Forged in Fire, Chapter 30

Mako, Raleigh, and Miranda's apartment

June 18, 2025

0700

Mako shuffled into the kitchen and started the stove, then put a tea kettle onto the "burner" of the electric stove. She yawned, stretched, and moved to the cupboard to retrieve some dishes for breakfast.

Sadie sauntered in, looking for food. "Mrow?"

"Hey, Sadie. Want some food?"

The long-haired cat wound her way between Mako's ankles, purring. I'll take that as a yes. Mako got out the box of dry food and poured some out onto a plate, then set it down. "There you go."

"She's a pest when she's hungry, isn't she?"

Mako smiled as she turned around to face Miranda. "Sounds like someone else I know."

"I resemble that remark." Miranda sat down at the table, hands on her stomach. "Will you quit kicking?"

Mako chuckled. "Well, being active's always a good sign, right?"

Miranda yawned. "Not if it keeps me up at night."

Mako was about to respond when Raleigh came in the door, bag of produce from the local farmer's market in hand. "Morning, you two."

Miranda pounced on Raleigh, grabbing a fresh nectarine from the bag and promptly biting into it. "Mmmm… Fresh off the tree. Gotta love it."

The three settled in for breakfast, with Raleigh making scrambled eggs and hash browns. Mako just stuck with making the coffee and tea, something that she knew she could do without making it into a burnt disaster. I really need to learn how to cook. I don't want to let Raleigh have to do it all… even if he doesn't mind it.

Miranda seemed to notice Mako's preoccupation. "Don't worry. Jaz and I will teach you, Mako."

Mako nodded and enjoyed the wonderful smell coming from the stove as Raleigh finished up. Today's going to be a good day.

-.-.-

Pan Pacific Industries R&D Offices

McClellan Airport

Sacramento, CA

0800

Raleigh had never had an office before, so it had taken some getting used to. Thankfully, Mako's office was across the hall, so it wasn't all bad. He booted up his new computer and logged in, then settled into the task of setting up a course for training Rangers. Like I'm the best choice for that.Mako's reassurance flowed across the Ghost Drift, and Raleigh sighed and set to work.

Raleigh had just gotten into his groove and was flowing nicely when Max's barks and the door chime distracted him. Great, who is coming in now? We're still getting started…

Miranda's voice snapped Raleigh back to reality. "Hello, sir. How can I help you?"

"I'd like to speak with Marshall Hansen, please."

"And you are?"

"Representative Baxter, Pan Pacific Working Group."

Raleigh's heart stopped. Uh-oh.

"Right this way, sir." Miranda's chair rolled backwards and she walked the politician down the hall. "Sorry about the state of affairs here, sir, but we're just getting started."

"That's why I'm here, Ms. Schaeffer." Baxter poked his head into Raleigh's office. "Mr. Becket, it's a pleasure to meet you. My daughter spoke highly of you."

Raleigh's mind spun. Daughter? "She did?"

"Yes. She was on the team helping salvage Gipsy's left arm from the Gulf of Alaska."

Suddenly, it clicked. "Emily, right?"

Baxter nodded. "That's her."

Mako spoke up behind the former Senator. "We didn't know she was your daughter, sir."

"Just like you, she likes to keep a low profile. Come on, I want to speak with all of you."

They headed into Herc's office, and Samuel Baxter began. "I've heard a lot of rumors that the Breach will reopen. So I want to know, up front, what we're getting into here."

Herc's face remained emotionless. "Sir, the Breach will likely reopen. Where and precisely when is still unknown at this time. However, courtesy of the Kaiju Sciences department in Hong Kong, the PPDC has narrowed down the timetable and possible locations."

Baxter nodded. "So I've heard. I've also heard that at least one possible location is in the Atlantic."

Herc nodded. "The Puerto Rico Trench, yes. We're hoping that's not where it opens up, but we are starting on contingency plans for if it does."

Baxter nodded, intending to press that topic later. "However, given that more than a third of the world's population is within the 'traditional' Kaiju range, I suspect that's where your focus is going to be, correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"And what is your defense, given that there aren't any Jaegers left?"

Herc, Mako, and Raleigh shifted uneasily.

"Well?"

Mako grimaced. "It depends on what the threat is. And we're not quite sure what we're going to face. We have had only one intelligence breakthrough since we closed the Breach."

Baxter rounded on Mako. "So you're trying to design Jaegers for Kaiju you've never seen?"

Raleigh smiled as Mako firmly stood her ground. "I've roughed out a half dozen designs, ranging from being not much more than a powered exoskeleton all the way up to a new Mark VI Jaeger."

"But you'll need to build them in time to face the threat when it emerges, yes?"

Raleigh nodded. "And that's the rub, sir. We might need to build several of each size to be ready."

The phone rang, and Miranda ducked out to take the call… only to come running back moments later. "It's Tendo. He says it's urgent."

Herc nodded and put the call on speaker. "Go ahead, Tendo."

"Sir, it's not me with the news… It's Dr. Geizler. He… he Ghost Drifted with the Hivemind again."

Everyone fell silent as Newt took the phone in Hong Kong.

"Okay, so, you remember what I saw last time, right? The Precursors were planning on making the Kaiju smaller and faster. Well, I… I saw how much smaller. About a 25% decrease in size. That will yield a Kaiju that is less than half the weight of the ones we're used to fighting. So we can expect to see more flying Kaiju."

Herc decided to interrupt in order to get more info. "What kinds of attacks are we facing? Acid? EMP? Fire breath?"

"Well, the fire breath is kinda ludicrous. Awesome, but unlikely. Acidic 'venom' was being tested on the one I saw. I don't know if we'll see EMPs, but I'd figure that the Precursors realized just how effective it'd be against anything we field."

Raleigh could feel Mako's mind working on something. Pipes? No… Fangs. "How was that acid being brought into play?"

"Fangs and claws, primarily. Oh, I also saw what looked like a clone of Otachi, but with Leatherback's EMP organ attached at the shoulders. I think they realized that they hit a winning combo there."

The three Rangers paled at the news that Otachi had been improved upon and prepared for another fight. Mako fielded the thought they all shared. "Full sized Otachi? Category IV?"

"Seems like it, yeah."

Herc slammed a fist against his desk. "I thought you said they were working on smaller Kaiju!"

"They are! But they also have Otachi II to send in if the going gets tough."

The Rangers looked at each other in dismay. This was unwelcome news.

"However, I do bear good news, so don't say I never do anything for you. The Precursors are targeting a new location for the Breach, and with the help of Hermann, we've got a location. But you're not going to like it."

Baxter spoke up. "Please don't tell me it's the Puerto Rico Trench."

"Good thing it's not, because I'm reportedly terrible at lying. No, it's both better and worse: The Cascadia Subduction Zone."

Raleigh frowned as he realized what the "worse" part was. "So what's the better part of that choice?"

"According to Hermann's math, which is always right in my experience, no Kaiju big or small will be able to exit the Breach safely."

A muffled argument followed by a loud "OW!" emanated from the speaker. Hermann's voice came next. "Forgive my… overeager… colleague, Rangers. Marshall, do you remember the old TV series 'Stargate SG-1'?"

"I do. What does that have to do with this discussion?"

"Remember the Iris they used to keep out unwanted 'guests'?"

Herc's face lit up. "Heh. Splat. Why, do you think we can set one up?"

"No need: the Breach will open up two kilometers underground, right in the fault's heart. The Kaiju would go, as you so simply put it, 'splat', against the North American Plate. However, should that fail, there is a second safeguard in our favor. The Breach will only remain stable for 37 milliseconds. This brief window will not allow a Kaiju to emerge safely unless kicked through at incredibly high speed."

Raleigh smiled. "Anything else on the good side?"

"Actually, there's a small chance that the sudden collapse of the Breach will significantly damage the apparatus on the Anteverse end."

Mako frowned. "Define 'small chance', Dr. Gottlieb."

"My math states that the probability of such an occurrence is on the order of 10%."

Baxter was clearly lost. "Wait, how could that happen? It would take a nuke going off… Oh. Shit."

Raleigh nodded sadly. "Cascadia's a major fault line, and it's primed to release. Dr. Gottlieb, that's the bad news, isn't it? Depending on where in the fault line the Breach opens, it could set off a magnitude 8 or higher earthquake?"

"Not could, Mr. Becket. Will. The chance of the backblast depends on where in the fault it opens, and just how much of a power surge it creates in the structure of the Breach."

Herc gulped, visibly concerned. "We can't nail down a more precise time, can we?"

"Not right now, no. Perhaps as we get closer, more information will become available and allow me to refine my timeline."

Another scuffle, then Newt took back over the phone in Hong Kong. "Right, so now that we know what we're up against, we can begin to build new Jaegers. Just… don't let me see them. Matter of fact, keep me as far away as possible from any information about them."

Mako tilted her head to the side in a gesture that Raleigh had come to realize was a sign she was seriously confused. "Why would we need to do that?"

"Mako… I'm Ghost Drifting with the enemy Hivemind. You know what that means, right? Anything I see or hear can be accessed by the Precursors. And as much as I love the Kaiju, I can't stand to let them win. I'm rather fond of humanity, you know? Seeing as I'm a member of it and all. So, for everyone's sake, keep me away from the intel that could help them win."

"But now that you know about the new Breach's location, won't they change it?"

"Doubtful. They're out to kill us all, remember? Causing a massive earthquake/tsunami event instead of creating a stable Breach is still acceptable to them. Matter of fact… might topple segments of the Wall around the epicenter. You need to be prepared for that."

A longer scuffle ensued, resulting in chuckles from the assembled senior staff. Finally Tendo's voice came on. "Alright, now that y'all have heard the good doctors… I have a dinner date with my wife that's waiting for me, so I'm going to go now." A protest in the background briefly was heard, followed by a click as Tendo hung up.

Herc chuckled as he put the phone back on regular mode and hung up. "Well, Mako… your turn. Let's see your pick for the new threat we're going to face."

Mako nodded once and headed to her office, where she powered up the holomonitor and adjusted it so everyone could see it clearly. "Once we set out on the media whirlwind, I started… not quite doodling, more like roughly designing new suits and mechs to deal with whatever might come back." She called up a half dozen different designs, displaying them for everyone to see. "However, the one I suspect we'll need is the Mark VI Jaeger line." She drew a single design to the front. "Previously, each Jaeger Mark indicated year of rollout, not commonality. Each Jaeger was as unique as the Rangers who drove them. That drove up costs enormously, but provided a wide range of techniques to fight the Kaiju, which eventually worked well enough to get us to today. However, if we are to fight these new Kaiju, we need more Jaegers, and fast. So instead of each Jaeger being unique to a nuts-and-bolts level…"

The Mark VI plans exploded outwards to fill the small office.

"They'd be made from common sub-assemblies. We don't need to reinvent the wheel for, say, a power supply. We know what works, and what doesn't. So, the Mark VIs are semi-modular. It'd take a few weeks to, say, swap the right arm of one Jaeger to being a twinned setup like Crimson Typhoon… but it could be done. This will also allow us to adapt as fast as the Kaiju do, a major problem in the past."

Samuel Baxter nodded, impressed. "That's really nice. However, the problem is cost, isn't it?"

"Another benefit of the production line style assembly. Just doing an actually assembly line would nearly halve the costs of production, and cut maintenance costs by a third."

Herc inspected a random floating part image. "Mako… these are the same size as a 'traditional' Jaeger. How much is it going to weigh?"

"All-up weight should be around 1400 tons."

Raleigh whistled. "Gotta be a lot of composites in the design for that kind of weight savings."

Herc nodded. "We used composites on about 10% of Striker and saw a 100 ton savings. Granted, it was on simple stuff, like the doors over the missile launcher and the Angel Wings… but still, Raleigh's right. That's over 75% composites to see that kind of savings, right?"

Mako nodded. "The only parts that are metal are ones that have to carry a magnetic field. Even the wiring is going to carbon nanotubes."

Raleigh smiled. "So, other than the power supply and the plasma cannons, it's all either carbon fiber or Nanotube composites for the structure? Nice. Impregnate the resin with something acid resistant, and Otachi II's in for a rude surprise."

Mako smiled. "Yes, she is. Especially after the upgrades I made to the Chain Sword designs."

Raleigh's face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning as he walked around to look at the mentioned weapon. "Is that…?"

"Yes, that's a thermal diversion gate like Striker used on his Sting Blades… only larger. Should peak at over twice that of Striker's blades."

Raleigh's delighted expression made Herc laugh. "Raleigh, you look like you just won the jackpot at a slot machine!"

"Mako, pleasepleasePLEASE make sure our Jaeger has those."

Mako laughed. "Of course it'll have them, Raleigh. As well as an upgraded plasma cannon and better rear jets, for starters. But since I've figured out how to protect the digital power supply from EMPs, we don't need to have a nuclear reactor."

"But, the turbine…"

"I'm working on a way to incorporate one, Raleigh. I know you loved the turbine. I did too, actually."

The representative coughed, dragging the Rangers back to the task at hand. "Sorry, sir," they said in unison with a smile.

"I'm glad to see you're excited to rebuild your beloved Jaeger, Rangers. However, you'll need funding for that. How much is it going to cost per unit?"

Mako squirmed, knowing the figure was higher than she would have liked. "Depends on the production run length."

"I know how these programs run. I was one of the guys who crossed party lines to kill the F-35 acquisition, if you didn't remember. I know how the costs rise as production runs fall. Now, for a minimum length run, how much per Jaeger?"

Mako looked at the floor. "$20 billion, sir."

"And other than the lighter weight, what benefits do you bring to the table with the Mark VI?"

"Higher speed, greater agility, and the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any Jaeger."

Baxter smiled. "But now that the Kaiju are smaller, why do we need the Jaegers? Why not finish the Wall?"

Raleigh stepped in. "Sir, I suggest that you watch the footage from Hong Kong again. Unless you plan on putting a roof up, there's no stopping Kaiju from just flying over it."

"So arm the wall with turreted plasma cannons."

Mako shook her head. "Won't work, sir. They'd be taken out swiftly because of their fixed placement and high power demands. You can run one on less than a nuclear reactor per cannon… it just takes a while to charge up for the next shot. A flying Kaiju with an acid spray could take it out in under a minute. Far less than the recharge time of the turreted cannons."

Baxter nodded. "Good, you guys are on the same page I am."

Herc was unmoved. "How so?"

"The Wall is a delaying tactic to allow a Jaeger to get in close enough to finish the job. You demonstrated that in Sydney nearly six months ago."

Mako and Raleigh smiled. "So, we have funding?"

Baxter nodded. "If I can convince the Group, yes. And your arguments are going to be the cornerstone of my case."

The representative turned to leave, but stopped. "Oh, by the way… what are your thoughts about the death of Liam?"

Herc sighed. "I know he was an outspoken proponent of the Wall… but he was also the one who fought hardest to keep any funding for the Jaeger Program after we were declared 'dead'. He was also the one who fought hardest to get us the pensions we have now. I just wish he'd have been more in favor of the Jaegers instead of the Wall."

Baxter nodded. "Well, I hope that I can be more support for the Jaegers now that I have a spot on the Group."

Mako had been pondering something for a while, ad decided to ask one last question. "Sir… why are you so strongly in favor of the Jaegers?"

Baxter chuckled. "I was there when Gipsy scored first blood with Romeo Blue. Yamarashi, 2017." He checked his watch. "Gotta go… my office is probably beginning to worry that you've kidnaped me to be Herc's new copilot. See you around, guys."

Mako looked at Raleigh. "I hope that this isn't a sign of how mornings around here are going to go on a regular basis…"

-.-.-

High on the American River Bluffs

Fair Oaks, CA

Later that day

Jazmine looked at the figure waiting for her, sitting against a tree. "You wanted to see me in private. This is the best I can do for now. What's up?"

Hannibal Chau coughed before beginning. "I got a call from my old doctor in Hong Kong… It's not good, and I don't know who else to trust here."

"I'm glad to know you hold me in such high regard, Chau."

Hannibal looked out over the river. "You know, that's not my real name."

"I do. I've always wondered what your true name is."

"David. David Ashburn."

Jazmine's eyes narrowed. "So, why are you telling me this?"

"I have a year to live, maybe a year and a half. I need someone to take over for me when I… move on."

"Whoa… No, I'm not taking over your black market operation."

David laughed. "No, not that. Pan Pacific Industries. When I die, you'll become the boss. The one in charge of my legacy."

"You're scaring me, David." Jazmine paused. "You know, I like that name better. It suits you."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"Huh. Might have to start using it again. Anyways, my legacy. I know I'm famous for my black market operation… but being eaten by a baby Kaiju had a way of reorganizing one's priorities."

Jazmine nodded. "So you've said. The big question now is, what do you want your legacy to be?"

David sat there, looking out over the river and the urban forest that was the American River Parkway, thinking.

-.-.-

Author's notes: Sorry about the delay between chapters, but Kerbal Space Program released the newest update and I've been enjoying the new contract system. But now I'm back to writing, and you can expect to see much more from me in the weeks to come.

What do you think of the Mark VI? I'll be honest: Mako and Raleigh will get to name theirs Gipsy Danger II. All the other Jaegers will be new names. So if you are familiar with the canonical naming convention for Jaegers and want to suggest a name, feel free to suggest one to me!

Also, I'm going to be introducing yet another OC soon, along with a rather lengthy one-shot to develop his background. So keep an eye peeled for "Even Pilots need Heroes", which should be coming in the next week or so.