Sasha Kaidonovsky, Ranger to Cherno Alpha of the Vladivostok Shatterdome, groaned and pulled the blankets up more firmly around her head as the phone blared at her from the nightstand. She didn't bother to roll over to check the ID - if it was an emergency, they would call back. Otherwise they could damn well leave a message, and she could enjoy a few more minutes of peace and quiet.
Aleksis Kaidonovsky, her fellow Ranger and husband, mumbled sleepily but didn't fully awaken. Lucky man - in most instances he could sleep through a Kaiju attack. Though the claxon alarm of a Shatterdome would have him awake and alert in an instant, anything else failed to disturb him out of his slumber.
The strains of Titanus' "Red Star Rising" finally cut out… only to start up again. Between the two Rangers, a third form stirred and let out a high whine - but less like a dog or a child and more like a small engine revving itself up.
Mama? What's that sound?
"Sshhh, just the phone, little one," she whispered, patting the little mechanism's reactor tower. "I'll get it."
Cherno Alpha nodded and snuggled back into the blankets, tucking his Conn Pod against Aleksis' chest. Aleksis gave another sleepy mumble and draped his arm around the little Jaeger, then drifted off again.
Sasha chuckled at the sight and picked up the phone… and stopped laughing when she saw the name displayed. She swiped the "answer" icon and hurried out of the bedroom to take the call.
"Ranger Kaidonivsky reporting."
"Sasha, sorry to wake you up," came the voice of Marshal Tendo Choi, sounding more familiar than professional at the moment.
"Emergencies don't wait for waking hours," she replied. "And this is an emergency, I take it?"
"There's been a Kaiju sighting in the Pacific."
Her stomach tightened with dread. Another Breach… another rift between worlds, and another attempt by the Precursors to take Earth for themselves. After so much sacrifice and pain and struggle to seal off the Anteverse, the barrier between worlds had once again been torn asunder. It seemed that no matter what they did, their world would never be safe.
"Sasha? Are you there?"
"I am here," she replied. "The news was… startling."
"Understandable. The PPDC is in an uproar over this. Team Mustang Omega in particular did their share of freaking out, for obvious reasons."
After two years, it still felt strange to think of Dr. Geizler and Dr. Gottlieb as Rangers and not just the PPDC's Science Division. But that was a conundrum for another time. "Which city?"
"City?"
"Yes. Which city is under attack? Or has it already been destroyed."
"No city… the Kaiju was spotted in the middle of the ocean. Every coastline is on high alert, but no one has reported this Kaiju making landfall. And given its location and the speed at which they can travel, it should have reached a coastline by now."
Sasha didn't need to be a xenobiologist to understand that this was abnormal behavior for a Kaiju… and that disturbed her. When a Kaiju started acting strangely, it never meant anything good. "It won't be just one. There will be others."
"Very true. They're like rats in that way." A pause, and when he spoke again his voice was far more formal, that of a superior officer rather than a friend. "Ranger Kaidonovsky, we are requesting that Team Cherno Alpha return to the Vladivostok Shatterdome and prepare for Kaiju landfall."
She hesitated - not because she was reluctant to fight again, but because what he requested might not be possible. "Cherno Alpha's larger body was destroyed at Koko Guyot. The replacement body has not yet been completed."
"The PPDC has issued an order to the construction crews to speed up production as much as possible without compromising structural integrity," Tendo replied.
That decided it for her. "Then we will report to the Shatterdome today. Give us an hour or so to pack."
"Are you sure?" Tendo asked, his voice dropping the professional gloss and full of genuine concern. "Is Cherno Alpha willing to keep fighting? We won't force the Jaegers to fight against their wills."
Sasha peered into the bedroom, watching the two men in her life sleep, Cherno curled up against Aleksis like a bear cub snuggled against its mother. Most nights Cherno did his nightly defrags in his own bed, but on occasion he insisted on sleeping next to his Rangers. And to be honest, neither of them minded it… so long as he didn't interrupt them during an intimate moment.
"Absolutely," she replied. "The Jaegers would never turn down a call to arms. Cherno Alpha will fight. And the Kaiju will run back to their Breach with their tails between their legs."
"I have no doubt about that," Tendo replied with a soft laugh. "Report to the Vladivostok Shatterdome by 1800 tonight. Once there and once you've been briefed on the situation so far, stand by for further orders."
"Yes, Marshal. Sasha out."
She set the phone down, then gazed back at her sleeping family. Two years… they'd had two years' respite from the monsters of the deep. Two years during which they had purchased a small but comfortable home just outside Vladivostok, enrolled Cherno into school, and garnered an unlikely online following via a blog composed almost entirely of photos of their Jaeger-son and his antics. Two years that had seen their growth as a family… and their loss as one too, as they had watched their beloved Uncle Ilya succumb to a heart attack and buried him. Two years of joy and pain, but most of all of peace and contentment, of a life she believed they had more than earned.
Those years were far more time than she had expected them to have, yet they still didn't feel like enough. It felt like they had just managed to establish themselves as a family, to settle into the domestic routines that the war had denied them.
But she knew they would fight anyhow. They were family… but they were also warriors. Warriors who had dedicated their lives to protecting humanity from the Kaiju. And they weren't about to go soft and weak now.
She pulled the covers off her sleeping husband. "Wake up."
Aleksis mumbled something about coffee and five more minutes before drifting back off, hugging Cherno as if the little Jaeger were a teddy bear. Cherno squeaked softly but didn't protest the embrace.
"Cherno, tell your father to wake up," Sasha ordered. "We're to report to the Shatterdome today."
Cherno twisted about in Aleksis' arms to face her, the glowing optical sensors in his amber Conn Pod fixed on her. Shatterdome? The Kaiju are back?
She nodded. "One has been sighted. We don't know where it will land, but we must be prepared."
Cherno pulsed back a feeling of agreement, and he began to shove at Aleksis' chest. Papa, wake up! There's a Kaiju!
That did the trick - Aleksis sat bolt upright, face contorted in an expression of fury. "How dare they? We just barely shut the Breach on them!"
"It's been two years, love," Sasha reminded him. "Still… it hardly seems fair, doesn't it?" She managed a slight smile before going sober again. "Pack a suitcase. Cherno, go to your room and decide which toys and books you want to take with you. We may be at the Shatterdome for awhile, so be prepared."
Yes, Mama. He wriggled out of bed and trotted out of the room.
Aleksis watched their Jaeger-son go, frowning behind his beard. "Are they ready for him?"
"They will be very soon," Sasha replied. "They have almost completed his larger chassis. We must hope the Kaiju gives us enough time to refresh ourselves with a Conn Pod before it attacks."
Aleksis nodded, but his gaze remained on the doorway. "I have gotten so used to our Cherno being so little. It will be strange looking up at him again."
At that, Sasha managed a full-fledged smile. "We managed before. We will manage again. And it will not be forever. We have proven Breaches can be closed. It's but a matter of finding this one and wiping out the Precursor's mongrels before they do too much damage."
He smiled back, then rose from the bed. "I'll find our suitcases."
She nodded and went to the closet to pull out a few changes of clothing. They had been called to help cancel another apocalypse, and that was a call no Ranger could turn down.
Raleigh Beckett had never really let himself consider what he would do with his life after the end of the Kaiju War. He had taken to just living his life one day at a time, existing in the moment, appreciating each day as if it were his last - which, for a Ranger, was an all-too-likely possibility. Once in awhile he had idly toyed with the idea of maybe taking classes or dating, but he hadn't seriously entertained any of them.
He had never imagined his future would involve helping his Jaeger figure out how to maintain a relationship with her long-distance boyfriend. But then, life seemed determined to surprise him at every turn ever since Operation Pitfall.
RALEIGH!
Raleigh winced and put down the e-reader as Gipsy Danger stormed into his bedroom, her footsteps heavy enough to shake the pictures hanging on the walls. "Ow… Gip, you don't need to shout. I'm right here."
Sorry, she replied. But Raleigh, what am I gonna do about this?
"Calm down, Gip," he soothed, reaching out to pat her arm. "Do about what? Talk to me and tell me what's going on."
The blue Jaeger let out a deep rumble, almost like a sigh, as she tried to calm herself. The golden lights of her optical sensors swept Raleigh's bedroom in the Anchorage apartment they shared - the rumpled bed, the vintage action movie posters and family photos on the walls, the textbooks and worn paperbacks piled on the desk. Then, with another rumble, she sat down on the bed, the frame creaking under her weight, just as Mako appeared in the doorway.
"Gipsy, is everything okay?"
Yeah… no… I dunno. Gipsy picked at the joints of her fingers. Sorry… I didn't mean to shout my thoughts.
"It's okay," Raleigh assured her. Despite all the Jaegers being fitted with vocalizers, many of them still preferred to talk with their Rangers via the drift, something he saw no reason to discourage. "What's going on?"
I just got done with a video call with Striker, she explained.
His shoulders tensed, and he felt himself bristling at that. "Did he just break up with you?"
No! Gipsy exclaimed. No, he didn't. A little humor trickled into her mental voice. Besides, what would you do if he did? He can still take you in a fight.
"I don't know," Mako noted with an impish little smile. "Raleigh can do many impossible things when he puts his mind to it. He'll fly straight to Australia if he hears Striker hurts you."
Raleigh shrugged. "Yeah… I would. No one hurts my sister and gets away with it."
Aw, Raleigh… If Jaegers had skin and blood flow, she would have been blushing at that remark. Don't worry… Striker would never hurt me. But… he asked something during this call. And I dunno how to answer.
"What did he ask?" Mako inquired.
He… he wants me to move in with him. To go live with him in Sydney.
His smile faded. "You're kidding."
Gipsy shook her Conn Pod - though could it even be called that if it was far too small to fit pilots anymore? I'm not joking. He says if we want to "make a real go of this," we should live together. And he thinks it'll be easier for me to go there than for him to come here.
Raleigh's anger had been slowly ebbing as he joked with Gipsy, but it inexplicably flared up again at that statement. How dare Striker try to swoop in and take his Jaeger, his sister, from him? How dare he try to convince her to flee her home, to leave behind her family? Surely a fellow Jaeger, of all beings, knew how important those bonds were…
Mako's hand squeezed his wrist, breaking him out of his growing rage. Her eyes flashed in warning, but her tone was curious as she addressed Gipsy. "Do you want to go to Sydney? It's your choice, you know. You're an autonomous being, and can make your own decisions."
Raleigh opened his mouth to protest, then forced it shut. Mako was perfectly right - Gipsy was her own creature, not needing him or Mako to give her movement and life anymore. And she had the ability to choose her own future… even if it was a future without her rangers. That knowledge hurt worse than he'd expected, but he tried to push aside his own feelings in favor of Gipsy's.
I don't know, Gipsy confessed. I want to be near him - ever since we got sent back to our own Shatterdomes, I've missed being around him. We Skype all the time, but it's not the same. But I don't want to leave you two either. And I don't want to leave the United States without a Jaeger to protect it.
Mako shook her head. "This is your choice, Gipsy. Don't worry about us - worry about what will make you happy. And if that means leaving us, we will understand."
"Besides, there hasn't been a Kaiju attack in years," Raleigh assured her. "I think the US can survive being down a Jaeger…"
Mako's phone chose to ring at that moment. She pulled it out of her pocket and gazed at the screen - and froze, her face paling.
"It's Hong Kong," she noted. "Marshal Choi."
Gipsy crooned in worry. You better answer it.
Mako turned away from the others, speaking in a low voice. Raleigh and Gipsy exchanged a long, worried look. If Choi wanted to make casual conversation, he usually just texted them. For him to call - and actually use the Hong Kong Shatterdome's phone lines instead of his personal phone - meant he was acting in his capacity as Marshal, something he hadn't done since the Jaegers had returned to their home bases.
"One moment," Mako murmured, and turned to face her comrades. "There has been a Kaiju sighting in the Pacific."
Raleigh's gut clenched. Gipsy's fingers clenched into fists, and fear and anger trickled into her voice.
What coastline? she demanded. Give us a location. We'll kick its ass!
"It was far offshore, and hasn't made landfall," Mako replied. "But he is asking us to report to the Anchorage Shatterdome-"
I can be packed in five minutes! Gipsy announced, and shot to her feet.
"Whoa, girl," Raleigh told her. "Are you sure you want to do this? To leap back into action like this? Just a few minutes ago you were discussing boyfriend problems with us."
This is more important! she insisted. I'm a Jaeger. We fight Kaiju. That's all there is to it. I'm needed, and I'm not going to let a little thing like a relationship hiccup stand in my way. She let her gaze move between her Rangers. Are you two coming with me?
"Are you kidding me?" Raleigh replied. "Just try leaving us behind. We fight alongside you, remember? We're a team, the three of us. We're family."
Gipsy gave another croon, this one of pride and joy, and she swept the two Rangers into a hug. Raleigh allowed himself a moment to just lean against his Jaeger, the mechanism he loved as a sister, just as close as flesh and blood. The three of them were siblings, regardless of the fact that one of them had been forged and constructed while the other two had no blood relation. And nothing was going to separate them, not even a skyscraper-sized monster.
I just wish Yancy could be with us too, she said wistfully. And Pentecost.
Raleigh sucked in a deep breath. "Me too. Not a day goes by when I don't miss Yancy."
"And I miss Pentecost," Mako added quietly. "But they are with us in spirit… in the drift. Let us honor their memories by fighting well."
Gipsy nodded, and she released them and ducked out. Mako followed her out, resuming her conversation with Tendo, while Raleigh pulled a duffel out and began to throw a few things together. They would have to continue their discussion another time - a Kaiju sighting was a little more important.
Marshal Tendo Choi hung up the phone with a soft sigh. It was done. The Jaegers and their Rangers had responded to the call, and were heading for their Shatterdomes to await the arrival of the Kaiju - Cherno Alpha to Vladivostok, Gipsy Danger to Anchorage, Striker Eureka to Syndey, Coyote Tango to Tokyo, Brawler Yukon to Vancouver, and Crimson Typhoon here to Hong Kong. Despite being autonomous creatures now, they still chose to defend humanity.
Tendo felt a twinge of guilt at uprooting the Jaegers and their Rangers from their new lives - lives they had more than earned through their hard work and sacrifice. But he had given them the option to refuse, and not one of them had taken it. There was something to be said about that level of loyalty.
He left his office and made for the lift leading to the hangars. The arrival of a new Kaiju only confirmed what the PPDC had long suspected - the Precursors weren't done with their world. Their defeat at Hawaii hadn't crushed their resolve at all. Indeed, if they were anything like humanity they would be only more determined to take the planet for their own… and exact vengeance in the bargain.
In a way, I can't blame them, he thought. Their own world is dying, and they need to move on or they'll face extinction. But that doesn't mean we have to roll over and let them take Earth for themselves.
He stepped out of the lift and entered the Jaeger bay, struck once again by how empty and lonely it felt. Gone were the days when seven Jaegers had rubbed shoulders within these walls, filling the air with their humming and growling. Almost all the bays stood vacant, their occupants having scattered to cities along the Pacific Rim to better protect their "home" countries. Two Jaegers remained… but their bodies stood inert and lifeless, eerie as corpses.
Tendo sighed. He still wasn't sure if spreading their forces across the world was a good idea, but it had been the PPDC's call. And in all honesty, he had to wonder if it wasn't just his personal biases talking, if he hadn't wanted Cherno and Gipsy and the others to return to their home bases just because he considered them friends and missed their company…
"Tendo!"
An excited cry cut into his wistful thoughts, and a grin spread across his face as a black mechanism bolted towards him. He raised a hand, and Mustang Omega gave him a light high-five that he still felt clear into his shoulder.
"You finally came out of your office!" the young Mark-VI exclaimed, practically radiating glee as he danced from foot to foot. "Uncle Newt thought we were going to have to come drag you out!"
"I wasn't in there THAT long," Tendo replied. "But it's good to see you. Everything good with you and your Rangers?"
Mustang bobbed his Conn Pod enthusiastically. "They're with Tacit at the moment. He still hasn't accepted a new set of Rangers, but he seems to appreciate their company, at least."
"Good… that's good." Tendo felt a knot in his chest relax at that. Tacit Ronin had been the Shatterdome's latest project - one of the Jaegers in Oblivion Bay determined to still have a working core, but with no living Rangers. While Mammoth Apostle and Hydra Corinthian were currently in the United States and Panama respectively with their Rangers, getting used to being mobile and having smaller bodies they could switch to at will, Tacit still grieved for his own Rangers and had yet to accept replacements. Both Tendo and Caitlyn had fretted that the Jaeger would waste away without Rangers to urge his development along, but to hear that he was still alive and accepting company was good news.
Mustang kept up a steady stream of chatter as he followed Tendo to Tacit's hangar. While many of the Jaegers and their Rangers had opted to make a go of civilian life after the Battle of Koko Guyot, Newt Geizler and Hermann Gottlieb had elected to stay at the Shatterdome, devoting their intelligence and expertise to not only further studying the Kaiju and Precursors but to bringing other Jaegers to full sentience. So far their work had not only added volumes to their knowledge of their monstrous enemies, but had fully awakened Mammoth Apostle and Hydra Corinthian.
I just hope they can work a miracle for Tacit, he thought. He couldn't imagine what kind of pain the Jaeger was going through, but at least he was in good hands.
"Damnation and hellfire, Newton! Keep that THING away from my readouts!"
"He wasn't even hurting anything! He just likes a warm place to lay down, and your laptop was RIGHT THERE…"
Mustang cocked his Conn Pod, the equivalent of a cheeky grin. "Don't worry, they only fight because that's how they show they're friends."
"I know," Tendo replied. He didn't mention that he'd known that fact long before Mustang had been "born." "Dr. Geizler? Dr. Gottlieb?"
The two scientists had been standing at the feet of the Mark I, bickering as usual, but they shut up in a hurry and turned to face the Marshal.
"Marshal Choi, if I may repeat my request to have that parasite get some kind of obedience lessons if we insist on him being here-" began Hermann.
"You've submitted your weekly quota of complaints regarding Spike already," Tendo reminded him. "He stays, and Newt pays for any damages he causes. You can work this out with him instead of bringing it to me."
"There, see?" Newt crowed, grinning at his fellow scientist and Ranger.
"Oh, get stuffed," Hermann retorted. "But I assume you didn't come here to discuss the parasite."
Tendo shook his head. "Progress report on Tacit Ronin's progress."
Hermann sighed, though more out of disappointment than frustration. "This is the twelfth set of Rangers he's rejected. We have attempted, with Mustang's help, to explain to him that his development can't progress without new Rangers, but he refuses to listen."
"I dunno what else we can do," Newt admitted, his usual enthusiasm gone. "I mean… if he's not willing to move on, can we really force him to pick new Rangers?"
Mustang whimpered. "We can't just give up. You didn't give up on me, Uncle Newt. Don't give up on Tacit."
"We won't, dear-heart," Hermann assured him. "But in all honesty, we've done all we can. There's little more we can do if he won't help himself at this point."
Tendo gazed up at Tacit Ronin, standing still and silent within its hangar. The Mark I had been in sorry shape when they'd brought him back from Oblivion Bay, bisected at the waist and so crusted in rust and dirt his colors were almost obscured from view. Now he gleamed like new, white with black at the joints and midriff and red detailing, his armor forming wicked spikes and points and heavy blades hanging from his arms. He was a fearsome-looking machine, and had been a formidable fighter before his destruction and retirement.
Now, though, Tendo couldn't help but think he looked rather forlorn. The titanic bodies of Crimson Typhoon and Mustang Omega were still and silent, but in a way that suggested a complete absence of life now that their computer cores were contained in smaller bodies. Tacit Ronin remained immobile, but even a non-Ranger could sense the stillness came not from a lack of life, but a lack of will. His teammates were gone, and in response he seemed to have given up completely.
"We're going to try again," Tendo informed them. "Now more than ever. With the return of the Kaiju, we need as many Jaegers as we can get. But more than that… it's the right thing to do. We won't leave him like this, blind and immobile. Not if we can help it."
"What if we brought other Jaegers here to help him?" asked Newt. "I know Crimson's on his way, but maybe one of the others? Like Gipsy or Coyote? They know what it's like to lose a Ranger, maybe they can help him."
"I thought the plan was for the Jaegers to remain in their home bases," Hermann replied, frowning. "It makes far better sense to have a Jaeger on every major coastline than to consolidate all their forces in one spot."
"No… he has a point," Tendo replied. "Tacit's grieving, plain and simple. It's possible having a Jaeger close who understands his grief can help him."
"So you'll just leave the Anchorage Shatterdome empty?" Hermann demanded.
"No," Tendo replied. "Gipsy will remain in Anchorage. We'll bring Coyote Tango here. She's gone through what Tacit has, and can be here to support him. And if a Kaiju approaches Japan, Hong Kong is close enough that we can get a Jaeger there within a short time."
Hermann frowned but nodded. "The logic is sound. And if it helps him…"
Tendo's phone chimed at that moment, and he glanced down at the incoming text. "Ah… already! Crimson Typhoon and the Wei Tangs have arrived. Care to come with me to greet them?"
"Sure!" Newt replied with a grin. "Man, the gang's getting back together! Sorta… some of it at least."
"Indeed," Tendo replied, and motioned for Team Mustang Omega to follow him. "I just wish it was under happier circumstances."