"I won't be Raleigh's co-pilot," Mako told him serenely when he caught her in the mess hall.
She had a thick folder of notes, her tablet, and was writing into a book. Mako was happiest with an engine to take apart and watch it work perfectly when she put it together again.
She was eating fried rice and vegetables in spicy sauce. It smelled delicious.
"You want to give up driving a Jaeger?" Chuck blurted.
She smiled calmly. "No."
"So you don't want to drive one with Raleigh?"
"No."
Chuck hissed in frustration. Mako looked at him like he was a small child throwing a tantrum.
"I always wanted to step into a Conn-Pod. I was one of the best, Chuck Hansen. Raleigh was my co-pilot for that first time outside a simulator. He was my co-pilot when we went down to the Breach. He was there when I chased the rabbit. He was there when we went into the Breach, ready to sacrifice everything so everyone else could live. I have been in his head, have seen his pain and loss. I know his soul, Chuck Hansen, but you are the one who feels it, too."
He frowned angrily. Mako simply smiled.
"Do you really think that sharing the Drift will be so very different from what you have shared already? Your souls are connected. You have his love and trust, you know of his scars. He shares what you have, too. He won't ever replace your alpha."
Chuck swallowed.
"He won't," Mako repeated. "Ever. Herc accepts Raleigh as pack. He is your mate. You won't accept anyone else."
XOXO
And that mate wrapped his arms around Chuck as he walked into his quarters, pulling him close, burying his head against one shoulder.
"Uh," Chuck mumbled as he felt stubble brush over his skin.
Something skittered through him, ignited by the rough scratch. The connection between them thrummed with emotions. Whispers arched across, all thoughts and emotions and no sense. Chuck wrapped himself around the other presence and let it wash over him.
"Ray?" he asked, a little bewildered but not at all adverse to it.
"Don't call me that," was the knee-jerk response, almost lost in his flight jacket.
"Sure. What's going on?"
"Nothin'."
"You just turned into a cuddle monster why?"
It got him a huff of laughter and Raleigh raised his head, looking at him from bright blue eyes.
"I like you close, that's all."
The bond. Fuck. His mate had probably been on the receiving end of a whole lot of unfiltered emotions and whatnot. They were too new in this whole connection business. Both were still trying to figure out how to keep themselves from projecting all over the place all the time.
Chuck had thought he had a grip on it.
Proven wrong, he thought sourly.
"You got that all, hm?" he asked with a grumpy edge to the question.
Raleigh gave a little huff of a laugh. "The bond connection transmits strong emotions. Yours were very strong. And it's not like I don't know what causes that kind of a reaction."
Ye-eah. Talk about knee-jerk reactions. Or triggers. Both in one sitting.
Chuck was silent. They had been growing into what this was, this physical, mental and meta-physical connection between them. It was terrifying how well they had adjusted to each other, how in tune they were. It wasn't all happiness and pink clouds and rainbows, but it was a lot of instinct involved. It made some things easier, some harder.
"Would you want me in your head like that?" he finally asked, trying to make it neutral, but it came out rather too harsh.
Raleigh froze, actually froze, and he pushed back. His eyes had widened. The emotions were now stronger, bouncing wildly, and Chuck pulled at the bond like on a physical connection. His mate seemed to mentally stagger, then righten himself.
"Why wouldn't I?"
"I know Mako was in there. The whole thing nearly went south."
Raleigh winced a little.
"And we got baggage," the triple Shifter went on. "Both of us. We got so much fucking baggage. We'd go out of alignment, fuck up the neural handshake…" He exhaled sharply.
"We got the primary bond, too."
"You think that helps?" Chuck laughed without amusement.
"It does."
Bloody hell, the man was serious!
"You really want to?"
"The question is, would you want me there?"
He wanted to hit him just then and there. What a fucking stupid question!
Chuck knew his outburst transmitted over the bond and glared as Raleigh winced a little.
"Well, you're out of crazy people who want to Drift with you. And I'm out of old guys who think I'm their co-pilot while it's the other way around." Chuck gave him a smirk.
Raleigh's expression was priceless, going from hopeful to ecstatic to absolutely gorgeous.
"So, tag, you're it," he said lightly.
Inside he was a knotted mess.
"And you are it," Raleigh replied, pulling him into a sudden kiss, biting lightly at his lips.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Archangel wouldn't be ready for a while.
It meant simulation runs at best.
Raleigh had been through several of them, sitting down with the Jaeger techs and Drift engineers, and sometimes even with Hermann Gottlieb.
Gottlieb was busy with no longer so theoretical models of the Breach, the Throat and whatever data had made it back about the Anteverse.
Raleigh was his favorite subject when it came to questions.
It reminded Raleigh of what had happened, but it also helped him work through the crazy ass images. It was almost like sessions with a shrink.
XOXO
The arrival of a second Jaeger, ready to be restored and outfitted, sealed the fact that the Kaidanovskys were still in the game.
Tendo jokingly called the Jaeger Archdemon.
She was officially called Triskelion Alpha two weeks into her restoration.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
The Drift is silence.
And it is a million sounds.
He sat on top of the scaffolding, watching the welders work on the last layer of armor, sparks arching away into the dark bay.
Chuck had been up here countless times, either working or watching, alone with his thoughts and emotions. It was something he had done from early on in his life as a Jaeger pilot kid.
Right now he was in his third shape; the Koala from Hell.
Sitting on his haunches, he let his thoughts drift, alert wolf eyes on his surroundings.
Archangel was near completion.
Soon she would be ready for a first launch. With a new pilot team. Raleigh Becket and Chuck Hansen.
They would be Drifting together for the very first time.
Chuck knew everything about Drift technology, the Pons, the Jaeger tech involved to bring two minds together. He was an expert on these matters, the best pilot the PPDC ever had. He had been raised in a Conn-Pod, he had been with his father in Shatterdomes all over the world. He had talked to techs and engineers, had crawled around Jaegers before he had been able to drive a bike.
There was nothing he didn't know.
So he knew there was more to the Drift than science told the pilots. Especially for Shifters.
He had experienced it.
Nons needed several Drifts to create a Headspace where both sides felt comfortable. It was a place where each crew unconsciously negotiated its own consensus expression. Communication through Headspace was quicker than verbal communication, shielding the part they didn't want others to know about.
Shifters had connections surpassing that of a neural handshake. Family pack bonds, sibling connections
Some were mates, which was the most intense.
Their Headspace was like a physical form of the soulmate connection. Especially an alpha connection.
It was dizzying, surreal and so much part of them, it would come to life almost upon contact.
Packs had a weaker version of that, but it was intense nonetheless.
The Headspace with his alpha had been like that for Chuck. Surreal but intense. Right there. And Chuck had known about so many things all of a sudden, it had almost winded him.
With a mate it would be several times that and more.
With Raleigh, who was so new to him, who was still getting over five years of shielding his soul against everything, Chuck had no idea what would happen. They were compatible without even going through one kwoon session, but they both had deep, emotional wounds to take into account.
Then again, his mate had already shown that he could still go through Drifts. Mako had been his co-pilot twice and they had kicked ass together.
He huffed softly to himself and finally ambled over to another spot that gave him a perfect view of the fins on Archangel's back and the Conn-Pod.
Chuck lay down, head on his crossed paws.
At the edge of his consciousness he felt his mate. Raleigh was becoming more powerful a presence in his mind and it was new and strange and still very wonderful.
It was like nothing he had ever experienced before. Knowing that he, Chuck Hansen, was healing the other Shifter just because they were bonded was another little thrill.
I love him, he thought fondly.
The Drift wouldn't be so bad, right? Different from Herc and him, but not bad. It couldn't be bad.
XO
He stayed until the shift change.
XO
No one really batted an eye at the Shifter who climbed nimbly and quickly down the scaffolding and trotted off. Chuck kept to his koala 'demon' shape until he had reached his quarters, then smoothly shifted to human once inside.
XO
He took a long shower, mind still whirling with the thoughts of Drifting with his mate.
XOXO
Raleigh was there, leaning against the wall, as he stepped out of the bathroom.
"You think loudly," he said, a faint smile in his eyes and twitching at his lips. "Again."
Chuck shrugged apologetically.
"We don't have to do this, Chuck."
"And fuck you, Ray," he growled.
"Chuck…"
"No. No, we're doing this. You're my bloody mate! We're already connected! We're the best they can find."
It was common knowledge that co-pilots could be disoriented by the experience of Drifting the first time, particularly when they shared no common memory or reference points with their partner.
Headspace was difficult to use effectively at first, as pilots were still adjusting to one another's mental vocabulary.
Mates were already one step ahead.
Mates shared so much more.
"But you're not comfortable with the idea. Herc…"
"Mate, Raleigh. You're my mate! Not my alpha!"
Raleigh didn't so much as twitch as Chuck stalked over to him, eyes glowing with the wolf in him. He just looped an arm around his waist, sliding over naked skin.
"I'm your mate," he said softly, the bond open and humming warmly between them. "I don't have to be your co-pilot."
"You are already both," Chuck said, pushing him against the wall again.
Raleigh leaned his head against Chuck's.
The triple Shifter closed his eyes, tension leaving him again.
::I want you:: Raleigh whispered. ::In my head. With me::
::It's a fucked up place to be::
::Yeah::
Chuck captured the slightly happed lips. ::And we're gonna kick ass::
Raleigh chuckled. ::Never doubted it.::
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Matching in the Kwoon was like a dance. It was balance and mirroring, it was achieving a unity that co-pilots needed to Drift, and it was a harmony felt by both participants.
The goal was to forge an ideal partnership between the Rangers.
The Kwoon was never a confrontation, a battle to beat an opponent, to win. It was a way to push both participants to their physical and mental limits. There had been matches lasting up to fourteen hours or more.
For them it had been going on six.
Chuck had been grumbling to himself that their alpha made them match in the Kwoon. It was already a fact, a solid, irremovable fact that they would match perfectly.
"No time like the present to show it," had been Herc's comment.
Chuck had literally growled at him.
Raleigh had just nodded, all serious and the perfect Ranger.
"I hate you," had been Chuck's comment; meant for both.
So now they were in their seventh hour, muscles burning, minds focused, their weapons of choice ready.
Mako was taking notes, Herc had been watching almost all the time, while others had come and gone. The Kaidanovskys hadn't moved from their seats, their attentive gazes following every move.
The pack bond was strong between them, the sense Chuck had of Raleigh almost surreal.
All of this was not of this world.
He hadn't had this intense pack connection since his mother had died. Instead of only his alpha he was aware of every single one, be it the other wolf Shifters or the not-wolves; even the Nons.
XOXO
::I know:: Raleigh told him between two sessions. ::I feel them, too::
And he wanted it. Chuck got that sense off him. He wanted and he actually craved it, this family unit connection, this tightness.
::PPDC's gonna flip shit if Herc's pulling alpha on them over something::
Raleigh's chuckle was soft and low. ::They made him this Shatterdome's Marshall. It was their choice, knowing who and what he is::
So much was true.
XOXO
They ended the day after eight hours and twenty-nine minutes.
Drained, happy, exhausted and still running high on adrenaline and the thrum of the bond.
"You did well, boys," Herc commented as he joined his two betas. "Tendo's scheduled a Drop in forty-eight hours. We'll see how it goes."
"As if there's any doubt," Chuck scoffed.
Herc's grin was brief, almost a smirk. Then he left them alone to shower and head to their quarters.
XOXO
They kissed languidly. There was no fever, no hunger, in the kiss. Just the deeper emotions that sloshed gently over the bond. There was no rush, no pressure, just the closeness.
Chuck answered the kiss with the same intensity that Raleigh had put into the intimate contact.
"We'll be amazing," Raleigh murmured against his lips when they parted.
"We'll be fucking perfect."
His mate grinned.
No doubt at all.
tbc..