by Alex Irvine
Just behind it, Shrikethorn was nearly as tall, but more massive and with two tails curling up over its back. The tip of each tail bristled with long spikes, and heavier spines grew from its arms and neck. The front of its head was a flat, bony projection similar to a hammerhead shark’s, with a row of eyes at each end. When it opened its mouth, blue light glowed from inside, the same color as Raijin’s eyes. That thought gave Jake an insight: All of Shrikethorn’s spikes faced forward, on the front edge of its bony head. That might be useful to know. He filed it away for the fight to come. He also noticed that some of the spikes from its tail were embedded in nearby buildings. Jake couldn’t tell if this had happened while it dragged its tail along the front of a building, or if Shrikethorn could somehow fire the spikes. He had a feeling he might learn for certain sooner rather than later.
Unlike the other two, Hakuja was comparatively low to the ground, with squat heavy legs and thick segmented armor plates running down its back from the back of its head to the base of its tail. The tail was armored too, and shorter than either Raijin’s or Shrikethorn’s. Its head was flat, with flaring bony protrusions on either side and pointed jaws. Three small eyes on either side of its snout burned a deep orange. Two spikes jutted up from the tip of the lower jaw, and when it roared Jake saw its tongue was bifurcated. Its claws had a different design than the other two as well, with three clawed fingers evenly spaced instead of the shorter opposable digit Jake saw on Raijin and Shrikethorn. The claws were long and hooked, and also thick. They put Jake in mind of a badger or a bear.
He absorbed all that in the seconds between Gottlieb’s observation and the chime from their HUD that they were nearing contact.
“Go,” Lambert said.
He jabbed the HUD and Gipsy Avenger’s thruster pod cut out, dropping the Jaeger into a controlled feet-first fall directly toward Raijin. The Kaiju never looked up before Gipsy slammed down on it, smashing it into the ground. Before it could get up, Gipsy collared it and flipped it judo-style into a nearby building. The counterforce, and the leftover momentum from their dive, kept Gipsy Avenger skidding down the street for several blocks, plowing up asphalt and cars until she ground to a stop.
Jake and Lambert stood up straight again and raised Gipsy Avenger’s right hand, smacking her left fist into it. This was their acknowledgment of tradition. Raleigh Becket had done this, first with his brother Yancy and then with Mako Mori. To Jake it was a salute to all their sacrifices, but particularly his sister’s. He was fighting for the survival of the human race, but fighting to avenge his sister too. Somewhere maybe she was watching. Maybe his father was too.
“Gipsy to Command,” Lambert said. “Targets acquired.”
“Um, Roger that, Gipsy,” Gottlieb answered. He was still uncertain about combat radio protocols. They heard him doing something in the War Room, and a moment later he said, “Everyone in the area is secured in underground shelters. You’re cleared to engage.”
That was one good thing, Jake thought. Their correct guess about where the Kaiju were headed meant they’d had time to get civilians out of the way. Diverting to save civilian populations caught in a battle had often put Jaegers in a vulnerable position in the past.
“Solid copy,” he confirmed. “Going hot.”
Guardian Bravo and Saber Athena landed behind Gipsy Avenger and jettisoned their thruster pods. A moment later Bracer Phoenix joined them, moving too fast to stay upright. She skidded through a plaza, crushing trees and benches, before getting her balance back. Jake heard Amara over the comm, trying to play it cool as always. “I meant to do that.”
“Bracer Phoenix, on me. We’ll take Raijin,” Jake ordered. “Saber Athena, Guardian Bravo, you take the other two.” Saber Athena was on Hakuja’s side, and Jake thought it made sense to pit her superior speed against the slowest of the Kaiju.
“Copy that,” he heard Suresh respond. Then, almost like he was convincing himself, Suresh added, “We were born to save the world.”
“On my mark,” Lambert said. The Kaiju roared out a challenge. “Three… two… one… mark.”
The four Jaegers charged down the empty avenue toward the Kaiju. Saber Athena surged ahead, whipping her plasma swords out from their back-mounted sheaths and striking Hakuja faster than the Kaiju could defend. The plasma blades scored deep gouges in Hakuja’s armor. Hakuja lunged at Saber Athena, but the Jaeger was much too fast, spinning into a reverse kick that flung the Kaiju back to crash against a glass office building. Hakuja staggered, trying to recover.
Gipsy, at her own full speed, stormed past Hakuja and put everything she had into an overhand right, aiming straight at Raijin’s face. Around the jaws, Jake and Lambert thought the skull tissue looked vulnerable. But in mid-swing, the armored plates around Raijin’s head snapped closed and the Kaiju tensed for the impact. The punch landed, with everything Gipsy Avenger had. Jake and Lambert felt the shock all through the Jaeger’s frame. But Raijin didn’t go down. From the point of impact, blue lines of energy radiated out along the plates, crackling down Raijin’s arms into its claws. They flared the same color of blue—and Raijin struck back.
The glowing claws raked across Gipsy’s shoulder and torso. Gipsy shuddered from the blow, and the next thing Jake and Lambert knew, they were catapulted through the air. Bracer Phoenix ducked and Gipsy Avenger sailed past, smashing into the side of a building. Bracer Phoenix stood again and advanced, firing a barrage of missiles from her shoulder mounts. Explosions bloomed across the Kaiju’s body as Bracer closed to within striking distance.
At first Raijin flinched away from the missiles, but as the explosions died away it spun back to its full height, backhanding Bracer Phoenix before the three cadets inside could get close enough to grapple. Knocked off her feet, Bracer destroyed a small building and sprawled in the rubble over on the next street. The battlefield footing was already treacherous, with mounds of rubble shifting under the combatants’ feet.
Like Bracer Phoenix, Guardian Bravo had launched a missile salvo to give her cover for a close approach. The first volley hit the target and she fired again, charging closer to Shrikethorn… and then skidding to an emergency stop as Bracer Phoenix crashed down in front of her. She barely stopped in time, dragging a fist on the street and setting off a car alarm near Bracer Phoenix’s head.
Gipsy Avenger was just then getting back to her feet after the stunning force of Raijin’s blow. Jake couldn’t figure out how it had delivered so much power just with its claws, and through the Drift he could tell Lambert was just as confused. Then Gottlieb solved the problem, thanks to the data feeds from the battlefield back to the War Room. “Gipsy! Raijin’s faceplates are absorbing your hits and throwing the energy back at you!”
That was a problem. If you couldn’t punch an enemy in the face, your options for winning were compromised. Down the street, Raijin was coming after them again, its bony plates open so it could see the way ahead.
Jake had an idea. “Let’s see it absorb this,” he said, and touched the command to activate the Gravity Sling.
Gipsy Avenger’s right hand reconfigured into the lens array and she reached out, catching a nearby building and dragging it down on top of Raijin. Fifty stories of concrete and steel crashed down on the Kaiju, knocking it flat and momentarily obscuring it in a cloud of dust.
But Raijin shook it off and kept coming.
Gipsy hit the Kaiju with another building. And another. And another, over and over, toppling entire blocks of office towers to thunder down on Raijin. “Let’s see how many buildings this thing can take,” Jake said grimly, reaching for another. Sooner or later it had to go down.
As Gipsy reached for another building, Saber Athena was tracking Hakuja, and found the armored Kaiju tensing to spring on Gipsy Avenger from behind. “Oh no you don’t,” Renata said, leaning into a sprint. She and Ryoichi timed the last steps to hit Hakuja with a flying knee, smashing into the side of its head just below the row of eyes. The other side of its head crushed several floors of
the building it had been using as cover for its planned ambush of Gipsy Avenger, who was slinging down more buildings on Raijin. The Cat-5 was moving more slowly now, but it was still coming. Gipsy backed away before it, drawing it on.
Hakuja pivoted round to attack Saber Athena, hooking its claws into the Jaeger’s armor. Saber Athena drove punch after punch into Hakuja’s bony head, pummeling the Kaiju down. Renata and Ryoichi were so focused on their target that they didn’t notice Saber Athena’s HUD showing Shrikethorn coming around the corner two blocks behind them. Shrikethorn roared and its twin tails snapped up over its head. Dozens of armored spikes launched from the tails. Most of them crashed through the buildings still standing near Saber Athena and Hakuja, but several punched into Saber Athena’s armor, burying themselves deep. Renata and Ryoichi cried out at the holographic impression of pain, momentarily losing their focus on Hakuja.
The Kaiju was quick to seize the opportunity. It leaped up on Saber Athena, gripping with its front paws and raking with the rear. Its immense mass drove Saber Athena back and she fell, demolishing the front of a Kaiju Museum erected near the spot where Onibaba had once fallen. The Ranger who put it down was Stacker Pentecost. Somewhere around here was the alley where Mako, terrified and wearing one shoe, had survived the battle and seen her adoptive father for the first time.
Too many echoes, Jake thought. We’ve done this too many times. It has to end.
Saber Athena was deadly on her feet, but grappling on the ground, Hakuja had the advantage. The Kaiju snapped and tore at Saber Athena’s armor as Renata and Ryoichi fought to fend it off. They were keeping it from Saber Athena’s head, but if they couldn’t get up, they wouldn’t be able to hold on forever. And things were about to get worse, because Shrikethorn was loping toward them, aiming to finish Saber Athena off. “Shrikethorn inbound!” Ryoichi shouted.
Renata activated their comm. “Hey, guys! We could use a little help over here!”
Bracer Phoenix had suffered a system brownout when Raijin nailed them with the stored kinetic energy of Gipsy Avenger’s punch. They were just now back online and on their feet. “Copy that!” Amara answered. “Vik! Take out Shrikethorn!”
“On it!” Vik touched a screen and the recessed floor under her Drift cradle opened. She dropped down, fifteen stories in a flash, still linked to her partners, slamming to a halt in the firing emplacement behind the quad-mounted railguns built into Bracer Phoenix’s midsection. They were built on a track that gave them a three-hundred-sixty-degree field of fire, and Vik had them powered up and locked in on Shrikethorn before the spiky Kaiju could get its claws into Saber Athena.
The barrage of railgun shells tore into Shrikethorn, blasting away pieces of its armor and splattering the street with Kaiju blood. Shrikethorn reared back and sprang away from Saber Athena to come after Bracer Phoenix, who held steady, forcing Shrikethorn to come straight through the railgun fire.
Guardian Bravo had also heard Renata’s distress call. Suresh and Ilya were coming in hot, skirting the valley of collapsed buildings where Gipsy Avenger still battled Raijin. “Saber Athena! Guardian Bravo coming to assist!”
“Activating Arc Whip,” Ilya said calmly.
Power surged inside Guardian Bravo’s Conn-Pod, brightening all the displays as the Arc Whip came online. Guardian Bravo slung the whip out to one side, flicking it out to its full length and leaping forward. They came down just behind Hakuja, slashing the whip down across the Kaiju’s back. The unbreakable graphene strand cracked the armored plates on Hakuja’s back and delivered a staggering punch of energy besides. Hakuja spasmed, letting go of Saber Athena. As the Kaiju turned to face Guardian Bravo, Ilya and Suresh were already spinning through a full turn, sweeping the whip around to snap into Hakuja’s midsection. The force of the blow lifted the Kaiju off its feet and smashed it straight through a building back into the main avenue where Gipsy Avenger was still dropping buildings on Raijin.
Hakuja bellowed in wounded fury, the sound shaking down rubble from partially destroyed buildings. Then it bent and dug into the ground. Seconds later, it was gone.
“Yeah, that’s right! You better run!” Suresh crowed, seeing the Kaiju flee. He looked over at Ilya, all of his normal diffidence swept away by the euphoria of the battle. “These things ain’t that tough!”
Behind them, Bracer Phoenix was still holding Shrikethorn at bay with her railgun. Before them, Gipsy Avenger snapped the Gravity Sling again, and another skyscraper fell, crushing Raijin to the ground once more. The street heaved under Gipsy Avenger and the Jaeger lost her balance momentarily. Inside, the Conn-Pod HUD showed Jake the locations of all Jaegers and Kaiju in the field. He saw Hakuja on the move, passing directly beneath them… and headed toward Bracer Phoenix.
“Bracer, check your six!” he called, amazed that a creature that size could move so fast underground. “Hostile inbound!”
Vik was on it. “Copy that!” she answered, watching her own HUD inside the railgun turret. She spotted the approaching Kaiju bogey and kicked the turret into a one-eighty, swiveling it around just as Hakuja burst up through the street behind them in an eruption of concrete, earth, and water spraying from broken pipes. Vik was already firing as she saw the Kaiju, blasting it point-blank in the face with all four barrels. “Yeah!” she shouted, seeing Hakuja stunned by the ambush. “Get some!”
Guardian Bravo was closing in on Shrikethorn from one direction, flicking the Arc Whip out to full extension, as Saber Athena dug herself out of the Kaiju Museum and attacked Shrikethorn from the other direction. Bracer Phoenix kept pounding Hakuja, keeping the bloodied Kaiju from getting all the way out of the tunnel it had dug under the street. Gipsy Avenger brought one more building down on Raijin, reaching over a block to sling the biggest skyscraper yet. The cumulative beating, and the greater mass of this last building, finally stopped Raijin. The huge Kaiju struggled to free itself from the mass of girders and concrete, shrieking in anger and frustration. Finally it was a static target, and Gipsy Avenger took advantage with a barrage of plasma missiles.
Jake almost didn’t dare to believe it, but he thought they might have the Kaiju on the ropes.
32
EDITORIAL: OKAY FINE
I WAS WRONG.
How much more do I need to say? A week ago I believed that the Drone Jaegers were the future, that we didn’t need the PPDC, that we should just turn the whole thing over to the Genius in White, Shao Liwen, and let her handle Jaegers from here on out.
Well, that first Drone deployment showed me the error of my ways, didn’t it?
And then new Breaches opened up, and now the word from Tokyo is there are four Jaegers—human-powered Jaegers, with a total of nine Rangers, and may God* bless every one of ’em—putting the boot to the Kaiju. Where are the Drones? In pieces, because they got corrupted. Either by a software flaw or some kind of Kaiju thing, depends on which rumors you believe, but you know what? It doesn’t matter. Real people are out fighting this battle for us. They’re in machines, but they aren’t machines. We need to remember that. We need to put ourselves on the line for each other and not sit back and wait for machines to do it for us.
Go get ’em, Rangers. I’ll never say a bad word about the PPDC again.
Note: NOT the God of the Kaiju nuts, who seem to think God is some kind of Cthulhu.
From a machine shop deep in the bowels of the Shatterdome, Shao Liwen was watching the feed from Tokyo. She was filthy, stained with sweat and grease from the machines she was working on. After the Jaegers had launched, she had realized there was possibly one more thing she could do to help. But judging from what she saw on the screen, maybe they didn’t need any more of her help. “They’re winning,” she said, trying not to sound too surprised.
“That’s what we do,” Gottlieb said from the War Room. Then after a pause he added, “Most of the time.”
He was watching the same holofeed Shao had down in the machine shop. Hakuja was badly wounded, Shrikethorn and Raijin hurting but still danger
ous. The fight wasn’t over yet. But all four Jaegers were still in good shape. Only Saber Athena had suffered any damage to speak of.
And even though the battle between Jaeger and Kaiju had already moved miles toward the outskirts of the Tokyo megacity, Mount Fuji was still miles away.
For the first time since he had understood the Precursors’ plan, Gottlieb was feeling confident—at least mostly confident—that they were going to win.
The holo screen over his terminal, showing operational data on all four Jaegers as well as assessments of the Kaiju’s status, flickered and went out. A moment later it came back on, but now the data visualization was replaced by a head-and-shoulders shot of Newt Geiszler, looking into what must have been a data pad camera. Behind him, part of a Shao V-Dragon was visible on what must have been a rooftop, against the backdrop of the Tokyo skyline. In the middle distance, Gottlieb could see the smoke rising from the site of the battle, and hear the roars of the Kaiju over the thunder of railguns and missiles. Far away, partially masked by the smoke, was the magnificent peak of Mount Fuji.
“Newton,” Geiszler said, his tone accusatory and worried and angry all at once.
“Hey, buddy,” Newt said. “Moshi moshi. So you finally figured out your little rockets. Good for you, Hermann.” He put a little mocking twist on Gottlieb’s name.
