Anythingdrabble Challenge 212 - Uncharted
Nov. 7th, 2021 09:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
m_findlowTitle: Uncharted
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Jack
Author: m_findlow
Word Count: 500 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for Challenge 212 - Chart at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
anythingdrabble
Summary: Jack feels obligated to accept a mission that's off the books.
Jack knew he probably shouldn't even be having this meeting. Just because he had a sort of diplomatic immunity didn't mean he should just say yes to every person who came along wanting him to help with something a little bit off the books. Not to mention Ianto would be mad with him. They had real jobs and real work to keep themselves out of trouble. It paid well and was flexible enough that if they wanted to take time off to travel then they could. In fact, Jack doing something like this could actually put that whole arrangement in jeopardy. The Shadow Proclamation were a bit funny about this sort of thing. Sure, it was fine for them to have a military arm that shot first and asked questions later, but he and Ianto were held to a much higher standard. Humans always were in Jack's experience. The lesser species had more to prove to the rest of the universe that they were ready to become equals.
'Any idea where the ship went missing?' he asked his current prospective client.
A large star chart was rolled out on the small table between them, hanging off the edges from all sides. 'We lost communication with them somewhere between here and here,' the alien replied, pointing to two different points on the chart. Jack tried not to let his despondence show. The chart was extensive and the area that had just been indicated to him was huge, including large parts where the details were scarce. Anything could be out there, and was, if required reports of the hijacked ship were correct. Pirates and worse lurked in those dark areas of space. There was a reason why those patches of space remained uncharted.
Still, Jack knew he had to take on the assignment. The kind of technology that had been described to him, even in prototype, experimental form, was about eight hundred years ahead of when it should be. Jack's gut was telling him that this tech would have been shelved and protected until the future caught up with where it was supposed to be. To have someone refine it or modify it now would change the whole course of time especially if it was in the hands of undesirables. That kind of technology just shouldn't exist yet. Jack took that as a sign that his involvement had somehow already happened, like a self-fulfilling prophecy. That made it okay, right?
'I'll do it.' He wouldn't consult Ianto. He wouldn't even tell him. It would be easy enough to say he'd been given a small assignment, Shadow Proclamation approved, that would take him out for a few weeks. It wasn't unusual to go solo on these things. It was his job to protect the timeline, since he was the only one who knew how it should play out. He gave the start chart one final look of determined resignation. He just hoped he wasn't walking into something he couldn't walk back out of.
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Jack
Author: m_findlow
Word Count: 500 words
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for Challenge 212 - Chart at
anythingdrabbleSummary: Jack feels obligated to accept a mission that's off the books.
Jack knew he probably shouldn't even be having this meeting. Just because he had a sort of diplomatic immunity didn't mean he should just say yes to every person who came along wanting him to help with something a little bit off the books. Not to mention Ianto would be mad with him. They had real jobs and real work to keep themselves out of trouble. It paid well and was flexible enough that if they wanted to take time off to travel then they could. In fact, Jack doing something like this could actually put that whole arrangement in jeopardy. The Shadow Proclamation were a bit funny about this sort of thing. Sure, it was fine for them to have a military arm that shot first and asked questions later, but he and Ianto were held to a much higher standard. Humans always were in Jack's experience. The lesser species had more to prove to the rest of the universe that they were ready to become equals.
'Any idea where the ship went missing?' he asked his current prospective client.
A large star chart was rolled out on the small table between them, hanging off the edges from all sides. 'We lost communication with them somewhere between here and here,' the alien replied, pointing to two different points on the chart. Jack tried not to let his despondence show. The chart was extensive and the area that had just been indicated to him was huge, including large parts where the details were scarce. Anything could be out there, and was, if required reports of the hijacked ship were correct. Pirates and worse lurked in those dark areas of space. There was a reason why those patches of space remained uncharted.
Still, Jack knew he had to take on the assignment. The kind of technology that had been described to him, even in prototype, experimental form, was about eight hundred years ahead of when it should be. Jack's gut was telling him that this tech would have been shelved and protected until the future caught up with where it was supposed to be. To have someone refine it or modify it now would change the whole course of time especially if it was in the hands of undesirables. That kind of technology just shouldn't exist yet. Jack took that as a sign that his involvement had somehow already happened, like a self-fulfilling prophecy. That made it okay, right?
'I'll do it.' He wouldn't consult Ianto. He wouldn't even tell him. It would be easy enough to say he'd been given a small assignment, Shadow Proclamation approved, that would take him out for a few weeks. It wasn't unusual to go solo on these things. It was his job to protect the timeline, since he was the only one who knew how it should play out. He gave the start chart one final look of determined resignation. He just hoped he wasn't walking into something he couldn't walk back out of.
