Chapter 1: Invasion at the Azores - Part V: Torchwood Saves the Day
“Harkness! UNIT and I definitely need your help,” the Doctor said.
“We will be there momentarily, Doctor,” Harkness conveyed.
“But there’s no fleet on the sensors,” Sabir protested.
“That is because the Torchwood fleet is currently cloaked, mr...” Jack said, allowing his voice to trail off questioningly.
“Davis, Sabir Davis.”
“I will talk to you later,” Jack expressed.
“Jack!” the Doctor warned, when she noticed Harkness flirting with Sabie.
“What? Can’t I have some fun?” Jack said with a protesting tone. “Anyway, there! De-cloaking now. That should give those Drahvin ice cubes something to think about!” Jack said.
“The ‘Torchwood’ fleet is de-cloaking, Doctor,” Felicia pointed out. Sabir seemed to be ‘taken up’ by the commander of said fleet...
The Torchwood fleet de-cloaked. Many of the Drahvin fighters immediately broke off from their various engagements against the UNIT fighters and went off towards the Torchwood ships.
Some UNIT pilots took advantage of the distraction to land critical hits against several enemy fighters.
“No, No No NO!!!!!” Kellira screamed, when she saw the Torchwood fleet de-cloak.
“Identifying as Torchwood Institute, Mistress,” 4W31.iii.iip said.
“This is Captain-General Jack Harkness of the Torchwood Institute to Drahvin forces. Surrender or face the consequences!”
Kellira seethed. All of her carefully laid plans were going to ruin. With the addition of the Torchwood fleet, the humans outnumbered the Drahvins two to one. “This is High Admiral Kellira of the Drahvins, to Captain-General Jack Harkness of the Torchwood Institute. Prepare to be defeated. I will never surrender!” She hoped that she sounded intimidating enough...
“Prepare to see your fleet destroyed, Kellira!” Harkness said.
“My fleet will not be destroyed!” Kellira shouted, before shutting off the connection with a vicious gesture.
The Torchwood ships then engaged the Drahvin ships, the Ianto Jones leading the way. The UNIT vessels regrouped around the Valiant II and moved aside to allow the Torchwood vessels clear shots.
“You know this ‘Jack Harkness’, Doctor?” Jia’hale asked. ‘She does recognise him,’ she thought.
“Absolutely, he helped me defeat the Master more than once,” the Doctor said.
Jia’hale shuddered, remembering the last time she and the other companions had helped the Doctor to thwart the Master’s schemes. “That is good,” she uttered.
“We have collaborated many times, besides,” the Doctor said.
“I’d be willing to bet there are many stories behind that statement,” Jia’hale said. ‘So much so that it would take ages to tell them all, I’m sure.’
The Doctor just looked away, hoping that Harkness would not find out about Jia’hale’s proclivity. ‘That wouldn’t be good at all,’ he thought.
The Ianto Jones fired upon the nearest Drahvin vessels, destroying one and crippling two others. They were forced to land, their engines no longer providing them with sufficient lift to remain aloft.
The other Torchwood vessels launched fighters. These joined the UNIT fighters in attacking the Drahvin fighters.
Swarms of Torchwood fighters began knocking individual Drahvin fighters out of the sky, despite the best efforts of their pilots to avoid the weapons fire.
This strategy was very successful. Around ten percent of the Drahvin fighters were destroyed in the next five minutes.
Kellira could see that the Torchwood forces were much more effective than the UNIT forces had been.
“New Orders: Co-ordinate attack on individual ships. Take one out at a time. Attempt to board the Ianto Jones and the Valiant II. Capture the Doctor, the TARDIS and Captain-General Harkness. Take control of the vessels if possible. We are not going to loose!” Kellira shouted!
Her sub commanders immediately responded in the affirmative, not wanting their commander’s rage to be directed at them.
The Drahvin vessels moved, attempting to carry out Kellira’s orders. Most of the vessels converged on the TIV Gwen Cooper and fired. The Gwen Cooper’s shields failed immediately, causing the vessel’s destruction. The vessel’s ruins rained down onto vacant countryside...
The other Torchwood vessels and a few UNIT ships returned fire upon the spacecraft that had fired the final shots at the Gwen Cooper. The craft were crippled, immediately falling out of the sky onto the sea shore, close to the city.
A fighter crashed onto the flight deck of the Ianto Jones, the pilot ejecting out before impact...
“Captain-General; there is an intruder on the flight deck,” the commander of the Ianto Jones, Daniela Vale, said.
“Take command,” Harkness commanded. “I will deal with her personally.”
“Yes Sir,” Vale said.
Harkness quickly left the bridge, a squad of security personnel behind him.
A group of Drahvin fighters was approaching the Valiant II.
The main group of vessels had moved on to another Torchwood vessel.
The Drahvin who had landed on the Ianto Jones flight deck entered a corridor. She could hear a group approaching. She knew that her quarry was approaching.
Another Torchwood vessel became debris, which rained down into the ocean.
“There she is Captain-General,” one of the security personnel said, pointing out the intruder.
“Be prepared. Drahvins can be very dangerous,” Harkness said.
“Noted, Captain-General.”
Harkness took out an energy pistol, and charged the Drahvin intruder. He tried to hit her, but she was too good at dodging. ‘Of course they have to be good at making evasive moves!’ he thought.
She fired back, but Jack had moved aside. The shot harmlessly impacted a nearby bulkhead.
Jack fired again. This time the shot was closer. It almost singed her very tight hairstyle.
‘If only their culture was one that did not emphasise conquest and Spartan ideals so much,’ Jack thought. In other words, if the Drahvins were different, he would consider asking them out.
The soldier fired again: narrowly missing Jack, due to him jumping aside as he saw her pull the trigger.
Jack fired again, missing wildly due to the Drahvin making gymnastic evasive moves...
She fired again, this time grazing Jack’s left bicep.
Jack clenched his jaw in pain and charged the intruder again... ...They both fired simulantaneously. They again missed each other. Holstering their weapons they began to fight with each other’s fists, feet, teeth...
The Drahvin bit Jack on a bicep. “That’s not fair!” Jack grunted. He then punched her in the gut.
“You are no match for a trained Drahvin soldier!” the soldier asserted, as she returned the gut punch with a martial arts move that had Jack pinned to the floor.
“I beg to differ!” Jack said. He kicked the Drahvin’s legs out from beneath her, causing her to let go. He then leapt up and grabbed her by the wrist. “You are coming with me!” he said.
The soldier then jumped and landed on top of Jack’s shoulders and started pummelling his chest...
He started running around, trying to ram her into a bulkhead. After approximately 20 seconds the Drahvin was knocked off his shoulders, but she immediately pushed him against the wall.
“You will lose!” she said.
“Oh, Really?” he asked.
“You are no match for a trained Drahvin soldier!”
“I beg to differ!” He said in a seductive tone.
“Your attempt at flirting will not work!” She took out her energy weapon, and would have shot Jack if he didn’t kick it out of her hand.
“Didn’t expect it to,” Jack said, still in a seductive tone, bringing his foot that he had used to kick the gun out of her hand to roundhouse kick her in the back.
“Oof!” She collapsed.
Jack picked her up.‘This is too easy.’
The soldier waited. Then she grabbed a nearby balustrade and waited for Jack to come closer. However, Jack had anticipated this strategy, and was prepared for the ensuing attack. Therefore it was not as damaging as it would have been otherwise, they then continued to fight, hands and feet.
However, soon Jack saw an advantage, and took it, twisting the soldier onto her back.
“You fool!” she said.
“You think!” Jack said.
The soldier had a clear shot, she took it.
A minute and a resurrection later, Harkness had captured the intruder.
“I was sure that you were dead!” the Drahvin soldier objected in astonishment.
“I was dead, but only for a short time. It is something I do not want to discuss with you,” Harkness said. The soldier remained silent, staring at Harkness.
“Take her to the brig. I will be back on the command deck,” Harkness said.
The soldier seethed as she was taken away. She began to plan her escape from her Torchwood captors...
More Drahvin fighters were destroyed by Torchwood missiles. A large group of Drahvin fighters approached the Valiant II.
“A large group of fighters is approaching this ship!” Franks said as he noticed their approach on the sensor board.
“On Screen,” Anderson said. Immediately the tactical display changed to a swarm of fighters approaching the Valiant II.
‘Evasive manoeuvres. Elevate. All gun turrets ready!” she commanded.
“Aye, sir.”
The Valiant II began evasive manoeuvres, dodging the Drahvin weapons fire. It also began to rise higher and many gun emplacements around its perimeter came online.
As the fighters approached, the turrets opened fire. Some of the fighters were damaged and began to go out of control. However more continued their approach and opened fire...
“Report!” Anderson shouted as the Valiant II rocked a few times.
“Turrets 1 through 4 are offline. Turrets 6 through to 10 and 16 through to 21 are damaged and have a reduced rate of fire,” Franks reported.
“Continue evasive manoeuvres,” she said.
The Doctor stood by at the back of the Bridge. There had to be a way to stop this bloodshed...
A group of Torchwood and UNIT fighters moved in and engaged the fighters that were attempting to zerg-rush the Valiant II.
Three Drahvin fighters penetrated the defences and landed on the Valiant II’s flight deck.
An alert sounded on the bridge of the Valiant II.
“Three Drahvins have landed on the flight deck. Security are moving in to respond,” Franks said.
“Keep me appraised,” Anderson said.
“Yes, Ma’am,” Franks said.
“We have to do something, Doctor!” Jia’hale expressed. ‘I can’t just stand by and let the Drahvins attempt to take over this ship!’ she thought.
“Yes, we do,” the Doctor said.
“So, what do we do?” Sabir asked.
“Jia, you and Sigrid can go out and try to stop the intruders getting to the bridge,” the Doctor said, using her nickname for Sigrun.
“Yes, Doctor,” Jia’hale said. She and Sigrun then left the bridge to ensure that the Drahvins wouldn’t make it to the bridge.
“Are you sure that was a good idea?” Daniel asked.
“Do you have a better idea? Sigrid and Jia’hale can handle themselves!” the Doctor said.
“I hope so,” Daniel uttered.
“They are quite capable of handling themselves,” Sabir said.
Sigrun and Jia’hale crept along the corridors of the Valiant II. They could see the Drahvin boarders approaching.
‘Let’s do this,’ Jia’hale thought. She signalled Sigrun and then the two of them moved out of the shadows and into the sight of the Drahvins.
“Looking for someone?” Sigrun asked rhetorically.
The Drahvins all fired, but Sigrun and Jia’hale had leapt back into their hiding places when Sigrun had finished asking her question.
“That was a mistake,” the leader of the three Drahvin intruders said.
‘Oh really?’ Jia’hale thought. She then listened to the Drahvins’ steps and prepared to leap out when they passed.
‘One, two, three!’ Sigrun thought as she prepared to leap out at the Drahvins.
They jumped out, and surprised the two closet Drahvins, who were knocked to the floor. That didn't stop their companions from firing. Both Jia'hale and Sigrun withdrew again.
“That was pointless,” one of the soldiers
“Not pointless,” Jia'hale said in a taunting tone.
The soldiers fired past Jia'hale's cover. “They're closer now,” she said.
“I know,” Sigrun said.
