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m_findlowTitle: Troubling times
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Torchwood team
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,000 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: Written for Challenge 192 - Spotlight at![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomweekly
Summary: Jack is deeply troubled by the direction his team are headed.
Jack’s frown deepened despite his efforts to try and maintain an air of nonchalance. ‘I don’t think this is such a good idea,’ he said, addressing the room. Tosh’s presentation was, as ever, thorough, but this was the first time anyone had dared to posit Torchwood as being laid bare to the general public, now that a way to control the rift was seemingly within reach.
He should have just told them no. He was the boss. It was within his rights to say no to things, so why did he feel like he was having so much trouble trying to get the words to come out?
‘You’ve seen the kinds of balls ups we’ve had to deal with over the years,’ Owen argued. ‘There’s only so much you can get away with giving everyone retcon.’
‘And we know even that doesn’t work all of the time,’ Gwen added, reflecting on her own experiences. She’d been retconned more than once. Sometimes whatever it was had stayed forgotten, but that very first time it hadn’t done its job. There’d been that constant nagging at the back of her mind that had kept her digging until events had finally broken the spell and Jack was forced to accept that she was going to remember Torchwood, and him, no matter what he did next. Giving her the job was the path of least resistance.
He might have come to regret that decision, but she wasn’t the one spearheading this idea. It was all Owen and Tosh. They’d founded some new deeper working relationship that went beyond the normal curiosity in their work. Jack didn’t like to label things, but it was slowly becoming, at least to his mind, an obsession.
‘Torchwood has remained a secret for nearly a hundred and fifty years,’ he reminded them. ‘Why change things now?’
‘Why?’ Tosh looked surprised. The question sounded nearly rhetorical. ‘Why not? A lot has changed in a hundred and fifty years.’
‘People aren’t getting about on horse and cart for a start,’ Owen teased. ‘They even speak in full sentences around here.’
Tosh leaned forward, almost imploring Jack to see sense. ‘Just think how much easier things would be if we didn’t have to be secret. People are much more accepting these days. Technology has come a long way. You might even say it's become so advanced that it's becoming impossible to even keep this place a secret.’
‘We’re not exactly inconspicuous,’ Owen added. ‘Not with that bloody great big car with the word Torchwood plastered all over it and a flashy git who gets around in military surplus.’
Jack didn’t let Owen’s description bait him. ‘There’s a big difference between a badly kept secret and throwing the whole organisation into the spotlight.’
‘It’s just the five of us, remember?’ Gwen said. ‘Just think what we might be able to do with better resources and more people. People who are brilliant and who would want to work for a place like this.’
‘Oi, who’s saying we’re not already brilliant?’ Owen complained.
Jack shook his head. ‘Didn't Torchwood One teach us anything? They had the best and the brightest and they crumbled under the weight of too much ambition and too much power.’
Gwen’s gaze hardened at his obstinacy. ‘We're not them. We’re not trying to weaponise the future. But we do have a chance to control the rift. Just think how different this city would be if we could stop all the stuff that comes through, or be able to send stuff back. We could even direct it to different sectors of space, opening up travel and trade.’
‘Don’t get cocky,’ Jack warned them. ‘You still haven’t figured out a way to power the thing for more than an hour or two.’ There was a big difference between being able to control the rift for a few minutes and being able to regulate its every action twenty four hours a day.
‘We’re working on it,’ Tosh assured him, which felt anything but reassuring. ‘In theory, the right kind of time vortex energy could power the thing indefinitely. Finding a way to locate and harness that kind of energy is the thing.’
Jack squirmed in his chair, trying his level best to keep his poker face. He couldn't bring himself to tell her he knew exactly what kind of energy she needed and that he was overbrimming with the stuff. They knew he couldn't die, and that his Doctor couldn't change that, but they didn't have specifics. He didn't think there was any way he could divert the power from his body into anything that could power the rift machine, but neither did he want to admit to Tosh that such a thing might even be considered. He just hoped she never figured it out for herself. He didn’t doubt it was possible, it just didn't bear thinking about how they might achieve it, and what sacrifices he might have to make.
Jack turned to study the one person in the room who was hopefully his ally. After all, he’d been the one who’d found the box of alien books and translated their contents. He might not have understood the technical details, but Tosh did. ‘Ianto? You haven’t added much to the conversation. What do you think?’
Ianto chewed his lip, looking torn between standing on Jack’s side, denouncing any plans to make Torchwood public, and trying to stay loyal to everyone. ‘I mean, if we could regulate the rift, it would make the city a lot safer. And people should know that Torchwood is here to keep them safe, don't you think?’ Jack’s stomach lurched and his expression was crestfallen.
‘People have a right to know what’s going on,’ Gwen said. ‘We could protect them better if they understood who we are and what we do.’
Jack studied them each in turn, waiting for their resolve to crumble, but it didn’t. ‘I’ll think about it,’ he said, wishing again that he’d just said no.
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Torchwood team
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,000 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: Written for Challenge 192 - Spotlight at
fandomweeklySummary: Jack is deeply troubled by the direction his team are headed.
Jack’s frown deepened despite his efforts to try and maintain an air of nonchalance. ‘I don’t think this is such a good idea,’ he said, addressing the room. Tosh’s presentation was, as ever, thorough, but this was the first time anyone had dared to posit Torchwood as being laid bare to the general public, now that a way to control the rift was seemingly within reach.
He should have just told them no. He was the boss. It was within his rights to say no to things, so why did he feel like he was having so much trouble trying to get the words to come out?
‘You’ve seen the kinds of balls ups we’ve had to deal with over the years,’ Owen argued. ‘There’s only so much you can get away with giving everyone retcon.’
‘And we know even that doesn’t work all of the time,’ Gwen added, reflecting on her own experiences. She’d been retconned more than once. Sometimes whatever it was had stayed forgotten, but that very first time it hadn’t done its job. There’d been that constant nagging at the back of her mind that had kept her digging until events had finally broken the spell and Jack was forced to accept that she was going to remember Torchwood, and him, no matter what he did next. Giving her the job was the path of least resistance.
He might have come to regret that decision, but she wasn’t the one spearheading this idea. It was all Owen and Tosh. They’d founded some new deeper working relationship that went beyond the normal curiosity in their work. Jack didn’t like to label things, but it was slowly becoming, at least to his mind, an obsession.
‘Torchwood has remained a secret for nearly a hundred and fifty years,’ he reminded them. ‘Why change things now?’
‘Why?’ Tosh looked surprised. The question sounded nearly rhetorical. ‘Why not? A lot has changed in a hundred and fifty years.’
‘People aren’t getting about on horse and cart for a start,’ Owen teased. ‘They even speak in full sentences around here.’
Tosh leaned forward, almost imploring Jack to see sense. ‘Just think how much easier things would be if we didn’t have to be secret. People are much more accepting these days. Technology has come a long way. You might even say it's become so advanced that it's becoming impossible to even keep this place a secret.’
‘We’re not exactly inconspicuous,’ Owen added. ‘Not with that bloody great big car with the word Torchwood plastered all over it and a flashy git who gets around in military surplus.’
Jack didn’t let Owen’s description bait him. ‘There’s a big difference between a badly kept secret and throwing the whole organisation into the spotlight.’
‘It’s just the five of us, remember?’ Gwen said. ‘Just think what we might be able to do with better resources and more people. People who are brilliant and who would want to work for a place like this.’
‘Oi, who’s saying we’re not already brilliant?’ Owen complained.
Jack shook his head. ‘Didn't Torchwood One teach us anything? They had the best and the brightest and they crumbled under the weight of too much ambition and too much power.’
Gwen’s gaze hardened at his obstinacy. ‘We're not them. We’re not trying to weaponise the future. But we do have a chance to control the rift. Just think how different this city would be if we could stop all the stuff that comes through, or be able to send stuff back. We could even direct it to different sectors of space, opening up travel and trade.’
‘Don’t get cocky,’ Jack warned them. ‘You still haven’t figured out a way to power the thing for more than an hour or two.’ There was a big difference between being able to control the rift for a few minutes and being able to regulate its every action twenty four hours a day.
‘We’re working on it,’ Tosh assured him, which felt anything but reassuring. ‘In theory, the right kind of time vortex energy could power the thing indefinitely. Finding a way to locate and harness that kind of energy is the thing.’
Jack squirmed in his chair, trying his level best to keep his poker face. He couldn't bring himself to tell her he knew exactly what kind of energy she needed and that he was overbrimming with the stuff. They knew he couldn't die, and that his Doctor couldn't change that, but they didn't have specifics. He didn't think there was any way he could divert the power from his body into anything that could power the rift machine, but neither did he want to admit to Tosh that such a thing might even be considered. He just hoped she never figured it out for herself. He didn’t doubt it was possible, it just didn't bear thinking about how they might achieve it, and what sacrifices he might have to make.
Jack turned to study the one person in the room who was hopefully his ally. After all, he’d been the one who’d found the box of alien books and translated their contents. He might not have understood the technical details, but Tosh did. ‘Ianto? You haven’t added much to the conversation. What do you think?’
Ianto chewed his lip, looking torn between standing on Jack’s side, denouncing any plans to make Torchwood public, and trying to stay loyal to everyone. ‘I mean, if we could regulate the rift, it would make the city a lot safer. And people should know that Torchwood is here to keep them safe, don't you think?’ Jack’s stomach lurched and his expression was crestfallen.
‘People have a right to know what’s going on,’ Gwen said. ‘We could protect them better if they understood who we are and what we do.’
Jack studied them each in turn, waiting for their resolve to crumble, but it didn’t. ‘I’ll think about it,’ he said, wishing again that he’d just said no.
