by Alex Irvine
This threw Newt off balance, but only for a moment. He hadn’t thought of himself as empowered to make deals on Pentecost’s behalf, but what the hell. Pentecost could complain later; he was the one who had sent Newt here. Also, considering that Newt had no power to enter into arrangements with Chau, he could say whatever he wanted and Chau would still have to get it through Pentecost later.
“Considering the world is about to end, I’d say we have a deal,” Newt said. Then his inner kaiju-nerd self got the better of him and he added, “But can I at least keep a tooth?”
Hannibal Chau shook his head. “Nope.”
“What about a gland? A tiny gland?”
“Not a one,” Chau said.
Newt sighed. Hard bargain. But the primary objective, which was to get a kaiju brain, was met. The rest of it would have been gravy.
“Fine,” he said. “You got it.”
They shook hands, but in the middle of the grip Hannibal said, “Not so fast. What the hell do you want the lower brain for anyway? Every part of the kaiju sells. Cartilage, liver, spleen—even the crap. A cubic meter of kaiju poo has enough phosphorous to fertilize acres of field. But the brain—too much ammonia. Can’t consume it, can’t even process it into anything useful. It decays so fast that by the time I can figure out what I might use it for, it’s rotten mush.”
Chau loomed over Newt, the fires from the streets of Kowloon reflected in the lenses of his goggles, and even on the metalwork in his teeth.
“What do you think you know that I haven’t figured out yet?”
“Well, that’s classified,” Newt said. “But it’s pretty cool.”
Hannibal held onto his hand. It was part intimidation, part encouragement, and all calibrated to set Newt’s boastful-nerd side against his Kaiju Science responsibilities. This was a deadly combination.
Newt wrestled with himself and lost.
“Okay, okay. Here. I’ve worked out the parameters to Drift with a kaiju,” he said conspiratorially. “Only for a few minutes so far, and the handshake wasn’t perfect, but it was enough to figure a couple of things out. Only problem is, I was using an old bit of brain, just barely alive. Now I’m fresh out of brain tissue. That’s where you come in. Theoretically, if I can go in deeper, I might be able to understand the inner Breach... and end the war.”
Hannibal’s face was slack and incredulous. His scar pulsed redder than the surrounding skin.
“I know, I know,” Newt said. “Full neural handshake with a kaiju.” He was pretty amazed by it himself. No wonder a non-scientist type like Chau couldn’t believe it.
“You did this?” Hannibal said.
“Yeah,” Newt said with a big grin. “Awesome, right? Their brains, they’re all linked. Like a common core, a hive brain...”
Chau exploded.
“You goddamn moron!”
And all over Hong Kong, alarms started to blare.
PAN-PACIFIC DEFENSE CORPS
COMBAT ASSET DOSSIER—JAEGER
NAME
CRIMSON TYPHOON
GENERATION
MARK IV
DATE OF SERVICE
AUGUST 22, 2018
DATE OF TERMINATION
N/A
RANGER TEAM ASSIGNED
CHEUNG WEI, JIN WEI, HU WEI;
BASED HONG KONG SHATTERDOME
MISSION HISTORY
Crimson Typhoon is credited with eight kaiju kills: OS-19, Osaka, April 12, 2019; HC-20, Ho Chi Minh City, May 25, 2020; Hidoi, Bangkok, January 20, 2021; Tentalus, China Sea, September 7, 2022; SH-24, Shanghai, January 2, 2024; Biantal, Taipei, August 13, 2024; Tailspitter, Sapporo, November 19, 2024; Kojiyama, Bohai Sea, November 30, 2024.
OPERATING SYSTEM
Tri-Sun Horizon Gate
POWER SYSTEM
Midnight Orb 9 digital plasma field
ARMAMENTS
I-22 Plasmacaster
Twin Fist gripping claws, left arm only
Enhanced balance systems and leg-integral Thrust Kickers
Enhanced combat-strike armature on all limbs
NOTES
Crimson Typhoon was designed specifically for the Wei triplets in mind, once Dr. Lightcap had worked out the specifications for a triple neural-handshake and a three-layered Pons interface structure. The Weis and Crimson Typhoon are so closely identified with each other that it is doubtful any three other Rangers would be able to control Crimson Typhoon.
PAN-PACIFIC DEFENSE CORPS
COMBAT ASSET DOSSIER—JAEGER
NAME
Cherno Alpha
GENERATION
Mark IV
DATE OF SERVICE
July 4, 2018
DATE OF TERMINATION
n/a
RANGER TEAM ASSIGNED
Aleksis Kaidanovsky, Sasha Kaidanovsky
MISSION HISTORY
Cherno Alpha is credited with six kaiju kills: Raythe, Okhotsk Sea, November 6, 2018; OS-19, Osaka, April 12, 2019; Atticon, Seoul, November 10, 2020; HC-20, Ho Chi Minh City, May 25, 2020; KM-24, Kamchatka, April 7, 2024; Taranais, Queen Charlotte Sound, September 14, 2024. Detailed to Hong Kong Shatterdome following decommissioning of Vladivostok Shatterdome in 2024.
OPERATING SYSTEM
Pozhar Protyev 6.4
POWER SYSTEM
StunCore 88 digital plasma reactor
ARMAMENTS
Incinerator Turbines, shoulder-mounted
SparkFists, generating short-distance arcs of lightning-strength electricity between gauntlets; most effective when combined with two-handed physical strike
Foot Spikes
NOTES
Cherno Alpha's Conn-Pod is torso-mounted to accommodate cranial expansion for incendiary fuel supply and energy storage. Designed for long-range patrols in the hostile environments of Russia's Bering and Arctic coastlines. Suggest Cherno Alpha be designated mission alternate to carry nuclear payload in Operation Pitfall, as its physical durability at abyssal depths will exceed other available Jaegers.
21
THE LOCCENT WAS BARELY CONTROLLED CHAOS, with the command systems still not fully checked out from the morning and now a brand new escalation of the kaiju threat. Screens on the walls over the main command center platform displayed a map of the Pacific Rim, with the Breach glowing near the center and two dots moving toward Hong Kong—and moving fast.
Tendo Choi had been doing everything he could to get the systems back online, and when Pentecost entered, with Gottlieb and the two Hansens in tow, Tendo called to him. Mako and Raleigh stood a little apart from everyone else like it was a high-school formal and they were waiting for someone to ask them to dance.
“Marshal,” Tendo said. “Breach was exposed at twenty-three hundred. We have two signatures.” This was all rote, the protocol of the LOCCENT. Pentecost already knew what Tendo was telling him, but he wanted things done a certain way, and Tendo was not going to break any rules at that moment.
“I love being right,” Gottlieb said.
Tendo wanted to smack him.
Sensing this, Pentecost shot him a warning look.
“What size are they?” he asked.
“Both Category IVs,” Tendo said. He brought up visual approximations of the two kaiju based on their signatures from the deep ocean. One appeared blocky and round in profile, with a surface density reading suggesting a heavy carapace. The other was all jagged angles and claws, with a long spiked tail. “Codenames: Otachi and Leatherback. They’ll reach Hong Kong within the hour.”
“Evacuate the city. Clear the cargo docks, close the bridges,” Pentecost said. “I want every citizen in a refuge, right now. Ships in the harbor?”
“Coast Guard’s evacuating all crews,” Tendo said. Pentecost, despite his lack of UN authority as of a week ago, still had a pretty good working relationship with the local authorities, who had seen the kaiju up close, rather than only through
the numbers in the cells of a spreadsheet. Pentecost paused, weighing his options.
All of the Jaeger crews were crowded into the LOCCENT, and the Weis were the first to speak up.
“We are going out there,” one of them said. Tendo thought it was Hu, but they were the most identical siblings he’d ever seen. Hu was usually the one to speak first. “No matter what.”
“So are we,” said Sasha Kaidanovsky. She pointed at Raleigh. “But not with them.”
“Well said, Red sister,” Chuck said with a smirk.
Pentecost cut them all off with a flattening motion of one hand.
“Sir,” Gottlieb said, stepping into the pause. “You have to hold off. My parabola was right. We may lose a city, but we must preserve the Jaegers for the mission. We need to hold ground.”
That was the problem, wasn’t it? They were going to need all the Jaegers they had for Operation Pitfall. The kaiju kept getting stronger and recent engagements were costing more and more Jaegers. They’d lost eight in 2024, and only taken out fourteen kaiju. The trend was not good.
On the other hand, could Pentecost stand by and watch kaiju destroy Hong Kong while they finished their preparations for the operation? Tendo was glad it wasn’t his decision to make.
“Hey,” Herc said. “It’s a city of ten million people against numbers on your chalkboard.”
“My numbers are correct,” Gottlieb said stiffly. “A city of ten million or the world? We cannot save everyone. If we do not have the Jaegers to deliver the bomb, protecting one city will not matter.”
There was a pause. Tendo saw Raleigh looking at Pentecost, who was refusing to look back at him. But Tendo remembered another version of this conversation, albeit on a smaller scale, five years ago off the coast of Alaska, and he could tell both Raleigh and Pentecost remembered it, too. What was the name of that boat?
“You can’t save everyone,” Raleigh said. “Right?”
Pentecost said nothing. Tendo saw the weariness in him, and wondered again just how ill he really was.
“Sir,” he prompted. They needed to decide. “Do you want to deploy?”
Another long moment went by. Then Pentecost turned to the seven pilots who weren’t Raleigh and Mako.
“Crimson Typhoon, Cherno Alpha,” he said. “Frontline the harbor. Stay on the Miracle Mile.”
To Herc and Chuck he added, “Striker Eureka, stay in the back and guard the coastline. We cannot lose you, so only engage as a final option.”
This made Tendo nervous. Well, even more nervous than he usually was before a kaiju battle. He’d seen four-dozen kaiju go down, just about, and he still got the jitters before every fight... Because he’d also seen seventeen Jaegers go down. Pentecost was right—they couldn’t lose Striker Eureka. She was faster, more agile, and tougher than any of the other remaining Jaegers, which made her by far the best bet to execute Operation Pitfall, even though Cherno Alpha’s armor plating was rated slightly higher. Tendo could see why Pentecost wanted Striker in the field, but he didn’t like it.
“Right, sir,” Herc said.
Pentecost then turned to Raleigh and Mako, studying them for long enough that Tendo wondered if he was relenting. Unlike the other three teams, they hadn’t been ordered to suit up, but it wouldn’t take long if Pentecost gave them the word.
But all he said was, “You two stay put.”
The Russians and the Chinese had already left to do pre-deployment linkage checks in their respective Conn-Pods, but Chuck and Herc were there to hear Pentecost’s words. Chuck had a gloating grin on his face as he and his father headed out the door. Tendo watched Raleigh and Mako for a moment, wondering if there was anything he could say.
But there wasn’t, not really. And he had three Jaegers to get out the door so they could save Hong Kong. He put Gipsy Danger out of his mind and turned to his task.
***
Raleigh burned with humiliation, and he could feel Mako’s emotions radiating from her, too. Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha were on the deploy pad at the end of Scramble Alley, each hanging from a pair of Jumphawk helicopters. Striker Eureka was right behind them, after riding the conveyor belt from her repair bay under the watchful and nervous eyes of everyone in the LOCCENT.
“Neural handshake confirmed,” Tendo said to each team in turn. “Setting comms link for both teams. Open channel.”
Conn-Pod views of both deployed Jaegers appeared in the LOCCENT. The Wei triplets moved like they were one person. All Ranger pairs moved in unison while they were Drifting, but the quality of the Weis’ handshake was different. Raleigh wondered what it was like. He’d had plenty of Drifts with his brother, but he and Yancy weren’t identical. Seemed to Raleigh that the Weis must lose track of who was who... but maybe that was just because he didn’t know what their Drift was like.
The Russians, by contrast, moved together, but they were all power and no grace. Everything they did looked violent. Their hard-house soundtrack thumped over the feed from Cherno Alpha. Music like that would have driven Raleigh nuts. Even Mako’s Shibuya tunes would have been a distraction for him. He didn’t know how Sasha and Aleksis did it.
A third screen spawned, revealing the interior of Striker Eureka. Herc and Chuck had just dropped. They moved purposefully, like athletes with a taste for bar fights. Raleigh could admire their skill even though he still had a date in the future marked out for a return engagement with Chuck... one that wouldn’t involve Chuck’s daddy coming in to save his ass.
“LOCCENT, near positions and awaiting orders,” Herc said.
“Hold tight, Striker Eureka,” Pentecost said. “Cherno and Typhoon are en route.” He paused, and then said to no one in particular. “Let’s get this done. We’ve got a bomb to drop.”
PAN-PACIFIC DEFENSE CORPS
RESEARCH REPORT—KAIJU SCIENCE
Prepared by
Dr. Newton Geiszler
Dr. Hermann Gottlieb
SUBJECT
Drift achieved with kaiju specimen
Kaiju Science co-director Dr. Newton Geiszler announces that he has successfully conducted a Drift with a portion of a kaiju brain. The event, conducted using a Pons of Dr. Geiszler's own creation, lasted nearly twenty minutes. During this period Dr. Geiszler observed a number of things about the origin of the kaiju. These findings are detailed elsewhere.
Most important from an operational standpoint are Dr. Geiszler's observations that the kaiju appear to be evolving along directed patterns. In other words, they are created organisms, designed for combat. They are organic fighting machines.
Dr. Gottlieb believes that if this is true, the kaiju will be demonstrating new innovations in armaments and tactics. In other words if they are a weapon, the creators of that weapon will be seeking to improve it.
The kaiju have thus far showed control over poison, acid, and a variety of unarmed combat situations. None of these routinely used combat abilities are unusual in predatory organisms. Observations in retrospect suggest that certain kaiju are experiments in new ways of fighting. The repeated iterations on quicker hand-to-hand combat and control of acidic discharge suggest that the kaijus’ creators see these avenues as the most promising against their Jaeger opponents. Any other combat tactic that has seen success against Jaegers will in all probability be repeated because the kaijus’ DNA encodes the entire memory of the species, up to and including the last moment in the most recent kaiju's life.
For this reason, we expect to see more innovations in kaiju combat capability and tactics in the near future. After the hiatus of 2023 and the acceleration of 2024, this may be the year known for the kaiju reaching a threshold in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the Jaegers deployed against them.
Dr. Geiszler's Drift with a kaiju brain was a landmark moment in the laboratory study of kaiju. It is also a significant advance in the area of neural overlay matrix technology, since all previous Pons structures had been designed with two humans in mind. What possibilities lie ahead for a Pons that can ada
pt its connection procedures to variations in brain structure on each side of the neural handshake?
22
HANNIBAL CHAU TOOK OFF THROUGH THE MAZE of stairways and rooms that led from the balcony back down to street level. Newt followed, barely keeping up. A kaiju attack on Hong Kong, he thought. It would be all right. All of the Jaegers were deployment-ready, except for Gipsy Danger. The other three would be more than enough to handle one kaiju.
When they got to the ground floor, one of Chau’s goons looked up. Seeing his boss, he said, “There are two goddamn kaiju heading for Hong Kong city!”
Two?
Newt had simultaneous reactions. One was simple: Oh shit. The other was a little more complicated, being composed partly of curiosity about what kind of kaiju they were—what category, how they would fit into the partial taxonomy he’d been painstakingly constructing— and partly of irritation. Because two kaiju meant that Hermann had been right about something, and if there was one thing that irritated Newt to the core of his being, it was having to admit that Hermann was right.
“This is totally against the pattern,” he said. “There’s never been two kaiju.”
Chau shocked him by grabbing Newt’s nose and hauling him close.
“Maybe that’s because nobody’s ever Drifted with them before, genius! When Jaeger pilots Drift, it’s a two-way street. A bridge, right? Sets up a connection both ways. A hive mentality... the kaiju are coming to find you!”