Chapter 2
Alright, this one is rather short. I've been busy in real life as well as my other stories as of late. But don't worry, I haven't forgotten about this. :)
Anyway, consider this as my Christmas gift to all of you. :D
Enjoy!
February 3, 2029...
Hong Kong Shatterdome, Conference Room, 7:01pm
Hercules Hansen listened to the report with a grim expression. Just nine hours after they had detected high energy bursts in both Breaches on each end of the Pacific Ocean, he immediately mobilized the entire PPDC and all Shatterdomes into high alert status. Fortunately, today was the official launch date of all Sentinel units, and they were able to deploy them quickly on major cities and areas around the Pacific.
Right now, Commander Eric Branston of Los Angeles Shatterdome was giving him a brief status report about any latest activity from his side through video conference.
"So far, our Sentinels are still on patrol. Unit 07 through 09 are covering Alaska and the northern states, 10 and 11 are taking care of the southern coastlines including Central America, while the rest are spread out in South America. As for K-Watch, they are still monitoring the area for any movement."
"What about those signatures? Do you still have them on your radar?" Herc frowned. Ever since they appeared, they were baffled as to their real nature. Eight of them appeared near Mexico. For an hour, they tracked their direction until the bogeys seemingly vanished, the sensors no longer detecting them. However, what bothers them most was the fact that another eight signatures appeared just moments after the first one. This time, they came from the Western Breach and like the previous group, these went off in different directions.
On the screen, Branston shook his head. "We lost them just an hour after they were detected." He replied. "We tried to search for them, but..." The commander shrugged helplessly.
With a sigh, Herc nodded. "I understand, Commander." Grimly, he swept his gaze across the screen showing the Commanders of each Shatterdome.
"Gentlemen, I believe it's time to recall the Sentinels and their pilots." He said. "They have been Drifting for too long already and so far, there seems to be no threat. We-"
Suddenly, the door burst open and Newton Geiszler and Hermann Gottlieb entered in a hurry.
"Marshall! Marshall! Wait! They have to hear this first!" Newton called frantically. Behind him, Hermann hobbled quickly with a worried expression.
"Dr. Geiszler, Dr. Gottlieb, I believe I haven't included both of you in this meeting." Herc sighed.
"Yes, we know that, Marshall." Hermann nodded. "But what we have to say is extremely important."
"Yes." Newton agreed. "Extremely important." He repeated.
Herc raised an eyebrow. "How 'extremely' important?" Despite their rather eccentric behaviour, Herc knew better than to disregard their advices and discoveries. After all, these two scientists were the reason why they had won the Kaiju War in the first place. To ignore them would be foolish.
"Remember that time when I first drifted with a Kaiju brain?" Newton asked in a quick manner. "That kind of extreme importance."
If possible, Herc's eyebrow rose even higher. He glanced at Hermann, who nodded. After a minute of contemplating whether he should let them speak or not, Herc finally grunted in approval.
"Fine then."
...
"This was Kaiju Knifehead's signature back in 2020." Hermann began as he typed a command on the console. The three of them were still inside the conference room, discussing the nature of these signatures they had detected. At the head of the table sat Herc while behind him, a large plasma monitor was showing the four Shatterdome Commanders. Meanwhile, both Hermann and Newton were standing near a computer terminal on one side of the room.
An old readout of Knifehead's signature came up on the hologram, and Hermann began to type again.
"Meanwhile, this was Kaiju Slattern's signature from four years ago." Another readout came up beside Knifehead's data.
Herc leaned forward to take a look. From what he could see, they were both identical despite the differences in categorization.
"We already know this, Mr. Gottlieb." The veteran pilot sighed. "We need new information, not an old one."
"Of course, Marshall." Hermann nodded. Again, he started to type on the keyboard. On the hologram display, another readout appeared. Upon closer inspection, Herc realized that it was the same one they got nine hours ago.
"See the similarities?" The german glanced at him.
"It's still not enough." Herc shook his head, clearly unimpressed. On the screen behind him, a middle-aged Japanese man spoke.
"Dr. Gottlieb, we need information. Not data." He said tersely.
"Data are a form of information, Commander Takara." Hermann glared at the screen before typing yet another command. On the display, the readouts were replaced by a large map of the Pacific Ocean. As he looked at it, Herc noticed two groups of red dots. One was clustered on the Middle America Trench. The other was slightly spread out near Mariannas Trench.
"As you can see, these were the signatures we had detected this morning." The scientist began. "If you noticed, most of them had gone in different directions before vanishing." He drew several arrows with his right hand. "In the west, at least two of them headed in the general direction of Mindanao, Philippines before vanishing. Two more headed somewhere north. One headed south near Australia, while the rest disappeared in central Pacific." On the hologram, Herc could see the arrows pointing in different directions.
"Meanwhile, to the east, these other eight didn't split up at first." Hermann continued with another gesture of his hand. "They headed west for at least 30 miles before half of them veered in a southern direction. As for the rest, they headed north before disappearing just like the others." He finished.
Herc frowned. "I don't see how this will help us determine what they might be, Dr. Gottlieb."
Hermann shook his head. "Marshall, these data gives us many clues about what they are. The similarity in signatures alone is enough to prove our theory."
"What we're saying," Newton added, "is that these things we detected are deliberately avoiding detection."
"Deliberately?" Herc raised an eyebrow. "You make it sound like they are Kaijus."
"Because they are!" Newton said loudly. "The similarity between the signatures! The routes they took! The fact that they vanished from our radars!"
"But that's absurd!" Commander Takara exclaimed. "If they are indeed Kaijus, we should have been attacked already!"
"And you're also telling us that there are sixteen of them in total?" Commander Branston added skeptically.
Meanwhile, Herc sat back in silence and pondered what they just said. It seems rather unlikely though. After all, the largest group of Kaijus they had ever faced was three. And Branston was right, they should have been attacked as soon as they have emerged. Especially since the Eastern Breach was just 50 miles off the coast of Mexico.
"That's just it." Hermann said. "We believe that they can't attack us yet."
"What do you mean?" Herc asked. At this, he saw the german glanced at Newton uncertainly. For a moment, the two didn't said anything.
"You remember the Hong Kong incident three years ago?" Newton said at last, slightly hesitant.
"As clear as if it were yesterday." Herc slowly nodded. How could he not? Two of the best Jaegers and crews had met their end on that fateful night. And if not for Raleigh and Mako, him and his late son would have died too.
"Well, we think they are related to that baby Otachi." Newton said slowly.
"What do you mean?" Herc asked. However, even before Newton could reply, he already realized what he meant.
"The answer is rather simple, Marshall." Hermann replied. "The reason there is no attack yet is due to them having a high chance of being juveniles. That's how the Breach could spawn so many. Because they are small enough to pass through."
Stunned silence filled the room. With a grim expression, Herc leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. For several minutes, he didn't speak. He suddenly thought of all the Rangers that died defending the world. Of Chuck and Stacker's sacrifice. And how all of it seemed to be for nothing.
"And what does this mean for us, Dr. Gottlieb and Dr. Geiszler?" He finally opened his eyes and spoke.
Hermann shook his head. "We don't know yet. Since the Kaijus vanished without a trace, it will be difficult to find them. But not impossible. The only thing we can do for now is to prepare."
Herc nodded his head before turning around to face the Commanders.
"What are your orders, Marshall Hansen?" Branston asked. With a sigh, Herc answered.
"We prepare."
February 6, 2029...
300 miles east of Mindanao, Philippines
A lone blue whale slowly swam on the endless ocean.
The whale was lost, having been seperated from his group a while back. And though he was alone, he was not bothered by those shark swimming a few miles from him. After all, at almost 100 feet in length, not even the Great White Shark will dare to harm him. The only threat to his kind would be a pod of Orcas. But that's unlikely since he was well away from their hunting spots.
As he continued to swim, he uttered a long cry as a signal for his group. Immediately, smaller sea creatures began to disperse to give way for the animal. With his large size, most of them were afraid of being eaten.
Except for two.
At a depth of 200 feet, the water was somewhat dark. And as the whale swam, he sensed two large creatures heading his way. Smaller than him, but bigger than the sharks in the area. Assuming them as juvenile whales, he released another long cry in greeting. However, instead of another whale's call, what he heard was a growl.
Unfamiliar with the sound, the blue whale suddenly felt terrified. With a moan, it changed direction, trying to get away as far as he could from the creatures. Suddenly, something swam right below and stopped in front of him.
With a cry of terror, the blue whale tried to change direction again. But before he could do so, he felt a searing pain in his flippers. He tried to swim, only to find another creature blocking his path.
The second creature then lunged straight at him. The whale tried to get away, but they were too strong.
With one last call for help, the largest animal on earth was soon dragged down into the darkest depths of the ocean.
No whales were harmed during the making of this chapter. Just saying. XD
Anyway, if you guys haven't noticed, I changed the location of the second portal and made it closer to Mexico. I am not much into geography though, so please forgive me if there are errors and inaccuraccies. If anyone knows anything about trenches, feel free to correct me.
Now, time to answer your reciews.
avidreaded: Really, man? Chibi Kaijus? Seriously? XD
MaverickSawyer: Hell yeah! Let's go fishing! :D
SigmaBlack: 1) No problem, please take your time. :) 2) I wouldn't say modular Kaijus, but you're right about that part regarding the Sentinels. As for the fact that they were bred/engineered a bit too fast, you have to remember that this story is set three to four years later. The Precursors would have been able to create them in that amount of time. And regarding the tempo of the attacks, I got something planned for that. :D 3) Actually, this story will only feature the Sentinels and Mark V-VI line of Jaegers. However, the next installment will feature all series from VI up to VIII. I already got the plot's outline, in fact. 4) No problem. :)
Matrexmaster: Sure! I'm actually still accepting entries.
Alright, that's it. Sorry for the delay and short chapter. But you can expect another one by New Year's day. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas! :D
Now, time for me to watch Pacific Rim on HBO Asia! *cue epic main theme*