The waiting is the worst. Mako prefers moving a Jaeger to combat under its own power, because even though it means the Kaiju are closer to land and the pressure is on, it means there's something to be doing, to occupy the Drift space in between the co-pilots.
Now, strung up between the choppers, there's nothing to do but wade through a muddle of her and Jake's memories. She's dealt with her own grief over Sensei's death, but she can tell that Jake's emotions are still raw, because the closer they get to the Breach drop, the more she sees that black-edged envelope. She wonders if they'll fly over the place where Striker Eureka went under, and if they do, if her own memories will bleed into the Drift. She hopes she can control that; they don't need Jake spiraling out of sync because for the first time he witnesses the reality.
She tries instead to focus on the good things, like making caramel sauce in the kitchen that boiled over and hardened into the pan so horribly they threw the whole thing away and made excuses to Sensei when he searched every cupboard in the house later. Or Jake climbing the stair railing to try to touch the light globe in the hallway, and Mako catching him when he fell, and him laughing and wanting to do it again. She remembers a quiet afternoon on the shore of a lake somewhere, with Sensei falling asleep holding his fishing pole and herself and Jake in the water, chasing frogs and trying to sneak them into the lunch basket to take home. She tries to remember the times they were a family.
There's a sudden jabbing of sound into a memory of Stacker at the piano, picking out the melody of "Scarborough Fair" while Mako and Jake painted their cardboard Jaegers. "Drop in ten minutes. Secure harnesses and prepare for impact." Mako presses into the rigging, feeling all the bolts snap into the full lock positions. They can't transport like that, or their joints will stiffen up and they'll have a harder time fighting. This is another of Mako's improvements. She remembered the uncomfortable tension on the long run to the Breach, and from Raleigh's mind she knows how hard it can be to limber up after you've been bolted in tight to the harnesses.
Jake does the same, and she can feel the sudden adrenaline spike through his body. He's ready to fight. She wishes she could feel the same rush. But something about this feels wrong. And more wrong than not having Raleigh there. That adrenaline spike should have been mentally triggered. Which means she should have had one too. But she's just feeding off Jake's.
If it's just a hiccup, they have little to worry about. The old Jaegers, especially the Mark I and IIs, had unreliable connections. Pilots fought with sub-par Drift all the time. She's heard Sensei's stories about how he and Tasmin would temporarily drop out of sync, and she always thought it was exciting, heroic. She doesn't think so when it's happening to her. It might just be a one-time problem, but if it happens during a fight, they could be in real trouble. Losing sync now, with the new programming they put in the Drift systems, will cause the whole system to go into a failsafe mode to keep the pilots' brains from overloading. The Jaeger will send out a distress signal and lock into a protective autopilot function, and is intended to be protected by its partners. Mako just wishes they didn't have to test this so early.
According to a Shatterdome legend, the Kaidanovskys entirely lost Drift off the coast off Magadan. They still managed to finish the fight, staying perfectly coordinated without the mental link. And she knows Sensei's stories about Tacit Ronin's team, who piloted her for the last time without Drifting at all. But Mako doesn't know Jake well enough to do that. Hell, she didn't know Raleigh well enough to do that.
The helicopters disengage and there's the stomach-churning plunge, then a splash as Venge hits the water. The Breach beacons are directly ahead of them, and she can see the glow through the water already. It's about to open.
"Twenty minutes to Breach activity." It's Newt, and the familiar voice calms the nerves in Mako's stomach a little. The waiting does not. She can see Saber Athena, Guardian Bravo, and Obsidian Fury waiting, flanking them. She wonders how their pilots are holding up. It's not her first battle, but it is theirs. Julia Hannity and Akela Ross in Athena, Michael Jones and Kamala Hassan in Bravo, and Alex Connor and Gideon Emil in Fury. They're her top pilots, the best of the best. She wonders if Jules and Kela are already planning a night on the town after a win, if Mike is thinking about how he can get a few hits in so he's more popular with the "chicks" he's always trying to impress, and Kamala is laughing at him and secretly wishing he'd realize he's already impressed her. And Alex and Gideon are probably designing the logo they're going to paint on Fury's shoulder to signify their first (of many) kill.
Up until now, she didn't think about what it means that she knows them all. But now, the fight is coming and the reality is that they may not all walk away. Sensei's voice echoes in her mind. "Those are my Rangers that die every time a Jaeger falls." Now they are her rangers. She hopes Sensei would be proud. She has followed his path. But it is a hard one. And she understands now better than ever why he did not want her in a Jaeger. She doesn't know if she could bear to lose any one of those Rangers.
Then the water swirls, parts, and something swims up, dark against the amber glow from the Breach. "Kaiju signature detected." Mako braces for impact, in case the thing attacks immediately. But when it surges up out of the water, she stumbles.
It's Onibaba but twice the size. Mako watches the horrifying creature tower over all four Jaegers and let out a deep bellow. Her mind is racing after the R.A.B.I.T. She has to come out, to fight. She has to anchor to Jake, the way she used to with Raleigh. She feels for his mind, through the Drift, but it's like reaching through mud. The connection is jumbled and only halfway there. She's falling from the treehouse. Jake is reaching for her, eyes huge and wide and scared. His sweaty fingers brush hers and she tries to grip but she's seconds too late and she's falling. Mako hears a voice in her head…"neural handshake at 45% and dropping…losing integrity…connection failure…" Then her world goes red and gold, and she's falling, falling out of the tree, falling down, down, down, into the Breach, burning as she falls.