Warning: Mild Language
Jack focused on breathing. In and out. In and out. His stomach churned nervously. Over the past week of daily drops with Hanson, he'd steadily cared less and less what his copilot thought of him. Now the intense drive to make a good impression came roaring back full throttle, twisting his insides into knots. He stole a glance at Carter, and envied her calm. After suiting up, they'd taken time to get comfortable in the suits and to reacquaint themselves with Banshee's connpod. Carter now stood at the view port, staring at the bay spread out before them as workers cleared the area in preparation. When they dropped, the tinted shield would slide down to fill the slit in Banshee's helmet, but for now they had the entire window to look through unimpeded. Jack almost joined her, but thought better of it. Jack might have first-time jitters, but Carter had a battle of her own to fight.
As far as Jack knew, she hadn't stepped foot in Banshee's connpod since May Day three years ago. Did she have misgivings about trying again? Having a brand new partner-fresh out of the Academy at that- couldn't help assuage her doubts. Still, at the very least she knew what to expect. It wouldn't be anything like he'd experienced with Hanson. Even just gearing up had been a completely different show from the past week. Hanson's constant stream of inane commentary had been blissfully absent, and Jack noticed that the suit techs had been far warmer for it. To his satisfaction, they didn't seem to share Klepper's animosity towards Carter. When Jack inspected the faces who helped him, he didn't recognize a single one from the brawl.
He wondered if Banshee's crew had ever blamed Carter for May Day. In fact, they seemed a little in awe of her return. They weren't the only ones. The faces that had stood by to watch their long approach to Banshee's helm had seemed similarly awed. Some were resentful, yes, but it was in that moment that Jack realized that Jack wasn't the only one who was a little starstruck. His stomach lurched threateningly once again. She was going to feel all this in the drift if he didn't get a grip. If he couldn't hide his enthusiasm, how could he expect her to take him seriously? He closed his eyes, and breathed. In. Out. In. Out.
Can the rookie stuff, O'Neill, he scolded himself. Soon the only difference between them would be experience. Carter hadn't started out as a star pilot. She put her drivesuit on one leg at a- Oh. She might not have started out as a star pilot, but she did start out as the daughter of the Jacob Carter. She'd spent most of her life among the pilot elite, long before she became one of them. The process to becoming a Jaeger pilot would have been the same as any other pilot's- her experience of it would have been far different.
"Hey!" Carter's voice broke through his thoughts. "You listening?"
Jack nodded, pulled abruptly back to awareness. "Yeah," he lied. He shut his insecurities away and focused on Carter, who turned away from the viewport and now made her way to the drive harness.
"It's going to be tempting to rely on the drift for communication," Carter warned him. Jack nodded. "Don't," she instructed. "I don't know you well enough, and you don't know me. That'll eventually come later, but for now I need you to be vocal, okay?"
"You got it." Jack flexed his fingers, feeling the familiar pull of the drive suit.
"All right. Let's get started." Carter got into position, clicking her boots home into place while securing the sensors to her wrists. Jack followed her lead, and soon they were both suspended over Banshee's churning mechanisms.
Aligning with Carter couldn't have been more different than what Jack had grown accustomed to with Hanson. She aligned first, and like everything else, she did it quietly. Jack couldn't even tell she was ready to go until Tendo spoke up in his ear. "Right side aligned," Tendo confirmed. "O'Neill, you're up."
Jack accidently stole a glance at Carter, suddenly unsure if what he'd learned from Jonas was correct. She'd made it look so effortless, but there was no judgement in her gaze when their eyes locked.
"You can do this," she told him, seeing his hesitation. "Take a deep breath, and relax. Open your senses. Your mind and the tech will do the rest."
Jack nodded, and followed her instructions. Almost instantaneously, he could sense her in the drift. Where Jonas had been a continuous pounding wave against his mind, Carter's presence was an eddy. He plunged in and everything that was her enveloped him. Hanson had been chaos; Carter was peace. If she were a lake, he felt like he could float on his back and stare at the stars forever. He felt their bodies spasm in tandem at the joining, but Tendo's voice was far more enthusiastic than he'd been with Jack and Hanson their first day.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!"
Legend said their memories were supposed to mingle, but all Jack picked up from Carter were watercolors of emotions, the pool of her consciousness changing tint with the familiar affection she held for Tendo. A moment later, the tide pulled out, taking Jack's floating eddy with it and leaving him standing on dry land. He opened his eyes to the connpod.
"You okay?" Carter asked, her voice tinkling through their continued connection along with a sudden flush of concern. She was still there, Jack realized dazedly. They were simply as separate as the drift could allow. He nodded wordlessly. Even if he had the breath to answer- he didn't- he had no words. "Need a moment?"
"N-nah," Jack's voice cracked. He cleared his throat and tried again. "No. I'm good." He blinked the stars from his eyes and focused on the task at hand. "Let's do this."
Carter regarded him carefully. "Okay," she accepted. "We'll start simple. Opening stance of the Yaginata kata." Feet shoulder width apart, fists up-fingers in- then brought sharply down to stop at the belt. It was the simplest stance of the simplest kata and the first one all recruits were required to learn.
"On my mark," Carter alerted him. "Three, two, one, mark."
Jack brought his arms up swiftly. Used to piloting with Jonas, Jack moved with enough force to counter the typical resistance he'd learned to compensating for. He realized a split second later that the drag was gone. Banshee's fists clanged off the hull where she'd smacked herself in the helm, rocking the connpod and sending the sensors screeching into alarm mode.
"Whoa!" Carter shouted as they flopped like rag dolls in their harnesses. A few keystrokes on her interface pad, and the alarms quieted. "Easy there, tiger."
"Sorry! Sorry…" Jack flexed his hands, getting used to the new feel. "That was way more give then I expected."
"Right." Carter smirked. "You'll want to get used to it, before you do the kaiju's job for them."
"Hey!" he protested indignantly, but Carter's grin assured him that she wasn't being derisive. In fact, it was the closest she'd come to joking since he met her. "Hyuk, hyuk."
"All right, let's try that again. Gently, this time." Carter tapped a command into her keypad. "On my mark. Three, two, one, mark."
This time Banshee's fists came up in perfect form, paused, then dropped to waist height. The motion was smooth as silk. It was nothing like he'd been able to accomplish with Hanson. Not only did it feel like every ounce of drag was gone, but his mind was clear. He could interpret his monitors in a glance, just like in the simulator. Piloting felt natural again.
"Position 2, on my mark," Carter pressed on, ignorant of Jack's personal revelation. "Three, two, one…"
They slowly moved through every step in the kata. It was an upper kata, arms and hands only. By the final phrase, they were progressing smoothly, without Carter's countdown. When they were finished, Jack was itching to move on, but was left disappointed.
"Again," Carter ordered. They did it, again and again until Jack's arms were quivering and his brow was drenched with sweat. He didn't know how long they spent repeating the motions, but when Carter called a break, it was all he could do to keep from disengaging right there.
"Doing good," Carter said. Jack was vindicated to hear that she was just as out of breath as he was. "How do you feel about going for a walk?"
Jack bit back a grumble and prepared to get moving, anticipating the all too familiar tug against his limbs. When the connpod fell unnaturally quiet, he paused. There was no sound of Banshee gearing up, no relay over the comms. He snuck a glance at Carter and froze to find her looking at him quizzically. "Well?" she asked.
"What?"
"I asked a question," she reminded him. "You going to give me an answer or what?"
Jack nodded, sheepish. "Yeah," he responded. "Let's get walking."
Carter's brow furrowed in confusion but chose not to dig any deeper. "LOCCENT, this is Banshee. We're ready to get our feet wet."
"Reading you loud and clear, Banshee. Stand by for transport."
After a moment, there was a lurch as banshee's transport rolled into motion. They rode in silence for a few moments, listening to the grumble of Banshee's systems.
"Hey." Carter's voice pierced the quiet. Jack turned to meet her gaze. "I meant what I said earlier. I need you to be vocal, and responsive. It may not be what you're used to, but it's the only way Banshee is going to respond the way we need her to. It won't be magic right out of the gate. It may take weeks, or months, but we will get there. You're a good pilot. We just have to get used to each other."
Jack nodded. "I understand. Thanks." He paused. "It's been a lot of change, recently," he confessed.
"Yeah," she affirmed. "Sorry about that."
"Please, don't apologize," Jack stumbled over his own words. He couldn't read much from her through the drift, but now he caught hints of guilt clutching at his stomach and couldn't be entirely sure they were his alone. "It's not your fault," he pointed out. "And honestly, I'm-" Ah, hell. She'd probably read him like an open book when they completed the neural handshake.
"I'm nervous as hell," he confessed. "I mean, I should be thanking you." Carter flushed. "And not just for giving me this opportunity- you've gone out of your way to help me since I got here, and I…" He trailed off, unsure of where he'd been intending to go with it. Bottom line was that of all the people he'd met in San Diego so far, Carter was the only one who felt like a friend. He couldn't just come out and say that outright though. If he was wrong, and Carter had only been humoring him… Jack cared what she thought of him, more than he probably should.
"You know what you're doing," he said finally. "I just hope I can measure up."
Carter shrugged in her harness, noncommittal. Jack wasn't certain, but he got the feeling that she was self-conscious herself. Three years ago she left the pilot program behind to move to engineering. Now here she was, back in the harness again with only a reckless brawl to suggest they could work well together. His eyes weren't the only ones on her. The entire Shatterdome watched with bated breath to see how well they'd do. Maybe Carter felt just as nervous as he did.
"All right, Banshee, we just pulled up to the pier," Tendo informed them. "Get ready for your inaugural dunking!"
Carter rolled her eyes. They dismounted the carrier, and dropped into the waves. Banshee moved forward with confident strides. Carter didn't bother with any countdown this time. They walked to the Miracle Mile and back, then out again. They continued to walk, finding a rhythm that worked. Carter had just cued them to start a full kata when an APB alert sounded through their headsets.
"Belladonna Banshee, this is LOCCENT. We've just detected activity at the breach, heading for your position. Codename Cetus."
Carter and Jack shared a look. "Orders?" Carter relayed.
"Stand by. Manhattan Bombshell is deploying to take point. You are to observe and assist if necessary."
Carter nodded, unsurprised. She must have sensed Jack's disappointment, because she shot him a sympathetic glance as she keyed her response. "Understood, LOCCENT. Standing by."