#pre-ir

This is the very beginning of that big project that I was talking about the other day. Though it is only a little bit, I wanted to give you something after Friday ::hugs you all::

Thank you so much for all your amazing support in giving me permission to start something new. This one has the potential to be a big one, so I’m a little terrified.

There has already been days of research. You wouldn’t believe the subjects I’ve been digging up and chasing down in order to start writing this.

Extra thanks to @scribbles97 @tsarinatorment and @janetm74​ for reading this little bit and all their wonderful support and also to @onereyofstarlight​ who helped me so much today with the physics of what is to come. I have literally taken up a good chunk of the above wonderful people’s day/night today pulling together information and advice to get this fic off the ground. I honestly needed to do so much research before I could even put pen to paper. I couldn’t do this without you guys ::hugs you so much::

I’m in unchartered waters in my skillset for this, so wish me luck. ::hugs you all::

-o-o-o-

 2033

“Another boy?”

Jeff grinned. “Yeah. Another one.” He couldn’t help but stare at the photo that had landed on his screen as a good luck token from Earth.

He did, of course, know about Lucille going into labour the night before and it was for that reason he hadn’t had the sleep he probably should have pre-history making Mars landing. But honestly, to get this signal from that little blue planet a good eight months away…his heart swelled…his beautiful baby boy had a shock of red hair that screamed their Irish ancestry down through the hundreds of years since their family had left the old world.

Lucille sat holding him, looking tired but ever so proud. Her dark hair was tied back and the sparkle in her eyes brought a lump into his throat. Her mother, pink hair and all, sat beside his wife holding his two eldest boys on her lap. Scott had his hand on Virgil’s arm as the now second youngest reached over towards his baby brother, a frown of concentration on his face.

“He’s beautiful.”

Jeff startled a little. Berry was breaking regs and leaning over the back of Jeff’s pilot’s couch, her straps unfastened. The cockpit was pretty snug in the lander, most of the room taken up with safety equipment and interfaces, leaving little for the padded personnel support.

He shot an eyebrow in her direction and she smiled a dare back at him. The astrogeologist wasn’t one for breaking the rules, she just liked to taunt him a little.

Ju, in contrast, was checking her harness was secure a second time. “Creating your own crew, Tracy?” Her golden eyes smirked at him. “Aiming to replace us?”

He turned back to the picture and opened his mouth only to be interrupted. “Colonel, tell your team to secure. Two minutes to separation.” Sinclair was his usual grumpy, nervous self.

“Roger that, Orbiter Control.”

He glared at Berry and she bit her lip, before sitting back and securing herself in preparation for the sequence.

She didn’t stop smiling though.

“So watcha gonna name him?” Lee prodded him with his eyebrows from beside Jeff.

A last glance at the photo before he returned to separation prep, fingers tight in his gloves. “Are you going to remember this one?” An eye in his co-pilot’s direction.

“Sure.”

Running his fingers over the controls, Jeff ran through pre-flight. “Name my eldest.”

Lee grunted, his eyes darting away. “Not important right now.” A flick of a switch. “I’m green across the board.”

“A-ok.” Jeff ran through the last sequence of checks…and ran them again…for luck. “Orbiter Control, we are green for separation.”

“Roger that, Cornerstone. Separation in sixty seconds on my mark.” A breath. “Mark.” Another pause. “Good luck.”

And the countdown began.

Jeff ran his eyes over everything again. The great ship that had journeyed so far from home was preparing to split in half. The lander at the top of the vessel was to pull away from the orbiter and its massive propulsion engines to begin the historic descent to the Martian surface. Eight months in space, so much preparation time and sacrifices before that, had all led to this moment.

History in the making.

And still his eyes combed the readouts watching like a hawk. The computer had control, but computers could only do so much.

Still green across the board.

Quiet, his fingers touched the screen where the photo had been. “John Glenn Tracy.” A breath. “His name is John.”

Displays shifted as the countdown hit zero and machinery grunted. The Cornerstone drifted apart from its propulsion module and floated free far above the red of the Martian surface.

Jeff eyed his instrumentation and sent a prayer to his family back home.

Today was an important day.

-o-o-o-

Warnings for war and mentions of war.

Reaching the open road, Scott put his foot down, leaving a cloud of dust and pebbles behind his old sedan as she picked up speed. 

His air force uniform sat folded on the seat behind him. The music blared through the speakers. “Country roads, take me home.”

His family would be surprised, he’d gotten leave from the air force a whole week early. He couldn’t wait to see his brothers, especially Alan. The kid always grew so much while he was on deployment. 

I decided to go with TAG Scott as a teenager for this one as it mentions the Global Conflict.

Set before International Rescue. Teenage Scott has homework to do. Perhaps the beginnings of some habits later in life...

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33281260

Where’s medic Virgil when I need him? 😂 I think I’m having my own Sicktember.

The Tracys help a local apple farmer with their harvest.