April 6th 2025

Hawaii

Pearl Harbor

0850 AM

Oh Hawaii, ah what's not to love? Sand, Sun, Surf, plenty of lovely fishing.

Oh, and then there's also the twenty-five hundred ton monsters that love crawling out of the sea and busting up our city. So there's that.

A young man of about 19 sat beside a door with the illustrious title of "MARSHAL SHANE" stamped into it. He was dressed in a powder blue jumpsuit that was stretched along his tall, thin, but spryly muscled frame. His eyes were a matching bright blue, and his hair was an unnatural white. His eyebrows, paradoxically, were dark.

For some reason he was reminded of school and being sent to the principle. 'Why?' That was what he wanted to know really. Too bad he didn't figure it our before his train of thought was interrupted by a huge roar from an Australian that answered it for him. "HE NEARLY KILLED BOTH OF US, MARSHAL!"

That was why; he was in trouble.

Again.

He couldn't help the smirk playing on his lips, despite the forthcoming trouble. In his defense he thought his co-pilot Aster was being put under too much stress, so he wanted to mix things up in the Jaeger simulator. Trying their mettle with a never ending survival gauntlet seemed like a great way to decompress.

How was he supposed to know the techs had upgraded the software to actually mimic the real strike force of a Kaiju? By the time the techs managed to drag them out of the simulator pod, they had several sprains and contusions and quite a bit of sympathetic burning from areas of the mech that were destroyed.

He was so deep into his memeories he didn't even notice his CP stalk out. In point of fact he wasn't paying much attention to anything until he heard a person clear their throat. He looked up into the stern face of Marshal Shane, formidable leader of the Hawaiian Jaeger regiment. For once Thomas felt his throat contract in a gulp.

"Thomas 'Jackie-Boy' Iceland." Marshal Shane grumbled as he read over his file, again. Thomas couldn't help but break parade rest and quietly protest.

"I just prefer 'Jack' sir." He protested halfheartedly, raising a weak index finger.

One look from the Marshal and he was as straight as the boards on the floor. Shane just sighed disappointedly. Jack braced for the inevitable lecture, but all he heard was a stamp. He looked down as the Marshal gave him a piece of paper, his heart sinking at the title: TRANSFER.

Jack sighed deflating.

'Why not just discharge me?' He thought agitated beyond belief. They all had knew the program was shutting down, one Jaeger after another being decommissioned if they didn't go out in a blaze of glory fighting a Kaiju. There was no way wherever he was being sent would let him anywhere near one of the few remaining.

"Since I can not get through that thick as icepack head of yours-Jack," Marshal Shane's words snapped him back to parade ready. "I have no choice, but to transfer you to the Shatterdome in Hong Kong."

Jack froze. Literally. The Shatterdome in Hong Kong. THE SHATTERDOME! Jack couldn't believe all his training with the other pilots hadn't been a complete waste of-

"And don't go thinking YOU earned this." The Marshal grunted rising.

Jack bit his lip, as he felt his stomach drop through the floorboards. This could only be compared to getting a slap by Marshal Shane's Jaeger; 'The Mighty Mo.'

Jack stood patiently waiting, as he walked to him. He was practically sitting on pins and needles waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"You have skills, but I have never seen them put into such a loose cannon!" He hissed down his ear, making Jack's hair stand end on end. The Marshal took a step back and sighed, shaking his head as he stared at Jack. "You're just not my type of Ranger. You have humiliated, injured, rejected or otherwise alienated every willing co-pilot ever to sortie with you. You'll be dealt with for your recent act of recklessness by the Marshal at the Shatterdome in Hong Kong, you are hereby dismissed."

He uttered quietly as he worked not even once looking up at Jack.

Jack quietly walked out the room, not knowing whether to leap with joy, or just lay back in depression after letting down another superior, of another Shatterdome. He'd been bounced from one posting to another for as long as he could remember.

If he wasn't such an amazing fighter inside a Jaeger, he wouldn't have doubted he would be dropped from the program entirely. But he was amazing. One of the best. He had the highest kill score of any pilot in North America.

It just seemed like when he stepped inside a Jaeger he became one with, not just the co-pilot, but the Jaeger itself. He could do things with his machine that no-one could replicate. To Jake there weren't just two pilots in a machine; there were three minds fighting together as something amazing.

Lately however Jake was connecting better to the Jaegers than his CPs. He never had found a good CP that really seemed to last. Aster 'Lucky Bunny' Eugene was the latest in a long string of CPs. They all just didn't fit. The Jaeger could still be piloted fine, but the co-pilot would never be an equal partner. Between him and his machine they would always seem to be crowded out, Having to work harder and harder to do their job as Jack took over more and more of the load. To say nothing of the many, and varied personality conflicts.

Jack stopped mulling over his unfortunate history with finding a person he was Drift-Compatible with, when he reached his door. He gathered up his belongings and slipped on his jacket as he looked around one last time. Then he scratched his white hair, and walked to the helipad. If he knew Marshal Shane, he'd already have a transport to Hong Kong waiting for him.

As he stepped out he heard the familiar whirr of rotors. Of course, he was right.