Will Ianto be able to save Lulu?

Phaeton 2: Yamellia

Chapter Twelve

It was the lack of a long sleeved tunic that ruined Ianto's plan. His hand was on Lulu's neck, fingers curling round to get a firm grip, when a tentacle whipped out and wrapped itself around his bare arm which showed clearly in the shaft of moonlight.

"Ah!" exclaimed Ianto. The trooper used his tentacle to pull Ianto out into the clearing, dragging him on his knees until he was fully outside. When Ianto looked up, three troopers were circling, weapons trained on him.

"Out of the way!" Kika emerged from the living quarters, pushing aside the nearest trooper who was so surprised he let her. "Lulu, my love, come to mama." Ignoring everyone and everything around her, she went to the bewildered kitten who was standing frozen and shivering with fright among the tentacles of the Yam towering above her.

For the next few minutes all was confusion. Kept on his knees, now held by tentacles on both arms, Ianto could do nothing but watch as troopers tore the screens from the opening to the living quarters and rampaged through the space searching for anyone or anything that was hidden there. Over at the mine entrance, Joseph Patrick Maguire dropped the pick and ran to his wife's side, batting away a trooper who tried to stop him. He gently raised Kika to her feet, his arms round her and Lulu. Left alone at the mine entrance, Olek stood silently watching the scene until startled mews from the living quarters impelled him forward only to be stopped by one of the troopers holding Ianto.

"My babies!" cried Kika, pushing Lulu into Joseph's arms and trying to get through the troopers to the now upturned box lying on the floor. "Leave them alone! They're just babies!"

Joseph added his voice to hers and the troopers, voices high and strident, tried to stop them moving and at the same time shouted orders which were countermanded immediately. It was pandemonium. Added to the cacophony, for Ianto only, was Jack's quiet voice in his ear.

"I'm almost with you. What's that noise?"

"They've found us," murmured Ianto, looking down so his face was obscured by his hair hanging down on both sides of his face. "Stay clear."

"No way. I am not going to let anything happen to you."

"Then at least pick your moment."

"Huh! I'll see."

Leaving aside the problem of Jack for the time being, Ianto checked what was happening around him. Somewhere behind, Kika was crooning to the kittens and she soon reappeared, escorted by a trooper, with the box in her arms, Unne's head peeping over the side. With the box and its contents safely on the ground, Kika blithely ignored the troopers and ceremoniously introduced the kittens to their father and him to them. It was a touching scene that, for a while, stilled other noise and movement in the clearing. The troopers seemed as interested in the family reunion as everyone else, so much so that the ones holding Ianto's arms released him. He rubbed at the red weals on his forearms, aware that he was still under guard.

"Good job they let you go, I was just about to kill them." Jack's tone was determined and carried conviction; Ianto did not doubt that he meant every word.

After his forced march back to the mine, Jack had crept up unnoticed and was now secreted behind bushes of teffel, the large flat leaves giving excellent cover while providing gaps for almost unrestricted views. He was on the tool store side of the clearing near where the main trail led out and down to the stream and the way back to civilisation, a way currently blocked by the personnel carrier that had brought the troopers. Inside the clearing Ianto, on his knees, and his two guards were three metres in front of the ransacked living quarters which were now open to view, the screens lying bent and discarded on the ground. To Ianto's right, about a metre or so away, were Kika and Maguire, also kneeling, holding and stroking the kittens. Two more troopers stood close to them, apparently at ease but their weapons could be raised and used in an instant. Olek was on Ianto's left nearer the mine entrance with his own guard which left one trooper to watch over the whole scene; he was standing in the middle of the clearing, facing away from Jack, and appeared to be in charge.

As surreptitiously as he could, Ianto scanned the area around the clearing, looking for signs of Jack. It was a difficult task. All the lamps in the living quarters had been lit and most of the clearing was bright, in stark contrast to the deep shadows and darkness beyond. Nevertheless, Ianto continued to look hoping that he could spot the familiar figure. In a strange way finding Jack in the gloom would prove their relationship was more than just a physical attraction. It would show they had a deeper connection, this 'true love' that Jack spoke of often but which Ianto himself instinctively shied away from. On his second scan round the area, Ianto noticed a darker patch near the trailhead and stared at it. Was that Jack? It was roughly the size and shape of a man. For a moment, so brief he thought he must have imagined it, he thought he saw Jack's face in the foliage but then it was gone. He wished he could respond to Jack's message but his guards were too close now and in the silence, broken only by the strong wind rushing through vegetation, he would have been overheard easily.

"You spotted me."

The words were full of amusement and love and Ianto smiled before carefully averting his gaze. He did not want to draw attention to the other man, he could be the means of extricating them from their current predicament. Besides, he didn't want Jack to see how pleased he, Ianto, was that he had found the other man.

"Maguire, stand up!" ordered the trooper in charge, standing over him. His weapon, a large blaster with a double barrel and enough firepower to cut down a human, was close to the man's ear. "Up!"

"Okay." Maguire's drawl was unhurried. He returned Toth to the box, rested a hand on Kika's shoulder in reassurance, and stood. "Now, what be you wanting?"

"The device. Get it."

"Maybe we need to think this over," he said, gazing steadily at the Yam whose three eyes were on a level with his own. "There be my family to consider."

"No more talk!" The blaster thudded into Maguire's stomach and he doubled over with a gasp of pain. "We have deal. You get device."

"Joseph!" Kika was standing now, hands helping her husband stay upright. "Give it to them. It's not worth you being hurt."

Gasping for breath, clinging to her supporting arms, he shook his head. "Not unless I know we walk away from this."

"No talk! Get!" The trooper was screaming at the top of his high pitched voice, bulbous head pulsating with fury.

"My family go free. Now. Let them leave and I'll get it for you."

"I'm not going without you!" protested Kika, hanging onto his arm. She turned to face the trooper and said, "I know where the zixxtu is. I'll -"

Yam were not considered the most intelligent beings in the galaxy. Their early dealings with off-worlders had been entirely one-sided with trust and honesty from them and deception and theft on the other. But they had learnt, had to in order to survive, and this trooper captain was brighter than most which is why he had been given this independent command. With one graceful movement one of his front tentacles grasped the box containing the kittens and held it aloft, moving back a pace or two at the same time. Hostage taking was a tactic known to all races.

"Give now or these die!" The box wavered three metres or so off the ground, canted dangerously to one side. Tofu could be seen scrabbling at the edge, only just managing to stay inside.

"No! Don't hurt them! You can have it." Kika was distraught, clawing at the tentacle towering above her. Ichor dripped down the appendage but the Yam did not release the kittens.

"Kika, honey, we need assurances," began Maguire, still slightly bent over and rubbing his abdomen.

"I need my family!" she screeched, rounding on him. She was crouched, exposed fur standing upright and claws unsheathed. "It's in here." She moved into the living quarters and found the explosives container where it had ended up underneath some cushions. Coming back, she faced the trooper captain. "Give me my babies and you can have this."

Relegated to the background, Ianto watched the two of them. The Yam and the Cat Person stared at one another, each sizing up the other, then slowly the tentacle was lowered while another reached out towards the explosives container. Only when the kittens were in reach did Kika release the container and take the box, immediately stepping back. Beside her, Maguire had slumped to the ground, his head in his hands. Whatever bargaining chip they had had was gone now. They were all at the troopers' mercy. Coughing against the dust whipping round the clearing, borne on an increasingly strong wind, Ianto held his breath as the trooper captain opened the container and unwrapped the zixxtu. He inspected it visually and appeared to be satisfied as he rewound the wrappings and returned it to the container.

"Good," he said, then disintegrated in a green mass of limbs and ichor.

Even as he threw himself flat on the ground, Ianto's first thought was that Jack had fired the shot. But this was proved wrong when Ianto's two guards turned their weapons on the two troopers near Kika and Maguire and Olek killed the one beside him. Kika screamed and covered the kittens, Maguire flung himself over her. The wind continued to gain strength, moaning through holes eroded in the rocks, but otherwise the silence in the clearing was absolute. Olek strode forward and picked up the explosives container, wiping off the gunge. The two remaining troopers quickly secured the weapons of their erstwhile colleagues.

Looking up, Maguire stared at Olek. "What's happening? How did you …" He did not complete the thought, letting it hang in the air.

The Hath stood, head raised proudly and flanked by the two troopers. With a mixture of gestures and grunts familiar to Maguire and translated by him for the benefit of the others, Olek explained that he was working for Doxe. His mission was to retrieve the zixxtu but only when he could eliminate the thieves and leave no witnesses. This was that moment. He raised his blaster and his finger tightened on the trigger.

This time it was Olek who died. Jack had come out of the bushes, his movements unheard amid the rising noise of the wind and the oncoming dust storm, and shot the Hath in the back without compunction or regret. His next shot killed the trooper on the right but he was not fast enough to get the other one and Jack went down, felled by a single blast that pierced his forehead.

"Jack, no," whispered Ianto, crawling forward on hands and knees. He was wary of the single trooper still standing but his need to be close to Jack was stronger.

"Mine," said the trooper greedily, picking up the container in his one free tentacle. The other three front ones each held a blaster all of which he could use at will. An unexpected gust of wind whistled through the clearing, strong enough to lift the discarded screens and rattle everything else that was not secured. "Storm." Suddenly aware of the danger from the dust storm which was now upon them, the trooper backed out of the clearing and made a beeline for the personnel carrier. He knew what was coming better than the others and didn't delay in making his escape, relying on the storm to finish off the off-worlders.

Ianto got to his feet, was knocked down again by the wind, then half-walked, half-crawled to Jack's side. The wound was four or five centimetres around in his right temple with a corresponding hole in the back of the skull. Blood dripped down sluggishly across his face and into his open eyes. "Jack," wailed Ianto, clasping him to his chest. He prayed that Jack had been telling the truth about his immortality.

Maguire was at Ianto's side, having been told by Kika what he and Jack were doing at the mine. "I be sorry for your loss, but we can't stay here. I have to get Kika and the babies away, before anyone comes looking. The storm be good cover for us."

"Of course." Ianto raised his face, coughing and blinking against the dust being driven in on the ferocious wind. "There's a bike with a sidecar in there." He nodded to the store. "Take it."

"What about you?"

"I'll follow later. Leave me the other bike."

Maguire hesitated, started to say something then gave up. With a nod, he placed a hand on Ianto's shoulder and battled back to Kika who had taken the kittens into the paltry shelter of the living quarters. Ten minutes later, after brief farewells, the family was settled in the sidecar with a few supplies. Muffled against the wind and dust, Maguire got onto the bike and drove out of the clearing, past the figure of Ianto still holding Jack's body.

Phew! What will Ianto do now?