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aviv_b_artworkTITLE: Chapter 84- Defense
AUTHOR: Aviv_b
RATING: Chapter 84- G/PG
CHARACTERS:: Ianto, Mickey
DISCLAIMER: Not mine; Aunty B's and RTD's
WORDS: ~ 2140
SUMMARY: Ianto defends Torchwood against accusations of favoritism and incompetence.
Title is from: A faithful friend is a strong defense; And he that hath found him hath found a treasure. Louisa May Alcott
Ianto's Journey begins here: http://aviv-b.livejournal.com/1972.html
All Chapter are linked.
A/N - I will attempt to get one more chapter posted before I take off for vacation. It may be very short so that I have something to post when I get back. But I will be posting a bonus fic Thurs PM/Friday AM for you to enjoy. Its a one shot that I wrote long ago hopeing to turn it into a longer work. But I couldn't decide how to continue the story. So I'll be asking for your help.
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The inquiry dragged on for several more days. Several nations including France, and Nigeria had asserted that other nations were given preferential treatment to their disadvantage.
"Yes,” the Nigerian Ambassador said, “it is clear that some nations had privileged status over others. Particularly those nations with whom the United Kingdom has not had the best relations were ignored until the last minute.”
Ianto took each accusing nation in turn.
‘Let’s start at the beginning. Director Harkness informed the United Nations Security Council of an impending invasion almost two years ago, at an emergency meeting held on May 26, 2010. Is there dispute any on that point?’ Ianto asked.
No one disagreed.
‘Then I respectfully request that the fact that we all agree on this point be entered into the written record.’
There was a bit of grumbling, but the head of the Security Council, Chinese Ambassador Ing instructed that the agreement be recorded.
‘I believe that the member countries of the Security Council are precisely the same as they were at the time of the announcement with the exception of the Ambassadors from Bolivia and Saudi Arabia. Am I correct?’ He was. ‘And everyone with the exception of these two Ambassadors and the Ambassador from Eritrea were present when Director Harkness made his remarks.’
Once again Ianto asked that this fact be recorded and after some more complaining it was.
‘After debate and in conjunction with the Director Harkness’ recommendation the UN chose a select number of member nations to begin to manufacture weapons, not only for their own defense but for all countries in their geographic proximity regardless of political considerations. Am I…’
“Yes Director Jones,” Ambassador Ing interrupted. He had worked with Ianto before and knew how precise he was with his facts. “Unless there are any objections, I would like to allow Mr. Jones’ testimony to be assumed as factually correct for the record. Otherwise, I am afraid we will still be sitting here months from now. Any objections,” the Ambassador said glaring around the room daring anyone to speak up. No one did.
‘Thank you Ambassador. The United States, Canada and Mexico agreed to jointly be responsible for equipping all of the Americas with Taser-based weapons. Unless it is necessary, I intend to skip over how each nation accomplished their commitments and merely state that these three nations successfully completed their commitments.’ Ianto paused to see if anyone would disagree. No one did.
‘The United Kingdom, Spain, France and Russia were asked to manufacture weapons on behalf of Europe and all former Soviet Republics including several that Moscow had serious political differences with. France refused to be part of the plan and said that they would be responsible for their own defense. All nations in the European theater were successfully armed with the exception of France.’
The French Ambassador strongly disagreed. “We were never told how serious the invasion might be. We had no reason to think that France would be targeted as heavily as it was.”
‘I’d like to replay a few of Torchwood’s and UNIT’s discussions with France, if you don’t mind.’
“Those are confidential,” the Ambassador objected, “I strongly protest them being played.” Ambassador Ing overruled his request.
Ianto cued up a video of Jack and the Ambassador at UNIT headquarters a year before the invasion. “Je vous en supplie” … Jack began, “I beg you Ambassador, you’re running out of time. France will not be prepared when the Toclafane invade if you don’t start planning immediately.”
“But we have nothing they would want to destroy with the exception of the UNIT headquarters which is outside of Paris proper. We can easily evacuate the area immediately surrounding this location.”
“Ambassador, you have museums containing some of the greatest achievements of mankind. The Toclafane will not only target locations of strategic military importance but sites that contain artifacts representing the accomplishments of the human race. France is the center of art, culture, and intellectual discourse for the entire Western Hemisphere. The destruction of Paris would not only be a tragedy for your country but for the world.”
‘Oh Jack, you are a clever, clever man,’ thought Ianto. ‘What can the Ambassador say, ‘no we don’t think we are all that.’ He really did try to everything to get nations to comply, but unfortunately, flattery just didn’t work here.’
“That may be, but our government has done its own assessment of the situation and we feel you have exaggerated the threat. We don’t know why, but I wouldn’t put it past the British government to try to make us look foolish. France is, and will always be the greatest country in Europe.”
“Ambassador, that is precisely why…”
“Enough! The discussion is over.”
As the video conference ended, the transmission switched over to the room where Jack and several UNIT generals sat. Jack shook his head. “The French are going to be slaughtered by the Toclafane.” One of the UNIT generals added,” UNIT is going withdraw from any further efforts to convince them. We just don’t have the time to waste on this. There are small nations, with no defensive capabilities where we need to equip and train their civilian populations to protect themselves or provide troops directly. That’s where we need to concentrate our energies one year out.”
“I’m going to keep trying, General. I can’t let Paris be destroyed because of government gridlock. I think the Ambassador is in a tough position. Clearly his government can’t come to an agreement on how to handle preparations for the invasion and he isn’t free to express his own opinion which I believe may differ from his superiors. We’ll have weapons ready for them even if they change their mind at the last minute.”
‘Brilliant,’ thought Mickey. ‘He’s even given the Ambassador a way to save face. Now if he’s only smart enough to take it.’
Ianto smiled. ‘I’d love to have been a fly on the wall once the recording devices were turned off. OK mon ami, it’s your move.’ Out loud he said, ‘the French government did no planning until ten days before the attack when Director Harkness made the announcement to the world at large. As you know, French citizens panicked and it became impossible to get all the equipment into Paris. By the first day of the attack, sixty-five percent of the Tasers had reached Paris but then there weren’t sufficient staff trained or untrained to operate them. The results were 230,000 casualties, 85% of them in and around Paris. Still, when you look at the performance of the military and civilian population that remained in Paris and willing to fight, they did a remarkable job. Without their efforts, we estimate that the casualties would have been almost twice as many.’
By the end of the discussion it was clear that the Ambassador was putting up little resistance. He subtly distanced himself from his actions referring to instruction from ‘my government’ that he was obliged to comply with.
And so it went. Nigeria came out looking even worse, when a video was shown of their Ambassador speaking about the expendability of the population in Lagos. “I’m sorry Director Harkness, but if there is one thing we have an excess of its people. So if we lose some it won’t be a catastrophe. But if the government goes along with this plan, it will provide the rebels something to use against our political party’s leadership.
After the testimony surrounding Nigeria’s refusal of any help or weapons, there was a short recess. Ianto wasn’t really surprised when the Nigerian Ambassador did not return to the hearing after the break.
‘Don’t know if he was too embarrassed or if he’s been removed from his position or if he’s seeking asylum from another country’, Ianto told Mickey during a later recess. ‘I think he’ll be imprisoned if not executed if he returns home.’
“You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for him,” Mickey replied. All Ianto could do was nod his understanding.
Accusations concerning Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were quickly dealt with. In these two cases, both countries were well equipped but were offered support from UNIT personnel but for political and religious reasons, additional forces were declined. While their militaries fought bravely, they just didn’t have the troop strength to hold back the Toclafane.
Finally there was Indonesia. Of all the nations of Earth, Indonesia had the largest percentage of their population slaughtered by the Toclafane. Indonesia had felt they were not a strategic target and Torchwood, UNIT and the UN agreed. They accepted some weapons and trained their troops but their defensive capabilities were so limited they barely slowed the attack. They were also hampered by the inability to disperse the populous living in and around Jakarta. By 2039, Jakarta had almost eighteen million people living within the city limits and several more millions in the surrounding area. Three and a half million civilians lost their lives most of them brutally slaughtered by the Toclafane. Hundreds of years later, the ferocity of the attack still baffled historians.
The Indonesian Ambassador was surprisingly candid in his assessment of the disaster. “We all miscalculated, and we are all to blame,” he said with tears in his eyes. “My government has authorized for me to state on their behalf that they want no organization or individual to face blame for what happened. Some things are the will of Allah and just must be accepted.” The Ambassador hesitated. His voice broke as he spoke again. “I lost my whole family, my wife, my six children, twelve grandchildren, my mother, brothers and sisters and literally hundreds of other relatives from mine and my wife’s families. As far as I know, I am the only one left.”
Ianto felt himself tearing up. ‘Poor bastard,’ Ianto thought. Ianto expressed his condolences on behalf of himself and Torchwood. No one was surprised when the Ambassador committed suicide several months later.
This portion of the hearing wrapped up shortly thereafter. While a few countries still insisted that Torchwood had not supported their defense efforts fairly, the protests were muted and a few Ambassadors actually looked ashamed to be making such statements. ‘That’s politics for you,’ thought Ianto, ‘still it looks like we’re going to end up quite well on this point.’
Much to his surprise, the Council decided to continue the hearing that day and begin its inquiry into whether Jack Harkness was negligent in his duty by leaving Earth at the time of the attack. Ianto and Mickey protested, but the Council was in no mood to compromise.
‘It’s almost like they feel they need to even the score,’ Mickey thought.
The opening remarks by the Council were brief. If they had little of a substantive nature to bring to the table, Mickey had even less to refute their accusations. He didn’t know where Jack was, neither he nor Ianto knew about the Master, all they could do was assert that the Toclafane began to malfunction due to something that Jack Harkness had done somewhere in space and time.
Ianto could see that the Council was getting prepared to wrap the hearings up. They had to do something to stall them. If they declared the fact-finding portion of the hearing closed, anything could happen to Jack. And Ianto was certain that whatever happened it wouldn’t be good.
Mickey Smith requested that they be given twenty-four hours to locate Jack Harkness or find evidence of his off-world activities. While some members of the Security Council were reluctant to do so a majority felt that twenty-four hours wouldn’t make a difference and would allow the Council to say that they had given Torchwood every opportunity to defend Director Harkness.
As the session ended, Ianto looked at Mickey shaking his head. ‘We’ve tried to contact the Doctor to no avail. How is one additional day going to help us?’
“It’s all I could think of to do. Get us a little more time to see if we can’t reach the Doctor. If nothing else, I’m going to sit down with our PR people first thing in the morning and prepare an eloquent tribute to Harkness' efforts to protect the Earth from the Toclafane. I don’t know if they’ll let me read the whole thing into the record, but even if I can’t, I’ll release it to the press once the hearing is adjourned.”
Most people had left the auditorium. As Mickey and Ianto walked out they heard a small commotion in the hallway. There were voices shouting and people clapping. They opened the door and Mickey saw Jack Harkness standing down the hall surrounded by Torchwood employees.
“Thank goodness,” Mickey said as he moved toward the group.
It took a moment longer for Ianto to understand what Mickey was talking about. Jack had been so profoundly changed, Ianto almost didn’t recognize him, ‘Jack, thank god you’re back but what the hell have they done to you?’ Ianto thought as he began to run down the hall toward the others.
Chapter 85 is here: http://aviv-b.livejournal.com/49478.html
