So this was it. Connor glared at the holographic display that covered the window in his office and switched off the sound that already annoyed him and yet the ticker still mocked him blatantly. The breach was closed, the enemy shut out. He had been so close, so close to finally go into battle and now his chance has passed. Connor turned around. His appearance was nothing special if it wasn't for the aura of power and certainty that wafted around him like a shadowy cloak. Born in 1980 just like Marshal Hansen who had pronounced the news, this and their physique were the only thing the two men had in common. Connor's eyes were gray, and his black hair already showed signs of his age. Born in the US, schooled in the UK Connor had always been rich and never had to fight for something else than outstanding grades and increasing the family businesses wealth. It turned out that he was very good in that. With the kaiju appearance the companies in Connor Malone's holding were one of the view that gained. He was relying on one of the few rules his father had taught him. He didn't save. Whatever his companies earned, he took a huge amount and spend it and maybe that was the reason this planet still had a functioning economy. At least that was what Connor believed.
He would have loved to help in different ways, but the Pan Paficic Defense Corps had rejected him. No drift compatibility. This had not been the only reason, but that one was burned into his mind. Connor had been raised to be a leader and not a team player. All his achievements, his intelligence his training was worth nothing. They would not let him be a pilot. His money was worth nothing. They even were appalled. And a man who was used to getting everything was incapable of digesting that. Even though there was no reason for hope, he would create himself a new one, when time was right.
The more monetary trouble the PPDC got itself into the more he was able to buy himself in. Everything that they couldn't afford anymore, he would buy, and in the end, when then jaeger program fell it was him who bought all the domes that no one else's wanted. Including Anchorage where he was standing now. Each person who lost his or her job who seemed valuable was offered a new position in his private jaeger program. He had exclusive rights to enter Oblivion Bay the jaeger graveyard, he had a special agreement with Hannibal Chau who sold him everything jaeger related he found at the places he was allowed to enter.
Everyone who knew about this more or less secret agenda, which was difficult to hide because it consumed money like a black hole, put it off as a rich man's hero complex and Connor Malone never denied that. As long as he wouldn't be able to find someone he could drift with, there was no chance for him to pilot a jaeger alone without damaging his nervous system severely. There was no person on earth and he knew it. No one with a personality similar or compatible to his was someone he would be able to trust his deepest secrets and the more reasonable part of him knew that this was another one of those points why the PPDC had not wanted him as one of theirs. Also he could imagine that his belated father payed them off, simply because he could not lose his only heir to a giant robot. His father was dead now for years, killed by what his son had not been allowed to fight. Life was irony. That he knew perfectly well.

He had found her in a hospital. Being bored and not having anything else to do he visited that place personally after they had asked him for donations. Admittedly he was curious about the research that facility had invested itself with. They were treating coma patients and patients with neural damage. The doctor who showed him around had explained that they had wanted to use the drifting device to get access to the coma patients mind but their request had been denied. And this was when Connor Malone became intrigued. So Doctor Catherine Nevlin brought him to her: Meghan, orphaned, a millennium child; basically she could have been his daughter. He remembered this moment as it was yesterday: that deranged, destroyed body, missing limbs, bones, even her face was party ruined. he instantly knew that this had been a kaiju. But what carved itself into the inside of his skull was what Nevlin said after explaining the damage this girl had been through. "But her brain function is incredibly strong. It's what keeps her alive. Something inside of her refuses to die. I bet this one could pilot a jaeger alone."

Connor Malone turned around and tapped onto an invisible switch.
"How's Cyan?" he demanded to know and a soft female voice, which had become so familiar over the time answered slightly reproachful, because he had come straight to the point - like he always did: "Probably just as devastated as you are."
"Send her over to me", Connor returned. "See that's why I didn't want the two of you go along with Horizon. Life's..."
"Irony, yes, I know", Nevlin answered with a chuckle. "You know that she doesn't share that view on things, not even after drifting successfully with you."
Once more his facial expression hardened. Right now he was not in the mood for this kind of conversation and after all those years working together she knew that.
"What do you think why I want to talk to her?" he responded.
"You're not telling her that everything will continue as planned because you know that she needs to hear that, but because you want to make sure that she is prepared", was her answer and of course she was right. "At least try to sound sensible."
Connor opened his mouth for another snappy response but these verbal fights were getting old.
"I assure you, this will have a positive impact on her functionality", she added and the corners of his mouth lifted sightly.