Disclaimer: I do not own anything you may recognize.
Date: February 2016
The past half a year had been rough on every pilot hopeful in the Jaeger Academy. You woke up before the sun to prepare for morning inspection before even thinking of breakfast. As soon as you cleaned your plate, you and your partner reported in for training. They taught everything from the mechanics of drifting to full on simulated battles, drifting together in tandem with a computer program while rigged in a very basic conn-pod. The Academy taught you everything, but it was your performance in the simulations that determined if you would ever set foot in a real jaeger. It was highly competitive amongst the pilots as far as performance and the time taken to kill each artificial Kaiju.
Out of their respective classes, two teams were always at the front of the pack: Ren and Nikita, and Sasha and Aleksis. Sasha and Aleksis were uncommonly drift compatible it turned out, allowing them to have higher response times and, consequently, faster kill times. The fact both were very good at fighting outside of jaegers going in didn't hurt either. Ren and Nikita lacked the same strength in their neural handshake, but made up for it with unorthodox (though effective) fighting styles. Between Nikita's strategically strong mind and Ren's natural fighting instinct, their kill counts were among the highest: one hundred drops and ninety-nine kills. Their only failure was their first drop when Nikita vomited during his first drift with Ren. It wasn't exactly rare for things like this to happen during your first drift, but Nikita took the lack of perfection harder than most would, possibly due to the fact Ren had brought it up at every opportunity since.
Sasha and Aleksis had the honor of a perfect deployment record, one hundred drops and one hundred kills. All were efficient and clean, with both pilots favoring the approach of crushing the skull with their fists. The two had gotten significantly closer to one another as well, rarely speaking in public but holding hands as they walked into classes or the simulation rooms. They were made fun of at first, until the simulation results were slowly made public to the other students. They were proof that the more compatible you were, the better you fought. They especially got the attention from the higher ups after a simulation glitch caused the Kaiju in the simulation to go from a category two to a category four and it still didn't tarnish their record.
Now the two pilot teams were standing outside of the Vladivostok Shatterdome, their new home during the Kaiju War, as they awaited someone to tell them where the heck they were supposed to go. From what Nikita had managed to overhear, there was a fight amongst the repair crews and the base commander was breaking it up with extreme prejudice. It gave the two teams a chance to mingle a bit. The last Ren really saw of Sasha or Aleksis was when they were escorted away from her cell and to the warden. Sasha and Aleksis seemed surprised to see Ren was no longer behind bars, not to mention a jaeger pilot. It made both Ren and Nikita smile.
"Nice to see you too. You guys greet everyone with that glare, or just people you have history with?" Ren asked with a smug grin.
Sasha narrowed her eyes at the woman and took a step forward, but Aleksis had a gloved hand on her shoulder before she got any further. She turned the glare back at him, but the big guy simply shook his head - his way of saying to let it go. Ren's grin widened a bit as she watched.
"I'm on loan from the prison. On parole until I'm done with the rest of my sentence or the Kaiju stop coming out of the breach. Hoping for the former… I wasn't a favorite of the warden after I beat up one of his guards. If I remember right, that guy lost his sense of smell when I punched him in the head," Ren mused, looking over to Nikita for confirmation. He smiled back before crossing his arms.
"Actually he died due to surgical complications," he corrected. Sasha and Aleksis both narrowed their eyes at the siblings now, particularly Nikita. The brother shrugged as Ren laughed.
"Oh please, don't act all self-righteous. Not after what you guys caught them doing. If it makes you feel better, think of how many inmates won't be afraid of contraband checks now," Ren spat, a glare in her eyes now as well as she stared down Sasha.
Aleksis simply sighed before squeezing Sasha's shoulder gently and wrapping an arm around her, easing her closer to himself and away from Ren. Sasha allowed it, keeping her eyes on Ren until her head was resting on Aleksis' chest before taking a deep breath to calm down. As he gently held his partner back, Aleksis looked up towards Ren and studied her for a moment. The woman was a little shorter than Sasha, sporting a gray beanie pulled over her ears to cover her head from the cold, as well as a dull green scarf. She also wore gray camouflage pants and a thick white winter coat zipped up to her neck to keep the wind off of her skin. If he hadn't known her in prison, he might not have guessed she'd been arrested for killing four people. The brother was nonchalantly tapping the screen of his smart phone all the while. It bothered Aleksis a bit that the two thought so little of the act of killing.
"Your cellmate, how is she holding up?" Aleksis asked, his voice deep but calm as he looked Ren in the eyes. Sasha couldn't help but smirk. The man was a gentle giant, as good with diplomacy as she was with pressure points. Ren spat on the ground and looked off to the side, having not expected the question.
"She's fine, out on probation now. We wrote each other a lot while I was learning how to kill Kaiju," She replied, not looking at Aleksis as she spoke. He smiled and nodded his head as Sasha slid out of his arms and faced Ren.
"I am glad to hear that. I was scared that I hadn't realized things in time to stop that asshole," She said gently as a smirk eased onto her lips. Ren eyed Sasha warily as she spoke and smirked a little herself.
"I had it under control. I didn't look forward to handling it myself, but those assholes weren't leaving that cell alive. Don't think we're fucking gal pals now just because you saved me some effort," Ren barked, prompting a rather nasty scowl from Sasha.
At this point, Nikita finally put away his phone and moved in for damage control. He put a hand on Ren's shoulder and gently squeezed to get her attention. She glared at him, but saw the stern look in his eyes and her face softened a bit. They'd talked before leaving the academy about not making the people they had to share a roof with wanting to kill the both of them. Once Nikita saw a bit of the aggression leave his sister's eyes he turned to face Sasha and Aleksis with a smile.
"My apologies for our behavior. I was tidying up some loose ends from my work and Ren doesn't like feeling as though she owes people. My name is Nikita and I hope you can forgive us for being less than professional during our first impression," He beamed as he tried to use his charm to keep the peace. "So you were the guards that stepped in during that unpleasant incident? You have my sincere thanks for keeping my sister out of more trouble. While I don't doubt that she could have handled the situation, I am certain that if she were to have tried I never would have seen her outside of prison again. Thank you both."
Sasha eyed him cautiously as he spoke, studying him like a hawk might a field mouse. His short black hair was slicked back but covered almost entirely by a black toboggan. His teeth were obviously bleached white and the mostly black outfit he wore probably cost as much as Sasha's home in Saratov. He wore designer black shoes, recently pressed dress pants and, she assumed, beneath the knee length thick coat he was wearing a three piece suit. As she looked him over she couldn't help but think back to the hearing over her assault on Valery and his underlings. There was no way a court assigned lawyer could manage to get the charges dropped on an open and shut case like hers without really belonging to a high end firm.
So that's where they had come from. That connection, and the surgical malpractice the man had mentioned earlier made a few things click. Sasha smirked smugly as she looked up at Aleksis - or would have, had he not started to move at that moment. He gave Nikita a slap on the back before wrapping an arm around him and shaking him about as he laughed.
"So the lawyers were yours? You have my thanks as well then, my friend. I could barely pay rent as it was. A good lawyer was beyond my pay grade," He laughed.
This elicited a smile from both Sasha and Ren until the former noticed someone was walking towards them. She walked over and tugged firmly on Aleksis' arm to get him to stop being so friendly and pointed to the woman approaching them, prompting the group as a whole to face her. They started to line up, thinking perhaps this was their commanding officer, but as soon as the woman noticed she yelled for them to cut it out.
"Oh stop it. I borrowed the military looking coat from the guy who was supposed to come out here and meet you but I've got no technical authority over you. At ease or whatever," She shouted, earning raised eyebrows from the group at her accent.
She was speaking fluent Russian but the dialect sounded American. Sasha thought about it and it sounded kind of like the accent in a surfer movie she'd been forced to sit through in the past. Since the woman was tan and seemed to have on a coat beneath the dull green one she'd claimed to have borrowed, Sasha took that to mean she was from a coastal city in the US, but what the hell was she doing all the way out in Vladivostok?
The woman stopped a few feet away from the group and began studying her clipboard. She looked from it to the group a few times before smiling. "Good, you're the right people. I stopped four members of the technical team and confused the hell out of them before I remembered I have pictures with your files. My name is Samantha Thompson and I'm the communications officer, the electrician, the secretary, and the unpaid intern of the Shatterdome. The Brigadier General is busting heads over in the maintenance wing right now. You're lucky, he had this whole speech prepared and it was just chock full of tough guy jargon and a bunch of other shit that got old the first hundred times he practiced it in the mirror. I on the other hand have fifty things to fix or check on today and this is cutting into my time. So, without further ado, allow me to welcome you to the Vladivostok Shatterdome. Now get the fuck inside, I'm not built for negative temperatures," Samantha said, pointing behind her to the building briefly before turning to jog that way.
It seemed Sasha's speculations were true as far as this woman not being from Russia. She couldn't resist a smirk as she saw Samantha's pace quicken. Taking a brief glance around her she saw the other pilots were doing the same.
It took little effort on the part of the pilots to catch up with Samantha right as she arrived inside of the base, allowing the woman to shut the doors and block out the cold. The inside of the base was a very warm sixty degrees, blistering compared to outside, which lead Sasha to believe maybe Samantha was in charge of the thermostat. Everyone, besides Samantha, pretty much had to strip down to keep from overheating due to their bulky warm clothing. Now it was Samantha's turn to smirk.
"Sorry guys but not everyone in the building is used to the cold. So let's get things started. Aleksis Kaidonovsky and Sasha Zolnerowich, you guys are the pilots for the Russian Mark 1 Jaeger Cherno Alpha. Once we get through this corridor and out of the elevator you'll probably be able to see it in the maintenance wing. It's the one with the giant fists," Samantha said, winking at Aleksis as she said the last bit. The giant grumbled something and turned his head, getting a laugh out of Sasha.
"Don't be so modest," she said, poking Aleksis in the side. Samantha smiled as she watched while Ren pretended she was gagging.
"Right, pressing on. Renata Kotko and Nikita Kotko, you two are pilots for the Mark 2 Latvian Jaeger Bravo Zver. It's not as tall as Cherno but looks like a giant robotic werewolf. May not make sense now but wait until you get a good look at it. You were assigned to both based on your fighting styles and data studied while you were in the academy. As soon as you were designated pilots and not just hopefuls by your instructors, you've been studied like lab rats while you killed pretend monsters. Neat, right? Okay, let's move on. A lot to see and a few people you should meet. I'm saving the maintenance wing for last since it might be a minute before it is guest friendly. The Cherno teams are primarily Irish while the Bravo teams are mostly British. Do not bring up soccer teams in that wing. The Bravo foreman did and now fistfights have broken out," Samantha said, motioning towards the end of the rather industrial looking corridor at the elevator.
There were no walls to hide all the new pipes or displays lining the corridor. Even the floor was bare bones metal sheets, giving Nikita the feeling the Shatterdome wasn't one hundred percent complete yet. Ren couldn't stop grinning as Samantha spoke, digging the fact that this place wasn't going to be as strict as the last military base she'd been in. She might not hate living here until the Kaiju stopped coming out of the breach.
The elevator ride down into the Shatterdome proper was very spacious, even with the seven foot giant in the box. They even had enough room for someone to wheel in a shipment of food rations along with them, a tower of boxes on a wooden pallet stacked higher than Aleksis.
Ren looked from the shipment to Aleksis and smirked before elbowing Sasha in the side, "Sure your boyfriend's fed, but where the hell are our rations?"
And despite the less than stellar impression Ren had left on Sasha, she couldn't hold back a chuckle. Seeing this caused Aleksis to smile as well, but Nikita was again burying his nose in his phone. The expressions quickly faded as they each got an eyeful of the Shatterdome main floor and the hugeness of it all as the elevator stopped and the doors opened wide. The floors were painted black and waxed till they shone. Yellow and white lines made it look like a stretch of fresh interstate rather than a military base floor, but the illusion quickly faded when you looked up and saw all the hustle and bustle of fork lifts and small trucks hauling supplies around. People scurried like ants holding clip boards and cardboard tubes. The man hauling the food shipment quickly merged with the traffic on the floor and vanished as he joined a herd of similar shipments heading to what Sasha assumed was the storehouse.
Aleksis was gazing out at the herds of people and smiling, spotting a couple both carrying clipboards walking close together. The boy was fidgeting and the girl was inching closer to him as they talked. The apocalypse was at their doorstep but people still found time for love. He believed that spoke volumes about humanity.
Aleksis wasn't the only one scanning the crowds ahead of them. Sasha and Ren's eyes were both darting around rather quickly at the catwalks above them, where there were rows upon rows of doors and, it seemed, every man in uniform up there was holding a gun. There were no armed guards behind them so Ren could make a run for it now if she needed to. Sasha didn't like the appearance of guards either, even if all they were packing were pistols and beanbag guns. This wasn't a prison, so there was no need for the same armaments as in the prison camp, but Sasha couldn't help but feel naked without something of equal caliber at her own hip. At least that rabid dog will feel more at home here, Sasha thought to herself, glaring over at Ren. The former con shot the look back and smirked before spitting on Sasha's boots. Aleksis almost didn't make it in time to block Sasha's punch.
"Calm down Ren, no need to antagonize our colleagues. We'll have plenty of things trying to kill us before long," Nikita murmured before pointing off into the distance.
Ren squinted at first, unsure of what she was looking for, but things clicked as soon as she remembered Sam's description. They could see the jaegers off in the distance, giant sentinels watching the floor. They stood beside each other, fists at their sides and backs straight. It reminded Sasha and Ren of soldiers, while it reminded Aleksis of brothers. Nikita simply saw giant robots, though noticed that the legs bent backwards just under the knee of one, almost as though it were standing on haunches instead of legs. He assumed that one was the werewolf then.
"Good eye, was wondering if anyone was going to spot them or just gawk at the people running around. We have to go up to the catwalks for a bit so you'll get a better look at them in a minute. First, there's someone I want you guys to meet as she will be a big part of your continued training here at the base. She's also a friend of mine so watch your asses," Samantha said with a smile, motioning for everyone to follow her as she headed into the crowds and toward a flight of metal stairs.
It didn't take long for them to reach the second floor of the base and what was classified as the research and development wing, where Samantha practically flew towards one of the doors and peeked inside of the reinforced glass window. A wide grin grew on her face as she turned to face the group again and slowly opened the door. It was unclear whether or not Sam could read lips or if she was simply a telepath, but she opened the door in time for the phrase "For the last time Todd we're not coding in the genitals!" to be shouted in its entirety.
Samantha and Ren immediately began laughing while the others covered their mouths with their hands in an attempt to hide their chuckling. Within the room there was silence for a few moments followed by yelling in a foreign language no one but Ren could follow, before a very young looking Japanese girl bounced out of the room and shut the door behind her. Her hair reached past her shoulders, part of it up in pigtails held up with pink bows. The rest of her seemed fairly normal, the hair being the only real thing about her that stood out. She wore a very clean and recently pressed white lab coat and a pair of goggles hung around her neck, and was wearing slacks and a pair of black tennis shoes. The woman glared momentarily at Sam, whose grin had only grown since the woman's appearance, before she noticed the other people gathered around. She immediately stiffened up and bowed to the group, with only Ren returning the gesture.
"I am so sorry for my rudeness. My name is Minori Fukatawa and I'm very pleased to meet you all," she said, enunciating as best she could in fluent Russian. Ren let out a laugh before crossing her arms over her chest and stepped forward.
"We took no offense Minori-san. My name is Kotko Renata but everyone calls me Ren. Pleasure to meet you," Ren responded, getting confused looks from everyone as it had been fluent Japanese. The woman simply shrugged and re-crossed her arms before smirking, "I was stationed for more than a few years in the Kuril Islands. I needed a hobby and wanted to do more than scream in Russian to carry out my duties," she explained, though it did little to diminish the confused looks on everyone's faces but Nikita's. Sam was the first to shake it off and began introducing Minori to the group.
"Okay, so the big bear here is Aleksis Kaidonovsky and this is his trainer, Sasha Zolnerowich. They're the pilot team for Cherno Alpha. Over here is the always full of surprises Ren Kotko and her so far very shy brother Nikki Kotko. They're piloting Bravo Zver. I figured you'd want to meet them once they got here," Samantha said, stopping every so often for Minori to finish giggling.
Nikita's eyes narrowed once his name was brought up and he started to step forward and say something, but Ren stopped him by putting him in a headlock and began digging her knuckles in his skull.
"What's the matter Nikki? Mad that someone else is calling you that? Don't tell me the great crime lord is getting his feelings hurt by a schoolgirl and a snarky secretary," she snickered, prompting a few unkind words from Nikita before Ren let him go. As soon as she did, Minori stepped forward and patted him softly on the head, giving him a look of concern.
"Oh, poor Nikita-kun. I won't call you something if it makes you mad," she gently cooed as her eyes searched his own. She had a very cute face and Nikita couldn't help but look away as he began to feel self-conscious. He sighed and could practically feel everyone's eyes on him as Minori waited for a response.
"No, it's fine. I couldn't get mad at someone so cute anyway," He replied, causing Minori to smile before stepping back and giving Nikita a wink.
"Then Nikki-kun it is. I'm in the research and development team here, as well as a liaison to some of the other departments. I study Kaiju and it's my job to ensure that both jaeger teams are as efficient in battle as possible," Minori beamed. Sasha and Nikita both nodded at this while Sam stepped up to be beside of Minori and began to poke her friend in the side of the head.
"Don't be so modest dear. Minori here is the lead scientist and director of the science team and designs Kaiju for the simulations you four will be familiarizing yourselves with soon. She's also a ton of fun to be around when she's not trying to act professional. Why just the other night after three shots of vodka she-", Sam started but was cut off by Minori's hand covering her mouth.
"Sam you promised not to say anything!" The scientist hissed, getting a laugh out of the group as Sam eased her friend's hand away.
"Just messing with you. We'll let you get back to work now but you better get your butt to the mess hall in time for lunch today. I don't care if you are trying to finish off the scale patterns or measuring a toenail, you need to eat," Sam scolded, playfully wagging her finger at Minori who merely smiled in reply.
It was apparent the two had become friends since coming to work at the Shatterdome. Aleksis thought they were adorable together. After Sam's nagging, Minori said her goodbyes and slunk back into what Nikita assumed was the conference room of the R&D and the tour recommenced.
Sam led them back downstairs and headed straight for a tunnel off to the far right of the massive main floor. As she walked, she explained that these were the sleeping quarters for the staff with the jaeger pilot's rooms at the end of the tunnel. Both teams would bunk together with either bunk beds or twin beds, with Sam winking at Aleksis at the mention of the latter. Sam didn't have to point out which rooms were whose as the name of their jaegers were engraved in the steel doors. Flipping through her clipboard, Sam removed four cards attached to papers and handed them out. They were the identification cards the group would need to get in their rooms and a few other rooms which required clearance to enter. They already had their pictures on them, photos taken when they'd graduated from the academy. Ren's photo had her flipping off the camera, a fact that had gotten a hearty laugh out of Sam when she'd first seen it.
Inside of the rooms were basic accommodations anyone would need, like bathrooms and beds. Empty shelves lined the walls along with a wooden wardrobe as well as a closet. It was bare bones now, but it seemed the group was encouraged to personalize as they wished. The only thing that seemed out of place were flat screen TVs sitting on a cabinet across from the beds, plugged in with their remotes placed at their base. This led Sasha to see it as a teenager's apartment rather than a proper barracks.
Ren was the first one to venture inside her room, tossing her bags off to the side before grabbing the remote, leaping onto her bed as she turned on her TV. Nikita joined her, with the Cherno team heading into their own room to settle in. Aleksis' first act was to push the beds together, getting a smirk out of Sasha and Sam. Nikita ventured in as well, setting his bags down while looking around the room, half listening to the TV as Ren flipped through stations. It had probably been a few years since she'd gotten to watch anything, going from prison to a boot camp. It surprised him a bit when she finally settled on the news, but once he registered a little of what the reporter was saying he simply smiled at Ren. There was a fairly pretty blonde woman sitting behind a news desk, with a screen behind her showing footage of the helipad the group had been standing on earlier from an aerial view. Ren was smiling wide as she turned the volume up for the others to hear.
"We have confirmation that the four figures standing on the platform our news helicopter saw earlier today are indeed the new jaeger pilots rumored to be arriving for active duty today. We could not get a close up of faces, but we do have information the Pan Pacific Defense Corps were gracious enough to give us. Our very own Russian Jaeger, Cherno Alpha, will be piloted by Aleksis Kaidonovsky and Sasha Zolnerowich…" The news anchor announced as the same photos on the pilot's ID cards filled the screen. By now the others had piled into the Kotko's room to get a look at the news report, with the Cherno pilots smiling at their photos. Aleksis nudged Sasha gently with his shoulder and winked at her.
"And now we are celebrities. I think we made a good career change," Aleksis chuckled before Sasha nudged him back with her own elbow, smiling at him.
"Yes, before we couldn't afford to buy milk at the store, and now we can't walk outside to go to the store without being mobbed. At least I'll be an action figure," She said, getting a laugh out of the others.
As they spoke, the woman on the screen prattled on about what they knew of the pilots, which was little to nothing of importance. There was speculation on the relationship between Sasha and Aleksis, and a mention of their previous career as prison guards. Ren then turned the volume up again as her and Nikita's photo's filled the screen.
"…and we can't forget about our allied brethren in Latvia. They are also rejoicing as their jaeger pilots report for duty alongside our own Russian team. Renata and Nikita Kotko, siblings and pilots for Bravo Zver can be seen here sharing a laugh with their fellow pilots as they enter the Shatterdome. We are still reaching out to our Latvian allies for more information on these two, but if the records given to us by the Pan Pacific are any indication, they will be a definite force to be reckoned with by any Kaiju. Hopefully in the very near future we can reach out to the pilots themselves…"
With this said, Ren turned down the volume again and let out an unsettling laugh. "Fucking figures. Guess that son of a bitch couldn't figure out a decent fucking fake life for me either," Ren spat, her face growing redder with every word. Nikita snatched the remote from her and turned the television off before placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't pay it any mind. That kind of thing isn't why we're here and if you'll notice, I lacked information as well. The records are probably just caught in red tape," Nikita whispered, which seemed to calm Ren back down again. After a moment or two she even managed a twisted smile.
"Yeah, guess I'll just have to deal for now," Ren muttered, hopping off the bed before looking at the others. They were staring at her, wanting an explanation for her outburst. Ren replied by flipping them off. Sam coughed to break the silence that followed and motioned towards the door.
"While you guys were watching the news I got word that the issues in the maintenance wing have been resolved. We can meet the boss-man and get a close up look at your fighting machines. Exciting, huh?" Sam said with a nervous laugh, still eying Ren a bit before leading everyone out of the room and eventually out of the tunnel once the doors were shut.
It took a good twenty minutes of fast paced but silent walking to make it to the maintenance bay, a testament to how massive the building was. Sam would have preferred to drive one of the golf carts here but there weren't any not already in use. She hoped once the dome was up to the Brigadier's standards the floor wouldn't be so traffic heavy and she could cut out some of this walking. It was giving her a literal pain in her ass. Having to dodge forklifts and work crews as they too hiked around the building did not help matters much. Even the noises going on around them were starting to annoy Sam, hissing steam and constant beeping as forklifts backed up. The sooner she got back in her safe communications relay room the better. At least there she could mute the cameras at will and be sitting in her cushioned and heated chair while she worked, none of this hour long hiking bullshit. She was looking forward to just that as soon as she dropped the newbies off with the commanding officer. Let him walk his ass off for a while. Though she had to admit, she liked these guys more than most of the others she was forced to interact with. Ren in particular seemed to share Samantha's mischievous sense of humor. Either way, as the group got closer to the elevator they'd need to use to reach the foremen, Sam found the base commander standing before it with his arms crossed and scowling as his gaze settled on her. Breaking up the riot had probably left him in a foul mood. Excuses to escape quickly flooded the communications officer's mind.
"Who's that angry asshole blocking the way?" Ren asked, putting a hand on Sam's shoulder to get her attention as she pointed ahead of them.
All Sam had time to do was wince before the man stomped forward to meet the group, his gaze now meeting Ren's. The Brigadier General had excellent hearing. He stopped five paces short of the group and placed his arms behind his back without breaking his glare. Ren was returning it just as intensely, which only caused veins to start throbbing in the man's forehead.
"2ND LIEUTENANT RENATA KOTKO, STEP FORWARD!" The man shouted, Ren's eyes widening as she realized that this was their commanding officer. She did as ordered, stepping forward and standing at attention, saluting as she wiped all traces of emotion from her face. "You will from now on address me as Sir. I will consider any alternate monikers as insubordination and have you shipped back out to Camp 34 where a cell in solitary is being kept warm for your prolonged stay. This goes for the rest of you rangers, who had better get in line with the 2nd lieutenant this instant or I will instruct the kitchen staff to ignore you in the mess hall for the next twenty four hours," The man spat, face red as he barked orders at the group. All but Sam filed in, who slowly snuck to stand beside of the commander.
"I am Petya Burondukov, Brigadier General with the Pan Pacific Defense Corp and your commanding officer within the confines of this Shatterdome. I will not tolerate your acting like any part of the preceding statement is fallible or anything short of absolute. Is this perfectly clear?!" Petya shouted, making sure to lean into Ren's face as he asked the question. She shouted back in the affirmative along with the others, which seemed to ease the blood pulsing through his forehead as the veins sank back to their default position. "Excellent. You may have heard from Miss Thompson already, but the maintenance bay is under lock down due to a sports related disagreement. No one is allowed in besides key personnel, a title none of you can claim until the Breach shits out another rabid beast for us to put down, until further notice. Lunch will be served within the hour. Unpack and settle in until then. Your training will continue, or rather will truly begin, tomorrow morning. Miss Fukatawa has assured me, along with many others, that the simulations she has personally prepared will make those Kaiju you faced in the academy look like men in rubber suits. I suggest resting in preparation for this," Petya asserted, his gaze scanning the rangers as he spoke.
The man was well built, former combat troop if Sasha had to guess, wearing a long drab green coat over a black dress uniform. Every gold button and medal was shined and the reflection of the lights coming off of his black boots could blind someone. He was the kind of guy that didn't just do everything by the book, he read it cover to cover every night before bed. She'd known people back in the police force like that; there were betting pools over when they'd have a stroke. They made good commanders though, provided they knew how to read a situation as well as they could protocol manuals.
"If that's sunken into your thick skulls then you're dismissed. Thompson, you're to come with me and provide an update on the status of the base. Have the teams in the secondary hangars made any more progress?" Petya barked, turning on his heel and walking off to the right.
Samantha let out a sigh before shaking her head, power walking to try to catch up with Petya's long strides. With the commander gone now, everyone but Ren relaxed. She remained stiff even after she dropped her salute, staring ahead with an angry glare, the gaze shifting slowly towards Nikita when he stepped into her peripheral vision.
"Why the hell were you so quiet when I was shoving my foot in my mouth, huh?" She barked before shoving Nikita back. The push made him take a step back but he simply smirked in reply.
"It's not like I knew who that was beforehand either. I think you lucked out though, most guys like that would make you run laps as punishment, right?" Nikita shot back, blocking a left hook from Ren with his forearm before letting out a laugh.
Ren couldn't help but to drop her glare as well now that the embarrassment had time to settle. It would be her luck though that the prison guards got to see her look like an idiot. She looked back at Sasha and Aleksis, scowling when she noticed the two were smiling at her. The one Aleksis was giving was a bit more innocent, probably thought the brother and sister rough housing was cute, but there was a certain air of superiority in Sasha's and it pissed Ren off. The two locked eyes, Sasha's smirk fading as she stared down the convict, scowling back with the same intensity Ren was managing. Sasha had no idea what the hell was wrong with this savage, but having an enemy didn't bother her in the slightest. Ren broke the gaze first in order to spit off to the side before replacing her glare with a smug looking smirk.
"Just fucking remember that those mother fuckers pop out of that hole one at a time. As long as one jaeger is capable of going out there to beat its shit in it don't matter much if a pilot can't respond due to a fucking boot up her ass. I'm watching you and if you're smart you better fucking watch me," Ren said through gritted teeth, elbowing past Sasha as she dug into her coat and pulled out a lighter and a pack of cigarettes. Nikita watched her storm off before sighing in annoyance.
"I'd say she's not normally like this but she kind of is. I'm terribly sorry," He said calmly, jumping a little when Aleksis placed a hand on his shoulder but relaxing when he saw the big guy was smiling.
"We can't pick family, just live with them, eh?" He said before giving Nikita a slap on the back. "It's not much of a leap to think the same woman locked up for killing four people has issues. We take no offense. Besides, I think Sasha kind of likes having enemies to fight with. Keeps her strong," Aleksis chuckled, letting out a laugh before Sasha playfully elbowed him in the side.
Nikita smiled back and nodded at the couple as thanks for their understanding. All of this was new for Nikita, from all the physical training to being with his sister again after so many years, he was no longer in total control of everything that happened around him and it was starting to annoy him. Then there were the Cherno Alpha pilots whom Nikita had honestly written off as guards with a strong sense of duty. Though he hadn't dropped his guard around them yet, he was getting the feeling that they wouldn't shove a knife in his side if he were to. It was an odd feeling when most of your life was spent dealing with criminal organizations. He had to plan his every move carefully to keep himself alive, even things as simple as going out for coffee. It was refreshing to meet people like this.
The introspection session Nikita was having was interrupted though when he heard Ren scream profanities somewhere behind him followed by the sounds of chanting. Nikita had internalized the sound and rhythm from his earlier years of schooling when Ren was still in his class. He did not need to make out the words to know they were shouting 'Fight!' over and over, which meant someone had not gotten out of Ren's way. With a sigh Nikita looked to his fellow pilots and silently excused himself before running off towards the chaos.
Sasha crossed her arms and smirked as she watched Nikita go, noting out of the corner of her eye that some of the security personnel were also heading towards the fight. This was the only thing that kept her from breaking the fight up herself and allowing herself to pass up an excuse to shove her boot up the brutish woman's ass. Looking back to Aleksis, she couldn't help but smile as she saw the goofy grin on his own face before giving him another elbow to the side.
"You may like them but that's not going to stop me from kicking her ass if she talks to me like that again. If you weren't here I would have punched the words back down her throat," Sasha chuckled, not one to hold on to her anger more than she needed to. She'd learned how to swallow those kinds of emotions long ago.
Aleksis simply laughed before sweeping Sasha off of her feet, cradling her in his arms like a babe before squeezing her tight and kissing her lightly on the lips. It had been a while since they weren't being watched and he had been waiting for the chance to sweep his girlfriend off of her feet.
"You probably will end up doing so regardless, but it is still best to get along while we are in this place. Maybe we can all be friends and focus on pommeling Kaiju like we're supposed to, huh?" Aleksis shot back, giving Sasha another squeeze.
At first Sasha had hated Aleksis for doing this to her, making her feel like some toy, but after drifting with him and training with him she'd gotten more comfortable with the feeling of vulnerability, replacing it with a sense of safety. Aleksis was one of the few people she could really laugh with. She was glad her random game of eenie meanie miney mo had landed on him in the break room of the prison what felt like a lifetime ago. Looking back at him she gave a fake scoff before he set her back down on her feet, stepping forward just to look at him over her shoulder, her shoulder length hair concealing her eyes but not her smirk.
"There are other things besides friends I'd like to make here," she said, saying it slowly before resuming her walk, no longer looking back. She did not need to. Aleksis might as well be on a leash after a comment like that.