Thank you to all the people who reviewed, favorite, followed, etc!
A recent review asked me how I can get chapters up so fast, basically the plot bunnies willnt get out of my head and let me sleep till they've been written down. I've been two or three roughly outlined chapters ahead of my publishing which helps me develop the story and lets me sleep. Everyone wins!
Please review and let me know what you think!
….. ….. …
Raleigh woke to pounding on his door. Cracking an eye open he listened for the alarm. If it was a Kaiju, the alarm would be sounding. He hesitated, not wanting to move from the warmth of his bed. The ground below was so cold. He glanced at the tiny clock next to his bed. It was just after two in the morning, he cursed softly as the pounding continued unabated. Raleigh sighed before rolling out, wincing at the chill that crept up legs. Moving slowly he cracked open the door. "Wha..." Mako stood there, arms wrapped around her chest as if fighting to hold something in. Raleigh was instantly awake. He recognized the sign of a nightmare when he saw it. He held out a hand and she took it without hesitation. He drew her into his small room and shut the door. "C'mon." He wrapped his arms around her shaking body, resting his chin on her head as she buried herself against him. At times like this, human contact was all that mattered.
He didn't know how long they stood there. It didn't matter. "He was screaming." Mako's voice was so soft he barely heard her words. "Shhh. I'm here." "I felt him die." Her voice broke and Raleigh realized who she had heard screaming. He had simply assumed the nightmare was about Stacker or the Rift battle but it wasn't which made it inherently worse. One of the worst parts of the Drift was the flow between the pilots which meant you no longer had to deal with your own worst memories. Everything your partner felt, you did too. Mako wasn't crying for herself or for Stacker. It was Yancy. This was something his co-pilot had no experience with; no sims could tell her how to react and no Marshall to guide her. Holding her close, Raleigh pulled her to the bed and wrapped an arm around her. "It's okay. It will all be okay." The words were a lie and they both knew it at an essential level, but the hope that they would one day be true was what kept the Rangers going. Keeping an arm around his co-pilot who had automatically curled up against him, Raleigh snagged his blanket from the floor with his foot and pulled it up to cover them both. Within a few minutes, Mako stopped shaking and her breaths became even as she fell asleep.
…. …..
A few hours later, Raleigh headed towards the mess hall. He had left Mako sleeping. She was comfortable and there was no reason not to let her rest while they could afford it. His sleep had been less easy. It wasn't that he had slept badly it was…. He couldn't put his finger on the detail other than it was just different. He had been spared his own nightmares but it was the first time he hadn't slept in a room alone since Yancy's death. It was strange. Simply being close to his Drift partner had given Raleigh the deepest sleep in years but he was still restless, disliking the implication that he could be moving on or even forgetting about his brother.
Walking into the nearly empty mess hall, Raleigh appreciated the quiet; this was one of the few times of day that the Shatterdome was still, not buzzing with crews, techs, and officers. Though, he had to admit, Hong Kong had nothing on the Icebox or the other Shatterdomes in their heydays. Scanning the room, he noticed Nikki sitting at an empty table. Walking over, he sat across from her with a thump. She had a half eaten tray of food pushed aside and two empty mugs. All her attention was on the tablet she was sketching on; she didn't look up till Raleigh leaned across the table to get a look at the screen. "Whatcha working on?" Nikki tapped the display once and looked up. "You like begin obnoxious don't you?" Raleigh shrugged, unable to completely deny it. It was amusing. He was surprised though when Nikki spun the tablet to face him and pushed it across the table with a sigh. "Green Beast weapon designs. I didn't have time to finish them yesterday under the circumstances. I ended up spending five hours in the harness last night going over it, double checking that every piece was secure…" She trailed off and looked at him, considering something. "I've got a meeting with the Marshall in half an hour. Why don't you come with? You'll hear all the details eventually anyway." Raleigh grinned and nodded before hesitating. "This isn't some plot to get me to go get food while you slip away and go back to ignoring my existence is it?" Nikki rolled her eyes. "You have seen through my nefarious plans." She told him with a straight face before glancing down at the tablet. "I'm not leaving this table for twenty minutes. Whether or not you eat is entire up to you. "Here" She handed him one of her empty mugs. "Get me coffee."
When Raleigh returned to the table a few minutes later, Nikki didn't look up; her only movement was to grab the mug of coffee when Raleigh slid it over to her. "So…." Raleigh waited to gauge Nikki's reaction to the interruption, expecting anything from having her second mug thrown at him to being completely ignored. He was surprised when she looked up after a moment. "Yeah?" "I've been hearing a lot about these twins…" He broke off when Nikki rolled her eyes. If he was going to help Herc convince her to back off, she needed to give him details. He couldn't push. "I'm guessing Choi told you." He nodded and she sighed before looking back down at the tablet. "They'll be back in a few days. I'll introduce you." Nikki told him shortly as she began changing designs on the tablet.
Just as Raleigh was about to begin questioning Nikki again, Mako slid into the seat next to him. "Good morning." She told them both as she began eating. Raleigh wanted to ask how Mako was but it wasnot the right time or place and he couldn't press Nikki with Mako there. Both of his planned conversations had to be private. The trio sat in silence for a few minutes before Nikki stood and collected her stuff. "I'd better be going. You still coming?" She asked Raleigh with a glance. He stood to follow then hesitated, glancing at Mako who waved him on. "I'm being taken to where Newton is working. You would be bored. Someone else can entertain you for a while." Nikki let out a snort. "Thanks Mori." Nikki began walking and Mako returned to her food before Raleigh could protest to either statement.
…..
Entering the Marshall's office, Raleigh and Nikki could see Herc, buried under a desk full of paperwork. Max, who had been dozing under a chair sat up as they entered. The bulldog trotted over to Nikki who bent to pet him for a moment before nudging him over to Raleigh for attention. As she stood, she pulled a small stack of papers from the folder she carried under her ever present tablet. "My official report regarding yesterday's incident." She told Herc as she placed it on his desk. The Marshall ignored it and stood with a grim look, cracking his back with the movement. He glanced over at Raleigh before walking to a wide window that filled most of one wall. "And unofficially?" He asked, looking out at Victoria Bay. Nikki settled into a chair and put her feet up on a second one. Raleigh, recognizing this was an unofficial meeting, stayed on the floor to pet Max. He didn't have a part in the discussion; Nikki just thought he needed to know the information which is why she had asked him to come.
"I don't have any answers you will like. I spent 5 hours examining every inch of the area the debris detached from. We had cleared out all the corroded metal and wiring with the first drop because we couldn't fuse the new arm in until the damage was contained. That's why it was necessary despite the inherent risk of the dead drop. The excess fell because of two "tendon" wires in the shoulder socket that were severed but shouldn't have been." Nikki explained.
"I thought you secured everything before repelling down?" Hansen glanced away from the window as he looked for confirmation.
Nikki nodded. "I did." She hesitated. "It is possible that I made a mistake and missed the severed cables." She grimaced as the words left her mouth.
"That doesn't sound like a mistake you would make." Herc stated after a moment.
"It's not. Out of the six people who were up there for the removal, four of us had torches. It could have been done by any of the other three who had torches. I know I didn't make the cuts, I just don't know how I missed it. "
"You think it was sabotage." Herc turned back to the window as he spoke.
Nikki nodded slowly. "We reviewed the wiring system three times before we went up and those are some of my best men. I don't want it to be sabotage but I don't see how it possibly could have been a mistake."
Raleigh thought back to the day before and the actions just before the second segment fell. "Did you make sure everything else was secure before or after the first segment was dislodged?"
Herc and Nikki both glanced down to where Raleigh was crouched next to the bulldog. "Before. We had to make sure nothing could be pulled down with it. We made sure every else was in place then cut the last support that held it, it fell immediately under the tension of the guide cables and counterweights." Nikki replied slowly, considering his question as he spoke again. "And then you turned to watch it fall." Nikki nodded and seemed to realize his thoughts. "The fall time of the first would have given someone enough time to cut the cables on the second piece. The guide cables' screeching is louder up top, we wouldn't notice the sound of a plasma torch being relit." Horror washed over Nikki's face. "It really was sabotage."
"Fuck." Herc voiced their thoughts after a moment.
"Why though?" Something seemed to break in Nikki's face. Raleigh realized she had just lost the trust she had placed in some of her best crew members and was now unsure who she could trust. "There's never been any incidents of sabotage at other domes has there?" She looked to Herc for answers.
"No. There was an incident back in 2018 in Sydney with an electrical fire but we thought the accusations were just paranoia. There was no reason for it to be sabotage! We damn well don't have mini Kaiju running around the dome with plasma torches and there's no way people want to be killed by the creatures then or now."
"So we know it was sabotage or blatant stupidity and we have no proof either way or an explanation for why. Wonderful." Nikki summed the situation up.
"Do we need to slow production more so we make sure nothing else happens?" Hansen continued after a moment. Nikki shook her head. "I have the four suspects and can guarantee there wasn't someone else up there. We can't afford to slow down but I'll ensure someone is with them at all times around the Jaeger without being noticeable." She ran a hand through her hair and swore. "We just can't have it easy can we?" Standing after a moment, Nikki headed towards the door. "I'll keep you updated."
Herc nodded. "Be careful Angel." Nikki waved a hand in acknowledgement and disappeared through the doorway.
Herc moved back behind his desk and Raleigh stood moving to leave too but was stopped by Herc gesturing for him to stay. "What do you think?"
Raleigh shrugged and leaned against the wall. "It's a fucked up situation but we're still out of options. I think she can handle it." Herc nodded and rearranged the papers on his desk. "Have you made any headway regarding the twins?" Raleigh grimaced slightly. "Barely. She mentioned something about them being back in a few days but it wasn't the right time for me to push." "That's news." Hansen said gruffly as he pulled a thick folder form between to stacks of paper, sending one sliding to the floor. Max immediately trotted over to sniff at the avalanche and sneezed. He held out the folder. "I need you to go through this. These are the bios of the twenty pilot candidates. We can't restart the Academy 'cause we've got no one to teach other than me, you, and Mako. Hell, at this rate the twins might be teaching before they're in an actual Jaeger. The candidates will be in the sparring room tomorrow morning. They're all Drift capable, but unmatched. Your job is to weed out the unsuitable ones and start matching them up if you can. Mako should be there to assist as long as she is back."
Raleigh looked up from the bio he had started scanning immediately. "Where is she anyway? She said something about meeting with Newton at breakfast but Tendo said something about Newton being moved out of the dome for security reasons."
The Marshall nodded. "We've got Newton stationed at a remote base working on reverse engineering the rifts. Now that so many are appearing, we have decent amount of information regarding how we think they open and close. In theory, if we can get a rift of our own open, we take away the Kaiju DNA requirement, send a few tons of nuclear ordinance in, and blow the bastards back where they came from."
"Huh." Raleigh liked that plan. "Why is he out of the dome though? Shouldn't he be with Hermann?"
"If we need more information on the Kaiju creators, Newton has agreed to attempt drifting with a Kaiju brain segment again. We don't care if they know about the rift plan because they don't seem to have control over the rifts other than to move them and control when they open and close. We can't risk Newton passing on any information regarding the Green Beast or that Jaegers are going back into production though. They think we've lost all our Jaegers and while we technically have, the element of surprise with Green Beast and the details of the new ones is one of our most valuable resources right now."
Raleigh nodded, the plan was sound.
"Plus isolating Newton saves the entire Shatterdome a few headaches." Herc added. "Should've done it years ago."
Raleigh tapped the folder. "So train the pilot candidates, review Jaeger designs, and start running Green Beast sims ASAP. Anything else Marshall?" He asked with a grin.
Herc sighed. "Get out of my office and go work Becket."
…
Bold stuff trying to convince you to review this chapter and doing a very bad job at it. You should take pity on it and review despite the weak attempt.
