10 March 2237, Torchwood Three, Cardiff
Rose Tyler, Defender of Earth, Vanquisher of Caliban, Conqueror of Sycorax, Pain in the Arse to Weevilkind, was bored.
Oh sure, leaning over the control centre of Torchwood Three, with a mug (…bloody Jake!) declaring 'World's Best (Time jumping) Boss!', and knowing that she was, and had been for the last 222 years been instrumental in preventing TWC (Timey-Wimey Catastrophe) over the earth, it didn't half get tedious after the first 2 centuries.
OF course, not ageing was a significant part of that. Permanently 19. That was … draining. The novelty wore off after the first 20 years, and seeing her mum and brother die, and her nieces, nephews, and more grand-relations than she dared count live and die…
Most mornings she was amazed she stayed sane enough tea.
Taking over torchwood in 2031, after Pete's retirement was … liberating. Handing central control over to Jake in 2060 when her non-ageing had caused more than a few problems was, well, it hurt. But not nearly as much as loosing Mum. But thank God for keeping Torchwood Three, she'd never leave the house otherwise. Speaking of…
She had to break that habit of brooding. Thank god for immortality – or whatever the hell it was – she would've had enough stress lines to rival a shrivelled prune.
"Ah, Jamie, wha'cha go' there then." She perked up at the old – no, youn – no, inexperienced - torchwood agent, Scotish Jamie, not to be EVER confused with Welsh Jamie, could be counted on to brighten an otherwise tedious day.
"Funilly enough Rosie, remember my mate in Specs?" Their name for CIA.
Rose cast her mind back, trying to place a face to the nickname. Oh so many hundreds of people to remember, it was a miracle she could hold that information.
"Shor' 'air, frownin' mug, 'ero complex?" Although to be fair, that hardly narrowed the list down, especially when it came to these 'secret service' types.
"The one that wore crap ties like they were goin' ou' o' fasion."
"Ah, Prick Number 4. Wha' 'bout 'im?"
"Found a Top Secret piece of extraterrestrial tech, which I'm authorised to share only the brifest details with armatures like yourself'." Jamie finished of his remarkable Deep South accent with a few uncomplimentary hand gestures.
"Pfft." Rose shrugged. "Yanks find stuff from NASA n' call it ET Tech 'very ovver Tuesday, don' see why this is 'mportan'."
"It stores Quantum entangled huoun particles and can increase tunnelling to – "
"Ya' coulda mentioned tha' firs', twat." Rose nearly lept over the table. To get her Vortex Manipulator (VM) working (again) she needed very specific technologies and components that Torchwood, or the Rift couldn't provide. If this bit of tech could do that, it implied it came with the same components needed to finally repair – sort of repai – something with the VM. Rose nearly bolted out the door, barely avoiding the guards stationed outside.
"Rick, 'arry. 'ow ya keepin'."
It was almost Torchwood Three policy that ranks were irrelevant, and first names were a must, even, and this is where Rose had most trouble driving it in, to ex-military or police men and women that joined.
"Fine m- Rose." Rick hastily corrected. He only recently transferred from Torchwood One in Canary Warf, still trying to get used to the more relaxed attitude of Torchwood Three.
By the time the last syllable had left his mouth, Rose had already turned to the 'normal' computer to book her flights.
"Hey, HEY. ROSE." Jamie was frantically sprinting to get her attention.
"This is properly secured stuff. And someone who has centuries of experience needs to watch the rift. Its spewing out a hell of a lot of Weevils." That was one of the reasons that Rose took personal control of T3, the Rift at least made things interesting, and she could still help earth. He was the other reason. After John Noble (the duplicate human Doctor) died at the perfectly human age of 97, Rose knew that she had the responsibility of Earth, as it's defender, but there was always that small thought in the back of her head, the only other person who would know how she felt.
"We 'ave Torchwood, all seven UK hubs, and if ya' stuck, there's the Euro' ones. You can survive wivout me for a coupl'a days." Rose knew that rather than take all the work on herself, she needed to spread it out. That was mostly a success, with Torchwood having UK and four EU bases. Unfortunately the US and many countries in Asia weren't so keen on 'surrendering' their alien knowledge to an extra-governmental organisation, particularly one with such close ties to the UK government.
Of course the combined knowledge of all of Torchwood Institute could only just rival Rose in alien experiences, but they were getting there, especially with Colin Tyler at the helm. Rose desperately tried not to think how many times her grand-nephew he was, it just made her miss Jackie and Tony all the more.
"Rose, come on, it can't be that important, you could always send someone else to go," Harry, always the cautious one, the dependable one.
"Sorry. Gents I need this, if I can get my VeeEm working, we could stabilise the rift. You know its gotten worse since the SA started launching in Brecon." Plus if stabilising the Rift could allow her to see the Doctor again… well that was just a side bonus.
The SA was the UK Space Agency. With the recent alien contact on earth, having a space programme was yet another way for wealthy countries to bedeck themselves. Of course the UK started its own agency in 2137, before then it was a member of ESA, before the idea of having a 'British Rocket for British Astronauts' came about. That was one of the messiest political events rose could remember that didn't involve anyone dying.
"Should'a kept the bloody launches in the Highlands. Inconsidarate Pricks." Jamie was quikc to counter.
"Anyway Gents, I need ta see this bit for meself. Need to know the bloody thing'll fi'." Strictly speaking, Rose didn't have to keep up her 'delightful London accent', growing up around money and Pete's friends gave her the 'RP' accent needed for formal events. But Rose saw the accent as one of her defining features, something from her past that she could keep.
The team knew that once a Tyler, any Tyler, got an idea in their heads, escaping a black hole was more achievable than getting them to change their mind.
"OK Boss, but how about we get a Torchwood jet for the trip."
"Nah, too much attention, anyways I think their all bein' used on recon flights." At least non-emergency jets were, and regardless how desparate rose was to maybe get her hands on the components, she wasn't about to scare Torchwood half to death to do it.
"Right you lot, m'gonna fly economy from Gatwick an' tha's then end of it. I'll pack, Jamie get your mate on the phone, 'arry pull together a cover story, Rick, pull up a plan B cover story, I wanna to be wiv the cousins in a week at the latest."
Authors Note: Just in case you need to keep track
TI UK Hubs
London (TIT; torchwood institute Thames, so London is colloquially referred to as the 'bra')
Manchester (TIM; Torchwood institute Manchester, so Manchester is colloquially referred to as tim)
Cardiff (TIC; wales is colloquially referred to as Tock)
Glasgow (TIG; colloquially referred to as Tigger)
Shetland Islands (TIS; is colloquially referred to as islands)
Dublin (TID; is colloquially referred to as Tide)
Belfast (TIP Torchwood Institute Pub; is colloquially referred to as so 'Jar')
TI Europe Hubs
Paris (TIE (Eiffel))
Berlin (TIB, referred to as 'doughnut' (from JFK 'ich bein Berliner' speech)
Brussels (TIEU; referred to as 'breakfast' after continental breakfast)
Athens (TIA, referred to as the 'sunbed')
Cousins: US agents when referred to by UK agents and vice versa (for the odd US torchwood agent available)
Please let me know if you think I got Rose's character right, it's been a while since I watched Billie Piper in Dr Who. And yes, her speech is SUPPOSED to be like that (I like to think that, in the event of living for over 100 years, someone would aggressively keep hold of their unique ticks, so Rose speaks much more like the 'shopgirl' Rose in the first episode, just to remember her past), but let me know if anyone thinks I've overdone it