Daughter of Torchwood

Daleks

Returning to the Hub after losing Owen and Toshiko was like walking through a house of ghosts. The silence in the autopsy bay was a physical weight, but the team slowly forged a new, quieter normal. Starla found her balance in the commute, spending her weeks in London where school and her adventures with Sarah Jane Smith provided a much-needed cauterisation for her grief.

Back in Cardiff for the October half-term, the Hub felt smaller, the absences of their friends still sharp. She made sure to hug Ianto and Gwen a little tighter that morning, a silent acknowledgement that they were the only family she had left in this world.

She was tucked away in Jack's office, recounting her recent London exploits, when the floor suddenly buckled.

"What's happening?" she frowned, her hand flying to the desk to steady herself as a low, guttural rumble vibrated through the stone.

Jack stood instantly, but before he could reach the door, a violent, bone-shattering crash rocked the entire base. The foundations groaned. Papers flew like confetti, and a heavy metal shelving unit began to topple. Jack lunged, pulling Starla protectively beneath him. He braced his body, taking the brunt of the falling metal across his shoulders to keep her from being crushed.

As the tremors died down into an eerie, ringing silence, Jack shoved the debris aside. "You okay?" he panted, checking her for injuries. She nodded breathlessly, her heart hammering against her ribs as they scrambled out to the main floor.

"What was that?" She cried out, her voice echoing, "Was it the Rift? Gwen? Ianto? Are you alright?"

"No broken bones," Ianto replied, picking himself up and straightening his waistcoat with shaky hands, "Slight loss of dignity. No change there, then."

"Felt like an earthquake," Starla noted, brushing the thick layer of plaster dust off Ianto's sleeve.

"The whole city must have felt that," Gwen said, her fingers already flying across her workstation, "The whole of South Wales!"

"I'm going to take a look outside," Jack ordered, his face grim. Starla was on his heels before he could tell her to stay put.

In the Tourist Information Centre above, Jack pushed open the door to the Plass and stopped so abruptly that Starla nearly collided with his back. He looked up, his face paling to a ghostly white.

"That's impossible..." Jack whispered.

Starla stepped around him and looked at the sky. Her breath hitched. The morning sun was gone, replaced by a dark, cosmic canopy crowded with massive, glowing spheres. Dozens of planets hung in the sky, impossibly close, like a crown of marbles around the Earth.

"Back inside. Now!" Jack shoved her gently toward the secret door, and they raced back down into the Hub.

The atmosphere below had shifted to high-alert panic. While Jack and Ianto initiated a global scan, Gwen frantically dialled Rhys. Starla reached for her own phone, her fingers trembling as she rang Gran Mavis and then Luke.

"Are you alright?" she blurted out the second Luke answered.

"We're fine," Luke replied, though he sounded breathless, "Rani's in Cornwall, they're safe. Clyde's with his mum. Star, what's going on? What happened?"

"We don't know. Dad's never seen anything like it..."

"Gwen, Starla, come see!" Jack's roar echoed through the Hub.

"Gotta go. I'll call you back, I promise. Love you!" She hung up and sprinted to the monitors.

"Someone's established an artificial atmospheric shell," Jack informed them, pointing to the shimmering energy readings, "It's holding in the heat and the oxygen."