Author's Notes: My apologies for the delay, dear readers! Between starting my new job AND relocating to a new town, I've been run ragged! (And I've still got no internet at the new place, so tonight's update comes from the local Panera!) With luck I'll be more organized this weekend in time to update with the next chapter.
Citation: The poem that Antwan recites to the Beckets is "Octopus" by Ogden Nash.
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Eight-Legged Freak
Los Angeles Shatterdome, May 20, 2018…
In May, as the PPDC's kaiju alert level went from orange to red, word got around that the brass was thinking of trying something new. The collective reaction was, "Uh-oh."
"'Group pre-deployment.' What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Now that we have over twenty Jaegers, the Marshalls want to try to intercept the next bogey early, see if we can start bringing the death toll down."
On May 20, they got to put the new strategy into action. Four months and one day since Ningyo, a Category II came swimming out of the Breach. It might have been a little smaller than the last few, but when the new sonar and spectrometer images were broadcast around, nobody was being dismissive. "Great. Another eight-legged freak," said Yancy.
"Maybe not that big, but we're definitely gonna want to tag-team this guy," Tanisha agreed.
"Please let them codename him Octopussy, please let them codename him Octopussy - "
"Tendo!" But they all laughed, and even Marshall Ramirez had a suspiciously-timed coughing fit.
He/she/it was codenamed Grindylow, which disappointed Tendo, but most of the Ian Fleming fans in the Corps at least had some appreciation for Harry Potter (or the mythology that JK Rowling had drawn from).
K-Watch had been keeping very busy in each interim, and despite the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, their work with oceanographers and geographers installing a web of monitoring stations and mapping currents was finally yielding results. They sent out their first prediction within two hours of the first alarm: this kaiju would be moving east, towards Central and South America.
Yankee Star was deployed first, for a long haul to the outskirts of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands. "We're going to see if we can't do better by the Pacific Island population," Ramirez told them. "You and Diablo Intercept are our distance shooters. You may not be able to close with him if he runs, but drive him away from the populated islands."
"That's an insane amount of surface to cover for two Jaegers," Christian Warner complained as Team Matador and Team Gipsy fidgeted around the war room. "Unless he's real aggressive, they won't be able to close with him unless they snag him onshore."
"It is an experiment," Daniel agreed. "But better than leaving thousands of people to fend for themselves."
After Grindylow surfaced, seemingly just for the purpose of shredding an unpopulated weather monitoring station, Yankee and Diablo ordered the choppers to drop some small surface charges nearby and get his attention.
"'Will you walk into my parlor, said the spider to the fly?'" purred Felipe Jara, Diablo's right hemisphere. He got chuckles from some of the more light-hearted souls.
"Dunno about the fly, but the octopus is coming up your winding coral reef, Diablo," announced one of the choppers. "We've got him visual now, he's coming up - WHOA!"
The watchers in the war room recoiled and shouted as Grindylow exploded out of the water like a flying fish, lashing his assorted limbs at the spotters. Luckily, he missed, and Tanisha yelled, "Choppers, ascend, all of you! Get off our shoulders!"
Her order didn't come a moment too soon. "Here we go!" Antwan Ferrier announced, pointing at a wake trail on the screen. It was headed straight for Yankee and Diablo.
This kaiju didn't have the turtle armor of Yamarashi, but the long-range missiles still didn't make as satisfying a wound as anyone hoped for. Diablo moved in and snared several limbs with his retracting, electrified whip that the media had dubbed "the devil's lash." Grindylow screamed and convulsed, churning up water and chunks of coral and stone.
"That whip is awesome!" Brandon Pines breathed.
Raleigh grinned. "All Yance and I can think of when we see it is Iron Man 2."
"But the difference being that this one is awesome."
"Yeah, I'm on board with that," Yancy agreed. "Pass the popcorn!" (Actually, they were eating protein bars, rice cakes, and bananas, the standard pre-drop alert diet, but the point stood.)
They were hoping to see a limb or three get severed, but Grindylow's sinewy flesh was tougher than it looked, although Yankee and Diablo inflicted some beautiful wounds. Finally, the mutant octopus gnawed free of Diablo's chain and retreated, getting zapped deeply by Yankee's lasers all the way.
"He's running!" The Jumphawks descended from behind the Jaegers. "If he tries again, we'll get in front of him!"
"Mierda. We've got a problem with our retractor, Yankee. Gear is ripped open; the lash is hanging loose."
"Park yourself on Majuro, Diablo, in case he gets around us and runs at them."
"That's confirmed," said Marshall Pentecost, commanding the two Jaegers from Lima. "LOCCENT's picking up electrical shorts throughout your left hemisphere, Diablo. Do not engage again unless you have to."
"Jumphawk Crew Tahiti Magic, ready for liftoff with Yankee Star."
"Cleared for liftoff."
"Good work, sharpshooters!"
Yankee ended up not engaging Grindylow again, since the bastard seemed to have had enough of the South Pacific islands. He ran fast and deep to the northeast, and Japan dispatched Coyote Tango to Hawaii to join Chrome Brutus, who was already waiting. But the bogey disappeared from the detectors without breaking the perimeter line for the Hawaiian Islands.
"K-Watch thinks he's veered further east, ma'am," Christian advised Marshall Ramirez, shamelessly exploiting his sister's insider tips (not that there was any rule against it.)
"All right, Matador, Gipsy, on deck," Ramirez ordered. "Plan for a long wait in your pods."
"He just popped up again off Jarvis Island," Christian informed them as they finished suiting up. "Took out a bunch of deep-sea vessels, but didn't stick around. He's still aiming East."
"Wonder if our Hydra girls will see some action out of Panama today," Yancy mused.
"Could be, Bro. Panama just made the executive decision to skip Rio Sentry's formal launch. They're running her down now to hang out in the canal entrance itself."
"Damn, that'll be a long first day for them," Raleigh muttered. "What's the bogey's ETA?"
"Current speed, about seven hours." Everybody wrinkled their noses. "Yeah, get comfy in those suits, my friends. Anybody hungry?"
Team Gipsy killed time hand-feeding the Rangers and making jokes with various levels of crudeness. By all accounts, it was the same in Matador's drive suit room, and in many of the other Western Shatterdomes.
"Hey, Becket boys, did you see what the Tunaris said when they got the bathroom question?" called Tendo from his station in LOCCENT.
"Oh, this'll be good. Are we keeping with the Iron Man 2 theme today?" Yancy snorted.
"Uh-uh. Vic said 'we go to the bathroom the way astronauts do.' Kid asks how astronauts go to the bathroom. Gunnar says, 'I dunno, I'm not an astronaut!'"
"Niiice!" Half the room crowed, while the other half groaned, "Boooo! Bad joke!"
"I thought it was a good out," Raleigh stage-whispered to Yancy, who just rolled his eyes. Then the Dome siren went off, and he started choking on his rice cake. "Shit!"
"Rangers and crews, this is Marshall Ramirez. Bogey has surfaced one thousand miles southwest of Cabo San Lucas, still moving east. Prepare for immediate deployment."
"And Ranger Becket 2.0 chokes to death," huffed Christian, giving Raleigh a water bottle as the rest of them hovered waiting for him to catch his breath. "You okay, man?"
"I'm good, I'm good," *coughgasp* "Just gimme another mouthful."
"If we weren't in a big hurry I'd be running with that one. Somebody write it down for later."
"Last call if you're thirsty, Yance."
"Yeah, I'll take it. Write that down too." They managed to end Raleigh's imitation of Joffrey Baratheon without much trouble, and got the crew into their helmets and online in the conn-pod for drop.
"We all set, Becket boys?" asked Tendo, proudly manning Gipsy's drop station.
"Good to go, but do we know where we're going?" demanded Yancy.
"Acapulco. Matador's deploying to Salina Cruz, Chrome Brutus to Cabo. Hydra's going to Acajutla, El Salvador, and the rest are spreading out in front of the major cities all the way down to Panama City."
"What happens if he runs south?" Raleigh asked, shooting Yancy a worried glance as they went through their checklists. "Isn't that leaving Lima exposed?"
"They've already got Romeo Blue on the way to Lima, and Coyote Tango's coming to LA. Unless Octopussy goes supersonic, they'll be in position before he can get there."
"That works for us. Releasing for drop!"
Once they were airborne and en route to the drop point, they checked in on Grindylow's position. "He's making an all-you-can-smash buffet out of the shipping and fishing traffic," said Brandon Pines from his command chopper. "Our ETA is five hours, and at this rate, we'll all be waiting for him, even the ones with longer rides."
Yancy made the mistake of turning on the radio channels for some of the vessels that were in the kaiju's path. They could only stand to listen for a few minutes before turning it off. "Fucking Christ, didn't they get the goddamn warnings?" he growled.
"Not many ships can move that fast, my friend," said Antwan from Brandon's chopper. "The local and private fishermen may never have gotten the warnings, and only the fastest ships or the ones close to shore could get out of the way."
"A lot did," added Nikki Harris. "Three hours ago, there were almost twice as many on the radar, and some of the ones still there are air evacuated. Your Alpha and Beta R&R crews are going offshore, so are Matador's. We're staying with you."
Even before they reached handshake position, the kaiju's path changed and so did the plan. "He's starting to jog due east, picking up speed," Tendo reported. "Looks like Mexico's in the clear, now he's looking at El Salvador, maybe Guatemala."
"Can we get ahead of him?"
"We're pushing it, but it's gonna be close, and we have to keep altitude. Bastard took out a Coast Guard chopper in the air with twenty people on board."
"God damn it! I thought Diablo and Yankee did some damage!" Raleigh fumed.
"Rangers, this is Marshall Ramirez, prepare for neural handshake."
Finally! That was the first sentiment in both their heads as they plunged into the drift.
"'Tell me, O Octopus, I begs, is those things arms, or is they legs?'"
"By the time we're back, Antwan, we expect you to have re-written that poem for kaiju."
"Challenge accepted, Yancy-man!"
The PR reps spend a lot of time protecting the Rangers' families...
Monkey in the middle with Jazmine...
Dad's dead. He never saw us launch. It was too late anyway.
Tanisha has a son in hiding to protect him...
I don't have a girlfriend...
"They devoted entire websites to hating on that redhead you dated for a few weeks, Yancy..."
"Not many ships can move that fast..."
The beep from the command console brought them back to the here and now. The bogey was ahead and below them, running at an angle towards the coast of El Salvador. They calibrated in a hurry, getting admonitions from Tendo back in LOCCENT to take it easy. "Hydra Corinthian's already in position, and Solar Prophet's deploying to La Libertad, El Salvador."
"Gipsy, you're being deployed on the ten-mile mark at the Guatemala-El Salvador border," Marshall Ramirez told them. "Engage at will, but keep your eyes out for friendly fire."
"Copy that, ma'am. There's still a lot of vessel traffic," said Yancy. It took the Jumphawks a couple of tries to find a position where they wouldn't hit something, though most of the boats around them looked abandoned. Some large ferries and Coast Guard cutters were heading into the harbors with crowds of rescuees on their decks.
"Believe me, we know. Local militaries are mobilizing everything they've got, but this kaiju is fast. Be ready."
"Gipsy, this is Matador, we're dropping ten miles due west of you."
"We see you, Matador," said Raleigh, marking the Mexican Jaeger's blip on the radar as they settled in the shallows. "You've got a really big ship to your west, and he's not moving. Maybe check on him, make sure everyone's evacuated."
"We'll call him."
"This is Hydra Corinthian, deployed ten miles off Acajutla, El Salvador. Visual contact with target. He's heading right for us."
"Solar Prophet here, ten miles to your east, Hydra."
"We've staked out one hell of a perimeter," Raleigh remarked. He - or maybe both of them - were a little sorry that it looked like Grindylow was going to pass them by, but at least their teams could get to work rescuing people.
"Ay, madre de Dios! LOCCENT, this is Matador Fury; there is a disabled passenger ship twelve miles off Puerto San Jose, at least two thousand people aboard!"
Raleigh and Yancy cursed in chorus with everybody else on that comm frequency. "Is she under tow yet?" demanded Ramirez.
"Yes, but they're moving at three miles per hour."
Oh, shit. Oh, shit. That bogey was still running at Acajutla, but if he veered away before or after Hydra and Prophet went at him, he could be on that ship in less than an hour.
There was a pause, then all the Rangers started talking at once, including Raleigh and Yancy. "Matador, go get them! You can take her to dock faster!" Prophet's pilots yelled.
"We'll buy you the time," Steffie vowed.
"We'll cover you from the east," said Yancy, and Raleigh heard the thought that he almost blurted out: Just go, don't wait for permission, just go! His brother restrained it - barely.
"Target one mile and closing, still on approach to Acajutla, Marshall!" called Kennedy. "We can hold him!"
The comm buzzed. "Matador Fury, you have permission to leave your post and assist the vessel. Gipsy, Prophet, and Hydra, hold the miracle mile and keep Matador covered."
"Copy that!"
"Eight hundred meters and closing!"
The kaiju was gathering his arms, cruising towards Hydra in a weird, half-upright position - "Hydra, he's gonna jump!" Raleigh shouted.
"We're on it!"
The monster gathered itself and launched, but Kennedy and Stephanie were ready for him. Hydra had had to be dropped out in the Arctic Ocean to test her most powerful weapon - a massive pressure pulse launcher that could level concrete buildings in its path and shatter windows in the same radius as a nuke. Nobody knew exactly what the mechanism was - some insisted it had to be anti-matter.
But in any case, the instruments registered the air pressure blasting out like an invisible air cannon, and even ten miles away, Raleigh and Yancy felt Gipsy sway and heard the sonic boom through her iron walls.
It caught Grindylow mid-leap and hurled the thing, roaring, back in the opposite direction, back-flipping over and over, Kaiju Blue spraying from its midsection. "NICE!" Raleigh yelled.
"We still have signature, Hydra!" warned LOCCENT.
"He's sinking... this is Prophet, we can't deploy flaretorch from a distance underwater."
"We're moving up!" Steffie called. "So that was Hydra's breath, let's show him Hydra's feet."
Must not ask why they don't have two more heads... Raleigh thought, and felt Yancy grin.
Hydra's feet were actually expanding web-like contraptions on her hands. Kaiju-strength concertina wire, as the joke went, creating a three-dimensional surface of razor-sharp shredding ability more than ten feet wide on each hand. Hydra lunged and narrowed one of the nets into a clamp that pinned Grindylow to the seabed by two of its arm/legs. The thing screeched and lunged, and Hydra slashed freely with her free hand, even raising one leg to deliver some kicks – they had it on their feet too.
More Blue colored the froth from the waves, but then Hydra's foot worked a little too well - it went through the two arms it held, shortening them by half, and Grindylow wasn't about to stick around. "FUCK, he's running!" They fired Hydra's propulsion jets, but only one was working. They couldn't catch him. "GIPSY!"
He was running west, straight for Raleigh and Yancy, and beyond them, Matador and the stricken ship. They had only a minute to brace themselves. God, that bastard was fast, leaving a toxic plume of Blue in his wake like octopus ink, legs out behind him.
Yancy was already charging the cannon. "We need to pin him, no matter what!" They braced. Hydra was in pursuit, but her one working jet wasn't even at full power. Gipsy was on her own. "NOW!"
They dove and caught the kaiju's upper body in a full tackle, hurtling end over end deeper into the ocean. Alarms blared, pain lanced through both of them from impact with kaiju and seabed. Even the iron of their skin was being scoured because the bastard was dragging them. "Cannon! Hit it!" Raleigh yelled.
"Charging plasma cannon! Hang on! Activate rear jets as soon as I fire!" Yancy ordered. Raleigh grabbed for the control and braced himself.
Yancy aimed over the thrashing legs at Grindylow's torso and head. The first shot went wide, the second glanced off and nearly sent them flying as he thrashed. The third blew off one of its limbs.
There weren't suckers on the kaiju's leg/arms like an octopus, but small, fang-like teeth that probably held things like a spider - but at the moment, they were doing some massive damage to Gipsy's hull. It was all Raleigh could do to keep his grip. The outer skin of the legs and torso was hard and leathery and slippery in the water.
"Fire the rockets!"
"Wait - wait - " They needed to change this bastard's direction first. Raleigh managed to catch one foot on the sea bed, and the momentum swung kaiju and Jaeger around. Off-balance and disoriented, he locked his eyes on the instruments and caught a dizzy view of Hydra and Prophet still following - now!
He fired the jets, and the impact knocked the wind out of him and Yancy, but it was enough to force Grindylow back to the east. On and on, they tumbled and fended off those endless limbs and hacked and pounded with one hand while hanging on for dear life with the other. "Matador, where are you?" Yancy panted into the comm.
"Five miles offshore!"
Not much longer.
But they were taking a serious pounding even when Grindylow wasn't managing to bite or slash them. "Gipsy, let go!" shouted Sunya from Solar Prophet.
"No!" Raleigh held on as their bucking kaiju swerved again to dodge the other two Jaegers. "Can't risk - him getting - " That meant he also couldn't fire his own cannon.
Yancy managed to load his and blew another couple of arms off, but the wild thrashing had them ass over teakettle, and soon all he could do was hang on too. Until they realized they were heading for an underwater cliff. "GIPSY, you're going over the shelf!" Kennedy screamed.
"Damn it!" They let go and clawed at the sand and muck until they'd halted the Jaeger's momentum. They found themselves on a sea bed several hundred meters deeper than where they started. "Shit."
"Are you guys okay?!"
"Yeah," Yancy grunted, as they struggled to translate all the shrieking alarms and red displays. How the hull wasn't compromised completely, neither of them could guess. "Hydra, where's Matador?"
"Almost to shore - they're carrying the damn ship. Bogey's still running out - wait, he's stopping. Just... floating there."
"Sink, you eight-legged freak," Raleigh grumbled as they hauled themselves back to the shallows. They were both going to be walking bruises after this.
"Gipsy," called LOCCENT. "What's your status?"
"Lotta dents, but structural integrity's holding," Yancy reported as they finally started getting their breath. Toggling through the system checks, they found a lot less damage than they'd feared. "Hydraulic pressure is good, conn-pod undamaged. We're okay, LOCCENT. Returning to our post. We'll have to wait him out."
It was a weary underwater trudge back to their various positions But then, they both saw the kaiju's silhouette start moving again even as LOCCENT and Hydra and Prophet started yelling - it was speeding up, now aiming northwest - straight at Puerto San Jose. "Charging jets!" Raleigh yelled, and prayed they were still working. "Matador, you've got incoming!"
"Trying to intercept from the east!" Hydra was fast, but with only one jet, they could tell she wouldn't make it. If Gipsy's own jets failed, they were screwed. As it was, despite their head start, they were going to cut it very close.
At the point of the miracle mile directly south of Puerto San Jose, they were aiming themselves like a flying Superman trying to be as aerodynamic - or hydrodynamic - as possible, but it wasn't going to be enough and the bastard was honing in on Matador and that huge ship in his arms...
Raleigh slapped a hand down on the rescue horns. He wasn't really sure why he did that; he liked blasting them, but who knew if the damn kaiju even had ears!
But Grindylow turned, and on its slashed, ugly head, Raleigh swore he saw its eyes focus on them.
It changed direction. "Gipsy, incoming!" LOCCENT yelled.
"That was the idea." The kaiju was apparently done running, and that was fine. Two pulses of plasma nailed him in the shoulder, and Gipsy herself came in their wake and slammed into the kaiju's upper body. They heard its gurgling roar and felt the sharp surface of its arms slashing at them again, but it didn't seem quite as powerful an attack as before.
Maybe they were finally wearing this bastard down.
"We've reached the docks!"
"Matador, watch out for waves!" someone warned. Gipsy and Grindylow were further in the shallows now, dangerously close to shore if the kaiju got loose, and the waves they were generating would probably wash away anything and anyone on the waterfront.
But they didn't have time to think about that, or anything else but the mass of leathery flesh and stinging barbs and sizzling Blue in front of it as it flailed at them and they pounded at it, trying to stay between it and the shore. First, Yancy's cannon failed, blasting pain through their right arm and through their heads, and Grindylow was trying to writhe free, and they couldn't let him, not this close. As unbalanced as they were, they knew Hydra and Prophet were close - Raleigh's cannon charged, but he hesitated. If they missed, they might hit one of the others.
They rolled like a barrel over and over each other, their left arm burning and throbbing from the energy they couldn't release blind, unable to see in the mud and Blue that was churned up around them - then they were on top of it, and Raleigh's hand was wedged into its flesh. Yes. Raleigh fired. The pulse burst out of him - one, two - deep, then deeper into the kaiju's torso - it roared, it writhed, and then -
Silence. Stillness. Water sloshed around them, sharp-edged legs floated as they dug their knees in trying to hold it down.
But no more resistance. No more straining, rubbery muscles and slashing blows. They blinked at the display. No signature.
The comm sputtered and buzzed. Yancy fumbled at it. Part of their neck felt raw and exposed; they must have taken a close hit. Hydraulics were leaking, but they still had range of motion.
Could they get up? Was it definitely dead?
Yancy planted his damaged hand in the mud, hissing at the pain, but they managed to get their legs back under them and got to their feet, finding themselves only knee deep anymore. An ugly mass of slimy flesh and mud and Kaiju Blue floated at their feet. Grindylow, Category II. Dead.
Yancy turned, blinking sweat from his eyes and looking Raleigh up and down. You okay? "You okay?"
Yeah, I'm fine. "Fine. You?"
I'm good. "I'm good." Both of their hearts started to slow, seeming to be beating in complete unison. Raleigh stared at the engagement clock on the display. Nine hours since initiating handshake. Still at one hundred percent. Holy shit.
They'd never gone this long even in the simulator. Raleigh was having trouble figuring out where he ended and Yancy began.
They needed to get radio contact back. Hydra and Prophet were coming through the harbor towards them, and Matador was coming down the sand on the shore. But the voice comm and radio were completely dead. Frustrated, Yancy toggled up the keyboard and sent a written message.
GIPSY DANGER: Lit it up at close range. Confirm no signature?
LOCCENT: No signature, kaiju declared destroyed at 1755 hours. What's the status of your drop gear?
Raleigh ran the diagnostics and grimaced. They'd taken some severe damage on the outer hull, especially around the shoulders and back.
GIPSY DANGER: Gear looks compromised.
LOCCENT: Can you exit through the escape hatch?
GIPSY DANGER: I think so. Hatch appears to be functioning.
LOCCENT: Power down and exit. We'll have a spotter pick you up. Good work, Gipsy.
Funny. Last time, he'd felt buzzed. All shock and exhilaration and confusion. Now he felt... numb, like the sudden silence in the pod was tangible and he was sinking into it. Sleeping for a few years wouldn't be bad either.
We need to power down. "We need to power down," Yancy murmured, sounding as wrung out as Raleigh felt.
Right. "Right." They didn't need to think about synching their sides for the shutdown steps. They were completely synched. Hitting every button and switch simultaneously came without either of them needing to glance in the other direction, and it occurred to them before they hit the command to deactivate the handshake... this might hurt.
But they had to shut down and get back to base and take stock. So they braced themselves and deactivated the handshake.
"Deactivating handshake. Releasing harness. Unlocking motion rig," said the pod calmly. The floor rose up to lock around their feet again, making Raleigh's head swim as the drift drained away and -
Yance...
He was still afloat, but alone now, and even more disoriented. He could still feel Yance, but like a fading image in his mind, and he didn't want his brother to go yet. He stumbled dizzily out of the rig, but Yancy had moved faster, and they connected, in a clumsy pseudo-hug around their bulky armor. That was better, so much better.
No one's hurt this time, one of them thought. They both laughed wearily, and they could move now. It was okay.
You as dizzy as me? Rhetorical question. They'd have to be careful not to fall off Gipsy's battered shoulder.
Helmets and gear had to stay on, though it was cumbersome to climb in, but so close to a kaiju carcass, no point in taking risks. Bet it stinks out here too. But while the comm itself was transmitted through Gipsy - and as a result, down for the suits as well as in the conn-pod - sound came through the external pickups quite well.
There was noise outside, more than just the sea wind blowing up on top of Gipsy. Horns. Ships? Even... people?
Wow, they were really close to shore. Only a few hundred meters before this eight-legged freak would have made landfall, and there were people everywhere! What were they all doing here - their arms were in the air. Cheering?
Choppers were buzzing around, media and military and civilian. Strangest of all was the enormous ship, some kind of big, bulky ferry or cheap transport, perched on the low, sloping sand dunes next to Matador Fury, whose drop gear was getting hooked up to the jump hawks.
A Blackhawk was hovering down to them now. "Gipsy Danger, can you guys hear me?" Yancy waved sluggishly in acknowledgement. "Stay right there, we're lowering a double rig for you."
A double rig. Good, then they wouldn't have to go separately. They'd practiced post-combat pickup so many times, so many different ways, but even after long hauls in the simulator, they'd never been so tired or banged up.
The Blackhawk had Hydra Corinthian's emblem on its side, and as the rig reached the chopper's doors, they found two other white-suited pilots in the cabin. "Hey," breathed a sweaty, reddish-haired girl through her helmet comm. "Hey, guys!" The darker-haired, darker-skinned girl up against her just waved wearily.
"Steffie! Kennedy!" Hugging really was next to impossible in their armor; they all just sort of collapsed in a heap with loud clunks.
"Gipsy Danger pilots secured, we're ascending." One of the cockpit crew climbed back to them. "Rangers, just so you know, we're going back to Panama. It's a lot closer."
Raleigh and Yancy blinked. "Oh. Okay."
Kennedy patted them, looking as exhausted as them. "Come on. We'll show you our hospitality."
"Our crews?" Yancy asked.
"Your strike force is Whiskey, right? I'm pretty sure they're all still deployed, but I'll get a status for you." The unfamiliar officer grinned at them. "So far, folks, this is looking like a record low death toll for an incident. The whole Western Hemisphere is celebrating."
This is what it means to be heroes. Neither of them could quite remember who'd told them that before. But this time around, apparently being heroes meant getting manhandled out of their battle armor on the three-hour flight to the nearest Shatterdome, and constantly scolded because they kept falling asleep.
Strike Troop Command PAVE Hawk Whiskey Gamma…
"Drop Team Pisco, what's the condition our jockeys?" Brandon demanded from the cockpit of his own chopper.
"You got authorization for information, pilot?"
Great. Just the time for inter-department spats. "We're Strike Trooper Team Whiskey Gamma under the command of Brandon Pines, whose first job is ensuring the welfare of our Rangers, so give me something here!"
"Sorry 'bout that. Yes, we've got Rangers Becket, Lanphier and LaRue, taking all four back to Panama. Medics report they're stable, no major injuries. We'll get them a full workup as soon as we land in Panama City Dome."
"I need someone reporting to Marshall Ramirez and LOCCENT back at LA. Their crew needs to know they're all right."
Whoever he had in the chopper's cockpit bearing the four pilots away from the scene finally seemed to get this just wasn't inter-departmental meddling. "They're all in good condition. Very tired, looks like some drift shock going on, but they're mostly awake and talking. Hang on… Marshall Quijano says that invitation for a closer port of harbor extends to all the strike troops. Come back to Panama for repairs and some rest."
Finally. "Copy that, Pisco. We'll ask for clearance when we're done out here."
The rule was that someone known and trusted had to be able to say he had eyes on the Rangers. Tendo wouldn't unleash the phone/text/email/Twitter/Facebook/TUMBLR tree before that. So someone from Team Gipsy or one of their trusted colleagues had to get a look at their crews in medical and make sure they were being told the real deal.
"No report until you've got eyes on the guys!" Tendo insisted. "I won't be party to panicking our people or giving 'em a false sense of security. Somebody tell me you're looking at 'em!"
So when Whiskey Alpha got the job of ferrying some injured personnel down to the Panama Dome, Brandon gladly suggested that Antwan Ferrier go with them. "Go on, man, you're officially a PC for all the strike crews, and Alpha's PC's got a concussion. Take 'em down to Panama, and while you're in medical, look in on our jockeys."
Antwan let himself be persuaded. Not to say that Brandon and Tendo and all who held the Beckets dear wouldn't trust the word of any of the Whiskey R&R crews, but Capitaine Ferrier of S.S. Gipsy Danger had a certain seniority in the Ranger-sitting department.
There were sighs of relief on the comms from all up and down the Central American and Southern California coast when the report came in: "This is PC Ferrier. I'm in Panama City infirmary. All our personnel are in good condition, and I have eyes on our Rangers - and Hydra and Prophet's Rangers too. They're all in good shape, minor injuries, resting comfortably."
Even on the various docks where triage was in progress, there was a celebratory atmosphere, and the media caught on when the PPDC strike force personnel suddenly burst into cheers and applause.
CNN Breaking News: "All through Guatemala and El Salvador tonight, we are partying like it's 2015! The coastal communities of Central America are feeling the same elation that the world shared the first time Brawler Yukon beat back the kaiju Karloff! Today marks a new milestone in the war against these monsters - the kaiju Grindylow was destroyed without ever making landfall! I'm going to our correspondent Trinity Wells in Puerto San Jose, Guatemala!"
"Thank you, Anderson! I'm here at the Plaza Manantial less than a mile from the waterfront where the people of this coastal town have gathered to celebrate! The PPDC and local military are urging the public to stay well inland while they continue clean-up, but we can still see a lot of the action! I'm having my cameraman turn around so you can see what I see - there! What a view, what a magnificent picture of our saviors! There on the upper beach stands Jaeger Matador Fury of Mexico, and next to him, the passenger ferry Esperanza. Matador carried that enormous ship in from the harbor after her engines failed with a kaiju closing in, and early reports say that as many as thirty-five hundred people were on board! Now further out in the harbor stands Jaeger Hydra Corinthian of the United States, a brand new Mark-4 just launched this year, who joined the battle to keep the kaiju from reaching shore. And directly to the southeast is America's Gipsy Danger, who fought hand-to-hand with that monster for over eight hours and finally brought him down!"
"Do we have any estimates on the death toll from this attack?"
"Unfortunately, this kaiju did attack a large number of commercial, military, and civilian ships at sea, so there is a death toll, but since he didn't manage to come ashore in any population centers, this may be one of the lowest death tolls from an attack so far. Even in the hospitals and triage sites, the atmosphere here is one of triumph and hope. You can see in the streets around me in Puerto San Jose, people are dancing, singing, waving American and Mexican flags, and shouting "Gracias," to the brave pilots and troops of the Jaeger Program!"
To be continued...
Coming This Weekend (Probably): The aftermath of Grindylow is a lot easier on our heroes than the aftermath of Yamarashi! Jaeger pilots are rock stars - especially in the eyes of the people they save in Chapter Thirty: Esperanza!
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.
Andrés Alcazar and Daniel Moreno: Matador Fury's Rangers, Mexican nationals, age 39. Andrés was a historian and Daniel was a lawyer, both writing and working against institutional corruption before imprisoned for an unknown period. They were released along with other non-violent prisoners to attempt the Jaeger Academy, but have not yet been granted a pardon.
Alejandro (Alex) Quispe and Sunya Flores: Solar Prophet's Rangers, early 30s, Peruvians of mixed Quechan/Latino ancestry. A romantic couple who worked in the Peruvian railway industry before K-Day.
Benjamin (Ben) Gonzalez and Felipe Jara: Diablo Intercept's Rangers, mid-30s, Chilean, worked together on a submarine in the Chilean Navy before K-Day.
Antwan Ferrier: Gipsy Danger Personnel Coordinator, directs Whiskey Gamma, a team of Strike Troopers. Age 39, Jamaican national.
Brandon Pines: Support chopper pilot for team Whiskey Gamma, one of Gipsy Danger's four strike trooper teams, early 30s from Monterey, CA, transferred from the US Air Force.
Nicola Harris: Rescue/recovery EMT with Whiskey Gamma, age 21 from San Diego, CA, daughter of Brady Harris's cousin and a Guatemalan immigrant.
Christian Warner: Gipsy Danger drivesuit technician, late 20s, African-American from Atlanta, Georgia, attended academy with Beckets and his sister, Chloe, who is now in K-Watch.