Mako Mori approached the commanding figure of Stacker Pentecost.
"Why did you take some of the crew off of repairing Gipsy?" she asked. "We need the two remaining Jaegers at full strength for our assault. We-"
"Miss Mori," Pentecost calmly interrupts her. "I believe I know what I am doing. My plan called for three Jaegers to attack the breach. And we are going to have three Jaegers."
He turned to look at the girl he raised.
"Trust me."
With that he walked away off to oversee the final preparations in his plan.
"Who is going to pilot the other Jaeger?" Mako called after him.
Herc Hansen had reported right to the medbay as soon as Striker Eureka had docked. Luckily his Jaeger hadn't suffered much damage so the teams could focus on getting Gipsy back to fighting strength.
But he was more concerned about his arm.
They had wanted three Jaegers for the attack, and now they had two. And Herc's arm was definitely broken. He could feel the hairline fracture.
Two Jaegers required four pilots. And he would be damned if he was going to miss this. He knew that Pentecost would want to ground him, but Herc was prepared to fight him on this.
He wasn't about to send his only son, and co-pilot, on the final assault on the Kaiju, which was most likely a suicide mission, without him.
"What can ya do Doc?" he asked at the Doctor who was examining the damaged bone.
"It is broken. I can patch you up, but I recommend that you don't pilot a Jaeger for some time," the doctor remarked.
"Fat chance of that happening. I don't care what you have to do. You are getting me back into that Jaeger. And if you don't we're all dead," Herc said.
"I can splint the arm and give you a localized painkiller. It won't last forever. You'll have only a couple of hours before you start to feel the pain again. And the more you use your arm, the worse it is going to be when you return."
"Just do it," Herc Hansen snapped.
He had already blocked out the pain. He was just trying to think about how he can pilot a Jaeger with one arm.
As the doctor went to work Herc's hot headed son walked in, "Sir? How is it going?"
Before the doctor could say anything Herc answered, "I'll be fine. You'll have to take the number one seat. My right arm is going to be a little shot."
Herc saw Chuck's eyes light up. He always wanted to sit first chair, but Herc worried about his son (not to mention his own unwillingness to give up the seat).
"You think you can handle it?" he asked.
Chuck saluted, "Yes sir."
"Good. Hurry up doc, I've got Kaiju to kill."
Mako joined Raleigh in the mess hall. They only had a couple of hours to rest while the crews went about repairing and prepping the Jaegers.
Raleigh picked at his food. He knew he should eat, but the adrenaline he felt from being back inside of Gipsy Danger hadn't quite left his system. He was too excited to eat.
He was too nervous.
Another assault on the breach.
The others didn't work. And he didn't have hope that this one would be any different.
Mako picked at her food the same way.
They didn't feel the need to say anything. They drifted with each other, were in each other's mind.
It felt like they knew each other's souls.
"You really should eat something," Raleigh remarked as he poked at his stew.
"What about you?" Mako asked back.
"Yeah…"
"Can we do this?" she asked.
Raleigh looked her in the eyes. "Yeah, we can."
But she knew what he really meant. She saw the look in his eyes.
What he meant to say was, "We don't really have a choice."
Stacker Pentecost called the entire remains of the Pan Pacific Defense Corps to the Jaeger bay.
The entire team assembled at the base of Gipsy Danger. He took a deep breath and walked through the doors. In his Jaeger pilot outfit.
The crowd turned to look at him. The Marshall is going to pilot a Jaeger.
He knew what they thought: "Is he pushing Herc Hansen out? Can he even pilot Striker?"
Mako ran up to him, looking distressed.
"What are you doing?" she asked. "Getting in a Jaeger will kill you."
"And if I don't, we'll all die," he answered. "Mako, my brave girl, we are going to do this together."
Mako nodded solemnly, not trusting herself to speak.
Pentecost stepped up on Gipsy's massive foot and yelled, "Today, at the edge of our hope, at the end of our time, we have chosen not to only believe in ourselves, but to believe in each other. Today we face the monsters that at our door. Today we are canceling the apocalypse!"
The crowd cheered.
"We assault the breach, we assault hell itself. Leading the charge will be the Hansens in Striker Eureka!"
More cheers. Herc was silently relieved that the Marshall wasn't grounding him because of a broken arm. Chuck was even more relieved that his dad was coming with. But neither said anything.
"And backing them up will be Mako Mori and Raleigh Becket in Gipsy Danger!"
Another round of cheering.
Mako blushed and Raleigh smiled awkwardly at the adoration.
When the crowd settled they turned back to Pentecost. He was dressed to pilot a Jaeger. But there were no other Jaeger pilots in the entire Shatterdome. There were no other functioning Jaegers.
"And I'll be backing them both up," he started. Silence filled the entire massive hall. "In Coyote Tango. By myself."