Title: But for the grace of god
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,761 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: Written for Challenge 448 - Influences (using Stargate SG-1 episode 5.5 “Red sky”)
Summary: Jack and Ianto’s visit to a far off world has destructive consequences.


Jack bolted upright at the sight of Ianto approaching down the dusty street. He tried to read the man's expression from a distance, telling him in advance whether he'd been successful. Jack prayed that he had, assuming there were any gods to hear his prayers. He'd given up on the gods a long time ago but if there were any of them left in this part of the universe, he prayed to them now.

Jack's heart sank though as Ianto got closer, that look of tired despair etched all over it. It didn't take a genius to know there was no good news story to share.

‘I tried. Really I did.’

Jack could scarcely believe the words. ‘None of them?’

Ianto looked tired and worn down. ‘I tried every negotiating tactic in the book but they just won't leave. Not even to save themselves. I think I was lucky to get out of there in one piece.’

‘What? Why?’ Jack was confused by the statement. The people here were kind and generous to a fault. He doubted that they had a violent bone in their bodies.

‘There's a faction growing,’ Ianto reported. ‘Some of the most devout have splintered into a group that looks set to challenge for the leadership of the colony. They claim that their kindness towards us is what caused their gods to become angered in the first place. They want to displace the padre and install their own leadership, and when that happens, we had best be long gone before that comes. I don't think their objection towards violence extends to outsiders.’

What he didn't mention was the abuse and the accusations that had been levied at him when he'd petitioned their town hall meeting, urging them to accept rescue and resettlement on another world. Jack had noticed it simmering in the background the last time they'd tried to talk sense to the villagers, but they were not going to be persuaded. Jack's insistent language had only made things even more tense, thus why he'd stepped away from the negotiations. He knew when he was out of his league, though it left Ianto alone to try to get them to accept help.

‘But…’

‘I know,’ Ianto said, already knowing where Jack was headed and cutting him off. ‘But it's their religion. They believe in those gods with every fibre of their being. If the gods mean to save them then the gods will do so. All they can do is pray and beseech them with gifts and honour and humility. If that means throwing us under the bus in order to prove their faithfulness then that's what they'll do.’

Jack slumped down onto a bench leaned forward and ran a hand through his hair. ‘I really screwed things up, didn't I?’

Ianto sank down beside him then looked up at the sun which was growing darker and more tinged with red, like the gods themselves had painted the sky with the blood of their ancestors. ‘How long do you think they have?’

Jack gave a shrug of his shoulders. ‘A few months if they're lucky. A few weeks if not.’ Jack knew how things would play out. First the plant life would start to falter under the reduced light and the increasing heat. When crops failed, the animals would begin to starve, and shortly after they did, so too would the people who'd come to rely on both crops and meat to survive. Stores would get them through for a little while but eventually the planet would cease to be able to sustain its ecosystem. The people would panic, fight for whatever food and supplies were left and then descend all the way into chaos. As planetary destruction went, they'd be long dead before the ozone burned away and the atmosphere dissipated, suffocating anything that remained alive at that point. A whole world dead and it was all Jack's fault. If only he hadn’t been so keen to impress Ianto, taking him to a corner of the universe so rarely travelled and visited.

Ianto reached across and put a hand on Jack's leg, giving it a squeeze. ‘There was no way to know that our course would mean using our hyper drive to pass through their sun, causing a huge coronal ejection that would disrupt the entire gravitational shell, sending it into an escalating supernova.’

‘Well, when you say it like that it doesn't sound nearly so bad,’ Jack replied, unable to cope with even the blackest of humour.

‘Sorry.’

Jack stood, unable to remain sitting idle for a second longer. ‘I don't understand it, Ianto! We have a ship. A ship capable of transporting their entire population in one go to a world where they could start over, safe, protected.’

‘This is their home, Jack,’ he said, repeating only what had been drilled into them ad nauseum by the village padre. ‘Their gods reside here and they won't abandon them, even if they believe that their gods may have abandoned them to die.’

‘It’s stupid!’ Jack replied, feeling his anger rise once more. ‘Their gods had nothing to do with any of this. They're not pissed off because we came here and were shown a little bit of local hospitality. They're going to die because we damaged their sun.’

‘That's not how they view it. Science to them might as well be witchcraft.’

‘I just… I can't let them just kick us out and leave them all here to suffer and die.’

Ianto threw his hands out beseechingly. ‘I don't know what else we can do. Their faith is everything to them. They're ready to die if that's what the gods have divined. I’ve tried and tried to talk sense into them but they just won’t go. Not even when it looks like the world is ending.’

And it did. More black clouds were swirling overhead now as the coronal ejection disturbed the atmosphere, bringing with it more erratic weather conditions and lightning storms. Thousands of people were going to needlessly die because of some ridiculous religion. He grabbed Ianto by the collar of his jacket and began dragging him back onto the road that led them into the village.

‘Let go!’ Ianto cried, shrugging off Jack's grip on him. Jack replaced it with a vice like grip on his arm instead, shoving him forward.

‘We’re going back in there and we’re going to tell it like it is. No sugar coating it, no being polite. We're done with all that.’

Ianto managed to almost keep pace with Jack's new purposeful strides. ‘Okay, but just so you know I've been blunt about it already. Pretty hard to play down ultimate complete destruction and death.’

‘If they say no again, then we’re gonna take them by force. I’ll put a gun to every last head and make them come with us.’

‘Not sure you threatening death with your gun is terribly persuasive when they’re already facing death.’

Jack became annoyed by Ianto's attitude. ‘It'll be set to stun. We’ll drag their unconscious bodies aboard if we have to.’

‘Oh, joy. Only 1,300 of them to lug back to the ship. We’ll be done in a jiffy.’

Jack maintained his brutal pace back towards the village centre, receiving a mixture of looks from the inhabitants, from confusion to fear to downright animosity. ‘Let’s hope they get the message loud and clear that we mean business before it comes to that,’ he growled, storming towards the village hall where he knew the padre would be leading the masses in prayer for salvation or the afterlife or whatever it was that they believed in.

A lightning bolt cracked through the sky, hitting the ground just a few feet in front of Jack. He might have stepped right into its path if Ianto hadn’t grabbed him, halting his movement a second earlier to argue with him. ‘That was close.’

‘Too close,’ Ianto replied, face pale in the reddish hue of the sky. Another lightning bolt cracked just a few feet behind them and this time it was Jack who instinctively clutched for Ianto to keep him from harm's way. The whole ground rumbled beneath their feet and some of the villagers cried in fear.

‘I thought you said we still had time!’ Ianto said, struggling to keep his footing as the ground continued to shake.

The ground rumbled and shook for what felt like an eternity and then it stopped, the clouds began to dissipate and the sky shifted from a blood red back to a pale blue, with a bright white ball beaming down weak sunshine.

Jack looked up, mouth agape at the serenity falling into place all around them. ‘That’s not possible. We ruptured the coronal shell. That sun was on a path to supernova with no way to reverse the effects.’

They stood befuddled as the village hall spilled its parishioners out onto the streets, each of them beaming with rapturous joy. The padre was the last to exit, spotting the two strangely clothed men amongst his flock. ‘The gods have heard our prayers!’ he announced. ‘They have forgiven us our sins and allowed us back into the light.’

‘That's not how this works,’ Jack said, still reeling in confusion, but he received a sharp elbow in his side that silenced him with a grunt. The padre stepped forward and clasped Jack's hands in his own. ‘I am sorry for how some of my people have treated you, but you must know that we begged for forgiveness for you as much as anyone here, even though I understand you don’t believe the gods have power over us. They are truly kind and benevolent gods.’

‘That they are,’ Ianto agreed. ‘All the same, perhaps it's best if we be on our way in case we should displease them again.’

The padre nodded solemnly. ‘I think that would be for the best.’

Ianto looped an arm through Jack’s and led him away before Jack could utter another word. ‘Before you open that mouth of yours, we go back to our ship, check that everything’s in order and not just some post death hallucination we’re having, and then we go. I think we’ve annoyed the gods more than enough already and they’ll be glad to see the back of us.’

Jack clenched his jaw, resisting the urge to say something offensive as Ianto led him from the village. Who knew, maybe there really were gods protecting this world, and keeping his mouth shut might be a very wise decision indeed.