A/N Hope you are all still with us, there should soon be more, if I have anything to say about it. (ok ok, and time) Thanks to those of you who have held on, left reviews and alerts. Remember reviews are love and the more love, the more the muse is happy. Thanks to my beta Orion Lyonesse without who, there wouldn't be any more.

The General nodded and the men slowly lowered their weapons as did Ianto, carefully holstering his glock.

"Ok, now you can tell me why this ship, which I specifically told you had the potential to blow up a large chunk of the country, is being stored in one of the most populous parts of the country," he said with what would have been one of his trademark grins if it had climbed higher than his lower lip.

General Christian had been more accommodating after that but only because he was certain he was right. While Ianto had quietly opened the channel to the hub to make sure they were recording everything, the scientific advisor had been explaining his position and showing his projections to Jack. He explained how someone in the Ministry, what Jack would call a bean counter if he was being polite and a few other things if he wasn't, had read his work and pushed him to apply it to the Vrakian ship they were storing for Torchwood. Meanwhile, the Captain had placed a little capture device on the laptop to transmit his data to Tosh while the man was distracted and if necessary allow her to take control remotely.

"The problem with all of this," Jack said slowly after giving the young man his attention. "Is that it's all wrong."

"What are you… It can't…" the younger man started indignantly. Five minutes later Jack had gone beyond Ianto's understanding and, from the looks on the rest of them, they were equally lost. The General looked annoyed and impatient and the science advisor looked like he was clinging to understanding just barely, and losing his grip. Ianto resisted the urge to grin. Jack was explaining it patiently, as if to a small and not particularly bright child. At least Dr. Neville, leave it to Jack to find out his name while calling him an idiot, seemed to be listening. Unfortunately the General wasn't.

"This is all bollocks, get on with it. I want that ship opened."

Dr. Neville, who had gone three shades paler beneath his dark hair while Jack finished talking, spoke up and for the first time Ianto noted the northern accent, more pronounced now that he was distressed. "Sir, perhaps we should run some more tests…" he started cautiously. "Obviously there are variables I had not…"

"That's enough," the man said, impatiently.

"General," Jack said, voice oozing with insincere camaraderie. "Ignoring the fact that this thing belongs to Torchwood, not UNIT…" The man started to say something but Jack cut him off surgically. "Ignoring that for the moment and that you are determined to ignore Dr. Neville as well, I set up a little demonstration. Ianto," he called and the Welshman stepped up and began helping. Not completely sure what they were planning to use as a cutting torch, Jack had guessed, both at how much material and what to cut through with. Overall they were more than prepared to give them a simulation to sort them out, though having found out about the Arcatine cutting torch, Jack looked a little less confident. They took scans, confirming the material and concentrations were consistent, and setting up containment that Ianto could tell Jack wasn't particularly sanguine about holding.

"Ianto, if it looks like…" he said quietly as they checked the last connections.

"I know what to do, Sir," he said sharply but he could tell that Jack didn't think he was taking the danger seriously enough. Ianto had slipped the contacts carefully while setting up so that they could communicate since the open video was only one way. They had planned for everything possible. The rest, well that would take care of itself.

Ianto was taking the danger seriously enough, at least he thought he was. On his wrist, the leather band was an ever present reminder, of both the danger and how far he would go to protect him. But he had no intention of leaving unless he really felt there was no option. If Jack hadn't needed him, he knew he would be safely back at the Hub with Owen and Tosh, not to mention John. But Jack did need him, and he had no intention of budging. Besides, he didn't trust the General as far as he could throw the Millennium Stadium. He was afraid of what they would do to Jack if he was killed. It wouldn't be the first time less than scrupulous forces inside UNIT made a try for him, and no amount of explaining that the accident that left him immortal was not replicable and that even if it were, it was a curse not a blessing, would get through to some people. If they couldn't have the ship, he wouldn't put it past them to make due with Jack.

"All right?" The words appeared at the bottom of his field of vision.

"Yeah," he said quietly, nodding his head so they would get it. He looked down and shot the cuffs of his jacket, knowing that they would see it and know just how worried Jack was.

"WOW."

Exactly, he thought.

"Ready, Ianto?" Jack asked. Ianto nodded, and blinked to let him know they were live. "OK, let's do this," He said, slipping the cordelaine device to Ianto as he turned. Obviously Jack wasn't too sure what they would do with him either and Ianto could picture himself like a terrier over it's master's body with his glock and the device, holding off the might of UNIT, and the alien body armour Jack had forced him into when they stopped only made him feel a little better.

Jack tapped into the computer and after Dr. Neville confirmed his readings again, the soldiers were ordered back. "Don't want anyone getting injured," Jack said. "The object in the containment box is a piece of a different Vrakian ship that exploded trying to make an emergency landing near Aberystwyth back in '68. Unfortunately there were no survivors, though seven foot tall green reptiles with vestigial wings would be difficult to hide, even in Wales. Lucky for us, they exploded high in the upper atmosphere, bright lights, big bang and some funny weather, but no damage. If it had exploded on the ground it would have taken most of Wales with it."

"So no loss there, then," one of the soldiers remarked sarkily. Ianto shot him a dirty look while Jack continued.

"Now this particular type of radiation is neither incredibly long lasting, nor is it environmentally dangerous the way some others are, at least not on this planet, but it makes up for it with an unfortunate tendency to explode."

"Then why do they use it?" one of Neville's assistants asked. It seemed that since Jack was holding class they were going to take advantage.

"Partially, it's not their problem, it's ours. They don't have an oxygen rich atmosphere, so it's much more stable, but also, this is mostly deprecated technology. These are old ships. If they hadn't crashed, you wouldn't have known anything about them. Now, I have a small amount of radiation-soaked material in the box. I think it's part of the control stalk but it's hard to tell. The important thing is, that it's had about forty years to decay, so it is about a third as strong as it was and proportionally equivalent to that ship over there. I'll be controlling the torch from here, exactly like the one you want to use. You might want to back up some more." Most of the crowd decided to take his advice.

General Christian stood impatiently beyond the station where Dr. Neville and Ianto both had their computers and monitoring equipment going full out. Jack was close to the blast screen and consequently the potential explosion but, as Jack had pointed out, since he was working the torch, he needed to see what he was doing. He said he preferred to do it by eye, as this needed more precision. Ianto wanted him to use cameras but as Jack pointed out, there was no way to know if or when they would cut out.

"Get on with it," the man shouted.

"Contact," Jack said, starting the remote torch.

"Readings at 4.5, 5.5," Ianto said. "7.2. Jack, they're climbin' faster and we're not through the outer casing. 15.8, 24.9, Jack…"

"Nothing's going to…" the General started.

"Jack, the casing…" he shouted as the metal made a tearing sound.

"Weevils," Jack shouted. Ianto flipped open the strap, his finger hovering for a moment over the button.

Then the world turned upside down.