Coming Home (Part Four)
Title: Coming Home
Author: hunters_retreat
Fandom(s): CW RPS
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 20K+
Summary: Jensen Ackles may be the smartest man in the universe, but it took empath Jared Padalecki to help Jensen figure out what was important in life. It’s not easy though and when Jared gets as assignment that will take him away from the space station they call home, Jensen doesn’t take it well. When unexpected circumstances put the shuttle in danger, Jensen has to pull himself together because it will take more than his intelligence to get Jared back.
Warnings/Spoilers: graphic sex
Artist:
deadflowers5
“Cassidy, have you seen the latest projections?”
Heads swung his way and Jensen knew in that moment that they all knew exactly what he was talking about.
“Jensen? What can I do for you?” Katie asked with a plastered on smile.
He generally liked Katie but he was barely holding it together and even with Alona following behind him, he couldn’t help but clench his fists in impotent rage. “You can tell me what this means,” he said as he held out the latest reports of the asteroid that Katie’s team was tracking; the one that would possibly strike the moon the outpost was on and that Jared was on his way towards. The one that was now moving faster and closer than it had been projected to.
“Jensen-”
She didn’t say anything else because they all knew he could read it as well as they could. Heyerdahl squared off with Jensen, stepping between him and Katie, putting words to what no one else wanted to say.
“The asteroid will undoubtedly break apart as it moves close to the moon. Pieces will break off and will hit the moon close to the outpost, destroying it. And from the latest reports it’s moving faster than we anticipated. The shuttle won’t have more than a day or two to get out of range or they’ll be caught in the debris.”
It was like Heyerdahl had just twisted a knife in his gut. Jensen felt a strong hand on his back and realized Alona was in front of him, watching with worried eyes again. He looked up to see Sebastian moving closer - a sometimes friend and occasional fuck before he’d met Jared - and there was nothing but horror in the man’s eyes.
“Alona,” Jensen managed to gasp out finally.
“They’ve already sent a message to the shuttle to get them to turn around Jensen,” Sebastian said gently.
It was a hard truth when you worked in space. Sometimes there was no way to save the people that were in your care and when Jensen turned around he saw Misha at the door of the lab. The administrator looked haggard and grim and Jensen knew that it had been Misha’s choice to call the shuttle back, condemning the nine people on the outpost to their death. And he’d been the one to send a message to the outpost and shuttle to explain it.
He wanted to feel sympathy for him, but all Jensen could feel was the growing panic that Jared wasn’t coming home. It didn’t matter that they said the shuttle was turning around. Jensen wouldn’t be able to stop the panic until Jared was back in his arms where he was supposed to be.
“Jared is going to come home to you Jensen,” Alona reassured him again. He didn’t know who was more surprised, her or him, when he pulled her into an embrace and couldn’t let go.
“So what are we looking at?” Pileggi asked as they sat around the table.
Everyone was tense and Jared more so than the rest. He didn’t know the technical jargon that he’d been hearing everyone relay back and forth over the last two hours but he was picking up on everyone’s underlying tension.
Pellegrino was the one who stretched back in his chair, wiping tired eyes with his hand. “Some sort of space debris hit the outer tanks. We were able to seal up the worst of the damage, thanks to some damn fine EVA by Kelly. The good thing is it’s contained and won’t be a problem anymore.”
“And the bad side?” The captain asked.
“It was the extra oxygen tank that was hit. We have plenty of oxygen to get to the outpost, but we don’t have enough to make it home. We can resupply at the outpost but…”
“But we just got a message to turn around,” Pileggi supplied. He looked around the room at all of them and Jared felt a wave of nausea pass over him. By the heavens, they were screwed.
“Alright,” there was only a slight pause as Pileggi took in the news and started planning their next move. “Cohan, can we make it?”
She nodded and Jared forced himself to take a deep breath, feeling the room relax bit by bit as Lauren spoke.
“If we keep to our current speed and the asteroid does too, then we can make it and still get far enough away to avoid the damage the asteroid will do to the moon.”
“Then we do everything we can to make this journey as quick as possible. If you have suggestions, let me know. Cortese, use the emergency system to pass on word to the Vortex. Let’s see if their pretty relays work as fast as Collins boasted they would be when he had us put them in place. I also want a message to the outpost to let them know what we’re going to need. Let them know their people need to be on this shuttle as soon as we seal the doors. If they take more than five minutes to get their bags stowed I will throw them out the air lock myself. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Cortese responded smartly.
“You heard it then. To your duties. If you need help, get it. We have more pairs of hands on this ship than just your own and we have too many lives as stake to piss this chance away.”
The others stood as one, saluting their captain but Jared stayed where he was, feeling numb. Able came up behind him as the others filed out and squeezed Jared’s shoulder lightly. “We’ll get through this Jared, just you wait and see. The captain has landed through worse.”
And Jared knew it was true. Captain Pileggi had been a captain longer than Jared had been alive and the man was a living legend. How Misha had managed to lure the man into working for the station was beyond him. Now, he was just grateful that he had.
He felt the confidence that Jake had and Jared took a deep breath, letting the younger man’s confidence fill him up.
“Yeah, alright.”
“Come on. It might not be much, but you can lend me a hand. We’ll get a list of what we need to happen at the outpost and make sure Gen has the list a.s.a.p. You think the Captain is daunting? Wait until you see Gen with a mission.”
There was a smile on his face, but his eyes were serious and Jared knew that he was about to see Pileggi’s crew shine in ways he’d never hoped to.
It was a tense two days while everyone watched and waited to see if the shuttle would be able to make it in time. Jared had a constant headache from the continual battering on his emotional shields. The shuttle was getting messages from the station and Misha got a message through the emergency relays letting the captain know exactly how fast the relays were and that they’d received the message with their current plan. Mitch played it for them all and Misha was on the screen, telling them all how brave they were and that he knew if anyone could make it home through all of it, they were the ones. He’d also given them a list of instructions from the community to help them speed up the shuttle’s travel time. The list was extensive and they were travelling faster than any shuttle had before. Misha had smirked when he’d finished the list, saying that it helped that the smartest man in the universe had some extra incentive to see them home fast. Jared had taken it for the message that it was; Jensen was fine but working himself into a frenzy with Jared in possible danger. They’d all smiled sheepishly at him after that, but Jared was too busy pushing their emotions away to notice.
There was another message that came through and Jared had hoped that Jensen might have sent something - that he might have used his connection to Misha to get an extra one in - but it was for the captain and Jared had retired to his bed after that to try to rest while he could.
“You did everything you could Jensen,” Misha said as they stared at the computer monitors.
Jensen didn’t seem to hear him and Misha wondered if he needed to call Alona back to work. She’d gone home to give the news to her husband. Jeff was grief stricken when he’d heard the news about the outpost but even more so about his friend and colleague who was now in peril on the shuttle.
There had been no news in two weeks. The shuttle should land on the outpost any time though and Captain Pellegi wouldn’t use the emergency relays unless he needed to. The outpost had a stronger communication relay that would give them updates that were only hours apart instead of the days and weeks that the regular shuttle communications had to wait through.
Jensen wasn’t moving and Misha was there with him, waiting. There were others there too, Dr. Hodge had become friends with Jensen over the last two months and he was sitting in the corner to stay out of the way of the professionals who were working.
Alona would be back soon, Misha knew, but he wished she were already there. She was as close to Jared as he was but she was a source of continued spirits and high hopes among them. When she was gone, the room felt darker and colder. He made a note to ask Jeff if it always felt like that for him when she left, but looking at Jensen, he was pretty sure he already had an answer to that. He had no idea what the bond did to two people but he could see the effect it had on Jensen, for the good and the bad.
They had to get Jared back or Misha knew they’d lose Jensen too. He wouldn’t kill himself or throw himself into danger the way some people might after losing a loved one. No, Jensen would go into his computers one day and just never come back.
“I know,” Jensen finally croaked out. “I just don’t know if it will be enough.”
Misha squeezed his shoulder and took a deep breath. “It will be,” he said as he looked back at the screen, waiting.
“It has to be.”
Everything looked like it was in chaos, but Jared knew by now that it wasn’t at all. No matter that there were more people there now, everyone knew where to go and what to do. In addition to the shuttle crew, they were joined by the outpost crew. The head of the facility, Jim Beaver, met them at the air lock with a grim look and a teenager at this side. His adopted son, Colin, was just as unhappy but they had brave smiles on as they made the introductions as each of his crew climbed onto the shuttle with their gear ready.
Tension radiated from the others, but it was energetic tension and not the draining kind that Jared had grown used to. There was determination and purpose in what everyone was doing. Some of the newer crew members were stowing their bags while others started moving with the shuttle crew to start refilling the air tanks. It would take a few hours to get that settled so once they got the process started they’d be able to sit back in the shuttle and take off as soon as it was completed.
The process itself was fairly simply so the crew was back on the shuttle with only a few members left to oversee the procedure. Everyone was relaxing as the tanks filled and they were closer to leaving but the members of the outpost crew seemed to grow anxious every time they looked at the sealed doorways that led to the outpost.
Jared was getting nauseous from the anxiety they were throwing at him when his emotional reserves were so low and he had to escape. He got directions from Beaver’s kid and found his way back to where Jim, Mitch, Rob - Jim’s second in command - and Mark were talking quietly. They looked up startled when he walked in and he realized that whatever was happening, they didn’t want him to know.
Mitch wasn’t the sort of man to lie though and Jared squared his shoulders as he addressed the captain. “What’s happening?”
The others looked to Mark and he shared a look with Jim before the other man spoke.
“You see the seals as you were coming through?” Jim asked. Jared nodded and Jim let out a deep breath. “They’re meant to protect the outpost from anything that might pull away still hitched.”
It was common practice ever since a string of bad storms when the program was still in its infancy had killed all the members of two outposts. The docked ships had been knocked clear of their rigging and broken the inner seals, causing a leak that no one could fix quick enough.
“Yeah, I know about them.”
“You have to seal it from both sides. Someone inside the ship has to seal the ship up tight. And someone on this side has to seal the tunnels up. In most cases, a ship wouldn’t take enough damage from ripping a seal - that’s why it was a problem in the first place- but …”
“But?”
Jim scrubbed a hand through his beard but Mitch took up the conversation. “But the shuttle took damage already and while it wasn’t enough to worry us, we don’t know if the ship would stay intact if we broke the seal from the other side.”
No one said anything and it only took Jared a second to realize what they were saying. “You have to leave someone behind.”
Mitch nodded and Jim pointed to the circle of them. “One of us. I ain’t letting one of my crew stay behind.”
“Not you,” Mitch said immediately. “Colin already lost one family. You’re getting on that shuttle with your son.”
“Mitch-“
“I agree Jim,” Rob said immediately. “I can do this.”
It was about to become a fight. Jared could see each of the men there was ready to make the sacrifice. Mitch stopped it before it could escalate. “We’ll draw to see who stays. It’s only fair. It was fate that stuck us here and its fate that will chose who stays.”
Rob ran to the kitchen and got the straws, and then Mitch cut one of them short. Jared made Mitch put an extra one in when he realized he wasn’t going to include Jared, but as much as Jared wanted to get home to Jensen, he couldn’t let someone else die in his place and he knew it. Mitch held the straws and each man drew one. Rob drew first, followed by Jim, then Jared, and Mark. Mitch dropped his hands when only his was left. He pressed against his back with both hands and Jared didn’t know what to say when he raised his hand again with the short straw in it.
“We have an hour to get ready. Let’s go.”
It was more of a hustle then as Jared followed Mitch. He knew the captain would have been happier if Jared had gone back to the shuttle, but he told him that he needed to be there in case Mitch needed him before the end. He watched as Rob showed Mitch how to seal the inner seal of the outpost and then when Jim showed him how to release the ship from the dock and contact the space station.
It was Jensen’s improved design, the new relay that the outpost boasted. Jared felt a burst of pride in his lover’s work but he couldn’t let himself dwell on that. The thing about the relay was that it would only take a few hours to get to the space station and wouldn’t burn out the way the emergency relays would. It could contact directly with a series of relays that had been set up a year before. The shuttle wasn’t stationary enough to use them but this way, Jim told them, they’d be able to send a message to the station to let them know they got away clear and approximate if they were going to make it far enough to survive the explosion.
It was hard to sit there with the others so while they were waiting for the tanks to finish, Jared went back to the crew. He met each of the new members, laughed with Colin and winked with Julie about his fascination with Nicki. He made sure the shuttle crew was good too, taking a few minutes to talk to each person, even if it was just a quick quip about it being a hell of a journey with them.
He took a deep breath when it was time. He was standing with the others and he kept his eyes down as Mark and Mitch said their good-byes. He knew what he had to do but he was afraid they’d see it in his eyes. He wished it could be different. Jensen wouldn’t understand, but he knew it was who Jared was.
Mark slipped through the hatch and it was just Jared and Mitch.
“Why did you do it, Mitch?” he asked. Mitch knew what he was talking about and he gave a half smile. “You had the short straw in your other hand the whole time. You made sure no one saw the long straw in your hand until you switched it behind you back with the short one.”
“I couldn’t let Jim be the one and it’s up to a captain to go down with his ship.”
Jared nodded. “Yeah, I get that.”
“Jensen sent me a message,” Mitch said, causing Jared to start.
“He said I had to get you home because the world shouldn’t be without his genius and he couldn’t be that without you.”
“Mitch-”
“That’s not why I’m doing this, but I thought you should know. Whatever was happening between you before, he loves you.”
Jared smiled. “Yeah, I know. Just … “
He struck then, pushing out with his telekinesis, catching Mitch completely off guard as he tried to protect himself from the mental shove. The captain tripped over the raised edge of the hatch and fell back into the tunnel. He tried to stumble forward but Jared used his gift to hold him back. “Just tell him I love him, Mitch. The crew needs its captain to get them home and they don’t need me. I’m dead weight on this journey now and you need able bodies on that ship.”
He closed the latch then and watched as Mitch screamed at him from the other side. When Jared turned his back, the pounding continued for a few more minutes and then the outpost fell into uncanny silence. It was Cortese who came through the radio asking for clearance to take off and Jared released the shuttle, watching through a hatch as it pulled away.
Jared took his time walking back to the main science station where the communication relay was located. When the shuttle was completely clear he started the computer calculations that would tell him where the asteroid was and if the shuttle would get free of its impact.
He felt his heart lighten slightly when the answer came back with a 93% positive. He let out a few deep breaths then and steeling himself for what he had to do next.
He opened up the video communications and the recording began. “Space Station Vortex, this is Jared Padalecki on Outpost 72. The shuttle has taken off with all nine members of the outpost crew and the original seven members of the shuttle crew. I elected to remain behind to release the hatch to ensure the shuttle could take off without further damage. The computer calculates a 93% chance that the shuttle will make it out of range of the explosion the asteroid impact will cause.”
Jared paused, unsure of how to go on. He needed to though. This was his last chance. “Misha, I know you’ll be the one to see this first. I need you to get Jensen. I need,” his voice broke and he stopped to calm himself down as much as possible.
Then he started again, with a message for Jensen.
The station was silent as all the screens went blank around them. Alona was standing in the middle of the storm and she could feel the energy rising off of Jensen. Misha had played the first part of the message for them and now Jensen was standing in the middle of the science lab, his eyes dancing green with the computer images, seemingly unaware that though he was watching Jared’s message on a small screen, he’d shut down the visuals of every monitor in the lab.
Suddenly Jared’s image appeared on every blank screen. There were tears on Jared’s face and he was letting out a deep breath. Alona moved closer to Jensen until she was pressed up against his side. He didn’t even know she was there though.
“Jensen, I’m so sorry. I’m not going to make it home.”
Jensen’s knees gave out, but Aldis seemed to have realized what was happening too because he was on Jensen’s other side, holding him up.
“Someone had to stay behind and it had to be me. I couldn’t let someone else die when I could stop it Jen. I … I don’t want to die but I just couldn’t. I’m sorry that you’ll have deal with the aftermath but I know you can get through it. You’re strong Jen and you have friends to help you if you’ll let them. I … I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to make-up with you in person and I’m sorry I won’t be there to see your dogs have puppies,” Jared said with a half laugh through his tears.
“I love you Jensen. I’m sorry I can’t be there to say it to you in person anymore. Just hold onto that Baby. You’ll get through this and then you’ll find someone else to take care of you because Alona is gonna need help after a while.”
She felt Jensen’s silent sob and she dropped her head to rest against his shoulder, unable to look up at the screen as her friend said his goodbye to his lover.
“Just, be good Jensen. Be who you were meant to be and know that my last thoughts, as all my thoughts have been for the last two years, are of you. I love you.”
On to Part V
Author: hunters_retreat
Fandom(s): CW RPS
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 20K+
Summary: Jensen Ackles may be the smartest man in the universe, but it took empath Jared Padalecki to help Jensen figure out what was important in life. It’s not easy though and when Jared gets as assignment that will take him away from the space station they call home, Jensen doesn’t take it well. When unexpected circumstances put the shuttle in danger, Jensen has to pull himself together because it will take more than his intelligence to get Jared back.
Warnings/Spoilers: graphic sex
Artist:
deadflowers5
“Cassidy, have you seen the latest projections?”
Heads swung his way and Jensen knew in that moment that they all knew exactly what he was talking about.
“Jensen? What can I do for you?” Katie asked with a plastered on smile.
He generally liked Katie but he was barely holding it together and even with Alona following behind him, he couldn’t help but clench his fists in impotent rage. “You can tell me what this means,” he said as he held out the latest reports of the asteroid that Katie’s team was tracking; the one that would possibly strike the moon the outpost was on and that Jared was on his way towards. The one that was now moving faster and closer than it had been projected to.
“Jensen-”
She didn’t say anything else because they all knew he could read it as well as they could. Heyerdahl squared off with Jensen, stepping between him and Katie, putting words to what no one else wanted to say.
“The asteroid will undoubtedly break apart as it moves close to the moon. Pieces will break off and will hit the moon close to the outpost, destroying it. And from the latest reports it’s moving faster than we anticipated. The shuttle won’t have more than a day or two to get out of range or they’ll be caught in the debris.”
It was like Heyerdahl had just twisted a knife in his gut. Jensen felt a strong hand on his back and realized Alona was in front of him, watching with worried eyes again. He looked up to see Sebastian moving closer - a sometimes friend and occasional fuck before he’d met Jared - and there was nothing but horror in the man’s eyes.
“Alona,” Jensen managed to gasp out finally.
“They’ve already sent a message to the shuttle to get them to turn around Jensen,” Sebastian said gently.
It was a hard truth when you worked in space. Sometimes there was no way to save the people that were in your care and when Jensen turned around he saw Misha at the door of the lab. The administrator looked haggard and grim and Jensen knew that it had been Misha’s choice to call the shuttle back, condemning the nine people on the outpost to their death. And he’d been the one to send a message to the outpost and shuttle to explain it.
He wanted to feel sympathy for him, but all Jensen could feel was the growing panic that Jared wasn’t coming home. It didn’t matter that they said the shuttle was turning around. Jensen wouldn’t be able to stop the panic until Jared was back in his arms where he was supposed to be.
“Jared is going to come home to you Jensen,” Alona reassured him again. He didn’t know who was more surprised, her or him, when he pulled her into an embrace and couldn’t let go.
“So what are we looking at?” Pileggi asked as they sat around the table.
Everyone was tense and Jared more so than the rest. He didn’t know the technical jargon that he’d been hearing everyone relay back and forth over the last two hours but he was picking up on everyone’s underlying tension.
Pellegrino was the one who stretched back in his chair, wiping tired eyes with his hand. “Some sort of space debris hit the outer tanks. We were able to seal up the worst of the damage, thanks to some damn fine EVA by Kelly. The good thing is it’s contained and won’t be a problem anymore.”
“And the bad side?” The captain asked.
“It was the extra oxygen tank that was hit. We have plenty of oxygen to get to the outpost, but we don’t have enough to make it home. We can resupply at the outpost but…”
“But we just got a message to turn around,” Pileggi supplied. He looked around the room at all of them and Jared felt a wave of nausea pass over him. By the heavens, they were screwed.
“Alright,” there was only a slight pause as Pileggi took in the news and started planning their next move. “Cohan, can we make it?”
She nodded and Jared forced himself to take a deep breath, feeling the room relax bit by bit as Lauren spoke.
“If we keep to our current speed and the asteroid does too, then we can make it and still get far enough away to avoid the damage the asteroid will do to the moon.”
“Then we do everything we can to make this journey as quick as possible. If you have suggestions, let me know. Cortese, use the emergency system to pass on word to the Vortex. Let’s see if their pretty relays work as fast as Collins boasted they would be when he had us put them in place. I also want a message to the outpost to let them know what we’re going to need. Let them know their people need to be on this shuttle as soon as we seal the doors. If they take more than five minutes to get their bags stowed I will throw them out the air lock myself. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Cortese responded smartly.
“You heard it then. To your duties. If you need help, get it. We have more pairs of hands on this ship than just your own and we have too many lives as stake to piss this chance away.”
The others stood as one, saluting their captain but Jared stayed where he was, feeling numb. Able came up behind him as the others filed out and squeezed Jared’s shoulder lightly. “We’ll get through this Jared, just you wait and see. The captain has landed through worse.”
And Jared knew it was true. Captain Pileggi had been a captain longer than Jared had been alive and the man was a living legend. How Misha had managed to lure the man into working for the station was beyond him. Now, he was just grateful that he had.
He felt the confidence that Jake had and Jared took a deep breath, letting the younger man’s confidence fill him up.
“Yeah, alright.”
“Come on. It might not be much, but you can lend me a hand. We’ll get a list of what we need to happen at the outpost and make sure Gen has the list a.s.a.p. You think the Captain is daunting? Wait until you see Gen with a mission.”
There was a smile on his face, but his eyes were serious and Jared knew that he was about to see Pileggi’s crew shine in ways he’d never hoped to.
It was a tense two days while everyone watched and waited to see if the shuttle would be able to make it in time. Jared had a constant headache from the continual battering on his emotional shields. The shuttle was getting messages from the station and Misha got a message through the emergency relays letting the captain know exactly how fast the relays were and that they’d received the message with their current plan. Mitch played it for them all and Misha was on the screen, telling them all how brave they were and that he knew if anyone could make it home through all of it, they were the ones. He’d also given them a list of instructions from the community to help them speed up the shuttle’s travel time. The list was extensive and they were travelling faster than any shuttle had before. Misha had smirked when he’d finished the list, saying that it helped that the smartest man in the universe had some extra incentive to see them home fast. Jared had taken it for the message that it was; Jensen was fine but working himself into a frenzy with Jared in possible danger. They’d all smiled sheepishly at him after that, but Jared was too busy pushing their emotions away to notice.
There was another message that came through and Jared had hoped that Jensen might have sent something - that he might have used his connection to Misha to get an extra one in - but it was for the captain and Jared had retired to his bed after that to try to rest while he could.
“You did everything you could Jensen,” Misha said as they stared at the computer monitors.
Jensen didn’t seem to hear him and Misha wondered if he needed to call Alona back to work. She’d gone home to give the news to her husband. Jeff was grief stricken when he’d heard the news about the outpost but even more so about his friend and colleague who was now in peril on the shuttle.
There had been no news in two weeks. The shuttle should land on the outpost any time though and Captain Pellegi wouldn’t use the emergency relays unless he needed to. The outpost had a stronger communication relay that would give them updates that were only hours apart instead of the days and weeks that the regular shuttle communications had to wait through.
Jensen wasn’t moving and Misha was there with him, waiting. There were others there too, Dr. Hodge had become friends with Jensen over the last two months and he was sitting in the corner to stay out of the way of the professionals who were working.
Alona would be back soon, Misha knew, but he wished she were already there. She was as close to Jared as he was but she was a source of continued spirits and high hopes among them. When she was gone, the room felt darker and colder. He made a note to ask Jeff if it always felt like that for him when she left, but looking at Jensen, he was pretty sure he already had an answer to that. He had no idea what the bond did to two people but he could see the effect it had on Jensen, for the good and the bad.
They had to get Jared back or Misha knew they’d lose Jensen too. He wouldn’t kill himself or throw himself into danger the way some people might after losing a loved one. No, Jensen would go into his computers one day and just never come back.
“I know,” Jensen finally croaked out. “I just don’t know if it will be enough.”
Misha squeezed his shoulder and took a deep breath. “It will be,” he said as he looked back at the screen, waiting.
“It has to be.”
Everything looked like it was in chaos, but Jared knew by now that it wasn’t at all. No matter that there were more people there now, everyone knew where to go and what to do. In addition to the shuttle crew, they were joined by the outpost crew. The head of the facility, Jim Beaver, met them at the air lock with a grim look and a teenager at this side. His adopted son, Colin, was just as unhappy but they had brave smiles on as they made the introductions as each of his crew climbed onto the shuttle with their gear ready.
Tension radiated from the others, but it was energetic tension and not the draining kind that Jared had grown used to. There was determination and purpose in what everyone was doing. Some of the newer crew members were stowing their bags while others started moving with the shuttle crew to start refilling the air tanks. It would take a few hours to get that settled so once they got the process started they’d be able to sit back in the shuttle and take off as soon as it was completed.
The process itself was fairly simply so the crew was back on the shuttle with only a few members left to oversee the procedure. Everyone was relaxing as the tanks filled and they were closer to leaving but the members of the outpost crew seemed to grow anxious every time they looked at the sealed doorways that led to the outpost.
Jared was getting nauseous from the anxiety they were throwing at him when his emotional reserves were so low and he had to escape. He got directions from Beaver’s kid and found his way back to where Jim, Mitch, Rob - Jim’s second in command - and Mark were talking quietly. They looked up startled when he walked in and he realized that whatever was happening, they didn’t want him to know.
Mitch wasn’t the sort of man to lie though and Jared squared his shoulders as he addressed the captain. “What’s happening?”
The others looked to Mark and he shared a look with Jim before the other man spoke.
“You see the seals as you were coming through?” Jim asked. Jared nodded and Jim let out a deep breath. “They’re meant to protect the outpost from anything that might pull away still hitched.”
It was common practice ever since a string of bad storms when the program was still in its infancy had killed all the members of two outposts. The docked ships had been knocked clear of their rigging and broken the inner seals, causing a leak that no one could fix quick enough.
“Yeah, I know about them.”
“You have to seal it from both sides. Someone inside the ship has to seal the ship up tight. And someone on this side has to seal the tunnels up. In most cases, a ship wouldn’t take enough damage from ripping a seal - that’s why it was a problem in the first place- but …”
“But?”
Jim scrubbed a hand through his beard but Mitch took up the conversation. “But the shuttle took damage already and while it wasn’t enough to worry us, we don’t know if the ship would stay intact if we broke the seal from the other side.”
No one said anything and it only took Jared a second to realize what they were saying. “You have to leave someone behind.”
Mitch nodded and Jim pointed to the circle of them. “One of us. I ain’t letting one of my crew stay behind.”
“Not you,” Mitch said immediately. “Colin already lost one family. You’re getting on that shuttle with your son.”
“Mitch-“
“I agree Jim,” Rob said immediately. “I can do this.”
It was about to become a fight. Jared could see each of the men there was ready to make the sacrifice. Mitch stopped it before it could escalate. “We’ll draw to see who stays. It’s only fair. It was fate that stuck us here and its fate that will chose who stays.”
Rob ran to the kitchen and got the straws, and then Mitch cut one of them short. Jared made Mitch put an extra one in when he realized he wasn’t going to include Jared, but as much as Jared wanted to get home to Jensen, he couldn’t let someone else die in his place and he knew it. Mitch held the straws and each man drew one. Rob drew first, followed by Jim, then Jared, and Mark. Mitch dropped his hands when only his was left. He pressed against his back with both hands and Jared didn’t know what to say when he raised his hand again with the short straw in it.
“We have an hour to get ready. Let’s go.”
It was more of a hustle then as Jared followed Mitch. He knew the captain would have been happier if Jared had gone back to the shuttle, but he told him that he needed to be there in case Mitch needed him before the end. He watched as Rob showed Mitch how to seal the inner seal of the outpost and then when Jim showed him how to release the ship from the dock and contact the space station.
It was Jensen’s improved design, the new relay that the outpost boasted. Jared felt a burst of pride in his lover’s work but he couldn’t let himself dwell on that. The thing about the relay was that it would only take a few hours to get to the space station and wouldn’t burn out the way the emergency relays would. It could contact directly with a series of relays that had been set up a year before. The shuttle wasn’t stationary enough to use them but this way, Jim told them, they’d be able to send a message to the station to let them know they got away clear and approximate if they were going to make it far enough to survive the explosion.
It was hard to sit there with the others so while they were waiting for the tanks to finish, Jared went back to the crew. He met each of the new members, laughed with Colin and winked with Julie about his fascination with Nicki. He made sure the shuttle crew was good too, taking a few minutes to talk to each person, even if it was just a quick quip about it being a hell of a journey with them.
He took a deep breath when it was time. He was standing with the others and he kept his eyes down as Mark and Mitch said their good-byes. He knew what he had to do but he was afraid they’d see it in his eyes. He wished it could be different. Jensen wouldn’t understand, but he knew it was who Jared was.
Mark slipped through the hatch and it was just Jared and Mitch.
“Why did you do it, Mitch?” he asked. Mitch knew what he was talking about and he gave a half smile. “You had the short straw in your other hand the whole time. You made sure no one saw the long straw in your hand until you switched it behind you back with the short one.”
“I couldn’t let Jim be the one and it’s up to a captain to go down with his ship.”
Jared nodded. “Yeah, I get that.”
“Jensen sent me a message,” Mitch said, causing Jared to start.
“He said I had to get you home because the world shouldn’t be without his genius and he couldn’t be that without you.”
“Mitch-”
“That’s not why I’m doing this, but I thought you should know. Whatever was happening between you before, he loves you.”
Jared smiled. “Yeah, I know. Just … “
He struck then, pushing out with his telekinesis, catching Mitch completely off guard as he tried to protect himself from the mental shove. The captain tripped over the raised edge of the hatch and fell back into the tunnel. He tried to stumble forward but Jared used his gift to hold him back. “Just tell him I love him, Mitch. The crew needs its captain to get them home and they don’t need me. I’m dead weight on this journey now and you need able bodies on that ship.”
He closed the latch then and watched as Mitch screamed at him from the other side. When Jared turned his back, the pounding continued for a few more minutes and then the outpost fell into uncanny silence. It was Cortese who came through the radio asking for clearance to take off and Jared released the shuttle, watching through a hatch as it pulled away.
Jared took his time walking back to the main science station where the communication relay was located. When the shuttle was completely clear he started the computer calculations that would tell him where the asteroid was and if the shuttle would get free of its impact.
He felt his heart lighten slightly when the answer came back with a 93% positive. He let out a few deep breaths then and steeling himself for what he had to do next.
He opened up the video communications and the recording began. “Space Station Vortex, this is Jared Padalecki on Outpost 72. The shuttle has taken off with all nine members of the outpost crew and the original seven members of the shuttle crew. I elected to remain behind to release the hatch to ensure the shuttle could take off without further damage. The computer calculates a 93% chance that the shuttle will make it out of range of the explosion the asteroid impact will cause.”
Jared paused, unsure of how to go on. He needed to though. This was his last chance. “Misha, I know you’ll be the one to see this first. I need you to get Jensen. I need,” his voice broke and he stopped to calm himself down as much as possible.
Then he started again, with a message for Jensen.
The station was silent as all the screens went blank around them. Alona was standing in the middle of the storm and she could feel the energy rising off of Jensen. Misha had played the first part of the message for them and now Jensen was standing in the middle of the science lab, his eyes dancing green with the computer images, seemingly unaware that though he was watching Jared’s message on a small screen, he’d shut down the visuals of every monitor in the lab.
Suddenly Jared’s image appeared on every blank screen. There were tears on Jared’s face and he was letting out a deep breath. Alona moved closer to Jensen until she was pressed up against his side. He didn’t even know she was there though.
“Jensen, I’m so sorry. I’m not going to make it home.”
Jensen’s knees gave out, but Aldis seemed to have realized what was happening too because he was on Jensen’s other side, holding him up.
“Someone had to stay behind and it had to be me. I couldn’t let someone else die when I could stop it Jen. I … I don’t want to die but I just couldn’t. I’m sorry that you’ll have deal with the aftermath but I know you can get through it. You’re strong Jen and you have friends to help you if you’ll let them. I … I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to make-up with you in person and I’m sorry I won’t be there to see your dogs have puppies,” Jared said with a half laugh through his tears.
“I love you Jensen. I’m sorry I can’t be there to say it to you in person anymore. Just hold onto that Baby. You’ll get through this and then you’ll find someone else to take care of you because Alona is gonna need help after a while.”
She felt Jensen’s silent sob and she dropped her head to rest against his shoulder, unable to look up at the screen as her friend said his goodbye to his lover.
“Just, be good Jensen. Be who you were meant to be and know that my last thoughts, as all my thoughts have been for the last two years, are of you. I love you.”
On to Part V