8
Jack had spoken with Ryan and was still not happy with the answers given. He was also smarting over Ianto's snarling and found himself also rubbed the wrong way. The latent Catkind in himself annoyed.
He decided the best bet might be to trade Ryan for another Greenhorn from one of the other Fireflies and hopefully restore some calm to his old girl.
The decision made he headed for bed with several captains in mind to call the next day.
.
.
Ianto was asleep.
Not the calm, snoozy, sweet sleep of a man with no demons. No. Ianto had an abundance of those fuckers and it was clear to anyone that this man did not sleep much for a reason. Right now he was locked into the same old dream.
The Reaver was forcing it's way through the blast door to the quarters, his mother stood defiantly screaming back at it, the knife in her good hand raised above her shoulder, her other arm already partially severed from a blade during the battle in the main corridor. She had run, entered the quarters and turned to defend her children.
Ianto had the baby in his arms, knowing this was the end. He swung to place her in the little cupboard where the toys were, a brief moment to wonder if the other siblings were OK and knowing… somewhere deep in the recesses of his heart he knew… they were most likely already gone like his Da must be. Must be, for his Mama to be one of the last lines of defense before him.
And he lifted the large machete like blade to stand in front of the cupboard, now the very last line of defense as the Reaver made it inside and his mother's screams raised to shrieks as she swung her blade over and over again. Her long dark hair flying about like medusa's snakes.
Ianto crouched low, prepared to die for his little beloved sister.
The alarm was so damned annoying, and he dared not look away from the Reaver even as the proximity alarm sounded.
The proximity alarm.
Ianto was awake, rolling from his bed even as his feet were finding his boots, his hand was slapping for the tunic on the hook by the door and he was running.
Then he felt it.
He felt the change of pressure and let out a yowl of alarm as their atmo failed and his feet left the grating. He was floating now as the Torchwood dropped though the black.
They were falling.
FUCK
No power, no control… no … GORAM
Ianto slammed into the cockpit like a ricocheting bullet to find John in the Captain's chair, his teeth clenched together as he struggled with the flight stick. Ianto did not hesitate, leaping over the stunned man with a bloodied nose (which he then hauled from the seat onto the floor) to land in the other seat, seizing the other flight stick to help muscle back some control.
The Torchwood made a terrible noise and Ianto cursed, his boots slamming against the console in mule style kicks as he leaned back, the force used almost breaking the stick as John released his own to lean across and slap at the levers and buttons flashing as she came back online from Ianto's … ah… administrations.
Then Jack was there, sliding in behind John to seize the other stick and the three of them fought.
"Oh Goddess" Ianto breathed, the sudden silence unnerving "Is that the Skinwalker imploding?"
They all watched with their mouths agape as the Firefly to their port side started to crumple like an invisible fist crushing an aluminum can. Ianto then booted the console hard, "Come on you bitch… get a grip!"
The huge bird seemed to shudder as if offended, then suddenly, gravity was restored and John slammed to the floor, his face inches from Rhyan's.
Ianto did not have time for bullshit, reaching out to hit the button by the autopilot, turning on the AI "MAINFRAME WAKE UP!"
Calibrating… please wait….
"Fuck this" Ianto then went still, his head tilting "Shut up… everyone… shut up."
The shouting stopped, they all stared at Ianto as his eyes shifted to his left and his face paled further.
"Breach" he whispered struggling from the chair to run from the flight deck.
"You got her?" Jack asked and John nodded still too shocked to speak. Jack ran after Into.
Ianto was in the main cargo bay, lifting the heavy metal grating like it was made of cardboard. He was flinging them back as Suzie and Toshiko danced about to avoid getting hit while ripping open the patches needed to the hull breaches. Rhys and Andy were slapping patches on the side of the bay, working in silence.
Then Ianto stepped into the hole like it was nothing, Suzie jumping after him. Jak ran to the edge to look down and saw that Ianto had caught her in his arms, quickly dropping her to her feet as he crouched and held out a hand for the first patch.
They worked in silence, better to hear the whistling and once they were done Ianto held Suzie up by her waist for Jack to reach down and seize her hands, pulling her up top. Ianto then simply leapt up, showing those catlike reflexes.
"OK… that was…" Owen started to speak and Ianto held up a finger, his head slowly swiveling around. Then he looked up.
They all looked up.
"Fuck" Ianto whispered, like a monster was stalking them "I need some large patch kits."
Jack then saw it.
As the Cardiff rolled into view, the running lights… all visible through the hole… fuck… it must be the size of his fist.
They were losing atmo… bleeding.
Ianto started to run for the wall ladder as he stuffed patches into his tunic.
They had less time than he would like to get this done.