Challenge 784 - Greater good
Oct. 29th, 2023 08:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
m_findlowTitle: Greater good
Character: Jack, Emily Holroyd
Author: m_findlow
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 200 words
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Summary: Jack has bigger priorities than Torchwood. A double drabble.
Emily looked up from the telegram on her desk. It was months old now but it looked like she'd crumpled it and unfurled it a hundred times since receiving it – no doubt in frustration. ‘You abandoned your post, Captain.’
He'd known this was coming and that he'd eventually have to face the music. He could only imagine how apoplectic his going AWOL had made her, thinking he'd finally slipped their net.
‘There was a war going on,’ he explained. ‘British soldiers were dying in their hundreds.’
‘You were given a specific mission. Not to just do as you pleased.’
Jack clenched his jaw. ‘Their situation was desperate.’ A man who can't die was what they needed to tip the balance back in their favour. His death had spared hundreds others.
‘Noble as that may be, ours is the protection of this planet, not some little African backwater.’
He reached into his pocket and tugged out the very thing he’d been sent to find and bring back. ‘Here,’ he said, dropping it onto the desk with a thud. ‘Now if you’ll excuse me, I have the families of men who died under my command that should hear the news from me.’
Emily looked up from the telegram on her desk. It was months old now but it looked like she'd crumpled it and unfurled it a hundred times since receiving it – no doubt in frustration. ‘You abandoned your post, Captain.’
He'd known this was coming and that he'd eventually have to face the music. He could only imagine how apoplectic his going AWOL had made her, thinking he'd finally slipped their net.
‘There was a war going on,’ he explained. ‘British soldiers were dying in their hundreds.’
‘You were given a specific mission. Not to just do as you pleased.’
Jack clenched his jaw. ‘Their situation was desperate.’ A man who can't die was what they needed to tip the balance back in their favour. His death had spared hundreds others.
‘Noble as that may be, ours is the protection of this planet, not some little African backwater.’
He reached into his pocket and tugged out the very thing he’d been sent to find and bring back. ‘Here,’ he said, dropping it onto the desk with a thud. ‘Now if you’ll excuse me, I have the families of men who died under my command that should hear the news from me.’
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Date: 2023-10-29 11:17 am (UTC)