Hope (1/?)
Title: Hope (1/?)
Fandom, Pairing: Torchwood, Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG (for now ;D)
Genre: Angst, Drama, Romance
Disclaimer: Not mine. If they were... well series 3 would have been very different
Warnings: Spoilers for all series's i think. Especially Children Of Earth.
Short Summary: a young girl, a long way from home, could be the answer to everything. If only they had the strength to hope.
Notes: Edited Version. Was once 2 shortish parts, but i put em into one.
Prologue
Oh god, oh god, oh god. Gwen Cooper drove through the streets of Cardiff like a mad woman. Even after two years, she couldn’t help but hope, every time a new ship showed up on the scanners, that maybe it was him. Just maybe. Of course, it never was.
It had taken a nearly a year to rebuild the Hub, but Gwen had done her best to ensure that it was exactly like before, down to the very last detail. As she walked through the reception she could almost see Ianto smiling at her from behind his desk. She choked back a sob. Surprisingly, the vast majority of equipment had survived the explosion, much to Gwen’s relief. It had taken some serious scavenging, but eventually Torchwood was back to how it had once been.
She walked through the security doors, having finally regained control of her emotions. Another member of Gwen’s team was huddled around his station, peering anxiously at a screen.
“What’s going on?” Gwen called, making her way towards him. He turned at the sound of her voice, a mixture of relief and expectance on his face. Christ Jack, why did you leave me in charge? I can’t do this. But I have to. She took a deep breath
“I'm not entirely sure,” Chris Spark replied, tapping a command into his computer, “An alarm went off about 20 minutes ago indicating that a satelite picked up a disturbance just outside of our atmosphere, but nothing out of the ordinary. I might have just dismissed it as an asteroid, or some kind of space junk, but this signal came through at about the same time.” Chris brushed the keyboard, and a sequence of numbers scrolled across the screen.
Chris was the first Gwen’d recruited, after rebuilding the Hub. He was her technical expert and he was bloody brilliant. To think, he’d been working as a mechanic when she discovered him.
“What does it mean?” she asked, peering closer at the numbers, trying to find something hidden in them.
“I wasn’t sure either, so I had a look through the data banks, to see if we’d ever encountered this sequence before.”
“And?”
Chris turned round to face her, a grim expression on his young face. His shocking blue eyes reminded her painfully of people she desperately wanted to forget. “It’s a distress signal."
“So it’s a spaceship?” She asked, willing herself not to hope too much, “Can you get a visual?”
“I tried, but it’s not in range of any satellites I could hack into. Plus it’s moving too fast to get a proper look at.”
“So we won’t know what we’re dealing with until it arrives?”
“Pretty much.”
“Bloody brilliant,” Gwen muttered darkly, “Take a look at the angle of trajectory, see if you can get an estimate on were it’s going to land.”
“Already on it,” Chris replied, determinedly tapping away at his key board.
“Have you called Martha yet?”
“She’s on her way.”
Gwen breathed a sigh of relief.
* * * * * * *
When Martha Jones entered the Torchwood Hub, Gwen felt herself relax, if only slightly. Martha was great.
She was someone from the old days. Someone who remembered all the people Gwen had lost; Owen and Tosh, Ianto and Jack, someone to share the responsibility, someone to let Gwen know that she’s not alone. Obviously she had the rest of her team aswell, but the history between them gave Martha and Gwen a fabulous bond.
Gwen had thanked her lucky stars the day Martha phoned her, asking about a job. She'd never said why she quit at UNIT, but Gwen wasn't complaining, Martha was smart and efficient, not to mention an excellent doctor. Torchwood was lucky to have her.
“What have we got then?” Martha asked, pulling up a chair at Chris’ work station.
“Alien spaceship, we think. It’s sending out distress calls.” Gwen replied, grabbing another chair.
“Fallen through the Rift?”
“No, we traced the energy trail, it’s come from somewhere far off. Can’t tell where, our satellites and sensors don’t reach far enough,” Jack would know, she sighed.
Gwen peered over Chris’ shoulder, studying his work, “Any idea when and where it’s going to land?”
“Yeah, I think so. Thank god. If this is right, it’s headed for a load of farmland just north of the M4.”
“When?”
“In about three hours. Not sure though, could be less.”
Martha stood up, sensing Gwen's need for her to lead, “Right, patch the co-ordinates through to the SUV,” Chris nodded, “We need to be there as soon as possible, just in case,”
“Done,” Chris announced, “Want me to stay here, keep an eye on the ship and let you know how long you’ve got?”
“Yeah okay,” Gwen said, gathering her bag and tossing a gun to Martha, “Just-” She was cut off by a loud alarm, and warning signs flashing on the monitors, “Christ, what was that?”
Chris frowned and tapped at his keyboard for a moment. The warnings disappeared and where replaced by a diagram of the solar system. The ship they had discovered was not alone. “Shit.”
“Another one,” Martha exclaimed, “The beginnings of a fleet maybe?”
Chris shook his head “The dimensions are too different. Either it’s one hell of a coincidence, or it’s a chase.”
Gwen bit her lip “If it’s a chase, then it could turn into a fight, with us in the middle. How far behind is the other ship?”
“Not far, only about half an hour. But it might catch up.”
“Right, well I want all of us there, just in case it gets ugly and we need to control the situation.” Chris nodded, unplugging a hand held device from his monitor.
“I can track the ships from this, but not as accurately. It’ll have to do.”
“Right then, let’s go,” Martha shot Gwen a well used look, You okay? Gwen brushed her off, and hurried outside, hiding from her thoughts. Martha sighed heavily and followed Chris and Gwen out of the Hub.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
am thinking the new draft is MUCH better. Con. crit. please xo
Part 2 Here