Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorite, and followed!
I'm going to keep this brief, but at the end of this chapter, there is a long author's note in response to a recent review by Speedloader questioning military decisions made in the Pacific Rim movie and in my story. It's mostly just my personal opinion on the matter but it might help clear a few things up
Anyway, please review and let me know what you think!
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Raleigh was sure he would remember that first drift with Mako in Green Beast for as long as he lived. There was an absolute certainty to it that made everything much clearer. Mako was back in his head and she was in his. For just a few minutes there was nothing but the drift, no combat, no fear, no officials, not even the Jaeger; just the drift and it was perfect.
The first deployment of the Beast was brief, exiting the Shatterdome and moving through the shallow areas of Victoria Bay for less than an hour. It was more public than the Marshall or pilots would have liked for a non-combat situation, but they had to test the physical aspects of the Jaeger before it saw combat and something went wrong.
Despite the lack of action following Green Beast's first steps, the exuberant roar of the crews and techs washed over Mako and Raleigh as they exited the conn-pod. They had proven that the Corps could rise above its tragedies. Only one question remained: what would happen in a Kaiju assault?
…..
"Faster!" Mako watched Raleigh as he paced the edge of the sparring mat, verbally assaulting the twins. He and everyone in the Academy Program had pushed themselves harder ever since Green Beast had been finished though the complete devotion of the twins was unique. They had been crafted and raised to be Jaeger pilots. They lived it and breathed the Corps in a way Mako wasn't sure even she and Raleigh couldn't match. Her partner seemed to recognize their extreme potential and was already pushing them to become the best. "Faster! You're not going to have time plan like this in a real fight. You should know what Xander's going to do before he does Mia!"
The other trainees were another matter, Mako thought critically as she turned her gaze on the crowd that watched the combat and Raleigh's commands. Some had military service, others did not. Some had lost family and friends to the Kaiju, some were here for the adrenaline only. As a group there was potential, as individuals, Mako questioned them.
The class did have a lot to learn from. They watched the twins each day and emulated them. They studied Mako carefully, hoping to eventually become like her. It was Raleigh who drew every eye though. Everyone for the U.N. officials to the lowest level of support crew followed him subconsciously. Many in the program and in the crews had started calling him a lucky charm, putting faith in how his return to the Corps had aided the closing of the original breach and putting their faith in the belief that he would lead the Jaeger Corps into a brighter future despite the looming threat.
Mako and her single red shoe had been a symbol since that faithful day when Tokyo had been attacked. Raleigh was becoming something else.
Her only question was whether he could handle it. She had been impressed and proud as he stepped up to the swirl of official conferences and design meetings, both areas he had no experience. Mako only wondered if he could handle the pressure once the simulated combat became real again, their recent drifts had told her nothing to worry or reassure her and now she was questioning her own abilities as well. What if she chased the rabbit again and pulled him down with her? The war could be lost before it was even begun.
The sound of bamboo hitting flesh broke Mako's thoughts. She glanced back in time to see Mia roll away from the first impact only to meet a second one with her shoulder. The staff hit the side of her throat, leaving her coughing and gasping for breath on her hands and knees. When the twins sparred, nothing was held back so when they failed, they were left bruised and battered. Xander was helping Mia up a heartbeat after his blow had landed, oblivious to the Ranger studying them. The twins were talented but they still had their moments of conflict and miscommunication.
"Mako!" She glanced at her co-pilot as he walked towards her a few minutes later. He had dismissed the trainees, leaving them alone in the nearly empty dojo.
"Dinner!"Raleigh exclaimed. They had devolved from conversation and even sentences at when in private. She nodded. They needed to eat and hitting the mess hall before dinner would give them time out of the constant focus that seemed to follow them now.
…...
"Rangers." Marshall Hansen appeared at Raleigh's elbow in the increasingly crowded dining hall. Max trotted along as the Marshall's ever present shadow and barked when Herc tried to speak. The dog got an empty glare before the Marshall continued. "We have a situation in the construction bay that requires your assistance."
Raleigh dropped his fork while Mako straightened, immediately attentive, in the spot across from him. There were no alarms wailing so he relaxed slightly. "Situation?"
The Marshall leaned forward his voice dropping so only the two pilots could hear him. "There is a press photographer in my office sent from the U.N. who is demanding publicity shots of Green Beast and her pilots. Go to the bay and look heroic."
"Are we no longer classifying information on the Green Beast sir?" Mako asked evenly after a moment. Neither pilot had imagined this would have been the ominous situation that brought the Marshall into the mess hall. Raleigh had assumed that with the original victory tour over, his role in the publicity arena of the PPDC was over.
"No. The public is aware of Green Beast and wants reassurance through details. The suits think it will help calm the ongoing riots and protests if civilians get visual confirmation of the rumors they've been hearing. The press team will be doing external shots of the Jaeger and focusing on the two of you. No written details are being released though. This is not an interview, watch what you say. The photographer will meet you in the bay. I've got to go deal with Newt who is convinced he has a new answer for all our problems." Herc told them crisply. Raleigh grinned at the last part. Newton had been hailing mission control every few hours with a new plan, all of which had been outlandish.
The Rangers nodded, clearing their trays quickly before taking the route to the construction bays.
"It's always interesting how Marshall Hansen has urgent duties elsewhere when cameras come out." Raleigh observed as they walked. The older pilot was notorious for his dislike of press junkets and promotional photos throughout the course of the war.
"He is a busy man." Mako replied with a knowing grin as they entered the main section of the dome.
It was easily ten degrees hotter in the bays and Raleigh could feel himself already beginning to sweat. The smell of paint filled the massive room, assaulting the pilots. Green Beast towered over the pair, now living up to its name. The tarnished and mismatched metal was now a deep shade of army green with black streaks and accents.
"It's the best I could do in four hours." Nikki came along side them a moment later.
She looked better than Raleigh had ever seen her. She wore a full body suit with the upper half peeled away and hanging from her waist with a sports bra underneath, dog tag chains disappeared beneath the neckline. He could see now that her blue tattoo wrapped from her palm in thin lines to disappear under a wide silver band that wrapped around her bicep. The deep blue created a strange contrast with her red hair and the dark green specks of paint that flecked her covered legs and work boots.
"Herc didn't know about the press junket until the photographer was in the air. I was just told to make Beast look respectable." Nikki broke off and put a hand up to the head set in her ear. "No. I said to put the joint gears on the lower catwalk. Judson, don't…" She broke off again and gestured for them to follow her. "Don't move them again or I have to recalibrate them."
Mako and Raleigh followed her to where a photographer and his crew were setting up a 'gritty but realistic' photo shoot below Green Beast.
It seemed to take forever but was only an hour or two of the pair being told to look impressive but relaxed. Commanding but not trying. Attentive but not paranoid. Raleigh eventually gave up and just began looking wherever the camera wasn't. He hadn't had the patience for press photos five years ago, and certainly didn't have it now. Mako was much better at it than him though. The jittery photographer began calling her a 'Porcelain Warrior' after a few minutes and eventually decided he wanted pictures of her in a drivesuit, leaving Raleigh free to escape. He wandered the bay, not ready to abandon his partner yet but unwilling to go near and recapture the attention of the artist.
"You survive?" Nikki's voice came from above him and saw her sitting on the edge of the scaffolding a few levels above him. Other crew members were lounging, well hidden in the scaffolding, nearby. They had apparently been watching the debacle below since it had halted their work.
"You hiding too?" Raleigh asked with a grin.
She nodded. "He tried to grab me before you two got here to show the "broken beauty trapped by the war." She screwed up her faces as she quoted the photographer.
Raleigh quickly climbed the scaffolding and settled in beside her and raised an eyebrow. "You feel trapped?"
"No." Nikki's response was immediate. "I do this because I chose to. Someone has to do it. Might as well be me." She rubbed unconsciously at her blue ink.
"I was thinking of putting the twins into the Green Beast simulator tomorrow." Raleigh breeched the topic he knew the tech wanted to avoid. "I thought they should get used to it as soon as possible so we can go straight to two combat capable teams once Gipsy's ready." He fell silent, waiting for her response.
He was shocked when she nodded. "If you think they're ready."
"You..what about…" Raleigh hadn't been prepared for her actually agreeing. He had a whole speech on how she couldn't keep smothering them prepared.
"I've been thinking about it since Panama." Nikki admitted. "There are no guarantees in life and if I hadn't been trying to hold them back at every turn, it could have been different. I can't keep trying to save them at the sacrifice of a thousand others. They would hate me for it. Mia and Xander have each other; my job now is to give them the best protection in a Jaeger possible. Nothing lasts forever."
They watched in silence as Mako in her full drivesuit walked down the bay floor, followed by a clicking camera. Raleigh felt a little guilty but before he could be swayed, Nikki jumped down from the catwalk, her horrified voice bouncing off metal. "I think the reactor's leaking! Everybody out!"
Raleigh began to move but frozen when he noticed none of the crew members were panicking, much less moving. Taking a cue from them, he watched the terrified photographer and his assistants rushed out alone and oblivious. After a moment he joined Nikki and Mako on the floor just in time to catch their conversation.
"Must you always do that?" Mako let out a suffering sigh.
"Like you were having fun. Plus it's a time honored tradition." Nikki told her with a grin.
"I'm going to go out on a limb and say we're not all going to die." Raleigh interjected.
"Nope." Nikki replied as she helped Mako remove her helmet entirely. "That was an '86. A brilliant little tactic Ms. Mori came up with for when suits or other intruders overstay their welcome in the bays and halt repairs. Freak them out and they run."
Mako had the composure to blush. "When I was a child, Marshall Pentecost would have me give tours when officials visited a Shatterdome. When I was thirteen I grew annoyed at their foolish questions while giving a tour and may have pretended there was a gas leak coming from a Jaeger." She explained quickly, ducking her head slightly to hide a growing grin.
Nikki openly laughed and was joined by Raleigh after a moment.
"And if it had been a real emergency?" Raleigh asked curiously after he stopped laughing.
"We have regulations and procedures for everything in here including the emergencies." Nikki told him evenly before Mako interrupted.
"Only two of those involve Nikki running around flailing like that." His partner announced in a teasing tone. The two women shared a look. Raleigh realized their vague relationship ran deeper than he had first assumed.
"Speaking of which… Get back to work!" Nikki bellowed the last part into the scaffolding which came alive with movement. "Bunch of lazy bums."
She glanced at the pair grimly. "Do you both have a minute, there's a feature on Beast you both need to see." Raleigh was startled by her sudden change in demeanor but nodded along with Mako.
The two pilots followed Nikki through maze of catwalks to the conn-pod. "All new Jaeger designs will have more secure conn-pod. The code will only be known by their pilots, the Chief LOCCENT Officer, the Marshall, and the top three crew members. The Marshall thinks this will stop any sabotage attempts on the interior of a Jaeger before they can ever be considered." Nikki told the two quietly as she showed them the control panel and their code before leading them into the silent space and closing the opening behind them.
Raleigh couldn't remember the last time he has seen a conn-pod so still. There was a sort of mournful quality to it, ghosts echoed within the metal walls.
Nikki triggered a screen with her palm print and two small segment of the wall on each side of the pilots' rigging peeled back. Two sets of simple levers were sunk into the walls; one red, one black.
"The Marshall decided that if a situation like the one at the breach ever arose again, we needed to be prepared. Red will detonate charges within Jaeger as a defense to ensure the Precursors never gain our technology. Black is an offensive charge and uses the defensive charges as well as the reactor itself. It will take out the Jaeger and anything within at least a five mile radius." Nikki seemed to hesitate, one hand over the red lever on the right before she pulled away. "They have a thirty second delay time and can be triggered while still in harness. The weapons system is autonomous within the Jaeger. It cannot be taken out unless the entire conn-pod is destroyed and can only be triggered from within. The security latch is triggered by your palm print or drivesuit print, it will scan in two seconds and then you're free to detonate.
Studying one set, realization washed over Raleigh as he understood why the Marshall and Nikki had installed these as a separate system and failsafe. If the system had been developed earlier and installed in Striker Eureka, either Chuck or Stacker would have had a much better chance of surviving the breach attack. They were both trying to ensure that no other Jaeger pilot had to make such a sacrifice again.
"And your palm print?" Mako asked carefully after a hesitation.
The tech nodded. "I installed the entire thing by myself to ensure it was secure and unknown, so mine works. The Marshall and Tendo are the only other ones who know. Future Jaegers will all have enclosed systems that can only be used by their pilots. If pilots change Jaegers, Tendo can reprogram it in fifteen minutes." Nikki was distracted as she spoke, fiddling with the chain around her neck. "You both needed to know before the next attack. I hope you never need to use it."
She took a breath and all the sadness and fear disappeared to be replaced by an empty grin. "You two get out of here. I have stuff to do and I'm not trusting Green Beast to tired pilots."
…
The next morning, Raleigh rolled out of bed to pounding at the door. Opening it, revealed a breathless aide who managed to get out "Marshall Hansen needs you in ops immediately" in between gasps for air. He had apparently been running.
Confusion washed over the pilot as he rushed through the halls, every little disruption had him expecting a Kaiju attack but now that Green Beast was ready, there had been none. It was making him twitchy.
"What's going on?" Raleigh went to Choi the second he walked through mission control's doors.
"Newton's take advantage of Hermann being here for a meeting to try to test his theory on recreating a rift." The tech told him in a rush before turning back to his displays.
A worried and annoyed Hermann stood at the front of the room next to a pissed Marshall and deceptively calm Mako.
"This is a bad idea?" Raleigh asked his partner quietly, having no knowledge of the science or what Newt was actually attempting.
She nodded. "Very bad and we have no way of stopping him. Apparently he has locked the security personnel out of the bunker. They're trying to cut through the door at the moment."
"Should we be getting in Green Beast then?"
Mako shook her head. "It's not a matter of Kaiju coming through Dr. Geiszler's rift if he succeeds. It would be locked to only human dna. The issue is that Hermann does not believe that his partner will succeed and that a failed rift opening will have a large concussive blast radius."
"The imbecile is about to blow himself up!" Hermann's terse words bounced through the room.
"No I'm not!" Newt appeared on the massive screen. "I have taken every possible precaution in regards to the experience and there is no point in postponing it!"
"You don't know the meaning of precaution!" Hermann sniped back automatically.
Newton narrowed his eyes. "I would like to point out that if this works, the war is over before it restarts and we can go home." He disappeared from the screen for several silent minutes as Herc and Tendo both radioed to the support team and security at the bunker with no response.
A moment later the video screen shook then went black with the sound of a blast echoing through the speakers.
"Imbecile." Hermann stated viciously.
Tendo swore. "We've lost all contact with Newton's bunker." He told the room as he fought to bring the video feed back up.
Several tense minutes passed before the screen crackled to life, full of static. Smoke filled the air in the distant base and they could hear coughing.
"Newton. You copy?" Tendo spoke quickly into the microphone.
More coughs followed and Newton came into sight as he pulled himself upright. His glasses were missing and he looked like he had been electrocuted, hair went in every direction. A burn was visible on one arm as he corrected the crooked camera.
"What the hell just happened?" Marshall Hansen asked after a moment. Newton glanced around him, beyond the scope of the camera. "Uh… I think we can say reproducing the rift was a failure. I may have blown up the bunker."
Herc swore. "You idiot. A team is coming to get you now. If you even think of moving till they get there, I will duct tape you to a chair and leave you in front of a Kaiju temple."
Mako was grim as she left the room with Raleigh after the chaos was reined in. Raleigh realized she had hoped for a successful attempt despite slim chances. He had too but they were still stuck with no other options other than the Jaegers.
Hours later, after two successful sims and a round of abuse the trainees, Mako and Raleigh were in the dining hall during the late dinner rush. When that familiar sound began bouncing through the room, it seemed to eat every other sound till silence echoed beyond the alarm. The two Rangers stood in sync, Raleigh had a crooked grin and Mako a serene smile. Neither showed the doubt or nerves hidden within. Every set of eyes in the room was on them as they walked smoothly through the crowded room.
The Kaiju were back and trying to prove a point and this time, they were ready.
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Authors Note/My personal thoughts on aspects of the Pacific Rim world and why Jaegers are the best solution beyond just being awesome:
The way I see it, the weapons used by the Jaegers to stop the Kaiju, like Striker Eureka's missiles are only part of the solution. The Jaegers are equal or better than the Kaiju at maneuverability, able to fight on land or in the sea. Explosives are only part of the combat as many Kaiju battles in the movie require direct hand to hand combat and blade weapons.
Submarines are slower than Jaegers by far and have less maneuverability while being restricted by certain depths and natural reefs and cliffs within the ocean, elements that Kaiju and Jaegers can easily over come. With a submarine specifically, a Kaiju would be able to come up under them and rip the sub in half before they could fire off the missiles. Submarines are also an issue considering Kaijus with emp abilities, any modern sub would instantly become a floating coffin, since they have crews of over a hundred who can be killed easily by a ruptured fuselage. I also don't see jets as an option because the payloads they carry would not be effective against the Kaiju alone. Striker's missiles are never the only element responsible for a Kaiju defeat and making them smaller so a jet is able to carry them and launch them would make them even less effective.
As an overall element to the choices made in the movie and in my story, humans are irrational creatures especially when confronted with creatures they can barely explain much less reason with or fight. Scared people will lash out and make stupid decisions under any circumstance which is the reasoning I see behind the wall attempt in the movie. The irrational reactions of humans exists in real life and in the movie and will come into play in this story.
The movie is set in the future, so it's hard to say why certain things work and others don't but I'm going to go with the original writers on this topic and say that Jaegers are the best options for fighting Kaiju.
