Thank you to all who read this and special thanks to Badly-knitted for the review and the assistance.

Chapter 12 Unpopular demands and first times

Jack beamed his smile at the congregated V.I.P.s and government officials. This was his field of expertise. He could see some of the people start to relax and smile at him. 51st. century pheromones were a true gift when stuck in the 21st century, he thought as he looked at the men and women in the room. His eyes met those of the prime minister's. The man had a hostile air about him, and Jack remembered previous dealings with him. There was no love lost between them, but they still managed to work together when they had to.

"This is hardly the X-files, sir." Jack smiled at him, relishing the fact that he could still make the man squirm. There was a time, some 30 or so years ago, when Aloysius Cooper had squirmed for him for an entirely different reason. Back then he had been a young aspiring politician, not yet restrained by marriage and a successful political career. They had met at a hotel during an important summit, had gotten drunk in the hotel bar and had slept together in Jack's room. The next morning the young man had been so full of shame and regret that Jack had promised to keep their night together a secret. And he had kept his promise. To this day he had never breathed a word about it to anyone and the Prime Minister knew it. That did not however mean that it would stay that way, as they both were well aware.

They stared at each other. The politician and the rogue operative. Oh, how the PM wished the Queen would let them have control of Torchwood. Then he could let the handsome Captain know his place and then he wouldn't have to worry anymore. That night at the hotel was his one lapse of morality and the one thing that would guarantee his political downfall should it ever be made public. He did not appreciate the constant threat hanging over him, particularly now when he had so much to loose.

"You will none the less offer your assistance in the investigation." It was not a request. He felt quite satisfied knowing the Captain couldn't refuse.

"Of course." Jack answered, megawatt smile never faltering. They still stared at each other. An uneasy murmur started to spread among the listeners. A ringtone startled them and the tense moment was broken. Somewhere in the throng of people the phone was answered and the Prime Minister dismissed them. As they rose from their seats, Jack turned to Ianto and said:

"Call the Hub. Get Tosh to check for anything unusual. Both with the Rift as well as any ships in orbit. 161 million people don't just vanish into thin air. They were removed by some piece of technology and taken somewhere. My bet is there would be a ship up there somewhere with the perpetrator on board." Ianto was nodding and digging his pockets for his mobile.

Myron Hoffsteader made his way over to them again. A ridiculous smile, that was supposedly meant to be flirtatious, was plastered to his features. When he reached them he hooked his arm around the Captain's and started to drag him toward the exit.

"Now Captain, Mr. Jones, if you'll just follow me. I'll take you to the situation room set aside for the investigative team." Ianto rolled his eyes. Then his fiancée did something he would never have expected. He yanked his arm free and put it around Ianto's waist.

"Go on, lead the way." He said to the gaping man and turned and kissed Ianto's cheek for good measure. Ianto sent him an indulgent look. His lover really was a big kid sometimes, but in this particular instance he rather liked it. Hoffsteader opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, before proceeding out the door with a miffed huff. Ianto and Jack shared a look, laughter playing in both their eyes. They were watched by many as they left. Some were sympathetic and aww'ing, some lusting, others resentful or plotting.

xxXxx

"Settle down, people." The tall thin man was standing at the head of the large mahogany meeting table. "My name is George Lancaster, I'm a Major with UNIT and the appointed leader of this investigation." He looked out over the men and women gathered around the table and along both walls. They were still in the underground bunker complex underneath London. "In this room with me are gathered some of the finest intelligence officers the field of Alien Research, Investigation and Control can produce. We have representatives from Torchwood, UNIT, Area 51, SETI and many more. I am confident that we can figure this thing out." He saw nods of approval down the ranks.

"Now, our first order of business is to make sure we all have the same basic information." He nodded to a middle-aged woman in a suit standing off to the side. She immediately came over and took his place.

"Hello, I am Mrs. Adler. There was no warning prior to the disappearance of the Bangladesh nationals. But we did receive a message at Arecibo from an extraterrestrial source a day prior to the event." A hushed murmur broke out among the gathered people. Apparently this was news to many of them. "All attempts of translation have been unsuccessful so far. We do not know for certain if it is related to the disappearances, but as they happened so closely we will need to take them into account."

Jack held up his hand. The woman glanced nervously at Major Lancaster, who nodded.

"Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood Cardiff. Torchwood has some state of the art translation software. Would it be possible to get a copy of the message?" A young flustered geeky looking girl across the other side of the room flung her arm up, though didn't bother waiting for acknowledgement before stating:

"Just let us know were to send it, sir. Oh," she blushed. "Callie Roberts, SETI." She added. He smiled at her, making her turn even redder.

Major Lancaster stepped back in front.

"I'm afraid we do not have much to go on. Other than that message and the fact the people disappeared. I would encourage you to speculate, formulate theories and share information." Many conversations broke out in the room. Jack frowned. He flung up his hand and interrupted loudly.

"Begging your pardon, Major, but we know more than that." The room fell silent, as the Major looked at the infamous Captain. "There are currently no less than six ships of non Earth origin in this solar system. Four of them are known allies and "friendlies". One is Hyparionic Mining vessel prospecting for rare metals in the asteroid belt out near Jupiter. The last is unknown. It has failed to respond to hails from us as well as from our allies in orbit." He looked around the room.

"The people of Bangladesh would most likely have been removed by some sort of technology and taken somewhere. That is a lot of people. It would take a tremendous amount of computing power to achieve that. We can most likely rule out disintegrator and disrupter based technology, as they do not distinguish between humans and animals. That means the people are still alive. If a transmat beam had been used there would have been a quick flash of light when it happened. So we can rule that out. They may have used some other form of similar technology though, but most of those leave a visual sign or can be traced." There were several confused looks along the table, as not everyone was familiar with the various terms.

"These allies you speak of… would they be able to help us?" the Major looked thoughtful, if a bit sceptical. Jack smiled.

"They might. We can certainly ask them." He replied. The Major nodded.

"Very well. Get to work people."

Ianto jumped out of his seat and headed over to talk with the young Callie Roberts about getting a copy of the alien message, while Jack called Tosh to get her to contact the Saluvians.

xxXxx

"Jack!" Ianto's desperate cry sounded over the noise of the meeting room. The younger man was clutching a tablet computer in one hand and looked deadly pale. Jack immediately abandoned his conversation with a group of people and all but ran to his fiancées side.

"What is it?" he asked anxiously. Ianto looked awful.

"Listen to this." He said and held up his tablet. "It's the translation." He pressed the screen and it began playing. At first there was a hissing scratching noise, then the voice of a male could be heard.

"Give me Orion." It said menacingly. Jack felt his blood run cold. He felt as if he would pass out any moment. "Give me Orion," the voice repeated. "Or suffer the consequences. Give me Orion or I will take away every Human found within this radius." A pause. "You have one full turn of your planet to comply. Give me Orion!"

'Oh, God! No!' Both Ianto and Jack thought in unison.

"How did they expect us to deliver a constellation to them?" someone asked in the background.

xxXxx

Far away on a windswept planet sat the small form of young Micurii'an. Its small frame doubled over as it crouched in a foetal position. It was sobbing desperately. It had flown in its bird form for as far as its untrained wings would take it, but now it was utterly exhausted – and there was still so far to go. Then with a sudden jerk of its body it jumped to its feet and angrily wiped the tears from its cheeks. 'I can do this. I have to do this. Orion promised I could cry later, but right now he needs me. I can do this.' A look of fierce concentration formed on its lovely features. For a brief moment it seemed to flicker in and out of existence to suddenly vanish altogether.

xxXxx

Warwyn appeared in the Ravine, suddenly standing next to the fallen dragon form of its mate. It turned around quickly spotting the body on the ground and the scattered metal plates under and around it. Its triumph of finally having Jumped for the first time was immediately forgotten as it joined its mate with a small shriek.

"Orion!" it shook his shoulder, but there was no response. It immersed itself in their bond. Its mate's presence could still be felt, but he was unconscious. It checked for injuries, but aside from the already injured shoulder he was undamaged. Thankfully the dragon form is a rather sturdy one, but it was also a very heavy one. There was no way the small Micurii'an would be able to lift it. Warwyn surveyed the surroundings, noticing the cave and some of their stuff stored just inside. Thankfully Orion had crashed onto the ledge of the cave and not all the way to the floor of the Ravine.

With a huge sigh Warwyn got up and set about creating its first ever campfire and making Orion as comfortable as possible. It retrieved some blankets and draped them over the massive form of the dragon, after first cleaning as much of the injury as it could reach. It went into the cave, sparing only a quick glance at the layout, while fetching a food packet and another blanket. It ate its meal watching the sun set over head and the sky darkened. The unfamiliar strange rustling noises from the animals all around were making Warwyn jumpy and it was glad to have the blaster.

An insect of some kind flittered in to land on its arm and it rushed to swat it away. Tears formed in its eyes again, as it felt overwhelmed by fear, loneliness and the weirdness of it all. It would much rather be onboard a ship right now. Even a Curantian slave ship would be better than to be all alone in this strange place. It wiped at the tears that kept rolling down its cheeks and went over to Orion's still form. It folded the blanket around itself and snuggled close to Orion and pulled one of his wings over itself. It would not be able to sleep that night.