Disclaimer: I don't own the Doctor, the TARDIS or the Valiant. I do own General Stanley, Captain Matthews and Captain Terry who are all fictional and based on no-one dead or alive. Sorry for all the Army talk. Angelwood.
Calling All Troops.
Ianto walks up the next morning and finds himself alone in Jack's bed, no sigh of Jack. He sat up and looked to Jack's side of the bed and it hadn't been slept in. Ianto hadn't been kicked in the night or grabbed so he knew that Jack hadn't made it to bed. He had remembered Jack telling him that he was going to find out why Phoenix was there and talk to the Doctor but he would be in bed soon but Ianto must have fallen asleep. Something must have happened for Jack not to have come to bed.
Ianto throw some clothes on and made his way up the ladder and out of the open hatch into the office. Jack wasn't there either. Ianto left the office and walked into the main hub area and looked around but still couldn't see Jack but he saw the big, blue TARDIS standing in the middle of the hub.
"Jack! Jack!" Ianto shouts out trying to find Jack as he walked through the hub.
"He's outside in the bay," the Doctor tells Ianto, his head quickly popping out of the door scaring Ianto.
"Doctor. Your still here then. Haven't you and Jack finished yet?" Ianto asks him and the look on the Doctor's face changes.
"We haven't really talked yet Ianto. Something else came up," the Doctor tells him.
Ianto looks at the Doctor strangely, knowing that there was something else he wanted to say but remembering that it wasn't his place to. The Doctor went back into the TARDIS and Ianto was left wondering what the hell had been going on. Phoenix had arrived just before the Doctor and then Phoenix had gone nuclear and Jack ordered Ianto to hide which he did.
After a while, Jack had gone to Ianto and told him to get some sleep and he would be there soon but Ianto had fallen asleep and awoke in the morning and Jack hadn't been to bed. Something had gone and Ianto was confused. Ianto made his way up to the Tourist Information Office and out of the unlocked door which he thought was strange in it's self as Jack would never leave it open. He was the most security minded of them all. Outside, standing at the railings of the bay, leaning against them with a cup in his hand, Jack was looking out to the sea, his thoughts seemed far away. Ianto walked up to him and leaned on the railing next to him.
"You didn't come to bed last night," Ianto says softly, looking in the same direction as Jack was but there was nothing there but sea.
"Sorry Yan. Something came up that I just couldn't leave. I meant to come to bed but I would have tossed and turned all night and that wouldn't have been fair on you," Jack tells him still looking out to sea as if he were looking for something.
"Phoenix?" Ianto asks him and Jack turns his head and looks at Ianto.
"Why do you ask that Ianto?" Jack asks him frowning.
"Since she turned up at the hub, you haven't been quite here. You haven't been your usual self," Ianto tells him putting his hand on Jack's arm.
"I'm sorry Yan. I don't mean to be like this. She just brought a lot of memories with her and has added some since she came back. My head is so tied up in knots that I don't know what I am thinking," Jack tells him putting his hand on Ianto's.
"Whenever your head gets straightened out, you know you can tell me. Maybe I can help," Ianto tells him taking the cup of freezing cold coffee off of him.
"Thanks Yan. Most of what is going on in my head I need to work out myself but I know you are there for me so thank you," Jack tells him giving him a smile but only half heartedly.
"Don't stay out here too long. It's cold this morning," Ianto tells him as he heads back to the door of the Tourist Information Office.
"I'll be in soon," Jack tells him still staring out to sea as though it would give him the answer.
"Before I forget, we have a meeting and conference at 10 o'clock in the boardroom," Ianto tells him with a smile and Jack turns to him.
"What would I do if I didn't have you reminding me to do things," Jack tells him and Ianto laughs to himself.
9:05 and the last of the team arrives in the hub, the last being Gwen.
"Sorry I'm late Jack. Minor crisis at home but nothing for you to worry about. Just Rhys," she tells him as she hurries to her desk as Jack stands at the door of his office sipping coffee.
"Did I say a word? Just waiting for one more person and then we can kick off," Jack tells the team and he can see Owen doing the maths and he waits for the question.
"Gwen, Tosh, Ianto, you, me and the Doctor. That makes 6 of us. Who is missing?" Owen asks and Toshiko tuts at him.
"Phoenix!" Toshiko tells him and he looks embarrassed at the fact that he had forgotten who they were doing all this for.
"Has there been any sign of her yet Tosh?" Jack asks, his face suddenly turning from his usual face to concerned.
"Not yet Jack. No flares, no rift activity, no sight of her on the streets," Tosh replies as the Doctor steps out of the TARDIS.
"She'll be back Jack. Don't worry," the Doctor tells him and he smiles.
"Are we missing something?" Gwen asks looking between Jack and the Doctor.
"Nothing you need to know about Miss Cooper," the Doctor replies and she looks at her computer screen feeling like a child being told off in school by the headmaster.
Everyone is sat in the boardroom in their usual places, the Doctor sitting in Jack's chair at the head of the table as Jack paced around the board room. He looked at his watch, 9:57am.
"Where is she? She should have been here an hour ago," Jack asks aloud not realising that he had said it out loud.
"What is going on Jack? If she isn't here, how can we do this? They are going to need convincing and only she can do that," Owen reminds Jack but is met by a glare from Ianto and a kick under the table from Tosh and then her attention is drawn to her PDA.
"Jack. They are ready. Should I put them on screen?" Toshiko asks him and he looks at his watch again, 9:59am.
"We can't stall them anymore, put them on screen. I'll just have make some excuse," Jack tells Toshiko and she displays three faces on the screen.
"Harkness. Are you going to give us a bit more of a clue as to why you are in a panic?" General Stanley asks him in an authority kind of way.
"A lot of us here don't know each other so in the interest of working together we had better do the intro's," Jack tells General Stanley trying to buy some time.
"General Stanley, Her Majesty's British Army," he barks at everyone.
"Captain Matthews, U.N.I.T. Special Ops," he introduced in a gentler voice.
"Captain Terry, Royal Air Force," came the last of the video introductions.
"Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood Cardiff," Jack introduces, his mind somewhere else.
"Doctor Owen Harper, Torchwood Medical Officer."
"Toshiko Sato, Torchwood Technical Advisor."
"Gwen Cooper, Torchwood."
"Ianto Jones, Torchwood."
"The Doctor," he simply said and it was enough to worry the General and two Captains.
"Why have you called us together Harkness? All we know is that there is a threat to Earth and that we have move to Red Alert," General Stanley asks or rather orders.
"Unfortunately General, it's worse than Red Alert. We are looking at full global destruction and it comes in two phase. The threat is extraterrestrial and that is why the Doctor is here in part and that's why we know about it before you. In five days, an entity known as The Devourer shall enter Earth's atmosphere and commence it's attack on planet Earth. However, The Devour is the second phase of the attack. The first phase is an army of troops controlled by The Devourer. It possesses their minds and controls these people through that, though they are already dead. This army will rampage through Cardiff killing everything in sight like a plague of locust. They will move from city to city, country to country. Not far behind them is The Devourer. It absorbs all the energy it can, from people, from vehicles, from the Earth it's self. It will suck the Earth dry and everything on it," Jack tells the General and the Captain's.
"And who can verify this?" Captain Terry asks Jack and he looks at the Doctor.
"I can. Using the TARDIS, this morning I was able to collect information and images if you would be so kind Miss Sato," the Doctor says and using the PDA, Toshiko sends the information the Doctor had collected to the General and the two Captains.
"I'll give a minute to look through the information," Jack tells them playing for more time.
"Can I ask? What is that huge black mass behind the ships?" Captain Matthews asks Jack and the Doctor a moment later.
"That would be The Devourer," the Doctor replies and the looks on their faces change seeing the shear size of it.
"And who big are the two vessels leading it?" Captain Terry asks.
"The size of the Valiant, both of them," Jack replies and the horror on their faces is very evident.
"What do you need?" General Stanley asks softer in his tone.
"As much heavy Artillery as you have and all the soldiers you can spare and your help with the evacuation of Cardiff. ," Jack replies preparing to turn Cardiff into a war ground.
"Consider it done," General Stanley replies.
"Captain Terry. We need planes from you," Jack almost orders like he had down this all before.
"Will start work on that straight away Captain Harkness," Captain Terry replies.
"Captain Matthews. I'm going to need your team as well as the sharp shooters," Jack tells him, the Doctor getting uncomfortable but this would help Phoenix so was the lesser evil in his eyes.
"Captain Harkness. You said the foot soldiers where the first phase and The Devourer was the second phase and if I am right, we are to combat the first phase so who will be dealing with The Devourer?" Captain Terry asks him.
"I think that's where I come in," Phoenix announces stepping into the board room.