They got a short introduction to the Drift cradle and then the simulation kicked in. Titan Redeemer was dropped from virtual Jumphawks into the middle of the Tokyo megacity sprawl, as the Category II Kaiju Onibaba raged through the city. Jake remembered the story of Onibaba from when he was a kid. The monster had surged ashore from the Sea of Japan in 2016, laying waste to huge sections of Tokyo before the Jaeger Coyote Tango arrived to defend the city. In the battle, more of the city was destroyed, but Coyote Tango ultimately emerged triumphant, making heroes out of its Ranger pilots, Stacker Pentecost and Tamsin Sevier.
During the battle, Sevier had suffered a seizure, and Pentecost had had to pilot the Jaeger alone for the rest of the fight. The neurophysiological stress of that, together with exposure to Coyote Tango’s poorly shielded reactor, left Jake’s father with deteriorating health and forced him to retire from active service.
And that wasn’t the only personal angle to the Onibaba story from Jake’s point of view. One of the civilians who had witnessed the carnage—and barely escaped with her life—was a very young Mako Mori. After the battle, Stacker adopted her.
Watching the simulation begin, Jake wondered if Lambert had chosen Onibaba on purpose, to force Jake to confront his past. It would be a typical kind of psy-ops maneuver for Ranger training. See how tough the cadets are, see what the returning prodigal Ranger can handle.
Jake put it out of his mind. If it came up, he’d sort things out with Lambert. There was plenty they had to get straight if they were going to work together.
Titan Redeemer rushed to meet Onibaba, deploying her Morning Star Hand. The cadets, still new to Drift simulations, were going with the straightforward approach. The Morning Star smashed against Onibaba’s carapace, but didn’t do much damage. The Kaiju batted the Morning Star aside with its pincers and then seized the Jaeger, tearing away pieces of its armor.
A video feed from inside the Conn-Pod showed Amara and Suresh being flung around in their Drift cradle. Sparks flew: part of the simulation. “Warning,” a computer voice intoned. “Hemispheres out of alignment. Warning…”
“We need to reconnect!” Suresh shouted.
Amara struggled to keep Titan Redeemer on her feet. “I’m trying!”
In the simulation feed, Onibaba raised one of its claws and drove it into Titan Redeemer’s head. The Conn-Pod shuddered and the interior lights went out. The simulation ended and for a moment all was silent. In the real world, both cadets would be dead.
The hatch on the front of the Conn-Pod opened with a grinding noise, and the lights came back on. Inside, Suresh looked furious, and Amara embarrassed. The maglev system holding them in place disengaged automatically as the Conn-Pod’s floor rose to meet them. Behind him, Jake could hear the other cadets muttering to each other.
Lambert stood at the bank of terminals facing the Conn-Pod, frowning down at Amara. “When I heard you gave November Ajax a run for its money, I thought we might have something here,” he said. “Now, not so much.”
One of the cadets stifled a snicker. Amara tore her helmet off. “How am I supposed to Drift in this thing?” she said, clearly trying to cover her humiliation. “It smells like feet.”
Lambert wasn’t having the backtalk. “I ask you to open your mouth, Cadet?”
Jake stepped up into Lambert’s field of vision. He wasn’t too concerned about protecting Amara’s feelings—if she was going to be a Ranger, she would have to develop a thick skin—but he didn’t like the way Lambert was handling the situation. A big part of Drifting success was about confidence. You had to make cadets believe in themselves while you were pointing out their mistakes. Lambert was only doing one of those things, and he was also deliberately picking on the cadet who had come in with Jake, which made Jake think Lambert’s real problem wasn’t with Amara at all. “You’re putting her up against a Kaiju that almost killed veteran pilots,” Jake said. He didn’t have to add that one of those veteran pilots was his father. “She’s not ready for that.”
Lambert turned to face him. “Maybe she’s not the only one who doesn’t belong here.”
Ah, Jake thought. Just as he’d suspected. “You got a problem with me, I’m right here. She’s just a kid.”
“So were we,” Lambert said. That knocked Jake back a little. He realized maybe he was making things personal too, just as much as Nate was. “That’s the point,” Lambert went on. “You make stronger connections when you’re young. That kind of bond makes better pilots that can Drift with anyone in their squad—”
“Yeah,” Jake said. “I remember the pitch, thanks.”
He wasn’t going to get anywhere now. But he’d gotten Lambert off Amara’s back, and that was enough for the moment. He went back to his station, where the simulation computers were analyzing the strength of the Drift connection between Suresh and Amara. It could have been better, but it also showed signs of potential.
Lambert glared after him, then got back to the situation at hand. “Ryoichi, Renata, you’re up. Show our new recruit how it’s done.”
Asshole, Jake thought. That was a cheap shot at a kid who was squatting in a warehouse thirty-six hours ago. He looked down at Amara, who was unhooking from the Drift cradle, not meeting anyone else’s eyes. If Lambert wasn’t careful, he was going to drive her out of the program before they ever found out what her real potential might be.
* * *
The rest of the day passed in a series of
