Odyssey
a Torchwood & Stargate story
by RoadrunnerGER
Disclaimer: I neither own Torchwood nor Stargate.
Summary: Abducted away from Earth and sold into slavery Team Torchwood has to fight for survival. Being left behind Tosh works with the Stargate team, going on a frantic odyssey across the universe in order to save her friends. Crossover, set s2
A/N: Oi, thank you for your reviews! I'm glad I could finally get a better grip on Owen. I like him as a character, but I have trouble writing him. So it makes me happy that you didn't just recognize him but even comment on him. Okay, my beta helped, but still…
I still think combining two chapters would make it too long, but I know you're waiting for Toshiko so we'll compromise, ok? I post it as two chapters but I'll let the next one with Tosh follow in three days. All right?
Special thanks to my beta Mandassina as well as to Kitsa.
Chapter 11
"I need a break," Ianto said and let the hand holding the notes sink.
"You don't look so good," Jack worried, feeling Ianto's forehead.
"I'm just tired," Ianto told him. "And hungry."
"Are you cold?" Jack asked, not missing the tremor that passed his Welshman's body.
"Why should I be? It's warm in here."
"That's not an answer to my question," Jack growled good-naturedly.
"I'm cold," Ianto admitted. "Happens when I'm overtired."
He had thought that Jack would start arguing with him, but the captain just sat down beside him and scooted closer. Then he put his arm around Ianto's shoulders and, holding his greatcoat open, he pulled Ianto against his chest, wrapping the coat around him as far as it would go. Ianto's head came to rest on his shoulder.
"Oh, how cute," one of the men muttered.
"Oh, I know! It's our curse. We just can't help it!" Jack lisped in the campiest voice he could muster. "Aren't we just so sweet we make your teeth ache?"
His name's Rupert, Jack remembered. A butcher, so he knows how to work with knives. And the one who first complained about us being a couple. Inwardly he snorted. A couple. Yeah, I guess that's what we are. I kind of like that idea.
Rupert frowned, unsure what to make of them. The others waited to see what would happen next. Jack held the other side of his greatcoat open, grinned, and said invitingly, "There's room for one more if you want to join us."
Rupert's eyes popped wide open. The other men waited in shocked silence, half expecting the burly man to assault the captain. Jack hiked his eyebrows encouragingly and grinned harder.
Finally, Rupert snorted with laughter. "You're all right, Harkness," he chuckled. "For a queer."
"Thank you. You're not bad for a butcher, either," Jack told him. "Now, we've been working for quite a while, and none of us has had a proper rest since the abduction. Just because you're here alone doesn't give you the right to begrudge the fact that we aren't. I'm sorry you're here without the person you love, but on the other hand, if she's not on this ship, then I'm happy for you."
Rupert nodded, understanding what Jack was saying, but feeling the need to prod the captain to further action. "We need to keep working on our plan," Rupert grumbled. "We don't know how much time we have left. We have to try and get out before they reach their destination… whenever that may be."
"That can take days," Jack replied.
"Or it could take only hours," Rupert said. "Fact is that we don't know. So we should plan our escape as soon as possible."
"I doubt that we'll need less than a few days," Jack said. "There aren't many inhabited planets that close to earth that come into question."
"Oh, really? And you know that how?"
Jack just looked at him, one eye-brow raised and a mysterious smile on his lips.
"Still we shouldn't waste any time," another man cut in. "So we'll be ready when we see an opportunity."
The other men nodded their agreement.
That was when Jack felt Ianto struggle. The stubborn Welshman certainly wanted to continue even though he was dead tired.
"Give us ten minutes," Jack said. "Fifteen, okay? That shouldn't be too much."
Rupert frowned at them, but then he nodded and turned away. Another man shrugged and the other four simply settled back down where they were sitting.
Good, Jack thought. He checked on Ianto, and though the young man's eyes were closed, Jack could see tears on his lashes. "Hey, hey," he said softly. "It's all right, Yan."
To Jack's surprise, Ianto slapped him lightly on the chest. "You'll be the death of me yet, you impossible bastard," he whispered, and Jack could hear the strangled laughter in his lover's voice. "That was brilliantly played, Captain, but you do realize that if I had started laughing, that Neanderthal would have torn us limb from limb, don't you?"
"Well, it didn't happen, so don't worry about it."
"Easy for you to say," Ianto murmured sleepily. "I don't recover from dismemberment so easily."
"I would never let that happen," Jack assured him, pulling him even closer to his side. "Now hush and get some rest."
Jack took a moment to study each of the other men in turn. Now that Rupert had backed off, the rest of them seemed to have relaxed a bit, too. He looked down to check on Ianto again and saw that he already was asleep. A small smile played around Jack's lips as he carefully pulled the notes out of Ianto's hand that rested on his thigh.
There aren't many people with martial arts training or even fighting experience, he thought, flipping through the slips of papers. Jack had a vague idea of what they should do, but he had not made a decision yet. More information would be helpful.
"Can I have a look at that?"
The man standing right beside him was Grant. What does he do again? He's working for an insurance company, right? He's insurance adjuster.
"Yeah, sure," Jack agreed and held up the bunch of paper.
Grant, though, sat down on Jack's left side. He leaned against the wall and stretched out his legs. Slowly he read through the notes. When he reached the first paper for the second time he turned to Jack and eyed him intently. Then he sat back again.
"You've seen a lot," he murmured.
"Excuse me?" Jack asked back.
"I don't know who you are and where you're coming from, and I don't especially care… because I feel that we can trust you. You have the aura of a man who became wise with the years, Captain Harkness… even though you don't seem to count more than thirty-eight or forty."
"What are you trying to say?"
Grant leaned closer to him and whispered into his ear, "That your eyes are much older than the rest of you seems to be."
Jack smirked. "So?"
"Just stating something I saw," Grant said and sank back against the wall. "So what's the interim plan again?"
"Slowly developing," Jack chuckled. "Why don't you tell me with your own words?"
"I should've known," Grant snorted. "You want to know if you can trust me. You want to see if I have ideas of my own."
Smirking Jack shrugged his left shoulder. "Couldn't have said it better myself."
Looking down at the notes Grant said, "There are a few useful people. Still we have to deal with some essential challenges first. Not all of us arrived as recently as you and Ianto. The guards dragged a woman out before. The other women in her cage said that she was diabetic. Without her medication it was only a matter of time until she collapsed. Other people fought against each other, especially about food and water. The fact that we're not getting enough food gives reason for concern. The cages are unhygienic. And some people who have been here longer than you might even be sleep deprived. How am I doing so far?"
Jack nodded affirmatively. "Sounds realistic. Go ahead." Absently he stroked Ianto's stomach.
"First of all, the cages," Grant continued. "It looks like they're opened by some kind of signal."
"I can deal with that," Jack told him without giving him a further explanation.
"How?"
"Not your problem, Grant. Go on."
Grant frowned but accepted that Jack would not elaborate. "Okay. Let's say we get out of the cages… what next? We'd have to get through the door as well." Expectantly he looked at Jack.
"I might be able to solve that as well."
Grant nodded. "So we're out in what I assume will be some kind of a corridor." Cocking his head to the side he eyed Jack curiously as he murmured, too lowly for the others to understand, "Working for Torchwood, dealing with alien threats… have you seen spaceships like this? Or comparable ships? What do you know about them?"
Jack held his gaze without any visible reaction. "Could you first finish explaining your theory?" he asked back.
Grant snorted. "Sure." He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts before he spoke again. "Well, when we get out into the corridor without raising attention… which I don't believe is possible, by the way…" Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jack shrug again. "Well, when we got out there, we'd have to locate the bridge, right?"
"I'd rather search for another cargo bay with important things like weapons," Jack told him.
"You're right," Grant agreed. "Getting weaponry to defend ourselves should be our first priority. Only then can we overpower the people on the bridge when we get there. On our way up, I assume, we'll have to pass a lot of corridors. Judging by how creative directors depict alien spaceships for their movies as well as using our freight ships or cruise ships as a basis for comparison the cargo bays are deep in the bowels while the bridge is high on top and in the front of the ship."
"That's logical," Jack agreed.
"You said those… how did you call them?"
"Tebr'ox."
"Yeah… those Tebr'ox are nomadic? I would imagine that the crew of a regular spaceship…" Grant trailed off. "What am I saying here? Regular spaceship. That sounds so odd… Anyway, I would guess that there are many less crewmen than prisoners. But does that apply to the ship of a nomadic tribe as well?"
That's a really good question, Jack thought. I take it insurance adjusters need to have a brilliant mind as well.
"I wouldn't count on it," the captain finally said.
"Now that's encouraging."
"Should I lie to you?"
"Nope." Grant shook his head. "I appreciate your honesty. That makes what you are saying much more believable."
Once more Jack smirked at him. He began to like Grant.
"So we'll have to deal with a large number of crewmen… as well as their families."
"Unless they're travelling in a separate ship… Yeah."
"So we'd have to fight our way as directly as possible to the bridge, take it over, barricade ourselves in there, and then go and capture the Tebr'ox to lock them up down here for a change. If this is only one ship in a caravan, we may need to do all of that while defending ourselves against a whole fleet of their kinsmen."
"Sounds like a plan," Jack nodded.
"Yeah."
A metallic clank made them prick their ears.
"What was that?"
Several similar noises raised the curiosity of the captives. They also woke Ianto who stretched and then got up. Jack got to his feet as well.
"We've heard that before," Alyssa from the cage across the aisle told the others. "There was a long while of silence and then similar sounds. Then they brought new prisoners in."
"What could it be, Jack?" Owen demanded to know. "Any idea?"
"Could be the smaller scout ships they used to enter the atmosphere and capture their victims," Jack suggested. "I think that's the most logical explanation."
"So does that mean that they're out to abduct more people?" Alyssa wanted to know.
"Do you think we're still in Earth's orbit?"
Now that was a loaded question. Jack thought about how to answer it. The others probably did not notice the subtle changes in the hum that flowed through the ship like a giant creature's lifeblood. Jack, though, remembered it from a life he led long ago, a life lived among the stars. He was used to the sounds of spaceships and he was convinced that they had been in hyperspace. That the Tebr'ox left with the small ships now led Jack to the assumption that they were on the prowl on another planet. That they were fighting was another possibility that he did not want to take into consideration.
"I don't think that we're still close to Earth," Jack finally said.
Astonished and anxious murmurs echoed through the cargo bay.
Jack took a deep breath. As he had said to Grant, there was no reason to lie to them. They had to know what they were facing once they were ready to attempt an escape. They had to know that they were far away from home and that it would be quite difficult to get back.
Or maybe we won't get back at all, Jack thought. By now they certainly are aware of the possibility that there is no escape, that we might never get home. No one likes that idea, but the bitter truth is undeniable. There's no guarantee that our plan will work.
He felt two hands coming to rest on his upper arms. Then Ianto put his chin on his shoulder from behind. Jack smiled. He liked the young Welshman's need for physical closeness. He just wished it would take place anywhere else but on this spaceship.
"You're brooding."
"I'm thinking, Yan. That's what I'm doing. I'm thinking about our escape plan."
"Take a break, too, Jack," Ianto prodded, gently pulling on his arms. "Come on, let's sit down again."
"Maybe this is our chance," Rupert interrupted them. "You two can cuddle when we've taken over the ship."
"Captain, could that be true?" another man called Gareth wanted to know. "If you're right and a number of those… creatures left the ship, wouldn't that be the right moment to try and escape?"
"It also means that they are more alert," Jack told them. "In my opinion the chances of success are higher when we're in hyperspace."
"But what he has said sounds good," Rupert argued. "The less of them are out there the better."
"We don't really have a plan yet," Grant threw in. "I think we should wait until we're better organized before we try and attack the Tebr'ox."
Even through the erupting discussion Jack heard Ianto sigh behind him.
"Jack?"
"Hm?"
"I wonder what Tosh is doing right now."
"Working on a rescue plan, I hope," Jack murmured just loud enough for Ianto to hear.
tbc…