Thank you to PCJanto, Badly-knitted and Catt42 for your lovely reviews. I'm sorry I haven't PM'ed you. Real life, you know? Catt42, having Orion act out of character was the whole point. He was feral; acting on pure instinct and emotion, his single thought was to save his mate. Besides, it wasn't that off character… he did attack a weevil when he was a baby. The only reason the weevil walked (well, ran) away, was because he was so young. He also attacked his cousin, come to think of it…

Warning: This chapter contains more violence.

It also contains some phrases in Welsh. If it turns out to be complete gibberish, blame it on Google translate ('cause I don't speak Welsh). The English phrases can be found at the end of the chapter. They're not really important other than to illustrate a rant.

Chapter 6 Dungeons and exploding ships

Orion dodged behind a nearby console as a bolt from an energy weapon was fired at him from the door. More of the Pygmy Marmoset-look-a-likes charged through and shot another blue beam at him. When the bolt struck a pipe behind him it blew a big hole and noxious green smoke billowed into the room. Orion coughed as he feverishly examined the weapon he had taken from the dead alien. The one he had butchered; he shivered at the thought and quickly focused on the present situation. The weapon fit into his hand quite well. It had a number of buttons on it, but he was loath to press them, when he didn't know what they did. Another energy bolt struck the console; causing a small explosion and acrid smoke from the burnt circuits wafted into the air. It was getting difficult to breathe with more and more of the green smoke flooding the chamber.

He could hear the aliens talking in the background. They were firing shots at random, keeping him trapped where he was hiding. What worried him was that they didn't seem to have a care for what they were hitting. They had already destroyed the pipe and the console, as if they didn't matter to them. He peeked over the console to look at what they were up to. He just caught a glimpse of one of them tapping away at another console, when the alien next to it fired its weapon at him. He ducked behind his console again. His heart was pounding away and he could feel the adrenalin pumping. He felt inside for his mate. It was still alive, but still weakening. He had to do something. And quick.

xxXxx

Ianto had never suspected there was a dungeon under Buckingham Palace. Nor that he would ever find himself as a resident in it. But here he was. Mind you it wasn't half bad as dungeons go. It was really a room in a converted basement down the hall from some of the security rooms. The room was rather sparse, as one would expect from a seldom used cell. There wasn't any window; they were too deep under ground for that. There were two plastic covered mattresses on the floor, a sink and a toilet stuck to the wall. It rather resembled a drunk-tank, of the variety the coppers use to house drunks over night.

He looked over at Jack. The man was lying on one of the mattresses with his arms beneath his head, one leg bent up with the other resting over it; foot tapping to a tune in Jack's head. He looked perfectly at ease. 'Of course, Jack would have a lot of experience being locked away in small cells' Ianto thought wryly and grimaced to him self.

"How can you just lie there, like nothing's happened?" he asked in frustration. Jack turned to look at him. Seeing his lover's distress prompted him into action. He sprung up like a Jack-in-a-box and grabbed Ianto by the wrist; pulling him down onto the mattress beside him. He flung his arm around Ianto's shoulder and hugged him in a half embrace.

"We'll get out of here soon, Love. They can't keep us here for long." He kissed his cheek.

"But… Orion…" his voice broke. "We…"

"We will find him." Jack told him in a firm voice. Ianto tore out of the hug and frowned at him.

"We don't even know what happened! Or where he went! Or why!" Jack's calmness infuriated him. How could the man be so calm and unemotional, when their son was missing doing god knows what heaven knows where. "How can we just sit here…" Jack cut him off:

"Ianto, calm down. We…" Ianto leapt up, face turning red with anger and he yelled at Jack:

"Calm down? CALM DOWN! Don't you bloody tell me to calm down! Our son is missing, possibly in danger and you want me to calm down? Mae ein mab, ein cnawd a gwaed, wedi diflannu i mewn i borth rhyfedd ei fod yn creu i fynd wneud pwy a ŵyr beth a ydych am i mi eistedd yma a bod yn dawel? Pa fath o tad ydych chi?" Ianto continued to rant and rave in Welsh, turning to ever more uncivil phrases. Thankfully Jack couldn't understand the words, but he caught the gist of it. In the end he settled for letting Ianto blow of some steam and some of his frustration; knowing he would be more open to reason afterwards.

Besides he couldn't help but admire the younger man. He was beautiful in his fury. His whole being was lit up from the inside with such a great passion, that he seemed to glow with it. His red face was screwed up in anger and his eyes shone with fire from within. Jack had the strongest urge to kiss him. But Ianto would most likely deck him if he tried. Ianto noticed the hungry look in Jack's eyes and it sparked a whole new tirade of insults.

xxXxx

Orion studied what little he could see of the chamber; wondering if there might be anything of use to him in his current predicament. There were loads of pipes of all sizes, but he would have to use excessive force to wrest them free from their holdings. Besides he didn't know how he could get close enough to his opponents to use them. He had counted just three aliens left. A quick search using his senses had revealed one left on what he assumed was the bridge control room and two down in the engine room with him. So if he could somehow eliminate the two on the opposite side of the chamber, then he would have time to free his mate and the other prisoner.

Again he looked down at the weapon. He did of course have a great knowledge of weaponry and combat gleaned from his Daddy's mind, but this weapon was unfamiliar as were the symbols printed on it. For all he knew the blue buttons would cause the weapon to spectacularly self destruct or something of that ilk. But there wasn't really any other option. He sighed inwardly, bracing himself for disaster and with a rapid fluent motion he leapt up and fired the weapon at the aliens.

He paled and his eyes widened as he saw the terrifying blue beam of energy head straight for the enemy and miss - hitting the console between them instead. They shrieked and dove to the floor, one of them had been hit on the head by a piece of debris. Orion could sense the life leave the bloodied body on the floor. The other turned and fired at him and he once again ducked behind his own console. He could hear more alarms going of and the existing ones seemed to become more insistent. He reached over the console and fired the weapon, blindly aiming it in the general direction of the alien. There was an explosion, making the whole room shake and causing him to loose his balance.

The noise was deafening and the air impossible to breathe. He coughed violently and spat out blackened saliva onto the floor. Still coughing he reached out his senses to search out the alien's location. His last shot had obliterated a large section of pipes, which had caused the explosion. The alien had been caught in the blast and was now scattered over a rather large portion of the chamber.

The fans kicked in and worked to vacate the smoke from the room. Shaking he got to his feet and hurried over to the two prisoners. The device they were strapped into had thankfully seized working. He looked at the bindings holding them captive. They were basically just metal bands around the wrists and ankles welded to the frame and reinforced by a powerful electromagnet. But since the power had been cut the bands could be easily removed with a little brute force. Smiling slightly in relief he altered his shape to allow for the strength required and set to work on releasing the prisoners.

First he helped the almost unconscious form of the adult down. It was very weak and he could feel it trembling in his arms. He gently laid it on the floor on a spot that was more or less unblemished by the carnage and destruction. As he was about to move away to get his mate, the adult weakly grabbed his arm and a telepathic connection was made. Orion blinked as he tried to make sense of the message that had been thrust upon his mind. It was a warning. The ship they were on was about to be destroyed. There was a loud piercing klaxon – a kind of whoop whoop whoop sound – that signalled the immanent explosion of the ships secondary propulsion system. The primary propulsion system, the Jump drive, had already been disabled.

Orion shook his head to clear his mind. It was confusing sometimes when adults such as Xarion and Rea did a memory dump on him; literally transferring a copy of a block of memory and information into his mind for him to process and store. He had often complained to himself that he wasn't a computer and being to-thirds Human made the memory dumps more difficult to handle. But he could understand its usefulness. He now knew exactly where the life boats were. He nodded his understanding and the adult let go of him.

He rushed over to his still unconscious mate, intent on freeing them. It was a Micurii'an he registered briefly, while ripping off the bands holding it. He suspected that it was too exhausted to maintain a form other than its natural one and he took a second to look at it. It was neutral gendered, like all Micurii'ans and it was younger than him; just on the brink of adolescence. Its brown hair was shoulder length and tied into a ponytail at the nape of the neck. It was also the most beautiful person Orion could ever remember seeing. He would have loved to just stand there gazing at his precious mate, but another minor explosion forced his mind back on the dangerous situation they were in.

Carefully he grabbed his mate's smaller body and carried them away; heading toward the adult. He would need to consider how he would get the both of them back to the portal, when neither of them was fit to walk. He was almost there, when a loud scream sounded by the door behind him and a shot was fired. Reacting instinctively he used his own body to shield his mate and was hit on the right shoulder full on. Orion screamed in agony as the force of the impact sent them flying toward the floor in front of them. In his mind he could feel his portal to the palace closing; cutting off his nearest escape route.

As they crashed the alien screamed again angrily. Orion was sure it would fire again. He felt a moment of self torment. He had completely forgotten about the last of the aliens. He should have expected it to come down to investigate and now his mistake would cost him the life of his mate, the adult and himself. The adult moved weakly and he became aware of a glow surrounding its hands. The glow became intense and shone a blinding blue colour and crackled like lightning. Suddenly it leapt from the adults hands and flew in a small ball toward the alien. It shrieked and crumbled to the floor; dead. Orion stared at it and then at the adult. His mind unable to comprehend what had just happened. The adult smiled gently at them, before it too collapsed. A soft sigh signalling its own death.

Orion shook, as he realised that the adult had saved them. It had spent its last reserves on that ball of energy. Then he noticed a shaking that wasn't his own. It was the ship. The whole thing shook and trembled, like a frightened animal. A large pipe fell from overhead and clattered down, startling Orion. He quickly scooped his mate up into his arms again and carried them bridal style out of the chamber. His shoulder throbbed with pain and he could feel the blood flowing freely down his back, but he ignored it. He had to get his mate to safety. He had to get of the ship and away before it blew up. He ran down debris filled corridors and jumped over the scattered remains of what had once been a proud vessel. He ran as he had never run before. His body was screaming from pain and exertion; adrenalin pumping and keeping him going.

Finally they were by the nearest life boat. The adult had given him the knowledge he needed to operate the controls for not only the door, but also the life boat itself. There was now a high pitched whine coming from the engines and he instinctively knew they were running out of time. He operated the door controls while still carrying his mate and rushed inside as soon as possible. Carefully he placed his mate on the bunk and pushed the few controls needed to start the separation sequence and put some distance to the ship.

He stood there staring out the small porthole for indeterminable seconds, clutching onto the panel to keep himself upright; his body aching, his heart pounding, his lungs gasping for air. Then the ship blew. The tremendous fireball ballooned out and then collapsed in on it self as the air was consumed by the fire and the vacuum of space. The shockwave hit them a moment later and Orion held on as they were knocked along, like a gigantic fist had used them as volleyball. Then the shockwave was passed them and they drifted once more. Orion gathered what was left of his strength and punched the button that would enable the life boat's homing system. The life boat would home in on the nearest inhabitable planet and land there. He then went over to the bunk, where his mate was lying and flopped down on the narrow mattress beside it. He really should find the first aid kit and tend to his injured shoulder, but he just wanted to rest for a moment. Tiredly he spooned his mate and wrapped his right arm around them and fell asleep.

*Mae ein mab, ein cnawd a gwaed, wedi diflannu i mewn i borth rhyfedd ei fod yn creu i fynd wneud pwy a ŵyr beth a ydych am i mi eistedd yma a bod yn dawel? pa fath o tad ydych chi?

= Our son, our flesh and blood, has dissappeared into a strange portal that he created to go do who knows what and you want me to sit here and be calm? what kind of father are you?