14
"And you left without any survivors" the Head of the Collective bristled in her chair on high, Ianto bristling silently in his own chair as the General stood to attention in front of his crew, the one on the mat here.
"Madam, there were none. We were twelve hours or so late." The General growled "My crew and I tried to find any signs, could not."
"We will have to take your word for that!" she sniffed.
Ianto was on his feet before he could stop himself, the loyalty in him fierce as he stood to defend his leader "Madam! Ms Sato here can show you the computer files recovered from the hard drives that show the colonists were over run at least 24 hours before we were even in range. The last of them died in the night as we were trying to get to them. There WERE none to retrieve and that is a sadness we will have to carry with us."
"First Lieutenant" she said with a slow blink "How can you be so sure?"
"Madam, Jack and I still have our uniforms in snapped bags for the incinerator if you want to examine them first. The smell of sulphur so cloying it was almost sickening as we fled. Fled Yes, I am not ashamed to admit we left with open fear. The monsters were creating sulphate so strongly that we could taste it. I am sure you can smell our fear in the fabric… as well as the death Jack walked though." Ianto said then finally got hold of himself, adding "But of course, one as cultured as yourself needs not taint herself with a smell as we need another cleansing before we finally agree it is gone from our skin."
"Captain?"
Jack rose to shoot a look at Ianto before saying "I concur with my husband. Those things were not only in full sulphurization, they were preparing for the second migration. The first hit us, the second might be larger and more aggressive."
"I see."
Ianto stood with Jack, reaching for his hand as he knew Jack was angered that Ianto had spoken instead of keeping his mouth shut like Jack but Jack squeezed softly to show he was not mad at him for this. The soft thrum of comfort flowed and Ianto relaxed. As he had suspected, Jack had a touch of the gift too.
Finally the woman said "Very well. We accept this account and add it into record."
Everyone bowed and left the room, Ianto and Jack glad they were done with all of the shit then Toshiko had to say "they didn't find it ya know. The one in the hull."
"Bullshit!" John spat.
"Nope. If one did get into that vent it is still in the workings of this ship" she sighed.
"Damn it… if one is on this vessel then we will already be missing people" Ianto replied, then he paled as he swung to face Jack "The Skin Walkers. They would know if they are missing people. They would be the first to go, right?"
"Hang on, I will check their membership numbers" Toshiko agreed, tapping on her tablet as Ianto made a noise of annoyance.
"What?" Jack asked softly.
"Membership numbers. Like they asked for it" Ianto said angrily "Not all of them are criminals. Not all of them are bad people, just not necessary to the Collective anymore."
"Well… if one is still looks to be in the workings they will suddenly be the most important ones on this ship" John said as he saw Ianto's annoyance without knowing why "Who else will be send to hunt them down?"
"Wow, I am sure it will enjoy the snacks we send!" Ianto snarled, not totally enraged as Jack knew Ianto was right, reaching out to pull him into his arms in an attempt to contain him somehow. He looked like he was ready to fly apart, shaking slightly as he glared at his shoes.
"IF and it is a big IF but IF one is in the hull's skin we will not send Skin Walkers to their doom. IF one is lose anywhere in this vessel WE will hunt it down. We are the bloody experts right?" John said calmly "Right?"
"You. A Sonic blaster in the skin of the vessel? Right. Good idea I am sure!" Andy laughed as he shoved at John "I see boom…scream… sucky sucky swoosh…. Bye bye."
Ianto started to chuckle, then laugh as Andy mimed floating away into space as John pouted theatrically.
"He is right though. John is trigger-happy" Jack laughed as well, the relief raw as he saw Ianto let go of his anger.
"And he is right about the whole… expert thing" Owen added "If one is on this ship, it multiplies and we are all fucked. We don't' have time to send body after body to it. We need to hunt it, kill it and cleanse this place. Assuming it was just one that managed to get inside in the first place, not more."
"Well... I don't know about anyone else, but I need to see my kids" Ianto sighed reaching for Jack's hand "Come on husband. Let's go kiss our kids and remember why we are about to get into the one place I am afraid of."
Jack knew the ghosts in there would haunt Ianto more than the Dermils.
Lisa would be waiting in the back of his mind.