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Anythingdrabble Challenge 67 - Running on empty
Title: Running on empty
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Torchwood team (Pre-season 1)
Word Count: 500 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for Challenge 67 - Fuel at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif){kind=small}
anythingdrabble
Summary: A damaged ship enlists Torchwood's help.
'Alright boys and girls,' Jack announced. His heavy boots marched from his office towards the string of desks, and boomed loud enough so that Owen could hear him from his medical bay down below them. 'We've got incoming!'
Tosh of course was unsurprised by the announcement. She'd been monitoring the signal of the spaceship for an hour now after it had triggered their sensors just on the outskirts of the orbit of Pluto. The message it was transmitting however had her baffled. She tried running it through their systems, attempting to translate but without success. She'd alerted Jack straight away, in her quiet and unhurried manner, and he'd told her simply to keep an eye on it.
'Ianto!' Jack yelled out.
'Yes, sir?' came the quiet reply from behind, making Jack twirl and wonder how he did that, sneaking up without so much as a sound.
'I need you to go down to the Bon Bon lolly factory in Blackwood and pick something up for us.'
'Is now really the time to be worried about snacks?'
Jack chuckled and rested a hand on his shoulder. 'Not for me. Not this time. I need you to go and pick up as many barrels of liquid glucose as you can. They should have plenty. We'll text you the coordinates of where to meet us.' Jack expected another quip or at least a curious eyebrow, but Ianto took it all in his stride, leaving quickly with the keys to the Torchwood van.
'Are you going to explain anything to us?' Owen said, arms folded and looking stern in his white lab coat.
'Aliens in distress,' he replied. 'They got caught in a meteor storm and had to jettison a damaged fuel pod. We're the closest port of call. I gave them some approximate landing coordinates, but with their ship low on fuel, they're coming in on a wing and a prayer.'
'I couldn't translate the message,' Tosh reported, disappointed that she hadn't been able to figure it out.
'It's a rare dialect,' Jack replied. 'Even I only got the general gist of it. They knew enough Galactic Standard to confirm my reply, but that's about it.'
'And the liquid glucose?' Suzie asked.
'Replacement fuel of course,' Jack said. 'I thought that much was obvious.'
'Maybe to you,' Owen muttered.
'Haven't you seen those new buses around town?' Tosh asked. 'The ones that run on sugar fuel?'
Owen snorted. 'I thought that was just a gimmick. As if you could really run a bus on sugar.'
'Fossil fuels are old school, Owen,' Jack chided. 'In the future you'll be able to leave the solar system on less than a Mars Bar.'
Suzie smirked. 'And here I was thinking you were the only thing in the universe powered by sugar.'
Jack ignored the backhanded insult, even if there was a kernel of truth in it. Being immortal took a lot of energy.
'Think I'd rather stay right here and have my Mars Bar,' Owen grumbled.
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(Also, I totally agree that Jack's already sugar-powered. Very eco-friendly.)
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