Pacific Rim: Choehu
Endgame.
[Author's Note: This story begins place eighteen months after Interlude and three years after Distant Battles. It is ten years since the first appearance of the Kaiju.]
Commander Eun Park smiled grimly as she read the latest situation report. No Jaegers lost in the past year; that was something, at least. And thirteen Kaiju defeated. That left – how many? Too many, certainly, and their number continued to grow.
She could not help but be pleased with the performance of the Jaegers under her command. After a somewhat shaky start, Unity Dragon and Lotus Blade, both based in Bangkok, had done well. She believed that the rigourous training program she had put into place, for everyone from the pilots to the software programmers, played a large part in that, as well as the constant upgrades and improvements to the Jaegers themselves. Golden Mile and Iron Duke had defeated several Kaiju, and the new Striker Eureka was proving very effective.
She felt a certain satisfaction that the South Americans had adopted her development model for their Lima-based Jaeger Condor Shield, which had notched up several victories in the past year.
The world had needed a good year. The one before had been pretty bad, with the loss of the Russian Siberian Sword, the Chinese Gai Xia Ge, the American True Grit, and the Australian Lucky Punch. A dozen more cities had gone, millions more lives had been lost. After that, any good news was welcome.
But despite the Jaegers' victories of the past twelve months, more and more territory was being ceded to the Kaiju, more and more coastal territory evacuated on a permanent basis. The Kaiju had responded to the withdrawal by expanding their attacks inland. The most recent attack had been on Sacramento in the US, once considered in the safe zone. The Chinese were preparing for the defence of Beijing. The Americans were beginning to think about what might happen if a Kaiju crossed the Rockies.
A great deal of faith was being placed in the Wall. Eun did not share it. It seemed to be based on the assumption that a Kaiju, when confronted with an obstacle, would simply stop and stare at it. Merely stupid, she thought. Kaijus are not dumb creatures. They would hammer away at it until it broke, or they would look for a way around.
But Eun was also aware of the projections that Category Four Kaijus would soon appear. And that one day there would be a Category Five – and no Jaeger strong enough to defeat it could be built. Humanity was simply reaching the limits of its technology. Striker Eureka was the end of the line. There could be no Mark Six.
She often thought of the times when she had played chess with her father, when she was young. She was a good player but he was better. She was always impressed that he was never in a rush to win. Slow, systematic, building up his forces, taking her pieces one by one and restricting her moving space until she had nothing left. The difference, of course, was that she could resign and start another game, no hard feelings. The Kaiju were not so generous. They would keep going. Until every human on the planet was dead. That was the Kaiju endgame plan.
Extinction was now an option. But for the moment the Jaeger were holding their own. Holding the line. Just. For now.
Summers came into the office. Not for the first time, she said: "You know, boss, you could get a much better office than this. You could have a big plush one in Canberra. Or Darwin. Or even Singapore. This poky little office is, how can I put it, a pile of crap. And if we moved out of Uluru Base – hey! – you could hire an assistant! For me, I mean."
"I like Uluru Base," said Eun. "The politicians don't often drop by, which is fine by me. The Jaegers are here. And since you feel that way about it, you're fired."
"Ha!" said Summers. "You couldn't do without me!"
Eun grunted. She knew that her assistant was right – in the past few years, especially since their return from Europe, Summers had picked up more and more of the administrative burden, so that Eun could focus on strategy and Jaeger development. As a result, Summers now had a few grey hairs amongst the blond. Eun knew that she had more than a few herself: the last time she had seen her reflection, she had hardly recognised her image. So she had stopped looking in mirrors.
Summers handed her a sheaf of papers. "The performance assessments on Iron Duke, Golden Mile, Striker Eureka, Unity Dragon, and Lotus Blade," she said. "I took the liberty of reading them for you. The bottom line is that everything looks good: pilots, Jaegers, hardware, software. There, now you don't have to read anything. Reasons for optimism."
Eun smiled. "And yet," she said, "I have a feeling that there is a big foot about to come down out of the sky and land on top of us."
It was three months later. A bad three months. The Russians had lost Archangel, the Americans had lost Sierra Warrior, and the Chinese had lost Middle Kingdom. Condor Shield, Golden Mile, Lotus Blade and the Japanese/Canadian Mountain Katana had been so badly damaged that repair might be impossible.
Eun was engaged in a video meeting with the other regional commanders.
"They've gotten smarter," she was saying. "They have realised that it takes us a long time to repair a Jaeger. In each case where we've lost one recently, there has been one fight with a Kaiju, which the Jaeger won but with damage, and then another Kaiju attack before the Jaeger could be fully repaired. They're fighting on a tag-team basis. Wearing us down."
"And I have some further bad news," said Marshall Konev, head of the Russian Jaeger force. "AK-47 was badly damaged yesterday. It will take us at least a month to get it operational, and then it might only be fifty per cent capable. That is if we are lucky. Catherine the Great is ninety per cent operational. Cherno Alpha is as strong as ever but despite its pilots it is still only a Mark One. It cannot be upgraded further."
"Our situation is not much better," said Wu Lao-Shi, the Chinese commander. "Yu Chang, and especially Crimson Typhoon, have proven to be very strong. But we have a great deal of territory to defend, and they cannot be everywhere. How did the Kaiju make this change? We have long known that they can learn but this is different, I think."
"Maybe this has something to do with it," said Marshall Pentecost, speaking for the North American effort. "We have not really known what to make of it. Still don't, really."
A short video, obviously from a surveillance drone, came up on the screen. It was of a Kaiju – but a small one. Only the size of a Category One, maybe even a little smaller than that. Simian-type.
"About five weeks ago, it appeared on the island of Midway, which is at the north-western end of the Hawaii group," said Pentecost. "At first, we thought it was a Category One from the first wave that had been hurt and had been sitting on the ocean bottom, healing. Now we are not so sure. Once every six days it goes into the water and spends about seven hours swimming around. Then it comes back to the island and sits there. Moves from one point to another sometimes, but that's it. As for its occasional swim, there is a longstanding theory that Kaijus have to return to the water every now and then. That would explain why they don't go too far inland. Yet, anyway."
"Is there anything of significance on the island itself?" said Konev.
"Not really," said Pentecost. "It was once an American military base, and when the Kaiju first started to appear they built it up, planning to use it as a forward base against them. But when Hawaii was levelled supply became impossible, so the place was abandoned. There are still some facilities there but the Kaiju has not shown any interest in them."
Eun was silent. Then she said: "It's the brains."
"Uh, the what?" said Wu.
"The brains," repeated Eun. "The co-ordinator. We have always suspected that the Kaiju have some sort of hive mind, and there is a good theory that they are being directed by someone, or something, on the other side of the Breach. But if there is someone giving them broad orders, they must have decided that they needed someone on the ground. Like a lieutenant, to handle the tactics.
"Look at this way. Before this one arrived, we were holding our own, mainly because we were applying more intelligence. More training, collaborative tactics, better surveillance. They have decided to do much the same thing. And they have the advantage of having … more pieces … to play with."
"So they can sacrifice some," said Konev. "Like chess."
Eun nodded.
"If this is true," said Wu, "it must be destroyed. But China does not have any offensive capacity to deploy."
"Neither does Russia," said Konev.
"And the Americans are … very stretched," said Pentecost. "Even with Gypsy Danger almost ready to return to service."
Eun looked at the three faces on the screen.
"We will send Iron Duke to Midway Island," she said. "And I will go myself, as well."
"Gosh, you have a lot of water," said Joyce, staring down at the endless waves of the Pacific.
"Er, yes, I guess we do," said Summers.
Eun gave a little laugh.
They had been island-hopping for days, working their way towards Midway, Iron Duke being carried by a phalanx of transport helicopters. The Jaeger pilots and the rest of the crew were in a separate chopper.
"If the Kaiju ever learn how to fly, we're well and truly gone," said James. "It's one of our very few advantages."
Midway Island came into view. Their arrival had been timed to coincide with one of the Kaiju's – now codenamed Luther – regular swims. And, indeed, there was no sign of it on the island, although there were plenty of tracks. On one side of the island, there was a complex of massive hangars, what was left of the American base. There was a runway, still in fairly good condition.
"Pilot, set us down on the runway, and tell the transports to get Iron Duke down as quickly as possible," said Eun into the intercom. "We don't know how long Luther is going to give us for prep."
"I think we can take it," said James. "It's only a little one."
"Strange to think of any Kaiju as small," said Summers. "Funny what you get used to."
Iron Duke was set down. The helicopter with Eun and the others hovered over the entry hatch in the head of the Jaeger, and dropped a rope ladder. James and Joyce climbed down and into the machine.
To conserve their fuel, the transport helicopters retreated to an island a few kilometres away and landed there. Eun's helicopter landed near the hangar and she, Summers, the pilot and co-pilot disembarked.
Eun activated her hand-held radio.
"James, Joyce, are you up and running?" she said.
"Initiating handshake … now," said Joyce.
The Jaeger moved, as the twins tested the limbs. "Hot and strong," said James.
"Good," said Summers. "Because here comes your dancing partner."
Luther was emerging from the water. They could see that it had an unusually large cranium. It walked like a gorilla, the knuckles of its hands on the ground. It saw Iron Duke and gave a savage growl. But it did not advance. It stopped in the shallow water and stared.
"Somehow," said Summers, "I don't think that's good."
"Shall we advance on it?" said James.
"Yes, and ready the missile launcher," said Eun. "If you can take it out from range, so much the better."
"Just so long as it doesn't spit at us," said Joyce. "That's really yucky."
Iron Duke advanced towards Luther, its chest opening to reveal its missile launcher. It reached the edge of the water.
Luther didn't move. Only growled.
"Why isn't it attacking?" said Summers. "Or retreating? Why is it just standing there?"
Eun felt the hairs on the back of her neck tingle.
"It's a trap!" she shouted into the radio. "There's another one somewhere! A bodyguard!"
Iron Duke immediately fell back several steps.
"Charging plasma cannon!" said Joyce.
At that moment, another Kaiju, much larger than Luther, reared up out of the water. It gave a ferocious roar.
"Re-targeting!" said James, and the Jaeger turned towards the threat.
The new Kaiju came charging forward. Iron Duke fired its missiles. They slammed into the Kaiju, knocking it backwards into the water.
But now Luther was racing towards Iron Duke. Before the Jaeger could turn, Luther ploughed into it. But the Jaeger kept its feet. The plasma cannon fired, the bolt of energy ripping into the Kaiju. Iron Duke grabbed the Kaiju by its arm and swivelled, throwing Luther across the runway.
The other Kaiju was charging again, it fists smashing into the Jaeger. James and Joyce did their best to parry their blows but were being pushed back. They extended the knife in the right arm and stabbed. And again. The Kaiju howled in pain, and grabbed hold of the Jaeger's wrist. The knife stabbed into the Kaiju again … and then the blade broke.
"Missiles re-loading, cannon re-charging!" said James over the radio.
The Kaiju had hold of the Jaeger's left arm now, and was twisting. The arm broke at the elbow. James and Joyce screamed in pain.
But nevertheless they started to punch at the Kaiju. A chunk of the Kaiju's chest armour was ripped away.
"Missile battery re-loaded, firing!" shouted Joyce. The missiles leaped away and smashed into the Kaiju's exposed flesh. But at such a close range, Iron Duke was caught in the backwash of the blast. The Kaiju went down, dead, but the Jaeger crashed down as well.
"James, Joyce, get up!" shouted Eun. "There's still Luther!"
Luther was getting up. It saw the helicopter on the ground and smashed it with one blow. Then it was up and was charging again. Iron Duke struggled to one knee. It punched at the Kaiju with its right arm, driving it back.
Luther, staring at the Jaeger, began to walk backwards into the water. In a few moments, it was gone.
"Joyce, James, report!" said Eun.
"We're … decidedly so-so," said James.
"We're screwed," said Joyce. "One arm gone, one leg operating at twenty per cent function at the most. Plasma cannon inoperative, missile battery down, knife broken. We would have trouble beating a seagull at the moment."
"And Luther would not have gone far," said Eun. "He'll be back any time, I think. If we call the transports and try to airlift you out he'll pick them off. Yeah, we're screwed." She suddenly realised that Summers was not at her side. Then she saw her, walking out of one of the giant hangars, an odd expression on her face.
"Boss," she said. "There's something you should see."
Summers led her into the hangar and pointed.
It was a Fury.
Part II
"What the fuck!?" said Eun.
"It's a Fury," said Summers.
"Yes, I know that," said Eun. "But still … what the fuck!?"
"You know, that was my first response too," said Summers.
"The Americans must have left it behind when they left," Eun said. "I guess they were in a rush, after all. Pentecost wouldn't know it is here, he probably would have still been in the RAF at the time."
"Doesn't look like it's ever been in fight. Do you think it might still work?"
"Even if it does, there would be no power. No way to charge up the batteries, get it going."
Summers was quiet, thinking. Then she said: "You know, when I was younger I had a car that had a battery that was always going flat. I didn't mind. It was a good way to meet guys, getting them to start it by connecting it to their own car."
"You mean, a jump start?"
"Yes, I think that was what they called it. But of course we need another car. Or something."
Eun opened the radio channel to Iron Duke. "James, Joyce, do you still have power?" she said.
"Sure, we've got plenty of juice," said Joyce.
Eun started shouting orders to the chopper pilot and co-pilot, telling them to grab cables from the pile of discarded equipment in the hangar and run a line between the Jaeger and the Fury.
"Say, you're not planning to fight Luther in it, are you?" said Summers. "You wouldn't have a chance. Furies were designed to fight in pairs, at least."
"If Luther isn't stopped, it will kill everyone and everything on this island," said Eun. "Everyone. You know what they're like when they get going."
"What's happening in there?" said Joyce over the radio.
"Emergency tactics," said Eun. She began to climb the ladder running up the side of the Fury. Then she stopped, and turned to Summers. "Thanks," she said. "For being a good friend. For being my best friend."
Summers nodded. "And thank you, Eun," she said.
Eun was climbing the ladder now. The cable was connected to the port in the Fury's foot, and current was flowing.
"Hey!" shouted Summers. "What are you going to call it?"
"Choehu," shouted Eun back.
"Luther ahoy," said James calmly. The Kaiju was coming out of the water.
"So now … we die," said Joyce. "Pity it's such a long way from home."
They managed to get the Jaeger onto its feet. Its right hand clenched into a fist.
The Kaiju came charging across the island.
And then the Fury came smashing through the doors of the hangar. It slammed into the Kaiju, knocking it down.
"Fuck!" said James and Joyce together.
"Thought I would join the party," said Eun to them over the radio. She punched the Kaiju, and then grabbed it by the arm, swinging it around. It fell with a crash on the shoreline.
Choehu raised its gun and fired. The bullets whacked into the Kaiju, drawing blood. But Luther was strong. It got back on its feet and charged once more, punching at Choehu, again and again.
Eun extended the knife and stabbed, looking for a way through the exoskeleton armour. She found a gap, and rammed the blade into the creature's chest. It went in deep.
Luther wrapped its arms around Choehu and squeezed. The action drove the blade in even further, but Luther was crushing the Fury.
In the cockpit, Eun heard supports and bulkheads give way. The cockpit itself began to buckle under the pressure. Equipment began to overload and explode. Choehu was dying.
She managed to get her left hand under the Kaiju's chin. She pushed its head back, further and further. Luther howled in pain.
"I've been fighting you things for so long I can't remember anything else," she said softly to the Kaiju. "But you won't take anyone more from me. You … won't."
She could feel her life drifting away. With the last of her strength, she gave a final heave.
There was a huge snap as the Kaiju's neck broke. The blade in its chest suddenly erupted through its back. But even in its death throes the Kaiju continued to squeeze the final vestiges of life from the Fury.
And then, almost suddenly, it was over. The Kaiju and the Fury, locked together, crashed to the ground.
Summers ran to Choehu and opened the emergency hatch. She climbed down into the passageway, through the smoke and the flickering lights. She reached the cockpit. She called out, hoping against hope …
But Eun Park was dead.
Coda
"I hear that the remaining Jaegers are going to be placed under the Committee's direction," said Herc Hansen.
Summers, sitting with Herman on her lap, nodded. "Not a whole lot left to command," she said. "You know, in a way I think she might have preferred going out this way. She always said she was a Fury driver, first and foremost."
Herc nodded. "Stacker Pentecost is working on a plan, he says," he said. "It had better be a good one. Damn good." He turned to leave the office. "By the way," he said, "you said that she called the Fury Choehu. Do you know what that means?"
"I looked it up," said Summers. "It's Korean for … 'last stand'."
"Huh," said Herc. "Seems appropriate."
"I thought so," said Summers. A tear ran down her cheek.
Herc turned to go again. Then he stopped, and came back. He kissed the woman tenderly on the forehead.
Then he left the office and Summers was alone.
END AND AMEN