Author's Note: Many thanks to everyone for all the awesome reviews! Please keep them coming! There are two more gratuitous geek culture (well, one more pop culture classic) references in the press conference practice scene of this chapter - anyone catch them?
Chapter Twenty-One: Front and Center
Jaeger Academy and PPDC Proving Grounds, Kodiak, Alaska…
June 2017…
As much as Dr. Lightcap was correct, and trying to resolve the concern versus competition issue with a drift had been like trying to water a plant with Niagara Falls, it had purged the lingering tension over Fightmaster Tessori. Yancy and Raleigh were at ease when they reported for drills and then joined the other Rangers and Ranger-Readies for team exercises.
The western military drill sergeants had also not been idle in tackling the teamwork issue, and came up with a sadistic - but often hilarious - program of obstacle courses that had to be completed while the teams were tied together at the waist. It was actually fun; Tendo Choi christened it The Three-Legged Race of DOOM and got at least one run on camera before the MPs kicked him out amid threats of grievous bodily injury from the Rangers.
They learned to ignore the recruits who peered at them during the assorted outdoor comedies of errors. "Wonder if this will encourage them or send them running for the exit?" Yancy mused.
"You can't be a Ranger if you don't have a sense of humor," Steffie Lanphier insisted.
"I'd've thought that if we didn't know Tanisha," Raleigh murmured in his ear, making him snicker and elbow him.
Tanisha and Caleb still weren't exactly friendly... but Yancy no longer took quite so much umbrage at it, since it was obvious they were that way with everyone. Some of the newbies from Class 2017-A were like that too. It didn't seem to be military or non-military, or nationality or relationship that defined it, just personalities. Dr. Lightcap had said that every single team was different at the neurological level, so Yancy figured he'd just have to take each one as they came.
They went out in Gipsy that afternoon, feeling a giddy elation to be genuinely in her again instead of the sim, and saw a massive crowd of recruits as well as fellow Rangers watching. After diagnostic, they took her through the full run of Bushido drills, thinking of their practice with Yankee. Tanisha and Caleb were all business afterwards, but had plenty of questions.
"What's the range on that plasma?"
"Pretty damn long. Dissipation's not your issue," said the munitions developer. "The problem is going to be spatter over distance. It'll operate like a shotgun. For team ops, be well behind them before they fire off that stuff."
They were in Anchorage for five days. On the evening of the second day, they finished close-synched drills under Fightmaster Tessori's watchful eyes without stepping on anyone else's toes or hitting each other's hanbōs.
On the third day, Team Gipsy and Team Yankee ran another team combat simulation. They came out with two intact Jaegers, one dead kaiju, and zero incidents of friendly fire. Dr. Lightcap happened to be there as Team Gipsy exited the pod and whispered, "Told you!"
Giving over the decision-making to anybody else still grated on Yancy a little, but it got easier... once they started trusting Tanisha and Caleb. And once Tanisha and Caleb figured out that Raleigh and Yancy could also be trusted.
With two weeks to go until Gipsy's public launch, there was some debate among the commanders as to whether Raleigh and Yancy should go back to LA or just stay in Anchorage.
"No, bring 'em down for a couple more days," said Tanisha. "We still have work to do."
They drilled harder and harder, giving themselves a smaller and smaller margin of error in space and reaction time, both in the simulator and out. "We need to be able to drill together on base without taking each other out," Raleigh agreed.
Right before heading back to LA so Team Yankee could finish logging their June time, Raleigh and Yancy got to take part in one final milestone for Class 2016-B: the non-public introduction of Hydra Corinthian, the first of the Mark IV Jaegers. Stephanie Lanphier and Kennedy LaRue were to be her pilots.
"She'll be ready for her pilots to start logging time in her by the end of July," Dr. Schoenfeld told them proudly, as Stephanie and Kennedy stood a little apart from the others. "Goal is New Year's Launch for the first Mark IV, and the first fully-digital Jaeger."
"These kids and their new-fangled gadgets!" said Trevin Gage in a grumpy-old-man voice. "What's the word on the rest of the Mark IIIs?"
"September for Shaolin Rogue; Fei Yen and Huan already left for Hong Kong, but the rest of the newbies are sticking around until Gipsy's launch before scattering. October for Vulcan Specter in Brisbane, and three more Mark III mechs before the end of this year. 2018 and 2019 should see ten Mark IVs roll out."
"Is there gonna be a Mark V?" asked Raleigh, laughing.
It was mostly a joke, but then they all saw Schoenfeld's sly expression, and half the crowd chorused, "Seriously?!"
"Oooh, we've got a few ideas. Funding it is going to be a thing, considering the Mark IVs took about seventy billion a pop, but we're still pushing the limits of the engineering and pons capabilities. Depending on whether or not those assaults on the Breach ever yield results, well," Schoenfeld shrugged. "We may need to keep pushing the Jaeger envelope."
"Doctor, did you hear the really great idea that got presented to Homeland Security yesterday for consideration?" asked Priya Katwal with a sly smile.
"Uh-uh."
"Not sure I did either," muttered Kennedy, and she tended to keep up on the political stuff. Yancy and Raleigh exchanged a blank look with several of the others.
"Our distinguished Concrete Producers of America and the United Steel Workers think they have a catch-all solution to the 'kaiju problem' - their words. A wall."
There was a long, very confused silence. "Say what now?" said Tendo slowly.
Priya was flat-out giggling. "They want to build a wall around the Pacific Ocean to keep the kaiju out."
Yancy wasn't sure who started laughing first. But pretty soon they were all howling, and those who weren't belly-laughing were just repeating, "What?!" over and over.
Schoenfeld was shaking his head. "Speaking as an engineer, I see a few flaws in that plan."
"Did nobody float that one in Seoul?"
"I'm sure somebody did, but the reaction was 'yeah, right.'"
"A wall around sensitive parts of a city, maybe," Raleigh mused on the way back to LA, considering some of the books he'd read. "But what would you make it out of that a kaiju can't knock down?!"
"Yeah, that didn't do Troy a lot of good, did it?" said Tendo, reclining his chair. "Schwarzenegger was yammering about the border wall back before K-Day when he was governor. Hell, we knew that was useless against humans." He peered shamelessly over Raleigh's shoulder at his tablet. "What game's that?"
"Just chess with animated pieces; I've got a running game against Suze Hassan. Oh, great, she knows about the wall. Now she's making fun of Congress."
"Tell her only Americans get to make fun of the American government. More important, who's winning the game?" Tendo watched little foot soldiers in armor duking it out on the board.
"At the moment, she's ahead on pieces, but I'll have her in check in a minute. Then you can watch my queen beat up her bishop. Somebody should invent Jaeger-Kaiju Chess. I'd pay money for that."
Yancy lazily counted on his fingers. "No dice, we don't have enough of either yet. Once the Mark IVs are out... kaiju every three months... maybe."
"I've got Game of Thrones Chess back home," said Cady Spencer. "It's out of date by now."
"I didn't know you play. Trade seats with him, Rals, lemme see what he's got."
"Hang on. Suze says winner of our match plays winner of yours."
"At this rate, we'll need a bracket again," Tendo said.
"Are you Gipsies seriously having a chess tournament?!" demanded Penny Jefferson.
"Hell, yeah! And right after, we're having a meeting of the Pretentious Hipster Book Club. Organic vegetarian food provided," said Tendo.
Caleb snorted loudly. "At least you admit it. We'll be on the fun side of the plane if anyone needs us, eating barbecued ribs and watching Dancing With The Stars."
Los Angeles Shatterdome, June 2017…
With two weeks until launch, Carolina Olivares was spending a lot of time coaching Raleigh and Yancy on public appearance – or rather, forewarning them about the insanity that was about to be unleashed on them, with much snarky commentary from Team Gipsy and Team Yankee.
"You're cute, which means you'll have girls all over you, but then some of the commentators will say you were chosen for looks instead of abilities," Brady Harris, Yankee Star's PR liaison, warned them.
"And if you weren't cute, they'd bitch about that too," Tendo agreed.
The boys weren't too concerned about that… until they really started paying attention to the discussion already going on in the media.
"What idiot general thought it was a good idea to put two completely untried Jaeger teams in charge of protecting the entire west coast of the United States?" a talking head caterwauled on Fox News. "Why are a pair of tested and proven Blackhawk pilots cooling their heels up in Alaska while we have two high school drop-outs and the affirmative action poster children?!"
Tendo wasn't that shocked, but from the less-worldly amongst Team Gipsy, he swore he heard the thud of jaws hitting the concrete floor.
"What… the… FUCK?!" Impressive. Raleigh'd hit soprano range.
"Did Tessori give you amnesia, kid, or were you really that distracted a year ago?" demanded Penny.
"That is not helpful, Miss Jefferson," Carolina scolded. "Raleigh!" Little Bro looked ready to put his fist through the TV. "Calm down."
Yancy was only slightly less worked up. "Did that motherfucker seriously say what I think he just said about her?!" he gestured to Tanisha.
The Ranger in question hadn't even blinked at the TV, but now she was raising her eyebrows at the Beckets. "Damn, you two are sheltered."
"Also not helpful," Caleb sighed, nudging her. "Yeah, that's a thing, guys. It's a big thing. Sometimes for me but mostly for her."
"Why you? I mean – not that – shit, that came out wrong," Yancy groaned, face-palming.
Tanisha took pity on him. "I'm black, he's gay. The only crew that might fall lower on Fox's shit list is Vulcan Specter's."
"Wait, why… you're kidding me. Because they're Muslim?!"
"Ooh, yeah, the brass is keeping that under wraps, I guarantee," muttered Penny. "I doubt they'd even get a Jaeger on this side of the lake."
Raleigh was still in shock. Penny was looking scornful, so Tendo sent her a text. Give them a break. They're young.
She rolled her eyes, but Carolina and Brady were explaining how not to react to the inflammatory stuff. "Any and every word you say will make the news. If you respond to lowlifes like that, you give them exactly what they want: air time," Carolina told the Beckets.
"You're Rangers," Raleigh breathed, still completely aghast. "They can't – we can't - "
"It's still a free country, especially for loudmouthed old white men, Rals," said Christian Warner. "They can say whatever they want. You try to do anything about it, or even call them out, they'll scream you're oppressing them. If we try to say anything about it, we're just angry blacks playing the 'race card.'"
Unlike many on Team Yankee, Tendo felt charitable enough to be a little sorry to bid farewell to Raleigh and Yancy's naïveté. Penny would say – with some justification – that Tendo was in an ivory tower of his own when it came to race relations, but they were all the sum of their experiences. Some with an abundance of privilege, others with a lack thereof that was unfathomable to kids like the Beckets.
Welcome to the real world, Becket boys. Even now, a lot of us have to worry about more than sea monsters.
Nobody said life was fair, and even if Gipsy Danger and Yankee Star took out every kaiju that came through the Breach from here on out without breaking a sweat, the pundits and the armchair quarterbacks would still be giving them shit. Kids from Tanisha's neighborhood would still be getting shot by wanna-be cops, kids like Caleb would still be driven to suicide, people like the Hassans would still be getting shipped to Gitmo. And people like the Beckets who woke up to all the injustice would have to face that it couldn't be fought with a Jaeger.
Los Angeles Shatterdome…
July 1, 2017…
"Are you looking forward to your first deployment, Raleigh?" Carolina asked in their full-on mock press conference.
"Sure!"
"GNRRR!" Tendo pretended to ring a buzzer. "Wrong answer! Tomorrow's headline: Jaeger Pilot Wishes Death and Destruction on America's Shores!"
"I SUCK at this!" Raleigh exploded, banging his forehead on the table.
Yancy laughed, slapping his back, and pulled an exaggeratedly thoughtful face before saying, "We never look forward to seeing kaiju in our oceans, but Gipsy Danger's crew will be ready when you need us."
"Nice one, Captain America!"
Carolina was chuckling. "You don't have to worry quite so much about putting it the 'right' way, Yancy."
"What do you call that hairstyle?" Tendo asked.
"Arthur," Raleigh replied without lifting his head from the table.
"Quiet, peanut gallery," Carolina ordered, and Antwan brandished a roll of duct tape at Tendo. She re-assumed "reporter mode," and prompted Raleigh, "How did you prepare for meeting the admission standards?"
A little more at ease, Raleigh sat back up. "My last year of high school, we started looking at the material and studying what they had. We worked out, got into shape for the physical stuff."
"Very good. It shows some dedication. And you were both athletes before, weren't you?"
Raleigh nodded. "Wrestling and hockey."
"What was your GPA in high school?"
"Uh... three-point-something when I graduated."
Cady feigned shock. "You mean you didn't drop out and turn into hockey bums?! Did the Internets lie to us?"
That got them all going again. Even Tanisha got into it. "Is it true you can see Russia from your window?" she asked, completely deadpan.
Carolina and Brady groaned loudly, and Raleigh put on an innocent puppy expression. "No, there are trees in the way, but if you go out to the beach and climb on top of the really, really big wall they're building to save us from the kaiju, you can see Russia then!"
"Good one!" Tendo hooted as everyone laughed and applauded.
"Can you give us the names of any future Jaegers?"
"Optimus Prime."
"Dibs!" A bunch of the spotter pilots raised their hands. "We are totally going back to Academy for that one!"
"They wanted to call her that," said Caleb, pointing over his shoulder at Yankee's bay. "Official story is that brass decided it wasn't 'appropriate,' same reason they wouldn't name any of the kaiju Godzilla."
"Unofficially?" asked Tendo.
"They couldn't get the trademark rights. At least that's what Schoenfeld said."
"Aww!"
Tanisha nudged him in the ribs. Tendo had noticed by then that this pair sat as physically close as any of the other teams. "He's got three different Optimus Primes in a row on our desk. One of 'em's some crazy collector edition."
"Picked him up at a garage sale for five bucks when I was fourteen," said Caleb proudly. "He's worth almost a grand now. I need to insure him."
"You really do!" Yancy exclaimed.
Raleigh snorted and poked his brother. "Comics are this guy's vice, but all the action figures are in storage. He's got some valuable ones too. Limited edition books, trading cards, the works."
"And we shall call him Coulson," Brady chuckled. "So, Yancy, here's a loaded question: Marvel or DC?"
"Oohhh, you've done it now," Raleigh groaned, collapsing onto the table again.
Tendo and the others chortled; he could swear Yancy's face lit up. I hope adorkable is considered a selling point for Rangers.
It wasn't all laughs; Raleigh still fumed and Yancy's jaw clenched when the topic got into issues of their or Yankee's fitness - or worthiness. Tendo started counting the veins he saw throbbing when the pundits made snide remarks about Tanisha's race or Caleb's sexual orientation. As if it had anything to do with their skills as pilots.
Cheap shots were thrown at the Beckets too - the high school drop-out rumor didn't seem to want to die - but not to the degree that Yankee's crew endured. At least even the hardened cynics of Team Yankee couldn't deny that the Beckets' fury on their behalf was genuine, and that gained them some appreciation.
To everyone on Team Gipsy's relief, Team Yankee wasn't without public appreciation. It was just more localized. In some ways, they decided, it seemed more sincere. "We drill outside a lot," Tanisha told them. "When the outside grounds are open, people come watch. We get a lot of local kids."
Carolina nodded. "I was about to ask if you would start that again after Gipsy is installed. You could do it together. I know you'll draw crowds when the Jaegers are outside, but it inspires the public to see the pilots as well."
"We're planning on it," Brady confirmed. "Marshall Ramirez closed the grounds while we were getting ready for Gipsy's installment, but she agreed to reopen the waterfront and the access roads as soon as possible."
The military personnel had to teach all the former civilians the assorted, confusing conventions for meeting the President, generals, ambassadors, and other dignitaries. Raleigh and Yancy looked cross-eyed by the end of it, and Tendo was sure he'd never keep it all straight. At least there (probably) wouldn't be a camera pointed at him if he messed it up, unlike his poor jockeys!
"Count yourselves lucky, gentlemen; the queen of England's coming to Chrome Brutus's launch in December," Marshall Ramirez informed them.
Raleigh won the prize for batting his eyes and executing a dainty curtsy that had half the crews breathless with laughter. Yancy finished it off with a royal wave. "Is Kate Middleton's sister still single? Let's set 'em up!" suggested someone.
They were made to pose for pictures in the bays, mostly Rals and Yance, but all the crews as well. "I feel like I'm back in school doing those horrible huge yearbook spreads on the field," Cady complained.
"Just think of it as the Chess Club photo," said Penny Jefferson.
"What were you, Future Human Resources of America?" Christian Warner teased.
"Track and field, four-time state champions, baby!"
"Yeah? Distance or sprint?"
"Hurdles and triple jump."
Los Angeles Shatterdome…
July 3, 2017…one week prior to launch …
Team Yankee still referred to Team Gipsy as hipsters, but it was all good fun. As far as Tendo could tell, Raleigh and Yancy hadn't managed to interest Tanisha and Caleb in chess, though Tanisha loved strategy games, and somebody added a Walking Dead edition of Risk to the offerings in the rec room. Everyone was eagerly anticipating when Jaeger and Kaiju editions of games would start appearing.
Just before Team Gipsy departed for Anchorage for their final round of launch prep, a few of them were avoiding the television, just sprawled on the rec room couches with books and card games. Tendo was playing poker with Caleb, Penny, and Carolina as Raleigh and Tanisha read and Yancy dozed on the couch. Raleigh scampered off with a couple of the more energetic crew to play basketball outside, while Yancy was content to stay in the semi-air conditioned indoors and commandeered Raleigh's Kindle.
"What's he been reading?" asked Tanisha, leafing through an airline shopping magazine someone had left behind.
"War and Remembrance. One of his World War II books."
Caleb looked up from his poker hand. "Wasn't that a TV series too?"
Tendo folded his hand and nodded. "1980s, Robert Mitchum. Good, but depressing as hell."
"Your baby brother loves his Greatest Generation, doesn't he?" Tanisha murmured. Then something in the catalog caught her eye and she sat up. "Hey, ever seen this?" She passed it over, and whatever was up for sale made Yancy's eyes bug out.
"What? Lemme see!" The poker game was forgotten, and they all went to peek.
It was just another of those grossly-overpriced catalogs of weird collectible crap from airline seat pockets, but Tendo recognized at once what had gotten Tanisha's attention.
EXCLUSIVE! World War II and K-Day collide with this unique kaiju and Jaeger-tracking map! Cover the entire Pacific Ocean, track the locations of your favorite mechs and their deployments just like the Greatest Generation tracked their ships and planes! Order Now, and receive a lifetime membership, all new kaiju and Jaeger figures guaranteed to arrive within thirty days of release!
It was a round map for a table top that did remind Tendo of those maps that uniformed women would shove little ships and planes around on sticks in old war movies, but instead of planes and ships, it was little kaiju and Jaegers and even Shatterdomes.
"That's actually kind of awesome," he admitted.
Yancy was... starry-eyed. "Oh my god. I need to order this."
Carolina grinned at them. Some of the Yankees rolled their eyes, but there was fondness behind it; Yancy was never cuter than when he got all sentimental about his baby brother. "Save up and get it for his birthday," Tendo suggested.
But Yance shook his head. "Uh-uh. I need to get it before he even knows it exists. For launch." He faltered when he saw the price; even Rangers didn't get paid so much that they'd have a couple hundred bucks to throw around. But they could tell he was determined.
Tendo winked at the others and raised a hand. "I'll go in on it."
"No, you don't have to do that - "
" - You never said I did. I'm in. Wanna see the look on kiddo's face when he finds this in here."
"Me too!" Several more of Team Gipsy raised their hands. Yancy looked uncomfortable now, but Carolina swatted him. "You know he's about to become the youngest active-duty Ranger in the Corps. We are all proud of both of you. Anyone who wants to contribute, see me!" she ordered.
Yancy was befuddled and embarrassed now, but he gave in. "Thanks." He looked at the picture and grinned. "Someone better have a camera ready when we have it set up."
Antwan commandeered a tablet and was looking it up online. "Oh, they don't have Gipsy Danger yet, but they say the Mark III Jaegers will be sent out as soon as they're released. So she'll be on it soon."
Caleb grinned and shook his head. "I'll give you one of my Optimus Primes to stand in for her 'till then."
To be continued...
Coming Monday: Fanfare and fireworks as Gipsy Danger launches and the Los Angeles Shatterdome opens. The golden age of Jaegers has begun... but the war clock is still ticking towards the next movement in the Breach in Chapter Twenty-Two: On Top Of The World!
PLEASE don't forget to review!
Original Character Guide
Tanisha Davis and Caleb Mitchell: The pilots of Yankee Star, America's Mark II Jaeger. Former US Marines, late 20s. Tanisha is African-American from south central Los Angeles, while Caleb is white from a small, rural town in central Oklahoma.
Penelope Jefferson: Yankee Star's LOCCENT Support Chief, former Chief Warrant Officer with the US Marines. Mid-30s, African-American from Los Angeles.
Cady Spencer: One of Gipsy Danger's LOCCENT technicians along with Tendo Choi, Filipino-American from Oregon, age 25.
Christian Warner: Drivesuit technician for Gipsy Danger, age 26, African-American from Atlanta, Georgia. After failing at drift compatibility, he and his sister Chloe chose different career paths: Christian chose tech, and Chloe joined K-Watch in Hawaii.
Carolina Olivares: Gipsy Danger's Public Relations Representative. Mid-60s, Mexican-American from San Francisco, survived K-Day and came out of retirement to join the PPDC.
Brady Harris: Yankee Star's Public Relations Representative. Late 30s, African-American from San Diego.
Priya Katwal: Senior J-Tech Engineer, former NASA employee, mid-50s, Indian-American