Sasha wondered if bloodshed could have been avoided had Ian just gone quietly on his way instead of storming into the barracks uninvited, practically spitting fire in his rage and spoiling for a fight. Somehow she doubted it. Events of the past two days had left both herself and Aleksis seething with raw pain and anger, and doubtless any confrontation, no matter how small, would have ended badly for the other party involved. But goodness knew Ian certainly hadn't made things any better.
The young Ranger's timing was particularly bad. The Kaidonovskys had hardly finished packing their things when he shoved his way toward them, eyes flashing and breath hissing out through clenched teeth.
"What did you do to it?!" he demanded.
"Get out," Aleksis rumbled, his voice low and dangerous. "We are not in the mood."
"You jinxed it!" Ian roared. "You sabotaged Cherno Alpha somehow! I know you did, don't try to deny it!"
Sasha clenched her jaw in anger. "Get. Out. Before it goes badly for you."
The three Rangers glared at one another, the air practically crackling around them with furious energy. Other soldiers and crew members stared in horrified wonder, the intense tableau commanding all their attention. A few muttered between themselves, and Sasha heard two technicians behind her placing bets on the inevitable fight. She might have been amused were she not still reeling in pain and anger; right now she simply ignored them and focused all her attention on Ian.
Their worst fears had been realized in the aftermath of the Vladivostok disaster. The PPDC had conducted an investigation, determined Ranger error as the cause of the destruction, and promptly forced the two of them into retirement. Vladivostok would be decommissioned and sold off to a private buyer, and Cherno Alpha would operate under a new set of Rangers, protecting the Russian and Siberian coastlines until the Anti-Kaiju Wall was completed. Once the Wall was up the Mark I would also be decommissioned, and sent off to a museum in St. Petersburg.
Aleksis and Sasha had fought the decision like wolves the entire way. Cherno was family, part of their souls, and they could not – WOULD not – be separated from him. No other Ranger would know his habits and quirks; no other Ranger could hope to operate him in battle half as effectively. And if they lost him… it would be like losing part of themselves. They appealed their dismissal all the way up to the head of the PPDC, hoping for saner minds to prevail.
Their pleas fell on deaf ears. Rangers in general were falling into disfavor, and the PPDC found it convenient to blame the sudden string of failures on the Jaeger program. They were phasing the Jaegers out in favor of the coward's way – building a wall and huddling behind it like frightened rabbits – and if the Vladivostok disaster gave them a convenient reason to be rid of a few more Rangers, then so be it.
Bitter failure hung over the two of them like a dark cloud as they packed their things and prepared to leave the ruined base they had come to see as home. They had planned to go to Cherno and say their final goodbyes, then leave the base and find jobs among the construction crews rebuilding the city of Vladivostok. That would at least enable them to stay close to Cherno… and to seek some opportunity to return to his side. They had come this far together; they would not be driven apart now.
Marshal Terekhov had been an unexpected ally. While powerless to countermand the PPDC's orders, he was sympathetic to their plight, even if he didn't understand their bond with Cherno. He had told them to stay close, that once the PPDC's attention was elsewhere he would hire them back on as mechanics for Cherno. And he promised to keep them updated on when Cherno was due to be shipped out to St. Petersburg.
In the meantime, however, two Rangers from New Zealand were slated to take over as Cherno's pilots. The Kaidonovskys had declined the offer to watch their first drift with Cherno – it would have been too painful watching their beloved Jaeger being turned over to another team. They could only hope that Ian and Pierce would treat Cherno with the respect he deserved.
Judging by the wild look on Ian's face, Sasha was going to guess their first drift hadn't gone as planned.
"What'd you do to it?!" Ian snarled. "Buggered it up so no one else could use it, did ya? The Marshal's gonna hear about this!"
"Lay off 'em, mate!" Pierce cut in, walking up and tugging at his fellow Ranger's arm. "You don't have any proof they're responsible for all this…"
"Did what?" demanded Sasha. "Start explaining. What are you accusing us of?"
Ian gave her an incredulous look. "You know bloody well what you did! You sabotaged that Jaeger! Made it so it won't accept any Rangers but you! Five times they tried the handshake! Five times! An' every time that bleedin' hunk of metal booted us out!"
A rush of pride doused her anger for a moment. So Cherno was taking matters into his own hands, weighing the new Rangers for himself and finding them wanting. She could have run to him and embraced his foot at that moment.
"C'mon, mate, handshakes fail all the time," Pierce told his co-Ranger, trying to drag him out of the barracks. "Don't go blamin' them for it!"
"We have done nothing," Aleksis added, setting his jaw and glowering down at the shorter Rangers. "Perhaps it is Cherno who does not accept you. Perhaps he thinks the two of you are not fit to be his Rangers."
"Damn right we're fit!" Ian howled, wrestling his arm free of Pierce's grip. "Top of our class, top simulator scores, perfect neural handshakes in all the tests! We're a damn sight better than two washed-up has-beens who were fool enough to get two sets of Rangers killed! You an' that piece of junk museum piece were made for each other!"
Whether it was the insult toward them or toward their Jaeger that pushed Aleksis over the edge, who could say. Aleksis lunged, and Ian reeled back, clutching his jaw. That seemed to trip some kind of switch inside the Kiwi Ranger, and he charged with a roar, aiming a fist at the Russian Ranger's face. Aleksis barely staggered.
Sasha and Pierce scrambled out of the way as the two men laid into each other, punching and grabbing, sending a few chairs toppling in their wake. Aleksis obviously had the advantage of size and physical strength, but Ian was tough and quick, squirming out of Aleksis' reach and retaliating with swift jabs and hooks. Within seconds Ian's face sported a multitude of cuts and scratches from Aleksis' rings, while blood matted Aleksis' mustache and beard from a broken nose.
By the time Marshal Terekhov burst into the barracks, bellowing for order and demanding to know what was going on, the match had been decided. Aleksis slammed Ian into the wall, pinning his arm behind him at a painful angle with one hand and grinding his face against the wall with the other.
"Take. It. Back." His voice was a deadly growl that would have sent a Kaiju running in terror.
"Gerroff" Ian hissed.
"Let him go, you're breakin' his arm!" Pierce shouted.
"Kaidonovsky, Tennant, break it up right now!" Terekhov roared.
Aleksis held Ian against the wall for a long moment, then released him, stepping back. Ian staggered, clutching his arm and giving Aleksis a venomous glower.
"You two," Terekhov snapped, gesturing toward Ian and Pierce. "My office. Now."
"He started it!" Ian protested.
"Are you suddenly five years old now?" Terekhov demanded. "Get to my office!"
Pierce grabbed Ian's uninjured arm and dragged him off before he could complain any more.
"And you two." Terekhov turned to glare at the Kaidonovskys now. "Fine way for you to finish your tour of duty here."
"They are not fit to be Cherno's Rangers," Sasha snapped. "Not with that attitude."
"Try telling that to the PPDC," Terekhov replied. "They've made the decision, and we have to live with it. Get out before the authorities come. But don't go far. If your balky Jaeger won't take any other pilots, we may still need you." And with that, he strode out.
Sasha turned to Aleksis. "Are you all right?"
"Been better," he replied, his voice distorted as he pinched his nose to stem the bleeding. "Those children do not deserve him. And our Cherno deserves better."
She only nodded and took his arm. As Terekhov had said, this was a hell of a way for them to finish their careers as Rangers. But at least there was a glimmer of hope on the horizon… a possibility that they could return, and take up the mantle of Rangers again. They just had to be patient, and have faith that Cherno would not give up on them and choose a new team.
A man in a long dress coat waited for them at the door to the barracks. This wasn't a Vladivostok crew member – she knew almost all the mechanics and crewmen by sight now, and the Shatterdome wouldn't be hiring anyone new now that it was being decommissioned. Sasha thought he bore the look of a Ranger, though – the weary look of one who has looked Kaiju in the eye too many times to count and come away bearing scars inside and out. But he also carried himself with a commanding bearing, a sense of dignity and authority.
"You put up quite a fight," he noted calmly. "Unique fighting style. Much like your Jaeger's."
Sasha raised an eyebrow. "And you are?"
"Stacker Pentecost," he replied. "Former Marshal of the Anchorage Shatterdome." He gave a respectful nod. "Might I have a word?"
They felt Cherno before they saw him – even across the Shatterdome's Jaeger bay they could sense his joy at their return. Aleksis couldn't help but smile as he made his way forward. Despite being an aged veteran by Jaeger standards, he was so much like a young child in a lot of respects. He half-expected Cherno to come charging out of his hangar and run to meet them, and heaven help the poor soul who happened to be in his way at that moment.
You're back! You're back! I missed you!
"Did you doubt we would return?" asked Sasha, laughing softly. "We were only gone an hour."
It felt like a lot longer, Cherno said petulantly. I got bored here. Crimson's not talking to me, and Mustang's not interesting now that his Rangers aren't drifting with him. I thought about going out to look for you, but I didn't want to step on anyone.
"That was smart of you," Sasha replied. "Hold on, Cherno. We'll be there in a moment."
By the time they got to the hangar Cherno was practically vibrating with anticipation, much to the chagrin of the repair crews who were working on his reactor tower. Already the Jaeger was looking remarkably improved – most of the tooth and claw marks in his chassis were gone, and the gaping holes left by Kaiju jaws and acid were being slowly filled in. A long set of scratches in his upper chest remained, but otherwise the terrible damage inflicted by Otachi and Leatherback was being slowly erased.
I'm keeping the claw marks, Cherno told them. Badge of honor, as you'd say, Papa.
Aleksis laughed. "So long as they do not hurt you, that is fine." He sat down on a crate, pushing the walker away with a weary groan.
Are you all right, Papa? Your legs still haven't mended.
"They will," he assured the Jaeger. "It is simply a slow process."
Right… you can't just get them replaced like I can. I forget that humans are so fragile.
"We are more resilient than you might think," Sasha assured him.
Cherno was silent a moment, fidgeting his hands slightly but doing his best to hold still for his repairs. Sasha sat down beside Aleksis and took his hand, weaving her fingers between his. For a few minutes they were content to just sit, to enjoy one another's company. In a way, it wasn't much different from moments back in Vladivostok, when they had come to spend time in Cherno's hangar between engagements and simply be close to the Jaeger. The only difference now was that Cherno was mobile, and able to communicate via words instead of simply images and feelings.
What happens now? Cherno asked at last. If the Breach is closed, and there are no more Kaiju… what do we do now?
For that, Aleksis had no answer. No one had ever talked about what would happen to the Jaegers after the Kaiju War was over, and the PPDC had never made any definite plans. Perhaps they would have been melted down for their valuable metals, or perhaps they would have simply been abandoned in Oblivion Bay. Sasha and Aleksis had never let themselves think about what might happen to Cherno at the end of the war – indeed, they had made it a point to not think too far into the future, to simply enjoy every day they had together in the event that it was their last.
But now the war was over… and Cherno was alive beyond any shadow of a doubt. No one with any empathy would even consider melting him down or dumping him in the Jaeger graveyard now, but that still didn't solve the problem of what would be done with him. Their world was tiny and flimsy, not fit for a Jaeger. He might not be as intentionally destructive as a Kaiju, but the world was no more prepared to accept him than they were the monsters of the Breach.
"For now, little one, we wait," Sasha said at last. "Tendo and Mako have worked to keep you online and safe. I don't think they would give up on you now, after all this."
Cherno seemed to accept that for now. Are they going to help Crimson too? He's been so… sad… since the fight in the harbor. He's there, I can still feel him, but he won't speak to me. He calls out for his Rangers but they don't answer.
"Tendo will do all that he can," Sasha assured him. "He is a good man. He will not neglect Crimson. But if the Weis do not wake up… he may try to get Crimson to take on other Rangers."
A ripple of doubt tinged Cherno's thoughts. I don't think he will. Not as long as the Wei Tangs are alive… and maybe not even if they die. They're too close.
Aleksis thought about telling Cherno that Crimson might not have a choice in the matter, but held his tongue. Cherno had firmly rejected the "replacement" Rangers the PPDC had tried to force on him, after all. And the first few Ranger teams Pentecost had selected for Gipsy hadn't been able to manage a neural handshake in her Conn Pod, finally leading him to track down Raleigh and talk him into rejoining the Jaeger program. It shouldn't be so surprising that Crimson, too, would accept no one else besides his original pilots.
Any further thoughts were cut off by a soft cough, and they turned to see Mako standing near the hangar entrance.
"Am I intruding?" she asked softly.
"Come in," Aleksis invited. "You are always welcome here."
Cherno's presence seemed to brighten at the sight of the young Ranger, and he raised one hand and gave her a wave. Mako broke out in a grin and waved back.
"I should be serious about all this," she admitted. "This is something very new, and bears further serious study. But seeing him like this, alive and able to interact with us… it fills me with joy. And he's cute, in a way."
"In a way only two-and-a-half thousand tons of metal can be," Raleigh cut in, walking in behind her. "This is still really cool, though."
"Can we help you?" asked Sasha. "Are you here to check on Cherno?"
Mako nodded. "While you were asleep we had to put our studies of him on hold – he insisted on staying by your side until you awakened. Now that you're up, though, we would like to continue."
Aleksis felt his hackles rise at that. They were going to experiment on Cherno, were they? Not if he could help it. Cherno wasn't a lab rat, something to be poked and prodded at their whim…
"We would do nothing invasive or painful," Mako explained, picking up on his anger. "Simple scans of his programming, an EKG, things of that nature. Something to determine what makes him what he is, and sets him apart from the other Jaegers."
"We don't want to hurt him," Raleigh added. "We just want to understand him better. And if we can understand him, we can know how to better help him… and maybe help Crimson and Mustang too."
The anger drained out of him at that, and he relaxed slightly. "Only if we can be present for whatever tests you run."
"The first test actually requires your presence," Mako explained. "We want to run an EKG scan on the three of you while you communicate. Will you agree to that?"
Aleksis nodded. Sasha considered a moment, then also nodded.
What's an EKG? asked Cherno. Will it hurt?
"It won't hurt," Sasha assured him. "It simply measures brain activity."
Oh… okay. I'll do it. But it better not hurt.
"He agrees so long as it doesn't hurt," Sasha translated for Mako. "When do you want to start?"
"Right now, if that's all right. Just lead Cherno out into the main bay when you're ready." She offered a polite bow, then walked out with Raleigh.
I like them, Cherno noted.
"They are good people, and good Rangers," Aleksis acknowledged. True, he hadn't been so sure of them when they had first come to the Hong Kong Shatterdome – one a scarred and unstable veteran, the other an untried rookie, both carrying enough baggage into the drift that they had nearly destroyed Gipsy and a good chunk of the Shatterdome. But if the stories about how they had single-handedly defeated Otachi and Leatherback, and played a big role in Operation Pitfall, were true, then he had a new respect for them. They had earned their stripes, so to speak, and that deserved respect.
And it was obvious that Mako, like her foster father, had the proper respect for Jaegers and Rangers. The fact that Cherno liked her sealed the deal; he would be in good hands here.
"Dare I ask where you got those?" asked Herc, raising an eyebrow as he watched a medic wire the EKG cap onto Sasha's head. "They ain't exactly standard equipment here."
Mako only smiled. "A lady has to keep some of her secrets, Marshal."
He gave a dry smile. "Good point."
Tendo couldn't say that he'd seen anything quite like this before in his career. He was used to technicians poking around the Jaegers, fine-tuning and upgrading the massive war machines and tweaking them to operate at peak efficiency. But usually the Jaegers were standing immobile in their bays for such things, not sitting cross-legged on the ground and shifting back and forth like an impatient child. And it wasn't exactly customary to have medics on hand either, checking the Rangers' vital signs and hooking them up to monitors. No one expected anything life-threatening to happen during this test, but neither was anyone going to take a chance.
"Cherno wishes to know if this will hurt us," Sasha informed Mako.
Mako shook her head. "An EKG isn't an invasive test. It's only to monitor brain activity."
Tendo's gaze moved up to the LOCCENT, where Bailey and a few other technicians were making a few final checks to the readouts. They would be monitoring any unusual readings from the Jaeger, and seeing what had changed now that he was no longer just a machine. Anything unusual would be transmitted to the holo-display set up near the EKG machines, where they could better analyze it.
If we can just figure out the how and why of this, Tendo thought, we can predict if and when it will happen with our other two Jaegers. I'd rather we were prepared for this than to have one of them suddenly spring to life on us. Especially since Crimson doesn't have Rangers to keep him under control at the moment.
"EKG's a go," the medic reported. "We're ready on this end."
"Ready up here!" Bailey called down. "Sending some preliminary readings your way!"
Several graphs showed up on the holo-display. Right away Tendo noticed that despite there being no neural handshake at the moment, the drift was still alive with activity. It was as if Cherno's sentience had locked him in a permanent handshake with his Rangers, albeit a subdued one. They weren't controlling his movements, but there still existed a strong connection between the three of them.
"We've got some odd spikes on the EKG," the medic noted. "Nothing too out of the ordinary, but still noticeable. Can we initiate some conversation between Cherno Alpha and his Rangers?"
Mako nodded and looked up at the Jaeger. "Say something, Cherno."
The Jaeger's entire body tilted to one side, causing the medics and technicians to back away nervously. Tendo almost backed up himself before realizing that Cherno wasn't falling over, simply cocking his head in confusion. A readout of drift activity flared brightly for an instant, registering a sudden influx of energy in the neural handshake.
"He wants to know what he should say," said Sasha.
"Can he tell us when he first became self-aware?" asked Tendo. That was the burning question in his mind – where all this had started, when life truly began.
Cherno straightened, and he raised a hand to his cockpit, much like a human touching their chin in thought. Again the drift readout spiked, then leveled out as it received a steady stream of energy, doubtless corresponding with Cherno's mental speech.
"He says his first memory is of… cold," Sasha translated. "Cold, wind, rain, the ocean… of seeing a boat, and someone washed overboard…" She gasped, pressing a hand over her mouth. "Oh god…"
"What is it?" Raleigh asked. "Is everything all right?"
"Our first drift," she replied, blinking back tears. "Aleksis got caught in a bad memory… I pulled him out. That's what he first saw… oh, poor Cherno…"
Cherno's engines whined, and he held a hand out to his Rangers as if wanting to comfort them.
"I'm all right, Cherno," she assured him. "G-go on…"
He lowered his hand, and this time Aleksis spoke, translating for the Jaeger.
"'I felt fear at first - fear at what was happening, what I was seeing. But then the cold and storm went away, and I felt safe. I could feel my Rangers near, even though I didn't know who they were at the time, and somehow their presence made me feel safe. I felt a connection to them… I loved them. They were part of me, and I was part of them… and as long as we were together, nothing could hurt us.'"
Tendo listened intently. So he had been sentient from the very start. Which meant that there was definitely some spark of life in both Crimson and Mustang… though what would come of that spark, no one was sure yet.
"If you were alive all along, why didn't you start moving on your own until now?" he asked. "What did it take to make you what you are now… if you know?"
Cherno's shoulder joints groaned as he shrugged. Sasha spoke up again.
"'At first I wasn't aware of much. Only my Rangers… their thoughts, their memories, the feeling of safety whenever they were close. Even when they took me into battle, when Kaiju bit and clawed at my armor or pushed me into the ocean, I trusted them. I would have done anything for them… I would still do anything for them.'"
"Did something change somewhere along the line?" asked Tendo.
Aleksis spoke this time. "'Not all at once. It was… gradual. I slowly started to think and feel for myself. They sensed me, felt that I was becoming my own creature, and they accepted and encouraged it. They cheered me on in battle, and in return I helped them fight all the better. They treated me like a member of their team, not a slave or a machine, and it made me want to be better for them in return. They called me their son… and that made me see them as my parents. As family.'"
That would put Cherno on record as the largest adoptive child ever, Tendo thought wryly. "When did you finally become aware enough to start moving?"
Cherno shrugged again, and Sasha translated. "'I wish I could tell you. After the battle in the harbor, I was in pain… but even worse, I could feel my Rangers, my Mama and Papa, fading away from me. I called to them, tried to hold onto them, and I could feel that I almost lost them. I could feel myself… fading. Burning out. But they pulled me back… and I don't know what happened then. But it made me… this. What I am today.'"
Tendo nodded slowly. He wasn't expecting Cherno to fully understand what had happened – he doubted anyone would fully understand, not until they had a chance to study this in much greater depth. But his account would help them. It sounded as if some sort of crucial threshold had been reached with that final drift with his Rangers, a last push to full-on sentience. Conditions had been just right, and it had led, however improbably, to life.
Herc's voice cut into his thoughts at that moment. "Beckett, are you crying?"
"No!" Raleigh said too quickly, scrubbing at his face with his hands. "Sorry… just… memories."
"Memories?" repeated Mako. "Did this happen with Gipsy too?"
Raleigh nodded. "The first time Yancy and I drifted with Gipsy, we felt something… wake up… in the drift. Like a light turning on or… or a third mind suddenly entering the handshake. We thought it was a glitch or something…"
"Keep talking," Tendo ordered. "Gipsy was alive too, you're saying?"
Raleigh nodded. "At first we thought it was just our imaginations, that we were doing it ourselves. You know, like how guys give their cars personalities of their own. But soon it felt like Gipsy was acting on her own at times… or telling us what she wanted to do. She was… she was part of our team. Alive."
Mako hesitated, then chimed in. "I felt it too. When I first drifted with Gipsy, I could feel Raleigh's mind… but also Gipsy's. It was like she was watching me, judging me to see if I was worthy to pilot her." She managed a smile. "I must have passed."
Tendo turned to Herc, who glared back a moment before sighing heavily. "I felt it too. Felt it with my first Jaeger, Lucky Seven… and felt it again with Striker. Lucky didn't last long enough to go too far… but Striker definitely had his own personality before…" He clamped his jaw shut, unwilling to go on.
"You all have an assignment," Tendo stated, looking from one Ranger to another. "Homework, if you will. I want you to write down or record everything you can tell me about your Jaeger – if and when they began developing sentience, the particulars of their personalities, any significant events that affected their development in any way. Submit it to Hermann or Mako as soon as you're done. Whatever's happening here, we have to understand it..."
"Speak of the devil," Herc grumbled as the Shatterdome's scientists charged into the Jaeger bay, both shouting at the top of their lungs.
"Breach there's another Breach holy shit another Breach!" Newt howled, skidding to a stop inches away from a collision with Mako.
"Another crisis, possibly worse than the last!" Hermann added, limping forward as fast as possible. "And Newt, will you CALM yourself and stop gibbering like a baboon!"
"Both of you shut up!" Herc shouted. "What in bloody hell is going on?"
Newt gasped for air before replying. "The drift… that drift we did… with the Kaiju brain…"
"We believe the drift hangover from our neural handshake with Otachi Jr. has allowed us a glimpse at an oncoming crisis," Hermann finished. "Something is coming… I know not what, but it is coming."
Before anyone could ask precisely what Hermann was referring to, an all-too-familiar alarm ripped through the air. Cherno went rigid, and the readout spiked alarmingly.
"Kaiju," Aleksis breathed.
"It can't be," Raleigh said quietly, going pale. "We sealed the Breach…"
"It's a Kaiju, sir!" Bailey called down from the LOCCENT. "Category IV, fifty miles out from Hong Kong and closing in fast! Sir… sir, what do we do?"
Tendo felt panic rising in his gut, and only with supreme effort was he able to lock it down again. "Get Mustang ready for combat!"
"But Tendo, it's not ready!" Hermann protested. "There's still so much testing to be done-"
"We don't have a choice," Tendo told him firmly. "We created Mustang Omega in the event of another Kaiju coming to attack, not so we could have an expensive hobby! Now's the time to put the Mark VI to the ultimate test! Call the Rossis!"
A low rumble issued from Cherno, and all eyes moved to the Mark I. He pushed himself to his feet, towering over the gathered humans, and rumbled again.
"Cherno… are you sure?" Sasha asked.
Another rumble, like a massive bear readying itself for a charge.
"Be careful… please." She turned to Tendo. "Cherno volunteers to go out and fight."
Tendo shook his head. "We can't allow that. He's still not fully repaired…"
"He says we created him for this," Sasha retorted. "To defend humanity, and destroy the Kaiju. He doesn't see how that has changed. He will go out and fight… and he would like to see you try to stop him." She smirked at that last bit.
Technically true, he supposed – if a two-thousand-ton titan wanted its way, there was precious little anyone could do to dissuade him. "All right… but make sure he understands he's doing this at his own risk. We don't want him hurt."
Cherno bobbed his entire body in a nod, then raised his fists and beat them together in his signature battle taunt. The gesture sparked a cheer from the entire hangar, and Tendo himself couldn't help a bit of a smile. Cherno was truly back in action again… he just hoped his first engagement as a sentient being wouldn't also be his last.