It is a bit ridiculous how much I loved Pacific Rim, so of course I needed to write a story for it. This isn't a strictly romantic story. My character isn't dependent on it. This is about a Jaeger pilot, the affects of war and fame, and a deeper exploration into the fascinating world of the PPDC. That being said, all characters from the movie will show up at one point or the other.

I own nothing but my OCs.

"All gods are homemade, and it is we who pull the strings, and so, give them the power to pull ours." -Aldous Huxley

Chapter One
Indigo Sun

Remember K-Day. Those posters had been plastered on every building, every bulletin board, every flat surface people could stick them to. Songs were written, documentaries were made, and rumor had it there was even a Hollywood production in the works. The Kaiju was on display in some museum, tens of thousands of lives were lost and the crippling effects to the military on the Pacific coast would last for nearly a year.

Remember K-Day? There would be no forgetting it.

Especially for those of us who survived.

I was twenty-three when Trespasser attacked, technically an adult but still very wide-eyed about the world. It was my fifth year in the United States Army. My father had been a Brigadier General and left me bound and determined to fight my way out from beneath his shadow. I was his legacy, chasing a dream I thought I could never catch.

My unit was training at Fort Hunter-Liggett, about three hours south of San Francisco. So when Trespasser hit the Golden Gate Bridge, we were the cavalry, the wave of mortals thrown against the behemoth god in hopes of slowing him down.

I was the co-pilot for a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and for six days and nights, we weaved in and out of the battered city, running danger close rescue missions for civilians and downed pilots. San Francisco was a warzone, damaged, flooded, and burning. It was filled with the sort of images you expected to see from a third world country, not America. Not here. I witnessed buildings collapse before we could get to the survivors stranded on top, calling for help. I watched them fall to their deaths and heard their screams. It almost made me sick in the cockpit, and did when we'd finally landed. I don't remember ever keeping food down.

Once we flew so close to the Kaiju, I thought I could reach out and touch its scaly side. The creature was impossibly massive. We must have been like flies to it, nothing more than a nuisance. Even our missiles only looked to sting it. I never thought we could beat it.

Until the nuke.

San Francisco is uninhabited now. Millions of people were evacuated, thousands still don't have homes. It is an eerie graveyard, a memorial to those lost and a reminder to us that no matter how big we grow, we are only beginning to scratch the surface of our universe.

I received commendations for my service on K-Day, awards, promotion, empty things that couldn't fill the void San Francisco had torn into me. Suddenly I felt very old, my curiosity snuffed out, but there was a renewed determination deep inside of me. My life was no longer about chasing brass or a father's dream. This creature had given me purpose in the military. If it was not alone, I wanted to be there. I wanted to see it. I wanted to say I helped stop it.

And for a while, we thought Trespasser was alone. The world went back to the way it was, and I was even starting to contemplate a life outside the military.

But then came Manila. Cabo. Sydney. This was not going to end. It had only started.

Our attacks were becoming less and less effective. The world was losing hope. I was stationed in Los Angeles, the main line of defense, when the riots broke out from the sheer terror of the unknown. Thirty people died in three days.

Then the world was introduced to Brawler Yukon.

Straight from the pages of a science fiction novel, it was a giant robot sent to fight the monsters that terrorized us. Part of me wanted to cry out in joy, the other part wanted to laugh at how ridiculous it all looked, like the most elaborate hoax ever concocted. No one thought it was real, but Vancouver was saved and the Kaiju Karloff destroyed because of the technical marvel.

That was when I heard the Pan Pacific Defense Corps was looking for pilots for future robots, or Jaegers as they called them.

I had my transfer orders prepared the next day.

April 17th, 2018

Los Angeles Shatterdome

Indigo Sun, this is LOCCENT, initiating Neural Handshake.

There are no words to properly describe the Drift. It is barely contained chaos, a pool of memories and thoughts and emotions that you must dive into without getting wet. Grasp one for even a second too long and it could drag you into the depths.

I'm on a lake in the mountains. I was ten and it was our last family vacation.

Graduation from flight school. My dad is there and though he lacks the emotion of other family members, I know he is proud of me.

My sister at a cheerleading competition. This is her memory, not mine, but like they say, there are no secrets in the Drift. Everything is ours now.

San Francisco is burning below me. My co-pilot is screaming at me as we narrowly avoid a swipe from Trespasser.

My sister is in a hotel room. She's on the bed and…

Ew.

The Drift kicks you back hard and fast, and even though your body has never actually moved, there is always the sensation of falling forward. Suddenly the world has clarity on a level you never thought possible. You're seeing from two different perspectives, hearing from two different places. Your thoughts are connected to another person, processed by them at the exact moment you think of them, and vice versa. You know what they will say, what they will do, and have a sense of everything they have done throughout the course of their lives. All you have to do is tap and find a memory you never lived through. It was no wonder so many pilots had chased the rabbit. Curiosity was a powerful drug.

Right hemisphere calibrated.

In unison, our right arms lift, but only my hand has the glowing control console. This side of Indigo Sun belongs to me.

Left hemisphere calibrated.

The same happens to our left arms, only my sister has the console now.

Evangeline is six years younger than me, and my exact opposite. I had been the tomboy. She had embraced her girly side. I joined the military. She took up cheerleading. I studied; she partied. I was quiet; she was loud. No one would have ever picked her for this job, but Evangeline was the best Drift compatible candidate there was, and she dropped everything to help me. To this day, even with the technology linking our minds together, I still can't make sense of it.

Final phase initiated. Indigo Sun is ready for launch.

As the crews attach cables to the exterior of our Jaeger, Evangeline and I flex the arms of our colossal machine. Its movements are slow, but you can feel the power coursing through the metalwork as if they were your own limbs. You know every strength, every weakness, every limitation, but compared to our fragile bodies, it feels invincible. You feel invincible.

Cables attached. Prepare for launch.

The sound of groaning metal is massive as a handful of helicopters struggle against the weight of our Jaeger. It did not even seem possible that something this size could be airlifted anywhere, but witnessing the impossible was pretty run of the mill these days. Down on the bay floor and on railings all around us, crew chiefs, mechanics, and scientists watch our departure. Some pray, some cheer, all hope that we come back in one piece with one less Kaiju in the world.

I glance over at my sister as she watches the Shatterdome disappear below us. "Sorry Michael didn't live up to your expectations."

"Shut up, Carol." She doesn't even look at me but I can feel her frustration. No doubt she can feel my amusement.

"I told you he was compensating for something."

"I said, shut up."

"Do you think next time you could warn me before we Drift? I don't exactly appreciate seeing my little sister doing-"

Evangeline turns to me, blue eyes on fire. Her anger burns in my conscious, far more scathing than any physical pain.

"Alright, alright, I'm done." I pause, feeling my thoughts drifting toward the memory again. "God, I feel dirty."

"Carol!"

"Ladies!" A voice booms in our helmets, making our ears ring. Double the exposure, double the sensitivity. "If you are done bickering, there is a Kaiju 300 miles offshore that needs to be killed."

Colonel Ryan Peck, formerly of the United States Air Force, was in charge of overseeing operations in the Los Angeles Shatterdome. He was a hard man but got things done, though sometimes not in the safest of fashions. Many of the pilots resented him because he had no experience with a Jaeger, not that many did. My dislike of him came at a more personal level: he hated my sister.

Out of the six Jaeger pilots housed at the facility, Evangeline was the only one without prior military experience. She, as he had often stated, lacked the discipline, knowledge, and maturity to be given such a precious position. And while it was true, my sister could be a bit on the rowdy side, Colonel Peck's beloved discipline had suffered at the hands of his military personnel as well. Being a Jaeger pilot made you an overnight celebrity, worshipped and stalked like any other person out of Hollywood. There had been scandals, sex tapes, and drug busts, enough to make the tabloids squeal with joy.

"Sorry, sir," we reply in unison. I can hear our Chief Technology Officer, Harrison Stokes, laughing in the background. Colonel Peck may not have been a fan, but Stokes loved our squabbles. We were almost certain he had a blog.

"The event took place nearly half an hour ago, a Category Three Kaiju, codename: Hammerhead. Satellites are tracking its movements and predict landfall in Los Angeles if it stays on its current path. Indigo Sun's mission is to intercept and eliminate. Mammoth Apostle will run coastline patrol and provide backup if necessary."

Indigo Sun is dangling over the shallows of Santa Monica Bay. I can almost hear the clicks of thousands of cameras as they witness a titan's trek into battle.

"How big are we talking, sir?" I ask as the helicopters slow and begin to hover over our destination.

He's silent a moment. "By our estimates, we're looking at the biggest Cat Three we've ever witnessed."

Evangeline and I share a look. A pang of fear travels through our connection, though I can't say who it belonged to. Maybe both of us.

Drop point reached. Prepare for drop in 3…2…1.

The cables let loose and for a moment, it feels like we simply float, unaffected by gravity, before dropping hard into the water. We braced ourselves, but a shaky feeling always remains in your legs as the sensation travels up the Jaeger well into where your suit connects with the machine. We stand together, bringing Indigo Sun back to its full height, and watch the horizon as the nav screen indicates the Kaiju is now 250 miles out.

"Civilian vessels have been ordered to clear the area, but don't risk yourselves for any stragglers. We can't afford to lose another Jaeger like Romeo Blue."

"Roger that." The transmission cuts out, leaving us in silence. I can feel Evangeline's anger, no longer directed toward me, but Colonel Peck instead. Indigo Sun was the newest Jaeger to the Shatterdome, a Mark III class, technically the most advanced one at our station, but truthful to its name, Mammoth Apostle was the far larger machine, though only a Mark II. My sister thinks the positions should have been switched, and frankly I agree with her.

"Nothing we can do about it now, Evie." I turn to her and grin. "So why don't we go kill this bastard and show Mammoth who's in charge here?"

To watch two pilots drive their Jaeger was a spectacle to say the least. These enormous machines could not move like regular human beings, so neither could we. The steps we took were large, the movements clunky and awkward, but with our minds linked to the machine, it felt as normal as going for a stroll in the park. Together, we walk Indigo Sun into the deep waves, power that could crush sea vessels hardly fazing us as we align ourselves for interception.

There is a strange calm that falls over us as we wait. I stand somewhere on the paper thin line between fear and excitement. The adrenaline starts to pump in my veins as I anticipate the fight. This creature is a thousand times my own size, and I am taking him on in a metal suit. One wrong move and my sister and I would not be returning home. One second not concentrated on the battle and we could lose all control of the Jaeger. The city was depending on the ability of two people to not lose themselves in the past.

Kaiju move impossibly fast in the water, and it does not take long for Hammerhead to close the distance between us. We watch blip on the nav screen come closer and closer to our current position, but still see nothing on the horizon.

"Something's not right," Evangeline mumbles.

"Evie, keep your eyes on the water." I toggle the sensors, hoping to get a better idea at where the approaching beast was, but there was nothing to be done. These waters were not that deep. If this Kaiju was as big as the Colonel said, it should have been visible to us. "Stokes, where is this thing?"

"I've got nothing!" his voice chimed in. "The scanners are useless. It should be right on top of you."

The fear is near palpable. "Get back to the shallow water."

"What?" Evangeline knows my thoughts but she still can't grasp them.

"Get the Jaeger back to the shallows! Now!"

We turn Indigo Sun, but its movements are slower in the water, and time has run out.

I hear it before I see it, a sound of thunder to our right flank. The water rises like a mountain beside us before the tension breaks, revealing the launching Kaiju. It truly is massive, face elongated on the sides, like that of the Hammerhead shark, finned, but with long, reaching arms and a legless tail. Its glowing mouth locks onto our right arm, twisting it backwards as it drags us back down into the water.

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