15

Ianto found Velda in the garden area, the huge lower hold now a hydroponics lab in the early stags of propagation. Jaccob had ruled her with an iron fist and now that she was free of him, she was letting her freak flag fly and her pale green skin was pretty in amongst the plants.

"Hey there" he said softly so as not to startle her and she turned to smile softly at the man who had saved her life.

"Hey yourself" she finally replied, the little girl hiding in her skirts peeking around her at Into before disappearing into the folds again.

"John Hart is investigating the planets we might colonize. He might seek some advice on the colonization and terraforming we will be doing. Can I send him your way for that?"

"Of course you can sweetie" she smiled, turning back to check the rose that was slowly opening as the child showed her power to be that of a grower. Lovely. Looks like he had come to the right place to ask, when the time comes, he will be comfortable knowing there are growers on board.

He then headed to the animal hold, checking on the livestock that seemed in good spirits as they chomped on the organic food that was on offer, the replicators along the back wall spitting out food at regular intervals. The sheep were really tuned in to the feeding times and the cows simply stood by the machines all the time like they did not trust the sheep to share. The deer did not care like the regal bastards they are. The horses were in another area as they did not like the carry on at feeding time, their more graceful manner part of their breeding.

Rhys was here, working on one of the machines that had stopped making the sheep pellets the younger ones needed for their growth. Ianto settled to watch and wait, knowing that Rhys did not like being interrupted when he was working, his mind making thousands of calculations and going over so many different schematics as he worked that he was like a terminator.

Finally, he sat back and glanced at Ianto like he had only just noticed him there "Oi oi mate."

"Hello Rhys. The time is growing near for a planetary colonization, and I was hoping things were all ready to go."

"Yeah… these machines can be transferred to the planet surface to continue to work until we have naturally grown foodage for them" Rhys said as he went back to bashing at a piece of machinery "Grand."

Ianto nodded heading to the bridge where he found Jack in the captain's chair rubbing his gut. "The garden sector is happy; the machinery sector is happy… looks like the reproduction sector needs attention?"

Jack went to answer as Ianto reached out, cupping the man's face in his hands, leaning in and kissing him gently. Jack felt the affection wash over him and was pleased to note that Ianto had visited Velda, gaining her ability to soothe that the plants liked so much. To know this also made him feel better made him smile at the thought of a grower's love working on the bub. Well… we are mostly water, right? Like plants?

"John wants to talk to us in the Ready Room if we have a moment, him and Toshiko have gone over the planetary settlement offers and want to share their thoughts" Jack said as he rose from the chair, now feeling more like his old self.

They entered the room to find three of the walls in use, one for each of the three colonies they were looking at and to Ianto's immense interest, the wall with the door closed behind them, shimmered and hologramed into a fourth. Oooooo.

Ianto stepped over and started to look at the schematics and such for the new one as Jack went to the one which he preferred, and they talked. Ianto ignored them.

"I looked at the first one and agreed with Ianto and Tosh, it's just too good to be true and the last two colonizers that entered their settlements never came out and scouring the CCTV footage, Tosh can't find a single face in the facial rec to match the records of those entering. Either they are enslaving them in the mines underground or…. Well… on this vidcom here… see how the man's hands shake?" John pointed out and Jack made a face of annoyance.

"Cannibals?"

"We think so. Likewise, the third option that Ianto liked… we also found it to be a farce. We used satellite images to try an match the images provided for the settlement area offered and none exist. It's a fake image and if you strip away the greenery and leave the barren landscape where nothing grows, it matches here near the volcanoes." Toshiko tapped the screen and Jack sighed softly, turning to the last of the three.

"So… number two is the one we had agreed to as it seemed most likely to be true given the fair price?" Jak caked.

"Yeah, but none are mutants" John said as he turned to watch Ianto who was now scrolling the data along the side of the screen for the fourth planet with open interest. "We are worried that they might be separatists and are luring us in for… well… sport or something."

"So… what is that place over there?" Jack turned finally to see what Ianto was looking at. "It looks familiar… I can't place it."

"This is an outer peninsula of Boeshane's sister planet Bettani."

Jack swung to gape at him "They said no more colonists… no more selling off our land… are you sure?"

"Well… sometimes toy need to know someone on the inside of things, have Boeshane blood and have the right number of credits to soothe… but we can get it." John grinned widely. "And it is not Boeshane, it is her sister which has a settlement on it already so… technically we are joining them, not invading Boeshane."

"Semantics. I never thought I would see the day when Boeshane would let semantics rule" Jack snorted with amusement, watching Ianto's face as he went over the numbers "Tiger?"

"I don't know. It's so… so… Boeshane-like." Ianto finally said softly, seeing the similarities in the two planets. At leat the twins would like it I guess, the doubleness of the two planets side by side.

"Over half the inhabitants of the vessel have Boeshane blood in their veins, even if just a drop" John argued, not afraid to do so like Jack seemed to be "It's not a wet and wild environment like your home planet sure… but it's one WE know."

Ianot glanced at Jack and Jack knew he didn't like it. Didn't want it, even as he nodded to agree with the decision.

And once again…. Ianto sacrificed his dream for him.

Jack knew he should feel more excited but seeing the greener planets Ianto had been looking at compared to the more unforgiving one they were about to turn for… Jack knew that once again he had won a battle which he had not even raised a weapon in.

And as always when that happened… despite the excitement and delight… he felt Ianto's disappointment.

And had no idea how to help with it.