Author's note: Sorry about the delay, but I've been busy in meatspace lately. My schedule at work just got shuffled around, and I'm starting some college classes on Monday, so I'm not going to be posting quite as often for the next few weeks until I get settled in. Don't worry, though: I'm still going to be working on this, just at a slower pace.

-.-.-

Forged in Fire, Chapter 21

Hong Kong Shatterdome

LOCCENT

May 27, 2025

1105

Tendo whipped around, seeking the unfamiliar voice. Herc, however, slowly turned around, arms crossed over his chest. He leaned against a desk in LOCCENT as he looked at the new arrival. "Hannibal Chau… Took you long enough to find me here."

Chau shrugged. "Had to stop to ask for directions a number of times. I knew Shatterdomes were big, but this really puts it into perspective."

"Sorry, but Mr. Choi called me up here to review a recording from a simulator run. It's impressive, to say the least."

"I've always wanted to see what the Jaeger pilots went through. Can I watch?"

Herc thought for a moment, then came to a decision. "Yeah, but keep in mind that the neural handshake at the start is far from typical. It's actually the fastest and strongest one we've ever seen."

Tendo started the playback, bringing the LOCCENT to life as if it were actually in use again. "This simulation was run less than three hours ago with the crew of Gipsy Danger. The simulation was set up to mimic a persistent nightmare from one of the crew, so that they could try to rewrite the nightmare into a happier ending."

Hannibal Chau watched as Gipsy dropped into Tokyo and began to take on the simulated Kaiju. "What happened in the nightmare?"

Herc paused the playback right as the Kaiju charged at Gipsy. "Right here is where the events diverged. In the nightmare, Ms. Mori's side of the Jaeger is badly damages when the Kaiju drives the bladed protrusion through the left shoulder. The damage leaves the Rangers badly dazed and unable to defend themselves properly. Mr. Beckett tried to deploy the right-hand plasma cannon, but was unable to before the Kaiju breached the hull of the Conn Pod and tore him away, leaving Gipsy crippled and unable to fight. That's as far as the nightmare went. So, they did it differently this time."

Chau watched as Herc unpaused the playback and Gipsy began to engage the Kaiju… then watched the Kaiju dart off into the city after being hit with the plasma cannon. "Huh… rather similar to Otachi in intelligence and speed, Knifehead in stature, and Onibaba in behavior before Gipsy arrived."

Gipsy had just grabbed the Kaiju's head and was preparing to fire again when Newt burst into LOCCENT. "GUYS! I don't care what you're doing, but drop it now, we've got bigger problems!"

Herc groaned. "Newt, what are you talking about?"

"Th-th-the Breach…. It's not going to stay closed."

Herc paused the playback as Hannibal Chau turned around slowly and Tendo dropped his favorite coffee mug to the ground. "What did you say," Herc growled darkly.

"The Breach will reopen. More Kaiju will come."

Chau glared at Newt. "And you know this how?"

"The Ghost Drift. I… I was at some sort of meeting in the Anteverse. They were discussing the outcome of the war. It was fascinating, really, getting to see their culture…"

Herc held up his hands. "Hold up, mate. Details. Lots of them. NOW."

Newt paused and swallowed. "Okay. We all know Jaegers are incredibly expensive, right? Well, we never really asked ourselves what the Kaiju cost to make. Not money, but resources. I finally have an answer."

"And?"

"The answer is complicated, but I'll try to condense it as best I can. The Kaiju were classed by the Precursors, their makers and masters, on a generational system. Generation 1 Kaiju were the first ones to come out. They weren't intended to face any serious resistance. The last Gen 1 Kaiju was Karloff, in Vancouver. Gen 2 Kaiju were the trial-and-error phase, trying to find out what would work against the Jaegers. They were replaced by Gen 3 Kaiju, which were designed to refine the techniques and systems that would be needed later. The first Gen 3? Knifehead. Gen 4 Kaiju were the final, refined versions. Otachi, Leatherback, Scunner, and Raiju were the only ones to come through."

Chau's curiosity was piqued. "What about Slattern?"

"Exterminator-class. Not tied to a generational mark."

Herc, though curious himself, wanted to get back on track. "Right, you said something about costs?"

"Oh, yeah, right. The figure I overheard was that each fourth-gen Kaiju took enough resources to feed one of their Hives, which are supercities that house about a billion Precursors, for a month." He paused to let that sink in. "That's more than the cost of Striker Eureka, if you translate it into human terms."

"And Slattern?"

"Five Hives, more than three months."

Silence hung in the LOCCENT for a few moments.

Herc finally spoke his mind. "So, what you're telling me is that bout sides of the Breach are suffering from an economic downturn from the war?"

"We're actually in better shape. We haven't invested as much into this as they have."

Chau has been thinking about something, and finally spoke up again. "So, why are they coming back here?"

"They don't have a choice. They've invested too much time, effort and resources to try to find a world to terraform. It's here, or nothing."

"And the Kaiju?"

"Smaller and cheaper, but smarter and better equipped. And in larger numbers."

Herc looked out over Scramble Alley. "And the Breach?"

"It'll take them a while to clean up the mess Gipsy left. Apparently, the Precursors aren't resistant to radiation poisoning."

"But the Kaiju are?"

"No, they aren't any better than the Precursors. Remember, each time we've nuked them, they've gone down. It probably didn't take three to take out Trespasser; that's just what was on the Minuteman III missile that was used to perform the final strike, and they wanted to be sure it went down and stayed down."

Herc continued to stare out over the empty Jaeger bays. "So, how long do you think it will be until they reopen the Breach?"

"Two, maybe three years? They have to regrow everything and test it. No guarantees it'll be in the same spot, though. Ask Hermann about it."

"I will. In the meantime, write all this down. I want all of this on record."

Newt raced back to his lab to write the report. Tendo looked at Herc. "Sir, what do we do now? Are we still going to disband at the start of September?"

"The U.N. gave me no choice. We're a Private Military Contractor now, and we bought a nuke on the black market from Russia. It was either stand down, or be arrested. All of us, from you and I to the janitors. I couldn't let that happen." He looked at Chau. "Which is why I wanted to meet with you."

"I'm all ears, Marshall."

"Before Newt's bombshell, I had been planning to ask if you wanted to have a highly-trained PMC. Now? I'd be a fool to let the PPDC be broken up."

"Will you tell the U.N.?"

Herc's gaze darkened. "They cut and ran at our darkest hour," he growled. "I will NEVER forgive them for that. Pentecost might have, but I won't. As my son would have said, 'Screw'em.' We closed the Breach on our own. We can do it again." Herc's gaze suddenly became more distant. "We WILL do it again." He turned to Hannibal Chau. "However, we'll need some serious financial backing."

"Which I can't provide up front… yet. That said… If you were to bring some of the more complex Jaeger tech to market for military and humanitarian work, we'd have much more funding." Chau looked out over the hangar at Gipsy's arm being brought in on a Jaeger Launch Platform. "Something much smaller than that. Something smaller and lighter than a tank, actually."

Tendo perked up. "Like Iron Monger from the 2008 "Iron Man" movie?"

"Exactly. Now that there's a lull in the Kaiju war, I highly expect that old rivalries will rise up again. And the U.S. military has always wanted exosuits. Why not make some for them?"

Herc smiled. "And if you remove the armor and weapons, you've got an agile, fast, and strong construction or rescue mech. I like it. I'll turn Mako loose on it after she and Raleigh get back from California."

Tendo turned to Herc. "I thought you were going too?"

"Something personal came up in Australia. I need to go take care of it sooner, rather than later. I'll go from there to the U.S. after it's dealt with."

Chau turned around and walked over to Tendo's station. "Where in California?"

"Sacramento will be our temporary home, but we're actually going to be working in Oblivion Bay. We're retrieving Brawler Yukon and Crimson Typhoon for sure. Beyond that, it's going to require a hand-on look at them to determine which Mark II and III Jaeger are brought here for display."

"Sacramento's become a vital hub on the West Coast. It's somewhat replaced San Francisco, Oakland, and the Silicon Valley, all at the same time. I had it on my short list of places to look at before picking a place to set up shop. So, where would you want to put a revamped HQ?"

"Depends on where you set up shop."

"Hmm. Mind if I tag along?"

Herc grinned and handed Hannibal a PPDC I.D. card. "Welcome to the Senior Staff. We're leaving on Friday. Hong Kong to Seattle, then to Sacramento. We'll be there for a month or more."

"Sounds good."

Tendo leaned back in his chair. "So, any idea what you're going to call your business?"

Chau thought for a moment. "Now that it seems that we're joining forces and staff, how about… Pan Pacific Industries?"

Herc smiled. "Perfect. Let's go talk this out in more detail over lunch."

Hannibal gestured towards the door. "I know this place downtown that survived the battle in January that does a fantastic steak."

"Well, what are we waiting for?"

The two men left the LOCCENT, already talking over the proposed new business.

Tendo, however, was deep in thought. What kind of personal matter does Herc have to deal with? His brother died in a drunk driving accident two years ago. Chuck's tombstone is in Hawaii. His wife's birthday is in October, their anniversary is in February, and she died in September. He's got no surviving family… What could it be? Whatever the reason, he's earned a vacation.

-.-.-

Corridor 5C, just outside Kwoon combat training room 7

1300

Herc and Chau were walking along, discussing the details of the museum, when the sound of Mako's laugh drifted out of the Kwoon. Herc gestured for silence and pulled out a camera, then slipped his head around the doorframe. He then gestured Chau into the room.

Mako and Raleigh bowed formally just as the two older men entered, the proceeded to circle the mats for a few moments. Then, in a blur of motion that left Chau astounded, Mako lunged at Raleigh, raining down blows. Raleigh nimbly parried each and every strike before beginning his own flurry of attacks, driving Mako backwards. They danced around the mat for several minutes, wrapped in their own little world of each other and their hanbo staves. Finally, Mako darted inside of Raleigh's striking range, and Raleigh simply pulled her into him with his hanbo. They stood there for a moment, chest to chest, looking at each other and ignoring everything else.

At that moment, however, Herc sneezed, causing both Rangers to jump in surprise.

Hannibal Chau began to clap. "Ah, to be young again."

Raleigh and Mako looked at each other, thoughts flowing through their freshly-renewed Ghost Drift at incredible speed. Raleigh spoke for them. "Sir, who's the VIP?"

Herc put the camera away. "Rangers, meet Hannibal Chau. He provided financial backing for us after the U.N. cut bait and ran. He's also going to be the CEO of Pan Pacific Industries. As you're aware, we're going to be closing down the PPDC at midnight on August 31st. Starting September 1st, there's a job waiting for both of you with PPI. I've already accepted an offer to be the head of the Security branch."

Chau stepped in. "PPI will be taking over the Jaeger Program entirely. I was hoping that you'd come on board to provide your piloting expertise… and your engineering skills. We will be building smaller mechs and exosuits, as well as next generation prosthetic limbs."

Mako and Raleigh were silent for a bit. Chau shuffled, uncomfortable.

Herc coughed gently and leaned over to Chau. "Don't mind it. They're communicating through the Ghost Drift and the Drift Hangover from this morning. It takes some getting used to, even for a Ranger like myself."

Mako finally nodded her head once. "Sounds like a plan. Where are you thinking of setting up?"

Hannibal Chau shrugged. "Not sure yet, but I'm thinking Sacramento, California. Lots of tech companies there, lots of transportation connections, relatively close to the San Francisco Exclusion Zone, which I want to help rebuild… It's also a nice city, from what I've heard."

Mako and Raleigh looked at each other and shrugged, then Mako looked at Herc. "Well, we might as well pack up our meager belongings and prepare to move to Sacramento. There's not much point in coming back for just two months."

Herc smiled. "Sounds like everything's coming together. Raleigh, what'd your sister major in again?"

"Business." He paused. "Oh. I see."

Chau smiled politely. Raleigh noticed little flecks of something stuck to his teeth. "Any chance you could get me in contact with her before we depart on Friday?"

"We, sir?"

Herc sighed. "I need to go down to Australia for a week on a personal task that just came up, so Chau's going to take my seat. He's part of what I'm calling the Senior Staff: Me, Chau, Tendo, Gottlieb and Geizler… and you two. If we're going to get PPI off the ground in a hurry, having someone on the ground already will help immensely."

Mako and Raleigh nodded their understanding in unison, clearly doing so intentionally. Chau laughed. "You two are a hoot to watch. I wish I could have that level of a connection to someone again."

"Chau, shall we? There's still a lot talk about and visit…"

"Catch you two later. Oh, and thanks for what you did in Hong Kong. I never did like that stadium."

Herc and Chau walked out as Mako and Raleigh put their shoes on to head back to their quarters to begin packing for their upcoming trip to the U.S.

-.-.-

Author's note 2: Herc's little holiday was originally going to be doctor mandated from exhaustion, but I decided to have him take it of his own free will. He's going to need some rest if he's going to be rebuilding the Jaeger Program. ;) However, expect a side story to detail not only the vacation, but the reason for it as well. Let's just say that Chuck's line of "I want to come back from this mission, because I quite like… my life" is going to be explored in more detail. Stay tuned!