Phil Lester is wildly considered one of the best Jaeger pilots to have ever lived. When told tis, most people assume he's cocky, violent, your average Chuck Hansen kind of guy. But what made Phil Lester so good was that he was kind of the exact opposite. Phil was kind, silly, a bit of a dork, honestly, but he was damn near impossible to hate. And if you somehow managed to get Lester to hate you, well you're too despicable to be behind the wheel of a Jaeger anyway.

Phil Lester was the best pilot around because he could drift with anyone.

Stacker Pentecost sighed, leaning back in his chair and throwing the file in his hands on the desk in front of him.

Dan Howell knew every Jaeger from mark 1's to mark 5's, he could work any machine you put in front of him, fix any issue, save any machine that most technicians would call scrap. The problem was Dan wasn't a technician, or an engineer. He was a pilot. A damn good pilot, too. The problem was no one could drift with him. And not for lack of trying. Pentecost had tried pairing him up with everyone he could find, because when you have a pilot as skilled as Dan Howell presented to you on a silver platter, you do whatever you can to get him in the field. But Stacker Pentecost can't perform miracles.

Howell isn't exactly the most compatible person. He's awkward, sarcastic, and his humor is dryer than the sand pits of Sahara. Not to mention social anxiety and possible mild PTSD on top of his already off-putting personality. All combined, he isn't exactly a Phil Lester when it comes to drift compatibility.

Pentecost jerked upright. He fumbled to grab his records, quickly flipping through his computer until her found the name he was looking for.

PHILIP 'PHIL' LESTER

AGE: 27 SEX: M

Stacker scrolled quickly past information he'd read through more times than he could count.

STATUS: OFF DUTY

Off duty. Currently, Phil Lester, Pentecost's ace in the hole of drifters, was currently unmatched and without mission or partner.

"MAKO!" the young girl comes stumbling into her commanders office, clipboard in hand and smile in place.

"Yes sir?"

Pentecost smiled slightly. There must still be cadets practicing outside for her to address him so formally. "What have you got on Lester, why's he off duty?"

She smirked to him, "We had him paired with Liguori, but then PJ drifted with Chris Kendell on an unimaginably high level. Those two are off on a test run in the Colour Bandit."

He nods, remembering now his amazement when the neural bridge actually created a new scale to display the two men's drift level. Neither had been seen without the other since then.

"Good, I want Howell standing in your footprints in exactly 7 minutes, Mako, bring him here."

The young girl's eyes light up in realization. She turns, and just before she steps out of the room, she turns her head to her commander again.

"That might just work, sir"