"Okay Ianto, here's what you do," Jack said. He was sitting in his office with his eyes closed, mentally picturing the inside of the Core. "Type in priority code 001780235, then hit enter." He heard Ianto typing on a keyboard. "How was the trip?"

"Fast," Ianto said as he typed. "God this place is huge." Jack chuckled as he heard the tone of awe in Ianto's voice. "Jack, who's the captain now? Can you look her up for me?"

Jack opened his eyes and pulled his keyboard over so he could type. He angled the monitor as well. "Why do you ask?"

"For some reason she reminds me of someone, so I was curious," Ianto said, not wanting to admit who the woman reminded him of, which was his boss. "She said she had heard a lot about me and hoped I lived up to my reputation."

Jack laughed outright at his comment. "Your reputation precedes you, Mr. Jones."

"Apparently," Ianto said drily. "I'll be having dinner at her table this evening with the General."

"Moving up in the world, are you now?" Jack teased him. Ianto was happy that he could hear the smile in the other man's voice. "Don't let that altitude go to your head now."

"Hardly," Ianto said and Jack laughed again. "Okay, code is entered. I'm in. Now what?"

"Take the memory stick I prepped for you and insert it into the console. I think there's a space off to your right," Jack said. Ianto looked over and saw something that matched the connection of the device in his pocket. "Once you have done that, type in execute and it will begin the upgrade."

Ianto inserted the stick in and twist locked it into place. He then went back to the keyboard and typed in the command. A string of characters started to play across the display in a steady stream.

"Done," he said. He sat back and stretched before looking around. "Love the interior decoration, by the way." Jack grunted. "Okay, time to go back and check on the navigational upload, though all of this is going to take a while."

"Go settle in then, play with some of the ensigns. Nothing like a young thing in a uniform," Jack sighed and Ianto chuckled.

"I think they're too young for that," Ianto said. Jack snorted. Ianto stood up and stretched.

"Never too young for that," Jack said. "Trust me on that."

"Far be it from me to question your experience, Jack," Ianto said. He started to make his way back to the main room. "I'm headed back now. I'll call if I need anything."

"You do that," Jack said. "Oh, and the answer is Rebecca Abrunjo."

"Pardon?" Ianto asked. He paused as he waited for Jack's answer.

"The captain's name. Just so you're prepared later," Jack said. "Oh my, even in one of those severe military photos she's a looker. Don't lose your heart, Ianto."

"Doubt that would happen, sir," Ianto said with a laugh. He signed off and shook his head. Time to get back and see how his upload was going.

*

After Agent Jones had disappeared into the Core, the staff in the center milled around uncertainly. Never in any of their experience had they ever witnessed anything like that before, and they were at a loss as to what to do. The only one who had any work to do was Ensign Matthews who was sitting rigidly and monitoring her screens, well aware that control of the ship lay completely in her station.

One of the more senior ensigns paced over to where the laptop was and peered at it cautiously. It had gone to an interesting screensaver of something writhing about on the screen. The young man tentatively put a finger on the touchpad, ignoring his friend's hiss of warning. The screensaver stopped and a window was displayed that said "Level A clearance required. Please enter Torchwood Operative account and press enter to continue."

"Level A? What's that?" He wondered.

"Something you'll never have if you keep on poking around," his friend said. The other ensigns in the room laughed and the first guy moved back cautiously. He frowned. It bothered him that this unknown in the suit knew more about their own ship than they did. He went back to pacing, moving between Matthew's terminal and the closed access door to the Core.

A short time later they all jumped as the access panel slid opened and Agent Jones stepped out. He had rolled up his sleeves and had a small smile on his face as the door closed behind him. He walked over to Ensign Matthew's station and looked over her shoulder.

"How's it going?" He asked. She looked up at him briefly before nodding. He turned back to his laptop and brought it out of screen saver mode. Typing in a code too fast for anyone to see the lockout screen faded away to reveal the desktop. Ianto sat down and watched the display for several moments. "Looks okay." He stood up and looked at one of the young men milling in the background. "Who's the CO for your group?"

"Major Harper is our CO, sir," one of the men finally spoke.

"Could you please contact him for me?" Ianto asked. The man nodded and got on the comm. to request the major's presence. Ianto moved over to another screen and tapped on a keyboard. A short time later the door opened and all of the personnel came to attention.

"Commanding Officer on deck," one of them announced and Ianto turned to face him.

"Major Harper, Ianto Jones," he said, extending his hand to shake the other man's hand. The major offered his own and they shook hands. "I'm here from Torchwood for the upgrades. They're in progress right now, so at best we need a minimal crew to assist in flight navigation while the systems are off line. I thought you may want to set up a rotation schedule so we don't waste everyone's time sitting around here."

"Hmmm," the major said as he looked around the room. Behind Ianto the screen of his laptop still displayed lines of code flying past as it uploaded into the system. "Looks like everything is going smoothly." Ianto nodded.

"Yes sir, right now everything is optimal. I estimate a six hour window where the navigational system will be offline and on manual, barring any problems with the new code specifications." Ianto checked his watch. "That should be approximately 1700 hours." The major nodded.

"Very well, I'll set up a rotation of two people at a time, since there's not much that can be done otherwise." The Major turned towards the crew and started giving out assignments. One by one they scattered as they went off to work in other areas of the ship, leaving Ensign Matthews and one other ensign in addition to Ianto and himself. "Carry on," he said before heading out the door.

Ianto moved back to his laptop and sat down. He pulled up an auxiliary window and typed something before setting the screensaver again. "Right then, I'm done for now. I'll be in my cabin in case you need anything, but I don't expect there to be a problem. If there is, I will probably know it before you do," Ianto said with a smile to reassure them.

Standing, he picked up his jacket and headed out the door. He retraced the path back to his cabin. He had been up most of the night working on the code modifications with Jack's input and was going to take the opportunity to rest while he could. Entering the room, he locked the door and looked around the room. His duffle bag was still on the bed so he unpacked his clothes and put them in the tiny closet that was set aside for that purpose. After using the head he removed his jacket and lay down on the bunk. Setting his watch to wake him in four hours he dropped off to sleep immediately.