The Stolen Earth Incident - Chapter Seven
30 April 2009
Cardiff
Ianto could feel his mate trembling next to him as the tinny sounds of “Exterminate!” came over the open connection to Martha.
He was well aware of the circumstances of his mate’s first death, on board the Gamestation. Hearing the Daleks over the phone was obviously a shock to him, and Ianto reached out and put his arm about his mate’s waist, pulling him closer and attempting to offer some form of comfort.
While he hadn’t seen the Daleks in action at Canary Wharf, Ianto had been a witness to the death and destruction they’d left behind. He’d read the stories in the Archives and felt he knew exactly what they were capable of. But, to take the entire planet out of its own solar system and to transport it somewhere else…that seemed so very far beyond even their technology.
Although, this was the race that had come within a hairs’ breadth of destroying the Time Lords, only failing in the end because of the Doctor destroying both Gallifrey and the invading Daleks. Perhaps Ianto was underestimating them.
“What the hell is that?” Rhys demanded.
Of course. Only Ianto himself, Toshiko and Owen had been with Torchwood for the Canary Wharf disaster. None of the others would know what they were dealing with, and what would have their normally fearless leader shaking so hard that Ianto was practically holding him up.
“They’re the Daleks,” Ianto answered softly, not bothering to hide his own horror at those terrible, grating words. “One of the deadliest races in the universe. They were mostly responsible for what happened at Torchwood One. We…might not stand a chance if they’re the ones who took the Earth and transported it here.”
It was quite possibly the closest they’d come to apocalypse in quite a long time. The Song of Mourning rose in Ianto’s chest, but the dragon ruthlessly stifled the urge to begin to sing. Intellectually, he knew there wasn’t much any of them could do, if the Daleks were set on invading and killing every human on the planet then they’d do so. The only reason they hadn’t succeeded before was because of the Doctor, and there was no sign of the Time Lord anywhere.
The line disconnected. Martha must have hung up. Ianto prayed that she was alright, all the way in New York and without her family around her.
A sharp shudder passed through his mate, and then Jack was pulling away, and even without looking Ianto knew that he was forcing himself to become Torchwood’s Captain, to lead his team. He glanced up, into Jack’s hard features, and waited for orders.
“Clint,” Jack said, “you need to contact Agent Coulson and tell him to get the Helicarrier into the water now. If the Daleks see it in the air, they’ll target it. Hell, they might target it anyway, but if it seems harmless they might not do anything right away, and that may give us an advantage later on. Plus, it might cut down on casualties if the Helicarrier isn’t knocked out of the sky.”
“You got it, Boss.” The SHIELD agent had his phone out and was dialling.
“Clint,” Ianto called him back, “also let Agent Coulson know we’re going to forward on every bit of information we have on the Daleks to SHIELD. He’s going to need it if we have any hope of fighting them.”
The archer acknowledged Ianto’s words with a nod, and then was on the line, his quiet voice filling the near-silence of the Hub.
“Ianto,” Jack murmured, “you’ll make sure that gets to SHIELD’s servers?”
“I’m on it now, Jack.” He turned back to the computer, already, pulling up the relevant files from the digital Archives. He wished he could get up and embrace his mate, but he didn’t dare do anything that might have Jack break out of the carefully maintained façade he had raised.
“Rhys,” Jack went on, “contact Andy and let him know what we’re dealing with. I know you’ve never had the experience with the Daleks that most of us have, but stress to him that this is a very dangerous situation and we need to make sure the loss of life is negligible.”
“Doing it now.” Matching actions to words, Rhys had his own phone out.
“Patrick,” Jack turned to their American teammate, “call Eion at the Lord Mayor’s office. Let him know this is an Extinction Level event and that the Mayor needs to get on the air and warn the residents to stay in their homes for the duration of the emergency. If the Daleks can’t see people, there might be a chance they can escape…for a while, at least.”
“On it, Boss.” Another phone was out and being used.
Ianto pulled up the connection between mainframe and the SHIELD servers that Toshiko had set up, using his command codes to transfer everything they had over to their American allies. Torchwood and SHIELD had a good rapport, and that was more to do with Patrick’s presence than anything that Ianto had done, despite his best efforts. Even though Patrick never would pass along secrets to another agency, it seemed that once Patrick had been hired in, Phil Coulson had begun to put more trust in Torchwood, and for that Ianto was grateful. He’d already had his work cut out for him as a liaison between all the agencies they dealt with on a regular basis, and although they hadn’t hired Patrick for his connections they’d certainly come in handy.
Although it made Ianto’s job just a bit more difficult. Especially on the odd occasion he’d had to talk to his counterpart in the CIA. Rex Matheson was a pain in the backside that the dragon just didn’t need.
“Owen,” Jack spoke, “you might want to check the supplies we have on hand. There’s no telling how many injured we’re going to be dealing with before everything is said and done.”
“Jack,” Owen murmured, just loud enough for both Jack and Ianto to hear, “is there really anything we can do?”
The captain sighed. “Honestly? I don’t know. But we’re not going down without a fight.”
“Fuck no,” Owen snarled. “We fight no matter what.”
Jack clapped him on the shoulder. “You know it.”
“What about me, Jack?” Deborah spoke up. She was far too pale, but her expression was determined. “What do you want me to do?”
Jack smiled proudly. “I want you on the scanners. We need to know where the Daleks are hitting. Take Rhys’ desk. Ianto, can you transfer control?”
The dragon typed a few commands into the computer. “Done.”
“Thanks for that.” She hugged Jack and then took her station, eyes tracking whatever readings she was getting.
Jack snatched up the phone from where Ianto had left it after Martha had disconnected, dialling swiftly. “Colonel Mace,” he ground out, “how are your men distributed throughout Great Britain?” He listened, his face showing his anger at the situation.
Ianto wondered if it was the anger that was what was keeping him from completely panicking.
He wasn’t unaware that the reason Jack hadn’t gone with him, Suzie, and Owen to London after Canary Wharf was because his mate had a very deep-seated fear of the Daleks. It wasn’t because they could kill him because, of course, they could only do it temporarily. No, it was because they were the ones responsible for his first death, and that death haunted him no matter how many centuries it had been since it had occurred. It had traumatised him in ways Jack could never possibly explain, and to be faced with them again, and this time in such numbers, had to have brought up all those old fears again.
“Jack!” Deborah cried out, “the Valiant’s under attack! It’s going down!”
Everyone in the Hub turned toward her, various degrees of shock on their faces. Clint himself seemed shell-shocked, and Ianto wondered if he was thinking that this could have been the SHIELD Helicarrier, where his lover was currently stationed. Hopefully Coulson had gotten to Fury in time to get the Helicarrier out of the way of the rampaging Daleks.
To be honest, if it wasn’t for the terrible loss of life, Ianto wasn’t at all disappointed in the destruction of the Valiant. It had been where Jack had been held for a year and horribly tortured, and he’d have scuttled the thing himself if he’d been able to. If a dragon could hold actions against an object, then Ianto would have called a Rite of Vengeance against the air carrier a long time ago.
“The Helicarrier is in the water off the coast of New York,” Clint reported. He had the phone away from his ear. “So far, the Daleks aren’t going after it, but Coulson thinks it’s only a matter of time. Fury’s ordered an evacuation of the ship except for a skeleton crew.” He paused, putting the phone back against his face, listening for a few seconds. “Also, Coulson says he got all the information you sent, Ianto. He’s passing it along to Fury and the science boffins, to see if they can come up with something that will work against the Daleks.”
“Have him let us know if they do,” Jack said.
Clint went back to his call, relaying Jack’s request along. He nodded once, indicating that Coulson had agreed.
“There are Daleks landing in Japan,” Deborah called out. “Air forces in North Africa are retreating from superior forces.”
Things were getting out of hand, and yet there wasn’t a thing they could do. Ianto felt whatever hope he’d had fading. However, he knew he couldn’t show his team that. He had to be strong for them, and for his mate, just as Jack had to do the same.
It seemed like an impossible situation.
There really was only one person who had any hope of stopping things, and the Doctor was nowhere to be seen…as much as he didn’t want to admit it, they needed the Time Lord.
Cardiff
Ianto could feel his mate trembling next to him as the tinny sounds of “Exterminate!” came over the open connection to Martha.
He was well aware of the circumstances of his mate’s first death, on board the Gamestation. Hearing the Daleks over the phone was obviously a shock to him, and Ianto reached out and put his arm about his mate’s waist, pulling him closer and attempting to offer some form of comfort.
While he hadn’t seen the Daleks in action at Canary Wharf, Ianto had been a witness to the death and destruction they’d left behind. He’d read the stories in the Archives and felt he knew exactly what they were capable of. But, to take the entire planet out of its own solar system and to transport it somewhere else…that seemed so very far beyond even their technology.
Although, this was the race that had come within a hairs’ breadth of destroying the Time Lords, only failing in the end because of the Doctor destroying both Gallifrey and the invading Daleks. Perhaps Ianto was underestimating them.
“What the hell is that?” Rhys demanded.
Of course. Only Ianto himself, Toshiko and Owen had been with Torchwood for the Canary Wharf disaster. None of the others would know what they were dealing with, and what would have their normally fearless leader shaking so hard that Ianto was practically holding him up.
“They’re the Daleks,” Ianto answered softly, not bothering to hide his own horror at those terrible, grating words. “One of the deadliest races in the universe. They were mostly responsible for what happened at Torchwood One. We…might not stand a chance if they’re the ones who took the Earth and transported it here.”
It was quite possibly the closest they’d come to apocalypse in quite a long time. The Song of Mourning rose in Ianto’s chest, but the dragon ruthlessly stifled the urge to begin to sing. Intellectually, he knew there wasn’t much any of them could do, if the Daleks were set on invading and killing every human on the planet then they’d do so. The only reason they hadn’t succeeded before was because of the Doctor, and there was no sign of the Time Lord anywhere.
The line disconnected. Martha must have hung up. Ianto prayed that she was alright, all the way in New York and without her family around her.
A sharp shudder passed through his mate, and then Jack was pulling away, and even without looking Ianto knew that he was forcing himself to become Torchwood’s Captain, to lead his team. He glanced up, into Jack’s hard features, and waited for orders.
“Clint,” Jack said, “you need to contact Agent Coulson and tell him to get the Helicarrier into the water now. If the Daleks see it in the air, they’ll target it. Hell, they might target it anyway, but if it seems harmless they might not do anything right away, and that may give us an advantage later on. Plus, it might cut down on casualties if the Helicarrier isn’t knocked out of the sky.”
“You got it, Boss.” The SHIELD agent had his phone out and was dialling.
“Clint,” Ianto called him back, “also let Agent Coulson know we’re going to forward on every bit of information we have on the Daleks to SHIELD. He’s going to need it if we have any hope of fighting them.”
The archer acknowledged Ianto’s words with a nod, and then was on the line, his quiet voice filling the near-silence of the Hub.
“Ianto,” Jack murmured, “you’ll make sure that gets to SHIELD’s servers?”
“I’m on it now, Jack.” He turned back to the computer, already, pulling up the relevant files from the digital Archives. He wished he could get up and embrace his mate, but he didn’t dare do anything that might have Jack break out of the carefully maintained façade he had raised.
“Rhys,” Jack went on, “contact Andy and let him know what we’re dealing with. I know you’ve never had the experience with the Daleks that most of us have, but stress to him that this is a very dangerous situation and we need to make sure the loss of life is negligible.”
“Doing it now.” Matching actions to words, Rhys had his own phone out.
“Patrick,” Jack turned to their American teammate, “call Eion at the Lord Mayor’s office. Let him know this is an Extinction Level event and that the Mayor needs to get on the air and warn the residents to stay in their homes for the duration of the emergency. If the Daleks can’t see people, there might be a chance they can escape…for a while, at least.”
“On it, Boss.” Another phone was out and being used.
Ianto pulled up the connection between mainframe and the SHIELD servers that Toshiko had set up, using his command codes to transfer everything they had over to their American allies. Torchwood and SHIELD had a good rapport, and that was more to do with Patrick’s presence than anything that Ianto had done, despite his best efforts. Even though Patrick never would pass along secrets to another agency, it seemed that once Patrick had been hired in, Phil Coulson had begun to put more trust in Torchwood, and for that Ianto was grateful. He’d already had his work cut out for him as a liaison between all the agencies they dealt with on a regular basis, and although they hadn’t hired Patrick for his connections they’d certainly come in handy.
Although it made Ianto’s job just a bit more difficult. Especially on the odd occasion he’d had to talk to his counterpart in the CIA. Rex Matheson was a pain in the backside that the dragon just didn’t need.
“Owen,” Jack spoke, “you might want to check the supplies we have on hand. There’s no telling how many injured we’re going to be dealing with before everything is said and done.”
“Jack,” Owen murmured, just loud enough for both Jack and Ianto to hear, “is there really anything we can do?”
The captain sighed. “Honestly? I don’t know. But we’re not going down without a fight.”
“Fuck no,” Owen snarled. “We fight no matter what.”
Jack clapped him on the shoulder. “You know it.”
“What about me, Jack?” Deborah spoke up. She was far too pale, but her expression was determined. “What do you want me to do?”
Jack smiled proudly. “I want you on the scanners. We need to know where the Daleks are hitting. Take Rhys’ desk. Ianto, can you transfer control?”
The dragon typed a few commands into the computer. “Done.”
“Thanks for that.” She hugged Jack and then took her station, eyes tracking whatever readings she was getting.
Jack snatched up the phone from where Ianto had left it after Martha had disconnected, dialling swiftly. “Colonel Mace,” he ground out, “how are your men distributed throughout Great Britain?” He listened, his face showing his anger at the situation.
Ianto wondered if it was the anger that was what was keeping him from completely panicking.
He wasn’t unaware that the reason Jack hadn’t gone with him, Suzie, and Owen to London after Canary Wharf was because his mate had a very deep-seated fear of the Daleks. It wasn’t because they could kill him because, of course, they could only do it temporarily. No, it was because they were the ones responsible for his first death, and that death haunted him no matter how many centuries it had been since it had occurred. It had traumatised him in ways Jack could never possibly explain, and to be faced with them again, and this time in such numbers, had to have brought up all those old fears again.
“Jack!” Deborah cried out, “the Valiant’s under attack! It’s going down!”
Everyone in the Hub turned toward her, various degrees of shock on their faces. Clint himself seemed shell-shocked, and Ianto wondered if he was thinking that this could have been the SHIELD Helicarrier, where his lover was currently stationed. Hopefully Coulson had gotten to Fury in time to get the Helicarrier out of the way of the rampaging Daleks.
To be honest, if it wasn’t for the terrible loss of life, Ianto wasn’t at all disappointed in the destruction of the Valiant. It had been where Jack had been held for a year and horribly tortured, and he’d have scuttled the thing himself if he’d been able to. If a dragon could hold actions against an object, then Ianto would have called a Rite of Vengeance against the air carrier a long time ago.
“The Helicarrier is in the water off the coast of New York,” Clint reported. He had the phone away from his ear. “So far, the Daleks aren’t going after it, but Coulson thinks it’s only a matter of time. Fury’s ordered an evacuation of the ship except for a skeleton crew.” He paused, putting the phone back against his face, listening for a few seconds. “Also, Coulson says he got all the information you sent, Ianto. He’s passing it along to Fury and the science boffins, to see if they can come up with something that will work against the Daleks.”
“Have him let us know if they do,” Jack said.
Clint went back to his call, relaying Jack’s request along. He nodded once, indicating that Coulson had agreed.
“There are Daleks landing in Japan,” Deborah called out. “Air forces in North Africa are retreating from superior forces.”
Things were getting out of hand, and yet there wasn’t a thing they could do. Ianto felt whatever hope he’d had fading. However, he knew he couldn’t show his team that. He had to be strong for them, and for his mate, just as Jack had to do the same.
It seemed like an impossible situation.
There really was only one person who had any hope of stopping things, and the Doctor was nowhere to be seen…as much as he didn’t want to admit it, they needed the Time Lord.