Atlantis Café

by Soledad

Disclaimer: the usual: don't own, don't sue! Everything belongs to RTD and BBC and whoever owns the rights for Stargate right now.

Author's note: Yes, I have messed up timeline, too. But this is an AU, and I really wanted some Dr. Who characters to make a guest appearance. Oh, and yeah, there is another Evil Time Shift™ in this chapter. It still happens for a reason.

Warning: still not Gwen-friendly – nothing I ever write would be. You've been warned.

Part 18.2A – Interlude in Cardiff, #3

Jack hadn't really expected his moderate clash with the various UNIT brass to go completely unnoticed in higher places. For that, Torchwood's role in fighting alien threats was too unique… and the toes he'd managed to step on belonged to people in too important persons. So yeah, he knew there would be a backlash, eventually. He just hadn't expected it so soon… and not in the way it actually happened.

He'd barely returned from London, where he'd intervened on Ianto's – and, ultimately, on Atlantis' – behalf, when Emma called from the tourist office, telling him that "some government people" wanted to talk to him. She sounded suitably impressed, so the "government people" must have put up a forceful performance.

As a rule, Emma was not easily impressed. Permanent temporal displacement had that effect on a person. Tended to put things in a different perspective. Jack knew that from personal experience.

Plus, the "government people" apparently knew where to find him, which meant that they had to be ones with a very high security clearance. Prime Minister Harriet Jones knew all too well how crucial Torchwood was for the defence of the United Kingdom, and she wouldn't babble. So Jack hurried up to the tourist office to see who they were and what they wanted from him.

To his surprise, one of the "government people" turned out to be Professor Malcolm Taylor himself. The other one was introduced as Mr. Chapman; a white-headed, moderately elegant and somewhat self-important man in his late fifties.

"Mr. Chapman is a civil servant and represents the British government in the I.O.A," Professor Taylor explained, after Jack had led them down to the conference room and Emma had brought them tea. "I assume you know what the I.O.A. is, Captain Harkness?"

Jack nodded. "The organization that oversees the operations of the US Air Force's Stargate programme, as far as I'm informed."

"That's correct," Chapman said. "Now, we're a fairly new organization and cannot pretend to really understand this whole alien threat thing. Which is why we, of the British contingent, decided to seek out the help of true experts. Unlike our French or Chinese colleagues, we do not like to be ignorant."

"Well, if you're affiliated with UNIT, you'll certainly have all the experts you might wish for," Jack said, grinning at the professor, mostly because that seemed to make the man nervous.

Chapman shook his head. "No. We have the impression that UNIT has grown too strong, too secretive already," he looked at Professor Taylor in apology. "No offence intended."

"None taken," the professor replied blithely. "Do go on, Mr. Chapman."

"As I said, we're a bit uncomfortable with UNIT, especially where the highest-ranking officers are concerned," Chapman continued. "They're a military organization, which in itself colours their judgement and limits their possible actions. We don't want to become dependant on the experts of the military. We want you as our consultant in the matters of alien technology, tactics and customs."

"I'm afraid I can't afford to do two jobs," Jack said. "We're seriously understaffed as it is, concerning our increasing activities."

"Delegate," Mr. Chapman said bluntly. "Hire more staff; we'll support you financially, if needs must be. But right now, you're the best alien experts in the United Kingdom; you and your team. And we want you."

"I'll have to discuss this with my team," Jack said. He was obfuscating, but he really needed more time to think about this.

"Why?" Chapman asked. "It's your decision to make, isn't it?"

"Sure," Jack shrugged, "but it's their lives that would be put at risk."

That was an argument Mr. Chapman couldn't really fight. So they agreed that Jack would give the I.O.A. his answer by the end of the week, and then Mr. Chapman left.

"What's your part in all this?" Jack asked Professor Taylor suspiciously.

It couldn't have been by mere accident that the chief scientific advisor of UNIT had accompanied the I.O.A. representative on this seemingly insignificant trip. That would have been too much of a coincidence, and Jack had learned not to trust coincidences during his years with the Time Agency.

"Oh, well," the Welshman said, a little uncomfortably, "I just wanted to... to test the waters. You aren't the only one who's not that sure about UNIT anymore, you know. The Prime Minister, and even Her Majesty, have their concerns, too. Ever since the Brigadier retired, the commanding officers of UNIT have become too ambitious for the good of the United Kingdom. So, the plan is to create a… a balance of some sort."

"Professor," Jack said in mild annoyance, "you're obfuscating."

"Well, yes, I guess I am," the professor agreed with a nervous grin. "It isn't easy to break the news to you, considering how much you used to hate Torchwood London."

Jack stared at the professor in disbelief, his breath knocked off his body by the shock. "They're planning to reopen Torchwood One?"

The Professor nodded. "As I said, it's all about balance."

"But you're a UNIT advisor," Jack said. "How comes that you'd know about this? What do you do with the reopening of Headquarters?"

The professor shrugged. "I've been selected as the new director of Torchwood London. I no longer belong to UNIT:"

"Since when?" Jack frowned.

"Since you elbowed Mr. Jones into General Oduya's office," the Professor said with a manic grin. "You've practically created this opportunity for me, and I'm in your doubt, forever. I've been sick and tired of taking my orders from the military for quite some time. They have no respect for true science."

"Well," Jack considered thoughtfully, "they could have chosen worse. Even the Doctor spoke of you with respect."

"He did?" the professor was beaming like a kid in a candy shop.

Jack nodded. "He called you his new bestest friend. And he said you were brilliant."

The professor actually flushed. "Oh, I'm sure he was exaggerating."

"He does tend to do that," Jack agreed, "but not when it comes to the human race. In truth, he has rather low expectations from humans. So you've got every right to be proud of yourself – you've earned the respect of a Time Lord, and that's no small feat."

"And you've been a companion," the professor pointed out.

"Not by the Doctor's own choice, believe me," Jack said dryly. "Rather by accident, in fact. But in any case, I'm sure you'll do well enough as the new director of Torchwood One. Better than the last one, that much is certain."

"I hope so," the professor seemed a little less optimistic about that. "The problem is, you know, I'm a scientist, first and foremost. I'm not that good at dealing with people. Where will I find the right ones? How will I know they are the right ones?"

"You're asking the wrong person, I'm afraid," Jack replied with a bitter smile. "Some of my choices turned out fairly disastrous. Others got the candidates killed. What you need is a good personnel chief. One that helps you to select the right people."

"I wish I had at least one ex-companion working for me," the professor said wistfully. "I want the new Torchwood One to be different; to be something the Doctor would approve of."

"Sounds familiar," Jack felt the old pain rearing its head in his guts again; hadn't that been what he had tried, all the time? To rebuild Torchwood in the Doctor's honour? He could only hope the professor would have better luck with it. "Just don't put your hopes too high; he isn't an idol that would be easily satisfied. But if you really want an ex-companion to work with you, I know someone who might be willing to accept your offer," he searched his phone register for the number of a certain Donna Noble. "Tell her Martha Jones sent you. In a manner, it wouldn't even be a lie. I only know about her through Martha, after all."

Professor Taylor left ten minutes later, after having expressed his thanks a dozen times, and Jack couldn't help but grin, imagining what the Doctor would say if he learned that most of his ex-companions were now working for Torchwood. It gave him a feeling of some small revenge – which was petty, for sure, but it made him feel a great deal better.

Which still left him with the question whether he wanted Torchwood Three to get closely affiliated with the I.O.A. Regardless what he'd told Mr. Chapman, this wasn't a question he intended to solve on the democratic way. The majority of his team had been recently hired and so couldn't really help him… with the exception of Gwen, of course, but the last thing he wanted was to reinforce Gwen's delusions of being the second-in-command of Torchwood Three.

That had led to enough problems already, what with her cheerfully ignoring orders and messing up investigations and all that, just because she believed to know everything better. Plus, she'd been so wrapped up in her domestic problems lately – meaning that Rhys wasn't taking her shit without questions any longer – that she hardly had any time or energy left for her actual job.

Jack wished Ianto were there… and not just for the obvious, personal reasons. Ianto was already affiliated with the I.O.A, employed by them in fact. He alone could have given Jack any useful advice, and even some information about those guys. But Ianto was beyond reach, back to that godforsaken planet of his, in a foreign galaxy, so Jack was basically on his own.

The only person he could turn to was Mickey, who – despite his low-level education – had learned a lot during his travelling with the Doctor and during his time in an alternate reality. Besides, Mickey knew Torchwood One from within; had only known for a short time, sure, but even that was more than anyone else save a handful of survivors could say about themselves.

So, as soon as Mickey came back from the latest Weevil hunting (one of a more literal meaning than when Jack and Ianto had gone out for one), Jack called him to his office and broached the problem to him. Once again, Mickey proved to be remarkably level-headed and practical about the whole thing.

"I think you should accept," he said. "The I.O.A. guys ain't the only ones who'd need an ally to balance out UNIT's influence; you need one, too. You've stepped on a lot of toes to get Ianto to their boss… they're not likely to just kiss and forget it. If you make a pact with the I.O.A, you'll have the government on your side… and Harriet Jones is one tough lady, for all that the Doctor tried to destroy her future (and ours), just because she dared to think for herself."

It was glaringly obvious that the Doctor would never get any popularity points from Mickey, regardless of the current regeneration, but Jack couldn't really blame the man fort hat. Losing one's girlfriend to some alien, then being a murder suspect for a year, just because said alien had miscalculated and landed his time machine twelve months later than intended must have been hard.

Still, Mickey's reasoning did have its merits, and after some lengthy procrastination Jack decided to accept Mr. Chapman's offer. It was an act of pure self-preservation. The fact that the decision also got him affiliated with the same organization to which Ianto currently belonged was just a fringe benefit.

The rest of the Torchwood Three team accepted their leader's decision with various levels of indifference. Being an ex-SOCO, for Lloyd it meant no big change to work for the government again, at least in some cases. Emma declared that Jack's decision was patriotic, whatever she might mean by that. Young Doctor Patanjali, although trained by UNIT, didn't really care either way, as long as he got aliens to dissect and to study.

Surprisingly enough – or perhaps not surprisingly at all – Gwen was the only one who made a fuss over the whole issue. She took offence that Jack hadn't consulted her before making his decision, which forced Jack to bring some clarity into the whole second-in-command matter. Which, again, resulted in Gwen stomping out of the Hub in anger and hurt pride, leaving the problem of simultaneous Weevil sightings for Jack and Mickey to solve.

By then, Jack had had enough and decided to hire Andy Davidson, after all. They needed more field agents, especially wit Gwen being completely unreliable lately. Gwen wasn't happy about that decision, either – she'd so enjoyed her higher status as a Torchwood agent above poor little beat cop Andy – but there was nothing she could do about it.

Jack teamed up Andy with Mickey for starters. He didn't want to repeat the mistake he'd made with Gwen, sending out a newbie to the field without proper training. Fortunately, Andy had served a couple of years in the Royal Army before joining the police, so he'd already had proper firearm training… and he was willing to learn. Jack had high hopes to make a rally good Torchwood agent out of him one day.

That still left the team without a proper archivist, and they'd need to hire more scientific personnel, eventually; both Tosh and Ianto were impossible to replace with just one person. But things were going reasonably well for the time being, and Jack hadn't given up hope yet that Ianto might choose to return after his year with the Atlantis expedition, after all.

There was one thing that bothered him though, and again, he turned to Mickey to discuss it. Mickey's presence was a great deal of help, to tell the truth. They might not have any personal interest in each other, but they'd shared the experiences of travelling with the Doctor, by TARDIS, and that was something no-one else could understand… not even Ianto.

"Am I imagining things or is Rhys spending more time in the Hub lately?" Jack asked. "And he seems to do so voluntarily, unlike before when Gwen used to drag him down here."

"Not in the Hub," Mickey corrected with a knowing grin. "In the tourist office. With Emma."

"What?" Jack was really, really grateful for not drinking in that very moment. "Are you telling me the two of them have something going on?"

"Oh, no," Mickey grinned, "at least not yet. Our Emma is way too prim and proper for that. But they definitely seem to like each other, which isn't really surprising if you ask me. Rhys is an old-fashioned guy, a real family man: friendly, good-natured and willing to do everything for the right woman. And Emma was raised to become the proper little wife, even though she's tried to break out for a while. They'd be a good match."

"Except that Rhys is already married," Jack pointed out. "To Gwen."

"Except for that, yes," Mickey agreed. "But that can change."

"God, I hope not!" Jack exclaimed in honest shock. "We've got enough problems as it is!"

~The end - for now~

End note: As this story promises to be a fairly long one, I spontaneously decided to break it down into more manageable parts. So, this is the end of "Atlantis Café - Part 01". More will be coming, eventually, in Part 02.

Also: people might disagree with the way I portray Gwen - it's their right to do so. However, this is the way I see her, the way she comes through to me from the screen, and portraying her differently would be a lie from my side. So, let's agree to disagree, and if you don't like the way I write her, you should probably avoid my stories. You won't make me see her any differently.