United Front

Date/Timing: Q4 2024
Setting: Council chambers or a fancy conference room; Sydney, NSW, Australia
.
Jack rests his head against the wall, counting his breaths, arm brushing Logan's.
Logan tugs at the collar of his dress uniform.
Jack jabs his ribs with an elbow.
The aide looks anywhere but at them.
Logan sighs, drops his hand, straightens his spine.
Jack closes his eyes.
Minutes pass.
The aide touches his earpiece and unlocks the doors.
Old Hansen, pulse throbbing at his temple, comes through.
Nods to Logan—
Logan nods back.
—squeezes Jack's shoulder.
Jack opens his eyes, nods, swallows.
The door clicks shut behind him.
The aide keys the lock.
One minute.
Five minutes.
Ten.
The aide touches his earpiece and unlocks the doors.
"Ranger Jones."
Jack and Logan treat the aide to matching raised eyebrows.
The aide pinks. "Ranger Logan Jones, please."
Logan huffs, tugs his jacket down, goes through.
"We call Ranger Logan Jones before this Honoured Council."
Logan steps up to the stand.
"Ranger Jones, you have read Marshal Josephs' written account of the events between the emergence of the Kaiju codenamed 'Rachnid' on the morning of twenty-second September and /Vulcan Specter's engagement of that Kaiju in Brisbane harbour on the night of twenty-fifth September?"
Logan nods.
The Suit shifts some papers. "Please voice your response, Ranger."
>"Yes, sir," rasps Logan.
"Please speak up so we can hear you."
Logan frowns, leans closer to the microphone. >"Yes, sir."
"Do you dispute any part of it?"
>"No, sir."
"Very well. Please summarize the engagement between 'Rachnid' and /Vulcan Specter."
>"We fought hard as we could an' lost."
"That's all you have to say?"
>"Yes, sir."
The Suit frowns, shuffles papers. "You are, of course, aware of Command's recommendation that a Mark III or older Jaeger like /Vulcan Specter always be deployed in conjunction with other Jaegers."
Logan nods.
The Suit makes another face.
>"Yea."
"Why, then, was /Vulcan Specter alone at the start of the 'Rachnid' engagement?"
>"/Striker was late."
"Why was /Striker Eureka 'late'?"
>"Jumphawk had a broken lift winch."
"Why, then, was /Vulcan Specter not held back until /Striker Eureka was ready?"
>"'coz we couldn't wait."
"What does that mean, Ranger?"
>"Was us 'r civilians. We hadta go."
"Who thought it necessary to deploy /Vulcan Specter ahead of /Striker Eureka?"
>"We all did."
"Who is 'we' in this context?"
>"Ev'rybody."
Nervous snickers from the gallery.
Logan lets himself smile a little.
"Ranger Jones, may I remind you of the seriousness of these proceedings?"
Logan huffs, rolls his eyes. >"Me 'n Jackson, both 'a the Hansens, LOCCENT, an' Marshal Josephs." Smirks. >"Folks in th' city prol'ly woulda agreed if we'd asked."
Actual giggles.
Logan puffs up.
"Was the risk to /Vulcan Specter if deployed alone discussed?"
>"Din't hafta be."
"Explain."
>"We all knew."
"You willingly engaged a Kaiju knowing the likely outcome was your Jaeger's destruction."
>"Yea."
Crickets.
Another Suit braves them, stutters, "May I ask why?"
>"Me, Jackson, 'n /Vulcan or a whole city. Three million innocent souls, right? Pretty easy choice."
Louder crickets.
A couple Suits swallow.
"Knowing the outcome of the engagement, do you believe Marshal Josephs made the correct deployment decision?"
>"I /know he did."
"Ranger, please make an effort to speak up."
Logan sets his teeth. >"You read the discharge report, yea? This's all ye get."
"Answer the question, Ranger," the Suit growls.
Logan counts to ten. 
"Ranger?"
Inhale. >"The Marshal made the right call." Squares up. >"And if he hadn't made it, we'd 've gone anyway."
"I see." Takes a drink. "Now, according to his own after-action report, your copilot spent the last portion of the engagement attempting to start the escape sequence. Did this lack of attention to the Kaiju contribute to—"
>"No," growls Logan, fighting down an eye roll. >"We were already flat on our backs with no guns, missin' half a leg, and had direct orders from /two superior officers to stay outta the fight when Jackson started working on the controls."
"I'm curious, why did you use the escape system when most Rangers sacrifice themsel—"
>"Y'd rather we died?" 
An awkward silence. 
Logan takes a deep breath. >"All we had working was my arm and the self-destruct."
"So why didn't you—"
>"Be/cause, we do that, we take /Striker with us. Then you all wouldn't have /any Jaegers—or Brisbane—anymore."
The Suit bristles.
>"So what else could we 'a done, exactly?" Sniffs. >"We're not martyr material."
Supportive murmurs from the peanut gallery.
The Suit turns an angry red.
Logan smirks.
Another Suit wades in. "So, in your opinion, who is to blame for /Vulcan Specter's destruction on twenty-fifth September this year?"
Logan puts his shoulders back. >"The Kaiju."
"Don't be facetious, Ranger."
>"'s th' truth."
The Suit sniffs. "Do you have anything else to say, Ranger Jones?"
>"No."
The Suit glares.
Logan stares back.
The Suit blinks. "Thank you, Ranger Jones. You're dismissed."
Logan nods, turns on his heel, walks back to the little room.
The door clicks shut behind him.
He drops down next to Jack.
The aide keys the lock.
Jack nudges him. "How bad?"
>"Buncha idiots."
Jack snorts.
Logan takes a deep breath. >"Jack ... they're gunnin' for ye."
"I know," he sighs.
>"Peanuts're on your side, though."
Jack grunts, goes back to counting breaths.
One minute.
Five minutes.
Ten.
Fifteen.
The aide touches his earpiece and unlocks the doors.
"Ranger Jo—Ranger Jackson Jones."
Jack takes a deep breath, levers himself up, checks his balance.
Logan perches on the edge of the bench, hands hovering.
Jack scowls, takes a step.
Logan smiles, sits back.
Jack offers a grim one in response, goes through the door.
One minute.
Logan yanks off his jacket, jerks off his tie, undoes the top two buttons on his shirt.
Five minutes.
Starts unpinning his medals and ribbons, piles them on the table.
Ten minutes.
Arranges them by colour.
By size.
By date.
Builds a little tower.
Flicks it over.
Thirty.
Counts holes in the ceiling tiles.
Forty-five.
The aide touches his earpiece—
Logan straightens.
—unlocks the doors.
Jack, pale and gritting his teeth, comes through.
The door clicks shut behind him.
Two steps in, his legs buckle.
The aide keys the lock.
Logan catches Jack under the arms, eases him onto the bench.
Jack closes his eyes, counts his breaths.
One minute.
Logan fiddles with his ribbons.
Five minutes.
Jack takes a deep, shuddering breath. "Don't think 'm /walkin' outta here," he sighs.
Logan grins, pulls a folded envelope from Jack's pocket.
"What's—"
Shakes out two pills, snags a water bottle from the table, offers them.
"Ye planted my meds on me."
Shrugs.
Jack swallows the pills with a gulp of water. "I mention lately yer a great li'l brother?" Smiles.
Logan ducks his head.
Jack leans back against the wall, closes his eyes.
Logan stacks his ribbons into another tower.
Makes a hand-Kaiju.
>"Rawr."
/rattle
Jack snorts.
Logan grins, starts stacking again.
The aide touches his earpiece.
"Rangers."
Logan glances up.
Jack cracks an eye.
The aide keys the lock.
Logan stands, stretches all the way to his tiptoes, shrugs back into his jacket, ignores the buttons, offers a hand to Jack.
Jack looks down. "Gonna need more 'n that," he whispers.
Logan crouches, gets one of Jack's arms over his shoulder, wraps one of his arms around his back and under his arm, half-lifts him to his feet.
Arms slung around each other, they go through the door.
Category:Ficlet
Category:Logan
Category:Logan's POV
Category:Logan (ficlet)
Category:Jackson
Category:Jackson (ficlet)
Category:PPDC staff
Category:PPDC staff (ficlet)
Category:Herc
Category:Herc (ficlet)
Category:Rachnid (mention)
Category:Josephs (mention)
Category:Martian Sunset storyline