Fifteen

'Feeling better?' Jack asked as Ianto immerged from a cabin looking impeccable.

'You are meant to be sitting,' Ianto reminded him. Jack held out a collapsible camp type stool from under his arm.

'Did you manage to get some rest?' Jack asked and they headed towards the lift.

'I didn't think I would because my mind was just whirling but I was out in seconds. And the shower was bliss'

'Bliss?'

Ianto smiled 'I think civilisation is made up from hot water, coffee and pancakes.'

'A pancake man, I would never have guessed,' Jack laughed, recalling the incident in the Hub.

'I might have been tempted had he added bacon and maple syrup.'

'Really?' Jack double-checked.

'Nothing will tempt me as far as John is concerned,' Ianto said honestly.

'Not your type?'

'Whatever my type is John is not it,' Ianto confessed.

'You need a side order of bacon and maple syrup,' Jack joked.

'And melted butter along with lashing of sweetened strong black coffee. '

'So let me guess?'

'Yep, pancakes for breakfast or whatever time it is.'

'Time we dealt some slaver retribution,' Jack added.

A wicked smile played across Ianto's lips and Jack felt his heart twist in his chest.

Ianto continued to enter figures into one of a set of instrument panels set up in Cargo Bay Seven as the door slid open. 'First test subject?' he asked as Jack and Olaf approached.

'Lying in the corridor,' Olaf replied.

'He protested so we had to use a couple of anti-grav cargo movers,' Jack said as he caught his breath.

'Well, it's never easy being a pioneer,' Ianto said not looking up.

'Why do we need to do this here? I thought the idea was you could do this from any location within the ship?' Olaf asked.

'I need to observe and control the process.' Ianto pointed to the red circle on the floor. 'If this works then I can reconfigure the instructions to target each subject from their current location.'

'Worked last time,' Jack pointed out.

'Yes but that was ad hoc. And human beings are far more complex and are organic.'

'That's a problem?' Olaf questioned.

'Yes, because human beings are a combination of hundreds of compounds all interacting with each other in thousands of combinations within a living matrix.' Ianto looked up. 'I think that's it. Are we in position? The ship needs to be exactly 960 kilometres above the surface.'

Jack handed Ianto a pad. 'Excellent, nice and balmy,' Ianto commented.

'If you enjoy hurricane winds,' Olaf pointed out.

'I checked, if you choose these co-ordinates they will be near to a cave system,' Jack said and Ianto began to add them to the current equation.

After what seemed hours Ianto looked up and smiled. 'I think this is as ready as it's going to be.'

Standing Ianto swayed a little as if dizzy and went to reach for the edge of the panel.

Jack caught him and noted Ianto was trembling. 'You okay?'

'I will feel a thousand times better once these bastards are off the ship,' Ianto said through his teeth.

Opening the door to the corridor Ianto saw three slavers trussed with cable ties around their wrists and ankles, laying on their fronts. 'I thought I said I only needed one test subject?' Ianto checked.

Jack rubbed his hands together. 'Yes but then I got to thinking: what if the first attempt fails and you need to recalibrate the system? You will need a backup or maybe two,' Jack said gleefully knowing full well the slavers could hear him.

All three slavers began to struggle. One started to swear and another began to plead for his life.

'Now which one should it be?' Ianto quickly checked each slaver over. One twisted around and Ianto recognised him. It was the slaver who had assaulted the young ensign in the lift

'Him.' Ianto pointed. Olaf and Jack used the anti-grav grapples to pull the man to standing.

'What are you going to do to me?' the man asked with a waver in his voice

'You are going on a nice trip,' Ianto said mockingly.

The man blanched. 'I'll do what you ask. Tell you anything. My life for a secret! I can tell you something you don't know could save your lives.'

'What sort of secret?' Jack asked cautiously as the cargo bay door slid open.

'Only if I can speak in private,' the man said in a low voice looking towards Olaf.

'Oh, you mean the big secret that Olaf is only wearing a slave collar because he was an apprentice slaver.'

'You are fools if you trust him I was part of the squad who took The Tsiolkovsky. He sold out his entire crew.' the man told them.

'It's not true I never. I fought to save all of them but the slavers were just too strong.' Olaf said in distress looking towards Ianto.

Ianto looked at the slaver in loathing. 'Trust is an interesting word. Should I trust the man who saved my life and made this moment possible or trust the word of a slaver I saw sexually assault a very young man in preparation for rape?'

'That wasn't me.'

'So you have a twin then,' Ianto said.

'I could give you other secrets and I am begging please don't do to me what you did to the commander.'

'Not that kind of trip,' Jack corrected him, struggling to move the man through the opening into the cargo bay.

'I know what the penalty is for piracy. Please don't space me.' The slaver fell on his knees in supplication.

'We've come up with a better idea,' Jack said.

'What is your name?' Ianto asked.

'I'm not going to give it to you,' the slaver jabbered.

'We need to know for prosperity,' Jack said in all seriousness.

'I told you I'm not going to tell you!'

'Strange name but to each their own,' Ianto told him.

'You are going to be famous,' Jack told him.

'Famous?' the man stuttered.

'If what we are about to do is successful your name will be in the history books. Like the first man on the moon, no one will forget it.'

'I don't want to be famous.'

'Bit late for that now,' Jack said.

The man went limp so Jack, Olaf, and Ianto dragged the man to a clear hinged Perspex tube in two halves one meter across and two meters tall.

'We made this in case you decide to escape and we wouldn't want you to lose an arm or a leg.' Ianto walked to the opening and pulled the backing off what looked like a small disc and stuck to the inside of a bag Jack was holding.

'No trip is complete without supplies,' Jack said and threw the open carry-all bag containing two litre bottles of water, several food bars and a first aid kit into the space.

'Now as this is a first of its kind experiment it's vital you report back if it's a success. So if you arrive this will let us know.' Jack placed a cord complete with an small communication device around the man's neck.

After a considerable struggle all three of them managed to bring the two halves of the tube together and locked it with a click..

'You can go fuck yourselves!' the man screamed from inside the clear cell.

'That's the spirit. Don't forget to report back! We don't need any details; a scream will do,' Jack added.

'And if this works you need to move at least a meter away from your landing point because we wouldn't want you to merge with anyone else would we?' Ianto winked then began the start sequence. All three of them watched as the man seemed to disappear in segments, each one instant after another.

After what felt like an eternity of silence a crackle was heard followed with a large number of expletives.

'It worked.' Jack looked towards Ianto.

'Damn it. 'Ianto checked the instrument board. 'I must have input something wrong.'

'You just made the first successful transportation of a living being. What could be wrong?' Olaf said in wonderment.

'I know. It's infuriating because I was expecting to dissipate the turd into a thousand million sub atomic particles.'

'You really are a nasty, evil bastard,' Jack said, smiling.

Ianto looked up with an evil grin and a wild look in his eyes. Standing he walked back to the corridor.

Jack and Olaf pulled the second slaver to his feet.

'What's your name?' Ianto asked.

'Fuck you,' the man spat towards Ianto.

Ianto wiped the spit from his face.

'You slavers do have some colourful names. So far we had a, 'I'm not going to give it to you' and now 'Fuck you',' Jack pointed out.

'Well, Fuck you, you are going to be famous,' Ianto said.

'I don't want to famous.'

'Bit late for that now,' Jack added, and along with Olaf dragged the man towards the cargo bay door.

Hours later the very last slaver began to disappear before their eyes. Jack looked at Ianto and went to do a high five.

Jack's hand dropped, not sure what was wrong. The jubilation of each successful transport of the slavers seemed to cause Ianto to be more and more withdrawn. Gone was the earlier banter and the only words Ianto had spoken over the last two hours were instructions. He had hoped with the last one gone Ianto's spirits might lift.

Together they moved towards the lift and Jack smiled as the lift's door open and the lift repeated its declaration, 'Vomit rocket, do you dare ride?' Ianto's elimination programme had not managed to remove it and it greeted them every time the lift door opened. Jack had a theory that the lift wanted to keep it because deep down it had a dream of being a rollercoaster ride. Turning to face the corridor Jack realised Olaf was with him but Ianto had stopped about three meters from the open doors and was staring at the pad in his hand.

Putting the lift on hold Jack walked back 'Are you okay?' he asked

'I can't breathe,' Ianto spoke between gasps. Jack touched Ianto's hand and realised the man was cold and clammy. Checking his pulse Jack felt the man's heart was racing.

'Is it your back?' Jack checked. Ianto shook his head.

Taking the pad gently from his hands Jack handed it to Olaf.

'Leave- me- alone,' Ianto struggled out between breaths. Of all the people in the universe the last person he ever wanted to be witness to this was Jack Harkness

Ianto now began to shiver and shake and became even paler, something Jack thought would be impossible; in fact Ianto appeared white.

'Are you feeling dizzy and faint and feel like you are going to throw up?' Jack asked and saw Ianto nod.

'Is he okay?' Olaf said with a worried tone.

'I-I-I,' Ianto tried to say.

'Sick bay,' Jack declared.

Ianto closed his eyes as terror coursed from his stomach and into his chest. It seemed to affect his legs and he found his knees going weak, all horribly familiar.

'Let me help.' Jack put his arm around Ianto's waist as support.

'Lie down,' Ianto managed to say.

'Nope; sick bay then you can lie down all you like,' Jack ordered.

Ianto felt a moment of rage. What he wanted to do was lie down. The adrenaline from the rage actually helped and he managed with effort to put one foot in front of the other.

Encouraging every step of the way, Jack got Ianto into the lift. The effort seemed to have taken all his strength and Jack felt the man's knees give way.

'Help me.' Jack grunted at Olaf. Olaf reached Ianto's other side just as the doors opened on the short corridor leading to the sick bay.

Lowering the examination table with a lever by Jack's foot, Ianto fell prone on the surface.

Indicating to Olaf he now raise the table Jack placed an oxygen mask over Ianto's nose and mouth. Putting on the main sensors in strategic positions on Ianto's body Jack realised Ianto was now burning up.

Jack stepped back as the scan ran then read down the screen checking the results. Ianto brought his hands up and covered his face.

'Olaf, leave,' Jack ordered.

Olaf hesitated for a moment

'Leave!' Jack pointed towards the opening.

As the door closed Jack sealed it. Gently he removed the oxygen mask from Ianto's face.

'I'm not faking,' Ianto gasped out.

'No you are not. Everything you feel is genuine and real and the symptoms that follow are equally real,' Jack said quietly.

'Just leave me alone,' Ianto said through his hands.

'After what we've been through it's amazing either one of us haven't broken down before now. I've come close a couple of times,' Jack admitted. 'I imagine that I'm the last person in the entire universe you would want here right now. But I do know enough that the only way to help is for you to speak about what's going on for you I promise what you tell will never leave this room. To do that you have to trust me. But how can you trust me to help, after what happened in the bridge where I overruled you and went against everything we had discussed. I did what I did not because I didn't trust you; it was because I trust you be the person you are.'

Jack took a deep breath. 'Ianto, you are a nice guy. Look how you treated Bonnie Tyler and John Hart. You're not just a nice guy, you are unfailingly fair. Someone has to have a fundamental streak of goodness to save someone when that someone treated you so badly you almost died. Even on the Diligence despite everything that happened you still remained fair, you helped save the ship because not everyone on board was guilty. You are using the same sense to judge Olaf is trustworthy he is a slave and you saw him suffer and he saved your life. That same sense of fairness made you to come up with the most complicated plan to entrap the tugs because that would allow the guilty to be sorted out from the innocent. The reality was I took over because the decision and actions had to be mine alone. I have no regrets about what I did but you would have. You are right when it comes to life and death. You could kill someone if you had to in self-defence but cold hard bloody murder in the name of duty is an entirely different matter. Destroying the tugs fell to me and I set up their destruction in such a way so you couldn't argue later you didn't try your hardest to save them. After everything you've done and suffered you didn't deserved that on your conscience. If destroying the tugs were to be seen under an unfavourable light it would drag you down with me even if you were following orders. I have nothing to lose but you do. That's why I kept you out of the loop and acted on my own. That way all and any blame falls on me and me alone.

Several long moments passed as Jack watched tears leak through Ianto's fingers and down his face but his breathing seemed to have eased at Jack's words. Removing his hands Ianto sat up and Jack handed him something to dry his face.

'I don't know what to say,' Ianto said, blowing his nose.

'If the axe falls, it falls. I am prepared for that,' Jack said.

'You should have trusted me enough to at least make my objections,' Ianto argued.

'The trouble is you are so good at making a point I might have been persuaded to try your way. Deep down I knew that your points are all perfectly sound, reasonable and right. But this is not a reasonable situation or reasonable people,' Jack told him honestly.

Ianto seemed to now take several moments to think then began speaking quietly. 'Why now? I thought I was passed all this over a year ago and?' Ianto said.

'I think your timing is perfect,' Jack said. 'You've done the impossible; you saved me and the ship. The slavers are gone because you pulled another brilliant move out of the hat. Right now would seem to me to be the perfect time.'

'I can't afford to break down. We have so much to do. You can't run this ship by yourself. We have to get more crew on board. The ship is a machine. It's so complex it was never supposed to be operated by three people.'

There was another long pause. Jack used the time to put a blanket around Ianto's shoulders. A short time later Jack handed him a warm drink and then dialled up one for himself.

'This not just about being overwhelmed,' Ianto admitted quietly. 'There is something else.'

Jack pulled up a chair and lifted his feet up as he had been forced to so several times over the past hours.

'I don't know if I can tell you but I have to.'

'I promise nothing leaves this room,' Jack reminded him gently, touching Ianto's knee.

Ianto took a sip of his drink then began to speak 'The next stage is moving the ship. Olaf has given us the safe corridor so timing it should be easy. The problem is I have to go planet-side. You can hardly walk kilometres across a methane swamp. The issue is,' Ianto gulped, 'the issue is I can't pilot a shuttle. It's the one thing I just can't do, never had to that's a navigator's and pilot's job.'

'We could try and use the transporter system.'

'Using this for slavers is one thing. Using it for any of us and the crew…I don't want to risk their lives any more than they have already done so. What do I say if anyone of the crew dissipates? How do I face their families?'

'Fair enough,' Jack nodded in agreement. 'So what if I gave you a walk through…'

Ianto groaned. 'There is so much to know. You can't teach me in an hour what I need to know to pilot the shuttle.'

'So much depends on me. If I fail, I can't fail I can't fail…'

'Ianto you could never fail. You always find a way through.'

'The problem is I don't trust myself. It's not just shuttles, its anything that is self-driven.'

'You've never driven an auto?'

'It's called an auto for a reason. You get in, punch in your destination, and the auto takes you there,' Ianto pointed out.

'Every auto is like that,' Jack pointed out.

Ianto took a long sip as if to give himself courage. 'It's not autos on the ground; it's autos in the air. I have no issue with going from A to B while on the ground.'

'This ship is flying,' Jack pointed out.

'But it can't fall out of the sky,' Ianto told him.

Jack suddenly made the connection. 'That must make things awkward.'

'The point is I have no issue if someone else is doing the driving. It's just me I don't trust with the controls. It's a horizon thing and I get disorientated.'

'Like sea sickness.'

'Worse,' Ianto said

'So you are okay with a press go scenario and the vehicle takes you from A to B,' Jack checked.

'You know as well as I do no shuttle is completely automated. There still has to be input from the pilot.'

Jack stood and walked around. 'I can programme the shuttle so its ninety nine percent auto all you have to do is just make slight adjustments.'

'You've never seen me drive.' Ianto said honestly.

'You said you have no issue with pressing start and sitting back?" Jack doubled checked and Ianto nodded slowly.

'Let's work with that' Jack encouraged.

Trying not to look at the shuttle behind him Ianto took the pad.

Closing his eyes Ianto let out a breath. Jack could see Ianto was struggling to hold on to his anxiety. The last hours had been frantic and moving the ship though the Perdian System even with the safe corridor mapped had been fraught with complications.

Now they were in orbit. Jack had spent the past two hours trying to programme the shuttle to run as many autopilot systems as possible. It wouldn't be just press start and sit back however all Ianto had to do was do was follow any instructions from the navi-controls. To his relief Jack had found the shuttle had a novice mode and set it to assume the pilot knew nothing.

'I've double-checked the flight path. All you have to do is press activate and follow instructions. The on board system will demonstrate exactly what it needs from you all you have to do is copy,' Jack told him.

Ianto nodded as he felt his stomach twisting into a thousand knots.

'I know you can do this'

'I can do this,' Ianto said to himself.

'Now once you've rescued a pilot keep them with you until you rescue a senior officer. At that point you are to return to this ship.' Jack saw Ianto was going to argue 'This is a direct order. Return to the ship and hand over the rescue to another officer. And one last thing: don't trust Olaf,' he added.

'Jack, I trust Olaf only as far as we have no choice but to trust he's being genuine. And he saved my life.'

'He knows things' Jack added 'Would a simple slave have so much information about their operation and the safe corridor What if he saved your life because he knew the slavers had made a mistake in taking The Torchwood and was making a way out for himself.'

'Ready?' Jack asked.

'I'm okay,' Ianto panted out. 'I'm okay,' repeating over and over again.

'Trust the auto pilot and be grateful they were so convinced no one would find them they haven't got any early warning systems. Okay?' Jack repeated as Ianto hesitated then looked inside the shuttle.

'Okay, I'm not okay,' Ianto admitted a waver in his voice. 'What if I make a mistake and come in too steep or crash the thing? You'll be left here and the crew will remain trapped. I can't do this Jack, I can't.'

Jack could see Ianto was coming apart. Everything rested on Ianto going to rescue the crew. Yet over the past hours Jack could almost feel the tension building up. The man was on the verge of a major meltdown. He had to do something or everything was lost.

Jack moved forward and in one swift move wrapped his arms around Ianto and kissed him fully on the mouth.

An infinite amount of seconds appeared to pass before they pulled apart, Ianto's eyes wide with surprise and removing his hands that had somehow found themselves around Jack's waist. Blinking and biting his bottom lip he turned and stepped into the shuttle without a further sound.

Ianto felt like his whole being was in some other reality as he guided the shuttle. Detached, he actioned all the suggestions from the navi-computer to enact the tiny adjustments needed. Within twenty minutes they hit the atmosphere spot on as if he was himself in autopilot. It took several passes over their intended landing area to find a firm surface which he did with seemingly unconscious ease. The landing was pitch-perfect with the lightest bump. Turning off the systems Ianto double-checked everything then took the breather mask Olaf handed him.

With a final flick of his hand the back door of the shuttle opened and the atmosphere crept in like a slow fog.

He felt bewildered. What had happened was shocking. It was a scandal, a preposterous event that was so removed from reality he might as well be living in another dimension. What he couldn't understand, or fathom, what was driving him to distraction was not that Jack had kissed him as crazy as that action might be; what was driving him crazy was why he had kissed Jack back.