Torchwood Three

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The Torchwood 3 Hub.

Torchwood 3 was the base of Torchwood in Cardiff, Wales. It was created mainly to monitor the Cardiff Rift. Over more than a hundred years, Captain Jack Harkness had a close association with Torchwood 3 and eventually took over as leader. Torchwood 3 was significantly smaller than the London branch, with only a handful of employees. By the time torchwood Torchwood 1 was destroyed in the Battle of Canary Wharf, Torchwood 3 had severed ties with the rest of the organisation and had become largely autonomous, with little outside interference. Captain Jack had by that time vowed to continue Torchwood as the kind of organisation which would have made the Doctor proud.

Mission profile and operations

Like all Torchwood branches, the Cardiff branch had a mission of protecting the Empire from alien threats. The founding of the Cardiff branch seems to be mainly motivated by the existence of the Cardiff rift, which is responsible for turning the region into a hotbed of alien activity, and is also is a steady source of valuable alien artefacts. Apart from the occasional world-threatening crisis, Torchwood also had a number of day to day projects and tasks to work on, as well as recurring problems.

Rift monitoring and control

The constant inflow of "flotsam and jetsam" from the rift posed many opportunities, but also a constant danger. Recognising this, Torchwood had by 1913 started to build a Rift Manipulator to better control rift activity. By the 21th century it was also possible to monitor rift activity in detail, so that the Torchwood staff was able to predict when and where something was going on.

Weevil containment

Weevils were a race of Humanoid Aliens deposited in Cardiff by the rift in great numbers. They were first documented by Torchwood in the 1950s and by the 21st century a population of hundreds existed in the sewers. They usually kept to the sewers, avoiding human contact, but occasionally one developed a taste for human flesh and moved to the surface. When this happened Torchwood took it upon itself to contain the problem, and at any time several Weevils are found in storage cells in the lower level of the Hub. For the purpose of catching Weevils Torchwood 3 has also developed an anti-Weevil spray. (TW: Everything Changes

Caring for rift returnees

While it is obvious that the Rift deposits objects, until 2008 it was unknown to even some of its own employees that the rift also takes things, in an event known as a negative rift spike. Some humans taken by the rift were eventually returned to earth, but they were ravaged from falling trough the rift and incapable of being reintegrated in Earth society.

Until the year 2000 these returnees were just locked away in the vaults, and neglected. But when in that year Captain Jack took over Torchwood he found two such returnees in the vaults and decided these people should be looked after and set up a remote facility at the island of Flat Holm, telling its employees that the people he left in their care were the result of failed experiments. Over the years more returnees were found, and in 2008 the rate at wich people returned increased, "as if the rift is trying to correct its mistakes". By the end of the year the number of people cared for at the facility had reached 17.

Reverse-engineering technology

True to the alien motto "If it's alien, it's ours", Torchwood 3 had trough the years collected and reverse-engineered an impressive amount of alien technology, and studying alien artifacts remained central to their operation even after Jack Harkness reformed the organisation to be more about helping people. Much of the technology they possessed was also integrated in the day-to-day operations of Torchwood. for example, Torchwood had possessed and operated advanced cryogenic technology since at least the thirties, and in the 2000 utilised alien computer technology to easely "scan" all available information sources for information. Later they started experimenting with a Resurrection gauntlet for questioning deceased crime victims and a Singularity Scalpel to easely remove inoperable alien organisms from humans. Other key technologies are Portable prison cells and the previously mentioned Retcon.

Keeping a low profile

Torchwood had to keep not only itself, but also the existence of Aliens from the public. Though greatly helped by the human tendency to just ignore everything that was too much out of the ordinary, keeping the secret was still no easy job. Among the tasks of Torchwood were contacting clueless ufo pilots who were unaware they were "spooking the locals". (TW: Cyberwoman). For other, harder to discredit witnesses, a drug called retcon, capable of causing highly selective amnesia, was key in keeping the secret from getting out. In fact, it was even Torchwood's policy to retcon any employee deciding to resign within 24 hours, leaving them with no memories of their former job.

Still, many Cardiff residents, even laymen, seemed to be more or less aware of all the strange things that kept happening, again and again, though often they weren't at all impressed. (TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and others). Many police officers were aware, and quite frustrated, with what they often saw as a "regular" secret ops unit disturbing their operations or taking them over entirely. Under the command of Jack Harkness the team had developed a very relaxed approach to secrecy, ordering pizzas to their top secret underground lair and having a tendency to stamp large Torchwood logos on their field equipment. (TW: Everything Changes)

Other tasks

Torchwood was also responsible for monitoring all kinds of other other potential sources of trouble in the vicinity of Cardiff. For example they were monitoring the trade in Dogon sixth eyes and the alien artefact collector Henry Parker, whom they had labeled as "mostly harmless". Between 1918 and 2008 Torchwood held a man in stasis because they had evidence suggesting that at one point he would be needed to fix a temporal disturbance, and they would wake him up a single day each year to make sure he was ok. (TW: To the Last Man)

History

19th century

Torchwood operated in Cardiff from 1885 onwards. (TW: Slow Decay) Following the death of a male operative (torchwood.org.uk), Emily Holroyd recruited Alice Guppy in 1897. The Torchwood HQ in Cardiff at that right consisted of little more than a few rooms and a holding cell. They had a policy of executing hostile aliens immediately, as they had no way of returning them home. Over a period of more than a year, the pair monitored Jack Harkness, who made mention of 'the Doctor'. As the Torchwood Institute had gotten founded largely to combat the Doctor, the two women captured Jack, evaluated his ability to return from the dead and then recruited him. Not long after, Torchwood would begin to physically expand into the underground and to build the Hub. (TW: Fragments)

20th century

By 1913 work on a Rift Manipulator had started, in the hopes of minimising the constant danger the rift posed. During 1913, the Institute noticed increased Rift activity, and considered this more justification to commence work on the Manipulator. The increased activity came from "foreshocks" of the use of the Manipulator itself, traveling backwards in time from the widening of the Rift, causing the fracture of the Rift in the early 21st century. Ironically, the Manipulator itself (in the future) had caused the widening of the Rift.

In 1918 Torchwood 3 was under the command of Gerald Carter, and already had access to cryogenic suspension technology. Gerald Carter and another operative, Harriet Derbyshire investigated supposed hauntings (in fact time shifts from the future) at St Teilo's Military Hospital. Derbyshire shortly afterwards died in action in an unrelated case. (TW: To the Last Man)

For unknown reasons, Jack Harkness didn't pose for the group portrait taken of the team at this time.

Though this may or may not relate to Torchwood 3, in 1941, the sinister Bilis Manger, who could teleport through time and space, had connections with Cardiff, managing a dance hall, the Ritz, and having access to Torchwood files. (TW: Captain Jack Harkness). In 1968 the Torchwood 3 staff dressed in miniskirts. (TW: To the Last Man)

21st century

On New Year's Eve, 1999, Torchwood operative (and possibly the team leader) Alex Hopkins shot to death his entire team, bar the immortal Jack Harkness. He claimed that he was killing them to "protect" them from the 21st century. Alex made the grim joke that he had given Jack command and then committed suicide. Jack Harkness was left with the job of recruiting a new team and leading it. (TW: Fragments)

Shortly thereafter, Harkness discovered two Humans whom the rift had returned and had been locked away in the Hub's cells, since Torchwood had deemed them unable to reintegrate into society. He founded a facility on the island of Flat Holm to care for them and others who were later returned. Subsequently, he chose not to inform certain members of his staff. (TW: Adrift) In the 2000s he recruited civilians Toshiko Sato and then Owen Harper in an attempt to reform Torchwood into a more humane organisation, inspired by his admiration of the Doctor. He also employed Suzie Costello. He also, with much persuasion at first, took in Ianto Jones, a survivor of the Battle of Canary Wharf who had worked for Torchwood 1. (TW: Fragments)

During her first years at Torchwood, Toshiko Sato developed Rift equations, which were to be used as guidelines to more safely operate the Rift Manipulator. (TW: Captain Jack Harkness)

2007 was an eventful year for Torchwood 3. It emerged that Suzie Costello had committed a series of murders with an alien artefact, the Life Knife, in order to test out a Resurrection Gauntlet. She committed suicide. Jack took in Gwen Cooper, a Cardiff Police Constable who had helped him to solve the case. (TW: Everything Changes) As well as internal distrust, at times, of Jack himself, Torchwood 3 subsequently braved an attack by Lisa Hallett, a partially converted Cyberman who had survived their defeat at Torchwood 1. (TW: Cyberwoman)

Tosh had meanwhile begun to experiment with using the Rift manipulator. With Tosh and Jack transported to 1941 Cardiff, Owen and Ianto, out of desperation, used the manipulator and Tosh's Rift equations to return them. (TW: Captain Jack Harkness) This would have wide-ranging consequences, as the use of the Manipulator caused the Rift to splinter and cause temporal shifts to occur all over Earth and Cardiff itself. The team revolted against Jack and shot and killed him and the ancient demon Abaddon was released from the Rift, briefly causing havoc in central Cardiff before Jack defeated him. (TW: End of Days)

Directly after this incident, Jack suddenly and without warning left Torchwood, when the Doctor came to refuel at the rift and Jack chased him off-world. (TW: End of Days, DW: Utopia)

During his absence the team learned to work more independently, though they were unable to help with the takeover of the world by the Master, as he had sent them on a wild goose chase off to the Himalayas. (DW: The Sound of Drums). Jack returned some months later, finding that Gwen had taken over as team leader in the meantime. (TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang)

Also around 2008, the Rift started returning more and more humans who had previously been taken away in negative rift spikes. In the words of Jack Harkness, "it is almost as if the rift is trying to correct its mistakes". Victims continued to be transferred to the Flat Holm facility. (TW: Adrift). Another trend in recent years is an increase in Weevil activity.

Other notable events in 2008 were Torchwood 3 stopping a Weevil fighting ring (TW: Combat) uncovering an alien sleeper cell (TW: Sleeper), unilaterally closing down an official research facility (TW: Reset) and stopping a powerful being, a personification of Death (TW: Dead Man Walking)

In late 2008 UNIT medical doctor Martha Jones came in briefly in order to provide support. (TW: Reset). Very shortly after her arival, Torchwood doctor Owen Harper died (TW: Reset) and came back to partial life via another Resurrection Gauntlet. (TW: Dead Man Walking). This lead to Doctor Jones staying with Torchwood somewhat longer than anticipated. Torchwood 3 later lost two members of the team, Owen Harper was trapped in a nuclear meltdown that decomposed his already dead body and Toshiko Sato died of a shot to the stomach. (TW: Exit Wounds)

In the Doctor Who Series 4 Finale an exclusive clip on the BBC Doctor Who website Captain Jack, Ianto and Gwen appear and witness a message for the human race. It is revealed to be from the Daleks who say Exterminate to which Jack becomes emtional and kisses Gwen and Ianto who ask who they are and if Jack knows them which he does and says there's nothing he can do and that they're dead. Sarah Jane Smith, her son Luke,Martha Jones and Unit and Rose Tyler also witness the message.

In 2009 a small taskforce of Daleks invaded Torchwood 3 and engaged Jack Harkness, Gwen Williams and Ianto Jones in combat. The outcome of this skirmish is unrevealed as of yet.

The Hub

The Hub was the main base of affairs for Torchwood 3, analogous to Torchwood 1's Torchwood Tower and Torchwood 2's office in Glasgow. The Hub is located directly under Roald Dahl Plass in central Cardiff, also the location of the Cardiff rift. The Hub was connected to the rest of the Torchwood Institute via organic computer.

Incomplete list of features

  • Invisible lift. This lift leads directly from the hub to Roald Dahl Plass above. Torchwood personnel can enter or leave without arousing suspicion, since the exit is still suffering the effects of the chameleon circuit of a TARDIS that once stood above it.
  • An exit disguised as a tourist office.
  • Jack Harkness's office.
  • Main hall (including workstations and entrances to other Hub features)
  • Cryo-chambers. Bodies of deceased Torchwood employees as well as aliens & anomalous humans can be stored here.
  • Conference room
  • Safe containing various alien artefacts
  • Autopsy room.
  • Interrogation room
  • Holding cells. (Mainly used to hold captured Weevils.)
  • A firing range.
  • Deep-sea tank (a large water tank deep in the Hub which allows deep-sea animals to survive)
  • Rest & Recreation room (mentioned in Another Life
  • Jack Harkness' sleeping area. A bed located beneath a manhole cover.

Crew

Current

Former

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