half_a_soul | Aftermath [ Locked to Jackson]

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Aftermath [ Locked to Jackson]

Once it was decided, things moved on fairly quickly. Contacting the Starjammers had been the hardest part, but once Corsair heard why, it wasn't hard to convince him. After all, he'd lost a lifetime with his two sons, thanks to aliens attacking them, and lost his wife to those same aliens later. He was willing to help, even if he didn't understand everything about how they'd manage to get there.

Which was something Jono took care of, anyway. It had required a larger PINpoint than usual, but it did the trick. From there, it was a case of following the trails laid down. And avoiding the Federal military patrols. Avoiding because the Colonial Program that ran everything out their direction seemed perfectly happy to let the aliens keep raiding the colonies so long as they could plausibly ignore that it was happening.

It pissed Jono off like few things ever had and he had nowhere to work it off. Sex, even zero G sex, could only do so much to take his mind from it, though he tried not to let it show too much when Jackson was with him. But, then, it was easier to ignore when Jackson was with him.

And then they found the planet.

A lot of what happened there was fuzzy in Jono's mind, even several days later. They got the prisoners out and he thought that the aliens would probably think twice or three times before going after humans again. But there had been a lot of fighting. A lot of it and Jono had been smack dab in the middle, psionic flames and telepathy used to devastating effectiveness.

Once they'd gotten the former prisoners onto the ship, Jono'd pulled away, going to his quarters with an apology to Jackson. He'd used up so much in the fighting that he needed time to recover and get his mind recentered. The ship was heading to Boshane, under Jackson's instructions. Now that he felt more normal, Jono slipped out of his room, casting about to find Jackson. Who was near Gray, just as Jono thought he might be. He headed that direction, brushing his mind against Jackson's in greeting before he got there.

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(It's going great. That's half the problem. Jono's just not used to things going his way!)

Jono rouses as well when Jackson sits up, the confusion letting him know something was up. He takes a moment to inquire of Rachel, then nods and reaches out for Jackson's hand. We're gettin' near Boshane. Reckon they're gonna want you up on the bridge t' talk t' anybody what'll be questionin' us. Because at least Jackson knew these people.

Grumbling a little, Jackson scrubs a hand over his face and digs the heel of his palm into one eye, trying to combat sleepiness and wake himself up after the too short nap. "Yeah," he agrees groggily, finding the edge of the bed to put his feet down. "'Kay, I'm up."

Sort of. After putting his boots back on, it takes him about thirty more seconds to actually stand, but to Jackson's credit he doesn't sit back down immediately and whine for five more minutes. Instead, he waits for Jono by the door, yawning hugely and trying to wake up fully. He'll be okay by the time they get to the bridge.

Once they're on the ground and all, Jackson will be able to get more sleep. It takes another moment for Jono to get his boots on as well, then he follows Jackson to the door and takes his hand with a nod.

After that, it's less than five minutes to the bridge, where all the Starjammers are turned out. Even the few X-Men who have joined up with them for the time being, like Alex Summers/Havok and Rachel Grey-Summers/Marvel Girl.

Jono nods to them both and stays back, letting Jackson handle what needs to be done.

There is communications protocol for incoming ships, but the colony has no planetary defense system to speak of. (Which makes it sort of painfully obvious that if they weren't a friendly ship, there would be nothing to stop them from landing planetside.)

All that needs to be done, essentially, is for Jackson to put in a request with the colony for emergency medical assistance for injured crew members. It isn't unheard of, especially for privately owned ships, and he asserts that there was a small hull breach that caused decompression in the lower hold of the ship. After several minutes of silence, they're given clearance to land at the medical facility.

"The Colonial Program monitors these frequencies," he explains, once the communications line is closed. "We might want to keep this off their radar." At least the part about a group of heroes from another universe helping rescue colonists the Program publicly disavowed knowledge of.

Corsair nods, as though this weren't entirely surprising. "Yeah, I think keeping it off the radar is probably a good idea. It's rather obvious that the Program wouldn't want to know about this." Since they did such a job of ignoring it in the first place.

Jono places his hands on Jackson's shoulders, squeezing lightly. We'll tell 'em the truth once we're on the ground. Ain't like we could hide it, no how.

"No point in hiding it, anyway," he answers, relaxing just a little at the touch. "I don't think the Program has anyone in the colony working for them. Er, I guess in the most literal sense?" Since ... all the colonists are working for the colonial program, just not in the way that might be dangerous if they're trying to hide this from them.

Enough of 'em from Boeshane, you ain't gonna 'ave t' worry 'bout hidin' it. Plenty of family on the colony anyway. He squeezed Jackson's shoulders again. An' yer mum'll be glad t' see you.

"Yeah," Jackson agrees, turning to face Jono and look a little amused, "thanks for reminding me." He's about to be in either so much trouble he won't know what to do ... or so little trouble he'll be very, very surprised. Either way, the ship has been given landing instructions and he always hates atmospheric reentry, so he's just going to lean against Jono and not pay attention to how artificial gravity and real gravity kind of collide.

And it's not likely to feel all that great, either. The Starjammer is an incredibly old ship by 51st century standards, with all the technological foibles that comes with that. Including the fact that the reentry isn't exactly the smoothest thing in the entire world.

Jono does his best to keep Jackson settled, holding him through it. And holding a running telepathic conversation with Rachel. Which includes him shooting her dirty looks from time to time and Rachel just grinning about it.

Oh, he's missing the amusing nonverbal communication going on between Jono and one of his very hot superhero friends, but that's all right. It's better to miss the conversation and not throw up, than pay strict attention to what's going on and end up losing his nonexistent lunch because the deck keeps moving under his feet. (It's amazing what missing out on a few years of military training will do for a guy, huh?)

He only breathes a sigh of relief once everything stabilizes and the ships starts in on the final descent to the landing pad they were instructed to use.

Jono finally gives up and gives Rachel the Vs, which only makes her laugh and shake her head. The rest of the crew look at the two of them in amusement before Corsair orders them down to the landing pad.

And it's all over in fifteen minutes. Jono pulls back from Jackson slightly, hands still on him. Let's get Gray an' head fer the doors, aye? Reckon we're gonna be needed fer handlin' questions. The rest of them could wake and move the other prisoners. Gray was the one Jackson needed to deal with himself.

Okay, well, that gesture he notices. Ahem.

When Jono pulls away a little, Jackson looks up at him and nods. That's the best plan they have, at least. "Yeah," he agrees, running a hand through his hand to try and flatten it from where he'd slept on it weirdly, knowing he's about to be talking to some important people. And his mom. "Let's go."

He pulls away completely to head down from the bridge, back to the quarters where Gray is sleeping.

Jono follows along, not entirely certain what to do, himself. Yes, he has to get the Starjammer and her crew back to his own world soon, but he really doesn't want to leave Jackson behind, either.

Still, he stays right beside Jackson through this part of it, at least. And if Jackson needs help carrying Gray, well, he's there for that, too.

Jackson is strong enough, at least after his training, to carry Gray himself, but Jono just being there with him is more helpful than he can say. He couldn't do this just by himself. Gray is still very much asleep when Jackson collects him from the bunk, but the boy makes a groggy noise signifying the meds are beginning to wear off. "Hey," Jackson greets softly. "We're home now. Everything's gonna be okay."

With Gray in his arms, trying not to think about how light the boy is after being in captivity for so long, Jackson heads out of the quarters and to the nearest ship's exit. There should be doctors on the landing pad, anticipating crew members suffering decompression sickness.

And there are. Doctors who swarm Jackson a bit when he appears with Gray in his arms. Though it becomes very clear to them very quickly that the boy is far too young to be a member of the crew and he's certainly not suffering decompression sickness. Which doesn't make what he is suffering from less significant; they just aren't prepared for it.

The head doctor looks up from his people helping Gray with a stern expression. "What is the meaning of this?"

Meanin' is, mate, Jono speaks up, hand on Jackson's back. 'E's one of the people what've been stolen from Boeshane over the pas' few years. We got more in the ship, mos'ly sufferin' from malnutrition an' dehydration, 's well as a number o' smaller injuries obtained in the fightin' an' before we got there. An' 'at's jus' the physical.

The doctor, to his credit, seems to take the telepathic communication in stride (it is the fifty-first century and it does take all sorts) and once it's explained where the injured people are from, he doesn't seem to question why the ship apparently smuggled them in under the guise of a vessel in need.

"His name's Gray," Jackson explains, offering his own hand over to the doctor for an ident-scan. "He's my brother. He went missing during the attack four years ago. We found him on a planet a few sectors over with the others."

When the doctor scans Jackson's hand for the implanted ident-chip, something beeps a tiny alarm and Jackson looks resigned. Of course, his mother reported him missing. The doctor scrutinizes Jackson momentarily, then looks over at Jono. "I've alerted three other medical teams, they'll come collect the others."

That's something, though it only confirms the fact that the Colonial Program doesn't give a shit. Which still bothers Jono, but less so now that the prisoners are safe.

Jono nods, tugging Jackson closer for a moment. Thanks. Reckon they're all gonna need a fair bit of care fer a bit. And some of them might never be able to go home because of the things they've seen. If I can be of assistance, though...

The doctor gives Jono a much more scrutinizing look now and raises both eyebrows in question. "We'll handle things now, but thank you. Please wait here, I've alerted the militia to your presence. You'll need to answer some inquiry questions."

Jackson doesn't know if that's his fault for being missing or if it has more to do with the fact that they've recovered missing and presumed dead colonists from all over the sector. The doctor hurries off to take Gray into the medical center, while several more teams come up to sort out of the prisoners.

If you want to go before the militia gets here... It's not as much of an offer as it sounds like, more of a good idea to avoid holding up Jono's friends. Not that Jackson suspects the colonial militia could do much up against Corsair and his crew.

Probably not, all said. Jono casts his mind back to Rachel, another telepathic conversation taking place. The corners of his eyes turn down and he nods. Gonna be a lot of questions they don' need t' be answerin'. Not that there's a lot of things they possibly could say, honestly. How do you explain that you've come from another dimension to save a bunch of people you weren't supposed to even know were missing?

He steps back while there's still a mess to be sorted out. Be back in an hour or so. They had to get back into orbit before they could disappear, then Jono had to disengage the PINpoint. Or at least take out the dimension hopping capabilities. Somehow, he figured the teleporting technology would be useful to them. He took a moment to set new coordinates on his own PINpoint before leaning in to nudge his nose against Jackson's, then he's off back to the ship. It's only moments later that they're in the air, heading back for orbit and to deal with getting home.

"I'll be waiting," Jackson promises, smiling at the little kiss he gets. He watches Jono leave, then the ship take off back into the upper atmosphere, while waiting for the militia to arrive. When they do, he's taken down into the medical center, not specifically for questioning so much as to be given into the custody of his mother, who can't seem to be anything else beyond cry and hug him and cry a little more.

There will be questioning eventually, but for now he's made to wait with his mother while the doctors examine Gray and the other colonists are brought in.

(In an hour or so, Jackson will have answered all the questions he knows how and left with his mother to sit by Gray's hospital bedside.)

It takes a bit more than an hour. Jono had to text to get instructions on how to turn off the dimensional access to the PINpoint without turning the damned thing off entirely. He left the others with his thanks and a little more ribbing from, oh, everybody. Especially the X-Men on the ship who knew him to be difficult and cranky.

He got back to the spaceport, looking around before reaching out, trying to find Jackson's mental signature. Once he did and was certain Jackson was safe, he found someone to tell him where the people from the space ship had been taken. Thankfully, it wasn't far. He didn't have the money with him to get a cab. Or whatever the current form of pay transportation was. Once he got there, he was directed to Gray's bedside, reaching out with his mind again to brush against Jackson's.

There is no current form of pay transportation on Boeshane, but only because there's no form of currency on Boeshane. The colony is essentially an overgrown city, sitting on the cusp of an inlet and broken up into three specific sections on three different tiers. The hospital is located at the topmost tier, along with the small space port mostly dominated by small transport ships. Transportation, when necessary, is in the form of strategically placed teleportation pads.

Jackson looks up, feeling Jono's telepathic presence, and stands from his chair. "Mom," he says, "Jono's back. Can I bring him in?"

His mother looks up from fretting over Gray's hair and a smudge of dirt at his cheek, tears in her eyes. She nods.

"I'll be right back. I promise." He slips out of the small room and looks around for Jono, knowing he has to be close.

Jono can hardly be expected to know this sort of thing. Besides, it wasn't exactly a long walk, so Jono didn't mind so much.

He's only a few dozen feet away when Jackson steps out of the room, looking around and trying to find the right one. Which is easier when he sees his boyfriend and hurries that direction. 'Ey, he murmurs, reaching for Jackson's hand the moment he's close enough. 'Ow's 'e doin'?

Jackson smiles with obvious relief, taking Jono's hand in his and tugging his boyfriend closer. "Hey," he greets in return, voice soft in the way that a person naturally makes it in a setting like a hospital. "He's all right. Physically, at least. The doctor says there's no way of knowing what he went through. They're going to send a psychologist to talk to him when he wakes up."

Jono's going to get a sneaky hug now that Jackson's done explaining things. He's very happy Jono came back.

He was always going to come back. There was just one thing he had to do first.

Jono wraps his arms around Jackson, holding him close for a moment before nuzzling his hair. 'At's good. Once the psychologist talks to 'im, you'll all have a better idea what's goin' on. And, God, Jono wanted to help.

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