Chapter Fourteen
Jack took in everything the team was doing and nothing seemed to work just like the Slitheen had said. "Bugger!" He thought only half listening to what the others were saying until he picked up on what Ianto mentioned. Something that the alien might be holding. He had point there. The Slitheen had her back towards him, Jack ran his eyes down to look at the cane she was holding and pulled a face. Anyone who could see him could easily think he was looking at something else, that shouldn't be mentioned.
It was the first time he had actually noticed the markings on the walking stick, they weren't from earth. The handle seemed to be made of some kind on mental and the rest seemed to be made of wood with funny carvings all the way down its length. There was a blue flashing light around the base of it and he wondered why he hadn't noticed it before now, but he was pretty out of it when he had snatched it out her grasp earlier to notice anything in particular.
He also noticed that he was the only one who could get anywhere close enough to her to actually do anything about it. He gestured to the other two to keep her talking and hold her attention as he crept up behind her. One hand out stretched in front of him ready to grab the cane and with his free hand he placed a finger against his lips to tell, Owen and Ianto to not give any sign away that he was almost in touching distance of the stick.
The moment he touched the stick it sent an electrical shock through his body but he held on and snatched it away from her. She automatically turned to face him ready to strike. She pointed her finger at him and a poisonous dart flew out from the tip but Jack knew that a female Raxacoricofallapatorians in extreme cases, have certain ways on how to protect herself when her life is in danger or in desperate measures. Manufacturing a poison dart within her own finger tip was one of them and as a final resort, the excess poison can be exhaled through the lungs. Jack dodged the dart by merely a few inches but he knew whatever poison was it wouldn't affect him as she first thought it might.
"Looking for this are ya?" he asked and lifted the cane up in the air, pulsing a sharp electrical shock through his body, but he didn't give into it. "You gotta catch me first" He smirked and set off at a quick pace around the rear end of the ship.
"Give that back!" He heard the Slitheen spit, knowing that taking the cane from her put her into a vulnerable position and the way she was reacting just proved his point.
He climbed up onto the shaft and pulled himself up on to the roof of the spaceship. He found the opening to her craft and slid down the laddered tunnel inside. It was pretty big inside but he made his way straight to the controls. He tried snapping the cane but it wouldn't budge, it looked wooden but it was rock hard metal which bruised his leg when he tried to snap it, he hoped that his plan B would work. There must be something somewhere that would allow him to programme the ship to detonate. Every ship had something like it, depending on what situation you were in. It was a life line and normally you would take an escape pod and watch your ship get blown up in front of your eyes as you floated away from it. Jack was thinking with experience. He was hoping sooner or later the Slitheen would follow him inside. He started to press several buttons on the control panel then entered the coordinates for her own planet.
At that moment the alien stepped into the ship and gave him yet another twisted smile. "I got you just where I want you"
Something caught Jack's eye "Oh really?" he said and slammed the cane into what seemed to be an holding place for it. It shone brightly and Jack slammed his fist down onto the base of it, jamming it even further into its holding place. The cane was joint with the ship that worked as a protection for Margaret, but while Jack was playing with the controls momentarily ago, he programmed it to do just the opposite. To work against Margaret.
The ship shook violently, the voice over controller was saying everything was malfunctioning. All different colour lights were flashing, the thing was ready to blow.
"If you blow up this ship then you'll blow with it," the Slitheen said but Jack noted the panic raising in her voice.
"Let it blow" he replied as an electronic voice started to count down from five
Four
Three
Two
"STOP!" Margaret screamed.
One…
Jack ran for the ladder knocking the Slitheen off balance as he did. He climbed the ladder and popped his head out of the command observation bubble of the ship shouting over to Owen and Ianto. "Get back!" he yelled to the other two still by the stables, who ran for cover at the cottage.
The ship suddenly exploded and disappeared leaving nothing but a pile of ship dust. Fear rose in both Ianto and Owen. Gwen had stepped into the court yard this point followed by Mark and Jess as they on-looked just behind the two men, in shock. It took a few minutes, which felt like hours for the smoke to clear to reveal a man in his greatcoat lying in a heap on the floor.
"Jack!" Gwen and Ianto yelled at the same time and made a run for him so did Owen and the other two civilians. They all scaled the fence of the paddock.
Gwen was the first to approach and turned Jack onto his back to be faced with a beaming smile up at them all.
"Don't ever do that again!" Ianto said.
"You're a cruel man Jack Harkness" Owen muttered somewhere in the background.
Mark and Jess gave at each other questioning looks. "How did you survive that?"
Jack got to his feet and stretched. "The cane was programmed to keep the Slitheen protected using some future technology. I did a little jiggering while I was inside the ship and managed to programme the equipment up to this thing" he gestured to his vortex manipulator on his wrist. "not useless after all, it worked against the Slitheen and protected me instead"
"What happened to the Slitheen?"
Jack's eyes suddenly darkened. "Who Margaret? I programmed her ship to go back to Raxacoricofallapatorius, last time I met her, her people wanted to execute her – no second chances. Lets hope they finish the job"
"And if they don't and she comes back?"
"I will finish her people's job for them once and for all"
He walked passed the group, without a second glance back and left for the SUV deep in thought.
A dog sat near the entrance to the driveway and barked when Jack passed. He jumped out of a world of his own and made his way over to it. "Not a word of what happened today, you here me?"
The dog barked again
"Good lad" he ruffled the dogs golden fur and watched the golden retriever run back home.