A New Dawn 31
Part: 31/?
Rating: 18+
Warnings: Mentions of previous torture and rape
Genre: Angst, AU
Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Owen, Tosh, Gwen
Summary: AU. The Torchwood team discover the truth about what happened on the Valiant and search for Jack. A dark fic.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
AN:
Previous chapter here: http://ohinyan.livejournal.com/32728.html
Chapter 31
Weeks passed and life fell into a routine for Jack. Therapy sessions on two out of every three days, heroin on the third day. His dose was declining, but at a frustratingly slow rate. He filled in the large amount of free time by using the gym, the firing range, reading and playing chess. It was boring, but as Tosh pointed out to him 'boring is good'. The best part of life in the Hub was that, when she was not on shift, he and Tosh spent most of the nights together. Jack was happier than he'd been for years.
* * * * *
The recruitment of new personnel had gone slowly, as Owen rarely had much time to spend on it. It was ironic that it was the lack of staff that was preventing him hiring new staff. However, he had finally narrowed down the candidates for recruitment to ten. He then passed their files round the other members of the team, for their opinion. That cut the list down to six. A pretty good number for interviewing. They couldn't have the candidates seeing the Hub, so the interviews would be held at a local hotel. He, Tosh, Ianto and Gwen would be the panel.
* * * * *
The day of the interviews arrived. The Torchwood team headed off to the hotel to prepare. They had booked a function room for the interview, and a side room for the candidates to wait in. Coffee and biscuits were on hand, as was retcon. The candidate's appointments had been spaced well apart, so that each would be finished, and off the premises, before the next candidate arrived.
The first candidate was a twenty five year old man who had a glittering university record and had just completed a PhD in electronic engineering. His original application had been to GCHQ. Although promising on paper, the man reacted badly to their explanation about the true role of Torchwood, refusing point blank to believe in aliens.
As soon as it became obvious that things were not going well, Ianto got up and made coffee for everyone. One was spiked with retcon. The man left the interview believing that Torchwood was a covert surveillance operation, but did not offer the long term prospects he was looking for.
The second interview was marginally better, though the candidate was not as impressive in real life as on paper. Owen gave Ianto the signal to retcon the woman half an hour into the interview.
Fortunately three of the next four candidates were impressive and open minded. These people were offered positions instantly and were required to give their answers before leaving. All accepted.
Since they had no background in the military, the recruits were to undergo three weeks training at Catterick in North Yorkshire. There they would learn to shoot, fight, and to run. Assault courses would be very useful training for chasing aliens around the streets of Cardiff. Mark, with his police special ops background, would go with them and supervise them.
* * * * *
Although Tosh was very pleased that Torchwood was getting new staff, she was worried about one thing. Jack was still living in the Hub. How were they going to explain his presence to the new people. She broached this to Owen when all the candidates had left.
Owen had also been thinking about that. “You're right Tosh, we need to come up with a cover story for Jack. The last thing he needs is for his real situation to be known by another set of strangers.”
“Why don't we just use a partial version of the truth,” Tosh suggested. “All we need to say is that he is a high up member of a covert organisation, related to Torchwood, and his life has been threatened. So he needs to remain in a secure environment until the threat has been dealt with.”
“Sure,” smiled Owen. “That should work.”
* * * * *
The Queen was working in her study when her aide knocked on the door. He appeared to be quite excited when he entered. “Ma'am, they've found Oduya,” he blurted out. “He's in Antigua, of all places! It took so long to find him, because the SAS expected him to go to ground in a less,” he floundered for a minute waving his hand, “touristy location. They were originally concentrating their search in Africa and Central America.”
“The benefits of rank I suppose,” the Queen responded, “and Stamford ended up in Cameroon.” Shaking her head, she put her paperwork aside. “Call the head of the SAS in,” she ordered, “and the ambassadors for Antigua and Cameroon. It's time to make the arrests.”
* * * * *
The Queen chaired the meeting to discuss the proposed raid to arrest Stamford and Oduya. Two senior member of the SAS were present, along with the ambassadors and her own senior military advisor.
The discussion focused first on gaining the approval of the countries in which the raids would occur. It would not be good diplomacy to send the SAS on raids into independent countries, without obtaining their permission. Although they were members of the Commonwealth, and therefore she, as Queen of England, was their symbolic Head of State, there was no authority invested in the role. However, relations between the UK and both Antigua and Cameroon were very good, and she did not anticipate any objections. They might even assist.
The discussions went well, and both countries offered to provide local police or army personnel to work with the SAS. That agreed, they moved on to the exact timing of the raids. The SAS wanted them to be simultaneous. There was a 5 hour time difference between the two locations that needed to be taken into account. They needed time to coordinate the raids and agreed to schedule them in three days time, at midnight in Antigua and 5am in Cameroon. That gave the best chance of catching both targets asleep.
* * * * *
After the interviews were over Owen headed straight home. He was back at a sensible time for once.
Karen was amazed. “Hey, this is a turn up. I've only been home for five minutes myself!”
“We've hired three more staff,” Owen told her. “They'll start in a few weeks, after their training, and then just maybe I'll be able to come home on time more often.”
Karen smiled broadly. “We could become almost a normal couple. I wouldn't have to spend most of my time as a Torchwood widow.”
Owen hugged her. “We can but hope.”
* * * * *
Now that the recruitment process was complete and the new people were about to go off with Mark on their training course, Owen was a man down in the rota for Torchwood shifts. He came up with a solution that he thought would help, not just the team, but also Jack. It must be driving Jack stir crazy to be confined to the Hub with nothing to do all day.
Jack was with Tosh and Ianto in the kitchen area, having breakfast, when Owen found him. “Jack, I know you must be hellishly bored, stuck here in the Hub all day every day. Would you like to work the comms next time we're called out?”
Totally unexpectedly to everyone, including Jack, Jack froze. He then stood up, his chair falling to the floor behind him, and backed away, a look of total panic on his face. “No, no, no!” he cried. And turning, fled down the corridor. When he reached his room he threw himself on his bed, and trembled. He didn't even know why. He just knew that the idea terrified him. He couldn't do it.
In the kitchen Owen made as if to chase after him but Tosh caught his arm. Give him some space Owen, I'll go down to see him in a little while.
* * * *
A half hour after Jack had fled down to his room, Charlotte arrived for their scheduled session. Owen intercepted her on her way in and explained what had happened.
“Charlotte, do you have any idea why Jack flipped out when we asked him if he wanted to man the comms?”
Charlotte sighed. “I think he is terrified of having responsibility for anyone's life, even as indirectly as manning the comms. I mean look what happened before, when he considered himself responsible for you on the Valiant. And after what he had to do there, to keep you safe, he can't cope with even a slight hint of responsibility. To him responsibility equates to sacrifice, which equates to unparallelled pain and humiliation.”
“We had hoped that he would return to Torchwood, eventually,” Owen said.
“I really wouldn't count on that,” Charlotte replied. “Jack needs a time of peace, with no responsibilities, in order to heal. And that could take years. So you shouldn't make any plans to get him back into Torchwood.”
Owen looked disappointed but acquiesced, nodding. “You'd better get to your session. Jack and Tosh are down in his room.”
* * * * *
The SAS team advanced stealthily towards the UNIT base in Cameroon. This was three hours drive from the nearest town. They, and a cohort of 10 Cameroonian soldiers, had driven down the pothole ridden, dirt roads through the night. They had left the vehicles one mile from the base, so that the sound of the engines would not give them away.
“What the hell are UNIT doing with a base in the middle of nowhere?” grumbled one man.
They reached the fence at 4am and sent the signal that they were in position, ready and waiting for the signal to go in and snatch Stamford.
* * * * *
In Antigua, the mission was very different. Oduya was not hiding in a base far from the local population. He had gone to ground on a small base, hoping that the sheer insignificance of the ten man UNIT force on the island would enable him to escape notice by the UK authorities. And it had worked; he had been far more difficult to find than Stamford, who had fled to the most isolated part of Africa he could get to. Oduya wasn't even hiding from the local authorities. The base was at the edge of St John's, the largest city on the island. The team watching Oduya had seen him visit restaurants, bars, and even a night club. Their biggest problem in his arrest would be if he was out on the town at midnight, rather than asleep.
By 11pm it looked as if they would indeed have to arrest him in a public place. Oduya had settled in a sports bar and showed no signs of moving.
At 11:45 Oduya ordered another beer. Seeing this, the SAS leader ordered “We'll take him here, send the signal. Fifteen minutes to go.”
At exactly midnight four Antiguan police officers surrounded Oduya and politely asked him to accompany them to the police station.
Oduya was unarmed. UNIT personnel did not carry arms while off duty in Antigua. Glancing around he saw several men, who looked like plain clothes members of the security services. They had not been in evidence beforehand. Accepting that his crimes had come back to haunt him, and there would be no getting away from that, Oduya surrendered peacefully. In truth he had become tired of waiting for the axe to fall. As he left the bar he made eye contact with an off duty UNIT soldier. The man nodded and, as soon as Oduya and his captors had departed, he hurried back to the base to send a signal.
* * * * *
Shortly after 5am, the UNIT base in Cameroon received an urgent signal for Major Stamford. A young soldier rushed to the Major's room to inform him, but the room was empty. There was no sign of the Major, but the bedclothes were scattered about the room and the window was wide open.
* * * * *
The next morning, when the Queen rose, there were two messages waiting for her: one from Antigua and one from Cameroon. She smiled when she saw that both operations had been a success, and Stamford and Oduya were in custody. They were awaiting transport back to the UK. Once they were safely locked up in a military jail she would authorise the long planned operation to arrest the UNIT prison guards who had abused Jack Harkness.
Next chapter here: http://ohinyan.livejournal.com/33194.html
Rating: 18+
Warnings: Mentions of previous torture and rape
Genre: Angst, AU
Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Owen, Tosh, Gwen
Summary: AU. The Torchwood team discover the truth about what happened on the Valiant and search for Jack. A dark fic.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
AN:
Previous chapter here: http://ohinyan.livejournal.com/32728.html
Chapter 31
Weeks passed and life fell into a routine for Jack. Therapy sessions on two out of every three days, heroin on the third day. His dose was declining, but at a frustratingly slow rate. He filled in the large amount of free time by using the gym, the firing range, reading and playing chess. It was boring, but as Tosh pointed out to him 'boring is good'. The best part of life in the Hub was that, when she was not on shift, he and Tosh spent most of the nights together. Jack was happier than he'd been for years.
* * * * *
The recruitment of new personnel had gone slowly, as Owen rarely had much time to spend on it. It was ironic that it was the lack of staff that was preventing him hiring new staff. However, he had finally narrowed down the candidates for recruitment to ten. He then passed their files round the other members of the team, for their opinion. That cut the list down to six. A pretty good number for interviewing. They couldn't have the candidates seeing the Hub, so the interviews would be held at a local hotel. He, Tosh, Ianto and Gwen would be the panel.
* * * * *
The day of the interviews arrived. The Torchwood team headed off to the hotel to prepare. They had booked a function room for the interview, and a side room for the candidates to wait in. Coffee and biscuits were on hand, as was retcon. The candidate's appointments had been spaced well apart, so that each would be finished, and off the premises, before the next candidate arrived.
The first candidate was a twenty five year old man who had a glittering university record and had just completed a PhD in electronic engineering. His original application had been to GCHQ. Although promising on paper, the man reacted badly to their explanation about the true role of Torchwood, refusing point blank to believe in aliens.
As soon as it became obvious that things were not going well, Ianto got up and made coffee for everyone. One was spiked with retcon. The man left the interview believing that Torchwood was a covert surveillance operation, but did not offer the long term prospects he was looking for.
The second interview was marginally better, though the candidate was not as impressive in real life as on paper. Owen gave Ianto the signal to retcon the woman half an hour into the interview.
Fortunately three of the next four candidates were impressive and open minded. These people were offered positions instantly and were required to give their answers before leaving. All accepted.
Since they had no background in the military, the recruits were to undergo three weeks training at Catterick in North Yorkshire. There they would learn to shoot, fight, and to run. Assault courses would be very useful training for chasing aliens around the streets of Cardiff. Mark, with his police special ops background, would go with them and supervise them.
* * * * *
Although Tosh was very pleased that Torchwood was getting new staff, she was worried about one thing. Jack was still living in the Hub. How were they going to explain his presence to the new people. She broached this to Owen when all the candidates had left.
Owen had also been thinking about that. “You're right Tosh, we need to come up with a cover story for Jack. The last thing he needs is for his real situation to be known by another set of strangers.”
“Why don't we just use a partial version of the truth,” Tosh suggested. “All we need to say is that he is a high up member of a covert organisation, related to Torchwood, and his life has been threatened. So he needs to remain in a secure environment until the threat has been dealt with.”
“Sure,” smiled Owen. “That should work.”
* * * * *
The Queen was working in her study when her aide knocked on the door. He appeared to be quite excited when he entered. “Ma'am, they've found Oduya,” he blurted out. “He's in Antigua, of all places! It took so long to find him, because the SAS expected him to go to ground in a less,” he floundered for a minute waving his hand, “touristy location. They were originally concentrating their search in Africa and Central America.”
“The benefits of rank I suppose,” the Queen responded, “and Stamford ended up in Cameroon.” Shaking her head, she put her paperwork aside. “Call the head of the SAS in,” she ordered, “and the ambassadors for Antigua and Cameroon. It's time to make the arrests.”
* * * * *
The Queen chaired the meeting to discuss the proposed raid to arrest Stamford and Oduya. Two senior member of the SAS were present, along with the ambassadors and her own senior military advisor.
The discussion focused first on gaining the approval of the countries in which the raids would occur. It would not be good diplomacy to send the SAS on raids into independent countries, without obtaining their permission. Although they were members of the Commonwealth, and therefore she, as Queen of England, was their symbolic Head of State, there was no authority invested in the role. However, relations between the UK and both Antigua and Cameroon were very good, and she did not anticipate any objections. They might even assist.
The discussions went well, and both countries offered to provide local police or army personnel to work with the SAS. That agreed, they moved on to the exact timing of the raids. The SAS wanted them to be simultaneous. There was a 5 hour time difference between the two locations that needed to be taken into account. They needed time to coordinate the raids and agreed to schedule them in three days time, at midnight in Antigua and 5am in Cameroon. That gave the best chance of catching both targets asleep.
* * * * *
After the interviews were over Owen headed straight home. He was back at a sensible time for once.
Karen was amazed. “Hey, this is a turn up. I've only been home for five minutes myself!”
“We've hired three more staff,” Owen told her. “They'll start in a few weeks, after their training, and then just maybe I'll be able to come home on time more often.”
Karen smiled broadly. “We could become almost a normal couple. I wouldn't have to spend most of my time as a Torchwood widow.”
Owen hugged her. “We can but hope.”
* * * * *
Now that the recruitment process was complete and the new people were about to go off with Mark on their training course, Owen was a man down in the rota for Torchwood shifts. He came up with a solution that he thought would help, not just the team, but also Jack. It must be driving Jack stir crazy to be confined to the Hub with nothing to do all day.
Jack was with Tosh and Ianto in the kitchen area, having breakfast, when Owen found him. “Jack, I know you must be hellishly bored, stuck here in the Hub all day every day. Would you like to work the comms next time we're called out?”
Totally unexpectedly to everyone, including Jack, Jack froze. He then stood up, his chair falling to the floor behind him, and backed away, a look of total panic on his face. “No, no, no!” he cried. And turning, fled down the corridor. When he reached his room he threw himself on his bed, and trembled. He didn't even know why. He just knew that the idea terrified him. He couldn't do it.
In the kitchen Owen made as if to chase after him but Tosh caught his arm. Give him some space Owen, I'll go down to see him in a little while.
* * * *
A half hour after Jack had fled down to his room, Charlotte arrived for their scheduled session. Owen intercepted her on her way in and explained what had happened.
“Charlotte, do you have any idea why Jack flipped out when we asked him if he wanted to man the comms?”
Charlotte sighed. “I think he is terrified of having responsibility for anyone's life, even as indirectly as manning the comms. I mean look what happened before, when he considered himself responsible for you on the Valiant. And after what he had to do there, to keep you safe, he can't cope with even a slight hint of responsibility. To him responsibility equates to sacrifice, which equates to unparallelled pain and humiliation.”
“We had hoped that he would return to Torchwood, eventually,” Owen said.
“I really wouldn't count on that,” Charlotte replied. “Jack needs a time of peace, with no responsibilities, in order to heal. And that could take years. So you shouldn't make any plans to get him back into Torchwood.”
Owen looked disappointed but acquiesced, nodding. “You'd better get to your session. Jack and Tosh are down in his room.”
* * * * *
The SAS team advanced stealthily towards the UNIT base in Cameroon. This was three hours drive from the nearest town. They, and a cohort of 10 Cameroonian soldiers, had driven down the pothole ridden, dirt roads through the night. They had left the vehicles one mile from the base, so that the sound of the engines would not give them away.
“What the hell are UNIT doing with a base in the middle of nowhere?” grumbled one man.
They reached the fence at 4am and sent the signal that they were in position, ready and waiting for the signal to go in and snatch Stamford.
* * * * *
In Antigua, the mission was very different. Oduya was not hiding in a base far from the local population. He had gone to ground on a small base, hoping that the sheer insignificance of the ten man UNIT force on the island would enable him to escape notice by the UK authorities. And it had worked; he had been far more difficult to find than Stamford, who had fled to the most isolated part of Africa he could get to. Oduya wasn't even hiding from the local authorities. The base was at the edge of St John's, the largest city on the island. The team watching Oduya had seen him visit restaurants, bars, and even a night club. Their biggest problem in his arrest would be if he was out on the town at midnight, rather than asleep.
By 11pm it looked as if they would indeed have to arrest him in a public place. Oduya had settled in a sports bar and showed no signs of moving.
At 11:45 Oduya ordered another beer. Seeing this, the SAS leader ordered “We'll take him here, send the signal. Fifteen minutes to go.”
At exactly midnight four Antiguan police officers surrounded Oduya and politely asked him to accompany them to the police station.
Oduya was unarmed. UNIT personnel did not carry arms while off duty in Antigua. Glancing around he saw several men, who looked like plain clothes members of the security services. They had not been in evidence beforehand. Accepting that his crimes had come back to haunt him, and there would be no getting away from that, Oduya surrendered peacefully. In truth he had become tired of waiting for the axe to fall. As he left the bar he made eye contact with an off duty UNIT soldier. The man nodded and, as soon as Oduya and his captors had departed, he hurried back to the base to send a signal.
* * * * *
Shortly after 5am, the UNIT base in Cameroon received an urgent signal for Major Stamford. A young soldier rushed to the Major's room to inform him, but the room was empty. There was no sign of the Major, but the bedclothes were scattered about the room and the window was wide open.
* * * * *
The next morning, when the Queen rose, there were two messages waiting for her: one from Antigua and one from Cameroon. She smiled when she saw that both operations had been a success, and Stamford and Oduya were in custody. They were awaiting transport back to the UK. Once they were safely locked up in a military jail she would authorise the long planned operation to arrest the UNIT prison guards who had abused Jack Harkness.
Next chapter here: http://ohinyan.livejournal.com/33194.html