AN: It's been half term this week so the kids have been at home. I've barely managed any writing. But anyway, here is Chapter 2.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favourited and alerted this story and to everyone who read it. I was really pleased by the response. And nine reviews is my record for one chapter!

For those who want to know, Too Long A Sacrifice will be about 10 chapters long. Quite short compared to Hidden. I expect Part 3 of the trilogy to be a long one again.

Chapter 2

He should be honoured that he rated the attention of a UNIT Colonel, Jack mused, when Colonel Oduya walked into his cell. They had crossed swords many times when Torchwood had clashed with UNIT. He knew that the Colonel would be ecstatic to have got him in this position now.

The Colonel gazed down at him, as he sat on the bunk, with barely disguised glee. "So Harkness, you have blotted your copybook now haven't you. Treason against Her Majesty, aiding and abetting an alien invasion force, betraying humanity, torture and murder. They are going to lock you up and throw away the key."

"I'm not guilty."

"That's not what your trial said," answered Oduya.

"What trial?" Jack asked incredulously, "there hasn't been a trial yet."

"You were tried in absentia, and found guilty of all charges."

"You can't railroad me like that!" Jack protested in dawning horror.

"There were several witnesses to you torturing members of the resistance to death, including all the Torchwood staff. Do you deny it?"

"No," Jack admitted, "but I was forced to do it. It's wrong to condemn me without letting me explain. Ask Tish Jones, or even Modine or Stevens!"

"There could never be a good reason for actions like yours," sneered Oduya. "I don't want to hear your pathetic excuses."

"Did you ask them for their evidence ?" demanded Jack.

"Modine and Stevens did not make any statements that would have any bearing on your case. They have also been found guilty, and were both executed immediately after the verdict."

Jack closed his eyes. He had wondered where Stevens and Modine had been taken, three days before. So Tish was his last hope. "Did you ask Tish?"

Oduya had been thoroughly briefed about the events of the nine months that never was. "Miss Jones was evacuated from the Valiant, along with her parents, before the paradox machine was disabled."

Jack was stunned. He knew that a lot of people had been evacuated, but why would Tish go with them? Surely she would have told someone about him. She would not have abandoned him. A sick feeling began to build in him as his last hope for justice drained away.

"This is totally unjust!"

"It's military justice, and since you can't be executed, you've been sentenced to life imprisonment. Torchwood are being informed of the verdict."

"You can't do this to me," whispered Jack, knowing in his heart that they could, and would, do it. The unfairness of it all was soul destroying. He had suffered for over nine months at the hands of the Master, done his utmost to protect his team and help the rebels, and this was his reward. Practically all of humanity had no longer lived those months. They all had their sins and traumas erased. Why could he not have been given the same chance?

b_b_b_b_b_b_b

In the Torchwood Hub, Gwen was on the phone to UNIT. She hung up and called the others to the main office. "That was UNIT," she reported smiling. "Jack's trial has been completed and he has been found guilty. He's been sentenced to life imprisonment."

"Fantastic," Owen crowed.

Ianto also looked pleased.

Only Tosh seemed upset. "How can you be so happy," she yelled at them. "Jack was our friend once, and now he'll be in a UNIT prison indefinitely. You know what life will mean for Jack."

"You know what he did, Tosh,"exclaimed Ianto. "For god's sake, you watched him do it, we all did. No one who tortures and murders like that deserves any sympathy."

b_b_b_b_b_b

Jack was moved to a high security UNIT prison the following day. Hands cuffed behind his back, he was bundled into a windowless van which drove for three hours. He had no idea where the facility was. As he was unloaded, he saw a low featureless building, with a high fence topped with loops of barbed wire. It looked exactly the type of depressing prison that Tosh had been held in.

They marched him into the building, between four guards. Once inside, he was ordered to strip and shower. He was searched invasively, then given a a red jumpsuit to wear, but no socks or shoes. He was taken down endless corridors deep into the bowels of the building, where he was locked in a cell containing only a basic drain for waste removal and no other furnishings. When the guards left him and closed the door it was pitch black.

At least Tosh had a window Jack thought. I must be considered a worse class of prisoner.

A voice echoed from a point high on the ceiling.

"This is a UNIT facility.

Your rights as a citizen have been withdrawn.

You will be held here indefinitely.

We are not required to provide you with legal representation.

Anything you say will be recorded.

You will be allowed no communication with any person or organisation outside this facility.

There is no right of appeal.

If you fail to comply with the rules we are authorised to discipline you."

Jack crouched down in misery in the dark, trembling as he so often did now, and cried in despair.