Chapter 15

John had parked the TARDIS fifty million miles out from the Sun, near the orbit of Mars. He didn't want to drag any asteroids out of orbit, that would cause chaos, and he didn't want to create more of that than he needed to. While he waited for the invasion fleet to pass through the asteroid field, he thought about how things in general tended to work out for him.

'Time! Why did it always come down to time?' he thought to himself. Even when he had been a full Time Lord, he'd never had enough of the stuff for himself. There were quintillions of years of the stuff, thirteen and a half billion up to when he was now, and trillions to come, and yet he was never given enough for his own personal use. And now the Caxtarids had turned up, obviously pissed off at Torchwood for ruining another one of their money making ventures.

John had nothing against free enterprise, and people earning a living, making their way in the universe, it was just that the Caxtarids, tended to do it by causing misery for everyone else. They were ruthless slave traders, who liked nothing more than a bit of recreational torture. Why was it, when he tried to help people and make the universe a better place, did the bad guys try and annihilate entire populations, just to show how pissed off they were with him?

In the Despatch Office, back on Earth, Jack paced impatiently back and forth, checking the satellite feed every couple of minutes. Rose, on the other hand, drank her tea, and chatted with her co-conspirator Chrissie, who was also wearing the same uniform as Rose, and the pair of them looked like a couple of WREN's from the war room of a 1940's film.

Jack checked the satellite image again, and it looked like the fleet were in open space again. As if to confirm this, John's voice came over the speaker.

"Places everyone please; final curtain call for Mr. Harkness."

"At last, are you ready John?"

"Yep, ready and waiting."

"Alright then, let's make this convincing, we'll only get one shot at this, so let's make 'em believe it."

Rose and Chrissie took their seats at the console, and Jack turned to Craig. "Okay Craig, open a hyperwave channel to the Caxtarids."

Craig flicked a few switches. "Channel open."

Jack cleared his throat. "Commander of the Caxtarids invasion fleet, this is Captain Jack Harkness, Director of Torchwood One in London. This is a final request for you to turn around and leave our system peacefully. If you choose not to leave, then you leave us no choice than to take action against you."

The laughing face of the Caxtarid commander appeared on the screen. "Hah! We have scanned your planet, and you have nothing that can harm us, even the few pitiful nuclear weapons you have are harmless to us."

Jack smiled at him. "Ah, then you've make the fundamental error that all the other invaders made." He saw the commanders smile suddenly disappear. "We do not keep our weapons on the planet."

He looked down to Chrissie, and the camera panned down to her. "Technical Lead Supervisor Anderson, would you target the invasion force please."

"Certainly, Director Harkness," she said with a dramatic air.

["We should put on a panto at Christmas, the way these two are hamming it up, it'd be a sell out,"] John thought to Rose.

["Shut up, I'm on camera and I've got to keep a straight face,"] Rose admonished. ["Remember, this is for the planet."]

["Ah, right, sorry, it's just that I'm nervous, and you know what I'm like when I'm nervous."]

["Yeah..., adorable."]

"Target acquired, Director."

"Thank you, Senior Supervisor Smith, activate the Gravity Lens," commanded Jack.

"Yes Director," Rose said, and pressed the big red button on the desk.

"Gravity Lens, what nonsense is this?" The commander asked. "What is a Gravity Lens?" Jack did the fingers across the throat gesture and Craig cut the transmission.

All Chrissie had done was set the coordinates of one of the satellites to point at the Caxtarids, Rose had pushed a big red button that the guys in the workshop had rigged up to look important. Rose smiled at that, John always liked a big red button.

In the TARDIS, John started the time rotor, and generated the gravity well that would pull the Caxtarids ships towards him. He then set course across the system towards the Sun.

"Okay Jack, I've started to pull them off course, they should notice any time now. I'm routing all communications to Laland 21185, their home planet," John said.

"Thanks John, oh, here they are, I think they've noticed something, open a channel Craig."

"What have you done?" The Caxtarid asked, without preamble. "We are being pulled off course."

"Ah Commander, please remember your manners, the leaders on your home world are watching. You are being pulled towards our star, where its gravity will capture you, and you will perish in the nuclear furnace."

"That's impossible; you don't have the technology to do that."

"That's right we don't, but our friends do, and now you have about one hour to decide what you want to do. The leaders on your world can order you to abort your failed mission, leave our system, and never return. You can decide to make a tactical withdrawal, leave, and again, never return, or you can do nothing and fall into the Sun. It's your choice, you have one hour." Craig killed the feed, and everyone did a high five.

Rose walked over to Craig at the communications desk. "Can you get John on there?"

"Sure thing Rose." He opened a video link to the TARDIS, and John came on the screen, holding a mug of tea.

"You're alright then," Rose laughed as he took a sip of his tea.

"Yep, they've tried a few fancy manoeuvres to try and wriggle free, vectoring their thrust and stuff, but they are well and truly stuck in my web."

It occurred to Rose what might happen in an hours time. "John, we're not goin' to let 'em fall into the Sun are we?"

John ran his fingers through his hair, and rubbed the back of his neck. The last time he'd been forced into a Nash Equilibrium, he'd been a cold blooded warrior, fashioned by the Sisterhood of Karn, and he'd ended the equilibrium in spectacular fashion. Now he was a Human - Time Lord Metacrisis, and Rassilon knows how that was going to end. Had he been given more time, he may have been able to come up with a better plan, but now all he had to fall back on, was that very human ploy of mutually assured destruction, and his ability to talk a good fight.

"Er…, I hope not," is all he could say, any argument Rose could formulate, he had already agonised over himself. Hell, the Caxtarids would probably even enjoy watching each other boil to death. But humans, and a Metacrisis hybrid, wouldn't enjoy the thought of them doing that.

Jack came over and put an arm around Rose's shoulders. "John, we can't let them go, they'll just turn around and wipe us out." He looked down at Rose's pleading face. "We've done the best we can; all we can do now is hope that their survival instinct overrides their pride."

"Oh I think their economic instinct may override both of those," John said, taking another sip of tea. "It takes a lot of money to build five hundred and twenty spaceships, not to mention all the investment in training the crews. I think that the High Command on Laland 21185, may have the last word."

"I think you're right John," Craig said. "I've been monitoring the hyperwave traffic, and they are trying a number of strategies to escape from the gravity well."

"And when they realise that they are trapped, they'll ask us to let them go," John said with a smile.

"Right, keep monitoring the traffic Craig, I want to know the moment they come to a decision," Jack said.

Rose went back to her office to keep an eye on the status of the field missions. Some of the teams had returned, and were on standby, should the Caxtarids decide to 'kick off'. She reduced the alert status back to amber while the invasion fleet were trapped in the gravity well. All the while, she was keeping an eye on the clock, they had about fifteen minutes left before they passed the point of no return, and the Sun would pull them to their death.

At five minutes to solar capture, Rose went back to Despatch, and met Jack heading in the same direction. "Any news?" She asked, and Jack shook his head.

"I thought it was just you and John who left things to the last minute," Jack said with a smile.

"Should we contact them and ask them if they've come to a decision?"

"Definitely not," Jack said emphatically. "That will show a weakness on our part and they will know that they can come back and try again. They have to ask us to let them go, surrender if you like."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. I just wonder if all the crewmen would agree with their commander, given the option."

As they contemplated that, Craig turned to Jack. "It's gone quiet; I think their High Command is in a high level meeting. The commander has carried out all the procedures that their engineers and scientists have suggested, and has reported back that nothing has worked."

"Anytime now then," Jack said, checking his watch again. "How long before they pass the point of no return, Doc?"

"Well, there are a lot of variables, mass, velocities, available thrust…, three minutes maximum," John said.

The Despatch Office was silent as they watched the second hand of the clock complete a rotation, and start another.

"This is Gorash Talvarreh, of the Ke Caxtari High Council, on Laland 21185," a Caxtarid said, appearing on the view screen. He was wearing official robes and chains of office, and swallowed as though his next words were leaving an unpleasant taste in his mouth. "I seek communication with the Director of the Torchwood One Institute on planet Earth, under peaceful contract according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."

A lesser man would have gloated at their victory, but this was Jack Harkness, and he was a better man. He'd learnt diplomacy the hard way, and he knew the strength of character needed to admit defeat and ask for clemency.

The clock was still ticking away the seconds.

"High Councillor Talvarreh, I am Captain Jack Harkness, Director of Torchwood One, how may I help you?"

"A fleet of Caxtarid vessels has inadvertently wandered into your system, and mistakenly perceived your world as a threat. You quite rightly have defended yourself with, may I say a most remarkable weapon. I was wondering if we could come to some arrangement that would prevent the loss of those vessels and their crews."

"Of course High Councillor, let me deactivate the weapon, and I will ask my Senior Scientific Advisor to instruct your commander on the best course to avoid crashing into our star."

Chrissie and Rose were back in their seats, playing their part in the deception. "Senior Supervisor Smith, deactivate the Gravity Lens," Jack said with as much pomp as he could muster.

"Yes Director," Rose said, trying not to giggle.

"Doctor Smith, can you transmit the best escape trajectory for the Caxtarid fleet?"

"Already done Director, it will be a bit warm for them as they will have to use the Sun's gravity to slingshot them around the far side and back out again." John didn't tell anyone that he had another fifteen minutes for the TARDIS to be able to pull the fleet clear of the Sun; a sense of jeopardy lends itself to making the right decisions when the chips are down.

"High Councillor, your fleet is safe, I trust that this is an end to any hostilities between our worlds, perceived or otherwise," Jack said.

"Thank you Director, I think we understand each other," the Caxtarid said with a smile.

"Indeed we do High Councillor," Jack said returning the humourless smile. "Indeed we do." He nodded at Craig, who cut the transmission.

"Yes!" Rose said, punching the air. Everyone cheered, hugged, and high fived.

"Good work Doc, make your way back in," Jack said over the video link, they'd done it, it was over, the threat was eliminated. They might be the 'Men in Black' of legend, a bit MI5 and CIA, but they were also a bit 'Foreign Office' as well. They were diplomats and ambassadors for the planet Earth.

"I'm on my way, put the kettle on will you, I think we've earned a cuppa," he said as they heard the sound of the TARDIS materialising in the Standby Room.

In the Standby Room, the members of Blue Watch were drinking tea and coffee relaxing as they waited for the end of their shift.

"So is that it then?" Rose asked Jack. "We just let them get away with everythin', kidnappin', attempted murder, attempted genocide?"

"Well, not really, the Shadow Proclamation are still investigating and reviewing all the evidence we've supplied. The banks have frozen their off world assets, setting them aside for possible compensation payouts," Jack explained.

"And, most of all," John added. "They know that they can't mess with planet Earth, it - is - defended."

The End