m_findlow

Title: The great race
Author: m_findlow
Prompt: 2 - Lucy, races, flag, on a holodeck at wintercompanion
Rating: Thirteenth Doctor/Jack Harkness
Pairing: PG
Content notes: Spoilers for all seasons of both series, and the Torchwood Big Finish audioplays.
Length: 33,192 words
Author notes: Beta'ed by beesandbrews. I don't own them, they belong to their respective creators.
Summary: A new adventure awaits two old friends as they compete in the greatest race of a generation.

Back aboard, Jack stepped over to the console and slipped the chip into the computer, bringing up their next location.

The Doctor stood and watched Lucy tugging off her leather jacket, draping it over the back of the seat. 'You told those Marvons to go right.'

'I know,' Lucy replied.

'But that's the wrong tunnel.'

'I know that, too. I figured they'd either believe us and go down there on a wild goose chase, or they'd use reverse psychology and go for the far left tunnel, and thinking we lied to them.'

'But that's not correct either. It was the middle one Jack chose. It barely looked like a pathway at all.'

'Exactly. Either way, we just slowed them down. When the first one turns out to be a bust, they'll go for the exact opposite one. The middle one will be the last place they look.'

Jack laughed. 'I like your style, kiddo.' He saw the displeased look on the Doctor's face. 'Don't be so high and mighty, Doc. It's a race, not the last chopper out of Saigon. They're in it to win as much as we are.'

The Doctor looked pensive, and then, like a burst of sunshine coming out from behind a cloud, her expression changed completely. 'Well, what the heck are we waiting for, then?'

Jack grinned, the old, devil may care Doctor was still there under that cute blonde bob and those crazy, too short, trousers. He hadn't even had a chance to comment on the braces. Between them, they could start a fashion comeback.

He punched a button on the center console, bringing up the details for their next checkpoint. 'It's a circuit,' he said, studying the map. 'See here, there's a route that passes from Star System Nine, all the way through the Vextrus Cluster, around to Mesphina and back again. It looks like once we pass the final lap, there's a small stop off point, the location for which won't be unlocked from this chip until we've completed the circuit.' He focused on the finer details beginning to scroll up across the display. 'Two hundred laps of the cluster?' he exclaimed.

'That's nearly a whole day's flight,' Lucy responded. 'Twenty-two hours even with the ship's engines at maximum.'

'It's clearly the endurance part of the race,' the Doctor replied. 'Endless laps of the same route to test each racer's ability to stay focused.'

'No problem,' Jack said. 'We'll just use the ship's systems. Isn't that why they invented anti air-collision systems? Pre-program a little flight path and away we go.'

Lucy groaned. 'Don't you know anything? All the racers had to have their ANTAC systems shut off. It's all manual flying. No anti-collision programs, no proximity alarms.'

Jack's face fell. 'Oh.'

'You really did just come here for the money, didn't you?' Lucy asked.

Jack squirmed under the scrutiny. 'I might not have read all the rules.' Rules were for boring people and those that had to be responsible for others. Up until a few hours ago, he'd been free as a bird. Who cared about rules, then? He'd been after a cheap thrill and he'd got more than he bargained for.

'Oh, well there's a surprise,' the Doctor said. 'Jack doing something other than by the seat of his pants?' she asked, arms folded, quirking an eyebrow at him.

He narrowed his eyes at the Doctor. 'Says the biggest pantser I've ever met.'

The Doctor shrugged off the insult. Clearly she preferred to think of it as being agile.

'You couldn't just, you know, use a little sonic screwdriver magic to turn the ANTAC back on?' Jack asked.

Lucy gave a look of utter horror. 'And risk us getting disqualified?'

Jack gave a little shrug. 'Just a suggestion.' Being disqualified might not be the worst idea. It would get them out of this mess.

The Doctor considered her two teammates. 'Well, we'd better take turns at the helm. Everyone should take a break in between and get some rest. Lucy, why don't you take first rest break? Jack and I can handle things.'

'If it's all the same to you, Doctor, I'd much rather fly myself. It's my ship, after all. If I get tired, you can take over.'

The Doctor raised her hands in mock surrender. 'Okay. Jack? You want to kip first, then?'

'No arguments from me,' he replied. 'But before I do, is there anything to eat on this tin can? I'm famished.'

'I didn't exactly pack a bunch of provisions,' Lucy replied. 'The ship doesn't even have separate sleeping quarters.'

Jack gave a nonchalant shrug. 'I wasn't expecting a five star hotel. I've slept worst places.' His last sojourn before arriving for the race had been six weeks aboard a cargo transport. He could have travelled in style but it would have meant hopping from one ship to another every time they hit a major planet or way-station. That meant having to renegotiate his passage. Cargo transports, on the other hand, could fly for months at a time without stopping. It was the express route, but the lodgings were bargain basement. Despite that, it was still a popular means of getting around. Jack liked them for the interesting people you met on board.

Lucy rummaged through a small metal transport container tucked under the main flight console, hidden behind a thin, metal panel. 'Here. There's a few energy bars and some water.'

'Perfect,' He grabbed at them eagerly, tearing off the wrapper and taking a huge bite. It was amazing how good something could taste when you were starving. Then he realised he probably wasn't that only one who was hungry.

'You wan un, Noc?' Jack asked, unsuccessfully trying to form words around the huge mouthful, holding one out in her direction. She pulled a face at him, clearly appalled. Unperturbed, he waved it in Lucy's direction instead.

'Urgh,' she uttered, 'didn't your manners get resurrected with the rest of you?'

He swallowed, the lump visibly straining to pass his Adam's apple. 'What's wrong with my manners?'

The Doctor leant against the wall and folded her arms. 'I think she's implying that once up a time you had some.'

'It takes a lot of energy to be me,' he argued, demolishing the remaining bar and washing it down with half a bottle of water. He shrugged off his coat and folded into a small bundle, setting it on the floor at the back of the bridge, before lying down and resting it under his head. 'Wake me when you get bored,' he said, shutting his eyes.

Normally Jack would have insisted everybody else rest up first, but resurrecting had tired him out. It had been a long while since the last time, a feat that would have made his old friends proud. He'd forgotten how resurrection took its toll on his body. The hunger he experienced was a by-product of his body protesting against his unnatural regeneration. Having time reorient itself inside him seemed a simple concept in theory, but like a scab forming over a wound whilst a cut healed, so too his body hid the healing going on inside him. No sooner than he'd laid his head down did sleep come to claim him.

The Doctor slipped from her seat behind Jack's and settled next to Lucy in the co-pilot's chair. She paused, seeing the intense look of concentration on Lucy's face. They had to set a careful hyperjump back out of the asteroid belt before setting course for their designated circuit route. She waited until they were clear of the debris field, making a mental note to travel back here at a time before the planet had been obliterated, just to see what it had been like. She chose her next words carefully.

'That was some very impressive flying earlier.' She couldn't have done a better job in the TARDIS, given the circumstances.

'Thanks,' Lucy said, not taking her eyes off the view in front of her. They were now shooting off into a quadrant of space that was vast and empty, looping around to start their first circuit.

'You're very young to be able to fly like that,' the Doctor pressed for more details.

'I played a lot of simulator games,' Lucy replied.

The Doctor chuckled at that. 'We both know that's a lie.' No simulator in the universe could teach the intuitive skills she'd demonstrated. 'You said this was your brother's ship. Did he teach you?'

'I'm a better flyer than he ever was.' Lucy paused, realising how arrogant that sounded. 'But, yes, he taught me. He did everything for me.'

'Your parents?'

'Killed when I was little. My brother took care of us both.'

'How did he do that? He must have still been quite young himself.'

'He quit school. Got a job so we could keep paying for the debt against our lodging. We could have moved somewhere smaller, but he wouldn't let all the credits Mum and Dad had paid against the debt go to waste. If we'd moved, we'd never have gotten a half of that back.'

A light snore from the back of the bridge interrupted their conversation.

'So, you entered the race to help pay back some of that debt?'

'Not exactly.'

The Doctor could sense another lie coming her way. If Lucy didn't tell her the truth, how could she help? 'Lucy, why are you really here? You talk about your brother in past tense. If you're in trouble or in debt, we can help you.'

Lucy's hand shook on the control column ever so slightly. 'No one wants to help me. Everyone's only in it to help themselves. You try to get ahead, but every time you do, someone comes along and takes it all away from you.' She sighed loudly. 'It's my fault.'

'What is?'

'When we were hard up for credits, my brother got involved in a racketeering operation. Emin Drax isn't just famous and rich because he competes in races across the galaxy. Most of his wealth comes from his illegal activities, and no one will do anything to stop them. Everyone is expendable to him.'

The Doctor read between the lines. 'Your brother got caught doing something illegal?'

'No,' she replied. 'I did.'

That was unexpected. 'You?'

'It was mainly courier jobs my brother was taking on, but a lot of the routes were through tricky parts of space. They were routes other people wouldn't ever use because they were too dangerous or difficult to fly. I was a better flyer than him. I agreed to take on the shipment. We both knew the cargo was probably contraband, but the commission was too good to pass up.' She flipped a switch with far more force than was necessary, her frustration spilling over. 'I don't know what happened, but someone snitched on us. Maybe it was one of Drax's goons, jealous that we were finally making some money, or maybe law enforcement had been watching, just waiting for someone to slip up. Either way, they traced the registration of the ship back to my brother and arrested him on the spot.'

The Doctor hummed at this information. Law enforcement was something of a grey area. Intergalactic law was well defined and meted out by the Shadow Proclamation, but that was just the big ticket stuff - unlawful invasions, genocide and planetary theft. Everything else was left to whatever the local police felt like taking an interest in. How they dealt with crime could depend on the flipping of a coin.

'What happened after they arrested him?'

Lucy toyed with the controls, banking wide around a gaseous planet. 'He should have told them it was me flying that shipment. The penalty for Artesians less than twenty cycles old is far less. But no, that great idiot had to go and confess. Forty cycles imprisonment with no visitation rights or parole.'

'Sounds like he was just trying to protect you.'

'I didn't need protecting! I might have gone in for three cycles. Two with good behaviour.'

'So, this is you trying to earn an honest credit? Racing for prize money?'

Lucy looked away from the view in front of her, facing the Doctor. 'Do you know how Artesian prisons work?'

'No.'

'You either serve the sentence or you can pay back an amount they deem to be equal to the cost of the criminal act. It's a corrupt system where the rich crooks always get away, and the little guys get locked up.'

Ah, it was all starting to fall into place now. 'How much did they set your brother's bail at?'

'Fifteen million credits. They calculated that as the total cost of illegal goods he might have shipped in a lifetime, had he not been caught.'

The Doctor winced. She was all for enforcing the law and doing the right thing, but sentencing someone for crimes they hadn't yet committed, but might do so in the future, was a harsh system. 'That's why you want to win so badly.'

'That's why I didn't want anyone else on board. I can't split the winnings. This is the biggest race anywhere. I'd have to win years worth of other races to bank up enough credits to free him.' She paused. 'I didn't tell Jack any of this,' she said, casting a furtive glance in his direction. 'I figure if we won I'd just, you know...'

'Take the money and run,' the Doctor finished for her.

'Yeah. I really need this money, Doctor. It's all my fault he's in there. I should have talked him out of working for Drax ages ago, but we were just keeping ourselves out of debt. I even went to him, Drax, I mean. When they sentenced my brother, I asked if he'd paid the bail, since we'd been doing his dirty work for him. And do you know what he did? He laughed. Just laughed in my face and told me if I knew what was good for me, I'd keep taking on jobs because otherwise someone might snitch on me as well.'

'Did you?'

'No way. I got a lousy job working for a legitimate courier service for a few months, but the guilt was killing me. Every night I'd come home to the house we'd grown up in, the one my brother had kept over our heads despite everything. Without him there, it just felt wrong. I knew I had to find a way to make some serious money and to get us both far away from Drax, where he couldn't cause us any more trouble. Drax was lording it all around the galaxy, how he was going to compete in the biggest race ever and win it. So, I followed him here. Beating him will be nice, but it's the prize I need.' She looked down at her lap. 'You won't tell Jack, will you? He seems like a nice guy but I imagine he'd be pretty scary if you upset him. I'd prefer not to find out first hand, if it's all the same to you.'

The Doctor rested a hand on Lucy's arm, giving it the gentlest squeeze. 'I think Jack will be okay. He knows how to take care of himself.' She laughed. 'He's done a few less than honourable things himself for the sake of money. All in the past now, of course. But it's only fair he should know, don't you think?' If anything, it would be amusing to see how he would react when he learnt he'd been duped by this fledgling. He'd understand though. Some things were worth risking everything for.

'I'm not sure I can tell him.'

'You told me, didn't you?' the Doctor replied. 'But what's say I help you out and tell him for you? Break it to him nice and gently.'

'Would you?'

'Don't you worry,' she said, easing back in the chair and crossing one leg over the other. 'I can handle Jack.'

Part eight...