The Black's Ace (Pacific Rim The Black)

Chapter Thirteen

Previously in the black's ace
Marshall rask has stepped down and apointed both reece and mei as co marshalls of sydney base and reece first orders were to get as many jeagersa d pilots to sydney base for a operation he codenamed takeover and precisely 8 months later syndey base held all 8 jeagers and their seventeen pilots
Now
Reece stood on one of the many metal walkways with sydney base's jeager bay looking at the freshly painted and slightly upgraded jeager of black ace his jeager
Reece: well ace lets make sure this day marks the day human kind fought back once again
Reece turned his head to the right at the sounds of footsteps to see a very different looking mei approaching him
Reece: hey
Mei: hey everyone is ready in loccent for you
Reece: right lets get this day started oh and before we are neck deep in kaiju i just wanna say i think long hair suits you
Mei brought her hand up to grab her now longer hair and lay it over her shoulder
Mei: thank you now lets get in there marshall
Reece: ugh your marshall too you know
Mei: i know but im too used to everyone refering to me as marshall's girl or parker's girl so
Reece: fair point well let not leaving them waiting
Mei nodded as the two began their short march towards loccent where everyone was waiting for them
Reece: right sorry for the wait everyone
Raleigh: its about time you showed up
Reece: easy raleigh you may the oldest veteren here but i might just surpise you
Raleigh just smiled as he raised his hands up in defense
Reece: right everyone listen up today marks the beginning of operation takeover now i know we have all had a hectic 8 months getting the jeagers ready for this but they're all ready is everyone here ready
A collective murmers of agreement came from everyone so reece continued
Reece: right then lets go over the plan one last time so its fresh for everyone but first rask are all jeager AI patched into loccent?
Rask: yep green light across the board
Ace: i can comfirm that all jeagers AI's are fully functional and are patched in pilot
Reece: great cheers ace so the plan is single jeager excursions besides you atlas you'll have boy tagging along with you
Hayley: right
Reece: so we all head out in a simi circle and keep heading forward until we reach the other side of austrailia i know thats a far walk but with all the new upgrades that the jeagers recieved they should be fine
Jake: what are the upgrades you've never told us?
Reece: i haven't? Ba... erm mei?
Mei: nope you haven't because even i don't know
Reece: shit well all jeagers have been fitted with a series of solar panels to help keep jeager core energy up and before someone asks they are located on the top of all the conpod's and shoulders
Nate: wont the shoulder one's be valurable to attacks?
Reece: thats is a good point nate but luckly i thought of that so within each of your conpod's is a new switch so the solar panals will be rotated and sealed away under the same thickness as the shoulders and conpod's
Raleigh: wont they still be valurable to damage
Reece: raleigh im a damn jeager pilot every part of the jeager is valurable to damage, you should know this better than most like i do
Raleigh grimaced but nodded
Reece: i know raleigh it isnt nice loosing a jeager arm hell ive only lost one in my piloting career but you have lost both on two different occasions
Raleigh: yeah i guess we'll all have to keep our gaurds up
Reece: yes we will me espically i can have a angry women in a confind space with me.......owwww mei!
Mei: oops
Reece: see
This got everyone smiling so reece continued on
Reece: so thats the solar panals covered as for the other upgrades since atlas's sorry mk1 atlas confrontation with that catagory 6 kaiju i went ahead and found a way to fine tune all jeager weaponary to fight a catagory six if there happens to be another out there so please everyone be on your gaurd when checking the ruined cities that lay out there oh and speaking of cities all jeagers are equiped with small probes that can be placed to let all the others know the city is safe and secured so everyone knows the plan am i correct
Everyone agreed
Reece: any questions
Raleigh: just one
Reece: let me guess who's your co-pilot?
Raleigh: yes i can't pilot gipsy on my own well not for long anyway
Reece: yes im aware of your let say previous solo runnings with the old gipsy so i went ahead and made a call to a certain someone everyone i'd like you all to meet the last marshall of hong kong shatterdome hercules hansen
Everyone remained silent as herc walked in and reece couldn't help but notice taylor's little awestruck face so he nudged mei and motioned toward taylor which ended up in them sharing a small laugh
Raleigh: herc?
Herc: raleigh good to see you again
Raleigh: like wise sir
Herc: ahh less of the sir now we're co-pilots
Raleigh: i suppose we are but reece how do you know we're even drift compatible?
Reece: well technically i dont but i figured since both yourself and herc are the last of a genaration of pilots that have witnessed both kaiju wars and the black i think you'll be just fine
Herc: i think we'll be ok
Reece: good herc i assume you know the plan
Herc: in extensive detail i must say mate its quite the plan
Reece: go big or go home i always say
Mei: no you don't
Reece: hey side with me for once geez anyway pilots lock and load its time we take this land back
Everyone cheers as they all departed loccent for their respectable jeager conpod's leaving just mei and reece alone
Reece: if there is any god out there please lets this work
Mei: have faith in the plan reece its your's after all
Reece: that's what worries me
Mei: these people trust you, the pilots all trust you and i trust you
Reece: y'know i'd be lost without you
Mei: i know now come on ace awaits
Reece: that he does but first.....
Mei watched as reece bent down and pulled out a medium sized box from behind one of the many consoles
Mei: a box?
Reece: its what's inside
Reece opened the box and pulled out two matching leather jackets that had a fur inside and had the words black ace on the back
Mei: matching jackets!
Reece: yep raleigh and his brother were kinda hero's to me when i was younger so i think this would be a nice homage to yancy
Mei: you're a big softie you know that right
Reece: only for you now come on lets go
As reece and mei walked out of loccent the staff rushed in to get everything ready
Mei: did they give us space?
Reece: seems so
The two approached their jeager bay and the entrance to the back of ace's conpod where they were met by rask
Reece: rask?
Rask: can i have a minute?
Reece: sure, you go on ahead mei i'll be right there
Mei: ok
Reece and rask watched as mei entered ace conpod before they locked eyes
Reece: so what can i do for ya
Rask: i just wanted to let you know that your father would be proud of you we all are
Reece: well thank you, that means alot to me
Rask: you know between me and you, your father had this exact same mission planned himself
Reece: really? Huh i never recalled him thinking about it in the drift but then again my dad was always good at masking what he was thinking even when i was in his head
Rask: your father was a rare breed of pilot reece just like you
Reece: thanks well i better get going
Rask: yeah and remember kid if you ever need anything and i mean anything you can count on me
Reece paused in the doorway to ace conpod and he could see mei was already locked in and was talking with ace's AI and he knew what he wanted right there
Reece: rask i have a favour to ask?
Rask: ask away?
Reece: im determined to see this mission through to its end how ever long it takes and now with me standing here looking at her i know what must be done when i get back
Rask: dont worry i follow your thinking i'll have one prepared for you when you return any idea on what?
Reece: sapphire
Rask: got it now go before she suspects anything
Reece: thank you rask
Rask: no thank you......sir
Reece: that will never get old
Reece walked into ace's conpod and once strapped in and checking ace's systems turned to mei
Mei: so what took you so long
Reece: he was just thanking me for doing this turns out my dad had this exact same plan in mind
Mei: father like son huh
Reece: guess so anyway ace all systems are green start pilot to pilot protocal
Ace: affirmative activating pilot to pilot protocal in ten, nine, eight......
Reece: ready to step into my head once again
Ace: five, four.....
Mei: yes now and forever
Ace: three, two
Reece: mei just so you know i love you
Mei: yeah i know i love you too
Ace: one
Reece and mei closed their eyes and felt the mind blend together once again until the drift was steady
Rask: ace this is rask do you copy?
Reece: loud and clear loccent what's up
Rask: im putting haliee hansen on your comms treat her well yeah
Reece: copy that.... Wait hansen? As in?
Rask: the very one so im passing her over to you ace like i said treat her well this is her first time doing comms
Reece: copy that
After a brief silence they heard a small female voice come through their comms
Hailee: h...hello
Reece: hi hailee hansen i assume
Hailee: Y...yes thats me sorry im a little nervous
Reece: hey hey just breath hailee since we know you how about we introduce ourselfs im reece parker nice to meet you
Mei: mei parker nice to meet you hailee
Reece glanced at mei who just smiled
Hailee: ohh its nice to meet you both ive heard wonderful things about you too but i didnt know you were married
Reece: technically we're not but with what happened out their in the black some memories become....
Mei: lost i dont remember my last name but i remember my boyfriends so i took his since he was the one who saved me from the black
Hailee: awww thats so sweet
Reece: i do try now hailee im going to open comms to all the others jeager's you don't have speak if you dont want to ok
Hailee: o...ok
Reece nodded as he opened the main channel for the jeagers
Reece: this is marshall reece parker do all jeagers copy
Raleigh: gipsy hear ya loud and clear
Nate: erm so does this gipsy
Reece: shit i forgot we have two gipsy's now
Jake: avenger copies
Reece: wow nice quick fix pentacost
Jake: it made sense to me
Reece: well it works everyone else?
Everyone else spoke amd comfirmed they could hear reece
Reece: good everyone can hear me and each other so now loccent do you copy
Rask: we read all of you
Reece: good so were all set rask lift us out
Rask: copy that
All the jeager were sent up on the jeager platforms and into the hot austrailian sun
Reece: ok everyone remember the plan kill any kaiju you encounter, secure any ruined cities you find and do not forget to place a probe at each city you secure and deem safe
Taylor: erm reece just a quick question
Reece: go on
Taylor: what do we do if we find any jeager remains
Reece:thats a good question taylor hmmm ace to loccent do you read?
Rask: Go ahead ace
Reece: loccent how many jeager transport helicopter do we have at our disposal?
Rask: hmm roughly ten of course thats two to a jeager
Reece: hmm have them fueled and ready to go at any moment
Rask: will do ace but may i ask what for
Reece: taylor travis has just brought to light the possibility to find jeagers remains within some of the ruined cities and i'd like to bring them back here and if possible restored
Rask: then i'll have jeager bays ready and waiting for any remains ace
Reece: thank you and loccent the probes have built scanners so if any jeager's find remains we'll ping it on the probes scanner you should be able to follow it directly to the jeager position
Rask: copy that ace
Reece: thank you loccent alright all jeagers let move out
The eight jeagers began their marches to recover australia from the kaiju and reece couldn't be more happy
Reece: WOOHOO OPERATION TAKEOVER HAS BEGUN
Hayley: (giggles) someone is excited
Reece: wait did everyone hear that
A collective murmers of agreement came through the comms
Reece: DAMN IT!!!!
The comms were filled with laughter and talking between the jeager crews thanks to the long range comm links but soon the black ace would be the first to encounter a kaiju
To be continued