Plot summary
Searching an abandoned building for alien life, Torchwood Cardiff (apart from Gwen, who is running late) are blown up by bombs and trapped under debris. Gwen and Rhys arrive to dig everyone out and escape. Jack, Toshiko, Ianto, and Owen flash back to how Torchwood recruited them.
Over 100 years ago, Jack is waiting in Cardiff to find the Doctor, who refuels at the Cardiff Rift. Torchwood Cardiff assign Jack a job to find an alien. They blackmail him into cooperating when they notice him mentioning the Doctor, whom Torchwood treat as a threat. Jack refuses his next assignment when an agent, believing the alien to be a threat, shoots it. At a bar, a tarot card reader tells Jack he will meet the Doctor in 100 years. Needing something to do until then, Jack returns to Torchwood as an employee. Later, in 1999, Torchwood Cardiff's leader Alex murders his team and himself as a "mercy killing" after Alex sees a vision of the future. Jack becomes the new leader of Torchwood Cardiff.
Five years ago, Toshiko steals plans for a sonic modulator from the government and builds one. She gives it to one of her mother's kidnappers to trade for her release. UNIT soldiers break in and arrest the group, including Toshiko. Toshiko is locked in a cell indefinitely with no rights. Jack arrives and recruits Toshiko to release her, and also in recognition of her talents, as she created a sonic modulator from faulty plans.
21 months ago, Ianto, a former employee of Torchwood London, is repeatedly denied a job by Jack as Jack severed links with the old regime after its destruction. Later on, Jack tells Ianto to come to work after the two successfully catch a pterodactyl.
Four years ago, Owen and his fiancée Katie are planning a wedding. After Katie receives scans relating to memory loss, she is admitted to an operation on a brain tumour, which Jack tries to prevent. An alien parasite has buried itself in Katie's brain and emits a toxic gas which kills Katie and the operating surgeons. Seeing Owen's love of saving lives, and giving him a purpose, Jack recruits Owen as a medic.
In the present, Jack receives a message from Captain John Hart, who reveals that he had placed the bombs and shows Jack an image of his brother Gray. John then vows to tear Jack's world apart.
Credits
Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Fragments (Torchwood). Narrative and paragraph formatting adjusted; illustrations, reference markers and non-story material omitted.