The Spirits Within

Chapter: 15/21 + epilogue

Characters: Jack, Ianto Owen, Tosh, Rhys, John Hart, the Doctor

Rating: PG

Warnings: Character death

Spoilers: Only if you’ve never seen Torchwood of Final Fantasy

Notes: See chapter 1 for notes and disclaimer.

Chapter 15

Jack made himself go slow and steady. He hated leaving Rhys like that, but rushing and getting the rest of them killed wouldn't help Rhys at all. They would make it back for him. And Rhys knew it.

Around them, the massive military hangar seemed to stretch into the distance. Smoke drifted through the building from a fire that engulfed what looked to be a crashed escape pod a few hundred meters away. A hole in the top of the building, where the pod had crashed through, was open to the sky. A runway-like area filled the centre of the building, and dozens of aircraft and low-orbit transports, many clearly being worked on, lined both sides.

But they weren't looking for just any plane to take them out of here. Jack doubted if any of the ones he could see would even fly. They needed Ianto's ship, Myfanwy.

In the distance down the runway the sound of gunfire pierced through the smoke. Someone was fighting back, for some reason. Jack couldn't imagine why. More than likely they were just defending themselves. This city was lost. A good soldier knew when to fall back and regroup, and right now that was what he was hoping to do. Plus he and the Deep Eyes had to get Ianto and the Doctor out of there, give their research a chance to work to stop this killing.

Jack turned, half stunned. The drifting smoke had hidden the ship from them and they had almost walked past it.

They all turned and ran toward the ship. The closer they got, the more Jack could see of its situation. Some sort of towing tractor was connected to the underside of the ship. The tractor had clearly been used to bring Myfanwy into the hangar.

The ship was parked off to one side of the runway, its tail in against the wall. It was sitting on what was called an air-tray. An air-tray was nothing more than a massive turntable, and at least a dozen ships besides Myfanwy were on this one. The air-tray could be rotated so that any ship on the table was at the end of the runway and clear for take-off.

Jack stared at how the ship was sitting. He knew without a doubt that, before they could get Myfanwy out, they were going to have to get that air-tray turned into the right position somehow.

Jack stopped and looked around as Ianto went to a control panel on the landing strut of the ship. Behind him, though the smoke, he could see the control tower for this area of the hangar and airstrip. Someone was going to have to go up there and get the air-tray turned and the ship into position.

He tried to look down the runway in the direction of the hangar doors. There was no telling if the doors at the far end of the interior runway were open or not, since he couldn't see them through the smoke. But Jack figured that if they had to, they could take their chances on smashing through the doors while in flight.

With a loud bang, the platform lift on the underside of Myfanwy descended and all of them got on, Toshiko and Owen watching for any sign of Phantoms. So far none could be seen, but Jack had no idea if they were still visible or not, and the smoke filling the hangar wasn't allowing for long range vision.

As the lift took them up into Myfanwy's cargo bay, the lights came on. At a glance, Jack could tell the ship was well-stocked for any contingency.

"Hey, a quad-axle A.T.V.," Owen said, moving over to what was commonly referred to as a Weevil. "This is good."

A Weevil was a like a giant bubble with four legs. The legs could be used as stands, and also had heavy-duty wheels on them. It had massive remote-controlled arms that Jack knew could lift that jeep off Rhys easily.

"You're right," the Doctor said. "It could be used to retrieve Rhys and transport him here safely." As he talked, the Doctor reached down and pulled out two empty ovo-energy packs from the side of the Weevil. He held them up for Jack to see. "We need to replace these spent fuel cells."

"I think I saw some crates just down the line with ovo-pacs in them," Toshiko said.

Jack glanced around as everyone turned to him for instructions. "All right, Toshiko," he said, "check the hangar and find some ovo-pacs."

Toshiko nodded and headed for the lift.

Jack turned to Owen. "Get us ready for take-off."

"You got it," Owen said, heading for the cockpit of the ship.

"Ianto, you and the Doctor get that Weevil prepped, on the lift, and ready to go with anything needed to get Rhys. I'm going to go to the tower to rotate the air-tray. Let's do this thing and get the hell out of here."

"With pleasure," the Doctor said.

Ianto looked at Jack as he moved to head down the lift. "Be careful."

"You, too," Jack said.

"Look what I found, Captain," Toshiko said as Jack reached the ground. She was standing two transports down the runway from Myfanwy, beside a large crate filled with rows of glowing green ovo-packs.

"Nice," he said as he ran up to her position. "Cover me, then get them into the ship."

He made the run across the open runway and into the base of the control tower without a problem. Thirty stairs later he was in the control room for the massive hangar.

It was a large space, with at least a dozen control stations. Four bodies lay slumped in different positions around the room, struck down by Phantoms before they could even move. Emergency power was still keeping the board lit and working. Jack just hoped emergency power also worked the air-tray.

Jack eased the body of a young blonde haired man out of his chair and to the floor, then took his position at the board. Across the runway he could see Toshiko emerge from Myfanwy and go back for a second load of ovo-packs.

On the holographic images in front of him, Jack could see that the hangar door was open. Great. That was one problem solved. A couple of empty spaces on the holo-image showed where a few ships had made escapes.

Silence.

He flipped a few more switches, trying to remember what little he knew about these control-tower panels. It wasn't much. He'd only been in one of these rooms once before, and that was just for a social visit a few years back. But he was sure that the holo-images of the ships were control signals, including communications.

With one switch he managed to get the emergency flood lights lit over the runway. From across the way Toshiko gave him a thumbs-up signal.

Glancing down at the dead man beside him, Jack noticed the wireless headset the guy was wearing. He slipped it off his head and put it on, adjusting it to fit. Then he again touched the holo-image of the Myfanwy. "Owen, do you read me?"

Owen's voice came back clear and crisp. "Loud and clear, Captain. This baby will fly itself when you're ready."

"Copy that," Jack said.

"Even got the flight path set," Owen said. "Autopilot on. You can trigger it from there if you have to."

"Great. You know anything about these air-tray controls?" Jack asked.

"To your right," Owen said. "On the face of the side panel you should find the master switch and a big dial."

Jack glanced down at where Owen indicated. The controls were clear and simple. Jack set the rotation, then again touched the holographic image of Myfanwy. With a loud clang the air-tray started to turn, moving at least six different ships with it at the same time.

"Beginning rotation," Jack said.

"Whoa!" Owen said. "Stop the air-tray!"

Jack instantly did as Owen said, hitting the off switch. The air-tray stopped with another loud clanging sound.

Jack studied the holo-images in front of him. "What's wrong?"

"We have a problem," Owen said. "I'm reading the impound tractor still attached to the prow of the ship."

Jack instantly understood why Owen had stopped the rotation. He stood so he could get a better view out the window. Below him, through the smoke, he could see that the impound tractor was not sitting on the air-tray, but on the runway. If they had kept going, they would have dragged Myfanwy sideways and into the ship beside it on the air-tray.

"Permission to go outside and detach the coupling," Owen said. "I can't seem to get it to work from here."

"Do it," Jack said. "And make sure you have Toshiko with you. And keep your communications headset on."

"Copy that," Owen said.

Jack leaned forward and tried to see if Rhys was still moving and all right. He couldn't tell. This entire situation was not looking good. One of his men was trapped under a jeep. Two scientists were working to get a Weevil running to save him, while his last two prepared a ship so they could all escape into orbit.

There was nothing he could do at the moment but sit and wait for the signal from Owen that the rotation of the air-tray could continue.

He looked around at the dead men, then out the control-tower window as Toshiko and Owen appeared on the Myfanwy lift.

Jack could hear Toshiko's voice in the distance through Owen's headset.

"What's the problem?" Toshiko asked as they hit the ground.

"We're still locked down," Owen said, his voice coming through loud and clear to Jack. "We have to go uncouple the ship."

Through the smoke Jack could see Owen and Toshiko run to the impound tractor. Owen studied it for a moment while Toshiko stood guard.

From where Jack was standing he couldn't see any signs of Phantoms, but considering the dead men around him, they weren’t far away.

There's the problem," Owen said. He mumbled something that Jack couldn't hear clearly, then said, "Naturally, the controls are locked. Can't ever be easy, can it?"

Jack had to agree with that. For some reason, nothing was coming easy.

"Toshiko," Owen said as he worked, his voice clear to Jack in the tower, "let me ask you something."

Jack could not hear Toshiko's response.

"You think we're going to get out of here alive? I mean," Owen said, going on talking while he worked, "I wonder if anybody has gotten out. You think anyone has made it so far?"

Jack followed the direction Toshiko was pointing. A number of Phantoms could be seen through the smoke, headed toward the Myfanwy.

"You think," Owen went on, clearly ignoring the problems coming at them as he fought to release the ship from the towing tractor, "that this eighth-spirit stuff is gonna work against the Phantoms?"

Jack could not hear Toshiko say anything in return as she kept her weapon aimed at the Phantoms.

"I mean," Owen said, "what if it's all just a bunch of mumbo jumbo?"

There was a loud pop and Jack saw Owen jump back from the sparking machine. "Yeoww!" Owen said, shaking his hand. "You mind if we stop talking? I'm trying to concentrate here."

Jack could not hear if Toshiko said anything or not. He doubted she had, since her focus was on the Phantoms. They were not turning aside.

Finally, Toshiko could wait no longer. She opened up on the Phantoms, cutting them down as fast as they appeared.

"Owen," Jack said, "what's your status?"

"Almost there," Owen said.

Jack watched as Toshiko thinned out the Phantoms, one right after another. But for some reason they seemed to be getting worse, with more and more of them appearing.

"I want you two out of there," Jack said.

"We're fine, sir," Owen said. "Toshiko is negotiating with extreme prejudice."

Suddenly Owen clapped his hands together and grabbed his rifle. "We're good to go here, Captain," Owen said. "All clear." He moved to a position beside Toshiko and opened up on the Phantoms.

Jack hit the start button on the air-tray and Myfanwy and the other ships on the air-tray jerked into motion. It was only going to take a few seconds and the ship would be ready to go.

Suddenly, before Jack could even shout a warning, a Phantom came up from right under Owen. It was as if Owen suddenly had tentacles sticking out of his chest and back and the top of his head.

"No!" Toshiko shouted, her wailing cry echoing throughout the hangar.

Owen, his blue spirit yanked out of his body, was instantly dead. He dropped to the ground as if every muscle in his body had turned to water.

Jack couldn’t believe what had just happened.

Toshiko opened up on the Phantom that had killed Owen, screaming in rage and firing through it until there was nothing left of it.

Suddenly she stopped and looked around her. A Meta was coming up out of the ground, surrounding her.

"Toshiko!" Jack shouted. "Get out of there! Run! Now!"

Toshiko ignored him. She continued to stand her ground, dropping her weapon as an enigmatic smile played over her lips. She took a last look at Owen's body, then closed her eyes to accept the inevitable.

The tentacles of the Meta Phantom whipped around her, one slashing through her head before she even had a second to react.

Her blue life force flashed out of his body as she slumped beside Owen, clearly dead.

Jack looked out the window at the bodies of his two friends, and the Meta seemed to tower over the Myfanwy as it rotated toward the end of the runway on the air-tray. With a hard slam of his fist on the control board he started the autopilot of the ship for liftoff and insertion into orbit.

He and the Deep Eyes were not going to make it out of here, but at least Ianto and the Doctor would.

He picked up a chair and smashed it through the window. A moment later he had jumped through, landing on a patio eight meters below the control room.

"Come and get me!" he shouted at the monster Phantom, firing shot after shot into its huge mass, trying to turn it from the Myfanwy and the man he loved.