Author's Notes: Many thanks to everyone for all the reviews! Please keep them coming! This chapter wound up so long that I split it in two. Hope you like political maneuvering and deep philosophical discussions!
Canon Note: According to the extended canon, Hermann's wife Vanessa was pregnant with their first child at the time of Operation Pitfall. I arbitrarily made the baby a girl, since Tendo had a son, and named her Evaline. Travis Beacham described her as a British model - I kept that but added that she's also a vulcanologist who switched from studying supervolcanoes to studying the Breach.
Chapter Eleven: Nothing To Say
Hong Kong Shatterdome…
"My old man's in a complete panic," Chuck told the others as news spread. He saw Raleigh's puzzled expression and elaborated, "Putting Geiszler and the Kaidanovskys in the same room as Lunk…?"
" – Fuck," Raleigh concluded.
"And Lunk being able to ask them questions under oath; ohhhh, man, boys and girls, we are in trouble," Tendo agreed. "Or Lunk is. Depends on who he decides to question."
But Hien Nguyen kept shaking her head. "You guys aren't getting it; Lunk can't do what he's talking about doing! This is a Congressional Committee hearing – the President doesn't get to ask questions. Our guys are the witnesses; they answer questions from the committee and only the committee and nobody else. Lunk can strut in and hand over a list of questions, but he doesn't get to take over the panel!"
"That is what all the political experts seem to be saying," Mako mused, reading an article on her tablet. "Oh… Look at this!" She brought up a new breaking report on the nearest screen.
It was clearly a leaked video. Those were always fun – and it looked to be inside the White House. "Sir, you can't - "
"Why not!? Why not?! Why not?!" someone who sure sounded like Lunk was demanding over and over like a toddler. "I'm the President! I'm in charge, why can't I ask questions!"
"Sir, there are rules for Joint Committee hearings - "
"Why not? I'm the President! Change the rules - "
That was all. Everyone pondered it. "What do you think?" Kyrra Taior from Team Striker mused. "Fake?"
"Real," said Hien without hesitation.
"Nahhh, fake," said Tendo. "Nobody'd get a camera into the White House to film the president."
"He just fired another Press Secretary and hired a bunch of new staff, whose only credentials are all that they're bloggers who like him," Hien countered, grinning. "His security is busy trying to stop him from getting himself shot when he's posing for pictures. This White House leaks like a sieve. It's real."
"Ten bucks?"
"You're on!"
Raleigh burst out laughing. Chuck noted the delight in Mako's eyes as Raleigh shook his head at Tendo. "Some things never change."
Tendo blew him a kiss. "You in the pool, Becket boy?"
"Nah, I've barely got ten bucks to my name."
"So back to subject," said Kyrra, turning to Chuck as all the Americans started placing bets. "Is Herc seriously going to let Newt Geiszler answer questions from Jerry Lunk?"
"I dunno; I'm almost more worried about Hermann," said Chloe Warner.
"Wow." Chuck hadn't thought of that. "That much intelligence and that much…whatever's under Lunk's hair…it'll be like matter and anti-matter."
To everyone's intense relief, cooler heads prevailed among the Americans and whoever had written the insanely-complicated rules for the United States Congress had enough jargon about "separation of powers" that not even the President of the United States could just waltz into a committee hearing and start asking questions.
Chuck's old man looked like he needed several drinks. "But they appeased him by letting him give an address to the whole bloody Congress this evening. Now I have to decide whether I offend literally all the Americans by us not showing up, or take the risk of us sitting there in the gallery while that bloody moron runs his mouth."
"They can't make you just come listen to his speech, right?" Chuck protested. It wasn't like he was an expert on American politics, though Hien and a few of the others who paid attention to that sort of thing had given everybody a crash course in one afternoon.
"No, the subpoena doesn't cover a Presidential speech, but again, that's not the only factor," Herc huffed. "Us coming to that speech'll be a sign of good will, but not coming'll be a snub in front of the whole world. I'm not sure we can afford that, but I'm really not sure we can afford Sasha and Aleksis listening to Jerry fucking Lunk shooting his mouth off!"
"Hey, he loves the Russians, though!" Chuck said.
"He loves the Russian bigwigs. Sasha and Aleksis don't, and the bigwigs know it. I don't think that'll count for much, and I'm also not sure Newt or Hermann will be able to keep their mouths shut."
Chuck thought of something else, not that he wanted to add to Dad's stress. "There's also…shit, Vanessa Gottlieb in the same room as Jerald Lunk?" The U.S. President's misogyny and womanizing were legendary.
To his surprise, Herc found his humor again. "I was, for a minute. Newt already thought of that, but Hermann just laughed at him and said Vanessa will handle herself. She's got a lot of experience dodging sleazy men."
"I bet she does, but if I were her husband, I wouldn't like it."
"Well, she says it's not up to her husband. She's got a point; it's 2025, and she's got three Ph.D's. She doesn't need anyone to look after her."
Washington, D.C….
"Another thing I don't understand: why do all his supporters chant 'Jerry' over and over?" Hermann demanded while Herc paced around the hotel room.
The Kaidanovskys looked amused, and Newt shook his head. "Seriously, Hermann? You're telling me you've never seen or heard of Jerry Springer?"
"Who?"
Sasha laughed quietly before bringing up a montage on her phone of Jerry Springer talk show clips. Hermann was predictably appalled. Sasha smirked. "As you can see, the sort who voted for Jerry Lunk also find the comparisons to Jerry Springer flattering. I think Springer is the more intelligent of the two."
"Hell, yeah, Jerry Springer is fucking Socrates compared to Jerry Lunk," said Newt.
"…is this what the United States is reduced to?" Hermann breathed.
Herc tried to come up with a diplomatic answer, but Sasha just replied: "Yes. And some of his supporters will attend the speech tonight; he enjoys it when they chant. He makes Vladimir Putin look modest and dignified."
"Ouch," muttered Newt.
Herc was on the phone with some former Jaeger Program lawyers and public relations agents – none of whom officially represented the Jaeger Program anymore because Stacker hadn't been able to afford to pay them during the final months. With the apocalypse nigh, who'd cared about potential lawsuits, let alone public relations?
"Well?" Sasha asked once the call finally ended. "What do they say?"
Herc sighed and went looking for some alcohol. "What we already figured out: there's no legal way for force us to show up for this speech."
The two Russians, the German, the Brit, and the sole American in the room – and the newborn of aforementioned German and Brit – exchanged glances. "'But'?" Newt guessed.
"Yeah. If we no-show, Lunk and his supporters will take it very personally." Herc took a long pull of a bottle of bitter and closed his eyes. "America's gonna build Jaegers now either way." He shook his head in disgust. "They didn't want to spend the money when the world needed them and they mighta saved lives, but now with the chance of being big and dramatic, sure, now they've got the money. Not just the U.S. either, mind. A lot of other countries are going down the same road. But if we start making enemies, that increases the risk the next generation of Jaegers are all pointed at each other."
An uncomfortable silence fell. Evaline cooed, and Hermann settled next to her bed to let her tug on his fingers. "I fear what you're saying is, all factors taken into account, we must go and grit our teeth."
Herc sighed. "Yeah." He shot Newt a warning look.
"What's everyone lookin' at me for?!" Newt protested.
Hong Kong Shatterdome…
"They're going!" Chuck announced, charging into the mess hall. "Speech is at 8 am our time, 8 pm theirs. Dad says they're all right across from the President in the chamber gallery.
"Dude, if anybody else were President, I would be jealous," said Hien Nguyen. "I hope somebody's handy to sit on Geiszler!"
Chuck smirked. "Dad says he and Sasha and Aleksis had a long chat with Newt and Gottlieb about keeping a grip on themselves no matter what Lunk says."
"Do we know what Lunk's actually gonna say?" demanded Jake Pentecost.
"Probably same shit he always says," said Christian Warner. "''murica first, we've got the biggest Jaegers, we're better than you, everybody should give me money, I'm the smartest president in history.'" Everyone scoffed. "What we've gotta worry about is if he starts throwing shit at – at – well - "
Jake Pentecost was a perceptive kid, they'd all figured out very quickly. "At my dad. Or at his dad." He gestured to Chuck. Pilots and personnel scowled, but nodded.
Cheung way settled his brother's wheelchair at the table before looking reluctantly at Raleigh. "We've heard warnings from our people. He will say something about you." Mako stiffened, eyes blazing, but Raleigh put a calming hand on her arm. "He's angry that you didn't come. He wanted to strut around with you, have his picture taken with you. He doesn't care whether you were healed or not."
Raleigh said firmly, "I don't care what he says. His opinion isn't worth anything to me." He slid his arm around Mako's waist, trying to ease her tension. "Let him say what he wants and let PR fight it out. Better me than people who…can't defend themselves." He suddenly stiffened, his eyes going distant, and Mako – and every other Team Gipsy officer in the room – looked sharply at him.
"…that…fucking…fucker…better not," Chuck breathed.
"Hey, hey," Tendo held his hands up, while Team Striker converged on Chuck and Team Gipsy converged on Raleigh, Mako, and Jake. "Let's not all freak out in advance, okay? If there's one thing Jerry Lunk does, it's wacky shit that nobody expects when there's a microphone in his face. For all we know, he's gonna ramble for an hour about how we should all have walls after all and try to start a war with North Korea again. Or his speechwriters will have actually put some thought into what he says and drop some happy pills into his drink so he sticks to the script and goes all feel-good. 'kay? Deep breaths, guys. Until tomorrow morning, we don't know."
He and other crew, especially the more politically-savvy Americans, did manage to calm everybody down for the time being. Raleigh and Mako were making the rounds to some of the other crew who'd been his friends at the time of Knifehead, and by judicious eavesdropping, some of Chuck's crew learned what was up.
"He's telling them about Pentecost," Kyrra Taior informed Chuck, her eyes soft and all too knowing. "You remember how pissed everyone was about Pentecost kicking Becket out for insubordination during the Knifehead engagement?" Chuck nodded, hoping she wouldn't notice the look on his face. "It was Raleigh, not Pentecost who made the call to make it a dismissal instead of a medical discharge. Poor, fucked-up kid. He blackmailed Pentecost into doing it in exchange for not killing himself, and Pentecost turned around and blackmailed the brass so they'd leave Raleigh the hell alone after." Then she and a few of Chuck's other crew finally looked at him, and…well…Chuck had never been good at poker. "Aw, hell, kid, you knew, didn't you?"
Chuck looked down and mumbled, "Only since Pitfall. Marshal gave Raleigh what he wanted, then set the whole thing up so everyone would blame him instead of Raleigh. Pentecost protected all of us when nobody else would."
Kyrra and the rest of Team Striker looked stunned. "Damn. So…what Raleigh's doing…"
"Clearing Pentecost's name, like he deserves," Chuck finished. He saw a few pairs of eyes avoiding his. Yeah, not everyone in the Corps had been thrilled by Pentecost being the last man standing in command – though nearly everyone in Team Striker had accepted him as Better Than Ketteridge. That would have to change, and Chuck planned to be as forceful about it as Raleigh Becket was being. "He did what he had to do, and unlike the majority of the brass, he put us first. Best everyone remember that – and remind anyone who forgets."
Kyrra nodded, smiling faintly. "Yes, sir." The "sir" part wasn't even sarcastic.
The next morning, the entire off-duty population of the Hong Kong Shatterdome were crowded into the officer's lounge, mess hall, and nearby offices watching live coverage from the United States. (Everyone on-duty had it on the nearest screen.) The reporters started dithering as soon as the Jaeger Program delegation arrived, chattering and trying to interpret every move they made.
"Hercules Hansen is shaking hands with Secretary General Dustin Krieger – there doesn't seem to be much warmth there on his part or his Rangers or the K-Scientists, though Krieger's being very effusive."
"President Lunk canceled several conferences today in order to prepare for tonight's address, according to White House insiders, and several more staffers were fired from his speechwriting department."
"Oh God, this is gonna be a nightmare," breathed Christian Warner. He reached past several other crew to clap Raleigh's shoulder. "He's gonna do nothing but talk shit about you, Rals."
Raleigh snorted. "Believe me, buddy, if I'm the only one he talks shit about, I'll be a happy man."
Raleigh was to Mako's right, Jake Pentecost to her left, and Chuck found himself on Jake's left. So he ended up facing them when Raleigh shot Marshal's adopted and blood offspring a grim look. Yeah. They'd have gotten off easy if Raleigh was the only one Lunk went after tonight.
The press dissected every interaction Chuck's father and the rest of the Jaeger Program delegation had with anyone. Well, it probably didn't help that out of the entire group, only Vanessa Gottlieb was either willing or able to hide her disgust towards the stuffed shirts who came shmoozing up looking for a photo opp.
"Where'd Sasha and Alekis get those dress uniforms?" someone muttered. "I didn't know the Russians had 'em."
"Dunno, but they still look like they're about to beat somebody's ass, and that's awesome," mused Tendo, as a Senator everyone recalled as a Wall-humper started towards them - then froze as Sasha cast a toothy, red smile at him. Said Senator then made the visible decision to go shake hands with someone else.
A collective chorus of growls and laughter rang through the room. "Her husband's bigger but she's scarier," Jake pronounced.
Chuck couldn't keep a smirk off his face. "Wait'll you get to know them. They're both terrifying...and they know it."
The group made it up into the gallery of heroes, as the Americans called it, without incident. Chuck's dad looked pretty damn dignified next to the sneering Kaidanovskys and the scowling scientists - well, Vanessa Gottlieb wasn't scowling. She and Herc were the only ones managing not to look like they desperately wanted to be somewhere else.
Chuck didn't know whether he hoped Dad would break his poker face or not.
When Lunk made his entrance, most of the Americans groaned. It was really cognitively dissonant to hear some dignified guy in a suit pronounce, "Mister Speaker, the President of the United States" only for a bunch of people in the gallery to start chanting, "JERRY! JERRY! JERRY!"
Yeah, the guy who swaggered down the central aisle pumping his arms in the air and giving high-fives and pausing for selfies looked more affiliated with the talk show chanters than a national government.
"How the fuck did we manage to elect that jackass?" groaned Tendo to Hien.
"Uh...the voters thought the world was going to end before his term did?"
"Good answer."
Some of the cameras focused on Herc and the Jaeger Program delegates, others focused on Lunk as he took his place on the podium - so all of them caught the way Lunk took his measure of Herc's group. Herc and the three scientists were standing; the Kaidanovskys weren't.
"Uh-oh," said Chloe. "That's really rude."
"He can't give them shit," insisted Christian Warner. "He brags about not standing for anybody else's dignitaries even when he's the guest on foreign soil!"
"Hate to break the news to you, Chris, but Jerry Lunk has absolutely no qualms about being a hypocrite," said Hien. "He will absolutely bitch and whine about how disrespectful they are."
Dad, Geiszler, and the Gottliebs gave visibly cool and polite applause as Lunk's groupies acted like footballers until somebody finally shut them up. Lunk started off innocently enough, welcoming everyone in celebrating "our victory against the kaiju menace," and applauding "the courage of our bravest Americans."
Then reality simply slid out of existence as he got louder. "This was an American victory from start to finish! America founded the PPDC, America started the Jaeger Program, America invented the Jaegers, America pioneered their fighting techniques and their drift technology, and an American pilot closed the Breach!"
"Hùnzhàng!" spat Jin Wei.
"Anybody would think we didn't close our Shatterdomes a year ago," grumbled Alison.
"Shh!"
Then Lunk looked straight up at Herc and actually pointed at the gallery, half the watchers in Hong Kong hissed, "oh shit!" and the President of the United States puffed out his chest and squawked, "So WHERE ARE our Americans tonight?!"
Lunk's loyal cheerleaders bellowed in response - then Newt stood up. Chuck sucked in his breath, but Newt raised his hands and said something that looked suspiciously like, "What am I, chopped liver?"
Whatever it was, it actually cut off the Lunk-nuts and gave the American President a startled pause. "Oh my God..." Raleigh muttered.
When the cameras panned the American Congress, there were an awful lot of people grinning. Lunk looked...befuddled, but went on with his speech. It quickly became clear that the speechwriters had opted for passive aggression. Rather than calling Raleigh out by name for not showing up, just lamenting the lack of Americans was a major theme - and whoever had written the speech had forgotten that Dr. Newton Geiszler was American.
So everytime Lunk thundered "where are our Americans?!" and "why don't I see any Americans up there?!" Newt waved his arms over his head, pointed to himself, or otherwise made his American presence known in an increasingly mocking manner. The second time Lunk said it and Newt responded, the two Kaidanovskys pointed at Newt too. Chuck could see even Hermann Gottlieb fighting not to smile.
On the third or fourth repetition, Herc cracked and started laughing into his hand. That broke the Hong Kong Shatterdome population's shock, and people started snickering.
"Yeah, we're laughing now, but this means Lunkie's gonna go off-script any minute," Hien Nguyen warned. "And he's gonna say nasty stuff."
He did. He started rambling after ten minutes about how much he'd supported the Jaeger Program and how he'd always known "we'd win" - "but I'm telling you, we'd have won a lot earlier if the Jaeger Program had listened to me! Now listen, listen, I don't wanna speak ill of the dead, but let's face it, Stacker Pentecost made a LOT of mistakes!"
To Chuck's right, Jake and Mako stiffened, and the laughter in the mess hall died. So did the amusement of everybody in Washington. Lunk, of course, didn't notice and rambled on. "If he'd've talked to me, we could've had a better plan, better defenses - I had the best plans, the best defenses for our ports that woulda protected our cities and our Jaeger pilots, and maybe so many of 'em wouldn't have died!"
"Seriously - all those pilots, all those brave, brave men, every one of 'em would be alive today if you'd elected me in 2016 instead of Matt Santos! I mean, Santos, talk about Obama 2.0, it was pathetic! Pathetic! I was the kind of leadership we needed, and Stacker Pentecost shoulda known that! Bad judgment! Hey!" Someone in the chamber had actually started booing. "Don't you boo me - security, throw them out - I'm just telling it like it is - " Lunk looked up at the gallery and made the mistake of making eye contact with Herc and the Kaidanovskys - and he completely lost his train of thought.
Hell, every single one of the Jaeger Program delegation was sitting rigid in their seats, eyes blazing with anger. Chuck's Dad looked like he might leap over that balcony railing and take a run at Lunk any minute - and the Kaidanovskys would be right behind him.
The spectators seated around them were looking between them and President Lunk, and there was no mistaking that even Lunk's cheering section looked a little dismayed.
There was a shuffle at the podium; people jumped, Tendo muttered, "what the hell..." then Vice President Royce had actually come scrambling down from his seat with a frantic-looking smile, and he yanked the microphone from in front of Lunk.
"I - I know we all share a lot of - uh, gratitude to the brave men and women of the Jaeger Program!" Vice President Royce blurted, while Lunk just blinked and sputtered.
Hien broke the dazed silence in the mess hall by snickering. "Someone's typing into the teleprompter in real time."
Royce hastily repeated thanks to Herc and his team for being there...Herc and said team just stared him down, unsmiling, then Lunk practically elbowed his way back to the microphone to give the obligatory, "God bless America!" closing.
Almost nobody applauded. Not even Lunk's die-hards could muster their enthusiasm, though he tried to rev them up as he went back down the aisle. "I wonder if this means he's finally shot someone on Fifth Avenue," Tendo murmured.
"Huh?" Chuck shot the same puzzled look at him as all the other non-Americans.
"Nothing. Not important." Tendo's smile was a little grim as the cameras focused again on Herc, the Kaidanovskys, Newt, and the Gottliebs. "Marshal looks ready for a beat-down." He turned from the screen to Jake and Mako. "You guys okay?"
Neither said anything; Mako just nodded, and Jake shrugged. Raleigh had an arm around Mako; Chuck caught a glimpse of his face...yeah, Dad wasn't the only one dreaming of a beat-down.
To everyone's disgust, Secretary General Krieger and Representative Taylor - and a lot of the other current and former PPDC brass - were happy to pose for pictures with President Lunk, laughing and chatting with him in front of the cameras as if he hadn't just spent an hour shitting on the Jaeger Program.
There in the mess hall, a lot of the Americans wound up gathered on the floor and crowded onto the seats and tables around Chuck, Jake, Mako, and Raleigh. "This is gonna backfire in Lunk's face so hard," Hien insisted. "People all over the world are going to be defending Marshal Pentecost. Y'know," she cast a look at the other Team Gipsy personnel, "we probably should say something."
Raleigh cringed, and some of the crews started arguing, but then Jin Wei called them all to order. "I have a message from Marshal Hansen. He says no one is to speak to the reporters about this. He says Sasha Kaidanovsky has a plan."
They all exchanged looks.
"Yeah, what else is new?" said Tendo.
Jake was so quiet after the speech that Mako shot Raleigh an apologetic look when everyone finally wore down their ranting and disbursed for quarters. "You can stay in my room if you want," she murmured in Japanese.
Raleigh shook his head. "Stay with him. I'll be fine."
He was lying, of course; this would be the first night they hadn't spent together in weeks. But she knew he understood what had just happened; Mako's teenaged (now orphaned) brother had just had to listen to the President of the United States mocking his father in front of the whole world. Mako doubted she'd get much sleep tonight either.
It was gratifying how many crew trailed after Mako and Jake just to reassure Jake personally. "Don't let that get to you, kid. Jerry Lunk's full of shit, and the whole world knows it."
"Take it from the 'muricans, son. That shithead was the biggest mistake we as a country ever made!"
"Lunk didn't know the first thing about Marshal Pentecost until after Pitfall!"
As they reached Jake's room, Mako spotted Chuck hovering a few paces down the hall. Jake looked back and forth between the two of them, uncertain, so it fell to Mako to nod, beckoning him to come with them.
It was crowded in the little bunk room with three people and Sensei's ghost. "I know Lunk's full of shit," Jake pronounced.
Mako and Chuck had to smile. "The one and only time he ever said a word to your dad was to shoot off an email demanding Gipsy Danger back after she moved to Hong Kong," said Chuck. "'American property,' never mind the American PPDC reps had all signed off on the transfer."
Mako growled under her breath without thinking. She'd forgotten about that amid the chaos of the consolidation during the spring, and Sensei hadn't said much. All Mako had been able to think at the time was that all her work would come to nothing if the Americans took Gipsy back. She hadn't realized until then how proprietary she'd become. She met Chuck's eyes inadvertently then, and for the briefest second, she could see Sensei giving her that same look, trying not to be amused at her expense.
Jake didn't notice. "What'd he say? My dad, did he answer?"
"Nah, he ignored it. Lunk didn't even notice; somebody probably told him how expensive a Jaeger is to maintain - sorry," Chuck added to Mako.
It's moot now, isn't it? Gipsy Danger is vaporized in another dimension, or at least on another planet. I only hope she took a large number of the kaiju and those...Precursors, whatever they are, with her.
"Mako?" She blinked back to here and now, and found Jake staring at her in alarm. "What?"
"Nothing - " she began, but at his irritation, she amended it, "I'm okay." She forced a smile. "It's a side effect of drifting. Our minds wander."
That was a massive oversimplification, and Chuck knew it, but he was polite enough not to say...since when? A few months ago, Chuck Hansen would've sneered something like, "Maybe your mind wanders, Mori."
"How much do you know about my dad now, after drifting with him?" Jake asked Chuck bluntly.
Mako winced, but Chuck didn't seem bothered. "It varies. Drifting...it depends on what you're paying attention to. Weeks on, I remember things and realize they're not my memories. I..." He suddenly looked uncertain in a way Mako couldn't ever recall seeing - not in the eyes of Sensei or Chuck Hansen. "I didn't know one drift could do that. I mean, I ghosted a little with my father from the very beginning, but we kept on drifting."
"It's the same with Raleigh and me," Mako confirmed. "I don't know if the drift is always this way; Operation Pitfall was...a very long drift, with long combat. The truth is, for all my time in the simulator, I didn't often think about how drift compatibility might truly feel, or how it changes the pilots."
Chuck couldn't seem to come up with a response to that. "What'll happen now?" Jake asked. "Is that it? That pillock in the US gets the last word?"
"It better not be," Chuck muttered and pulled out his phone. "Hm. My dad says some of their friendly members of Congress are telling Sasha they want to go back into session tomorrow - so Lunk doesn't get the last word. That'll mean letting the unfriendly ones get another crack at us too, but at least then our people can bloody answer!"
Mako leaned against the wall and pondered it. "I'm not very familiar with American politics or their journalists...but after tonight, I think there would be even more attention on the committee testimony if they do have another session. Maybe Marshal Hansen and Sasha could use that to defend Marshal Pentecost."
Within a few hours, despite it being close to midnight in Washington, DC, the breaking news headlines changed again: Joint Committee on Jaeger Program to Re-Convene Friday!
To Be Continued...
Coming Soon: On the final day of testimony, Herc and the rest of the Jaeger Program have had enough of Stacker's memory being smeared by politicians and join forces with other veterans to turn the tables and take control of the narrative in Chapter Twelve: Stand For Us!
PLEASE don't forget to review!
"Hùnzhàng!" - (Mandarin) Bullshit
Original Character Guide
President Jerald "Jerry" Lunk: President of the United States. Billionaire hotel mogul who ran on a campaign of "make America safe again" in 2024, proponent of the Wall, likes to use Twitter. No, he's not based on anyone in the real world. Seriously. No, really.
Vice President Lionel Royce: Vice President of the United States. Slightly more dignified than Lunk, but rode Lunk's coattails to the White House because he couldn't get elected on his own anywhere else due to his bigotry. No, he's not based on anyone in the real world either. Really.
Hien Nguyen: Strike trooper formerly with Gipsy Danger, then transferred to Team Striker Eureka after Knifehead and Yancy's death, National Guard transplant, Vietnamese-American in her early 30s.
Christian Warner: drivesuit technician, African-American early 30s, classmate of Raleigh, Yancy, and Tendo's from Class 2016-B, close friend of our heroes from the beginning. Transferred to K-Watch to join his half-sister Chloe after Knifehead and Yancy's death, eventually wound up on Hong Kong's staff.
Chloe Warner: K-Watch officer, African-American, early 30s, classmate of Raleigh, Yancy, and Tendo's from Academy Class 2016-B. Stationed in Hawaii for most of the war, eventually wound up with the downsized K-Watch personnel in Hong Kong for Operation Pitfall. She and her half-brother drift tested, but were not drift compatible despite being very close.
Kyrra Taior: Chief Engineer of Striker Eureka, Aboriginal Australian, former lover of Susanti Hassan, late pilot of Vulcan Specter.