A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Chapter 8: The Night's Decision
It was uncommon for the term ‘Pyrrhic victory’ to be used so appropriately. Bolton was safe, millions saved from the Kaiju’s rampage. At what cost though? Three of the Royal Equestrian Navy’s ships had been lost along with most of their crews below the dark waves. Lucky Seven, the pride of the Equestrian Air Force was little more than a charred wreck, smouldering slowly in downtown Bolton and untold amounts of the Kaiju’s toxic lifeblood had been spilled across the streets and through the bay; three entire blocks surrounding the beast’s corpse had been cordoned off for fear of further contamination. Even so, thousands of cases of the mysterious illness brought on by the Kaiju Blue were reported.
Worst of all though, was Midsummer Night.
The once mighty Jaeger had taken a serious beating in the fight. Nearly her entire chest would have to be replaced, the thick armour there had been bent and buckled, torn and sundered until it was little more than scrap; the Kaiju had seen to that quite well. Luckily though, most of the vital components buried deep within the armoured shell had survived, a show of durability that was testament to the genius of the Jaeger’s designers. Their second railgun had been ripped off when the Jaeger had fallen to the ground and although it was still salvageable, the delicate weapon would need several weeks of work to reattach and recalibrate it. Along with the chest, the entire left arm had been completely destroyed after Rasputin had stomped on it, leaving the limb little more than a limp metal club for the battered Jaeger to spin around. The worst part of the damage was a little more subtle though. The quantum tunnelling device, still strapped to their back during the fight, had been completely destroyed. Little evidence remained of the experimental device other than a few charred and twisted metal scraps which still clung stubbornly to Midsummer Night’s back.
Now, tied down to the deck of a large freighter, the already battered Jaeger looked like it was heading to a funeral.
“She’s not getting back up again is she?” Shane muttered, running a hand along the smooth contours of their leg armour. After being washed down of the corrosive Kaiju blood which had been splattered across the Jaeger, they’d loaded Midsummer Night onto a large vessel which steamed slowly towards Manehatten. The ship's small crew stayed away from the two humans, something they were both silently grateful for. Their confident attitude before the battle had been completely shattered by their crushing defeat and the mood that hung over them was comparable to that of a mourner.
“She will. It just might take a while.” Michael replied, staring out into the open ocean. He massaged his arm gingerly, wincing as his fingers ran over the faint burns that crisscrossed his upper arm. The fail-safes in his suit had cut in, preventing any permanent damage from the neural feedback but it still hurt like hell. “Coyote Tango was put down for repairs for a year after fighting Onibaba.”
“Coyote wasn’t damaged this badly.” Shane pointed out. Unlike most Jaeger pilots he had prevented himself from becoming too attached to his metal body. But now… seeing the Jaeger like this… he couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for the machine that he bonded with. “If we were back home she’d be sent straight off to Oblivion Bay.”
“At least they might give us a new Jaeger.” Michael pointed out.
“The Mk V. program was cancelled.” Shane reminded him darkly.
“Oh yeah…” Michael muttered crossly. He’d seen videos of Striker Eureka in action and he wondered how anyone could say the Jaeger Program was a waste of resources. The agile machine had put down a rampaging CAT IV, from the first swing of its fists until the Kaiju had crashed to the ground dead, in under half a minute. That was something that they desperately needed more of. The two brothers fell silent, watching the sun slowly sink beneath the horizon. It was curious sensation, seeing the sun setting to the east; it reminded them they were on an alien planet in a strange yet subtle way.
“Their conventional forces were useless.” Shane remarked, finally breaking the silence
“Not quite, the heavy guns scratched it.” Michael admitted. “How big do you reckon they would’ve been?”
“10 inch maybe? I didn’t get a really good look at it though.”
Michael shrugged. “Give them some better AP shells and up the calibre a bit and they might be able to do a little more than tick them off. Well, the small ones at least. Might only give the larger Kaiju mild sunburn.”
“Well it’s something at least.” Shane grunted before falling silent again. Michael glanced over at him quickly. He could tell that something was troubling his brother but he knew Shane well enough to not pry. Perhaps it had something to do with the smashed teleporter or maybe Shane was still a little shocked from their near death experience.
“So now what do we do?” Michael asked after what felt like several uncomfortable minutes. The moon and stars started to come out, dotting the alien sky like tiny fireflies. Unfamiliar constellations and stars burned high above them, unseen by any other human eyes. He wondered silently if one of those was their own sun.
Shane tore his eyes away from Midsummer Night. “About?”
“About the Jaeger.” Michael clarified.
“We fix her up.” Shane remarked simply, its not there was any other options... was there? He raised an eyebrow suspiciously, wondering where exactly Michael was going with his thought. “Why, what are you thinking about?”
“Something crazy.” Michael admitted, lying down on the deck and propping himself up on one elbow.
“Well that’s no surprise.” Shane remarked, scratching his beard. “Okay. Scale of one to ten, how crazy?”
“Probably about a fifteen.” Michael remarked with amazing air of casualness.
“Oh boy, this sounds great.” Shane drawled sarcastically. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, wondering how hard it would be to clamber inside the conpod, roll up in a ball and go to sleep. “Okay then, let’s hear it.” He said tiredly.
Michael nodded and gestured to the broken Jaeger“Alright, we learnt a valuable lesson today, didn’t we?”
“Yes, don’t let a Kaiju use you as a cushion.” Shane grumbled irritably.
Michael stifled a smile. “Well, that’s kind of a given but besides that?”
“I don’t know, you’re the clever one.” Shane grumbled, placing his back against the slightly battered leg armour and sliding down slowly until he was sitting down.
“We’re horribly outclassed. Or at least, we will be fairly soon.” Michael said quietly. “The conventional forces our compatriots have are next to useless… they need something better.”
“I don’t like where this is going.” Shane said in a sing-song voice.
“Hear me out. What if… what if we let have access to our tech? What if we helped in whatever way we could so the four-legs could make their own Jaegers?” Michael said. He thought back to the attempted break in some time ago, perhaps they’d already made a start?
Shane blinked. “You’re mad.”
“It’s quite possible. But hey, we’re talking to magical, flying ponies on a daily basis so who really knows?” Michael joked, smiling like he’d been offered a platter of chocolates and been told to go nuts.
Shane let out a heavy sigh. “Alright, convince me.”
“Okay, one: We’re outclassed. We need to be better equipped.”
“And you think that any hypothetical Jaegers they make would be better than ours?” Shane asked sceptically.
“Quantity has a quality of its own.” Shane remarked. “Besides, they will get better at it. In the meantime, it’ll make fixing Midsummer Night a bit easier.”
“You haven’t convinced me yet.” Shane muttered, picking at a small sprig of dead grass he found on the metal deck and twirling it between his fingers.
“Alright then, two: Them having Jaegers means we don’t feel obliged to deploy as much and gives us something to hide behind if we do. Less likely to get gutted by a Kaiju that way, no?”
Shane hesitated then nodded. “I suppose so.” He shook his head slowly, he didn’t want to admit to Michael’s arguments… but they made sense. “Okay, hypothetically, what exactly would we be giving them?” He asked.
Michael beamed, pleased that his reasons were getting across to Shane and not just bouncing off. “Well we should have some schematics and materials data stored on board for Midsummer Night. We can no doubt offer our services as instructors.”
Shane brought his knees up to his chest and rocked back and forth slightly. “I’m not entirely comfortable with this idea.” He admitted finally. “It just feels… wrong.”
“Neither am I.” Michael said firmly. “But the game has changed, we have to adapt or we die.” His voice dropped. “As hard as it is to accept, we’re not going anywhere for any foreseeable amount of time… we may as well make the best of it with what we’ve got.” He patted the leg of their Jaeger reverently. “While we’ve still got something.”
Shane winced, he didn’t like the idea of handing over their technology and equipment on a silver platter but he couldn’t ignore the reasoning behind his brother’s argument.
“Alright, I’ll think about it.” He said, rubbing his temples softly.
Michael smiled. “Thanks. I mean, honestly it seems like the best choice we’ve got.”
Shane sighed and nodded slowly. “Indeed it would.”
***
If Shane’s head hurt, Twilight was having a full on migraine. She’d received a prompt reply from Celestia commending her for her efforts and instructing the new princess on her next course of action. She was slightly surprised that Celestia had agreed to move the machine and even more surprised to learn that Princess Luna would be overseeing the operation jointly with her.
Needless to say, morale soared as the news spread around the base camp. The thought of being home for Hearth’s Warming and away from the oppressive cold lending a much needed boost to the taskforce.
Naturally, Twilight was burdened with the delicate task of dissecting the Jaeger for transport. Each part had to carefully cut away or removed from the body, weighed and catalogued before being attached to a set of massive slings and cradles a resourceful group of engineers had put together. Rogue Two could only carry about 300 tons of cargo at a time in good weather, and as the railhead was some thirty kilometres distant, there was no other viable way to move the broken Jaeger. Even so, this operation had taken several days of nonstop work.
“And she’s away!” Spike announced as the ungainly airship rose slowly into the sky, the Jaeger’s head dangling below it awkwardly like a massive football. The airship rose into the sky with as slight wobble as the wind caught the massive metal construction hanging below it.
“Good.” Twilight muttered, already fretting over the next load. The airship would be back in about an hour or so, so she had to be quick. “We’re cutting it a little close… but we should be able to get the last of the machine out in the next pickup if the weather doesn’t pick up again.” She muttered furiously double-checking her calculations. She was interrupted by a loud belch from Spike, a common side effect of using the small drake as a receiver for magical delivered mail. Unfazed, she plucked the scroll that materialised out of the air with well-practiced ease, noting Luna’s insignia embossed on the wax seal with a small jolt of surprise. She quickly tore the scroll open, wondering what the dark alicorn had written to her about.
Twilight
We have arrived along with the transport train. Once you have finished loading the machine onto the train we would like to talk with you. There is much we have to discuss.
Princess Luna
Twilight frowned, what could Luna want to talk about? Celestia had said she’d simply come along to provide an extra guardian for the machine on its trip south. Twilight crumpled the note up, slightly perplexed. Had she been left out the loop again? Perhaps she was reading too far into it, maybe Luna’s summons were more social in nature. ‘Yes, that must be it.’ She thought scribbling out a rough calculation she’d messed up in a slightly frustrated manner.
“Twilight, look!” Spike yelled, tugging on one of her wings. Twilight spun around, her jaw falling slightly slack as another airship materialised out of the whirling snow. Unlike Rogue two which proudly flew the banner of the royal equestrian Air Force, this ship flew the banner of the Night Watch – Luna’s personal guard.
A few of the ponies on the work site yammered amongst themselves and pointed to the massive, yet regal, ship which orbited around what was left of their basecamp in a lazy arc. With a loud crack of displaced air, Luna and a pair of the Night Watch appeared barely a metre in front of Twilight.
“Greetings, Twilight Sparkle!” Luna boomed cheerfully, her voice cutting through the steadily rising wind with little difficulty. Twilight yelped and leapt a good metre backwards in fright. It was generally considered poor form to teleport to somepony unless they knew you were coming or already knew you were there… even then, it wasn’t exactly polite to appear right in their face. Recovering from her shock, Twilight examined the Princess of the Night. Unlike of the other ponies, her guards included, Luna was completely unburdened with cold weather gear, revealing the full majesty of her midnight blue coat. Twilight was to discover later that Luna had performed some sort of heat-retention spell, keeping her warm and dry despite the bone-numbing conditions.
“I see you have made excellent progress with the deconstruction.” Luna continued, oblivious to the discomfort she had caused Twilight.
“Luna, you gave me quite a shock!” Twilight laughed nervously. “I wasn’t expecting you quite so soon.” She added, following Luna’s gaze. The dark princess was staring with something almost approaching awe at the massive, frost-covered forearm of the Jaeger which lay a hundred metres distant.
“It truly is a thing of wonder.” Luna said, her voice much more restrained than usual. Twilight nodded in silent agreement. “Such a device is a true power changer.”
Twilight frowned. “I don’t understand.”
Luna chuckled quiet. “You are still new to the game of politics, young princess.” She gestured back to the arm. “How long until you can move it?”
“We’re waiting for our airship to come back.” Twilight explained. “Probably about an hour or so.”
“Could it be attached to mine?” Luna asked hastily, “Speed is of the essence.”
Again, Twilight found herself with a frown on her face. Had something happened while she’d been away? Why didn’t anypony tell her anything? “It’s possible, we built a second harness in case the first one broke.” Twilight muttered, quickly calculating if the princess’ ship could carry the arm and what few parts of the Jaeger that were left. “We can try…”
A short conversation with the vessel's captain confirmed Luna’s ship could carry the forearm and within twenty minutes the remaining engineers had hooked the harness to the ship and lashed the arm down. It took another half-hour to get the remaining gear and ponies on board. Much of the heavier gear had to be left behind, Luna citing that they could return for it at a later time. Once stowed away on board, the princess had invited Twilight to her quarters for the trip back, a gesture Twilight suspected was more for privacy rather than out of courtesy.
“Please, make yourself comfortable.” Luna said as they entered her somewhat spartan quarters. While the small room was more decadent than the wardroom of Rogue Two, it was bare in comparison to how most nobles travelled. Without waiting for Twilight, Luna made a beeline for the bed which sat up against the back wall and flopped down on the soft mattress with a quiet sigh. Twilight wandered around for a moment, examining the bookshelves which lined the gently curving walls. She pulled one the old volumes down with a mix of wonder and awe. ‘Advanced practical magic. – First Edition’ the title read. Twilight flipped through the first few ancient looking pages carefully, the book must have been hundreds of years old at least. She whistled lowly and returned the book with a flicker of magic.
“Impressive.” She said to Luna quietly. The old princess had curled up on her bed and was watching Twilight carefully, almost like how a hawk would watch its prey. It was now that Twilight noticed the heavy bags under Luna’s eyes and it became suddenly apparent to her that the majestic alicorn had probably not slept for several days.
“It is an old collection we treasure dearly.” Luna said, allowing a trace of tiredness to enter her voice. She watched on cautiously as Twilight levitated another of the ancient tomes down to read.
“Now then, you wanted to discuss something?” Twilight asked, settling down a plump cushion and paging slowly through ‘The Colour of Magic. She selected a chapter at random and started reading as the book’s author described the principles behind magical amplification.
“Yes, yes there is.” Luna said hesitantly. She licked her lips nervously. “We have a difficult decision to make Twilight… and we would appreciate your advice.”
“My advice?” Twilight asked, slightly surprised that Luna would defer to her own counsel.
Luna nodded solemnly but did not elaborate.
“And what would this be concerning exactly?” Twilight queried, slightly exasperated that for once, Luna seemed reluctant to get to her point.
“The fate of the war machine we are currently in possession of.” Luna said after a moment.
Twilight understood Luna’s intent immediately, after all, it was at her own suggestion that they reveal its presence to the two human pilots. “You do not agree with Celestia then?” She asked. “You think we should hand it over to the humans?”
“We believe that they should be informed of its presence.” Luna said diplomatically. “We do not consider it wise to simply hand over Equestria’s greatest hope to a possibly uncooperative party though.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Greatest hope?”
Luna bowed her head slightly. “Forgive me, you probably have not heard the news.” She said.
“Heard what?” Twilight asked nervously, trying to not jump to conclusions. ‘No, screw that.’ the more rational part of her mind thought. She was right, something had happened and judging by how on edge Luna seemed, it was probably bad.
Luna seemed to steady herself for a moment. “A few days ago a large monster emerged near Bolton and attacked the city. The battle was fairly one sided, our navy and air force failed to make so much as an impression on the beast with conventional arms.” Luna sighed. “We lost nearly seven hundred sailors not to mention the thousands of civilians when the creature made landfall. The alien machine intervened and failed to bring the monster low. Only the heroic sacrifice of one of our airships finally brought the beast down.” She handed Twilight a dozen slightly grainy photographs of the dead monster. It took Twilight a moment to realise the large, twisted, protrusion sticking out the corpse was in fact, an airship.
Twilight’s jaw went slack at the revelation. “And the humans?”
“They and their machine are intact. Barely.” Luna said. “From what I understand though, their machine is inoperable for the time being.”
Twilight grimaced. “And what exactly are you hoping for when you tell them we have one of their machines?” She asked, slightly curious.
“Well, we had hoped they would be able to assist us in constructing our own hunters. With this new development, some parts of this wreck may be salvageable for their own ends.” She hesitated for a moment. “The question we have to ask is this, do they trust us enough to aid and assist in the construction of our own Jaegers?”
“Perhaps we should asking if they are desperate enough to help us.” Twilight answered wryly. “Last time I tried looking into their technology, they almost shot me.” She pointed out bluntly, turning the page over only to discover the next few pages had been torn out.
Luna stifled a yawn. “A fair reaction, we would have done the same had we found somepony sneaking around under our nose.”
“You would shoot them?” Twilight asked incredulously.
“Well, maybe not shoot them, but we would threaten them at least.” Luna admitted. “It’s not uncommon in some culture for interlopers to be dealt with harshly. Kobolds will cut off a thief’s hand, Griffons will usually shoot first and asked questions later.”
“That’s barbaric!” Twilight exclaimed.
Luna shrugged slightly. “Perhaps so, but you can’t deny it works.”
Twilight held back a scathing response and took a calming breath. “Alright, what does all this have to do with your decision?”
Luna took a deep breath. “We wish to tell the humans, Celestia does not. She thinks we can manage ourselves without their intervention. We believe she overestimates our ability.” She drew a small circle with her hoof, remembering she was in the same room as the lead researcher. Luna smiled diplomatically, noticing Twilight’s slightly offended look.
“We do not doubt that we will eventually solve the riddles and enigmas of the machine on our own… I do not believe however, we will be able to do it before something terrible happens.” She let Twilight digest her words before continuing.
“I also do not believe that our machine striding forth to do glorious battle out the blue will be a sight the humans would find pleasant. Especially if they find we have been holding one of their precious machines for our own ends.” She squirmed uncomfortably. “We have to make a choice between betraying my sister’s trust and doing what we feel is the right thing for our subjects… or following what she has proclaimed to be the right course and not only against my own conscience but against my duty.”
There was a tense silence, Twilight now fully understanding Luna’s hesitance.
“Ah.” Twilight said quietly. She closed the book gingerly, instinctively placing a mark between the pages so she could continue reading later without losing her place. The young alicorn pondered the situation for several minutes before finally speaking.
“How would opinions change based on my support?”
“We already know you want to inform the humans.” Luna said with a trace of hopefulness in her voice.
Twilight nodded. “Indeed. I think it would foolish to continue without their support. Their help would undoubtedly shave months, perhaps even years, off the development time.”
“Years?” Luna echoed uncertainly, she had expected there to be some positive influence but not quite that much.
“Princess,” Twilight said bluntly. “I barely scratched the surface in three months. We didn’t even get a chance to look deeply into the actual process of their control systems let alone any software, hardware, materials or actual locomotors. There is so much that we don’t know about and we’re playing with some technology hasn’t even appeared in our fields of science as even theoretical. Having someone with any experience or knowledge in the field helping us would be like turning the lights on to read at night.”
Luna blinked uncertainly as she absorbed this new knowledge. For several moments the roar of the engines and the wind howling was the only sound that reached their ears.
“Well then, it seems our path would appear to be clear.” She said quietly.
Twilight nodded and reopened the book lazily. “Indeed it would.”
***
Soarin yawned widely, resisting the urge he’d been supressing for the last six hours to simply close his eyes and nod off. He lowered his book slightly and looked at the slowly breathing mare who was lying on the uncomfortably white hospital bed.
‘Spitfire, you idiot.’ He thought for what felt like the thousandth time since taking his post. His eyes glazed over slightly before he returned to his book.
She’d been lucky. Her dive behind the communications console had undoubtedly saved her life, shielding her from the worst of the fireball which tore through the vessel. Still, she hadn’t escaped entirely unscathed. A chunk of sharp metal the size of a pony’s head had torn through her during the crash, almost completely severing her right foreleg and leaving a deep, ugly gash which snaked up the length of her body. Unlucky enough to be in the way of the large piece of shrapnel, the Wonderbolt’s right wing had also suffered a similar fate to her leg and where her powerful wing had been was now just a short, bandage wrapped stump.
Soarin allowed himself a small smile despite her horrific injuries, she was far too stubborn to die.
“How is she?’ A quiet voice asked. Wave Chill stepped into the room tentatively. Like Soarin, he wasn’t wearing his uniform. The two Wonderbolts had been rotating shifts to keep an eye on her over the last week. Wave Chill had been spending more time with her, on account of Soarin’s unwanted jump to command in her absence, but the veteran flier still sneaked as much time as he could away from the team to watch over his boss. It wasn’t like there was much to do besides sit around on base anyway.
Soarin turned his head slightly to look at him. “She’ll be fine... probably. She’s still hasn’t woken up yet.”
“Still?” Wave Chill nodded and trotted around the room uneasily. She had barely been conscious over the course of the week, a fact that worried him considering how durable Pegasus physiology generally was. He’d been down on the flight deck when Spitfire had ordered the suicidal ram attack and consequently was one of the first off the doomed vessel. He could still vividly recall the titanic fireball that had erupted into the sky as Lucky Seven had ploughed into the Kaiju like a bat out of hell. As soon as the raging fires had been quelled he’d rooted through the wreckage with a few of the other Wonderbolts to find their missing leader. He couldn’t quite fathom the Wonderbolt’s without Spitfire, it would be like having a pizza without any crust.
“Hey, Wave chill, relax.” Soarin said calmly. “She’s fine.”
“She lost a wing.” He muttered quietly, staring queasily at the small stump where her wing had been. For such a flier of her skill, it was almost a fate worse than death. He looked her over, noticing patches of her fur missing, burned away in the fire, and more disturbingly, several small patches of what looked like algae stained her skin.
He pointed them out to Soarin, worry etched on his face.
“It’s a side effect of the beast’s blood. Apparently they’re toxic as all hell. She got a few drops on her and the docs have already cleaned her up, it’s nothing to worry about.” Soarin said, not looking up from the book he was reading.
Wave Chill started pacing again, the steady clacking of hooves on the laminated floor slowly wearing away at Soarin’s patience. He was about to tell Wave Chill off when the young Wonderbolt suddenly stopped.
“She’s absolutely crazy, crashing an entire airship into that thing.” He muttered, looking at Soarin intently.
“You know, I hear she’s deaf as well.” Spitfire growled, making the Wave Chill’s face pale slightly. The yellow mare hoisted herself up, glared momentarily at Wave Chill before looking over at Soarin. “Shouldn’t you be in Martingale with your parents?” She asked.
“I left early.” Soarin said, placing his book down on a haphazard stack on the small wooden table beside him. “Somepony had to take charge of the squadron.”
“I suppose.” Spitfire muttered, trailing off quietly. She wriggled uncomfortably, a look of worry appearing over her face. “Why can’t I feel my leg?”
“Look down.” Soarin suggested morbidly.
Spitfire looked down, her gut churning at the sight of a three and a half inch long stump of where her right foreleg was supposed to be. “Well shit.’ She remarked with a surprising amount of composure.
“Yeah, that more or less sums it up.” Soarin said levelly.
“And my wing?” she asked, waggling the small stump around in a sickening manner.
“Gone as well. Might want to take better care of them next time” Her XO remarked with an almost inappropriate amount of jest.
Normally Spitfire would’ve been furious at Soarin’s apparent lack of respect and solemnity but she knew well enough that he was simply putting the act on for his own sake. She could tell he was rattled, more so than he was letting on at least.
“Damn…” She muttered flatly. It seemed the fireball had left her with life, but had robbed her of her most precious possession. It was a harsh realisation that slowly sunk in… she probably would never fly again. She had a sudden urge to be sick.
“What about prosthetics?” She asked quickly
“You might be able to get one for your leg, no luck in the wing department.” Wave Chill answered. Spitfire pondered briefly at how he knew so much before remembering some ancient discussion where he mentioned something about one of his parents having a prosthetic leg. “If you’re really lucky, you might be able to get an augmetic limb from a griffon.” He added quickly.
“Do they have wings?’ Spitfire asked, her spirits lifting a little.
“Afraid not. Mechanically speaking, a leg is much simpler than a wing. Too many complex muscles and there are issues with weight as well.” Wave Chill answered gravely, making Spitfire’s mood plummet again.
“What else is wrong with me?” She asked, prompting Wave Chill to grab a clipboard hanging off the end of her bed.
“Let’s see… You broke five ribs, dislocated or fractured more bones than I have in my entire life, punctured a lung…” He passed over the wing and leg injuries, she already knew about those. “Some internal bleeding, you lost nearly two litres of blood…” He smirked. “And a probable concussion. You feel a little light-headed boss?”
“Great.” Spitfire droned, staring at the small stub of what had been her wing again. Of all the things to loose…
She fixed Wave Chill with a commanding look. “Mind giving us a moment?”
Wave Chill nodded and quickly trotted out, Spitfire’s stare following him out as he left.
“He’s a good kid. Worries too much when he doesn’t need to and doesn’t worry enough when he probably should.” Soarin piped up. “I’d trust him to be my wingman.”
“He is your wingman.” Spitfire pointed out dryly.
Soarin made a disgusted sound and picked his book up again.
“Have you been here the whole time?” Spitfire asked eventually, prodding her missing limb cautiously.
Soarin slowly turned a page. “Yup. We’ve been swapping shifts, he was about to relieve me.”
Spitfire let out an annoyed sigh. “Which has been…?”
“A week or so.” Soarin answered flatly. He flashed an amused look at her over the top of his book. “And you say I sleep a lot.”
“Soarin.” She growled dangerously.
Soarin shot a fierce scowl at her, a rare sight from the usually unflappable stallion. “What, what do you want me to say? Everything is going to be okay? Do you want me to just lie to you? You lost a wing, your career is probably over and I’ll most likely get hit with the fallout from it. “Soarin snarled. “Sorry if it doesn’t look like I’m taking things seriously, but I’m just trying to cope with it myself.” He glared at her silently for a moment. “What the hell were you thinking pulling off a stunt like that?!” He asked, his tone not quite angry but clearly less than happy.
“There was nothing else I could’ve done.”
“You could’ve tried not killing yourself.” Soarin muttered under his breath, his anger vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. He buried himself back in his book and refused to look at her.
Spitfire let out a quiet grunt and leaned back into the soft pillow, trying to ignore the tiny stub of her wing poking into the mattress. After a moment she rolled on her side and looked at Soarin in a manner that would have most stallions quietly excusing themselves from the room. Despite her horrific injuries she still managed to pull of the look rather well. “Are you really reading Daring Do?” She asked, a little condescension entering her voice.
Soarin lowered his book slightly and look at her, completely unfazed by her somewhat sultry pose. He’d been around her long enough to be completely immune to her charms. “Contrary to what you might think, it’s not a children’s book.” He said, a trace of annoyance entering his voice. He snapped the book shut and flung it at Spitfire in a lazy arc. “Since you have nothing better to do, maybe you should read it.” He added with a harsh chuckle.
Spitfire scrunched her muzzle up and pushed the book away like it carried some sort of disease. “No thanks.”
Soarin laughed again, more of an amused bark really. “Well you better find some way to amuse yourself, the doctors won’t let you out for another few weeks at least.” He checked the clock on the wall and nodded in a satisfied manner. “And unlike you, I’ve actually got work to do, so I’d better head off.”
“Boo.” Spitfire jeered.
“Well, use the knowledge that I’m running the squadron as an incentive to get better.” Soarin said with a thin smile. He trotted over to her and gave her mane a friendly ruffle. Irrespective how he felt of her nearly-suicidal actions, she was still his friend.
“That’s a great incentive.” Spitfire muttered, her eyes following Soarin as he left.
“See you around.” He said, shutting the door behind him and resigning Spitfire back to boredom until somepony else decided she needed attention. She hummed to herself quietly, occasionally throwing sidewards glances at the book Soarin had left propped up on her bedside table. The front cover showed a mustard coloured Pegasus swinging from a rope above a pool of crocodiles, a large sapphire statue grabbed in one hoof.
“Oh, what the hell.” Spitfire grumbled, “It can’t be that bad can it?”
She flipped the book over clumsily with her remaining hoof, wincing slightly as some damaged part of her body protested the movement. She glared back at the door suspiciously, wondering in Soarin was about to burst back in with a camera or something equally silly. She waited several minutes before finally deciding it was finally safe and opened the front cover.
“As Daring Do trekked through the tropical jungle…”
***
Upon arriving back in Manehatten, Midsummer Night had been hauled it to its feet by a trio of heavy lift cranes and set back into the dry dock which seemed to have lost its original purpose and was now acting as the Jaeger’s home base. Maybe her pilots would be able to convince someone to build them a more permanent facility but for now the most important thing was getting the Jaeger back into a functional state. Within a few hours of arriving, the mangled chest armour had been cut away and a one of the cranes was slowly lowering what was left of their arm to the ground. The entire reactor system was removed again, a quick systems diagnostics revealing several breaches in the coolant piping along with a near total loss of the graphite control rods. The work teams toiled long into the night, the sparks from welders and blowtorches continuing well into the next morning.
“So how are we looking?” Shane asked the, a piece of toast in one hand a mug of something that smelt, tasted and looked like coffee that the ponies called ‘Recaf’ in the other. Unusually, he and Michael were eating in one of the large slipways around the Jaeger which had become a sort of ad-hoc mess hall for the work crew. Two-hundred odd ponies filled the wide open space, yammering away as they shoved down breakfast, caught up with their friends or silently read a newspaper. The presence of the humans had turned a few heads but most the repair crew accepted their presence as phlegmatically as they had when they’d seen the broken Jaeger being hauled in for repairs.
“As always, it seems we’re up to our necks in it.” Michael responded, slowly paging through a report one the site supervisors had quickly drawn up for him following the Jaeger’s return. “Apparently the arm is complete scrap… but they might be able to salvage some bits off it to fix some of the muscle strands and armour on the other one. “
Shane winced. “Any good news?” He asked
“Well the reactor is fine, just a quick patch job… which is a small plus.” Michael answered, he read a few more lines. “And they can reattach the railgun, no problem.”
“Energy caster?” Shane queried.
“It’s fine. I’d still run a few simulated firings though, just to be safe.” Michael said, an explosion of pink in his peripheral vision catching his eye.
“Hey Mikey!” Pinkie Pie sang as she hopped between the rows of tables towards the humans, almost dragging a familiar butter-coloured pegasus behind her.
“Hello Pinkie.” Michael said, wondering what the hyperactive pony was doing in the mess hall and since when ‘Mikey’ had been an acceptable nickname.. Shane nodded in silent acknowledgement at the violent display of colours which seemed to snaffle up the chair next to Michael.
“What are you doing in here?” Michael asked, shifting over slightly in discomfort.
“Well Fluttershy here was talking about going down to Central Park to see all little critters and since I haven’t seen you guys for so long-“
“A whole three days.” Shane muttered beneath his breath sourly.
“- I thought I’d see if you’d want to come along as well!”
“Well that’s very thoughtful of you, but we’re working.” Michael said kindly. “I wouldn’t mind taking a short walk though. I saw this odd arch thingy on the way into the harbour which I wouldn’t mind checking out. It didn’t look more than about a mile away from here.”
“Oh you mean the Sun Arch?” Pinkie asked, noisily chomping down on a muffin she’d had the decency to actually get for herself.
“Wouldn’t have a clue.” Michael muttered, averting his gaze from Pinkie as she gave him an all too good a view of her half-eaten breakfast.
Pinkie cheered. “Well then I guess we can find out together!”
Michael nodded and made to leave. “Coming Shane?”
The younger of the O’connells shook his head. “Nah, I’ve got some welding on the shoulder to do.”
“Since when can you weld?” Michael asked.
“One of the workers is teaching me.” Shane admitted, slightly embarrassed.
Michael laughed quietly. “Look at you, making friends. What a socialite.” He jeered.
“Yeah, yeah... Now shut it.” Shane said gruffly, standing and swaggering away before Michael could tease him any further.
Pinkie, in the end, turned out to be right. It was a lazy twenty minute stroll down to the titanic golden structure which wasn’t so much an arch as it was a large, upside down horseshoe-shaped ornament suspended thirty feet in the air on a thick central support. The horseshoe was decorated so it almost appeared to be a massive set of majestic golden wings which faced east, out over the sprawling bay. The entire construct sat proudly on a large, white stone slab at least hundred feet in diameter. Two raised walkways ran around the edge of the slab, meeting at a large dais which sat in directly in front of the large, golden support. An intricate pictogram was carved into the stone circle and ran along the outer rim of the slab, gently spiralling inwards until it ended in a large sun carved directly in the centre of the slab. Michael examined the pictogram, it reminded him of the Bayeux Tapestry although much, much longer and dare he say, more detailed.
“What is this?” He asked, tapping his foot against the slab. The carvings, while meaningless to him, would obviously mean something to one of the ponies with him.
Pinkie lowered her head and examined the pictures closely. She trotted around the edge of the platform, her head low like a sniffer dog. After a few minutes so returned back to Michael and shrugged. “It looks like a story.”
“Of?” Michael asked, slightly exasperated.
“The rise and fall of Nightmare Moon. “ Pinkie guessed.
“Who?”
Pinkie rolled her eyes knowingly. “Oh just this really mean mare who tried to blanket Equestria in eternal night, no biggie.”
Michael whistled lowly. “Shesh, sounds like one hell of a lady. What happened to her?”
“Celestia banished her to the moon.” Pinkie replied casually.
Michael hid his surprise. “Sounds fun.”
“Not really, I’ve been there and it wasn’t anything special.” Pinkie said, blissfully unaware of Michael’s sarcastic tone. She trotted around the carving once more. “Still, if this is the rise and fall of Nightmare Moon, it isn’t anything like I’ve ever seen it.”
“What do you mean?”
Pinkie shrugged. “Well I don’t know, I can’t understand most of it for starters.”
“You know Fluttershy, when you want to weigh in here, feel free.” Michael said unexpectedly. He’d barely heard the shy mare say anything beyond a quiet squeak and his curiosity was constantly ravaged to hear her actually speak.
Fluttershy yelped quietly and buried her face behind her mane.
“Hmm, still the Chatty Cathy I see.” Michael noted wryly, turning his attention back to Pinkie.
“Surely you can understand it though, I mean, your own people made it right?’
“Well, this thing is like, a thousand years old at least.” Pinkie shot back. “Most of its meaning is complete gibberish, even for me.”
“Wait, you said Celestia got rid of this Nightmare Moon character… how could’ve this been made a thousand years ago if Celestia’s still around.”
Pinkie grinned stupidly. “Celestia is easily a thousand years old, if not more. Imagine how big her birthday cake would be!"”
Michael’s jaw worked up and down silently, his mind unable to grasp a living being that old. The amount that the princess most have experienced in her life… He just couldn’t comprehend it.
“Wow.” He said flatly, looking around the plaza. Trying to ground himself in reality a little more, he gestured to the plaza around him. “So what’s this place used for, is it some kind of memorial or something?”
“Not really. This, is the epicentre of the Summer Sun Celebration. It’s a festival held all over Equestria where we celebrate the longest day of the year and the return of the sun after Nightmare Moon.” Pinkie rambled. “From this spot Celestia raises the sun to start the festival.”
“Whoa, whoa whoa, wait…” Michael holding up a hand incredulously. “Celestia raises the sun?”
Pinkie looked at him sceptically. “Uh… yeah?”
“So you’re telling me Sun-butt raises the sun every day, an object which is millions of miles away and would weigh millions upon millions of tons… and she can’t even fight off a single Kaiju?”
“Well yeah! I mean… of course she raises the sun!” Pinkie stammered.
“Let me guess, she told you that.” Michael smirked, leaving Pinkie even more flustered. He savoured the feeling for a moment before looking around again. “Well, I think I’ve had enough of a history lesson, we should probably head back now.”
Pinkie seemed to snap out of her confused state, the prospect of being a tour guide again overriding her confusion. “Oh I know a great way back! Come on, I’ll show you…” She trotted off, leaving Michael and Fluttershy alone on the podium.
“I think you may have given her a lot to think about.” Said a voice so quietly Michael almost missed it. He glanced down, slightly surprised to see Fluttershy looking up at him with something approaching cautious admiration.
“I may have. What do you think?” Michael asked.
Fluttershy hid behind her mane meekly. “I… I don’t really know.”
“Well good for you then,” Michael smiled, trying to make sense of the pictograms again but without luck. If he remembered, maybe he’d see if he could find someone better versed in Equestrian history to read it for him.
“Come on you guys!” Pinkie yelled, urging them to catch up to her.
Michael glanced down at the timid Pegasus. “Let’s get going then, don’t want to keep her waiting now, do we?”
Fluttershy nodded quickly, the thought of making Pinkie Pie impatient more than enough to get her moving.
***
The trio walked through the now bustling streets of Manehatten, the morning having progressed enough for most ponies to be out and about. As Michael followed Pinkie he quickly found out that they wasn’t just ponies that lived in the vast city, He spied donkeys selling vegetables at small stalls, several small lizard-like creatures which darted in and out of sight amongst the crowds like ghosts and most interesting of all, what looked like a poster which advertised a seminar being run by a creature he could only describe as a minotaur that could’ve been Rambo’s personal trainer.
“Lots of variety here.” He noted, finally realising why most of the crowd around him didn’t think he was anything too out of the ordinary. His head spun around like a top, unsure of what bizarre sight he should be taking in first.
“Tell me about it, Manehatten is probably one of the most diverse cities in the world.” Pinkie agreed, pushing past a pair of the small lizards and meandering down a much smaller side street.
“Where are we?” Michael asked, shoving his hands in his pocks and spinning around on the spot. The street was lined with identical tall brick buildings, giving him the impression someone had just copied and pasted the design over and over again.
“Oh we’re lost aren’t we?” Fluttershy squeaked nervously, looking around in panic.
“No we’re not you silly! We’re just an alley away from the train yards and from there, the docks!” Pinkie said cheerfully, bouncing down a long, dark and uninviting alleyway.
“Uh, Pinkie? Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Michael asked, following the hyperactive pink pony anyway.
“Sure I do, see?” Pinkie said as the trio emerged from the long alley onto another bustling city street. Scores of ponies trotted past, some pulling carts while nearly a dozen stood around and chatted casually with one another. There were a few stalls set up in the street, their vendors loudly advertising their goods. On the opposite side of the road, was a large shed emblazoned with the logo of the Equestrian Railway.
“I like trains.” Michael said dumbly, following Pinkie across the street and around the goods yard which lay beyond. He pressed himself up against the chain-link fence, ogling at a large steam locomotive about ten metres away which was being cleaned down of soot outside its shed. Behind the steam loco sat a large, grimy, diesel engine with its engine bay doors open. A few short tails were visible as what looked like two engineers fished around inside the cavernous compartment, cleaning and replacing a few parts that Michael couldn’t make out from where he stood.
“What, don’t you have trains where you live?” Pinkie asked curiously.
“Not many in Alaska.” Michael admitted as another diesel engine rumbled past slowly in the distance, a long tail of empty coal cars trailing behind it. He gnashed his teeth together in annoyance, wishing he had a notepad and pen handy.
“Oooh! New trains!” Pinkie said, skirting further around the yard’s perimeter. Curious, Michal followed her until she pointed out a pair of diesel engines resting in a siding a few metres away. Unlike the other diesel engines working on the yard, these two monstrous constructions were almost spotless, brand new engines Michael guessed. Each one was about twenty metres long and by the way they radiated strength and power, they seemed more than capable of hauling almost any cargo.
‘Even Jaegers?’ Michael wondered silently, pondering the possibility of using trains as a fast deployment method rather than helicopters. While the airborne assets would be much faster and more ideal as they could cross any terrain, they’d take a great deal of time to develop and if the goods yard was any indication, Equestria already had a very good rail network. One of the locomotive’s engineers seemed to notice the small group ogling them and walked over cheerfully.
“Checking out the new DCEs are we?” She asked cheerfully, leaning up against the fence idly.
“They’re beautiful.” Michael agreed. “How much can they haul?”
“One of them could pull about 70 fully loaded cars, no problem.” The engineer boasted.
Michael nodded and examined the two engines closely, the design seemed oddly familiar… He scanned for the engine numbers, silently shocked to discover they were the same as the ones he’d recorded earlier. Well, at least he thought they were. He made a mental note to double-check when he got back to the repair yard.
“Say, you’re than alien with the big robot aren’t you?” The engineer asked casually, her eyes narrowing slightly.
“That’s me.” Michael admitted.
“Mighty fine piece of kit you have there.” She said admiringly. “Now, I might just be a bit crazy, but I swear I saw that robot of yours in the foothills around Bolton last week.
“Yeah, that was us.” Michael answered, now entirely convinced these were the trains he’d seen.
She laughed triumphantly. “I knew it! Everypony else called me nuts, but I knew I’d seen something like your robot before” She checked her watch and her eyebrows shot up in alarm. “Shoot, I’d better get going! It’s been nice chattin’ with ya.” She said quickly, galloping away before her words sunk in.
“Wait, what did you say?” Michael yelled, but the engineer was already back in the cab of her engine before Michael could gather his wits. The train pulled away smoothly with a loud blast of its horn, leaving Michael with more questions than he had answers.
***
Pinkie led the trio back to the repair yard without further incident, although Michael was too wrapped up in thoughts to really notice if anything ridiculous happened anyway. He wanted answers but had no idea where he could even start looking for them.
Oddly enough, his answers were already waiting for him back at the repair yard in two pony shaped packages.
“The princesses have asked to see you.” A guard politely said to him as they passed through the heavily guarded checkpoint which blocked the main route into the yard. The dozen or so armoured ponies glared at Pinkie and Fluttershy suspiciously as they followed Michael but knew well enough they were allowed in with him.
“Princesses?” Michael asked, an eyebrow raised curiously.
The guard nodded. “Yes sir, they just arrived.” He gestured off to a large raised platform which overlooked the work site. His curiosity rising, Michael strode up to the dais, Pinkie and Fluttershy still trailing in his wake. They’d barely seen the occupants when Pinkie let out a deafening shriek of delight.
“Twilight! You’re back!” Pinkie squealed with delight, viciously tackling her friend to the ground and smothering her with a rib-crushing hug.
“Pinkie! Can’t breathe!” Twilight wheezed as her friend’s hug tightened. Fluttershy joined her pink friend, although much more restrained, in welcoming Twilight.
“Well hello…” Michael trailed off, noticing the dark and majestic winged-unicorn standing behind Twilight silently. While he didn’t know the exact reason why it was the case, he’d figured out the ones with both wings and a horn seemed to be the important ones. He looked her over, wondering silently how he’d missed her earlier. She was dark and imposing and seemed to take up much more of the platform than she did physically. An ancient measure of wit and intellect was visible in the depths of her eyes and Michael was under no impression she was either young or foolish. Most interesting about her though, was the way her midnight blue mane flowed and shimmered despite the lack of wind. It took him a moment to realise that there were small pinpricks of light, stars almost, dotted across her mane.
She was singularly the most impressive and scary pony he’d ever met and he didn’t even know her name.
Twilight managed to worm her way out of Pinkie’s grasp and flashed Michael a friendly smile. Ignoring the constant ‘Did you miss us?’ from Pinkie.
“Hello again.” She said cheerfully.
“Twilight.” Michael muttered, not taking his eyes off the still silent titan which hovered behind her.
Twilight looked between Luna and Michael, slightly confused before finally remembering they hadn’t been introduced before. “Right, of course. Princess Luna, this is Michael O’Connell. He’s one of the Jaeger’s pilots.” She looked back at Michael. “Michael, this is Princess Luna. She is Celestia’s younger sister and is one of Equestria’s crown princesses.”
“A pleasure.” Michael said, extending his hand in greeting. Much to his amusement, Luna simply stared at the limb with confusion before finally inclining her head gracefully.
“So, uh, what brings you down here, your highness?” Michael asked respectfully. He was unashamed to admit that Luna intimidated him slightly, even more so than the Kaiju did. ‘Celestia and Luna… the sun and the moon. Parallels... How interesting.’ He thought to himself.
“We have a proposition for you.” Luna said, her voice booming over the repair yard. Several nearby ponies turned to look, some even gawping at the two princesses.
Michael folded his arms across his chest, curious. “Alright, let’s hear it.”
“We would prefer to discuss it with your sibling present.” Luna said.
“Shane? He’s up the shoulder doing a spot fix. I can go ge-.”
“That will not be necessary.” Luna said, closing her eyes and concentrating.
Before Michael could question her, the world turned dark for split second. His insides churned and twisted uncomfortably, a feeling exasperated by a sudden sense of vertigo which overcame him. He had barely a moment to register this strange, unpleasant sensation before he, Twilight and Luna appeared on top of the Jaeger with a loud crack of displaced air. He fell to his knees panting and coughing.
“Apologies, Teleportation can be a little unnerving for the uninitiated.” Luna said, her voice ringing with a faint trace of amusement that indicated she wasn’t sorry in the slightest.
“Unnerving? Jesus, warn me before you do something like that!” Michael panted, struggling to hold his last meal down.
“Michael, there’s ponies on the conpod.” Shane noted insightfully, his face appearing over the edge of the Jaeger’s head.
“Yes, thank you, Captain Obvious.” Michael snapped snarkily, trying to stand but deciding it would just be better idea to sit down instead. He gestured to the two ponies weakly. “Moon-butt here has a proposition.”
Luna scowled at the somewhat vulgar name but nodded. With a slight shake of her head she summoned four plump midnight blue cushions for them to sit on along with an empty metal bucket for Michael. The two humans stared at the small pillows before cautiously making themselves comfortable.
“Now, where do we begin?” Luna asked rhetorically, admiring the view of the city she had from the top of the Jaeger’s head. “Perhaps I should give you some background first.” She said finally.
“A little over three months ago, we found something in the Northern Wastes. Something not of this world.” Luna explained to the intently listening humans. She paused for dramatic effect. “We found what we believe is one of your Jaegers.”
“What?” Shane whispered.
“One of your Jaegers,” Luna repeated. “Lying broken and damaged in the ice. Brawler Yukon it called itself. We have moved the wreck to Manehatten today for further study. Both Twilight and myself thought that it was only right to tell you, considering what we want to do with it.”
“No way.” Michael breathed incredulously. No way had they been sitting on a Jaeger for that long, Brawler Yukon of all of them…
“It is the truth.” Luna stated simply.
Shane and Michael shared a look of surprise, they had no reason to believe the dark alicorn was lying…but how did it get here? What had the ponies been doing with it?
“And why are we only being told this now?” Shane asked cautiously, voicing the final part of the question he and Michael had subconsciously shared. For people that they were supposed to be trusting, the Equestrian’s lack of transparency was shocking.
Luna winced slightly, she’d prepared for this question but she hadn’t expected quite so much hostility. “My sister did not think it was prudent to tell you. She feared you would… react badly. We are telling you this now because I have a duty to protect my subjects and you are our best hope for doing that.”
“React Badly?” Shane cut in. “What did she think we would do? Go and stomp it to scrap?” He frowned momentarily. “Who’s your sister?”
“Celestia.” Luna answered wryly.
“Oh… makes sense.” He muttered, his opinion of Equestria’s foremost ruler made quite apparent.
“Alright, what exactly did you do to it?” Michael asked. “And what do you want to do to it?”
“We investigated the wreck and conducted what research we could.” Luna said, reasoning that telling the truth would be the best option. “We were int-.”
Michael held a hand up to cut her off, a feeling in his gut rising that wasn’t his lunch. He thought back to the conversation with Shane about helping with the Equestrians with Jaegers nearly a week ago on the freighter. They hadn’t reached a consensus on it yet… but then again having one of the princesses come forward and explain they’d been holding a Jaeger for the last three months was the last thing they had expected.
“Let me guess, you want our help? To what? Build one?” He asked, somehow knowing exactly what she was about to say.
“How did you know?” Luna asked.
“It was an inspired guess.” Michael quipped before his voice became serious again. “Now, what makes you think we would help you? A successful partnership usually requires trust, something the ruling class of your people haven’t shown us much of, to be honest.”
“We understand if you feel angered by us not being so forthcoming…” Luna trailed off. The subtleties of diplomacy were not her strong suite even with her periodic involvement with the ruling Canterlot Council.
“Angry? I’m furious.” Michael said with a decided measure of calm which seemed to contradict his own words. He paused, letting his words sink in. “The funny thing is, we talked about this situation last week and honestly? We can’t see any feasible option other than to help you, as sad as that is. We’re stuck here now and that last fight is proof enough. We won’t last long.”
“Even with this new development you would help us?” Luna asked, slightly surprised. She thought she’d have a harder time convincing them to work together.
Michael smiled briefly. “I anything it makes our job a bit easier. Depending what’s left on Brawler we might be able to salvage a bit to use on our own Jaeger.”
“I thought you would’ve been a little more cross.” Twilight butted in obliviously.
“Look pork chop. I’m a bit put out by the fact that you guys have more or less stole one of our Jaegers but getting angry isn’t going to make anything better.” Shane said bluntly. “So how about you just don’t question out mood, and just roll with it. Okay?”
Twilight nodded sheepishly. “Works for me.”
Luna smiled, pleased that at least the two humans seemed cooperative. How that would progress when development actually started… well, that was another question all together.
“So, do we have an accord?” She asked. “You supply us with the knowledge and we supply the materials and work force. Additionally, the wreck of Brawler Yukon will be available for your use, whatever that may be.”
“Not unlike what we’re doing now.” Michael noted.
“Aye, but perhaps by working together we can make something truly amazing, no?”
Michael looked over at his brother for confirmation, pleased to note the slight nod of his head he made. He guessed Shane wasn’t one-hundred percent happy with the agreement but hell, if it gave them some cannon fodder to hide behind when a Kaiju came knocking that could only be a good thing.
He nodded once. “I guess we have a deal then.”