Embrace the Unexpected

"Not particularly if I'm honest. They engage in typical teen drama and behavior for high school students, nothing too exciting." I replied. "How was work? Didn't miss much did I?"

“Oh yeah, not much, pretty average day.” He replied. I was lifting my first bite of dinner up to my mouth when both our phones went off.

*Spacecraft landing. Have portal open in ten. - Jack

“Well, shit.” Owen muttered. “That’s our evening now isn’t it?”
“I’ll get the duffel.” I replied.

_____________

The SUV
_____________

“What’s this thing we’re dealing with then?” Owen asked.

“There’s a Judoon that crash landed, it took us seven hours to find it. The tech is pretty busted up by the looks of it.” Tosh rambled, typing on a monitor and keyboard connected to the back of the passenger seat.

“Quick question, what’s that?” Gwen asked, looking back at us from next to Jack in the front.

“The Judoon are space police basically. They enforce rules, the shadow proclamation.” I explained as plainly as I could.

“There’s a space police? Where’ve they been all this time?” She asked.

“Everywhere. They don’t spend much time on planets like ours.” I said simply, logging onto traffic cams for the area we were in.

“Why not? Why can’t they help, why do we do all the work if they exist?” She asked with genuine confusion. I didn’t think it was very polite for me to tell the truth and say that the human race isn’t evolved enough to be considered worth their time.

“Let’s just focus on why it’s here. Do we know if the spacecraft was a prisoner transport?” I inquired.

“Not that we know of, no. It looks like a one person transport, based on the geographical scan, not that the scan was worth much, the resolution was terrible having not been made for scanning close detail here on the surface.” Tosh ran through, she was still currently trying to hack into the tech on board.

“Well that’s something.” Owen remarked. I felt a text vibrate in my pocket and grabbed my phone out to check it. It was from Jonathan.

*Hey, are you coming to my game tomorrow night? -Jonathan
*If you want me to, sure. -Me
*Of course I want you there. -Jonathan
*Then I’ll be there. I don’t know anything about American football though… -Me
*I can teach you some things after the game -Jonathan
*I look forward to it -Me
*Do you realize that you talk like an old person? -Jonathan (Sent with a laughing emoji)
*I think you mean, like a professional! -Me
*No, I mean like an old person! -Jonathan

I must’ve been smiling at my phone because Tosh looked at me with an eyebrow raised. I didn’t feel like mentioning Jon, so I tucked my phone back in my pocket and brought up a new topic.

“How was last weekend Tosh? I meant to ask, but it’s been such a busy week.” I asked.

“Got a call from my sister, she said she needed to see me, said it was urgent. I drive over to Devon, long ride by the way, for her to tell me she’s pregnant. Four hours of driving for something I could’ve been told over the phone! I thought mum had to be dying, gave me heart palpatations for nothing.” Tosh complained.

“You’re not excited to be an Aunt, Tosh?” Gwen asked.

“It’s not like I’ll see the kid much. That was the first time I saw my sister in two years, probably won’t meet the child for another two, maybe three.” Tosh dismissed.

“Two years? You hadn’t seen your sister in two years?” Gwen went bug-eyed at the information.

“Chatting with relatives isn’t exactly high on the list of priorities with this job.” Owen snarked.

“So you don’t keep in contact with your family either then?” She prodded. I guess she hadn't heard not to mention his family.

“No, not that that’s any of your business.” He rolled his eyes.

“And you two?” She looked between me and Jack.

“You're looking at the closest thing I've got to family.” I spoke bluntly. “And Jack’s is both dead and not born yet.”

“That makes absolutely no sense.” Owen jumped in. Gwen just kept quiet. I thought she’d be the one to understand she shouldn’t bring up family in my case. We finally came to a stop outside of a building.

“This is where Tosh saw the biosignature last. Place called the Tycho Radio Tower. We still have no clue why the alien landed, so be on high alert.” Jack explained. We all exited the SUV, hiking toward the tower building.

Once we found the entrance, we were faced with a door and a hallway going in two different directions.

“Tosh, Owen, that way.” Jack motioned to the right. “Gwen, Ianto, go left. Cal, with me.”

We stood on either side of the double doors, guns at the ready. I cracked my side open slightly, counting six humans and… a sontaran?

“That does not look like a Judoon.” I remarked to Jack.

“Nope.” He replied. I waited until the Sontaran’s back was turned before stepping further into the room, raising my gun, and hitting him square in the feeding duct on the back of his neck. “Nice shot.”

I walked in first and Jack followed. I went straight for the tech, I had to shut down several satellites being directed to crash into earth. Jack stayed back to speak with the four civilians that were still alert. I saw that the other two were currently under the influence of alien technology, so I shut the program down and quickly moved to catch a girl my age, falling from being woken up.

“Oh… Uh… thank you for catching me.” She spoke sheepishly and I helped her into a seat. I reached for the duffel Jack brought in and snatched the thermos of tea from it, pouring her a cup.

“No trouble. Here, have a cup, it’ll help you a bit.” I spoke with my most charming smile. From behind me I heard Jack’s conversation.

“Do I know you from somewhere? I feel like I’ve seen you before. What’s your name?” He asked the older woman.

“I’m Sarah Jane Smith, who are you exactly?” She replied, and I couldn’t believe my ears.

“Sarah Jane Smith, really? It’s a pleasure to meet you Miss. Smith, I’ve read your U.N.I.T. files, very impressive. And the doctor spoke highly of you.” He complimented with a charming smile of his own.

“You’ve met the doctor?” She asked, astonished.

“More than that, I traveled with him a couple years back. That’s where I’ve seen you before, old pictures he kept in the TARDIS. I liked to snoop after a good bottle of scotch.” He chuckled. “Captain Jack Harkness, of Torchwood.”

“I bet he had fun with you.” Miss. Smith laughed to herself. I hadn’t realized but three people about my age now stood near me, one particularly close, watching the screen as I worked on the computer.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“Wiping the last twenty-four hours of footage and information from this system and the main computer banks.” I replied, not removing my eyes from the screen. I finally looked back while a bar was loading to see that the girl I had caught was sleeping comfortably in a desk chair. The boy followed my eyes and looked back at me curiously.

“Did you do something to her?” He asked.

“Just a little sedative. Helps after a traumatic experience to get some sleep.” I replied, leaving out the dash of amnesia pill dissolved in the drink. I turned back around, taking a flash drive out of the duffel and attaching it to the computer to save a copy of the files.

“What are you doing that for?” He asked. Man, this guy really is a chatter.

“Have to keep a record of what happened for the archives. Gotta keep track of anomalies.” I replied, removing the flash drive.

“Are you from U.N.I.T.?” He asked, and I was taken aback.

“How d’you know about U.N.I.T.?” I asked skeptically.

“My mum’s told me a bit about them. From what I heard it didn’t seem like a place that would hire someone as young as you.” He deduced.

“Correct assumption. I’m from Torchwood, smaller, funnier, overall the better of the Earth protection teams.” I joked.

“How’d you end up with them?” He asked.

“You ask a lot of questions, huh?” I laughed. “I was born into it, my mother worked for the institute. Now I’ve got a question for you. How’d you end up here?”

“My mum, my friends, and I investigate sightings around here, for aliens. Mum’s a journalist, she uses that to keep an eye on alien things and help people.” He explained.

“That’s your mum then?” I asked, gesturing to Miss. Smith.

“Yeah.” He smiled.

“That’s some luck right there.” I replied.

“What do you mean?” He asked looking puzzled again.

“Having a legend like that for a mum? You hit the jackpot as far as families go. But I didn’t take her for the family type, and her files never said anything about a son.” I frowned.

“She adopted me 6 months ago, when I was created.” He explained.

“Created?” I asked. I may as well do some recon while I have to stay and chat.

“I was created in a lab, supposed to be used as a tool to enslave masses of people. Sarah Jane saved me.” He spoke.

“Well, that’s some way to start a life.” I chuckled. I picked up the duffel bag in one hand while the other held my phone. It was getting late, everyone should be getting back by now. “You got a phone?”

“Oh, yes, I do.” He said, pulling it out of his pocket. I grabbed it, entered my number and handed it back.

“If you ever need an assist or anything feel free to ring me. And I would be interested to hear more of that story of yours another time.” I chuckled. He looked at the new contact.

“So your name is Cal?”

“Yeah. Caleus Costello, but Cal’s always easier.” I replied.

“I’m Luke, Luke Smith.” He introduced, sticking his hand out.

“It was nice to meet you, Luke Smith.” I said, taking it. I walked back over to where the team was talking to Miss. Smith, and his friends came over to ask him questions. Gwen and Ianto had joined the conversation now, and they were discussing the pod.

“What are we going to do with the pod?” Gwen asked, looking at Jack.

“We’ll move it to a Torchwood warehouse.” He replied. “Ah Cal, good, Sarah Jane Smith, Cal Costello, our own child prodigy.”

“It’s very nice to meet you Miss. Smith.” I spoke, shaking her hand.

“Oh no, Sarah Jane is just fine. It’s nice to meet you as well.” She smiled. “Very young to be involved in Torchwood, how exactly did that happen?”

“Well I’m half human, half alien, Jack found me and my mum and I was raised there, my whole life.” I said simply.

“Raised there? I would’ve never thought something like that would happen. I prefer to keep those ones away from the guns.” Sarah Jane . “You don’t have to actually live in the facility did you?”

“No, me and my mum had a flat that we lived in outside of the hub.” I replied. “Well, I think we should be off, don’t want to be doing paperwork all bloody night, aye? Sarah Jane, it was a pleasure to meet you, your son has my number.”

“Hopefully we’ll meet again under better circumstances.” She smiled. I left with the others out the door.

“I’ll head out to the pod and get it to the warehouse, Ianto, come get me in the Saab?” I asked.

“Works for me.” He replied.

“Don’t crash it.” Owen remarked.

“ONE TIME that happened! ONE TIME!” I defended myself. He just snickered and got in the SUV.

They left and it took me a while to get to the pod. It was near the middle of the forest, pretty far away from the tower. Eventually I could feel the energy of it, so I moved my hand against the shape of it. It was cloaked, but the reflective image was distorted as I felt for the door handle. It uncloaked itself and I entered the small area, sitting in the seat and getting the pod closed up. After re-cloaking, I started a manual lift off. It was about 15 minutes before I reached the warehouse, using my remote to open the door. Ianto was propped against the Saab as I closed the warehouse door on my way out.

“Paperwork awaits.” Ianto smiled, gesturing to the passenger side and I got in. He started driving, starting off quiet.

“How are you really?” I asked, breaking the silence. I looked at him with a sympathetic frown as he stared ahead.

“I’m fine.” He replied unconvincingly.

“No, you’re not. Your girlfriend of many years was shot by your friends.”