The other teams had arrived with their Jaegers, and Herc attempted at first to get to know them. Soon he realized that no one was interested. Tight knit pockets of intimacy, Jaeger pilots didn't mix well.
Marshal Pentecost filled him in on the plan: to carry a nuclear payload into the rift. It had been tried before, but Pentecost said this was different. They knew a bit more; a potential "magic hour" when the rift would be wide open. And this would be right before, according to Pentecost's scientists, multiple Kaiju popped out at an accelerated rate and ripped the world to shreds beyond anyone's ability to resist or stop them.
It was overreaching and probably suicidal, Herc knew, but anything else was slow and sure death. The two scientists, Geiszler and Gottlieb, seemed to him erratic and unstable. They contradicted each other constantly and just did not seem to work well together. He wouldn't have trusted them himself, but he trusted Pentecost.
Raleigh Becket's arrival stirred something of a storm with Chuck. Herc remembered Raleigh as a boisterous young man – much like Chuck was now – full of energy and assurance in his ability to control his own destiny. The Raleigh he met again today was a humbler and wiser man. Herc thought it too bad that it took the trauma of losing his brother to bring about this change. He wished Chuck would one day grow wiser, but not like that. He'd never wish Chuck that.
He could remember his own youth. He'd brawled and threw punches, and acted like a fool. Somewhere along he'd learned a thing or two about perspective and about himself. But they were not lessons that could be learned by telling. He couldn't seem to teach his son humility. Chuck would have to make mistakes.
Herc thought he would grow impatient with the inactivity. He was surprised and a little worried that he welcomed these few days of rest. One evening he stared at himself in the narrow mirror above the metal sink in the room he shared with his son. He took in the three days' growth of scruffy beard, his angular face and wondered how much longer he'd be able to keep this up. He was not young anymore. He didn't crave the adrenaline rush of the fight. True that once he was in the Jaeger nothing else existed except the battle. But he wondered what his life would be away from the Drift, away from the Jaeger and away from being in his son head.
What had Ops Andy Tahoe seen when she looked at him? A man in his prime, she'd said. He knew what he'd seen when he'd looked at her. Herc sighed. He was letting himself get distracted.
He had seen her around after that first meeting. She was part of Geiszler's team and had been officially introduced to him again as his neural Drift expert. He'd shaken her hand again, just for the excuse to feel her skin. She'd smiled at him conspiratorially.
"We've already met," Herc had explained to Pentecost, who'd been with him at the time.
"Daydreaming, old man?" Chuck's voice interrupted his thoughts. Herc shook himself.
"Just thinking," he replied noncommittally.
"You know that pretty Drift Ops that scanned you in and wouldn't tell me her first name?" Chuck continued, half distracted. Herc made a neutral noise, neither acknowledging nor denying.
"Well, I said I would find out her first name, didn't I? And I did. Her name is Andy, Andy Tahoe, that's what they call her." He chuckled, self absorbed.
Herc pulled a t-shirt over his head and put his boots on. He fought down his irritation.
"I'm going out for a bit."
"Where?"
"Just out."
As soon as he closed the door behind him, Herc felt the pressure ease a little. He tried not to let feelings take hold of him. There was only truth in the neural link of the Drift. Chuck would know his feelings soon enough. So he avoided dwelling on them. He walked aimlessly around the station trying to clear his head. He didn't realize when he'd headed for Striker.
Andy Tahoe and a couple of others were working late on the computer deck. He wondered if his walking that way had been a coincidence. She looked happy to see him. He wondered again how much of it was hero worship and how much was just himself.
"We've been uploading an upgrade to the neural handshake connection," she told him excitedly. She darted into a full explanation, and then partly through she stopped speaking and looked at him.
"I'm sorry, I'm babbling," she said, suddenly self aware.
"No, not at all. Talk on. I'm interested."
She blinked and he suddenly realized the ambiguity of what he'd said. Was he interested in her or the subject matter? He saw the confusion play across her face for only a second, before she seemed to dismiss the first alternative. Not the self absorbed kind, he noticed.
"So, Herc as in, Hercules?" she asked, her face breaking up in a guilty smile.
"Yep," he nodded, amused, "as in that. Which you obviously knew already," he pointed out as she started laughing.
"I'm not laughing at you," she said, trying to keep a straight face. "I'm Andy for Andromeda. But please don't tell anyone. I've tried to keep it under the radar."
Herc let out a bark of laughter.
"Your secret is safe with me." He turned to the controls. "Now tell me the rest of it," he prompted. "About the new connection," he clarified when her eyebrows shot up to her hairline. He really had to pay more attention to what came out of his mouth around her. And what other secrets did she have?
She shook herself and smiled. "Yes. I will." And she did. Herc watched her animated face with pleasure. Andromeda Tahoe obviously loved her work. He was not an expert himself in all the fine details of what made the drift work, but when it came to the Jaegers, the interest was intrinsic. Striker was like a living thing under his hands.
When she finished and answered several questions, she sighed and was quiet.
"Thanks for listening. At least you made it look like I wasn't boring you."
"You didn't. I'm not sure it's possible."
She raised an eyebrow.
"It's strange talking to you, you know," she admitted. "I've seen you on TV so often... You know what I mean. I thought it would be more intimidating."
"I'm not intimidating enough in person?" he asked, amused.
"The commentators, they always say things like 'Herc Hansen is a man made of steel. He is a fearless daredevil in the Jaeger and out!' That's the sort of stuff they say about people who put your teeth on edge," she said and Herc burst into laughter. "But in person you're ... comfortable."
"Was that a compliment? I wasn't sure."
"You couldn't tell?" she laughed again. "It was, but you're not getting another. Not tonight anyway."
They were silent for a while. Herc noticed the sounds of the other techs working in the room. He'd forgotten they weren't alone.
"So, what brought you out this way, this time of the night, before I ambushed you?" she asked.
"Feeling restless," he replied. His eyes jumped to the giant clock that kept track of time since the last Kaiju attack. She followed his gaze and then looked away.
"I get claustrophobic in here sometimes," she confessed. "I work to keep myself distracted."
Herc surveyed the cavernous metal structure around them.
"I used to be outside most days, back in the air force," he said. "Used to wide open skies, green below or water as far as the eye can see. But that was another lifetime."
"When this is over, I think I'd like to live in a house on top of a great green hill," she said. "Miles and miles of hilly countryside every which way. Not by the water. Not anywhere near the Pacific."
"When this is over," he echoed, a hard edge creeping into his voice. "I haven't thought of that possibility recently," he admitted. "Have you, really?"
She frowned and shook her head, as if admitting a shameful secret.
"I should get back to work," she said, nodding back to her monitor. She was closing down, shutting him out.
"And I should be heading back."
"See you around, Hercules," she said quietly and he laughed. The morbid ending of their conversation hadn't squished her mood entirely.
"I had a Training Instructor who loved to call me that in front of the squadron: 'Airman Hercules!' Everyone else was on a last name basis. It drove me crazy."
"I'll keep your secrets if you keep mine," she replied.
"Good night, Andromeda!"
"Yah, yah, very funny, Ranger!"
