10
The Cardiff had changed course due to human error and to their annoyance the storm had shifted as well. Stupid. Someone was asleep at the switch up there too. Speaking of that…
Jack had moved Ryan quick smart to one of the other Fireflies and knew the boy was not happy to be going, the captain was called Swainson and was known for her temper with fools. The man who he swapped for was called Mickey Smith and Jack was momentarily confused when he entered the airlock and immediately rushed over to Ianto to slap him on the shoulder and call him a prick.
Ianto acted like it was no big deal, asking the man how his wife was and Mickey answered, explaining it all at once.
"You cousin is just as bloody pig headed as you mate!" he scoffed "the Jones Bastard Gene is alive and well… the impending spawn no doubt will make my life hell too."
"Come on, you can't wait to be bossed around by another woman in your life" Ianto scoffed.
"Goddess, another woman" Mickey groaned, then grinned "And here is me, in your care!"
"Oh no, I am just another Bod on here!"
"Just another Bod. Captain Jones himself… Just another…"
"I was demoted" Ianto cut him off, his anger clear as Mickey gave away an interesting snippet of information "I am a lieutenant now."
"You flew into battle, took out five Reaver vessels on your own while the rest of us were incapacitated by the EMP that fuckwitt set off. You were the only one with shields up already… not only did you take out the threat, you protected those of us floating about like fucking duck farts on a lake. You sacrificed your shuttle and drifted in the black untethered until we could scoop you up! The fact you punched the stupid fuck for pressing the EMP against orders and got demoted by his Daddy the fucking Commodore… it does not change the fact you won!"
"Winning is just an illusion of control" Ianto said, and Mickey roared again.
"Come on, you can bunk in with me" Ianto rolled his eyes "No other poor fucker should have to put up with the sound of you cleaning gun parts and slapping them together at three in the morning."
"Come on… it soothes me" Mickey poked at him as they wandered off and John turned to look at Jack long and hard before raising his eyebrows.
"Yeah. Jonesy… so many of that name out there. I had no idea we had THAT one" Jack nodded.
Yeah. John knew him, as did Jack.
After all, Torchwood was one of those fireflies he saved that day. Only… it was a long time ago.
What a funny little universe this is.
.
.
"Hey, have you got a minute?"
Ianto turned to find Rhys there, his face full of concern "Sure. What's up?"
"Look... that was feckin scary and... well… me and Andy have been talking. Um… we don't have much experience with anti-grav going zero… um… do you think…"
"Let's g talk to the captain. Maybe some drills might be a good idea" Ianto offered heading out of the room and John was not surprised to find Ianto approaching him for a word, not surprised to learn he wanted to train the Greenhorns in how to react to weightlessness and when Ianto so calmly explained how to lock down the lower Cargo Bay to do this without affecting the rest of the vessel, John was impressed. Man knew his way aboard Fireflies for sure.
"I'm in" he finally agreed.
.
.
"OK… everyone ready?" Toshiko asked over the coms and then she hit the button before anyone would respond, the emptied out bay becoming a Zero Gravity Chamber.
Laughter rang out as they tried to get a grip on things, Ianto showing off after a while like a swimmer in a deep pool of water, his breaststroke making Owen copy…. Badly. More a doggie style kinda guy… leading to more yelling and innuendoes until Toshiko threatened to de-ball someone.
Jack watched the man play and saw something else.
His shoulder. Ianto did not lift his left arm all the way, could not extend it. He had noticed while the patching was going on that he seemed to do things in an awkward way and it was becoming clear to him that Ianto had an old injury of some kind.
One he hid well. Some old one he had lived with it long enough to adjust.
"If ya stare too long, he might ask ya to start paying" John said softly and Jack grunted.
"His shoulder, it bothers him."
"Yeah. I saw a glimpse when he took his tunic off. Looks like a Reaver Scar" Jonh agreed "Looked old."
Jack swung to look at him, then over at Ianto "So, he's seen them firsthand?"
"I guess so. I don't want to ask, I got the distinct feeling that he did not want to talk about it." John replied.
"Can you blame him? Only a handful ever see those fuckers up close and live talk about it… or avoid talking about it" Jack replied and both men took a moment to stare at one another.
Yeah.
They knew how to 'not' talk about that too.
.
.
"Sir?"
Jack was in the captain's chair, swinging it slowly as he read some of the reports for the other vessels with their hull integrity scores and he grunted, handing one over like it was an agreed to thing and Ianto settled to look at it and then grunt in much the same way.
"I am gonna go out and check that seal from the outside, slap an outer patch over it until we get to a space dock or the Cardiff has a power down day or something" Ianto said as he handed the report back like he had been shown a picture or something, then he added softly "And I will double check that shield array too."
"Want company?"
"No, I prefer to walk alone" Ianto replied and Jack nodded not surprised by that.
Jack looked again at the report that detailed the shield failure of the four Fireflies that had fallen, hoping that their system's outer array did not have the same component that the Reaver ships usually targeted on sight.
Then he rose to follow Ianto.
Just to watch.