I run down the twisting corridors all the way to the control center. I attract quite a few strange glances, but seeing as I am still in my pyjamas, that's not surprising. As soon as I get there I see the two youngest Hansen children, Jack who is 14 and James who is 11. Clara is their older sister and she is 17. She co-pilots with their Mother, Beatrice Hansen. Their Jaeger is called Danger Heart and she is a Mark 4 Jaeger commissioned by the Australians.
"Why are you still not in uniform?" asks Marshall Hopcroft. Raleigh is right. That stubborn old stick is relentless!
"Relax, Marshall, I'm sure there's an explanation." His assistant, Summer Jones, comes over. He snorts and turns back to the monitors. I glare at his back and walk over to where the Hansen boys are sitting. They wouldn't be here unless Danger Heart was being dispatched so Raleigh and Mako are probably fighting with them in a Jaeger team.
"Why are you in pyjamas?" asks James. Jack just ignores me. Rude! Just because he is a measly six years older, he doesn't have to act so high and mighty all the time!
"Raleigh was being silly." I say. James nods and looks out of the glass at the Jaegers. Summer Jones types in commands into the computer. A voice comes over the intercom.
"Gipsy Danger, prepare for Neural handshake in 15 seconds. 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, activating the drift." The room always seems to fall into an uneasy silence whenever we finish countdown ever since one of the pilots nearly blew up the base. It was Mako, actually. She told me later that she was trying to fight Kaiju before closing the first breach, but she didn't tell me everything. I can tell when she is hiding something from me.
"Neural Handshake strong and holding." I breathe out, not even aware that I had been holding my breath. We repeat the process for Danger Heart and one of the Russian Jaegers, Zolotoy Pozhar or Golden Blaze. Golden Blaze is a Mark 5 Jaeger and is gold and red. I suspect that nice paint job is about to get severely damaged.
"What appears to be the situation Summer?" Raleigh asks.
"Category 4 Kaiju approaching Hong Kong. Codename: Killer. Gipsy Danger and Golden Blaze, you will engage the Kaiju in a standard two team formation. Danger Heart, you will defend the coastal area and provide back-up if needed. We do not yet know if there are more Kaiju." Summer replies.
"Understood." Beatrice, Mako and Viktoriya answer. Viktoriya and Dominika are the pilots of Golden Blaze. I watch as the Gipsy and Golden Blaze are airlifted from the Shatterdome. Danger Heart just walks out of the base to defend Hong Kong city.
"Preparing for drop." The blue dots are Jaegers and the red dots are Kaiju. That is pretty much all you need to know to read the monitor and each dot conveniently has a name over it so you can tell which Jaeger is which. "Kaiju approaching fast." The dot labeled Gipsy Danger begins to move towards the Kaiju, whilst Golden Blaze tries to outflank it. A few, seemingly endless minutes pass. Then,
"Gipsy has suffered heavy damage. Requesting back up."
"Danger Heart moving in." Their dot begins moving. Then Gipsy Danger's dot suddenly goes offline. My min goes blank, refusing to comprehend what that means.
"Gipsy Danger, respond! Gipsy Danger, come in!" Marshall Hopcroft shouts down the microphone. Nothing.
"Golden Blaze, what has happened to Gipsy?"he asks. Strangely, there is no answer. Maybe they took out our radio? Gipsy Danger's dot isn't there and the other two Jaegers are, but until I salute their coffins, I refuse to accept their deaths.
"Danger Heart, Respond!" Marshall Hopcroft is panicking now. He begins to bark out orders. "Get the helicopter crews!" And as we were expecting, nothing. "Then get another crew with radio and cameras in the air, A.S.A.P!" I clench both my fists and say nothing. James turns to me.
"Luca, I'm sure their fine." I say nothing. I won't. Maybe if I concentrate hard enough, they'll come back, safe and sound with Gipsy. If I pray, maybe this time some God who never seemed to care before would care now. But I didn't concentrate hard enough or pray enough and God doesn't seem to exist or care. Because the helicopter crew report in:
"Golden Blaze and Danger Heart are intact. Badly damaged but intact. Killer is dead. No sign of Gipsy Danger." What does he mean no sign? It's a Jaeger for Heaven's sake! You don't lose a 50m tall giant robot! There would be wreckage or something right? But what if the sea was deep and the wreckage sunk? What if the Kaiju melted the whole Jaeger with acid? A thousand possibilities are going through my head, but I know that the first theory has happened before, but I won't accept it! I won't!
"Luca, I…" James reaches out for me and I react instantly.
"Don't touch me!" I hiss. "I hate you! You and your living parents and your sister that always gets to be backup and not do direct attack and be safe from Kaijus! You and your proper house outside the base with all your friends! I hate you! So don't touch me and leave me alone!" I jump up and run off blindly and when I get outside command I hear people calling me, but I don't stop. I just keep running.