“Oh, man, we are so screwed,” Suresh said. He and Meilin ran back the way they’d come, weaving around droplets of Kaiju blood that spattered down from other parts of the ceiling as the vessel continued to drain. Meilin was shouting for a medic as they ran, and Amara heard confused shouts from the Shatterdome security outside.
She had Jinhai’s jacket off, but his arm was badly burned and the Kaiju blood was still bubbling at the edges of the wound. He gripped Amara’s arm painfully tight, teeth clenched to keep himself from screaming. She sat with him, taking the pain, trying to comfort him until the medics arrived.
Then, she knew, the real consequences would start to unfold. They were all in deep shit, but Amara had the feeling she was in the deepest of all. But whatever happened to her, she had to make sure Jake and Marshal Quan heard what she’d found.
19
IN AFTERMATH OF ROGUE JAEGER ATTACK, DRONE PROGRAM MOVES AHEAD
FROM WIRE SERVICE REPORTS
The origin of the rogue Jaeger known as Obsidian Fury is still a mystery, but its attack on the Pan Pacific Defense Corps Council meeting in Sydney two days ago appears to have given extra momentum to Shao Industries’ proposed replacement of human-piloted Jaegers with Drones. Meeting in an emergency session, with quorum rules waived due to the number of Councilors killed in the Sydney attack, the Council gave final approval to the Drone deployment. Individual members cited the need to protect Shatterdomes against potential future rogue Jaegers, as well as the need to have a single central control facility so no existing Jaeger could be hijacked and turned against the PPDC or civilians.
Fiery opposition came from the two retired Rangers on the Council, both of whom argued forcefully that Drone Jaegers would not be able to react in a battlefield situation with the same speed and intuition a human pilot could demonstrate. Their arguments failed to carry the day, however, and the final count found only their two votes in the nay column.
Shao Industries spokesman Joseph Burke, himself a former Ranger, expressed gratitude for the decision. “We think the Council has acted wisely,” he said, “and we look forward to getting the Drone Jaegers in the field so they can prevent anything like this terrible attack from ever happening again.”
Shatterdome security put Amara straight into a holding cell while the medics were still working on Jinhai. The room’s only furniture was a small table and two chairs. She sat down and waited for over an hour, feeling more and more guilty and anxious as she watched people go by. Most of them didn’t look at her. Those who did were either disgusted or pitying. News of her offense had traveled fast.
She saw Jake in the hall outside the holding cell, pacing back and forth. A few minutes later, Marshal Quan appeared. He and Jake started talking and the conversation quickly grew animated. Then really heated. Jake was furious about something, and Quan—if Amara was reading this body language right—was demanding that Jake follow orders. Eventually Quan made one last point and then stalked back down the hall the way he’d come. Jake stood watching him go. He rubbed his face and Amara realized it must be pretty late at night by now. She’d lost track of time. For Jake, it must have seemed even later. He probably hadn’t slept since before Gipsy Avenger’s feet had made contact with the snow outside the old factory on the Taymyr Peninsula.
He opened the door and came inside. “Is Jinhai okay?” she asked. That was the most important thing. She knew she was in for some punishment, and she could take it. She’d earned it. But if Jinhai’s injuries made him unfit for Ranger duty, Amara knew she would never forgive herself.
“There’s going to be some scarring, but yeah. He’ll live.” Amara let out a long sigh, feeling at least that worry leave her. “Marshal’s put him on probation,” Jake went on. “Meilin and Suresh too. They blink wrong, all of ’em are out.”
“It wasn’t their fault,” Amara said. “I talked them into it.” Before they got into the part of the conversation where Jake told her how stupid she was, Amara wanted to make sure he heard about what she’d found inside Obsidian Fury. “Jake, there’s something—”
He held up a hand. “Amara, I tried to talk to the Marshal.” After a brief pause, he added, “I’m sorry. You’re dismissed from the program.”
This hurt more than Amara had thought it would. In the past few days, she had just started to see the possibility of a life beyond squatting in the ruins of Santa Monica, dodging gang psychopaths and stealing to meet her needs. She’d found a family, just like Lambert had talked about… and now she’d blown it. Because she had to push the boundaries, had to act like the rules didn’t apply to her. “Doesn’t matter,” she said, trying to stay impassive. “I never belonged here anyway.”
Jake crossed the room and sat on the other chair. “I said the same thing, long time ago. But I didn’t want to be here. Not like you.”
Amara knew what he was doing. She appreciated it, but at the same time she wished they would just get everything over with. If she was kicked out, she was kicked out. She would go, and try not to ever look back. “Then why’d you sign up?”
“We were at war,” he said. “My dad was leading the charge. I thought… I dunno. Maybe I’d see more of him. Get assigned to his squadron. Maybe even Drift with him. But this weird thing happened. Turns out I was damn good at it.” He smiled at the memory of this discovery, but the smile didn’t last. He went on with his story, and for once, Amara didn’t interrupt him with a sarcastic remark. “Then one night Nate—Ranger Lambert—and I get into it. Over something stupid,
