Title: The Space Between 1/?
Rating: PG. Rating may go up to NC-17 in later chapters.
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Jack, Ianto, Tosh, Owen, Gwen, mentions of other canon characters
Summary: Torchwood! In Space! Escaping from the Game Station, Captain Jack Harkness finds himself in the 29th century. Conscripted by Torchwood, when a Rift in time and space reopens, he finds himself sent to the abandoned space station Torchwood Three, with his own ragtag team. Alternate Universe. Written for the longliveianto Halloween Challenge at LJ. See further A/N at chapter end.
Warnings: Swearing
Disclaimer: If I owned Torchwood, the boys would have had more screentime together, more sex, and Ianto would still be alive. Unbeta-ed, feel free to point out any mistakes.
Chapter One
Captain Jack Harkness swept his arm out to the vista beyond him. "Ladies and gentleman," he declared, "welcome to Torchwood Three."
Owen Harper snorted. "That pile of junk? We're going to work there?"
Jack turned around to retake in the sight of that space station that was coming up before them. Granted, the Hub was old, but that didn't mean she was junk. She didn't look like junk at any rate, not with those clean, sleek lines and the sturdy looking hull with none of the pitting and marring from space debris that so many other space-faring craft had. Okay, so maybe the docking bay and hanger looked a little... mangled, but for a two hundred year old craft, she looked amazing.
Meanwhile, Owen rattled on with his cheery list of 'what ifs'. "What if the hull breaks? What if we loose power? Does this wreck even have artificial gravity? Because I can't take care of people when we're floating about like a bunch of-"
"Owen, shut up, or I'll dump you out of an airlock." Toshiko Sato had removed her navigation goggles and was now glaring angrily in the doctor's direction. "I'd like to fly this ship in peace, please."
"I think its beautiful, Jack," Gwen Cooper said as she stepped up to join him by the window. She smiled at him, and he returned that smile, but behind the false cheery grin he was reconsidering his decision to invite Gwen to join his team. This was her first time off planet, and while she had proven herself plenty planetside, he wasn't sure if she would cope well being in space and away from family, friends and her boyfriends.
Ah well. If it didn't work out, he could always Retcon her and send her back.
Toshiko's voice cut through his thoughts, cool and collected even though he'd heard her bickering in the background with Owen for the last ten minutes. He admired her patience and more so her ability to concentrate on flying the ship while managing to come up with stinging retorts to Owen's whining. But that was his brilliant Toshiko, and why he'd hired her in the first place. "We'll be docking in ten minutes. I know it looks cool when you stand by the viewport looking all grand and imposing, Captain, but I suggest you strap yourself down. The docking clamps look old, this isn't going to be a smooth ride."
"Yes, ma'am." He snapped her a salute and a wink, then slid into the co-pilot's chair as Gwen and Owen took the seats behind them.
The ship slid slowly through the silence of space, drifting closer and closer to the dented and burnt hatches of the docking bay. At the navigation console, Toshiko flipped a switch to engage the docking clamps. There was a short judder as the clamps attached them selves to the space station, followed by a heavier shudder that had Gwen gasp in surprise.
Jack twisted in his seat to give her a reassuring wink, then at Toshiko's nod, extended the hatch. It took five minutes for the vacuum to be replaced with oxygen, and once the green light on the console blinked to indicate that it was safe to board, Jack got out of his seat and rushed out of the cockpit.
Gwen grinned as she watched the tail of her employer's coat whip out of sight. "He's like a big kid."
Toshiko was running a systems check, and powering down the engine. "Jack's like that. He's very..." It took her a moment to find the right word to describe her boss. "Enthusiastic."
Behind her, Owen undid his crash harness and grumbled, "I still don't see why you didn't let me fly the ship. I'm the pilot! It's my job."
"This is my ship, Owen, no one is flying my ship, not even Jack," Toshiko retorted even as Gwen asked, "I though you were the doctor?"
"Doctor," the narrow-faced man corrected her with a sneer. "I'm the doctor. And the pilot," he added.
"Oi, kids!" came Jack's bellow from the cargo hold. "Are you coming to get your stuff, or should I simply jettison everything?"
888888
"Are you really sure four of us can handle this place, Jack?" Toshiko asked as they walked through the long, silent corridor that, according to the floor plans on her PDA, should lead to the, bridge.
"Yep," was Jack's confident answer. "I hired the best."
An arched eyebrow was he received in reply before they came face to face with a pair of heavy blast doors. A minutes stretched out while they stood expectantly before the heavily reinforced portal, before Toshiko asked, askance, "The code, Jack. I hope you have it."
"Oh, right." Jack blinked, then giving her a sheepish grin, turned to the biosensor embedded in the wall and used his wriststrap to override and enter the access code he had been given to by Torchwood One. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Toshiko eyeing his Vortex Manipulator with unconcealed interest. The first time he'd met her, she had asked to have a look at it, but Jack had refused. Toshiko was an amazingly brilliant woman, and he trusted her with his life, but he never let anybody touch his manipulator.
A light on the door winked blue, then with a shudder and groan, the magnetic locks disengaged and the huge doors slowly slid open.
The bridge was circular covered by a large dome of metal. As they walked in, lights sprang into life, illuminating console banks that ran around the entire room. In the middle was a semicircular console, with a large black chair before it. Jack grinned. That was the captain's chair. In other words, his.
"Get the systems online, Tosh. I want you run a systems check. Make sure everything is working; artificial gravity, the atmospheric system, navigation, security, plu-"
"Jack," Tosh interrupted, with the long suffering tone of someone who knew exactly what to do and didn't need telling, "I can handle it."
"Right," said Jack, grinning, as he fell back into his chair. "Amaze me, Tosh. But before you do that, tell Owen and Gwen to come up here, they should be done unloading by now."
Ten minutes later, the other two members of his team walked in, then dropped their jaws in astonishment. Tosh had opened the bridge's protective hull, revealing a transparent dome that stretched above them. The sight was amazing, presenting them with a view of the stars, a bit of the Earth, and above them, the dark maw of the Rift.
"Whoa," whispered Gwen, giving voice to the same awe that Jack had felt as he'd watched the hull retract. He'd traveled through space for centuries, but he could never tire of marveling at its beauty.
He let them gape a bit more, then clapped his hands once to get their attention. "Okay, team, enough ogling. Owen, Gwen, I want you conduct a thorough reconnaissance of this place. Check every room, every compartment, I want to know what places we can use, and which places need repair. Wear atmosuits, we can't be sure that every room is secure and safe. Floor plans are on your PDAs."
"Right. So what are you going to do?" Despite the disinterested tone of his voice, Owen looked eager at the prospect of exploring the space station.
"I'm going down to the engine room, then check on the reactor."
"Protective gear, Harkness. A bloody lot of use you'll be to us if you get vapourised."
"Your concern in touching, Owen. Now get going. I'm sure we'd all like to sleep in beds tonight."
"I'm taking-"
"Cabins have already been assigned. It's all on you PDA, if you'd read it, you would've known."
"Knew you'd keep the largest cabin for yourself, Harkness."
"Not the largest, Owen. Just the one with the best sound-proofing."
88888
Despite his inability to die, Jack complied to Owen's order and put on a radiation suit before entering the reactor room. The moment he stepped through the heavy shield doors he could the heat radiating from the core despite the protective gear he had on. With configured his wriststrap to scan for any leaks, then slowly circled the entire room. Nothing seemed wrong or broken and his manipulator didn't detect any leaks or faults either. He found himself letting out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. The possibility for damage had been very high, especially since the reactor had been restarted after being dormant for over a hundred years. There' could easily have a been a leak or even a meltdown.
He opened his line to the bridge. "All good here, Tosh. I'll be coming up in second to give you a full report."
Very well, Captain.
"Captain?"
Sorry, Jack. Got carried away, being up here on a space station and all.
"Pity. Up for a little role-play later?"
Unless you want Tommy to kill you.
"Aw, come on, he can't begrudge you a little fun. He can join us if he wants, when he comes to visit you. Or when we make a visit planetside."
Still don't think that's a good idea, Jack. Maybe you should ask Owen. He might be interested.
"You're breaking my heart here, Tosh."
And you're a drama queen-
Oi, Harkness stop harassing the tech. We need you here right now.
"What is it, Owen." Jack slipped out of the suit and hurried into the decontamination room.
There's a room here that we can't get into. No idea what's inside, so we thought we'd ask you.
Jack hurried through the decontamination shower. One should be enough, and it wasn't like any excess radiation would kill him.
"Tosh."
Yes, Jack?
"I want you find out what the room may be; go through all the information given by One and search the database if you can."
Copy that. Searching now.
"Good. Owen?"
What?
"I'm on the way. Don't do anything."
88888
Owen and Gwen were standing in front of a pair of heavy looking shield doors, Owen looking bored and Gwen nervous. She brightened visibly when he appeared, while Owen continued to be absorbed in whatever happened to be playing on his PDA. Porn, mostly likely.
"So, what do we have here?"
"No idea," said Owen, clicking of his PDA, the same Gwen blurted, "It's not labeled on the plan."
"Right. Tosh?"
There's not much about it here, but there's a record about Torchwood Three having an archive. Since there's nothing about an Archive any where else on the plans, this should be it.
"So is it safe open?"
It should be. I can't find any defense systems online.
"Unless you're worried about being crushed by a ton of datawafers or something," Owen muttered sarcastically.
"Why does Torchwood Three need an archive anyway?" Gwen asked, moving closer to Jack so she could peer at the biometric keypad embedded in the door which he was currently inspecting.
"Well, they guarded the Rift before it closed. Must contain information about it or something."
"But why the security?"
"Let's find out." He keyed in his service number. He wasn't quite sure if it would work, but since the station's systems had been keyed to his number and scans, it aught to. Unless there was a different code One hadn't told him about… did One actually know this Archive existed? He couldn't recall anyone mentioning it, and he hadn't seen in the briefing notes, which, contrary to popular belief, he did read.
Nothing happened.
"Tosh, can you-"
The console glowed blue, then bleeped once.
Identified. Harkness, Jack. Captain. Biometric scans required.
"Never mind, Tosh. Just stay on standby. Prepare to put the station on lockdown, just in case."
"Will that be necessary?" asked Gwen, worry colouring her voice.
"Better safe than sorry." He took his gun from his holster, then placed his hand on the biometric scanner. It took several minutes for it to read his fingerprints, DNA and lifesigns, then the holomessage changed.
Access granted.
Jack turned to his team and shot them a grin. "See, it's all right."
"Yeah?" said Owen. "There's more."
Only the Archivist can access Torchwood Three Archive files. Archiving Unit currently in stasis.
"What or who the fuck is the Archivist?" asked Owen.
Awaken Archivist?
Yes No
To be continued...
A/N: I will update this story primarily at my LiveJournal (link on my profile page). If you'd like to read weekly updates (every Thursday), I suggest you look over there (it is not friends locked and anonymous comments are permitted). Thank you for reading.
