Domovoi Part 20

She supposed, in the grand scheme of things, the titan standing before her couldn’t have been called ancient or even very old at all.  In fact, compared to countless other monuments and artifacts preserved over the ages, even compared to the very building containing him, he was practically a newborn.  But Brawler Yukon bore the remarkable title of First Jaeger, the grandfather of all his kind, and could very well be considered an antique next to newbuilts like Crimson Typhoon and Striker Eureka.  State-of-the-art in his day, he was now outdated and obsolete, useless to the PPDC.

Caitlin Lightcap shook her head, not taking her eyes off the Jaeger.  Fools.  They didn’t understand that every Jaeger was precious, even the Mark Is, even those that had been broken beyond repair and relegated to the graveyard.  They were so obsessed with their quest for stronger, faster, more advanced Jaegers – or simply abandoning them entirely in favor of the Wall of Life – that they didn’t stop to think that they would be better off developing the ones they already had, focusing their resources on improving them instead of starting from scratch every time.

And if they would only stop to actually study their Jaegers more closely, instead of treating them like weapons or vehicles, they would realize they had something truly wonderful on their hands.

The Canadian PPDC Memorial Museum had been built around an abandoned grain silo, which had been cleaned out and refitted to house its prize exhibit, Brawler Yukon.  Caitlin made it a point to visit as often as she could, both to give lectures to visitors about the program and to touch base with the Mark I herself.  After Sergio’s death, she was Yukon’s only Ranger… his only link to the outside world.  He might be retired, consigned to this museum after his final battle left him a crippled wreck, but he deserved some companionship, however infrequent.

She rested a hand on the velvet rope that marked the boundary between observer and Jaeger, wishing she could cross it but knowing that doing so would have her banned from the museum in a heartbeat.  It had been pure instinct, she thought, a split-second decision made without thought for her own safety, that had changed her from an antisocial scientist to a warrior.  She hadn’t intended to forge a neural handshake, only save a man clearly on the verge of death, and avoid a catastrophe that could have spelled the doom of the Jaeger program.  Had she known what would happen once she donned the Pons headset and entered the drift…

No.  She would have done it anyhow.  She had no regrets, and never would.

Brawler’s presence in her mind stirred, sluggish and sleepy.  His reactor had been excised long ago, his engines gone cold, but some measure of sentience still burned within him, however faint.  She had long ago talked the technicians into keeping a little power going to his computer core, to keep the lights and equipment in his Conn Pod running to show visitors what an active cockpit looked like.  That, and that alone, had kept Brawler energized enough to maintain contact.

“You okay?” she whispered softly.

A soft pulse was his reply.  He felt weak and slow, but he wasn’t in physical pain.  He ached with loneliness, though, and wished she could stay by his side.

“I wish I could,” she murmured.  “But the PPDC still needs me.  I promise you… once this war is over, I will take a position here and stay with you.  That’s a promise I WILL keep.”

Another soft pulse.  He would hold her to that.  And would she please not wait so long between visits… he missed having a friendly presence, especially after a malignant brain tumor had taken Sergio from them both.  He had lost his father… he would not also lose his mother.

Caitlin raised a hand, wishing she could reach out and touch the cool metal of Brawler’s leg.  Mother… never in all her life had she imagined that her work with the PPDC would result in her being a mother.  But in drifting with Sergio, she had inadvertently created life, however unconventionally.  And ever since that first neural handshake, Brawler had regarded the two of them as mother and father… which wasn’t too farfetched, she supposed.  

She had never shared this finding with anyone else.  She and Sergio had believed it was a simple flight of fancy on their part at first.  When they realized they weren’t imagining things, and Brawler Yukon was indeed a living, sentient being, they still kept quiet, knowing that coming forward with this information could result in them being ejected from the program.  Sergio had taken the secret to his grave… but Caitlin vowed that someday the world would know the truth.

“Soon,” she murmured, lowering her hand.  “Very soon, Brawler, we will let the world know.  And you and your kind will no longer have to hide.”

***

An insistent rapping on the door jolted Newt from an uneasy sleep.  Without opening his eyes he groped for his glasses, cursing the damned Kaiju cult and their penchant for rising early the whole time.  What was it about religious fundamentalists that made them such early risers anyhow?  Why couldn’t there be a cult or sect or denomination whose deity encouraged sleeping in?

The rapping continued, and with a groan the blankets on the other bed heaved and slid aside.  Hermann pushed himself upright, blinking blearily in Newt’s direction as the biologist finally slid his glasses on.

“What time is it?”

“Too-damn-early-thirty in the morning is what,” Newt huffed, and turned to the door.  “Hey, let us sleep, why don’t you?”

“High Priestess Mikhail requests your presence in the Inner Sanctum,” came the reply.

Newt blinked.  Had it been a week already?  Was there any way he could play sick and skip this?  The last time they’d drifted with Mutavore’s brain, he swore his head was going to explode.  And he and Hermann had been plagued by nightmares ever since – images of Kaiju being stitched together from raw materials, of a huge world map formed from some kind of gelatinous material hanging over a conference table, of shark-like eyes peering out of insectoid faces as if they knew who was watching them… and were watching right back…

“Get up, Newton,” Hermann told him.  “We’re not going to get out of this.  We may as well get it over with.”

Newt’s gut churned as he forced himself out of bed and got dressed, his hands shaky.  He had a feeling they weren’t going to be able to get away with the same excuse as last time.  Mikhail was going to want actual answers… answers that could whip the cult into a frenzy.  If they knew the Precursors had a Kaiju ready to unleash on Hong Kong, who knew how they would react.  More Jaeger sabotage?  A full-out assault against the Shatterdome?  Mass suicide Heaven’s-Gate-style?  How did you predict what a bunch of lunatics were going to do anyhow?

The acolyte bowed politely when the two scientists emerged from their quarters, unperturbed by their rumpled, bleary-eyed appearances, and led them down the hall.  Newt shuffled after him, while Hermann hitched his way forward, his limp even more pronounced today.  The mathematician hadn’t shaved in three days and looked pretty scruffy, but Newt figured pointing that out would only invite sarcastic comments.  

No big audience awaited them in the Inner Sanctum today – only Mikhail, wearing her ceremonial robes and a headdress bearing bright blue tendrils like a sea anemone… or, perhaps more accurately, Leatherback’s EMP organ.  The blue glow of the organ tanks gave her skin a ghastly, cadaverous tone, and though she wore a gentle smile, her eyes glittered like those of a predator.  Behind her, Mutavore’s brain bobbed slowly up and down with the cycle of preservative fluid, and though it might have been Newt’s imagination, he could have sworn the Kaiju fragment was watching them, ready to deliver its own judgment toward those who dared disturb its final rest.

“Welcome back, Dr. Geizler, Dr. Gottlieb,” Mikhail told them, nodding.  “You look exhausted… are you feeling all right?”

“Kinda groggy,” Newt admitted.  “Haven’t been sleeping well…”

“You can spare us your false sympathies, madam,” Hermann snapped, cane clacking on the mosaic floor as he made his way toward the priestess.  “I can tell you right now that we are not engaging in another neural handshake with this… thing.”

Her expression didn’t change.  “But Dr. Gottlieb, I thought we had an arrangement.  Your safe sanctuary here in exchange for whatever information you can give us from the Deep Ones and their Messengers.  Why the change of heart?”

“If you want information so badly, you can drift with the Kaiju yourself,” Hermann retorted, ignoring the question.  “We are done.  We will not subject ourselves to this again.”

Her eyes flashed in anger, but it was there and gone so fast that Newt wondered if he’d imagined it.  “Very well… if that is how you feel about it.  You may pack your things and go.  There is a Catholic church outside the slums that will grant you sanctuary for a time until you get back on your feet.”

Newt’s brow furrowed in confusion.  “That’s it?  You’re just gonna let us go?”

“We are not your captors, Newton.  You are here as guests, and guests have a right to leave at any time.  We would greatly appreciate your help… but we want you to help us willingly.”

Relief swamped him at that.  “Phew… I guess we’ll go, then.  Can I go pick up Spike before I leave?  I know he’s sacred and all to you guys, but he’s my buddy and-”

“I don’t see why not.”  She made a shooing motion with one hand.  “Go.  And may the Deep Ones watch over you.”

He couldn’t resist giving her a respectful bow before turning to go.  Well, that had been ridiculously easy.  These cultists weren’t nearly as fanatical as Hermann and Tendo kept saying.  Maybe they were okay after all… at least these ones seemed to be, he couldn’t vouch for the ones that had tried to sabotage Mustang Omega.  Maybe Mikhail’s group were just more reasonable – after all, you didn’t judge all of a religion by the actions of the extremists, right…

He was halfway to the door before a strange gurgle made him turn around… and his heart thudded its way up his throat.  Hermann hadn’t budged, though judging by the arm wrapped around his midsection and the curved blade at his throat, Newt couldn’t blame him.

“Hey!”  He hurried forward, arms raised and ready to snatch Hermann to safety.  “What the hell, man!  Lady, I mean… what the hell?!”

“We want you to help us willingly,” Mikhail repeated, her tone as reasonable and pleasant as ever.  “And if it takes drastic measures to ensure you are willing, then so be it.”

“This is coercion!” Hermann huffed, looking more angry than frightened at being held at knifepoint.  “If you wanted us willing, you have an absolutely insane way of going about it!”

“I would hold your tongue if I were you,” she advised, and though her voice remained pleasant, the knife pressed harder against Hermann’s neck.  “Newton, it doesn’t have to be this way.  All we ask is one more drift.  Then you and your friend are perfectly free to go.”

“Lady, let him go!” Newt shrieked, his voice shooting up an octave as panic stabbed his gut.  “I’ll do the drift, just don’t freaking hurt him!”

“Newton, have you lost your bloody mind?” demanded Hermann.

“What, you wanna be stabbed?” Newt shot back.  “I’m saving your life!”

“And putting everything we worked for at risk in the process!” Hermann snapped.

Mikhail simply smiled and released Hermann, the mathematician staggering away and shaking his head.  “I knew you could be reasonable, Dr. Geizler.  We will begin momentarily.”

“Whatever, just don’t stab Hermann.”  He didn’t want to have to explain to Tendo that he’d let one of the programmers of the original Jaegers get shanked when it was in his power to stop it.  Even if it did mean another freaking drift…

“You may have gotten Newton’s cooperation, madam, but certainly not mine,” Hermann informed her, narrowing his eyes.  “You need two people for the drift, you realize.  And after THAT little stunt you just pulled, you’ve just lost one willing participant.”

Her smile didn’t fade… and Newt couldn’t help but think the coldness in that smile looked awfully Kaiju-like.  “Oh… we will have your cooperation, Dr. Gottlieb.”  The knife still glittered in her hand, and she idly toyed with the blade as she spoke.  “I am sure the Shatterdome knows by now that we have our agents among them… and despite all your best efforts, they remain firmly in place.  They’ve already moved once at our command… and they would not hesitate to strike again should we give the signal.  And at this stage, any attack against your Rangers – or your Jaegers – could prove disastrous.”

Newt’s gut clenched.  “You wouldn’t dare…”

“Would we?”  She cocked her head.  “I know you don’t want anyone harmed, Newton Geizler… be they Ranger or Jaeger.”  Her smile took on a wry tilt as Newt gaped at her.  “You think we would have agents in place for so long without knowing the truth, Dr. Geizler?  We know your precious Jaegers are alive… and it would be a shame if something were to happen to them, wouldn’t it?”

Newt felt any last bit of fondness for Mikhail drain out of him at that moment.  This chick was cold.  And worse, she had hit him right in the weak spot – he couldn’t stand the thought of someone hurting Cherno or Crimson.  Thousands of tons of metal they might be, but they were still just giant kids in his mind.  And the thought of them coming to harm somehow was something he didn’t even want to consider.

“Words cannot express how much I loathe you at this moment, madam,” Hermann snarled.

Mikhail only smiled.  “Is that a yes or a no, Dr. Gottlieb?”

“It is a yes under greatest duress,” he snapped.  “Come, Newton… let’s get this over with.”

This time there was no ceremony as they donned the Pons headsets.  Mikhail waited only long enough to ensure the caps were in place before hitting the switch.  It might have been Newt’s imagination, but he almost imagined that Mutavore’s brain twitched just as the neural handshake was initiated – as if it sensed what was coming and flinching at the very thought of it.

Rush of memory… voices, images, feelings… a blast of discordant music from a beat-up amplifier… pain radiating across his face from a black eye… gut-twisting nausea from a childhood illness… flashes of glowing blue as Otachi’s tongue reached for him like an alien hand…

A burst of triumph, almost joy, as a hulking, muscular form was released from its sinewy bonds… the unleashed Kaiju thundering across the ocean floor, delivering a bellow that shook the water for miles around… chittering, squealing cheers from the workers and designers as they watched their handiwork gallop toward the shores of the human city... the sight of other Kaiju restrained not far behind, in various stages of construction, some almost complete and others little more than literally-skeletal frameworks…

And looming just behind the Kaiju, a towering coral-like framework that supported a construction of shell and cartilage, a crude mimicry of an all-too-familiar form…

GET OUT

Splitting pain through both their skulls, threatening to rip them apart… black eyes staring at them with contempt and disgust, outraged that such pale, soft-skinned slugs were intruding on their operation…

GET OUT.  STAY OUT.  DRIFT AGAIN AND WE WILL KILL YOU.  THAT IS A PROMISE.

High-pitched screaming filled the room as the neural handshake fizzled apart, and it took Newt a moment to realize it was coming from him.  The Pons headset hung from his fingers, and he realized he had ripped it off in his panic to escape the Precursor’s threat.  Beside him Hermann wobbled unsteadily on his feet, one hand clamping his bleeding nose shut and the other clutching his own headset in a death grip.  Mikhail’s hands grasped the mathematician’s shoulders, steadying him, and he wrenched free with a hissed oath.

“What is it?” she demanded.  “You saw something of import…”

“Leatherback 2.0 is coming!” Newt screeched, hurling the headset back onto the table.  “They just let it loose, and it’s on its way to Hong Kong!”

“For the love of God, don’t just blurt it out like that!” Hermann snapped.

“Well, someone’s gotta know!” Newt shrieked back.  “We gotta call the Shatterdome!”

“You will do no such thing,” Mikhail replied calmly.  “So the Deep Ones are sending more Messengers… perhaps these ones will be more successful in their endeavors.”

“I hardly think so,” Hermann replied, and a smug note crept into his voice.  “The Shatterdome has already been alerted to the existence of a second Leatherback, and I am sure they’ve made the necessary preperations.  They will have ample warning… and three Jaegers ready to face the monster down.”

“Three Jaegers?” Mikhail repeated, head cocking to one side.  “Perhaps… but two of those Jaegers are now sentient, and doubtless harbor terrible memories of being crippled and nearly destroyed by the Messenger you call Leatherback.  Will they really be so eager to fight the one who traumatized them so?  And perhaps your precious Mustang Omega fought off Otachi at one point… but can it do so again, or was it just lucky?”  She shrugged and motioned to the acolyte lurking in a corner.  “Fetch our strongest brethren and have them escort our guests back to their room.  And lock the door.  There is much more we must learn from the Deep Ones before they will be permitted to leave.”

***

Gipsy clung to Cherno as she ventured across the floor of the Jaeger bay, one hesitant step at a time.  The Mark I let her lean on him as she walked, crooning encouragement the entire time.  She wobbled like a newborn foal on her new legs, but she clung gamely to him and kept walking, determined to get used to her new limbs.  Close by, Crimson and Coyote watched the two, both ready to leap to their feet and help should Gipsy lose her balance.

Sasha couldn’t help a smile as she watched the two Jaegers make their way across the bay.  It was comforting to know that, as brutal and powerful a fighter as Cherno could be, he still had a kind heart beneath the titanium chassis.  

Her attention turned to the slim blonde woman who stood at the head of the group of Rangers watching the two Jaegers.  Funny… she had always imagined Caitlin Lightcap as a rugged, scarred tomboy of a woman, a warrior inside and out.  But despite the lines on her face and the slight silvering of her hair, she was still very attractive and carried herself with an easy grace.  Her blue eyes shone with avid curiosity, and an easy smile graced her features.  She looked more like a retired actress than a former Ranger.

And yet… there was still a hint of the warrior she had been in her walk and her stance, in the tension in her shoulders as if they still carried the weight of her drivesuit, and in the barest hint of a scar that stood out on her collarbone.  All small hints, but still evidence that one of the first Rangers stood in their midst.

“I knew this day would come,” Caitlin murmured softly.  “I just never thought I’d be alive to see it.”

Tendo smirked.  “You know, it might have helped the PPDC if the Rangers had just come out and told us that they knew the Jaegers were sentient from the get-go.  It could have changed the course of the war… and saved us a lot of destruction and pain.”

“Who would have believed us?” asked Caitlin.  “Everyone involved believed the Jaegers were nothing more than humanoid tanks, pure killing machines meant to be driven around and then finally discarded when they fell apart or were destroyed in a fight.  And we as humans don’t take too kindly to anything that challenges our beliefs.”

Sasha supposed that was true.  “Did you know this would happen when you built Brawler Yukon?”

She shook her head.  “No… we simply assumed we were building a machine that would have saved the world.  And when I drifted with Sergio, it was simply to save his life and keep the program from failing entirely before it could even get started.  I certainly didn’t intend to create life.”

“So Brawler Yukon was alive?” Hu demanded, wheeling forward to park his wheelchair on her other side.  “Every Jaeger was alive, then?  Is that what you’re telling us?”

“I cannot speak for every Jaeger,” Caitlin replied.  “If they weren’t, they certainly had the potential to be.  As for Brawler… he is alive.  He never faded out, but lives on today.”

Sasha sucked in her breath.  One of the oldest Jaegers in the program was sentient as well… what she wouldn’t give to meet him.  Or her, as the case might be…

“Brawler’s in a museum somewhere, isn’t he?” Raleigh asked excitedly.  “Think there’s any way we could bring him here?  See if we can’t bring him to full mobility like the others?”

“Good luck getting’ the museum to part with ‘im,” Herc muttered.  “When a museum gets a Jaeger for display, they don’t part with it easy.  Hell, we’re still tryin’ to get the Sydney museum off our backs ‘bout Cherno!”

“We have done our best to study the Jaegers,” said Mako.  “But there is still so much we do not know.”

Caitlin smiled slightly.  “I’ve done my own study and theorizing on the Jaegers… and while much of what I have is just educated guesswork, perhaps I can help you fill in some of the gaps.”

Aleksis took Sasha’s hand and squeezed it tightly.  She squeezed back, letting that convey her excitement for her.  Anything they could possibly learn about the Jaegers – and about Cherno – was vital, and they craved every scrap of information Dr. Lightcap could offer.  If what she had to say could answer their questions and enable them to help Cherno…

“For starters, just how does this happen?” asked Tendo.  “How does a machine just suddenly spring to life like this?  It’s never happened before.”

“We’ve never built machines with such an intimate connection to a human before,” Caitlin replied.  “With other machines – cars, computers, photocopiers, vacuum cleaners – it’s just a matter of pushing buttons or pulling levers.  A Jaeger operates by a direct connection with a human mind… and that leaves lasting effects on both the human and the machine.  With the Ranger, it forms a bond… and with the Jaeger, it leaves a remnant of soul and sentience, one that grows stronger with time.”

Words from what seemed a lifetime ago returned to Sasha – when we drift with them, we leave an impression of our soul behind.  And the Jaegers are responding to that.

“Why are they only moving and communicating now?” asked Herc.  “An’ at different levels that make no sense?  Cherno’s th’ oldest an’ was first active besides Coyote, but thinks like a kid.  Crimson’s practically a newbuilt but acts like an adult.  Coyote’s the only one of the four who can talk to someone besides one of her Rangers.  What’s the deal there?”

“That last one is the easiest to explain,” Caitlin admitted.  “From what I understand talking to other Rangers – the few willing to talk about their experiences – Jaegers simply find it easier to talk to their Rangers than anyone else.  They can learn to reach out to other Rangers, but it’s a skill that takes time to learn… and evidently Coyote has discovered it.  With any luck, she can pass that on to the other Jaegers.”  She chewed her lip thoughtfully.  “As for the other questions… that’s harder.  But I do think much of that depends on the Rangers themselves.”

“What do you mean?” asked Tendo.

“When Brawler was… new, just a vague feeling of sentience, Sergio and I thought of him as a child.  An infant, as it were, which isn’t too far off the mark.  And since we created him together, however accidentally, we began to think of him as our child.  I believe he picked up on that, and so saw himself as our son.”

“So it’s all in our heads?” asked Raleigh.  “Literally?”

“In a way,” said Caitlin.  “I think a great deal of how their personalities and mental ages are shaped comes from how their Rangers see them.  We as humans tend to anthropomorphize anything we work regularly with, from our cars to our pets, and give them names, personalities, and even genders in our minds.  In the case of our Jaegers, that tendency had actual consequences, and shaped them into what we believed them to be.  The Kaidonovskies saw Cherno Alpha as their son, a strong but kind-hearted child, and that shaped Cherno into what he is today.  Likewise, the Weis saw Crimson Typhoon as their brother and as a warrior-scholar, while the Becketts saw Gipsy Danger as a sister and a brave fighter with an adorable streak, and they evolved accordingly.”

Sasha watched as Cherno helped Gipsy sit back down in front of the projector screen.  “What of the other Jaegers?  Do you think there are others that may still be alive?”

Caitlin’s eyes clouded over.  “I desperately hope so.  But Jaegers, like Rangers, can still die if they suffer catastrophic injury.  They can take a great amount of damage and still cling to life, but if their computer core is destroyed…”  She shook her head.  “I’ve never seen a Jaeger come back from that.”

“So there’s no saving the ones in Oblivion Bay?” asked Sasha softly.

“It’s hard to say,” Caitlin replied.  “One would have to check their individual cores to be sure.  From what I have seen, a Jaeger without a power source will go into a sort of hibernation, lying dormant until they’re repowered.  It’s possible that some of the ones in Oblivion are in that dormant state… but if their Rangers are dead, it could still be too late for them.”

“You mean if their Rangers die, they die?” asked Mako, horror suffusing her features.  “Then… then Coyote is…”

“Not necessarily,” Caitlin assured her.  “But it takes repeated neural handshakes with a Ranger for a Jaeger to gain full sentience.  Only now, almost twenty years after the first Jaegers were built, are we seeing them finally become aware enough to move on their own.  For those in the graveyard who haven’t gone that far… if they had any hope of coming as far as these four, we would have to find their Rangers again, or new Rangers that they would accept as replacements.  Coyote became self-mobile before losing both her Rangers, but as for the others… we can only hope.”

Despite Caitlin’s warnings, Sasha couldn’t suppress the burst of hope in her gut.  Any chance of saving Cherno’s brethren, no matter how small, had to be pursued.  The Jaegers had done so much for the benefit of mankind.  It was time they gave back to them.

“Any sort of Jaeger rescue operation will have to wait,” Tendo said.  “We need to focus on the four – five – we have before we mount a full-scale recovery operation.  We just don’t have the resources… and we still have a Kaiju War on our hands.  Dr. Geizler warned us that an attack could be coming any day now.”

Caitlin nodded.  “I’m here to offer whatever help I can.  All I ask is that, once financial matters improve, you help me bring Brawler Yukon here.  He’s been retired for far too long.”

Tendo frowned, but nodded.  “I have absolutely no idea when – or if – finances will ever improve enough to ensure that.  But if it happens, Brawler will be the first Jaeger we bring here and restore.”

“That’s all I ask,” Caitlin replied with a smile.  “But Tendo… you said five.  I thought Striker Eureka was destroyed.”

“He’s talking about the Mark VI,” Raleigh replied, looking pained that he even had to mention the new Jaeger.  “Mustang Omega.”

“Oh?”  Caitlin’s eyes shone with curiosity.  “I’d heard the news stories about him.  How’s he coming along?  Showing any signs?”  She glanced about the bay.  “Come to think of it, where are his Rangers?  I thought they would be here with their Jaeger.”

Herc rolled his eyes.  “Probably off in their quarters playin’ video games or somethin’.  Mustang ain’t shown signs of sentience.  An’ those two wouldn’t care if he did.  To them he’s just a big fancy toy.”

“I still think it’s from the R/C Conn Pod,” Jin muttered.  “It’s just not right!  A Ranger’s gotta be fighting out there with his Jaeger!”

Caitlin shook her head.  “I don’t think that’s the issue… though I do admit, having a remote control Conn Pod does seem like it’s cheating.”

“Then what do you think is the issue?” asked Tendo.

“The Rangers themselves,” she replied.  “Just as Cherno, Crimson, Gipsy, and Coyote have been shaped by their Rangers’ expectations of them, so Mustang’s been shaped by his own Rangers’ expectations… or in this case, the lack thereof.  If they see him as just another weapon – or as Marshal Hansen put it, a ‘big fancy toy’ – then it stands to reason that he would be nothing else for them.  He would take orders, but have no personality, will, or sentience to speak of.”

“So he’s a zombie?” asked Hu.

“I wouldn’t put it that way,” Caitlin replied.  “More like perpetually trapped in the infant stage.  The potential to develop further is there, but unless his Rangers change their perception of him, he will never be anything more.”

That made sense… and for the first time, Sasha found her heart aching for Mustang Omega.  She had resented the Mark VI at first, and even despised him for his lack of sentience, but now that they knew it was through no fault of his own, she regretted dismissing him so out of hand.  If only they could change the Rossis’ mind regarding him…

Claxon alarms sounded before she could continue that line of thought.  Every Jaeger and Ranger tensed at the sound, knowing full well what was coming next.

“Bailey!” Tendo shouted into his comm unit.

“Kaiju approaching Hong Kong!” she replied via the LOCCENT loudspeaker.  “Category IV, not as fast as Otachi… I’m going to guess this is the Leatherback clone Dr. Geizler and Dr. Gottlieb warned us about!”

Herc nodded sharply.  “Get the Rossis to Mustang Omega’s Conn Pod!  Tell ‘em to be ready to switch over to analog at a moment’s notice!”  He turned to the Wei triplets.  “Crimson nearly got killed by Leatherback… think he’ll be able to take ‘im on again?”

Cheung’s eyes went out of focus briefly as he communicated with the Mark IV.  From across the bay, Crimson gave a solemn nod of his head, and Cheung nodded back before speaking again.

“He’ll go out and fight, sir,” he replied.

“Good.  I want ‘im providing backup for Mustang.  An’ for God’s sake, if Leatherback looks to be using its EMP attack again, tell ‘im to run like hell!  We’re not losin’ ‘im again!”

“He says he’ll aim for the EMP organ first thing,” Hu piped up.  “Take it out before it becomes a problem.”

“Smart thinkin’.”  Herc nodded again.  “’Bout time we had a fighter usin’ their brains out there, even if it’s the Jaeger doin’ it…”

Cherno’s presence nudged at Sasha’s mind, and she turned to find him looking at her expectantly.

Mama… I want to go out and fight.  

Cherno… are you sure?  Remember the last time, with the second Otachi…

I know.  But… but I think I can do better this time.  And if Crimson can fight despite being afraid – even if he won’t admit it – I can too.  I won’t let you down again… I promise.

Just be careful.  We don’t want to lose you.

You won’t.  I’m very hard to lose.

She had to smile at that.  “Marshal, Cherno wishes to fight as well.”

“He’s stayin’ behind,” Herc replied flatly.  “After his last encounter went bust-“

“He promises it won’t happen again.  And he is analog – should something happen to Crimson, he would still be able to help Mustang.”

Herc scowled.  “I don’t like it.  Last time we got lucky, but if his nerve fails ‘im this time-“

“Hercules, give him a chance,” Caitlin advised.  “He deserves a second chance.”

“And like it or not, Sasha has a point,” Tendo added.  “We can’t take any chances, and if Crimson fails somehow, Cherno’s our best backup.”  He nodded.  “Cherno, get ready to go out.  Gipsy, Coyote, you’re staying behind.  Neither of you are in any shape to fight yet.”

Gipsy gave a coo of relief, while Coyote grumbled unhappily and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Crimson, Cherno, move out!” Tendo shouted.  “Rossis, get suited up and to the Conn Pod!  Leatherback II is set to make landfall – let’s stop him in his tracks!”