Stardate: 2254
Location: Research & Development - Shatterdome San Francisco
Log Entry: Spock
After four years of extensive research, the latest revision to the drift system is completed. Codenamed 'Fusion' this newest iteration of the drift system allows for connections along telepathic pathways. Alpha trials conducted by an associate at Shatterdome London with paired Vulcan and Deltan pilots have proven that the addition of this connection subroutine is highly beneficial to pilots of telepathic races by allowing more natural connection points for them to access. Alpha trials conducted at Shatterdome San Francisco with paired human pilots have shown a marked improvement in the stability of their connections. Even though humans are considered a psi-null species, their minds are remarkably accepting towards telepathic inputs. As such, an additional subroutine, to be fully tested during beta trials, was coded into the AI. This AI modification will emulate a third, telepathic, pilot which will allow for a stronger connection to their co-pilot.
All Shatterdome research departments have received a copy of the final version of Fusion. Appropriate changes are to be made to all simulators within five days so that beta trials may commence as soon as possible. This trial is scheduled to run for three months after which time any necessary changes to the coding will be made before moving into the final phase of the project which is the inclusion of the revision in both current and newly constructed Jaegers.
Commander Spock signing off.
Stardate: 2255
Location: Shatterdome San Francisco
The sounding of an alarm clock lazily drew a hand from underneath a tangle of covers. It flopped about the side table trying to locate the source of the racket. Fingertips found the edge of the device and a palm reached to slap the top, silencing the alarm. With a groan the body stirred underneath the covers, shrugging off the heaviness of sleep. Eyes like brilliant sapphires peeked out from dark lashes, trying to decipher the blur of numbers written on the clock's face. Mental clarity began to shine from behind the fog of sleep as the world came into focus. Kirk pulled himself up into a sitting position, sheets falling around his waist revealing a bare, muscular chest. His right hand aimlessly scratching at his left shoulder as he ran his left hand through his hair trying to tidy the mess he knew was perched on top of his head.
"Lights to fifty percent." The lights in the room turned on and settled at the requested level as he pulled clothes from their storage. He dressed quickly, wanting to get a workout in before his scheduled simulation session.
Sometimes, he wondered why he even bothered with the simulations anymore: his track to captain rank and Jaeger pilot has been violently derailed when it was discovered there was no one he was compatible with in this or any other Shatterdome. Perhaps he stayed with the training and the program because he was optimistic that one day someone would enter the Jaeger Academy with whom he would be able to drift. Growing up he watched his father, Captain Kirk, and Captain Robau pilot the Eternal Defiance to many victories and he wanted nothing more than to live up to the legacy they created. In the meantime, all he could do was reserve simulator time when he could and remain positive. To distract himself from the negativity, he had been apprenticing in the engineering department: learning the Jaegers inside and out.
"Hey Kirk! You heading to the gym?" he turned around to see an excited Sulu just leaving his room.
"Yeah man, you want to spar?" Of all the cadets in their wing, Sulu was one of his favorites: he was always full of energy, was dedicated to becoming a pilot and he was impressive in combat. Looking at his slender figure and gentle face, you would never guess that a fiery fighter lay just beneath the surface.
"Yes please! I haven't been able to find anyone to spar with since I kicked Guardia's ass last month." A smirk snuck across his face.
"He was twice your size and you flipped him over your head. And if I remember correctly, that knocked him out for a few hours." The memory of the match and the surprised looks from most of their peers had been one of the more humorous ones from his time so far at academy.
"Wasn't that great?" Sulu beamed with pride as Kirk clapped his hand on his shoulder.
"Performance art. He never saw it coming." they shared a laugh as they walked down the hall passing only a handful of other cadets awake. The gym was empty when they arrived and the pair had their pick of the spaces. Sulu selected a mat in the corner where they warmed up.
"First to five? I'm not going to go easy on you." taunted Sulu as he posed to start their match.
"Sounds good to me and I wouldn't want to face anything but your best." Kirk retorted before calling to start. Sulu dodged Kirk's first lunge and scored himself his first point. Not long after the start of their match, other cadets had started to file into the gym, some even gathering by their mat, taking sides and cheering.
After several rounds, the men were tied with four points each. Every move and successful block caused a swell in the group's cheering. Both men were now breathing heavily and streams of sweat rolled down their faces. Kirk had taken a defensive stance to catch his breath and Sulu leaped on the opportunity. With a sideways step, Kirk dodged the move and landed a blow to Sulu's side. Hoots and hollers rang out from their onlookers.
"Great...match...Sulu." He offered a hand to his opponent.
"Same...Kirk." They shook hands and pulled into a quick, friendly hug. "Let's do this again soon." They cleaned up their space and headed for the showers.
"Give me a comm whenever you're in the mood for a match. You want to get something to eat? I really need something after that." He rubbed his stomach thinking of a nice, tall stack of warm pancakes topped with hot syrup and a steaming cup of coffee.
"Next time. I'm meeting up with the pilot I've been paired with...some kid from Russia in the new class. I pulled up his record, it's pretty impressive. He's only seventeen but his simulator scores are the best in his class, actually they're better than most in the upper class cadets, and he's a genius. Should be interesting." His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he shrugged his shoulders.
The mess hall was full of bleary eyed people, many still recovering from the attack three days ago. Conversations buzzed, covering the spectrum from work to personal. Kirk punched codes into the replicator for the pancakes and coffee he wanted. Looking around for a familiar face, he smiled when he saw Scotty and Keenser arguing in a corner.
"Mind if I join you guys?" Kirk put his tray down on the table, the metal tray clanking against the battered surface. Keenser nodded in greetings and it took Scotty a moment longer to acknowledge his presence.
"Well if it isn't Jim, good mornin' to you." Scotty pointed a fork full of food at him. "Before I forget, I won't be around the hangar bays tonight so no engineering lessons. Got myself a nice date with that silvery voice in mission control."
"Didn't know you were into husky guys Scotty." he laughed as he jabbed into his pancakes.
"I ain't talking about Giotto you idiot. I'm talking about Uhura, the new lady communicator that transferred here two weeks ago. Let me tell you, she's quite a lovely thing: sweet as can be, always willing you lend you an ear, and her figure puts the curves of my Jaegers to shame." Keenser could do nothing but shake his head at the man. Kirk had a feeling Scotty had been talking about the date to him since the moment plans were made.
"Well your enjoy your date Scotty. Keenser, if you're working tonight and you need a hand, just comm me and I'll be right over."
"Will do."
"So what're you up to today lad?" Kirk took a swig of his coffee before replying.
"I've got the simulation room scheduled from zero nine hundred until eleven thirty then I don't know after that. My dad and Robau are still in sickbay from their last mission so I might go see how they're doing."
"How's your mum doing? She made one hell of a scene in hangar five when Defiance came back." Scotty carefully questioned.
George Kirk and Richard Robau had both been the subjects of Winona Kirk's scorn when they returned to the Shatterdome in the now decommissioned Eternal Defiance. After a frightening debate with an equally intimidating female nurse on the launch floor, the medical staff informed her that the men were injured and would require surgery for some broken bones but were in otherwise stable condition. Once she was certain they would be alright, she tore them each a new one all the way to sickbay, calling them old fools for still fighting these monsters reminding them of the newer, younger pilots ready to take over.
"She's locked herself in the sciences department with the other Kaiju researchers. I don't think she's gone to visit either of them since that incident and I'm not sure if it's because she's still pissed or if she's embarrassed by her reaction." When the last of his pancakes were cleared from his plate, he bid farewell to Scotty and Keenser and made his way up to the simulator room.
The upper floors of the dome were quiet on the weekends, which is why Kirk always booked his simulation time during weekends. No one to bother him on the way there, no one to bother him on the way back. He walked into the simulator room to see Admiral Pike in conversation with the Vulcan commander who programmed the machine. Their conversation halted as the doors whooshed open.
"Fleet Admiral Pike, sir." Kirk addressed and saluted the man.
"At ease, Cadet Kirk. Commander Spock informed me that you had scheduled simulator time today and, with your permission, I would like to join him in watching your session."
"Yes sir. If it is not too bold of me to say, all simulator records are freely available via the net; to what do I owe this special visit?" Even though the admiral was a close friend of the Kirk's, it was most bizarre that he would take two and a half hours of his day to watch a simulator session when he could spend fifteen minutes later reading the data charts and watching video clips of the same session.
"The short story is that we might have been wrong about your drift compatibility and I want to evaluate a simulation session myself. Suit up cadet." His stomach twisted into knots; this was the moment he had been hoping for for almost a year.
"Yes sir!" Kirk responded enthusiastically. He would make sure that this was the best simulation he had ever completed. A potential drift match meant that he could potentially become a Jaeger pilot. A technician escorted him to the suit up room to get him ready. Once the door sealed behind them Spock turned to Pike.
"Sir, I believe you are withholding information from me; what do you mean that we might have been wrong about this cadet's drift compatibility? I have personally overseen every simulation run in this facility and assigned cadets to co-pilot teams based upon their compatibility and I assure you, this cadet has no matches." His posture stiffened and his arms wrapped behind his back. Pike meet the stony face with an equally firm expression.
"I don't think it is I who is withholding information, commander. Cadet Kirk's public record, written by you, states that he is not compatible with any currently enrolled cadet or any active pilots. Do you wish to amend that report in any way, commander, to mention any inactive pilots?" he shifted his stance, matching Spock's posture.
"I did not lie on the cadet's report, I merely omitted additional information which I deemed irrelevant." A mixture of anger and fear was sparking underneath his calm facade, but he would never let it show. The course of action he had selected was the only appropriate solution.
"Irrelevant...you consider your near perfect compatibility with him to be irrelevant? A match which, according to data analysis, is even stronger than the one you shared with T'Pring?" The words were harsh; a brutal knife slicing deep into old wounds.
"I cannot pilot with another, admiral. While my mental discipline protects me from the pain caused by the violent severing of the connection between T'Pring and I, anyone who attempted to drift with me would be driven to insanity." A somberness descended across his face. Spock knew his services and experience as a Jaeger pilot would be greatly appreciated, but he swore would never again drift, if only to spare any potential co-pilots from the pain within him. Beyond that, he was most satisfied with his position amongst the science and technology staff.
"Sirs, suited up and awaiting simulation connection protocol." Kirk broke into their conversation.
"Received cadet. Initiating pilot to AI connection protocol." Spock's fingers flew over the surface of the control panel, queuing all necessary processes. "Sync profile for Cadet Kirk, serial number SC937-0176CEC, loaded. Initiating AI connection."
Jim found himself swimming within the programmed mental space of the AI pilot in only seconds. It was supposed to be a sterile atmosphere, completely devoid of all feeling to ease new pilots into the strangeness of the system and to allow for more focused training for even skilled pilots, but he could not stand the barrenness. His solution was a subroutine attached to his simulation sync profile which would alter the AI pilot to make it seem more human, complete with emotions, memories and even personality. The pilot profile had been written around his memories of his dead brother, who had been killed during a Kaiju attack on San Francisco. He had spent an exhaustive amount of time capturing his brothers essence in that profile and even more time burying the code to keep it from prying, Vulcan eyes.
"Connection successful. Full sync established. Generating random Kaiju encounter and establishing mission parameters." The AI announced every stage and Spock queued additional protocols until the system was able to run itself for the duration of this simulation. All that was left to do was for him to monitor the feedback displays.
Upon completion of the generation stage, the AI pinged the control center with Kaiju information and mission data. It had created a large, whale-like category three Kaiju, codename Kobayashi. Kirk's mission information stated that the creature swam with incredible speed towards China and had begun tearing through the shoreline cities. He was to draw the creature away from land to prevent additional damage and defeat it as quickly as possible. A secondary ping, bearing a flashing red warning icon appeared on the screen followed by a reading of alerts from the AI.
"Additional subroutines activated. AI Skin...GSK...activated. Connectivity Protocol...PSY...activated." The first subroutine did not surprise Spock at all as he had discovered it three months ago when he updated Cadet Kirk's sync profile to reflect the completion of one hundred simulation hours. At first he was angry at the cadet for tampering with such an important part of the system. Through further exploration of both the code and Kirk himself, Spock had decided to let it be, almost understanding the codes existence. This alert was of no importance to him, but the second one was peculiar and the computer had to have reported in error.
"Computer, please verify activation of 'Connectivity Protocol PSY'. Mute voice, display data on screen." An exploded brain connectivity diagram appeared on the screen showing all normal neural functions expected of humans connected in a drift, even a simulated one, and one function that defied what Spock knew of humans: telepathic communications emanating from a human pilot.
A/N: Not sure if I will include a log entry at the start of every chapter, probably only ones where there's a significant time jump (like the one that exists between the Prologue and Ch. 1). As always, proofed only as much as one can their own work.