Jake could feel Nate’s anger in the Drift, and behind it Nate’s hurt feelings he tried to hide. There weren’t any secrets in the Drift, though. Part of the reason Nate gave Jake such a hard time was that he knew what lay behind Jake’s actions—which meant he knew that Jake knew he’d let himself down, let all of them down, let his father down…
Both of them refocused their attention when a signal pinged on Gipsy Avenger’s HUD. An incoming helicopter. The HUD readout identified it as belonging to the PPDC and displayed the name of the single passenger: MAKO MORI, SECRETARY GENERAL, PPDC SECURITY COUNCIL.
* * *
Inside the helicopter, Mako looked up from the Kaiju sketch on her data pad. She had Kaiju on her mind, for reasons she hadn’t been able to share with Jake, but when she looked up to see Gipsy Avenger towering over the gathered crowds, she smiled. It was good to know Jake was there. After his wandering years, he was back where he belonged—in the Conn-Pod of a Jaeger. She was also glad because the Jaeger program faced a threat that few in the organization knew about, and with Jake around, Mako knew she had an ally in what might be a dangerous time.
* * *
At the grand front entrance of the Council Building, PPDC security held back the crowd to permit the approach of a limousine. It rolled to a stop and Shao Liwen climbed out, followed by Chief Kang and the rest of her security detail. The crowd got even more frenzied as people caught sight of her. She had fervent fans screaming her name and waving for autographs, jostling for position with angry anti-PPDC protesters and Kaiju-cult zealots who rained abuse on her. She ignored all of them, walking with calm purpose toward the entrance. On this day she had only one focus: operationalizing the Drone program. Years of work had prepared her for this day, and nothing was going to stop her now that she had gotten so close to her goal.
* * *
Inside Gipsy Avenger’s Conn-Pod, Jake and Lambert perked up as a massive signal pinged on Gipsy’s HUD. “Gipsy to Command,” Lambert said. “You reading this?”
The signal was the size of a small cargo ship, but moving in a way that no ship could. Jake heard one of the LOCCENT techs say something in Mandarin to Quan, who relayed it to them in English. “Gipsy, this is Command. Be advised we have an unregistered Jaeger, no call sign designation.”
An unregistered Jaeger? These were extremely rare, but a moment later, they got a visual contact that confirmed their suspicions. The Jaeger exploded up out of the harbor, landing in a crouch near the waterfront avenue that passed in front of the Council Building. The crowd gawked in amazement, most of them too stunned to flee. Jake and Lambert scanned the unidentified Jaeger. It was sleek, nimble, matte black with vivid orange lights. The HUD picked out several spots on the Jaeger’s armor that were likely weapon mounts, but they couldn’t tell any specifics about its armaments.
“What is that?” Jake asked. “Is that one of ours?”
Lambert toggled Gipsy Avenger’s loudspeakers. “Pilots of unregistered Jaeger, power down and exit your Conn-Pod.”
The Jaeger didn’t respond. It stood up straighter and looked around, surveying the surrounding area.
Lambert issued a second order, per PPDC procedure. “I repeat: Power down and exit your Conn-Pod immediately—”
The Jaeger’s response was a barrage of plasma missiles.
10
From: Mako
To: Jake Pentecost
<attachment: 899h25Gss24.jpg>
TRANSMITTING…
TRANSMISSION INTERRUPTED
RETRY? Y/N
Y
TRANSMITTING…
TRANSMISSION INTERRUPTED
RETRY? Y/N
Y
Marshal Quan’s voice cut through the chatter coming from the LOCCENT. “Missiles fired! Multiple ordnance inbound!”
The first salvo of missiles annihilated the anti-Kaiju cannons. Jake just had time to think that the Jaeger had been pausing to target each of them, planning how it was going to engage, when a tight following barrage slammed into Gipsy Avenger. Other missiles streaked past and the facade of the PPDC Council Building disappeared in a cluster of explosions.
Multiple impacts rocked Gipsy Avenger. Alarms wailed, some inside the Conn-Pod and some coming through the comms from the LOCCENT. Jake fought a rising sensation of panic. He was a simulation cowboy, unbeatable in VR exercises… but he had never been in combat. Time seemed to slow around him, and his sense of his surroundings started to fade. There were voices in his head. Lambert was shouting, but the voice that penetrated into Jake’s struggling mind was Stacker Pentecost’s. You don’t belong in a Jaeger, he said. Jake felt himself falling back into his memories, the rabbit hole that was an ever-present danger in the Drift.
“Jake! Stay connected! Jake!” Lambert’s voice. But Jake was already gone. Gipsy Avenger staggered and started to lose her balance as he fell back into the past, inexorably drawn by the sound of his father’s voice.
* * *
“Jake!” Lambert was shouting. Alarms wailed as another volley of plasma missiles nearly knocked Gipsy Avenger off her feet. “Pentecost!”
Jake snapped out of the memory, climbing up out of the rabbit hole with the tears of his fifteen-year-old self still hot on his face. Still disoriented, he tried to get a handle on what was going on. “What… what do we do?”
“Stay focused. Follow my lead and—look out!”
A house-sized piece of the Council Building, destabilized by missile impacts, toppled off the front toward the crowd below. Trapped by the crush of people trying to get away from the hostile Jaeger, the people in its path could do nothing but scream.
In the Conn-Pod, Lambert shot out one hand.
Gipsy Avenger caught the chunk scant feet above the heads of the crowd. Just outside the shadow of Gipsy’s arm, Chief Kang and the
