When they took him, it was from the one place in the universe that he felt the safest. One moment he had been peacefully asleep locked in the security of Jack Harkness' arms and the next, his bedroom was full of tall humanoids, two of whom dragged him from the bed, holding him tightly whilst he struggled screaming Jack's name. Jack surged from the bed in a magnificent naked fury, snapped the neck of one of the intruders and crushed the chest of another before being leapt upon by three others, and pulled swearing, and belligerent into a corner of the room.

'Jack' yelled Ianto in terror, as one of his captors wrapped and arm around his chest and began to operate some form of transportation device

'Ianto,' Jack was still fighting to reach his lover, 'I'll find you. I love y…' He slumped to the ground as one of the intruders, losing patience, shot him in the head.

Then bright orange light flared and everything went black.

When Ianto regained consciousness it was to find that he was securely strapped to some kind of padded examination couch surround by five tall grey skinned individuals who were staring down at him with purple lidless eyes. Automatically, Ianto struggled, testing the strength of the webbing holding him down. One of the grey men spoke to him,

'Resistance is futile'

Ianto couldn't held it, he burst out laughing, 'I didn't know aliens really said that' he gasped.

The aliens regarded him disapprovingly, 'you are ours now' one of them said.

'I don't belong to anyone' snarled Ianto, 'I am a free citizen of planet Earth and my own man'

The thin lipped mouth of the alien seemed to be trying to form a smile, 'no longer' he said, 'You belong to the Ta'qoth now; you are ours to do with as we will.'

Ianto's struggles became more frantic, 'what do you want from me' he demanded desperately, 'Do you think I'm going to tell you anything? Do you expect me to talk?'

A hissing sound rippled through the grey aliens, like laughter thought Ianto

'One we are done with you' said the leader, 'we do not expect you ever to speak again.' Ianto's gut clenched with fear as his kidnapper continued, 'we will begin with the modifications before we move on to the training.' He looked as Ianto with something like compassion and placed a long bony finger on his forehead, 'we are not a cruel people. We do not wish you to suffer unnecessarily.'

Ianto's vision was beginning to blur, 'wha...what are you doing to me?' he slurred, 'please, no...' but darkness took him one more.

Jack revived with his usual pained gasp, for a brief disorientated second he thought he could feel Ianto's arms around him, holding him calming him, then reality rushed in and Jack became aware that he was slumped in the corner of Ianto's bedroom and that he had two corpses for company. Grimacing slightly, being shot in the head always gave him a migraine, he staggered to his feet. He had no idea how long he had been dead, didn't even know what time it had been when the attack had happened. He bent to examine the body of the alien whose neck he had broken. It was cooling but not stiff, about 15 minutes dead Jack estimated. He turned the body over to get a better view of the features, to see if it was a species with which he was familiar.

'Oh dear sweet goddess' whispered Jack as he took in the grey skin and purple eyes, now glazed in death, ' Ta'qoth' Unfastening his wrist strap Jack scanned the room and groaned in despair 'Kappa tachyon radiation' He knew who had taken Ianto and why. Swearing in Welsh Jack stumbled to the bedside table, snatching up his phone he dialled with shaking fingers

'Tosh?' the words were spilling from his mouth almost as soon as Tosh's sleepy 'hello' came softly though the handset, 'I need you at the Hub, now. Quick as you can Tosh.' He thanked every deity in the universe for Tosh; there were no pointless questions, no exclamations about the lateness of the hour.

'On my way, Jack'

It was less than 10 minutes later that Jack met Tosh at the entrance to the tourist office. She took in his red eyes at a glance and knew something bad had happened

'Jack?'

He was rushing her down into the hub, speaking as fast as he was walking. They took him Tosh, the Ta'qoth, we only have about 90 minutes before the Kappa tachyon radiation fades , we need to find them, you need to find them, please Tosh, please.'

Tosh seated herself at her work station and powered up her computer, 'Ok scanning for Kappa radiation, talk to me Jack' from behind her came something suspiciously like a sob, but when Jack spoke he voice was steady and calm.

'The Ta'qoth are renowned throughout the seven galaxies as the purveyors of the finest sex slaves. A Ta'qoth sex slave is compliant, versatile and completely silent. That's their big selling point, they don't do anything to physically render them mute, it's all part of their training. They steal beautiful men and women; lock them in a time sphere for as long as it takes to break them. The Ta'qoth pride themselves on the kindness with which they train their slaves, they modify them to order and that pushes the price sky high. Planets have been bankrupted for the sake of owning a Ta'qoth sex slave...' he trailed off

Tosh risked a glance and had to stifle a gasp, she had never seen Jack look so broken, so helpless, 'and these Ta'qoth have Ianto?' she asked, appalled

Jack nodded, 'Their transport device leaves a kappa tachyon signature but it decays really fast. The only hope of finding where and when they have taken him is to trace the source of the relay signal before it fades. Please, Tosh, I can't lose him, can't leave him to that life'

Tosh's clever finger were flying over the key board, 'Relax Jack, I think...almost...yes!' she let out a small yelp of triumph, 'got them! Sending the coordinates to your wrist strap now.' She found herself pulled out of her seat and enfolded into Jack's intoxicating embrace.

'Tosh, you are a genius' smiled Jack as he planted an almost chaste kiss on her lips, laughing at her subsequent blush.

'Jack' Tosh hated to destroy his optimism, 'The coordinates are out beyond Luyten 726-8, that's over 8 light years away, plus, you talked about a time sphere, I don't know how to factor in the time element. We know where he is but not when. How on earth do we get to him?'

Jack was already on his phone, 'Doctor? I need you.' His voice broke slightly, 'Doc? It's really important, please come quick' He had barely returned the phone to his pocket when the familiar noise of the Tardis dematerialising filled the Hub causing grumbling squawks to be heard from Myfanwy's aerie. The door of the Tardis opened and a tall thin figure in a brown suit charged into the Hub.

'Jack? What's so important?' he looked around with a big smile on his face, 'seems fairly quiet here, if you just wanted me to come visit, you only had to say you know...'

Jack wiped his eyes with the heel of his hand, 'Ianto has been taken by the Ta'qoth'

The smile slid away from The Doctor's face, 'Have you...'

'Tracked the Kappa Tachyon radiation? Yes' said Tosh

The Doctor bestowed a bewitching smile on her, 'and who are you, you clever thing?'

'Toshiko Sato, people call me Tosh'

The Doctor placed a gallant kiss on her hand, 'Well, Ms people-call-me-Tosh, I hope we can have a long chat about exactly how you managed that at some point.' Jack cleared his throat in a pointed manner and The Doctor had the grace to blush, 'I think you must have rubbed off on me Jack' Jack raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to retort but The Doctor held up a restraining hand, 'no, Jack, don't you dare.' The two men shared a reminiscent smile. 'Now then,' The Doctor was suddenly more business like, ' I take it you have the coordinates, that Ms Sato so cleverly discovered?' Jack held up his wrist, The Doctor grinned, 'Then what are we waiting for?'

Jack turned to follow The Doctor, but paused and turned back to Tosh, 'We don't know what state he's going to be in...' he began

Tosh gave him a reassuring smile, 'I'll call Owen in and brief him, go on Jack, leave it all to me, just bring him back OK?'

'Thanks Tosh, oh and could you...'

'Keep Gwen away? Sure. Whatever state he's in I doubt Ianto will want her smothering him with her well meant concern'

Jack gave a short nod, a watery smile and followed The Doctor into the Tardis.