Odyssey

a Torchwood & Stargate story

by RoadrunnerGER

Disclaimer: I neither own Torchwood nor Stargate.

Summary: Abducted away from Earth and sold into slavery Team Torchwood has to fight for survival. Being left behind Tosh works with the Stargate team, going on a frantic odyssey across the universe in order to save her friends. Crossover, set s2

A/N: Thank you for your reviews. Sorry that it took me so long to update, but real life got kind of crazy. You know, being a NaNo project the story needed to grow fast at first. Editing the unnecessary stuff out is easier said than done. So I combined chapters to get to the SGC sooner. It should be in the next chapter. Special thanks to my beta Mandassina. Enjoy!

Chapter 10

Time did not seem to exist on the spaceship. Owen had no idea how much time had passed since they had been caught. He sat on the other side of the cell now. Friendship was important for him, but sometimes too much closeness could be oppressive. The men around him were not his problem right now, though.

It was Gwen.

Since she had joined Torchwood they had gone from being purely colleagues to having an affair to finally being close friends. That and the fact that Gwen sometimes simply lacked tact had driven him away from her now.

They had sat leaning against the bars, holding hands, and talking quietly from time to time. The company had been comforting. Gwen frequently had switched from rage to desperation and back. She had made plans to get out first and seemed to be ready to end it herself next. In the end Owen could not stand it anymore and retreated to the far corner of the cage.

Sitting near the wall he could now see that there was a gully running along the wall where the dirt and debris vanished when the Tebr'ox washed out the cages.

That way they don't need to open the cages to clean up. Throwing in the food they don't have to bother unlocking a door to feed us either.

Owen looked around glumly.

How did we end up here? We were in the park, chasing the people away from the descending spaceships… and then I don't know anymore. I should, I'm a doctor. Damn! I'm Torchwood! I should've known better! We should've gotten away together with the other people! We knew it could be dangerous!

"Hey," someone interrupted his musings, prodding his upper arm.

"What?" Owen barked.

"I think your wife wants to talk to you."

"She's not my wife," Owen hissed.

"Okay, okay," the man rushed to say, holding up his hands defensively. "She just gives the impression."

Owen rolled his eyes. "Do I look like I'm the marrying type?"

"Do I look like I know what that looks like?"

"Well, now… looking at you I'd say you're playing for the other team, but do I say that aloud? No, I don't."

"You just did!" the other man accused.

"Do you want to start a fight?" Owen snarled. "Go ahead. I'm in the mood for it."

"You know what?" the man spat, scrambling to his feet. "That's what I want!"

Owen shot up to his feet as well. "Don't bite off more than you can chew, mate!"

The two men looked daggers at each other.

"Hey, c'mon! Stop it!"

But neither man listened to their cellmate.

"I'm not gay!" the man who appeared to be a bit younger than Owen shouted. "You take that back!"

"The fuck I will!" Owen yelled back.

"Owen!" Gwen piped up, fearing it was too late already.

"I ain't no poof! Take it back!" the man screamed and lunged at Owen which was what the Torchwood agent had waited for. He stepped to the side and intercepted the blow, twisting around and jamming his elbow into the man's gut.

"Owen!"

The male voice thundered through the cargo bay. It was authoritative, used to giving orders.

"Owen, stop!"

And Owen did stop. Recognizing his captain's voice he let go of the man who dropped to the ground, panting.

Everywhere in the cages the people turned to where the voice came from. What they saw was a man in his thirties, dressed in army clothes, including an RAF greatcoat. His posture alone would have been enough to command their respect and his clothes did the rest. All the captives fell silent, waiting if he had something to say to them.

Jack waited, knowing that he had their undivided attention.

"Fighting each other is the last thing we need to do now!" he then said. "Being on this ship we're literally sitting in the same boat! Do we have so little respect for ourselves that we keep fighting our neighbours when we have a mutual enemy to stand up against?"

Murmurs of agreement swept through the cargo bay.

"Owen? Is he all right?" Jack asked.

Throwing a dark look at the man on the floor Owen decided, "Yeah, I think he is!"

"Check on him properly. You're a doctor after all," Gwen scolded.

"Thanks for reminding me, Florence Nightingale," Owen grumbled.

"Stop it, kids!" Jack said. "We need to set a good example."

"I want to see you doing that, Jack!" Owen replied, stepping up to the bars between the other men. "You think you can do that? Can you?"

"We all can, Owen," Jack replied sternly. "First of all I'd like to know where everyone's from. Cause I don't think that we're all from Cardiff, or even Great Britain."

For a moment silence reigned. Then a woman spoke up hesitantly, "I'm from Munich, Germany."

"I'm Sheila from London," another woman added.

"And I'm Alyssa from Cardiff," Alyssa Eldridge told them.

"Veronica, San Francisco!"

"Michael, New Jersey!"

"Here! Me, too! New Jersey!"

"Brandon, San Francisco!"

"Cyrus, London!"

And so they went on. One after the other they named their places of origin. As they did so it became obvious just how many people got abducted after all. It was frightening. Not all of them could speak English while others were bilingual and served as interpreters. A few others just added their town going with the flow. Once they were through uncomfortable silence fell.

"Thank you," Jack said. "It would be helpful to know what you're doing professionally. Why don't we…?"

"Hey!" someone shouted angrily. "Who do you think you are that you assume that you can order us around?"

"Yeah!" another agreed. "Who elected you the boss here?"

"Nobody!" Gwen's voice drowned out the others. "And we don't need to! He has the authority by order of the Crown!"

"Who?"

"The Queen of England!" Gwen replied. She saw Jack glare daggers at her, but she ignored him. "He's the appointed leader of Torchwood."

"Torchwood??

"What the fuck is Torchwood?"

"Who is that clown?"

"Shhh!" someone suddenly hushed. "There's one coming!"

"Sh!"

"Shhhh!"

The people fell silent and some of them stepped back from the bars or sat back down on the floor. A single Tebr'ox came down the aisle. His gaze wandered over the captives as he passed and he snorted at what he saw.

"Something wrong, you ugly git?" a man snapped when his view rested too long on him.

The Tebr'ox's hand went to the baton he wore on his belt and he grunted.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you!" the man shouted, pounding his hand against the bar. "Who the bloody hell are you? What do you want from us?"

"Gant!" the Tebr'ox barked, banging his baton across the bars so that the other men shied back.

"What do you want?" the man screamed, reaching for the Tebr'ox through the bars.

"Kala!"

But the man, now urged on by his fellow captives shouting encouragements, did not back off. He grabbed at the Tebr'ox and got hold of his shirt.

"Ren!" the Tebr'ox shouted, hitting the man with his fist. Then he brought up his baton and pushed it between the bars, directing it at the recalcitrant prisoner.

"Arghhhh!" the man screamed.

Two more Tebr'ox came running. Under shouts of protest they unlocked the cage's door and one charged inside. He grasped the man's arm and pulled him out on the aisle. There the first guard pushed the baton against his chest again and the man howled with pain.

"Gant!" one of the newcomers barked at the prisoners. "Gant!"

Even though they did not understand what he was ordering them to do they fell silent… with horror. Once again the Tebr'ox hit the man with the baton. It looked like it would discharge on him. The man curled up and screamed. A last time he was hit, then he dropped to the floor.

The Tebr'ox snorted with satisfaction. He gestured one of the others to continue his patrol through the cargo bay, then he bent down to grab the man's right ankle. Uncaring he dragged his fallen prisoner face down along the aisle and out through a heavy metal door at the end.

All the other people were left stunned. No one dared to make a sound as long as the other two Tebr'ox were present. Only when they left as well the human freight had the courage to even breathe again.

One of the men in Jack and Ianto's cage finally found the braveness to speak again, "I… I think he said that they're… they're slave traders."

"Who said that?" one of the few who could hear him asked.

"Said what?" another one further down the aisle demanded to know.

"That those, those creatures are slave traders!"

"Slave…"

The woman's voice gave out. Everyone was shocked now, by what the Tebr'ox had done to the other man as well as the news that they were presumed to be slave traders. The realization that they were going to be sold hit home and terrified silence fell over the cargo bay.

xXx

"Surely he didn't mean that, right?" someone asked hesitantly.

"I think he did," the man who brought it up first answered. "He said it to his boyfriend."

Gwen listened to the slowly starting conversation. It still rang in her ears, they're slave traders. She did not want to ask who had said it because she already knew. It had to be Jack. Who else would possibly know? She stood in the corner of her cage, supporting herself on the bars, and watched the cell diagonally across the aisle. Right now she could not see Jack. Maybe Ianto was talking to him.

"Who?" the first one wanted to know.

"Here, the guy with the greatcoat, the Torchwood leader."

"How would he know?"

"What is this Torchwood?"

"Who are you?"

The last question silenced the others. Everyone wanted to hear the big military man's answers. Gwen and Owen waited as curiously as the others. Gwen even more so. Jack had stared at her as if he wanted to kill her when she revealed that he was with Torchwood.

As if it would make a difference now, Gwen thought. Someone has to get order into the chaos. Who would be better qualified than an immortal time traveller from the future? He doesn't have to tell them about his past to help them and get them organized, but as a former Time Agent he sure has experiences with all kinds of infiltration, escape, and rescue operations.

Anxiously she waited for Jack to reappear from the depth of the cage. What would he do now?

When Jack stepped up to the front bars again he searched for Gwen and she shrank back when his gaze hit her. Ianto stood by his side and he glowered at her as well.

No surprise there, she thought ruefully.

"I'm Captain Jack Harkness," Jack declared. "As Constable Gwen Cooper already told you…"

Gwen winced when he called her by her former police rank. Why doesn't he say that I'm with Torchwood, too? But then she remembered that she did the same before when she did not want to mention Torchwood.

"…I'm the leader of Torchwood Cardiff, a secret government organization that was founded to protect the British population from alien threats."

Astonished murmurs followed his words. Jack waited until the people fell silent again before he continued.

"I know that the situation looks bleak…"

"Bleak is an understatement!" Alyssa interrupted him. "Did you see what they did to that man?"

"Yes, I did," Jack replied. "And that's no reason to bury our heads in the sand. It should make us aware, though, not to provoke our captors." He paused. Yes, this time they listened to what he said. "If we all act in concert and combine our respective skills we could overpower our guards and take the ship over. But we all have to work together and we have to be patient. We need to make a plan and we have to do it thoroughly to make it work."

"Do you have any idea where they are taking us?"

"No," Jack had to admit.

"Do you know who they are?"

Taking a deep breath Jack decided to tell them what little he knew. "They call themselves the Tebr'ox. They are a nomadic people."

"How do you know that?" someone challenged.

"I've met them before," Jack said and raised his hand to calm the protests down. "It was a small ship and no one survived…"

"What do you mean?" a man right beside him shouted. "That a UFO crashed in Great Britain? That you knew about them? And you did what, exactly, to prevent this?"

"Nothing!" someone else screamed. "They did nothing! Look at them! They got abducted, too! A hell lot of nothing do they do!"

"We can do something here!" Owen suddenly shouted. "Listen to what Jack has to say! He can help us!"

"He is right," Gwen added. "Jack has helped to save the Earth so many times before. He can help to get us out if you let him!"

A moment of thoughtful silence followed their words.

"What do you want us to do?" Alyssa then asked.

"I ask you to stay calm," Jack said. "Losing our heads won't get us anywhere. Let's see what kind of skills you all possess and then we'll see what we can make out of it."

"Like what?"

"How am I supposed to answer that question if I don't know your professions yet?" Jack told him calmly. "Let's take one step at a time. Alyssa? What do you do for a living?"

"I'm a pharmacist," she said.

"Good job," Jack smiled at her. "Alyssa, do you have something to write?"

"Hmm, I don't think so," she replied. "My handbag is gone."

"Does anyone else in your cell have a pen and paper?" Jack wanted to know.

"Do you?" Alyssa asked the other women. "Oh, great. Yes, Jack! I've got something!"

"Good. I want you to write down the names and professions of the other ladies. Ask them if they have any other useful skills, first aid, self defence, martial arts, things like that." He paused a moment. "Your cell is the eighth from the door, so please put an eight down on your notes. When you're finished pass the paper on to Ianto."

"Okay."

"I want you all to do the same," Jack turned to the rest of the prisoners. "Please appoint a speaker for your cell and write everything down. Then give us the notes so we can work with them."

Affirmative murmur filled the cargo bay. That was encouraging.

"Oh, and please let us know if everyone is all right or if anyone is hurt. Anyone with medical training will be helpful as well. Ianto will take it all into consideration."

"Hey," someone suddenly snapped. "Who made your fag your secretary?"

It was a man in cage number nine, right beside Alyssa's, who made the derogatory remark. That he hardly flinched when Jack's death glare hit him spoke in his favour, but his attitude did not.

"Ianto is working for me at Torchwood and is not only an agent but a damn fine analyst as well. Unless someone else has an eidetic memory, then they can quiet down and get on with it. Any further questions?"

No one had questions. They all became rather silent and began to work.

Jack turned to Ianto and pulled him in for a gentle embrace. For a moment they just stood like that.

"Thank you," Ianto suddenly said.

"What for?" Jack asked, confused.

"For doing this," Ianto murmured against Jack's neck. "I really thought you'd want to sit this one out."

Jack sighed. "I still have my doubts if it can work, but making plans will keep them busy and their thoughts focused."

"No time to panic."

"No."

"Good."

Ianto snuggled up to Jack, enjoying the moment they had together before they would get the notes and would be kept busy as well.

xXx

Slowly it dawned on Gwen why Jack had introduced her as police constable. It made her trustworthy and reliable. When she asked if one of the women in their cage had pen and paper she was called officer when they replied. It was obvious that the women credited her with the role of the leader and protector. Just as quickly as she was Constable Cooper again she became speaker of their cage.

Gwen thought about insisting on being called by first name, but using her title seemed to convey a sense of security to the ladies so Gwen accepted it.

She was presented with a small notepad and a pen and she wrote a six on the top of the first page. Then she began to jot down the names and professions of her fellow inmates. It did not take very long. There were five women except for her and four of them were housewives. The fifth worked as kindergarten teacher and had learned first aid, which could be of use later. None of them ever learned self defence or any kind of martial arts. That was if you did not count handling young children as martial arts.

"Do you think Jack already has a plan?" Gwen asked when she passed the paper on to Owen.

"He probably has," Owen replied. "And maybe he hasn't."

"Oh, wow! Don't be so optimistic!" Gwen scolded. "You know Jack won't let us down."

"Do I know that, yeah?" Owen growled, though he managed to keep his voice low.

"What do you mean?"

"Who ran away without a word or message when that Doctor friend of his stopped by?" Owen challenged. "How do we know that he won't run again?"

"He came back, remember?" Gwen snapped. "He went through a year of hell and then he came back. He came back to us. He didn't have to do that."

"Maybe he just was bored."

"Owen, you're an arrogant shit." It took Gwen quite an effort to keep her voice down. "Have you forgotten all the times he has saved us? Like back in the Brecon Beacons? Or from Abaddon?" She became righteously angry and grabbed him by his jacket to pull him against the bars. "You shot him, Owen. You shot him and he forgave you."

"You still believe in him."

"Yes, I do," Gwen hissed. "And you have no reason to doubt him. He has saved your arse more than once."

"Guess he didn't want to break in a new doctor."

Gwen could have slapped him. Only the bars prevented her from hitting him.

"Why don't you just admit that you're scared?" she snapped.

His fist shot forward between the bars and grasped her clothes. Gwen found herself in an iron grip and when she looked at him now Owen's eyes were dark with emotional pain.

"Yes," he snarled through gritted teeth. "I'm scared, Gwen. I'm scared to death. We've been taken prisoners, presumably to be sold like livestock. We're not on Earth anymore. We're in space. We're on a spaceship. Did you think of that, Gwen?"

"Yes, I did," she replied with only a semblance of calm. Inside she was shaking. "And that's why I believe that Jack is our best chance to get out. Don't you think?"

They were caught in a stalemate. What she said was true and Owen knew that.

Jack neither was from their time nor was he from their planet. His home world was the Boeshane Peninsula on a planet far away in the galaxy three thousand years in their future. He had travelled through time and space and seen more than either of them could imagine in their wildest dreams.

Finally Owen let go of Gwen and she released her hold on him.

"Give them the notes," Gwen said. "They've got a job to do."

Owen nodded and turned to forward the papers.

tbc…