Tish’s Years - Chapter 08: Who’s there?.
Title: Tish’s Years.
Chapter 08: Who’s there?.
Character, pairing: Jack Harkness/Tish Jones and someone new .
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who Universe.
Plot: Jack rescued Tish who, after falling through the rift, had found herself on an abandoned planet centuries in the future.
Summary: Young Jack and his accomplice, the young future Captain Hart, stole the Chula ship from Jack and Tish. They found themselves left alone with the travelling bag from the Tardis.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none
Beta: Orion Lyonesse on ffnet.
...........................................
Even if having the psychic paper was good news, it wasn’t going to solve all the mess they’d gotten into. Jack used it to pay for the harbour stay, even if he declined to file a report. He wasn’t going to file a claim against himself for the ship robbery. The psychic paper would help to pay the Inn too, but there was no way to use it to buy a ship; this kind of article, here, was settled in cash, coins, dollars and cents...just a way of speaking, of course, because dollars wouldn’t be very useful here either.
In addition, a ship that could effectively replace his little precious would not be so easy to find. Of course Jack recovered and endorsed the ship abandoned by the two thieves, and had begun to tear it down and sell off all its salvageable parts.
While they accumulated credits toward their next ship, Jack easily got himself hired as a mechanic at the spaceport maintenance department and Tish had found a job at a gardener shop.
“That guy is bartering with every passing ship! He would even go and pick up seeds in the trash, if necessary,” Tish told Jack.
“Not very hygienic, if you ask me,” Jack commented.
“Don’t play silly. You do know what the best fertilizer is, right?” she countered, arching an eyebrow at him.
After three months, their scanty savings wouldn’t have allowed them to pay for a trip ticket to Sisko. Jack was growing impatient, beginning to haunt dens and gamble. And much to Tish despair, he was losing night after night.
“To win big you must know how to lose!” he explained one morning as he’d came back almost as drunk as the young man who was the cause of all their troubles.
That very day, Tish had been very close to making a scene. But she thought better of it; she was already on the way to being late and she couldn’t afford to lose her job. She would see to it when they were both cooler.
Returning to the inn after work, she knew exactly what she intended to tell Jack. She’d debated the question all day long with herself; Jack was a smart guy, she would only need to appeal to his common sense.
“He already left,” Liet informed her as she passed by the inn office.
“Do you know where he went?”
“No, but the bullies he is hanging with are not good news. I’d say they are real scum, dangerous ones.”
Tish went straight to bed without eating, angry and disgusted by the turn things were taking.
She was awakened at midnight by a frantic telepathic call.
* Tish! Pick up our stuff, quick! Join me, I’m on the docks! *
“What...?” she grumbled still half asleep.
* Tish, move it! This is urgent! *
* What did you get yourself into? * she asked, a bit annoyed.
* We’re leaving, and right now. Take our stuff and meet me at the docks as soon as you can. *
Tish cursed with every swear word she knew. Jack had better be clean or he was going to have to listen to her rant about it. She would make a scene to thrill even her mother. Still, she quickly collected their belongings and stuffed them in a bag. It didn’t take long. Tish arrived to the docks with her two bags: the strange old-fashioned one with the sewing kits and the new one with the few things they’d buy since they arrived.
Jack was busy loading crates aboard a shuttle with the help of a...Dakonite!
“Nice little ass,” the Dakonite commented, looking at her.
“Yep!” was Jack’s only answer. * Play it nice, like a devoted little girl, and trust me,* he told her.
“And she’s a lot more than that,” he added for the alien, with a nice slap on her buttocks as he showed her where to get into the shuttle. * These guys are smugglers;, for last three nights, I’ve let them rack my ass off. Tonight, I decided it was time the tide turned, I won his ship, and I offered him a deal he couldn’t refuse.*
* And what kind of deal would that be? *
* Later .*
.....................................
The shuttle took them to a very huge ship. The access hangar harboured eight other shuttles, each as big as the Chula ship.
They followed what looked like miles of dark corridors congested with crates of all sizes to get to their room. The room smelled musty and looked grimy.
“Charming,” she said, making a face.
“Don’t be so picky. Just settle down and don’t move from here,” he said, planting a kiss on her lips.
“Jack, I really don’t trust these guys…”
“Don’t worry, neither do I,” he said as he left the room.
Tish made a quick tour of the room. The furniture was old, what there was of it. Disgusted, she removed the dirty sheets from the bed and replaced them with some that she’d found in a storage cabinet, though they didn’t look much better. She checked the hygiene cabin, finding it in working order. It had the advantage of being sterile. Or at least it was supposed to be and looked like it.
Opening her bag, she pulled out a towel. She laid it on the bed before lying down upon it. Even the supposedly clean sheets weren’t very appealing.
It didn’t take long before the door opened...The Dakonite!
“What the hell!” she let out, already seeking for her taser, but it was on the table across the room. How stupid of you, she thought.
“I’ve been told you're good, according to your boyfriend.” the alien whispered in a very disgusting way.
*Jack! Jack?* she called out, moving slowly away on the bed toward the other side. The travelling bag sat on the floor by the bed. “Where is he?” she asked, grabbing the bag’s handle firmly.
“I’m afraid there was some kind of accident. A deadly one,” the alien laughed.
Contrary to what she had initially thought, the Dakonite, instead of going directly to it, threw himself on the bag and sent it toward the other end of the room.
“That trick won’t do it again, my pretty,” he said with an unsavoury grin.
It had to be the same Dakonite, Tish thought. She was disarmed and cornered. Jack was still unconscious…
And then everything went black.
......................................
When Tish woke up, she was alone, and fine.
*Jack?* she called.
*Hum?* He answered as if also just coming back.
*Jack, where are you?*
*Not a clue, it’s completely dark in here.*
*Should I guess things didn’t turn out as you planned?* she bantered.
*To be honest? Yes,*he replied.
She got up and went around the room, accessing her surroundings: the bag was lying open and the kits had rolled all over the floor.
*Something funny happened…* she begun.
*Shit!* Jack exclaimed, cutting her off mid-sentence.
*What?*
*I’m stuck. But don’t worry and wait where you are. These guys are real shit.*
*What a scoop! You’re Dakonite bloke paid me a visit, as it happened,* she snorted.
*Are you alright? Tish...?* Jack asked, suddenly really worried.
*I am. But as for him-I really don’t know.*
*How’s that, you don’t know?*
*He just vanished,* she said. *Oh! That’s funny!*
*What’s funny?*
*He threw the bag away and all the kits fell out.*
*Don’t worry, they aren’t very fragile.*
*That’s not the deal, Jack. I can see the bottom of the bag, now.*
*Get out of that room! Right now, Tish! Hurry up!*Jack panicked.
*Cool down. Take it easy. I don’t think whatever was in that bag intends to hurt me,* Tish replied. She put all the kits back in the bag, one by one. *Jack, I didn’t know there were so much of them. I put all the kits back in and there’s still enough place to put as many more of them inside that bag. It is way bigger in the inside…*
*Yes, I got that part, when I stuffed them in it. Tish, whatever was in that bag has to be huge.*
*Something huge, sent by the Doctor. And it saved my life, Jack.*
*I don’t think it was the Doctor.*
*You admitted it was our Tardis.*
*Our Tardis, not the Doctor. As it happen, the Doctor doesn’t know my real name, the Tardis does.*
*It was only written: Jack.*
*For you, not for me.*
*What does it mean?*
*Nothing good for the Doctor, I’m afraid.*
*What...?* She couldn’t make herself formulate the question.
*It could mean the Tardis acted of her own...*
*Could he...be…*
*As everyone, but me, Tish,* Jack replied.
*But the Tardis loves you, she wouldn’t send you something bad, right?*
*If the Doctor is dead, she won’t survive him long, Tish. And she was already very old and fragile…*
*Why don’t you just say she’s senile, by the way!*
*Tish?* Jack asked suspiciously.
*Jack?* Tish asked him back, surprised by his tone.
*I think we’ve got an intruder on the line,* Jack replied.
*How can that be? You said it was a private line. Even the Master did not…-* she stopped, realising how upsetting this could be.
*It should be, that way,* Jack replied absently as if he was listening elsewhere.
*Whoa! Did you really hear me?*
*Who’s there?* Jack asked.
*Who are you talking to, Jack?*
*My name is Tashan.*
*And you are...?*
*Your son.*
*My...son?*
*Your son? What the hell is going on, Jack?* Tish asked, completely at loss.
*Okay, let’s put the fun stuff aside, and get straight to the urgent parts: Tish is on her own, I’m trapped in the hell knows what, and a bunch of bad guys are running free.* Jack summarised.
*The bad guys are gone and I think you’re trapped in a crate,* Tashan answered.
*The bad guys are gone? How’s that, gone?* Jack asked.
*Just gone*
*Gone where?*
*Does it really matter? They’re gone, they ran off the ship.*
*Why would they do that?* Jack asked, completely at loss.
*Because I scared them out their skin, and they abandoned the ship, taking five of the shuttles. The ship is now ours. Is that clear enough, or do you need more detail?*
*Jack, what is going on? Because just right now, you’re frightening me,* Tish said.
*I believe she doesn’t hear me,* Tashan stated.
*In fact, I don’t know if my explanation is going to reassure you, Tish, but try this: It looks like I’ve got son I didn’t even know of. He was hidden in the bag, don’t ask me why or how, and, as for the more urgent thing: I’m trapped in a box.*
*Have you any idea, how many boxes there are on this ship, Jack?*
*A lot!*
Master list can be found here
To be continued...
Chapter 08: Who’s there?.
Character, pairing: Jack Harkness/Tish Jones and someone new .
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who Universe.
Plot: Jack rescued Tish who, after falling through the rift, had found herself on an abandoned planet centuries in the future.
Summary: Young Jack and his accomplice, the young future Captain Hart, stole the Chula ship from Jack and Tish. They found themselves left alone with the travelling bag from the Tardis.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none
Beta: Orion Lyonesse on ffnet.
...........................................
Even if having the psychic paper was good news, it wasn’t going to solve all the mess they’d gotten into. Jack used it to pay for the harbour stay, even if he declined to file a report. He wasn’t going to file a claim against himself for the ship robbery. The psychic paper would help to pay the Inn too, but there was no way to use it to buy a ship; this kind of article, here, was settled in cash, coins, dollars and cents...just a way of speaking, of course, because dollars wouldn’t be very useful here either.
In addition, a ship that could effectively replace his little precious would not be so easy to find. Of course Jack recovered and endorsed the ship abandoned by the two thieves, and had begun to tear it down and sell off all its salvageable parts.
While they accumulated credits toward their next ship, Jack easily got himself hired as a mechanic at the spaceport maintenance department and Tish had found a job at a gardener shop.
“That guy is bartering with every passing ship! He would even go and pick up seeds in the trash, if necessary,” Tish told Jack.
“Not very hygienic, if you ask me,” Jack commented.
“Don’t play silly. You do know what the best fertilizer is, right?” she countered, arching an eyebrow at him.
After three months, their scanty savings wouldn’t have allowed them to pay for a trip ticket to Sisko. Jack was growing impatient, beginning to haunt dens and gamble. And much to Tish despair, he was losing night after night.
“To win big you must know how to lose!” he explained one morning as he’d came back almost as drunk as the young man who was the cause of all their troubles.
That very day, Tish had been very close to making a scene. But she thought better of it; she was already on the way to being late and she couldn’t afford to lose her job. She would see to it when they were both cooler.
Returning to the inn after work, she knew exactly what she intended to tell Jack. She’d debated the question all day long with herself; Jack was a smart guy, she would only need to appeal to his common sense.
“He already left,” Liet informed her as she passed by the inn office.
“Do you know where he went?”
“No, but the bullies he is hanging with are not good news. I’d say they are real scum, dangerous ones.”
Tish went straight to bed without eating, angry and disgusted by the turn things were taking.
She was awakened at midnight by a frantic telepathic call.
* Tish! Pick up our stuff, quick! Join me, I’m on the docks! *
“What...?” she grumbled still half asleep.
* Tish, move it! This is urgent! *
* What did you get yourself into? * she asked, a bit annoyed.
* We’re leaving, and right now. Take our stuff and meet me at the docks as soon as you can. *
Tish cursed with every swear word she knew. Jack had better be clean or he was going to have to listen to her rant about it. She would make a scene to thrill even her mother. Still, she quickly collected their belongings and stuffed them in a bag. It didn’t take long. Tish arrived to the docks with her two bags: the strange old-fashioned one with the sewing kits and the new one with the few things they’d buy since they arrived.
Jack was busy loading crates aboard a shuttle with the help of a...Dakonite!
“Nice little ass,” the Dakonite commented, looking at her.
“Yep!” was Jack’s only answer. * Play it nice, like a devoted little girl, and trust me,* he told her.
“And she’s a lot more than that,” he added for the alien, with a nice slap on her buttocks as he showed her where to get into the shuttle. * These guys are smugglers;, for last three nights, I’ve let them rack my ass off. Tonight, I decided it was time the tide turned, I won his ship, and I offered him a deal he couldn’t refuse.*
* And what kind of deal would that be? *
* Later .*
.....................................
The shuttle took them to a very huge ship. The access hangar harboured eight other shuttles, each as big as the Chula ship.
They followed what looked like miles of dark corridors congested with crates of all sizes to get to their room. The room smelled musty and looked grimy.
“Charming,” she said, making a face.
“Don’t be so picky. Just settle down and don’t move from here,” he said, planting a kiss on her lips.
“Jack, I really don’t trust these guys…”
“Don’t worry, neither do I,” he said as he left the room.
Tish made a quick tour of the room. The furniture was old, what there was of it. Disgusted, she removed the dirty sheets from the bed and replaced them with some that she’d found in a storage cabinet, though they didn’t look much better. She checked the hygiene cabin, finding it in working order. It had the advantage of being sterile. Or at least it was supposed to be and looked like it.
Opening her bag, she pulled out a towel. She laid it on the bed before lying down upon it. Even the supposedly clean sheets weren’t very appealing.
It didn’t take long before the door opened...The Dakonite!
“What the hell!” she let out, already seeking for her taser, but it was on the table across the room. How stupid of you, she thought.
“I’ve been told you're good, according to your boyfriend.” the alien whispered in a very disgusting way.
*Jack! Jack?* she called out, moving slowly away on the bed toward the other side. The travelling bag sat on the floor by the bed. “Where is he?” she asked, grabbing the bag’s handle firmly.
“I’m afraid there was some kind of accident. A deadly one,” the alien laughed.
Contrary to what she had initially thought, the Dakonite, instead of going directly to it, threw himself on the bag and sent it toward the other end of the room.
“That trick won’t do it again, my pretty,” he said with an unsavoury grin.
It had to be the same Dakonite, Tish thought. She was disarmed and cornered. Jack was still unconscious…
And then everything went black.
......................................
When Tish woke up, she was alone, and fine.
*Jack?* she called.
*Hum?* He answered as if also just coming back.
*Jack, where are you?*
*Not a clue, it’s completely dark in here.*
*Should I guess things didn’t turn out as you planned?* she bantered.
*To be honest? Yes,*he replied.
She got up and went around the room, accessing her surroundings: the bag was lying open and the kits had rolled all over the floor.
*Something funny happened…* she begun.
*Shit!* Jack exclaimed, cutting her off mid-sentence.
*What?*
*I’m stuck. But don’t worry and wait where you are. These guys are real shit.*
*What a scoop! You’re Dakonite bloke paid me a visit, as it happened,* she snorted.
*Are you alright? Tish...?* Jack asked, suddenly really worried.
*I am. But as for him-I really don’t know.*
*How’s that, you don’t know?*
*He just vanished,* she said. *Oh! That’s funny!*
*What’s funny?*
*He threw the bag away and all the kits fell out.*
*Don’t worry, they aren’t very fragile.*
*That’s not the deal, Jack. I can see the bottom of the bag, now.*
*Get out of that room! Right now, Tish! Hurry up!*Jack panicked.
*Cool down. Take it easy. I don’t think whatever was in that bag intends to hurt me,* Tish replied. She put all the kits back in the bag, one by one. *Jack, I didn’t know there were so much of them. I put all the kits back in and there’s still enough place to put as many more of them inside that bag. It is way bigger in the inside…*
*Yes, I got that part, when I stuffed them in it. Tish, whatever was in that bag has to be huge.*
*Something huge, sent by the Doctor. And it saved my life, Jack.*
*I don’t think it was the Doctor.*
*You admitted it was our Tardis.*
*Our Tardis, not the Doctor. As it happen, the Doctor doesn’t know my real name, the Tardis does.*
*It was only written: Jack.*
*For you, not for me.*
*What does it mean?*
*Nothing good for the Doctor, I’m afraid.*
*What...?* She couldn’t make herself formulate the question.
*It could mean the Tardis acted of her own...*
*Could he...be…*
*As everyone, but me, Tish,* Jack replied.
*But the Tardis loves you, she wouldn’t send you something bad, right?*
*If the Doctor is dead, she won’t survive him long, Tish. And she was already very old and fragile…*
*Why don’t you just say she’s senile, by the way!*
*Tish?* Jack asked suspiciously.
*Jack?* Tish asked him back, surprised by his tone.
*I think we’ve got an intruder on the line,* Jack replied.
*How can that be? You said it was a private line. Even the Master did not…-* she stopped, realising how upsetting this could be.
*It should be, that way,* Jack replied absently as if he was listening elsewhere.
*Whoa! Did you really hear me?*
*Who’s there?* Jack asked.
*Who are you talking to, Jack?*
*My name is Tashan.*
*And you are...?*
*Your son.*
*My...son?*
*Your son? What the hell is going on, Jack?* Tish asked, completely at loss.
*Okay, let’s put the fun stuff aside, and get straight to the urgent parts: Tish is on her own, I’m trapped in the hell knows what, and a bunch of bad guys are running free.* Jack summarised.
*The bad guys are gone and I think you’re trapped in a crate,* Tashan answered.
*The bad guys are gone? How’s that, gone?* Jack asked.
*Just gone*
*Gone where?*
*Does it really matter? They’re gone, they ran off the ship.*
*Why would they do that?* Jack asked, completely at loss.
*Because I scared them out their skin, and they abandoned the ship, taking five of the shuttles. The ship is now ours. Is that clear enough, or do you need more detail?*
*Jack, what is going on? Because just right now, you’re frightening me,* Tish said.
*I believe she doesn’t hear me,* Tashan stated.
*In fact, I don’t know if my explanation is going to reassure you, Tish, but try this: It looks like I’ve got son I didn’t even know of. He was hidden in the bag, don’t ask me why or how, and, as for the more urgent thing: I’m trapped in a box.*
*Have you any idea, how many boxes there are on this ship, Jack?*
*A lot!*
Master list can be found here
To be continued...