Kelly Jones

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Kelly Jones was a Lockheed Hudson Mk. V aeromorph. Born Chris Jones in 1938 and raised in England until she moved to Canada in 1945 and then the USA in 1949, she was the father and later mother of Runner Jones.

Basic Information
Kelly was a Lockheed Hudson Mk. V aeromorph. She stood 14 feet 8 inches or 4.47 meters tall, weighed a handy 7,500 pounds or 3,400 kilograms, and had a wingspan of 14 feet.



She was powered by two Wright R-1820 Cyclone radial engines, propelling her to a top speed of 246 miles per hour, or 396 kilometres per hour. Her cruising range was 1,960 miles.

She was armed with two 7.7mm M1919 Browning machine guns in her nose, with 250 rounds per gun, two in her upper rear turret (again with 250 rounds per gun), a single Vickers K 7.7mm machine gun in her lower rear turret with 100 rounds, and a Vickers K in her beam position with 100 rounds. Her air-to-ground weapon load consisted of eight AP Mk. II rockets (four under each wing, just outboard of the engines), six 100-pound bombs, and four 250-pound bombs. In addition, she was equipped with long-range radio antennae under her wings and on top of her head.

Her livery was the result of her unique service path. Originally an RAF Coast Command livery, it was painted over with large yellow high-visibility patches on the wings and tail in 1945 to aid in her new search-and-rescue mission. As well, her roundels were changed to those of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

History
Christopher Jones was built in Lockheed Aircraft's Burbank, California plant on June the 12th, 1938. One of the first aeromorphs in the world to be successfully industrial-bred, he had been built under contract for the RAF. Him and a wing of 7 other Hudsons were flown north to the Canadian border, walked across, and then flown to the Port of Montreal where they were loaded onto ships bound for Southampton. This was required to maintain US neutrality.

Upon arrival in England, Chris was deployed to the RAF Coast Command base in Portsmouth, where he would spend the rest of his RAF career. Upon first arrival, he was something of a loner- until he met Thomas Smythe-Atkins. The two of them, despite being from different nations, upbringings, companies and purposes, stuck fast and hard- and they would remain friends well into the next 70 years.

WWII was not a good time for anyone, and for Christopher it was no exception. Upon the breakout of war, he was not ready. The only ones who could truly be said to be ready were the Germans, and even they were a bit shy. He did all he was ordered to do- patrols over the Channel, even providing forward air cover over Dunkirk where he had a nasty run-in with a Bf 110- but the brutality of it all left scars on his young mind that would never truly heal.

On a daylight intruder raid in 1943, he had a chance meeting with Psy. He had been struck by the British escort fighters, and Chris had the opportunity to shoot, but spared him. He would later regret this greatly.

In 1945, as the war was drawing to a close, the RAF called the now-entirely-obsolete bomber back to the front for a simple reason. The British, Americans, and Soviets were now in an all-out race for who would capture the most German technology. On one such mission, he met Zilke. What was supposed to be a simple mission turned into much more: she would show him around the post-war German queer scene, and open up new folds of his identity he didn't know he had. But that was later. When the war came to the end, he was transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force, somewhat unwillingly as it meant leaving his friends behind, and repainted in search-and-rescue livery. Although he had been unwilling at first, he would later regard this job as the best years of his life. "The army, it didn't mean anything to me. I was following orders. With the rescues... I was bloody right saving people, I was."

In 1948, with the RCAF slimming down from its wartime expanses to a more reasonable size, Chris was let go. Around this time, he had started speaking to Zilke again- so it was all the more to his shock when he heard that she had ended up inside the Soviet occupation zone and was due to be experimented on. He was unsure as to how to fix this so far.

In 1949, he met Krystal Palmer in a diner in Saskatchewan. She was a girl, and he was a boy, and they were both chewing on a decent amount of self-loathing- so, obviously they were a perfect couple. They dated, on and off, for a few years before tying the knot in 1951. Almost immediately, Krystal was shipped off to fight in the Korean War. When she returned in 1953, she was a changed woman. She had always been vain, but now it was to new extremes- she was obsessed with her appearance. As well, she became increasingly antagonistic to Chris.

Around this time, the Rosenbergs were being publicly tried. Chris didn't know it at the time, but the idea of Soviet espionage would stick with him.

In 1954, their child was born. They could tell it was a big deal when, hours later, the CIA showed up and practically stole her away to take measurements of every single part. Krystal, for her part, only got worse- now here was a jet that drove home those feelings of being outdated. Plus, she'd never been looking for a baby.

Chris saw nothing but opportunity.

He took a flight in secret to Washington DC and applied at the Soviet embassy. Of course, once they knew what they were being offered here, the Soviets gladly accepted. A wealth of top-secret information in exchange for an outdated German fighter they were just going to execute? Yes please. By 1957, he had supplied enough information for them to be satisfied and release her.

At the same time, Krystal presented her suspicions to the CIA. She didn't have much proof to stand on, but when you're the CIA in 1957, hearing "he's a fucking Red" is enough reason to arrest someone. Krystal left Chris and Runner Jones one February morning with no intention of coming back, and they'd barely recovered from the shock when, a few weeks later, a CIA team came at night and took Chris while everyone slept. Poor Runner had no idea what was going on- she'd had to wander over to Tommy's house on her own.

Chris was in prison from 1957 to 1966. Later in his life, he would talk about those years with a sense of dread. He was tortured and beaten, barely fed, and mistreated by the guards. He wasn't allowed to communicate with the outside world on any kind of regular basis, and when he was allowed to communicate it was extremely heavily censored. Tommy, Zilke, and his brothers were all fighting hard for him, and he had no way to know.

When he came out, he came with a hatred for the system. The letters to Germany only became more frequent. Runner had been living with Tommy for all of her adolescent life until now, and she'd come to view Chris as not a real parent- not yet understanding that it hadn't been his choice. When Runner was sent out to Vietnam, he flew to Germany the next day.

The next few months spent with Zilke completely reshaped his identity.

Exploring the queer scene in Europe, seeing Zilke and other lesbians... it made him want something. Something strange. He wanted... to be a woman. Like Zilke. Like all those beautiful lesbians. From this point on she knew who she was, even if nobody else did. It was around this time the name "Kelly" started to be tossed around too. This would remain, like her attraction to Zilke, a closely guarded secret.

When the news of Runner being shot down over the USSR came back, she was devastated. Having your estranged child declared dead in a hostile overseas nation after being sent out to fight in a war you wanted to keep him from... probably the worst possible nightmare for a parent. So, of course, she was overjoyed when he was found to not be dead- and deeply saddened (although not too surprised) when he withdrew into himself, remaining in his room for days on end.