Phaeton

Chapter Nine

Ianto still couldn't believe it. The stet radiation levels in the crew's recreation room were decreasing, flushed out by the filtration system Jack had activated from inside the room. The man should be dead, vaporised by the deadly stuff. But he wasn't. He was moving around clearing the room, checking if there were any items worth salvaging. Why wasn't he dead? Ianto couldn't understand it at all. He was still puzzling over this when the door opened in front of him and Jack stood there, beaming at him.

"Need your help with the other door," he said.

In a daze, Ianto crossed the room, now clear of the radiation, and joined Jack at the further bulkhead door. He eyed Jack up and down, searching for some indication of how he had survived but saw nothing different. He was the same as before, the same as when the two had engaged in vigorous sex only hours ago.

"The securing pin is bent," explained Jack, "and I can't shift it on my own. Need some more leverage on this." He had a long handled metal stick used for playing krendos wedged under the head of the pin. "Grab hold and press down."

"Okay."

Ianto stood shoulder to shoulder with Jack and placed his hands on the krendos stick partly overlapping Jack's. This close, his nostrils were filled with Jack's unique smell, the one that had driven him to seek Jack out for sex. Even as Ianto was pressing down on the stick, he felt his skin tingling and a familiar stirring in his groin but resolutely ignored both. There would be time for that when they got these men free and the ship was under way. He concentrated on the securing pin which was gradually being forced up and out of the lock. It sprang clear with a clatter which threw both men off balance, Jack stumbling into Ianto's arms.

"Whoa, sorry." Jack steadied himself with his hands on Ianto's waist but did not immediately move.

Ianto did not move either. "That's all right."

Jack chuckled. "Mind on your work, please. We can pursue this later." He winked and gently disengaged himself, returning to the door. He fiddled with the release and finally the door slid open at about a tenth of its normal speed, helped by a good shove.

"Good to see you, Jones," said Beettle, emerging from the crew's mess where he had been trapped for the past few hours. "And you, Harkness. What's the situation?"

Ianto brought his mind back from the puzzle of Jack Harkness, promising himself a long talk with the man later. And perhaps more than a talk. Beettle, the more experienced officer, was waiting for Ianto to answer. "Phaeton's partially operational but she's been seriously compromised. Hull breaches on this level and topside. We've lost most of the crew including Mux, Trisster, Kloss and Cwellazell." He paused as the reality hit home again. "And we have injured."

"The captain?"

"Alive but badly hurt; Jack patched him up. One of the engineering team's alive but blind. Maric's okay. Feugard did a real number on us!"

"I still find it hard to believe, that he could turn on us like that."

"Believe it," interjected Jack. He had checked over the two crewmen, Pasten and Livesey, who had been trapped with Beettle - they were bruised but otherwise uninjured - and got them gathering up all the useful items in the room and in particular all the food and drink they could find. "No time for a chat now. This level is not the best place to linger." Only a couple of bulkhead doors were between them and the inhospitable nothingness of space.

"I'll let the Bridge know what's happening," said Ianto.

It took the five of them half an hour to strip the room. Ianto left first on his way back to the Bridge. The captain and Maric were coping but he wanted to be there and see for himself that all was well: Loomis was too sick to be on top of things and Maric too inexperienced while Skavo was blind. He took a load of scavenged food and drink up the stairs with him on an anti-grav trolley. Beettle and Livesey went down to level five, the first of the three cargo-carrying levels, to check on the tons of besquite stored there. It was unstable stuff and Beettle was concerned about how it had been affected by the attack. Finally, Jack and Pasten hauled other essentials up to level one where Ianto had turned the captain's office into a store. Leaving Pasten to make more trips with the stashes left on other levels, Jack took Skavo back to the engine room on level three; it was time to get the drive back on line.

The two men stayed in the engine room for the next four hours.

Settling Skavo at a working engineering station, Jack began clearing the engine room so he could get at vital systems. The first hour was spent removing the crystal from its clamps and minutely checking and cleaning the installation. It had been damaged, not destroyed. Jack did the physical work but Skavo's knowledge was invaluable. The engineer was even able to operate his station, once he'd overcome an initial fear that he would press the wrong buttons; he'd been on board for eighteen months and the controls were ingrained in his memory. It was a proud moment for both of them when the drive was brought back on-line. The ship groaned and shook, complaining at the stresses and strains being put on its weakened structure. After some trial and error, they found that 12% of normal was the best speed they could get without shaking the ship apart but hoped for better in due course.

Hours two and three were devoted to shields and communications. This was more difficult as so many of the relays had been blown or were in parts of the ship that had been destroyed or were inaccessible. In the end, Jack built stronger shields round the damaged parts of the hull and fashioned a basic two-way comms from the engine room to the Bridge, the two areas they had to keep manned, by piggybacking on other systems. It was crude but it worked. He also rigged up some personal communicators and got Livesey to distribute them to all crew members. In the final hour, Jack tried and failed to bring the internal sensors back on line; there just wasn't enough left to work with. He was about to report his failure to Ianto, up on the Bridge, when the man himself walked through the door.

"How's it going?" Ianto stood looking round the room, taking in the order that had been created from the earlier chaos. The slight hum from the crystal drive was reassuring. The ship was now several light years from Fant and limping towards Occidic spaceport.

"No joy on the sensors. We won't get them working again." Jack was sat on the floor, his coveralls dirty once more and his face smudged where he had wiped it with dirty hands.

"Pity but … we can do without. I brought you both some coffee."

"You're a lifesaver, right, Skavo?"

"Yes, sir." The engineer was still at his station.

Ianto gave the men the two mugs he had brought with him and then poured the coffee from the insulated flask. "When you've finished this, come up top and have a meal. We have hot food and you two need to eat."

"That sounds good," replied Jack, savouring the hot drink. "Any joy on the stairs?" Others had been working to make the stairs between levels one and three less precarious.

Ianto grinned, removing some of the traces of tiredness from his features. "Better than that. Beettle came up with an anti-grav lift so we can avoid using them altogether."

He studied Skavo as he spoke. The medical mask hid most of the man's injuries but it must still be painful as well as distressing to be blinded. The man was holding up well and doing a good job but he needed rest. They all did, the able–bodied amongst the survivors as much as the injured. Ianto himself felt exhausted and he guessed Jack must too although he didn't look it. Perhaps he could wangle it so they got a rest period at the same time.

They discussed the state of other systems and when the coffee was drunk, the three men returned to the Bridge – now the base of operations – using the new lift. While Jack washed in the nearby head, Ianto checked on the captain who had been moved to his sleeping cabin. The man was sleeping, well propped up to aid his breathing which was ragged and uneven. The meal was a fish stew with bread followed by fruit; they couldn't keep the perishable foods so they had to be eaten first. By raiding the Crew's Mess they had enough for at least two weeks, the same with water, which should, barring further emergencies, be sufficient. They had rigged up a stove in a corner of the Bridge. While they were all together, Ianto and Beettle, the two senior officers barring the disabled captain, summarised the situation.

"We're on course for Occidic spaceport," said Ianto, sipping coffee – it helped keep him awake. "It's not the course we would have taken, nor is it one likely to be used by other ships, partly because of where we ended up after the attack but mostly in case Kendal and her people are watching for us. At current speed, we'll make port in ten days."

Jack swallowed his mouthful and said, "We're currently at 12%. The crystal can do more, up to 50% or 60%, but at that speed we're likely to shake the old girl apart." He gently patted the wall against which he was leaning.

"Which we certainly don't want," agreed Beettle with a grim smile. "We can survive ten days. There's food and water enough for that and we have life support. We just need to act sensibly, work together and we'll be back in port in no time. And with a tale to tell our grandchildren."

His words heartened everyone and there were smiles and a few chuckles from the men gathered round. Ianto was sitting at his navigator's station with Maric alongside in the pilot's seat. Jack was sat on the floor on one side of the door while Pasten and Livesey were on the other side. Skavo was at the engineering station and Beettle had taken the central captain's chair.

"We need to allocate responsibilities," Beettle went on. "Ianto?"

"Chief Beettle and I have discussed this. While the captain's incapacitated, I'll be in charge on the Bridge with Midshipman Ashadel to assist. Beettle will be in charge of supplies and other resources and generally keep a watch on the integrity of the ship." He looked across at Jack. "I'd like Mr Harkness to oversee engineering."

"Fine by me, as long as I can have Skavo to assist."

"Of course, sir," said the young man immediately, refusing to let his injuries get him down. He had received more painkillers and was coping well.

"Excellent. Pasten and Livesey, you'll be with me," added Beettle. "Now, let's think about shifts."