Becoming a Time Lady

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or Torchwood.

Author's Note: This story will hold the events in Doctor Who Series 1-6 and Torchwood Series 1, 2 and Children of the Earth as either already happened or going to. As new Doctor Who episodes come out, I'll integrate new information. I may use Miracle Day in a separate, companion story, but if so that won't be for a very long time. In this story, Jack left Earth after Children of the Earth and has yet to go back. I'm also assuming that the dates on Jenny's planet go by the same calendar as ours, so they're in the year 6012 (at least to begin with) putting her about a thousand years after Jack's home time. Ok? Good.

Jenny Meets Jack: First Encounter

"I've got the whole universe. Planets to save, civilizations to rescue, creatures to defeat – and a whole lot of running to do!" Jenny laughed, reaching for the controls of the spaceship. It was amazing, all the information that had been packed into her head while growing in the progenation machine. The information that had been programmed in. Aside from knowledge of fighting, war, and the Creation myth, a whole plethora of other stuff was there just waiting to be used – most importantly, at the moment, was that she knew exactly how to work the spaceship.

Soon, though, she was far away from the planet Messaline and only needed to do one more thing before the craft could fly itself. "Destination?" The ship's computer prompted in a female voice.

Jenny's smile faltered. It was all very well to declare she was off to save the universe – but how to start? "Are there any distress signals that you can find nearby?" She asked.

The computer whirred. "Processing request..." It said, and after a few more seconds, replied, "Negative. No distress signals detected."

"Anything out of the ordinary at all?"

"Negative."

Jenny sighed. Well, she supposed, that would have been a bit easy. "In that case..." She trailed off, then nodded decisively. "In that case, head for the planet Earth – but keep scanning for distress signals and if you find any, alter course immediately."

"Clarify," the computer said.

"Clarify what?" She thought she'd been perfectly clear.

"Clarify. Alter course how?"

Jenny sighed again, this time in exasperation. Communicating with this computer was going to take some getting used to. "Toward the distress signal. If you pick up a distress signal, trace it to its source and alter course to wherever the source is." Surely that couldn't be misunderstood. "All right?"

"Confirmed."

"Oh, and if you do, let me know about it," she added quickly.

"Confirmed."

It's not like a TARDIS. Jenny mused sadly, sitting back in her chair. Then she sat up straight again as she realized what she'd just thought. Wait a minute! What's a TARDIS? She wondered. TARDIS. She was sure the word meant nothing to her. Maybe it was something else that the progenation machine had told her? Interesting that it had not come with a definition though, if so.

Settling back once more, Jenny decided she needed to figure out exactly what all she knew. She couldn't just go on not knowing she could do something until confronted with the necessity. She closed her eyes and began, for lack of a better word, cataloguing all the information she'd been infused with. For a long time, she sat motionless, letting facts come to her consciousness and then letting go again. As it turned out, the progenation machine had given her what seemed to be the collective knowledge of the human race – including the history of Earth, the mechanics of their technology, and information on all alien races they had encountered since First Contact in the 21st century.

Finally, her mental run-through was complete. She once again marvelled at the sheer volume of things she hadn't known she knew; her brain immediately showed her that she also knew exactly how it had worked. Given the right materials, she could build her own progenation machine.

Precisely the point. She thought to herself. If, somehow, as few as one person were left alone on the planet and all the machines were destroyed, they could rebuild – no matter who it was that had been left, so long as they were born of the machine.

There were other reasons for colonizing this way. The progenation machines allowed for rapid population growth, which was necessary when starting up life on the new world. But, as a fact of the machine, they were born as adults – Jenny calculated her age of maturity to be about 25 or 30. And because of that, they got neither a childhood nor a childhood education. Instead, they just knew everything they need to know as soon as they stepped out of the machine.

No one else – in all those generations, all the children of the machine during that week of war – no one had bothered to examine their knowledge beyond the war and the Source. If they had, they would've known that the Source was actually a terraforming device. But she understood why they hadn't – unlocking all the information the machine had given her had been a time-consuming process. A process, moreover, that had required a nearly meditative, relaxed state. Not something achieved during wartime.

I hope they learn, now that the war's over. She thought. She vaguely wondered whether she should go back and make sure they did, but quickly discarded the idea. With the new terraforming had come a sense of peace; she'd seen it happen. Surely someone would find the secrets in their head and tell the others. Besides, if I went back now, they'd definitely want the spaceship back and… she grinned, And I'm not ready to give it up. Not remotely.

Her grin became a frown as she realized that none of the information she'd been programmed with had included the word she had thought earlier – what was it? TARDIS. She still didn't know what a TARDIS was. But if it hadn't come from the machine, then where had it come from?

Shrugging, but making a mental conviction to find the definition of this mysterious word one day, Jenny finally opened her eyes. "Computer?" She said. "How long have we been flying? And do you have a name, or do I just call you 'computer'?"

"We have been flying for 3 days, 10 hours, and 27 minutes," the computer replied. Jenny's eyes widened at the pronouncement. It was longer than she'd expected – and now even less surprising that no one had done this before. That was almost half the length of the whole war! The computer continued, oblivious to her shock. "I will respond to anything you want to call me."

"Erm...in that case, I think I'll case you Sally. It'll be nice to talk to someone with a name – might get lonely, you know with me being the only one on the ship."

"Negative," said Sally the computer.

"Negative what?" Jenny cried, hoping that not all conversations with Sally were going to be this infuriating.

"You are not the only one on board."

"Oh," Jenny frowned. "What! Sally, explain!" She ordered.

"Twenty-three minutes ago, an intruder was detected to have teleported aboard in the Lower Flight Deck of the ship. The area has been locked off."

Jenny blinked. "An 'intruder'? What kind? And why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" She demanded.

"Classification of intruder: Unknown." Sally replied. "You were not informed because you have not requested to be notified of such things."

"Well, I request it now," Jenny said firmly. "Tell me about anything out of the ordinary. Anything at all."

"He is not dead," Sally said.

"Who isn't dead?" Jenny groaned. "Clarify!" She was getting the idea that, yes, talking to the computer was always going to be this infuriating.

"The intruder that teleported aboard this ship twenty-three minutes ago is not dead."

"That's good or we'd never know what he's doing here. Why are you telling me this?"

"It is out of the ordinary."

"To be alive?"

"Affirmative."

Jenny stared at the blinking red light that was the computer console. "I don't understand," she told it.

"He is not dead."

"Yeah, got that much. All right, who is he then? Basic information."

"Gender: Male. Name: Unknown. Age: Unknown. Date of Birth: Unknown Species: Unknown. Planet of origin: Unknown. Marital Status: Unknown - "

Jenny broke in. "All right! We don't know who he is! Just that he's male, apparently. And not dead."

"Affirmative."

"Do we know anything else?"

After a pause, Sally replied, "He is armed."

"Lovely," Jenny muttered. "Well, I just left a planet where people were fighting for no reason, so don't shoot at him until we find out want he wants, ok?"

"Negative."

"Excuse me? That was an order! Do not fire!" Jenny couldn't help feeling a little bit panicky. If the computer was countermanding her orders...

"The intruder has already been fired upon," Sally replied.

"What!"

"Upon arrival, the intruder triggered the security protocols. Automatic procedures for his termination were carried out."

Jenny gasped. "You tried to kill him? Without even knowing what he wanted?" She cried, disliking this computer more and more. She decided to reprogram it the first chance she got.

"Negative. The intruder was terminated. He is not dead."

Well, that was as clear as mud. How could someone be killed but not be dead? Then again, she thought, I was killed, but I'm not dead. "Is he a Time Lord?" She wondered aloud.

"Unknown," Sally answered. Jenny rolled her eyes.

"Where is he again?" she asked.

"The Lower Flight Deck."

"All right," Jenny began unbuckling herself. "I'm going down there." After a moment, she added, "Do not shoot again until we know what his intentions are."

Jenny reached the Lower Flight Deck in a matter of minutes. She stopped outside the door – which, as Sally had mentioned, had automatically locked when it detected the intruder – and activated a computer screen on the wall. Now that she wasn't actually talking to it, the computer seemed to know what she wanted without her having to tell it. The screen showed video feed from the Lower Flight Deck without prompting.

I must figure out how that works. Jenny mused, thinking maybe when she reprogrammed the computer, it would be nice if it responded to thought commands as well as spoken. There'd be fewer misunderstandings that way.

Back to the problem at hand. Jenny examined the man on the screen, who was apparently trying to find a way out, his back to her. Male, as Sally had said, and humanoid, if not actually human. She assumed that if he actually were human, the computer would know that. She hoped it would, anyway, having been designed by humans.

Male, humanoid, and – as the intruder turned toward the camera and Jenny saw his face, she let out a short gasp, finishing her description in a whisper. "Gorgeous!" She breathed.

For a few seconds, she could do nothing but stare. Then she blinked rapidly and shook herself. Oh, stop it, Jenny! She berated silently. He's just a man – and a trespasser at that. He's not even human.

Suppressing the thought that, technically, she wasn't really human either, she set her face in an expression that she hoped looked stern and unyielding. Gorgeous he may be, but there was no reason to let him know she thought so. None at all.

Holding her head high, Jenny pressed the button that unlocked and opened the door, then marched in. Evidently startled by her sudden appearance, the intruder spun to face her, gun raised. Jenny opened her mouth to demand he tell her who she was, but she never got that far. A loud siren sounded and Jenny automatically knew what it meant; the onboard defence system had been activated.

"Get down!" Jenny yelled, but it was too late. Bullets flew from the computer-controlled guns mounted in the walls, all aimed at the intruder. "No!" Jenny cried as he fell under the onslaught. "Sally, stop!"

The firing ceased. "What was that for?" She almost screamed. "I told you not to shoot!"

The computer's voice sounded very cool when it answered, though Jenny thought that was probably her imagination. "You said not to fire until we knew his intentions. He was armed and threatening. His intentions were obviously hostile."

"So he had a gun – he was defending himself! That's no reason to kill him!" Sally didn't reply and Jenny sighed heavily. The sooner she reprogrammed that thing, the better.

Slowly, she approached the body. Checking for vital signs – another ability instilled by the machine – told her that he was dead with no chance of resuscitation. A quick search revealed that the intruder had two guns, both of an old design. Late 2nd or early 3rd millennium, she guessed. There was also a device attached to his wrist which she unstrapped, curious. It still looked like old technology, if newer than the guns. "6th millennium, maybe?" She murmured. It would need further examination, she decided, pocketing it.

As she pushed herself to her feet, Jenny was surprised to find that tears were pricking at her eyes. It was slightly ridiculous, crying over a complete stranger, but he'd been killed on her ship, which made his death her responsibility, however accidental.

She was about to order Sally to open the airlock so she could get rid of the intruder's weapons – they were obsolete, nothing but space junk anyway – but before she did, the corpse of the intruder gasped loudly and began to sit up. Jenny screamed. The instincts to fight that had only so recently been suppressed kicked in again; before she could stop herself, she'd raised one of his guns and pulled trigger.

The intruder died. Again.

"Sally?" Jenny asked shakily. "Is...is this what you mean when you said he was terminated, but not dead?"

"Affirmative."

"Right," Jenny whispered, still in shock. "So, he can come back to life. And it's probably going to happen again."

"Affirmative."

Jenny nodded and knelt next to him again. Sure enough, mere seconds later, he gasped again. This time, while ready for it, she still raised the gun, thinking it might help with the image she was trying to present.

"Who are you?" Jenny demanded, as harshly as she could manage. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Captain Jack Harkness," He answered, seeming unconcerned that his own gun had been turned against him. Then again, if he couldn't die, there really was no reason he should be. Actually, Jenny wondered what would concern him, if anything. "I'm not really here for a reason – completely accidental."

"Uh-huh. And what are you, exactly?"

He look confused. "Human?"

"Not according to the ship's computer."

"Ah. Yeah, well, I was human the last time I checked anyway." Captain Jack Harkness grinned suddenly and Jenny was quite sure that both her her hearts missed a beat. Only the strict military discipline that she'd been programmed with stopped that from showing on her face. "Of course, the last time I checked was over 2000 years ago. Which, now that I think about it, might've been the first clue - "

"So, you're not human, like the computer said," Jenny interrupted. "What are you then?"

He shrugged, still grinning. "One of a kind," He told her, with a wink.

"Ok, that's enough," Jenny said forcefully, cocking the gun with a click. "One, you are on my vessel without my permission, which makes you a trespasser. Two, as a trespasser, I am allowed to do whatever I want to you. Three...you aren't going to succeed in charming me, so you may as well stop trying." That was a lie if she'd ever told one. But that was something else he didn't need to know.

Captain Jack Harkness only smiled again. "One, I really am here by accident, so if I'm trespassing, it's not my fault. Two, you've already seen me come back to life at least twice – by now, you should've figured out you can't kill me. So what exactly can you do? And three...I have succeeded in charming more people – and non-people – than you can imagine. I haven't failed yet. Is there a particular reason we're counting?"

Ignoring the question, Jenny answered flatly, "Yet." Actually, she believed him. Unlike his ability to come back to life and his claim that he was there by accident, she found it very easy to believe he'd never failed in charming anyone.

"As to what I can do to you..." She added after a short pause. "Well, maybe I can't kill you, not for good, but from what I've seen, you do need time to recover from dying. A few minutes is all I'd need to restrain you. Then I could leave you on the next planet we come to. Or I could just drop you out right here. How would deep space work with your inability to die?"

For a brief moment, Jenny thought she saw a flicker of worry – perhaps even fear – cross his face. Then it was gone and he shook his head. "I don't think you'd do that."

"Oh? Why not? You don't know me."

"No," Jack said. "But I know you tried to warn me when the computer started shooting. And I've known enough people who'll torment and kill for the fun of it that I recognize them when I see them. And you're not one – it's something to do with the eyes."

Jenny just managed to stop herself from smiling. "You're right. I wouldn't," She said, a note of approval creeping into her voice. "But I was discussing things I could do, not the things I'm going to do, or even the things I'd be willing to do."

"So, what are you going to do?" Jack asked, sounding more curious than anything else.

The truth was that she had absolutely no idea what to do with him. "I'm going to...ask you some questions." She answered, hoping he didn't notice the brief hesitation.

"And those questions would be?" Jack prompted.

Before Jenny could reply, Sally the computer suddenly spoke. "Distress signal detected."

"'Distress signal detected'?" Jack repeated, sounding incredulous. "Why are you looking for distress signals?"

"That's...none of your business." Jenny snapped. "Now, come with me."

He followed, asking, "Where are we going?"

"The holding cells."

"What!" He quickly caught up with her. "Listen, you're searching for distress signals – you're...you're some kind of...intergalactic policewoman or something? I can help, I -"

Jenny looked at him sharply. "No!"

"Why not?"

"One, I work alone. Two, accident or not, you just appeared on my ship without my permission. I have no idea who you are. Three - " Jenny said.

"You're counting again." Jack pointed out.

Jenny glared at him. "Three - tell me, Captain Jack Harkness – if that's really your name – why, why in the universe should I trust you?"

Author's Note: This is going to be more like a series of short episodic stories. There may or may not be an over-arching storyline. I haven't really decided. Right now, I have ideas for about 7 or 8 chapters. Whether they'll all come to fruition is yet to be determined.

Please review!