Well here we go again – I've been trying to get this chapter written for nearly a week. I've been going through this chapter in my mind every night when I've been falling asleep, I just couldn't get round to extracting it from my brain and into my keyboard. Once again thanks for the reviews so far, please keep them coming because they keep me writing. Enjoy (I hope).

Then there was splashing beside him and a hand grabbed the back of his collar and pulled his head out of the water. "Get him out. I want to find out who he is before we kill him." It wasn't a voice he knew and besides it was too late. Captain Jack Harkness died again.

"That really was too easy."

The young soldier pulling the man out of the water turned around in response to his comment. "Section Leader Diras?"

"Just get him out and secure him with the others."

He watched as the soldier struggled to manoeuvre the limp body from the water. Every time he seemed to make progress, he'd lose his grip on the man and then have to duck back into the water to stop the man's head from going under again. At one point he was trying to pull him out by two stretchy straps that seemed to be designed to hold up the man's trousers, when both straps suddenly snapped. Diras laughed as the unconscious man simply slid back to where the soldier had found him and the soldier ended up sat on his rump in the murky water.

Another of Diras's men walked past the scene, his red face betraying his attempt not to laugh in the presence of his section leader.

"Get in there and help him, Timon." Ordered Diras. "Though with all the dunking I doubt he'll live anyway."

Between them the man was finally pulled from the water and rolled onto his back. Now that Diras could see the full length of the body he could understand the soldiers' difficulties. Whoever he was, or now that Diras could see the colour of the man's face, more likely whoever he had been, was taller than any of his soldiers, but built nearly as heavily.

Diras walked over and prodded the body with his boot. There was no response. "Check to see if he's breathing. If he is put him with the others, if not drag him somewhere where he won't be in the way."

It was no great matter to Diras. The other prisoners they'd found had all recovered from the gas once treated. At the moment his soldiers were doing fine just searching where ever this was for any likely bounty. If he needed some information later, he'd make sure that one of them would talk.

Diras picked up the gas capsule from where it had fallen after it had dispensed its poison cloud. It was a neat little device, easily used and extremely effective. His only complaint was that it did take some of the challenge out of scavenging. It was another little piece of technology that they had stolen. It came from one of the worlds they visited at random through the artificial rupture in time and space that they managed to create every few months. They usually returned with something of use, and some things, like this one, made future scavenges so much easier.

Jack woke as his chest heaved and dragged in a great lung full of air. For a second he tried to fight it expecting to feel the gritty soil clogging his airways once again. No, he was only breathing in air this time. No soil. At least he wasn't still buried. He must have just died though, so something wasn't going well today.

As if his brain took a second to boot up Jack rapidly began to remember the rift and all that dam gas. When he opened his eyes he also discovered that he was suspended by his arms and looking down at a moving floor as water dripped from his clothes and splashed onto the concrete below him.

He was being dragged through the hub then. His shoulders ached at their mistreatment and so Jack struggled against the men that held him and then found himself abruptly dropped and what he presumed was the nozzle of some kind of weapon held against his head.

"Section Leader!" There was the sound of rapid footsteps coming closer and then he was roughly turned onto his back and found himself looking up at the scarred face of a stranger in what looked like a military uniform. Jack went to try and talk and ask where Tosh, Ianto, and the others were, but instead coughed up a lung full of water into the man's face. He watched as the man sighed, rolled his eyes, and took what looked like Ianto's apron from the shaking arm of another soldier and dried his face.

"Timon?"

"Yes Section Leader?"

"I was not aware that dead men could cough."

"No Sir. I, I mean we, we did check, and he was definitely dead Sir. "

"Strange; he seems to be definitely alive now."

Jack watched the strangers in silence as he tried to take deep breathes and clear his lungs. The men were all wearing the same matt black uniforms with heavy sturdy looking boots. Although their clothing was mostly shapeless, Jack's, even now lusting eyes, could make out well muscled bodies beneath them. These were soldiers then and by the way they were working well trained. They looked pretty human, except for one detail - they were all unusually pale.

The one they called 'section leader' had a long silver scar in the shape of a crescent moon around one of his eyes and another scar running from the corner of his mouth down to the centre of his chin. The skin on that scar was puckered and still red and inflamed on the edges and stood out on the pale skin. His nose was not quite straight and kind of lumpy – Jack guessed it had been broken, probably more than once, and then set badly.

One of the soldiers cautiously approached with a length of tightly woven cord. Where were the others Jack wondered? Then he heard a sound that caught his attention. Ianto clearing his throat. Jack jerked his head to one side to find the source of the noise and could only smile as he spotted his team all alive and as far as he could tell not badly hurt. They were all tied up and were being watched closely, but for now just the fact that they were all alive was enough.

Diras watched the man closely as his soldiers pinned him down and secured his arms behind him. There'd been definite relief in this prisoners face when he had spotted the others they had found were still alive. So either he thought he would have a better chance of escaping if the rest of them were still around or he felt something for these people. Diras discounted the first idea – of the four they had originally captured, three were only women, and the one man didn't look overly strong.

Diras smiled to himself and slipped the gas capsule into one of many pockets for safe keeping. This half drowned man must like, maybe even love these people and as Diras had discovered with the girl it was amazing what people will do to save people they love.