![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ajremixI maybe not have made it as clear as I should have, but there are occasional time skips/passing so it's not like this whole series takes place in, like, three months.
Title: Morning Calm, Midnight Fall
Fandom: Pacific Rim (courier faction au)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2402
Characters: Sterling, Tendo, Jackson
Summary: As a kid Sterling never imagined himself fighting in a giant robot, not even when he was older and his
little brother decided to become a Jaeger pilot. This is the story of how he came to die in one anyway.
Somewhere a siren was blaring and Sterling buried his head under his pillow because he knew it was for him, no matter how much he wished otherwise. This was further compounded when some jerk pounding on his door bellowed out, "Rise 'n shine, pretty boy! Time to show the world that dazzling smile of yours!"
The pounding didn't stop- didn't even have the good grace to be rhythmic, switching up tempos just because the jerk knew it irritated Sterling -and he muttered curses to himself as he untied the sleeves of his coveralls from his waist and shrugged into it. He didn't bother to zip it up, just opened the door to glare fuzzily at Tendo Choi on the other side. "You're a jerk," he told the jerk.
"And we've got kaiju in the Breach." Choi was entirely unfazed at Sterling's sleep-addled death glare, instead leading him toward the lift.
"Why the alarms, though?" It was an old argument. One Sterling was pretty guaranteed to make at every ass-crack-o-dawn Breach, even at his first post in Panama City. "There's only a 50% chance it'll head east. And another 50% that it'll head north and another 50% it'll land in our jurisdiction. It'll take more than five hours for it to get remotely close to any Miracle Mile so why the abrupt wake-up call? Why not just a gentle little shake? Or a smooth jazz DJ crooning, 'It's time to get up and track down some monstrosity from the beyond'? At not three in the morning."
Choi slapped Sterling on the back, making him stumble a bit. "You're adorable when you're cranky, Ra-leigh. You knew we were expecting a kaiju any day."
"Rah-leigh," he corrected, drawing out the 'a'. It was a running joke around Anchorage, mixing up pronunciations ever since he and the youngest Becket did it in their first meeting. Sterling yawned hugely, "It was Friday." Family Skype Call Night. With three different timezones and three different occupations to work around, they weren't always at the most opportune times, but they made sacrifices to make sure they weren't missed.
"Your brother still waiting for a ride?"
"He thought for sure he'd get the new one they're building for LA, but he's stuck playing spare in Lima."
"Tough break."
"You're telling me."
The lift deposited them in the LOCCENT where they made an immediate bee-line for the coffee machine. Or, in Sterling's case, the hot water dispenser, ripping open a bag of Irish Breakfast Tea and dunking it in the cup. "Heathen," Choi said above the rim of his black coffee. Sterling made a face at him before pocketing a couple packets of creamer and sugar.
Sterling took his place at the comm station, replacing the young new tech fresh out of the Academy. The kid smiled shyly at him as they exchanged morning pleasantries and then hovered at Sterling's shoulder, eager to glean all he could from his first potential kaiju encounter. Choi went up to the main station, calling out to the night crew, "What's the news?"
"We're not actually sure," the tech at the tracking station said.
"What do you mean?"
"We can't seem to get a good read on it. It keeps popping in and out of our trackers."
That got frowns all around and Sterling's hands flew across his console, getting in touch with various other Shatterdomes and tracking stations to see if anyone else had more information. Choi's brow furrowed, "This isn't a false alarm, is it?"
"No, sir. It's in the approximate arrival dates, there was a Breach reaction and we picked up something coming out, but we can't get anything more than that."
"Stile?"
"So far the chatter from the other 'domes concur," Sterling announced. "No one's able to get a good track on whatever it is. Not even able to confirm if it's a kaiju or not."
"This is definitely Not Good." If they couldn't track it, they couldn't anticipate where it'd make landfall. Even if they got every able Jaeger on call and battle-ready, that was still a lot of ground to cover with possibly very little reaction time. "Any suggestions besides sit and wait?" Choi asked the room at large. There were a couple hesitant suggestions, things like running diagnostic checks or resetting something or other. More busy work for themselves than anything actually helpful but it made them feel like they were doing something so Choi gave them his okay. He paced around the LOCCENT, watching as the checks came back green and the resets were complete. They still couldn't get a read on the kaiju.
"What do we do?" Someone asked, sounding as small as everyone probably felt.
Choi fiddled with the rosary around his hand, eyes hard on the far wall. Finally he said, "Put all the pilots on stand-by, we're on full staff until we find out what this thing is up to. When the Marshall gets here, we'll contact PPDC HQ, see if they have any ideas. Anything happens, keep me updated."
~*~*~*~
It happened faster than anyone expected, ghosting through PPDC trackers, disappearing for hours at a time but it was definitely on course to hit somewhere along northeast Asian. The Hong Kong and Tokyo Shatterdomes were likely a scrambling mess, trying to anticipate where the kaiju- Wraith -was likely to hit. Shaolin Rogue was dispatched to Taiwan and Crimson Typhoon to the upper parts of the Philippines. Even the Vladivostok Jaegers was geared up, just in case.
But Wraith found a hole in their defenses and less than eight hours after arrival, making it the fastest kaiju on record, it made landfall in the one spot no Jaeger was protecting.
Sterling was in the Anchorage chow hall when it happened, having been relieved from his post not thirty minutes before. The television's program abruptly switched to breaking news, the anchor looking somewhat ashened, voice tight to keep it from breaking. "We have emergency reports that the kaiju that broke through the Breach earlier today has made landfall on South Korea's largest island, Jeju. No Jaegers are currently engaged with it. Analysts say it may take up to four hours for the closest Jaegers, Echo Saber in Tokyo and Shaolin Rogue in Taiwan, to be transported to Jeju. South Korea's Air Force have been trying to draw it away from Jeju City, the largest city on the island, but don't seem to be affecting it in any way. At the time of the attack, Jeju's population was over half a million. We will bring you updates as they occur." The anchor's voice cracked and when he brought a hand to his mouth briefly, the Golden Gate pin on his lapel flashed- he was someone that had once lived in San Francisco or had lost someone in the attack. "Our prayers go out to South Korea and all those affected."
"Echo Saber and Shaolin Rogue?" Someone near the front of the chow line cried, unable to decide between horror and outrage. "What the hell- the Vladivostok Shatterdome's the closest one in the area!"
"It's because of fucking North Korea," said another. "They're fine with Russia protecting their coast, but God forbid anyone tries to use their airspace to protect the South."
Sterling could barely hear them above the ragged breathing in his ears. Someone's face suddenly floated into view, shaking his shoulder slightly. "Hey, you okay?"
That was when he realized the loud, ragged breathing was him hyperventilating. His knees wobbled and he grabbed on to something- maybe someone -and said, "I'm gonna be sick."
In the end Sterling didn't actually throw up, just curled on the bathroom floor, slotted in the tiny space between the toilet and wall, trying to remember how to breathe. Something jingly echoed in the small room and it took Sterling a moment to recognize it as his phone. He fumbled for it, not bothering to sound like he wasn't breaking apart at the seams as he answered, "Raleigh."
"/형./"
That was it. That one word from that one person was all that was needed to undo Sterling entirely. "Riley," was all he managed before the tears started coming. He didn't know how long they sat there, both crying into their phones, unable to talk but able to shoulder part of that pain simply because they felt it, even with the distance between them. Korea had always been the home they barely knew, but suddenly it was home. A home they failed to protect, even with all the training and knowledge they'd gained specifically for that purpose. All those people dead, all those lives ruined, and there they were, sitting on the wrong side of the ocean. And it hurt.
---
형 - big brother
---
~*~*~*~
When Jackson called the first thing he said was, "I'm so sorry."
The only possible reply to that was, "It's not your fault." He'd been hearing a lot of that since word got out he'd been born in Korea, but out of all of them only Jackson was actually apologizing. "We know how they've been treating your budget." Because Jaegers cost so much money and so very few people believed they needed to upgrade their tracking systems. Not when it'd been working so well for the better part of six years. Every kaiju was different, yes, but nobody thought that kind of difference was possible.
"Got a team checking over the carcass with the K-heads, trying to figure out how this thing gave us the slip. We're working 'round the clock coming up with a new system. I've been told not to worry about going over-budget so at least they're treating this seriously."
"Hope you can figure it out."
"So do I." Jackson sounded rundown, like he'd been on a three day work binge sustained only by caffeine and the knowledge his work was too important to stop and his body's need to shut down was finally catching up to him. Sterling hoped he'd already spoken to Ryland and that he'd be hitting the sheets after this. When Sterling said as much, Jackson just chuckled. "Gonna have to. Not much else for me to work on right now, just waiting on results. Also I hear that South Korea has requested an emergency PPDC meeting. They need to do something to reassure their citizens they're safe and the PPDC needs to show that they're doing what they can to prevent something like this from happening again."
"Do you know what they might be planning?"
"Not yet," Jackson admitted, "but I'll find out."
Sterling just smiled into his phone. "You always do."
~*~*~*~
The plan, announced not a month later, was a new Jaeger based in Korea, funded predominantly by the South Korean government- which, Jackson explained later, was due to the fact the PPDC decided the attack was a fluke and with updated tracking systems, the tragedy wouldn't be repeated. China, however, matched about half of what Korea was putting into the Jaeger on the condition it would protect their portion of the Yellow Sea. Fluke or not, the Chinese were not willing to put even their most distant populated cities in that much risk. The PPDC relented despite still seeing it as a waste of resources and gave the project what was essentially its bare minimum support.
The project hit a snag early on in the form of North Korea, which wasn't surprising, and led to Ryland practically biting off Sterling's ear as he ranted about it, which probably was surprising to anyone who didn't know Ryland well but Sterling couldn't help find somewhat amusing. In the end, China and Russia helped bring the project back on track and Japan footed part of the bill as well, wanting South Korea's new Jaeger to act as back-up as the Jeju tragedy made them concerned about relying solely on Echo Saber as their only defense.
Construction began on the base- not nearly big or well stocked enough to be called a Shatterdome -on the western most part of the ruined Jeju which seemed most practical as well as sadly fitting. Recovery workers trawled through the wreck of Jeju City, taking up the northern half of the island, demolishing any building fit to come down and it was like the entire island was crawling with machines. It would take months until the Jeju base was complete and months more until the new Jaeger was ready for its first tests. When they started wiring the place up, Jackson said he'd be sent over to supervise.
"Without the PPDC's full support," he said during one Family Skype Call Night, "they won't have the full equipment the 'domes have. Even with someone else footing the bill, it's all too expensive. So I'm going in to try to find alternate solutions to meet their financial needs."
That was a relieving thought. With Jackson there, they knew the base's electronic systems would be top of the line, full support be damned.
Which did not at all prepare Sterling for when he got transfer orders the same week the Jeju base's construction was concluded.
"Congrats, man!" Choi slapped him on the shoulder, nearly knocking him double. "Good luck to you out there!"
"But they want me to be Chief Technician!"
"So?"
"I don't have the experience for it! Who the hell thought it was a good idea to put me in charge of a Jaeger and it's pilots?"
"If it makes you feel any better, when they asked me if I'd recommend you for the position and I couldn't say yes fast enough."
"Why?"
"Because you'd be great at it?" Choi gave him a look, unable to comprehend why Sterling was getting so worked up about it. "You've been a tech almost two years now and you've got the skills in spades: you're smart, ingenuitive, personable and you know how to get shit done. You took a huge load off my shoulders when you started making sure everything with Chrome Brutus was kept on task. I haven't seen anything that makes me think you'd blow the position."
"I was just doing what needed to be done."
"I know. And that's why you'll be great at this."
"I...." despite himself, Sterling felt a flush of pride. "Thanks, man. I appreciate it."
"Forget it. And remember, Ra-leigh: if you need anything- anything at all, even just someone to chatter at -give me a call."
"It's Rah-leigh. And I will."
Title: Morning Calm, Midnight Fall
Fandom: Pacific Rim (courier faction au)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2402
Characters: Sterling, Tendo, Jackson
Summary: As a kid Sterling never imagined himself fighting in a giant robot, not even when he was older and his
little brother decided to become a Jaeger pilot. This is the story of how he came to die in one anyway.
Somewhere a siren was blaring and Sterling buried his head under his pillow because he knew it was for him, no matter how much he wished otherwise. This was further compounded when some jerk pounding on his door bellowed out, "Rise 'n shine, pretty boy! Time to show the world that dazzling smile of yours!"
The pounding didn't stop- didn't even have the good grace to be rhythmic, switching up tempos just because the jerk knew it irritated Sterling -and he muttered curses to himself as he untied the sleeves of his coveralls from his waist and shrugged into it. He didn't bother to zip it up, just opened the door to glare fuzzily at Tendo Choi on the other side. "You're a jerk," he told the jerk.
"And we've got kaiju in the Breach." Choi was entirely unfazed at Sterling's sleep-addled death glare, instead leading him toward the lift.
"Why the alarms, though?" It was an old argument. One Sterling was pretty guaranteed to make at every ass-crack-o-dawn Breach, even at his first post in Panama City. "There's only a 50% chance it'll head east. And another 50% that it'll head north and another 50% it'll land in our jurisdiction. It'll take more than five hours for it to get remotely close to any Miracle Mile so why the abrupt wake-up call? Why not just a gentle little shake? Or a smooth jazz DJ crooning, 'It's time to get up and track down some monstrosity from the beyond'? At not three in the morning."
Choi slapped Sterling on the back, making him stumble a bit. "You're adorable when you're cranky, Ra-leigh. You knew we were expecting a kaiju any day."
"Rah-leigh," he corrected, drawing out the 'a'. It was a running joke around Anchorage, mixing up pronunciations ever since he and the youngest Becket did it in their first meeting. Sterling yawned hugely, "It was Friday." Family Skype Call Night. With three different timezones and three different occupations to work around, they weren't always at the most opportune times, but they made sacrifices to make sure they weren't missed.
"Your brother still waiting for a ride?"
"He thought for sure he'd get the new one they're building for LA, but he's stuck playing spare in Lima."
"Tough break."
"You're telling me."
The lift deposited them in the LOCCENT where they made an immediate bee-line for the coffee machine. Or, in Sterling's case, the hot water dispenser, ripping open a bag of Irish Breakfast Tea and dunking it in the cup. "Heathen," Choi said above the rim of his black coffee. Sterling made a face at him before pocketing a couple packets of creamer and sugar.
Sterling took his place at the comm station, replacing the young new tech fresh out of the Academy. The kid smiled shyly at him as they exchanged morning pleasantries and then hovered at Sterling's shoulder, eager to glean all he could from his first potential kaiju encounter. Choi went up to the main station, calling out to the night crew, "What's the news?"
"We're not actually sure," the tech at the tracking station said.
"What do you mean?"
"We can't seem to get a good read on it. It keeps popping in and out of our trackers."
That got frowns all around and Sterling's hands flew across his console, getting in touch with various other Shatterdomes and tracking stations to see if anyone else had more information. Choi's brow furrowed, "This isn't a false alarm, is it?"
"No, sir. It's in the approximate arrival dates, there was a Breach reaction and we picked up something coming out, but we can't get anything more than that."
"Stile?"
"So far the chatter from the other 'domes concur," Sterling announced. "No one's able to get a good track on whatever it is. Not even able to confirm if it's a kaiju or not."
"This is definitely Not Good." If they couldn't track it, they couldn't anticipate where it'd make landfall. Even if they got every able Jaeger on call and battle-ready, that was still a lot of ground to cover with possibly very little reaction time. "Any suggestions besides sit and wait?" Choi asked the room at large. There were a couple hesitant suggestions, things like running diagnostic checks or resetting something or other. More busy work for themselves than anything actually helpful but it made them feel like they were doing something so Choi gave them his okay. He paced around the LOCCENT, watching as the checks came back green and the resets were complete. They still couldn't get a read on the kaiju.
"What do we do?" Someone asked, sounding as small as everyone probably felt.
Choi fiddled with the rosary around his hand, eyes hard on the far wall. Finally he said, "Put all the pilots on stand-by, we're on full staff until we find out what this thing is up to. When the Marshall gets here, we'll contact PPDC HQ, see if they have any ideas. Anything happens, keep me updated."
~*~*~*~
It happened faster than anyone expected, ghosting through PPDC trackers, disappearing for hours at a time but it was definitely on course to hit somewhere along northeast Asian. The Hong Kong and Tokyo Shatterdomes were likely a scrambling mess, trying to anticipate where the kaiju- Wraith -was likely to hit. Shaolin Rogue was dispatched to Taiwan and Crimson Typhoon to the upper parts of the Philippines. Even the Vladivostok Jaegers was geared up, just in case.
But Wraith found a hole in their defenses and less than eight hours after arrival, making it the fastest kaiju on record, it made landfall in the one spot no Jaeger was protecting.
Sterling was in the Anchorage chow hall when it happened, having been relieved from his post not thirty minutes before. The television's program abruptly switched to breaking news, the anchor looking somewhat ashened, voice tight to keep it from breaking. "We have emergency reports that the kaiju that broke through the Breach earlier today has made landfall on South Korea's largest island, Jeju. No Jaegers are currently engaged with it. Analysts say it may take up to four hours for the closest Jaegers, Echo Saber in Tokyo and Shaolin Rogue in Taiwan, to be transported to Jeju. South Korea's Air Force have been trying to draw it away from Jeju City, the largest city on the island, but don't seem to be affecting it in any way. At the time of the attack, Jeju's population was over half a million. We will bring you updates as they occur." The anchor's voice cracked and when he brought a hand to his mouth briefly, the Golden Gate pin on his lapel flashed- he was someone that had once lived in San Francisco or had lost someone in the attack. "Our prayers go out to South Korea and all those affected."
"Echo Saber and Shaolin Rogue?" Someone near the front of the chow line cried, unable to decide between horror and outrage. "What the hell- the Vladivostok Shatterdome's the closest one in the area!"
"It's because of fucking North Korea," said another. "They're fine with Russia protecting their coast, but God forbid anyone tries to use their airspace to protect the South."
Sterling could barely hear them above the ragged breathing in his ears. Someone's face suddenly floated into view, shaking his shoulder slightly. "Hey, you okay?"
That was when he realized the loud, ragged breathing was him hyperventilating. His knees wobbled and he grabbed on to something- maybe someone -and said, "I'm gonna be sick."
In the end Sterling didn't actually throw up, just curled on the bathroom floor, slotted in the tiny space between the toilet and wall, trying to remember how to breathe. Something jingly echoed in the small room and it took Sterling a moment to recognize it as his phone. He fumbled for it, not bothering to sound like he wasn't breaking apart at the seams as he answered, "Raleigh."
"/형./"
That was it. That one word from that one person was all that was needed to undo Sterling entirely. "Riley," was all he managed before the tears started coming. He didn't know how long they sat there, both crying into their phones, unable to talk but able to shoulder part of that pain simply because they felt it, even with the distance between them. Korea had always been the home they barely knew, but suddenly it was home. A home they failed to protect, even with all the training and knowledge they'd gained specifically for that purpose. All those people dead, all those lives ruined, and there they were, sitting on the wrong side of the ocean. And it hurt.
---
형 - big brother
---
~*~*~*~
When Jackson called the first thing he said was, "I'm so sorry."
The only possible reply to that was, "It's not your fault." He'd been hearing a lot of that since word got out he'd been born in Korea, but out of all of them only Jackson was actually apologizing. "We know how they've been treating your budget." Because Jaegers cost so much money and so very few people believed they needed to upgrade their tracking systems. Not when it'd been working so well for the better part of six years. Every kaiju was different, yes, but nobody thought that kind of difference was possible.
"Got a team checking over the carcass with the K-heads, trying to figure out how this thing gave us the slip. We're working 'round the clock coming up with a new system. I've been told not to worry about going over-budget so at least they're treating this seriously."
"Hope you can figure it out."
"So do I." Jackson sounded rundown, like he'd been on a three day work binge sustained only by caffeine and the knowledge his work was too important to stop and his body's need to shut down was finally catching up to him. Sterling hoped he'd already spoken to Ryland and that he'd be hitting the sheets after this. When Sterling said as much, Jackson just chuckled. "Gonna have to. Not much else for me to work on right now, just waiting on results. Also I hear that South Korea has requested an emergency PPDC meeting. They need to do something to reassure their citizens they're safe and the PPDC needs to show that they're doing what they can to prevent something like this from happening again."
"Do you know what they might be planning?"
"Not yet," Jackson admitted, "but I'll find out."
Sterling just smiled into his phone. "You always do."
~*~*~*~
The plan, announced not a month later, was a new Jaeger based in Korea, funded predominantly by the South Korean government- which, Jackson explained later, was due to the fact the PPDC decided the attack was a fluke and with updated tracking systems, the tragedy wouldn't be repeated. China, however, matched about half of what Korea was putting into the Jaeger on the condition it would protect their portion of the Yellow Sea. Fluke or not, the Chinese were not willing to put even their most distant populated cities in that much risk. The PPDC relented despite still seeing it as a waste of resources and gave the project what was essentially its bare minimum support.
The project hit a snag early on in the form of North Korea, which wasn't surprising, and led to Ryland practically biting off Sterling's ear as he ranted about it, which probably was surprising to anyone who didn't know Ryland well but Sterling couldn't help find somewhat amusing. In the end, China and Russia helped bring the project back on track and Japan footed part of the bill as well, wanting South Korea's new Jaeger to act as back-up as the Jeju tragedy made them concerned about relying solely on Echo Saber as their only defense.
Construction began on the base- not nearly big or well stocked enough to be called a Shatterdome -on the western most part of the ruined Jeju which seemed most practical as well as sadly fitting. Recovery workers trawled through the wreck of Jeju City, taking up the northern half of the island, demolishing any building fit to come down and it was like the entire island was crawling with machines. It would take months until the Jeju base was complete and months more until the new Jaeger was ready for its first tests. When they started wiring the place up, Jackson said he'd be sent over to supervise.
"Without the PPDC's full support," he said during one Family Skype Call Night, "they won't have the full equipment the 'domes have. Even with someone else footing the bill, it's all too expensive. So I'm going in to try to find alternate solutions to meet their financial needs."
That was a relieving thought. With Jackson there, they knew the base's electronic systems would be top of the line, full support be damned.
Which did not at all prepare Sterling for when he got transfer orders the same week the Jeju base's construction was concluded.
"Congrats, man!" Choi slapped him on the shoulder, nearly knocking him double. "Good luck to you out there!"
"But they want me to be Chief Technician!"
"So?"
"I don't have the experience for it! Who the hell thought it was a good idea to put me in charge of a Jaeger and it's pilots?"
"If it makes you feel any better, when they asked me if I'd recommend you for the position and I couldn't say yes fast enough."
"Why?"
"Because you'd be great at it?" Choi gave him a look, unable to comprehend why Sterling was getting so worked up about it. "You've been a tech almost two years now and you've got the skills in spades: you're smart, ingenuitive, personable and you know how to get shit done. You took a huge load off my shoulders when you started making sure everything with Chrome Brutus was kept on task. I haven't seen anything that makes me think you'd blow the position."
"I was just doing what needed to be done."
"I know. And that's why you'll be great at this."
"I...." despite himself, Sterling felt a flush of pride. "Thanks, man. I appreciate it."
"Forget it. And remember, Ra-leigh: if you need anything- anything at all, even just someone to chatter at -give me a call."
"It's Rah-leigh. And I will."
