Author's Notes: This update comes early since I'm having oral surgery tomorrow. (Oh joy. Well, reviews would make me feel better!) My Tumblr, 3Fluffies, has a new round of headcanon posted on the Mark-3 Jaegers and their pilots.
Chapter Twenty-Two: On Top Of The World
Jaeger Program Assembly Building, Kodiak Island, Alaska…
Monday, July 10, 2017.
"Team Gipsy, look sharp! Two hours to launch!" Antwan Ferrier yelled over the comms.
There were bands playing and dignitaries gathering in finery out on the PPDC proving grounds, but the crew of the Jaeger being launched barely had a chance to breathe all day. The techs and pod crew had to get Raleigh and Yancy suited up and into the conn-pod on schedule, then hustle out of their greasy, dirty coveralls into formal uniforms.
"Are we supposed to sell that we all have polished shoes and pressed jackets while we're lubricating the drop gear?" somebody grumbled in line for the cramped Assembly Building showers.
"It was the same in NASA," Priya Katwal told them. "Gearing up for public appearances was more work than gearing up for outer space."
"Air Force One just flew over!" somebody exclaimed.
"Aww, man! We missed it!" Christian Warner complained as he and the rest of the conn-pod crew worked on Raleigh and Yancy's rigs.
"He's not landing on Kodiak; the airstrip's too small," Tendo told them over the LOCCENT chief's shoulder. "They're going into Anchorage." As another group came running into LOCCENT, he grinned broadly and revealed another of the assorted planned surprises for their favorite Rangers. "And guess who just walked in the door, my Becket boys?"
"... Robert Downey, Jr.?"
"... Halle Berry?"
Devi Hassan elbowed Tendo out of the way to grab the mike. "Sorry to disappoint you, Rangers, just old friends from the land down under."
"...Dev?! Wait, you're here?!"
"Surprise!" Suze crowed. "And we haven't come alone! We picked up a K-Watching Warner Sister in Hawaii on the way!"
There was a thud from somewhere in the conn-pod, then Christian yelled, "Chlo, you bitch, you didn't tell me!"
"Gotcha, baby!" Chloe laughed.
"Today's not just about the pilots, y'know," Tendo heard Yancy saying, probably to Christian. "It's your launch too."
"That's the truth," the Anchorage LOCCENT chief agreed. "C'mon, crews, finish this up."
"Gipsy One and Two harnessed and engaged," Christian announced. "Suit team exiting the conn-pod."
"Secure the pod, Mr. Choi," ordered Marshall Gagnon. He gestured to the Hassans and the rest of former Class 2016-B. "All non-essential personnel, report to the spectator area. Rangers, join your crews."
"This is Jumphawk Crew Anchorage Alpha. Romeo Blue now released on proving grounds, section A-9, next to Brawler Yukon."
"Copy that, Alpha. Romeo Blue, stand down until further instructed."
"Standing down, LOCCENT."
"This is Brawler Yukon, we have Romeo on our left," said Dr. Lightcap. "We're in position."
"This is Gipsy Pod Team, conn-pod secure."
"Releasing for drop," Yancy confirmed from inside. Gipsy's pod slid smoothly down the rails onto her shoulders, locking into place.
"Coupling confirmed, sir."
"Gipsy Pod Team, you're cleared. Get suited up for public launch and into position," Gagnon ordered.
"Double-time, you heard the Marshall," Antwan ordered, and the techs went stampeding off.
Thank god the brass vetoed having embedded reporters at deployments. This is a pain in the ass, Tendo thought.
The crawler started rolling Gipsy towards the doors as Gagnon ordered the Beckets and D'onofrios to prepare for handshake. As drifts went, this one would be pretty short. Once Gipsy was active and her pilots online, Gagnon too headed outside. Tendo waited 'till he was gone, then toggled the comm. "How we doin', Becket boys? Nervous?"
"Nah," said Yancy.
"We're pumped," Raleigh agreed.
Tendo eyed their vitals screens, and winked at Priya. "They're liars," he whispered. She grinned.
Now that Gagnon was gone, somebody turned on a TV so they could hear the coverage of the actual event outside. "Hey, can we put this on the conn-pod speakers? You guys need to hear this," said Tendo. "I think NBC's using the same announcers who do the Olympics."
"We're now less than an hour away from the historic launch of the first Mark-3 Jaeger here on Kodiak Island, Alaska! President Santos is now landing in Marine One, and the Pan-Pacific Defense Corps Proving Grounds are jammed with VIPs awaiting their first glimpse of Gipsy Danger!"
"Less than six months since the first Rangers tragically lost their lives in the line of duty, there is a sense of rejoicing throughout the Pacific Rim as a new Jaeger joins the ranks of humanity's protectors. The legendary Brawler Yukon and Romeo Blue, America's first Jaeger, destroyers of three kaiju between them, are standing as sentries and guards of honor in front of the Kodiak Island Assembly Building, where the doors will soon open to reveal their newest companion."
"What do we know about Gipsy Danger?"
"Like all the Jaegers built so far, she's nuclear powered. She stands two-hundred-sixty feet tall and weighs in at nearly two thousand tons! It takes ten specially-designed heavy cargo helicopters to lift her. Her head is called the conn-pod, the control pod where the pilots are located. It's completely airtight and pressurized, so that the Jaeger can operate fully underwater or even theoretically in space."
"Her pilots are American Rangers Yancy and Raleigh Becket, graduates of the Jaeger Academy on December 24, 2016. They're brothers, actually from right here in Anchorage, Alaska, which has certainly inspired the local community who already shares their back yard with the Jaeger Academy and the PPDC's Proving Grounds. The younger brother, Raleigh Becket, is only eighteen years old, now the youngest active Jaeger pilot in the Defense Corps."
"Hey, kiddo," Tendo heard Yancy say in a low voice. "I'm proud of you, y'know."
D'awww! By rights, Tendo should've launched into teasing, but he couldn't, not seeing the way Raleigh's pulse jumped on the monitors. He just exchanged a broad grin with the LOCCENT crew, and the meditech on duty pretended to wipe away a tear.
"Let's switch to our correspondents at the other Shatterdomes - these are the Jaeger deployment facilities now on every major continent along the Pacific Ocean. All morning, the active Jaegers have been rolling out of their bays, keeping a tradition that started very early in those frantic first days of this program. Today, they're turning their gazes towards Alaska, everywhere they are - there's Cherno Alpha and Eden Assassin in Russia, looking to the East, Yankee Star in Los Angeles, facing North, Solar Prophet in Lima, Peru, facing North, these giant iron defenders of planet Earth, in six countries, four continents, all saying, 'Welcome, Gipsy Danger!'"
"You better get going, Choi, or you'll miss Hail to the Chief," the LOCCENT crew warned.
Tendo paused. "You guys mind if I just watch with you from the cheap seats?" He'd been looking forward to all the press and VIP-spotting in the crowds, but now... it meant more to be in here. Like he was closer to Gipsy, Raleigh, and Yancy.
Priya gave him a knowing smile. "You're not the first one who's done that."
Some of the reporters outside had managed to get close to the crew in Gipsy's new uniforms. "I'm standing here with Antwan Ferrier, one of the strike group personnel coordinators for Gipsy Danger. Antwan, can you tell me a little about what your job is?"
"Every Jaeger has a crew of hundreds of support personnel with different responsibilities when we're deployed. My job is to make sure everyone on the J-Tech crew and Strike Troops is where they're supposed to be, doing what they're supposed to do. There are four personnel coordinators for each Jaeger; they call us the cat herders!"
The reporter laughed. "And what about you?" She shoved her microphone at random into the crowd of rowdy personnel. "Everyone tell me what your job is!"
"I'm Cady Spencer from Portland Oregon, I'm a Local Command Center technician! They call us Jaeger Traffic Control!"
"I'm Chloe Warner from Atlanta, Georgia! I'm a trainee at K-Watch in Honolulu - they call us kaiju traffic control!"
"Christian Warner from Atlanta - I'm Chloe's brother. I'm a drive suit technician - I put the pilots INTO the Jaeger!"
"Nicola Harris from San Diego, I'm a Rescue/Recovery EMT!"
"Brandon Pines from Monterey, California, I'm a support chopper pilot!"
"This has to be a proud moment for all of you too! Are you excited?"
"WOOO! Yeah!"
"Most of us came through the Academy too but didn't make it to pilot. If you get through the first cut, you qualify as a PPDC officer," Antwan explained. "There are thousands of jobs that have to get done before a Jaeger can fight, so that's what we're here for!"
"Do you know Raleigh and Yancy Becket?"
"Yeah!"
"A lot of us were in their class, great guys!"
"They're amazing. They're tough, they're strong, they're smart, and also two of the nicest, most down-to-earth people you'll ever meet," said Cady.
This time, Tendo let himself harass the conn-pod. "We looove our Becket boys!"
"Awww, I'm getting all choked up in here!" Raleigh laughed.
The parade of sentiment was finally halted as Marshall Gagnon called for attention, and everyone snapped into position for President Santos's arrival. A band out on the grounds in front of the VIP stands played Hail to the Chief, and the Corps mass-saluted.
Tendo stepped back so LOCCENT could murmur orders to Gipsy. "Ready for bay door opening in five...four... three... two... one..."
Fighter jets roared overhead in Vs as the Assembly Building doors opened to reveal Gipsy Danger, and she glided out into the sun on her crawler to the Star Spangled Banner. The throngs of civilians gathered on hilltops, roadsides, and ferries in the gulf went wild. On television, in LA, Tendo saw Tanisha and Caleb in front of Yankee Star with their crews, facing north, holding their salute.
Marshall Gagnon stepped up next to President Santos and spoke into the microphone. "Brawler Yukon, step forward."
The D'onofrios took the oldest Jaeger two paces forward, an almost-person-sized Melchizedek champagne bottle visible in his massive fist. All the wine enthusiasts in the Corps were probably weeping, Tendo thought with amusement.
"Gipsy Danger, are we ready and aligned?" Priya murmured.
"Ready on your command," said Yancy.
President Santos was openly beaming. "I name this Jaeger Gipsy Danger. May God bless her and all who do battle in her, and save all who live under her protection."
"Amen," Tendo said softly.
Priya leaned forward. "Annnd... Gipsy, go."
Under the smooth control of her right and left hemisphere, Gipsy Danger raised her massive arms and brought her hands together over her chest. They held the position, and Brawler shattered the bottle over her joined fists to an explosion of cheers and applause.
Another flight of jets roared overhead trailing red, white, and blue smoke, and Raleigh and Yancy painstakingly lowered Gipsy's arms and stepped down from her crawler to bring her front and center on the grounds. On the green light from LOCCENT, Yancy and Raleigh activated their external speakers and chorused, "This is Gipsy Danger, under the command of Rangers Yancy and Raleigh Becket, reporting for duty."
President Santos extended his arms. "By the power vested in me by the United States of America and the Pan-Pacific Defense Corps, I declare you active, in the name of the United States of America, and in defense of all mankind."
Tendo cheered along with everyone else in LOCCENT, as the crew gave the Jaegers the power-down order. "Whew!" he heard Raleigh say once the speakers were off.
"Your blood pressure's a little high, there, kids!" he called.
"Neural handshake deactivated. Okay, gentlemen, you may disengage and exit through the shoulder hatches," Priya told them. "Please don't fall off before we can retrieve you."
"That'd be embarrassing as hell," Raleigh observed as they climbed free of their rigs.
So followed the first of many more photo ops: the D'onofrios, Gages, and Beckets left their Jaegers outside to be admired, but climbed out through the escape hatches to stand on top for pictures. Tendo got a text message from Chloe Warner: I'm kinda glad I didn't make the second cut! I'm afraid of heights! He had to laugh. It did look a little scary, being up on top of those things, and he caught himself gnawing on his fingernails as the Jumphawks hovered down to pick up the pilots using really long ladders. They all made it safely into the choppers.
"Now, you better run for it," Priya told him. "You have to be there when you give 'em their jackets!"
Tendo bolted, and made it down to the lower level ahead of the pilots, who emerged from the bay doors to the Stars and Stripes Forever and still more roaring cheers. The D'onofrios and Gages all wore bomber jackets with their Jaeger's name, while the Beckets were just in their uniform jackets, but now the entire support crew of Gipsy Danger got to swarm Scramble Alley and present the Becket brothers with their own bomber gear in the strobe flash of millions of cameras.
"Welcome to the big leagues, brothers!" Tendo heard Bruce Gage shout over the racket as Lightcap embraced each of them.
The day was a crazed, blissful blur of light and noise and elation for Raleigh. Despite the many blunders and frustrations of prepping, dealing with the media and the dignitaries wasn't as hard as he'd feared. They remembered how to salute (and when) for introductions to President Santos and a slew of generals, ambassadors, and superior officers. Neither of them said anything too stupid to the reporters, and they didn't turn too red the first time they were asked to autograph their own pictures by a crowd of giggling girls.
It definitely got easier once the dignitaries moved off and all the formal stuff was done, and they could just mingle.
"So what happens now?" a reporter asked them as they hung out among a crowd of their own personnel.
"Gipsy's being prepped for liftoff down to Los Angeles so she's there tomorrow for the grand opening of the Shatterdome," Yancy explained, gesturing to the crews now preparing the hookups for her chopper fleet. "We'll be flying down with them, forming the Los Angeles strike group with Yankee Star."
"So you know the pilots of Yankee Star?"
"Yeah, we've been training with them for weeks. The whole Jaeger Program is working on group operations so we can back each other up," Raleigh confirmed.
"Is this because of what happened to Talon Tasmania?"
Uh... Raleigh glanced quickly at Yancy, who gave a smooth reply. "We're always working on finding ways to beat the kaiju and minimize losses. Every engagement teaches us things about them and about the Jaegers, even the Guayaquil tragedy."
"Did you know Miguel and Maria Blanco?"
"No, Raleigh and I never met them, but they were the creators of a lot of the techniques we learned here. All this is in honor of every life we've lost to the kaiju."
They had planned on a wild party for the plane ride from Anchorage back to LA with the crew, but the passenger cabin was dead silent within minutes of liftoff, because everyone fell asleep. "Being famous takes it out of you," the Gages told them.
Suze and Devi Hassan and Chloe Warner even got to come with them, since their trips back to Australia and Hawaii had a "layover" in California. As they were coming in for landing in LA, everyone finally recovered enough energy to catch up. "We really had to wheedle Marshall Ketteridge to let us come up from Sydney," Devi told them. "Luckily, he owed us a few favors by now."
"More than a few, since nobody's brained Scott Hansen yet," growled Suze.
"Oooh, what's this? Tell!" Tendo ordered.
"I can guess," said Priya, accompanying them to supervise the installment of Gipsy into her bay. "I've met the Hansens."
"Hercules - the older one - he's quite nice," said Devi. "We've learned a lot from him. Scott's very skilled, I suppose, but my God, that man is a lecher! He only just keeps his hands to himself after repeated warnings, and you might as well be drifting with him; he doesn't bother to pretend he's not undressing everything female with every glance."
"Oh, one of those." Yancy shook his head. "You'd think a Mark-1 Ranger could just go to a bar if he wants some play and take his pick instead of harassing people who aren't interested." He grinned at the Hassans. "I'd offer to have a word with him, but I know you two can handle yourselves."
"With a kneecap to the groin if he gets in our personal space, believe it," Suze growled. "Bloody hell, I even told him I don't bat for his team and he still hits on me!"
"I think you should marry one of them," said Christian Warner suddenly.
"Huh?!"
"Then your name would be Hassan Hansen."
Groooooan. "Chloe, hit your brother, please."
"Aye-aye, Ranger." Chloe obliged with an open-handed whap upside Christian's head.
Raleigh was feeling generous to his brother, and offered to bunk with somebody else overnight, but Yancy admitted he was too run down to do anything other than sleep. They all crashed early and gave the visitors a rushed tour amid the frenzied pre-opening prep the following morning.
Los Angeles Shatterdome, Opening Day…
July 11, 2017…
LA Opening Day was more of the same - cheering throngs, flashing cameras, brass bands, fighter jet flyovers, and waving flags with the Jaegers looming over it all like giant sentries. Tanisha and Caleb's public persona was a little more enthusiastic than they acted when there weren't cameras around, although at least the reporters who'd managed to get on-site for the event refrained from taking cheap shots – mostly.
Yankee's crew were gratified when one of the reporters tried to bait Raleigh: "Are you at all worried that your senior team has never fought a kaiju?"
"No, not at all," Raleigh said firmly. "The whole point of this is to get ahead of the kaiju - lots of teams haven't had an engagement yet. But we're training every day in simulations, analyzing the attacks that have already happened. We have their back and they have ours, and we have complete faith in each other."
"Nice, kiddo. Thanks," Tanisha murmured shortly after.
"I meant it," he told her.
"I know you did."
The selfie that the two Ranger teams did that night from the Dome roof overlooking Yankee and Gipsy with fireworks going off above them trended on Twitter.
The next morning, they were all incredibly tired, but Marshall Ramirez had kept her promise to reopen the access roads and the formerly-public parks surrounding the Shatterdome grounds. "The hunt clubs are still pissed because the firearm exclusion zone cut off their access to a couple of the game preserves nearby, but they can still camp and picnic and whatnot," said Caleb.
"There's a big crowd out there this morning, hoping to catch some action," Penny Jefferson reported. "Lot of kids hanging out by the west fence."
"Hey, Gipsy. How 'bout team drills up by the west fence?" Tanisha said at once.
"You're the senior, Yankee. Lead on."
In a lot of ways... it was even better than the brass bands and ticker tape, Raleigh decided. Just dozens of kids, descended from the various nearby neighborhoods, families with picnic lunches in the parks to the west of the base. No one had special VIP passes today, they were just wanting to catch a look and going absolutely nuts when they recognized the four pilots doing katas out on the pavement only a hundred yards away. The Rangers switched to the grass on the edge of the airstrip and sparred in teams, getting cheers and oohs and aahs, and Raleigh saw the perimeter MPs grinning occasionally.
"Remember what it's all for," Bruce Gage had told them above LA and Santa Monica.
These people were obviously local. This was their home. There were bunkers being build deep underground all up and down the California coast, new evacuation routes being planned, but when a kaiju came ashore, none of it would be enough. Hong Kong had established one of the first comprehensive civil defense plans, and even with Horizon Brave taking Reckoner down within an hour of landfall, hundreds had still died. There was a swath of destruction in that city, an even larger one uninhabitable in Guayaquil between the contamination caused by Vaulimi and Talon Tasmania's reactor.
The J-Tech crews were busy and frazzled getting Gipsy properly installed and making sure all the systems of Scramble Alley were in place for deployment, and they kicked all non-essential personnel out. So, after two rounds in the simulator - and two kills with Yankee and Gipsy surviving both - the off-duty crews just left the Dome and walked around the base perimeter, waving to the onlookers, posing for pictures, running up to sign autographs in a rush until the MPs laughingly hauled them away again.
August 2017…
Team Gipsy and Team Yankee conspired to keep Raleigh distracted for several hours when the World War II map arrived so Yancy could set it up on a new table in the rec room. Once it was ready, some of the history buffs were already planning the Battle of Midway for Jaegers and kaiju.
When they let him back into the rec room, Raleigh's speechless, jaw-dropped delight was priceless.
"I gotta keep insulin handy around them sometimes," Tendo heard Tanisha mutter as Raleigh tackle-hugged his brother.
"I know, it's sickening," Penny Jefferson agreed, but everyone on Team Yankee was grinning.
They started doing full-on strike group deployment drills one week in, and once they met all the timing standards, finally got to do exercises on the grounds with both Jaegers. No collisions resulted, though they had a few close calls and some maneuvers that had to be re-arranged. Those practices drew huge crowds on shore and off.
"Hey, Tendo, is Carolina still in LOCCENT?" Yancy asked one day when they saw honest-to-god school buses bringing kids in to see the exercises.
"Yeah, she is. What's up?"
"Tell her I think I like being famous!"
Carolina laughed. "It's closing day for a bunch of the summer camps before school starts again," Brady Harris told them from Yankee's LOCCENT station. "This is what everybody wants as a field trip: to go and see the Jaegers."
The pod-to-pod comm buzzed. "Hey, Gipsy," said Caleb. "I think now's the time, don't you? You know, we're coming into orange alert." It had now been ten weeks since the last attack, and K-Watch was putting its guard up again.
"Yeahh," Raleigh said. "We can't let it get ahead of us."
Yancy added seriously, "Gotta cover all our bases, make sure we've taken care of everything."
"Taken care of what?" asked Tendo in confusion.
"We're backing off, Gipsy. Giving you some space," Tanisha informed them.
Tendo thought he heard the Beckets snickering, and glanced up at the external video feed.
Then the speakers exploded into noise, and the crowds sitting on the grass, pavement, and vehicles around the LA Shatterdome fence erupted to their feet as Gipsy Danger started doing the Electric Boogaloo.
In LOCCENT, Tendo just gibbered incoherently for almost twenty minutes. Marshall Ramirez simply face-palmed, while the PR reps tried (and failed) to pretend they weren't loving it. The crews for both Jaegers were whooping and dancing up and down Scramble Alley for the rest of the day.
Yankee Star wasn't flexible enough for it (their dance had been the hand jive), but after Gipsy took a bow, she came up next to her fellow Jaeger, and they got the whole crowd of fence-side watchers doing the wave. The New York Times had them on the front page the next day with their arms in the air, side-by-side, with the headline: America's Idols.
They were the number one video on YouTube set to three different pieces of music for a month.
October 15, 2017…
Vulcan Specter was slated for an October launch - or as soon as possible after the next attack. Shaolin Rogue had launched in Hong Kong on September 15. It was as grand, celebrated, and joyful as Gipsy's launch had been, but even as they all stood outside the LA Shatterdome with their Jaegers facing west towards China, every Ranger was visualizing the war clocks ticking past four months.
By the beginning of October, nobody went off-base even for a drink - and nobody drank on-base either. They drilled, they trained, they exercised and went to bed on time and ate all their vegetables. They did remote team sims with other Jaegers at other Shatterdomes.
In mid-October, Marshall Pentecost showed up with a couple of other brass for an inspection, which was annoying and frustrating, because they all had to toe the line.
However, Tendo was sure he saw Pentecost crack a smile when he saw the map table in the rec room and all the Jaegers at their proper deployment positions - plus Optimus Prime in the North Pole. Talon Tasmania was next to him, and somebody had made a little halo for her out of a silver pipe cleaner. All the previous kaiju were strung up from a ceiling pipe with a sign that read Kaiju Ye Be Warned.
Tendo, Penny, and Antwan pretended to be working while eavesdropping on Pentecost's conversations with Ramirez. "How are their scores on the emergency scenario drills?"
"Very high for both crews; I think they've internalized the procedures completely. The engineers have some concerns about the placement of Gipsy's gear. The separated floor means that unless they have time for a full-length power-down, they'll have to jump from the rig to get the medkit or their portable O2. After the next stand-down, J-Tech wants some changes."
"Done. Yankee is also slated for evac pod installation. We may have to bring Romeo Blue to Los Angeles for coverage. How are the pilots testing in medical?"
"Daily metharocin, and radiation levels in the conn-pods are well within the safety band. They are higher in Yankee Star, but we've got them in regular check-ups. We did an early medical workup last week; Davis was down with Jaeger-head, so we canceled their team simulator exercise."
"She has my sympathies; both of Solar Prophet's Rangers have had it. What about the others?"
"Yancy Becket had it at the Academy; Raleigh hasn't yet, but he might. Caleb gets migraines, so he may be safe - "
The Breach alarm went off. "Thar she blows!" yelled Antwan, putting on his fisherman's hat as everyone scrambled for alert stations.
"Figures we'd get our first alert while the honchos are in the building," Tendo heard Raleigh mutter as everyone gathered in the war room.
"I know, right? Now they'll be here for days," Caleb grumbled.
Christian already had a text from Chloe in Honolulu. "Damn. No clear direction yet, but sonar shows it's a big puppy. Maybe the biggest one yet."
They all put phones and tablets aside and snapped to attention when the Marshalls came in. "It sounds like this will be the occasion to introduce the Serizawa Scale," said Marshall Ramirez. "It's K-Science's latest effort to categorize the size and threat level early on. They've numbered the categories as one through five, like hurricanes. So far, the largest one recorded has been Reckoner - a Category II."
There was heavy silence as everyone digested that. Tanisha slowly raised a hand. "Sir... is K-Science expecting them to get that much bigger?"
Ramirez and Pentecost just nodded. "Jesus," Yancy muttered.
Ramirez, unlike Pentecost, was more understanding of the human frailties of her underlings, and probably could tell that the superiors' presence was only adding to the tension. "Get comfortable, crews, but don't go far. We won't have an update for several hours. You know the drill by now." She ushered the brass out.
The next update had a possible detection off Palau, to the southwest of the Breach, but there was another complication: no less than two major typhoons in the South Pacific, disrupting currents and interfering with the instruments. "Man, this is fun," grumbled Antwan.
The hours crept by with no new update. October 15 gave way to October 16. Marshall Ramirez had them start duty shifts with sleep breaks, and ordered the Rangers to go to bed.
"Note to selves: requisition cots," said Antwan to the other personnel crews. A lot of the staff were finding it comforting to curl up on the floor in groups rather than go back to their rooms.
Tendo did manage to sleep a little, and found Raleigh in the rec room mid-morning on October 17, moving the Jaegers to their various real-life locations on the table map. "Did you rest?" Carolina asked him sternly.
Raleigh nodded. "Not great, but I did."
Next to him, Christian was putting coins on the map. "Chloe says the last station that picked the bogey up was Palau, but it was way off and he might've been moving south. This is where all the monitoring stations are."
"It's been over thirty-six hours since the last ping," said Caleb, shuffling in looking like he'd slept in his clothes. "Where the hell is he?"
"Could he possibly have made landfall without us knowing it?" Antwan asked Christian.
"I'll ask her. Can't imagine it'd be anywhere near civilization," he mused, sending a text. "Chlo may be asleep. They've got the watch crews on rest shifts now too - oh, she's up." He chuckled. "She ain't sleeping any better than we are. She says maybe Antarctica, he could get on land without us seeing, but they've got satellites looking for him too."
Yancy and Tanisha wandered in a few minutes later, all looking like they'd slept badly too. "You think the Marshalls are getting any sleep?"
"Last I heard, Pentecost was on the horn to Lima ordering everything that could fly to deploy for spotters," said Penny.
Raleigh was IMing the Hassans. "It's still night out there, but the weather's shit in Sydney. Devi thinks that's part of the problem; the typhoons have a lot of the ship and air traffic stopped, so we're not getting our usual tips."
"Anyone would think kaiju plan this crap," Tanisha sighed.
Christian's phone buzzed, making him jump, and as he answered, they heard a woman yell on the other end. Everyone froze, and Christian's eyes widened. "She says it's us!"
Before anyone had a chance to move or even process it, the full-blown, red-alert alarm went off.
"ALL PERSONNEL TO BATTLE STATIONS. EXTREME RED ALERT, INCOMING KAIJU. ALL PERSONNEL TO BATTLE STATIONS."
"YANKEE STAR, REPORT TO BAY 01. GIPSY DANGER, REPORT TO BAY 03. KAIJU, CODENAME YAMARASHI, INCOMING."
"ALL PERSONNEL TO BATTLE STATIONS. EXTREME RED ALERT, INCOMING KAIJU. ALL PERSONNEL TO BATTLE STATIONS."
For a split second, they all just stood there. Then Christian yelled, "SHIT! Bogey's at San Nicholas!"
Less than a hundred miles offshore. "MOVE!" Tanisha roared, and the spell broke.
"YANKEE!" Yancy bellowed as they stampeded into the hallway, and the teams made to split for their bays. Tendo had no idea if this was some ritual the four Rangers had invented in their sims, or if it was just spur of the moment. Tanisha and Caleb turned to meet them, and the quartet did a four-way fist bump before flying off in opposite directions. Just like that, they were gone.
To be continued...
Coming Mid-Week: Yamarashi. Gipsy Danger, Yankee Star, and the Los Angeles Shatterdome must put all their training put to the test against the largest kaiju to emerge from the Breach targets their city in Chapter Twenty-Three: This Is For Real.
PLEASE don't forget to review!
Original Character Guide
Tanisha Davis and Caleb Mitchell: The pilots of Yankee Star, America's Mark-2 Jaeger. Former US Marines, late 20s. Tanisha is African-American from south central Los Angeles, while Caleb is white from a small, rural town in central Oklahoma.
Penelope "Penny" Jefferson: Yankee Star's LOCCENT Support Chief, former Chief Warrant Officer with the US Marines. Mid-30s, African-American from Los Angeles.
Brady Harris: Yankee Star's Public Relations Representative. Late 30s, African-American from San Diego.
Carolina Olivares: Gipsy Danger's Public Relations Representative. Mid-60s, Mexican-American from San Francisco, survived K-Day and came out of retirement to join the PPDC.
Antwan Ferrier: Gipsy Danger Personnel Coordinator, directs and organizes Strike Troopers. Age 39, Jamaican national.
Brandon Pines: Gipsy Danger support chopper pilot, early 30s from Monterey, CA, transferred from the US Air Force.
Cady Spencer: Gipsy Danger LOCCENT Technician (along with Tendo Choi), Filipino-American, age 27 from Portland, Oregon.
Christian Warner: Gipsy Danger drivesuit technician, age 26, African-American from Atlanta, Georgia, brother of Chloe Warner.
Chloe Warner: K-Watch trainee in Honolulu, transferred after she and her brother Christian failed to become Rangers at Academy. Age 24.
Marshall Ana Ramirez: Commanding Officer of the Los Angeles Shatterdome, formerly a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army, mid-40s, Mexican-American from Arizona.
Devi and Susanti Hassan: Rangers, pilots of Vulcan Specter, Australia's Mark-3. First-generation daughters of Indonesian immigrants to Australia, ages 27 and 25, graduated Jaeger Academy in the same class as the Beckets.
Priya Katwal: Senior J-Tech Engineer, former NASA employee who helped design and build Gipsy Danger's conn-pod and life support systems, mid-50s, first-generation Indian-American.