumbled like cardboard in his mouth, but at least it was something.
All he had to do now was try and figure out who wanted him here and why. Jack assumed he didn't leave the planet; he would've been able to sense that. But he also knew the planet held several different colonies, one being a third-world type colony where they kept Earth's migrants. Perhaps this was his location, judging by the girl's name and the strange crisps. The woman he was talking to at the bar must've known he had come from Earth somehow, and quite possibly – the planet had suddenly taken a dislike toward immigrants.
But why?
