Forged in Fire, Chapter 27
Sacramento International Airport
June 8, 2025
1945
Mako and Raleigh watched through the windows as the airliner touched down on Runway 16L, brief spurts of smoke erupting as the tires went from being still to spinning at several hundred RPM in under a second. It slowed down swiftly, courtesy of the stiff breeze from the south which marked the return of cooler weather for the next few days. Mako grabbed the simple sign they had made and headed to the exit of the people mover, waiting for Herc and the new arrival to the Senior Staff.
Raleigh, however, waited and watched the plane taxi over to Gate B5, slowly approaching under the guidance of the ground crew. He'd always wondered what the hand signals meant, but had never had a chance to find out before the War had come.
Finally, the plane eased to a stop ad shut down its engines. As soon as the engines powered down, a number of people wearing Day-Glo green vests with white stripes swarmed the airplane, chocking the tires, hooking up umbilical cables, guiding the Jetway into place, and opening the cargo hold. Belt loaders and baggage carts arrived, and four people scrambled into the hold, and soon the bags were flowing down the belts to the carts, where they were speedily stacked.
Raleigh shook his head in amazement at the seemingly haphazard hustle and bustle, all around a multi-million dollar piece of hardware. "It all seems so chaotic," he muttered.
To Raleigh's surprise, a voice behind him responded to his comment. "You'd be surprised how well coordinated it is. It's not ballet, but its close. Much more physically demanding, though."
Raleigh turned to face the newcomer. He wore an orange safety vest, kneepads, and gloves, and had a pair of yellow earmuffs draped around his neck and some sunglasses parked atop his head. He gestured at the Alaska Airlines plane. "That Boeing 737 has 1.5 tons of luggage under her cabin floor, split between a forward and aft hold, along with an assortment of cargo and possibly mail. The fun part? Those guys have 15 minutes from wheel stop to get the last bag onto the claim belt. Probably Carousel 2, since Jet Blue just dropped their last load about a minute ago."
"You work with them?"
"Ah, no. I work with Delta, Jet Blue, and Hawaiian. Contractor."
Raleigh nodded. "Then you probably handled my sister's baggage a few weeks back. She went to Hawaii and back."
"What for?"
Raleigh looked back out the window. "Much-belated funeral. Our brother, who died back on Leap Year Day in 2020, up by Anchorage."
"I'm sorry for your loss. Yancy was a good pilot."
Raleigh whirled around. "How'd you know?"
"Your face is kinda hard to miss these days." The ramp worker gestured over his shoulder with a thumb at the news stand behind them. Raleigh and Mako's faces still graced the covers of a half-dozen magazines on display.
Raleigh laughed. "True."
"Anyways, I need to get back over to Terminal A and clock back in. Lunch breaks only last so long, you know?"
Raleigh's stomach grumbled. "Tell me about it."
With a laugh, the worker turned and walked around a corner.
Raleigh looked back out the window and saw a nearly full people mover car approaching, and headed over to stand with Mako.
-.-.-
Herc and Miranda stepped out of the people mover, carry-on baggage in hand. They instantly spotted Mako and Raleigh, courtesy of the bulldog clipart sign. Herc pulled Mako into a bear hug, and shook Raleigh's hand. However, he could sense their unease at Miranda's presence. Time to defuse the situation. "Come on, Raleigh. Let's go get the luggage."
-.-.-
Mako watched Herc and Raleigh go down the escalator to get the luggage, unsure of what to do next. She was surprised by Miranda. She's so much like Tamsin, but just a little bit more… compact.
"Mako… Hello? Earth to Mako."
Mako snapped back to reality. "Sorry. You remind me of someone I used to know."
Miranda smiled sadly. "Which Kaiju got them?"
"It wasn't a Kaiju. It was a Jaeger."
Miranda raised an eyebrow, clearly curious.
"You know how the Mark I Jaegers weren't very well shielded, right?"
"Yeah. Chuck told me that Herc can't have kids anymore. The radiation…" She trailed off.
"Every crew of a Mark I suffered some ill effect."
"So… cancer?"
Mako nodded. "Tamsin fought it to the bitter end, hoping to live long enough to see the end of the war. She almost made it, too. Another three months, and she could have been there in Hong Kong with us with a little time to spare."
Miranda put a hand on Mako's shoulder. "Come on, let's go bug the boys. Just because I'm six months along doesn't mean I can't carry some of my own luggage."
Mako laughed. "True. Any idea if it's a boy or a girl?"
"Nope. I want it to be a surprise." Miranda winced. "They're really active, though. Seems to enjoy kicking me in odd places."
Mako turned to Miranda, full of questions but unsure whether this was the right time to ask. Some of her curiosity must have leaked through to her face, however, as Miranda smiled sweetly. "Don't worry. When it's your turn, I'll answer all your questions, Mako."
Mako relaxed as the two women walked off the escalator to see Herc and Raleigh juggling five bags of luggage… with four hands. Miranda stood there, dumbfounded, as the two men carefully balanced the fifth bag atop the one in Herc's right hand and Raleigh's left.
Mako, however, darted up and caught it right as it began to tumble. She used her free hand to gently smack her copilot upside the head. "Dork. Let me grab it from the get-go next time."
"Why didn't you smack Herc, too? It was his idea."
"It was?"
Miranda walked over. "Sure seems like it would be one of his ideas."
Mako turned to face Raleigh again. "No, I know it was your idea, Raleigh."
Raleigh hung his head, defeated, as Herc howled with laughter.
Now, however, it was Miranda's turn to be confused. "Mako… How? How can you possibly know?"
Raleigh trudged off to the car, as this was a key part of the explanation Mako was about to give.
"Okay, you know how Rangers think and act as one in the Drift?"
"Yeah."
"Well… the connection between copilots doesn't end when the Drift is terminated. Especially with a Drift as strong as the one I share with Raleigh."
"So… you can hear his thoughts?"
"Only if he really fixates on one in particular, or if I'm focused on listening. For example, if Raleigh's out at the car, where I can't see or hear him, and he talks to someone, I can hear his conversation as if he were a few meters away behind us. Unless I focus on it, I can't make out everything he says or hears. However, if he focuses on a single message, like 'Come on, Mako. Quit talking to Miranda. The van's unlocked.'… I can hear it clearly."
"Wait… did he just do that?"
"Yes." Mako started towards the door, and Herc and Miranda followed.
"Whoa…" Miranda turned to Herc. "Can all paired Rangers do that?"
A pained look crossed Herc's face. "No. Only a really strong Ghost Drift can allow that. Chuck and I would sometimes get it just after a combat Drift, but not all the time like Raleigh and Mako. Theirs is unusually strong."
"Oh."
The three came upon Raleigh leaned against the back hatch of the van, with Jazmine behind the wheel. "About time."
Miranda smiled. "Sorry, Rahh-leigh. But I'm sure you knew just about when we'd get here."
Raleigh stiffened at the incredibly accurate impression of Chuck.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to spook you like that."
"It's okay. Everyone ready?"
Herc closed the back hatch. "Yup. All the bags are squared away now."
They clambered into the van and started off to the hotel, eager to get a good night's sleep.
-.-.-
Hong Kong Shatterdome
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
0845
Newt jumped as his computer pinged at him. He looked at the screen to see that his Skype account had an incoming call from an unknown caller. Curious, he accepted the call.
The image on the screen showed a petite blond woman fiddling with something mechanical. She pushed her glasses back up her nose, then noticed that the call had gone through. "Oh, I'm sorry, Dr. Geizler. I hadn't expected you to take the call so quickly."
"And you are?"
The woman smiled. "Do you really not recognize me with the longer hair?"
Newt paused, trying to place her face… then his jaw dropped. "Dr. D'onofrio!"
"Please, call me Caitlin." She finished fiddling with the device, then snapped a skin-like covering over it. Suddenly, Newt realized what it was. It's a prosthetic leg. Hers, probably.
She saw the look of surprise on Newt's face and smiled. "They still hiding the fact that I lost a good part of my right leg during that last fight?"
"Yeah… I guess so."
"Hmph. I told them it was okay to let that out to the public years ago."
"Probably for morale purposes."
"True. Now, you said you had something you wanted to discuss regarding the Ghost Drift?"
"Yeah. You're THE expert on the Drift, so I wanted to talk with you about the bond between Mako and Raleigh."
"I've heard the stories. I'm quite curious to hear just how strong it is."
"Did you ever meet the Kaidonovskies?"
"Yes. They had long been the benchmark for compatibility and stability in the Drift. Spent a week watching them and studying their bond. Why?"
"I think Mako and Raleigh's connection might be even stronger. Did you hear about their first Drift?"
"Yes, I did. Rather unusual to do a first Drift in a combat ready Jaeger. Usually it's done in the labs."
"We were… pressed for time."
"So I heard."
"Well, I've talked with Tendo…"
Caitlin cut him off. "How is he, by the way?"
"Good. He's been serving as Marshall Hansen's aide de camp for a while now, but he's taking a few much-deserved days off now."
"Good for him. I'll make sure to call him soon. Anyways, what did Tendo have to say?"
"Oh, yeah. He said that Gipsy's plasma cannon deployed… in response to Mako's RABIT."
Caitlin froze. "That shouldn't be possible."
"Yet it happened. Mako and Raleigh's Drift was somehow able to override all the safeguards other than pulling the main power bus into LOCCENT."
"My God."
"Yeah. I wasn't there for that, though. I was still kinda shaken by the Drift with the frontal lobe from Mutavore."
"A remarkable feat, I might add. One that even I didn't think would be possible."
"Even I had doubts it would work. But the possible rewards far outweighed the risks."
"And they were. We do have you to thank for saving the world."
"Aw, shucks. I think that Mako and Raleigh deserve much more credit than I do."
"Point. Speaking of whom… You said that you're concerned for them?"
"Yeah. I've been using them to provide a baseline figure for the new Drift matrix I'm making. But it's hard to get a baseline, because their neural activity in the Drift is higher than anything I've ever heard of. It's not off the charts, but it's still extremely high. And their Ghost drift is equally strong."
"So what's your concern?"
"Well, will their personalities fuse, or something like that?"
Caitlin was quiet.
"Oh, god. They will, won't they?"
"Not quite like that. Yes, certain aspects will bleed across to the other. But they're not going to become one mind in two bodies. That's just crazy."
"Phew."
"However… Have they been keeping physical proximity to each other?"
"They've been practically inseparable since Pitfall."
"Not surprising. It took a long time for Sergio and I to be able to go out and do things alone. It'll be hard for them if they want to."
"That's the thing, though. I don't think they want to."
"Then let them be together. I saw the video of them sparring. There's more to their bond than just the Ghost Drift."
Newt's eyes lit up. "Oh, I know. There's a pool going on as to how long until Raleigh asks her… Want in?"
"By all means. But only on one condition."
"Name it."
"Have them get in touch with me. I'd very much like to have a chat with them."
"I'll arrange it as soon as I can."
"Alright, then. What's the going bet right now?"
-.-.-
Author's note: I'm in the middle of moving right now, so I do apologize for the longer time between chapters. As soon as I get settled, I'll pick up the pace again.
The scene about the Ghost Drift was in response to a question I was asked. I'd had a whole logic behind it already set up, and this just gave me the ability to reveal that. I hope it makes some sense.
As for the last fight of Brawler Yukon, where Caitlin lost her leg, I'm planning on doing that as a one-shot some point down the line. Her recovery will also be a part of that story. You can also expect to see her and Sergio appear as guests from time to time as well.
And the guy from the airport talking to Raleigh? That was me about two years ago. (No, we don't throw your bags. And if they pop open, that's not our fault: That's what happens when you try to stuff 40 pounds of clothes into a bag meant to carry 25-30 pounds.)
