Have pity on the general, the king, and the captain. [Locked]

[stopdropanddie]

Two weeks. Two weeks.

Somehow in two weeks, he's managed to find himself in a completely different version of a world that wasn't his own in the first place, reacquire an awkward relationship with his daughter, and somehow deeply upset a psychic girl, because somehow she's overly fond of a person who probably isn't worth being that upset over, but

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[the_vesmier]

What, precisely, the Vesmier is expecting is... very little. Not in the sense that he expects little of the man, but the sense that he simply tries not to expect - too much can be misassumed.

He's facing the door when Mr. Bristow arrives, hands tucked into their opposite sleeves and posture respectful but not deferential. He bows, slightly, a partially-casual Gallifreyan gesture of equal to equal, controlling his expression as well as he ever does.

"Johnathan Bristow," he confirms. There are only two chairs in the room, one of which behind a desk, neither of which the Vesmier has taken, and neither of which he motions Bristow toward.

This will be.. interesting.

[stopdropanddie]

Jack pauses for a moment, considers this cultural greeting, and, not wanting to seem rude (he does have a sense of class, even if being rude was never anything he concerned himself with), mimics the bow. "No one has called me Jonathan in a long time. It's Jack these days."

When was the last time anyone called him Jonathan? Better question: Who told him his name was Jonathan? Well, his guard's already up anyway, but he's not seeing the Vesmier as being nearly as much as a physical threat as April seemed to be, but one never got ahead by not being careful, so he'll just... Keep paying far too much attention to every little minute detail.

He considers the two chairs, but really the only obvious choice is the one in front of the desk, as far as Jack can see. The Vesmier called this meeting, he has no way of knowing this isn't his personal office, and he's not here for some brash, egotistical power play. He takes the seat and regards the Vesmier stoicly

[the_vesmier]

The Vesmier opts to remain standing, if only to eschew the implications of putting them in those respective places. He gives him a small smile, small enough to be almost unnoticeable, but hopefully enough to signify that he is neither a threat nor a superior.

"If there is one thing I've found in my tenure here," he begins, "it's that very little can be relied upon to accurately resemble its appearance at first glance. You've arrived in the midst of an unusually volatile situation. It's my hope to answer some of your questions; address some of your concerns."

[stopdropanddie]

Oh. Well, that's the Bristow way, apparently. Clearly if one of them isn't causing some sort of an upset, the other one will have to pick up the slack. Granted, Jack's prepared to defend his motives to the death if he has to, considering he firmly believes he's operating in the best interests of a whole, not a part.

And this makes him a rather splendid hypocrite, because if Sydney's death might potentially save lives, he wouldn't even consider it an option.

"By concerns, I'm assuming you mean Sark." It's not quite a question and he's honestly starting to wonder exactly how many people are either fond or willing to defend him... Which leads him to wonder if maybe he really is wrong.

The latter he doesn't think about too much.

[the_vesmier]

The Vesmier regards him coolly.

"It is not my intention to provide a defence for him," he says. "If you are interested, he capable of speaking on his own behalf. By now, however, I assume you will have heard a number of conflicting, likely biased accounts, likely devoid of context. I imagine that must be frustrating for you."

And while the Vesmier may not have every nuance of the situation down, he can at least provide what he does have and be upfront about what he doesn't. Which may be for the best. Or at least the better.

[stopdropanddie]

That would actually require Jack to get over his own stubborn grudge and listen to Sark's defense, much less believe it, but that's more a problem with himself than it is a problem with Sark and he recognizes it as such, but that changes nothing

[the_vesmier]

The Vesmier nods. The man is reasonable, at least, which is more than one can sometimes expect from humans. Or, to be fair, other Time Lords, though at least in most cases a rigid sense of protocol compensates for irrationality among them

[the_vesmier]

He pauses for a moment, allowing everyone's senses to return to the chronological flow

[stopdropanddie]

Jack listens intently, although no flicker of emotion crosses his face through any of it. The part that bothers him is that all of that combined meshes well with what he knows of Sark, especially Sark at that age. The one he got accustomed to back in the other Rift was older, autonomous to a fault, but still willing to collaborate with anyone who might provide him with what he needs, and a slave to the CIA on more than one occasion, according to his own accounts, which made it easy for him to accept his offer... Well, offer is putting it delicately. He didn't give him a reason to refuse

[the_vesmier]

"As I've said," the Vesmier responds, "it is not my intention to prove anything. Simply to give you the information you need to make your own informed opinions

[the_vesmier]

"Instagur Thane's stated goal was to capture the Doctor and hold him accountable for war crimes. He was eventually successful in this aim, though his particular version of 'holding one accountable' seemed to be so like comprehensive psychological torture as to be indistinguishable. He captured several of the Doctor's friends, including April and at least one member of Torchwood, and stymied for some time all attempts at counteroperations or rescue

[the_vesmier]

And it's not, thankfully, the issue, whether or not he should have known better, or whether he should have stood aside entirely in recognition of his nonexistent tactical training. Though it's an issue which still deeply bothers him.

"We did not adequately anticipate the safeguards Instagur Thane had at his disposal. Mr. Sark was captured, the device destroyed before I could complete my part of the plan, and because-"

Because the driving impetus beneath Thane's experience of the world was hatred, and jealousy, and rage..."-Instagur Thane operated under the assumption that he had some claim to April and because April sought to protect Mr. Sark from his retribution, Mr. Sark became the immediate target of Instagur Thane's ire, and narrowly escaped being killed and having his dismembered corpse sent back to Torchwood as an object lesson

[stopdropanddie]

That's... Surprising to Jack, and might be the first part of this entire conversation that gets even a little bit of emotion out of him. It's barely perceptible- a slight twitch of the jaw, a narrowing of the eyes, a firmer grasp on the armrest of the chair, but there all the same, and he's not even sure, himself, why that warranted such a reaction. Some unspoken respect for Harkness, possibly, that makes the concept of him becoming such a perversion of his former self completely unseemly, perhaps.

And there's what he's missing- what no one ever said, but might have been deeply insinuated. What Jack refused to believe, because it was just so unlike everything he knew about Julian Sark, but somehow makes a certain amount of sense in this context. Sark did something for April that he, himself, would have done for Sydney and part of him won't let that sway his decision and the other part almost understands, but a strong bias and the fact that Sark didn't live up to his own bravado keeps the latter emotion from winning out. If Jack's

[stopdropanddie]

After a long, long time of quiet contemplation, Jack takes a deep breath and releases his hold on the chair, regaining his completely stoic facade once again in order to respond, "I admit that my involvement in this entire affair is primarily because I feel responsible for Mr. Sark, being that I'm familiar with his motives and actions." Former motives and actions. "You've given me an objective perspective on his recent behaviors, which I appreciate immensely and all of it has been taken into consideration. However, that isn't the only reason. There is the continued problem of Dmitri Lang. What Sark did to her personally in this event has yet to be addressed and until that is dealt with, I suspect there will always be a problem. Lang happens to be a confidante and someone I regard very highly. You can see where I might still take issue with Sark's actions in regards to her. Granted, I'm not asking you to present an opinion on the matter or even tell me what to do about it. I merely wish to form some sort of strategy in order to reach

[the_vesmier]

The Vesmier nods. He's never believed himself to be an ultimate moral arbitor, even when he's believed himself to have a clearer opinion of moral stance than most. And, since coming here, he's only learned that things are less simple than he imagined.

"There is no survivor of this ordeal," he says simply, "whose actions, inactions, or circumstance provide for a resolution of the various issues of concern considered palatable to all parties. What we can do now is to attempt a resolution. I am under no illusion tat it will be easy to obtain."

[stopdropanddie]

"Nor am I," Jack responds flatly. Dmitri has every right not to forgive and seek retribution for what happened, but he knows too well how self-destructive that attitude can be even if it's justified. He was there for years, after all. It shaped him into becoming... Well, this.

"I suppose we'll just have to bring all the parties together and go from there in the most diplomatic manner possible."

Dear God, when did he start sounding like Barnett? The fact that he's in this situation at all is becoming moderately surreal to him. Psychology is something he has enough of a grasp on to be a good manipulator, but he's nowhere near the type to be able to fix something like this. And diplomacy is something he has only has enough of a concept of to get by. Really, his involvement could end here, but someone has to stand on Dmitri's side of things- might as well be him and he's already involved anyway.