A Nexus of Unforeseen Events

The Rangers believe they are getting good at understanding and defeating the Kaijus. They are … not correct. And there are enemies within as well.

[Author's Note: This story follows the stories Iceland: Crisis/Opportunity and Operations.]

"Drop!" said Tendo Choi.

Together, the JumpHawk helicopters released the cables holding Liberty Phoenix and Nova Artemis, and the two Mark VI Jaegers splashed into the shallow water off the island of Chengu Do.

"Ready to rock," said Kemi Naka, in Liberty Phoenix, around an odd crunching sound.

"Kemi, are you chewing gum again?" said Tendo.

There was a long pause. "Nnnnoooo," she said, her Californian accent coming through.

"Of course she is," said her older sister Riisa.

"Well, get rid of it," said Tendo. "It messes up the voice commands and the communications net."

There was another pause. Then a whisper from Riisa: "Don't put it there! We might need that lever!"

There was a sigh – actually, two sighs at once – from Louise Dawson and Elizabeth Wentworth in Nova Artemis. "We're ready too, if anyone's interested," said Louise. Elizabeth, her partner, gave a little chuckle. They were both of English background but had lived in Singapore for much of their lives, moving to Canada a few years ago so they could be married.

They had come down several kilometres from Namazu. Radar showed that the Kaiju, on the other side of the island, had not moved.

"Infra-red scanning is picking up something else," said the tech next to Tendo, in the command chopper. "It's … I think it's a ship. We didn't get it before because it was in a bay, between these rocky points. Looks like … no, it can't be … damn, it looks like a cruise ship. Not one of the big ones … but that's what it seems to be. Engines are still warm, according to this."

Liberty Phoenix and Nova Artemis began to walk along the coastline, towards the piece of flat land where Namazu was sitting. The JumpHawks retreated to a nearby island but the command chopper stayed with the two Jaegers.

Several flights of warbirds came onto Tendo's radar screen. The plan was for the planes to strike at the Kaiju first, with K-Stunners and fuel-air missiles, and then Liberty Phoenix and Nova Artemis would move in. It was a strategy that had worked before.

"Target in sight," said Flight Leader Jon Thompson, in the lead AH67. "Lining up for attack … wait a moment … Commander Choi, there is a problem."

Liberty Phoenix and Nova Artemis came around the last point separating them from Namazu – and came to an abrupt halt.

"Whoa," said Kemi.

"Are those … people?" said Elizabeth.

Tendo raised his binoculars and scanned the area around the Kaiju.

There were hundreds of people around it. They appeared to be –

"Praying," said Thompson. "Damned if they aren't praying to it."

Tendo looked at the ship, apparently aground on the beach not far away. On the side was the insignia of the Church of the Kaiju.

"Does Namazu know they are there?" said Louise. "Can it see them? I guess to a Cat Three Kaiju individual people are pretty small. Like ants would be to a person."

"Or maybe it just doesn't care," said Kemi.

One way or another, the Kaiju was not making any aggressive moves towards the crowd of people around it. It was, in fact, looking out to sea. The Jaegers were not far from it, but it made no move towards them.

Unusual, thought Tendo. Every other time, when a Kaiju sees a Jaeger it goes straight for it, claws out. But this one looks like it's … listening.

"Uh, if we open fire on the Kaiju we're going to end up killing a lot of those people," said Thompson. "No way to avoid it. I can't say I much like these crazy Churchers but I don't want to start incinerating them."

"I think we would end up killing all of them," said Riisa. "Jaegers aren't built for fine detail."

"All units hold fire," said Tendo. "Warbirds, circle. Jaegers, hold position. Wait – "

Meanwhile, in Singapore …

Dr Sekido and her team were poring over the latest crop of data from the captured Kaiju. They were in a special, highly secret UN facility – the signs outside said that it was a laboratory conducting research into sewage treatment – in a building in Singapore.

Tubes continually pumped sedatives into the Kaiju. On the top of the cage was a transmitter that constantly emitted a signal, blocking the hive-mind frequency of the creature's brain.

"This data would be much more reliable," said one of Sekido assistants, "if we could perform tests without the sedatives."

"If you had been there when this one and its two friends came out of the Breach, you wouldn't be suggesting that," said Sediko. "God knows how the Rangers will handle the next ones. According to the Gottlieb-Geiszler projections, the next ones will be the size of elephants. Then whales. Then … I hate to think. And so far no-one has come up with a way to seal the Breach, or stop it growing."

There was a knock at the steel door of the chamber. Sekido looked at the monitor that showed the anteroom on the other side. There were three men in Ranger uniforms.

"We have a crucial message from Marshall Hansen," said one of them into the intercom. "Our orders are to tell you directly. I am about to input our entry code, so please then enter your countersign code."

Hmm, thought Sekido. Odd that the Marshall didn't come himself, if it's that important.

She watched the monitor as the Ranger entered the code on the keypad. It came up as valid.

Sekido entered her countersign code on her terminal. The heavy door opened with a pneumatic hiss.

The three men burst in. They drew their guns. "Everybody down!" shouted the lead one.

"Hey, you can't – " said one of the lab techs.

One of the men – obviously they were not Rangers – hit him across the face with his gun, knocking him down. The leader of the trio fired a burst of shots into the ceiling.

Stunned and terrified, Sekido and the others lay down.

One of the men covered them while the others placed their packs against the wall. Then they ran to the other side of the room, as far away as possible. The packs exploded with a shattering boom, creating a hole six metres wide. Sekido had the sudden thought that right now there were alarms sounding in the Ranger building just down the road. She glanced at the intruders, who were checking their watches: they were clearly on a split-second timetable, and knew that Rangers – real ones – would come pouring in in a few minutes. She assumed that the ones guarding this facility had been killed by the imposters.

There was another wall, on the exterior of the building. There was another explosion, as that wall was demolished from the outside.

Then a huge vehicle came smashing through the hole – in reverse. It was a semi-trailer truck, with a box the size of a shipping container on the back. Men ran out of it, pulling chains with them. They hooked the chains onto the Kaiju's cage. A winch started to operate – and in a few moments the cage was pulled into the truck.

The blocking transmitter, and the sedative pump, were torn away in the process.

"Wait!" shouted Sediko. "You don't know what – "

The three men who had first broken into the lab ignored her and began to run for the truck. One, the leader, stopped, and turned to Sediko. "Tell Newton Geiszler," he said, "that Hannibal Chau wants his shoe back." Then he ran after the others.

The three of them got into the truck and it began to pull away. But it had only gone a few hundred metres when it stopped.

There was another sound, from above. It was a transport helicopter. It came down, hovering over the container with the Kaiju. It lowered chains, which the men attached to the container. The helicopter pulled away, taking the container with it. From inside, there was a muffled roar – the sedatives were wearing off.

The truck pulled away, turning into the busy streets of Singapore. In a few moments, it was gone.

The whole operation had taken less than three minutes.

And on Cheju Do …

Namazu began to move. But not towards the Jaegers. It was heading for the sea. It trampled over scores of the supplicant members of the Church of the Kaiju. They accepted their deaths without complaint.

Liberty Phoenix and Nova Artemis ran forward but Namazu was already moving out of range, heading for deep water. In a few seconds, it was gone. Heading south.

What the hell … !? thought Tendo.

"What the hell … !?" said Elizabeth.

The radio-phone on Tendo's console beeped.

It was a call from the Hong Kong Shatterdome. Jin Wei. "Xia ci and Snakehead have moved out of their usual areas," he said. "Quite suddenly. Heading towards the South Pacific."

What the hell … !? thought Tendo again.

END (AND TO BE CONTINUED)