Pacific Rim: Legacy

Chapter 11 - Analia

Analia rubbed the back of her neck as she made her way down the corridor, the weight of the earlier confrontation with the cadets still lingering in her mind. Family, she had told them. But saying it and making them believe it were two very different things. She hoped Ezra could help smooth things over. He had a way of bringing people together, even when tempers were running high. She sighed, trying to refocus. There was more pressing business to handle now.

The lab was dim, the glow from Gottlieb's monitors the only real light as Analia, Raleigh, Jake, and Nate gathered around. Analia stood beside Raleigh, her muscles still sore from the earlier fight, but she tried to push it to the back of her mind. There was no room for discomfort right now. Gottlieb had found something, and whatever it was, it could be the key to understanding Mako's final message.

"It isn't something. It's somewhere." Gottlieb's voice was measured as he tapped a few keys on his console. A hologram flickered to life, displaying an isolated, snow-covered island. "Severnaya Zemlya. Off Siberia's Taymyr Peninsula."

Analia squinted at the hologram. The middle of nowhere, she thought.

"What's in Zemlya?" Raleigh asked, his voice low.

"Well, nothing anymore," Gottlieb explained, adjusting the image. "A facility roughly in this location was used to manufacture Jaeger power cores earlier in the war, but it was decommissioned years ago."

"Why would Mako be trying to tell us about an abandoned factory in the middle of nowhere?" Analia asked, her brow furrowed. She couldn't make sense of it. Mako wasn't one to send them on a wild goose chase. Whatever she had found, it had to be important.

Jake, his jaw tight with barely contained anger, stepped forward. "Sir, permission to take Gypsy Avenger to see what the hell's out there."

Raleigh hesitated for only a second before nodding. "Permission granted," he said. But as Jake turned to leave, Raleigh's voice took on a sharp edge. "And Pentecost—if you so much as think about leaving my wife vulnerable like you did in Sydney, I will break your legs and hang you by your toes. Are we clear?"

Jake straightened, giving a clipped nod. "Yes, sir," he muttered before heading out to prepare.

Analia couldn't help but smirk. She turned to Raleigh, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek. "Have I told you how much I love you?" she asked, her voice playful.

"Not today," he said with a grin, the tension easing slightly.

"I love you," Analia whispered, and with that, she left to join Jake.

Siberia stretched out before them like an endless, frozen wasteland. The wind howled across the icy plains, whipping up snow that stung against the windows of Gypsy Avenger. From inside the Conn-Pod, Analia could feel the chill, the cold seeping through even though the reactor kept them relatively warm. But it wasn't just the cold—it was the vast emptiness, the sense that they were utterly alone in this desolate landscape. Every inch of her body was on edge, the hair on the back of her neck standing up as her eyes scanned the barren horizon.

"Looks like Mako's message was a dead end," Analia said, her voice taut as she peered at the abandoned facility in the distance. It loomed like a ghostly monument, untouched for years, now just a forgotten relic buried beneath snow and ice.

The silence felt unnatural. Too quiet. Too still.

"No, wait a second," Jake muttered, his eyes narrowing as he checked the readings. His voice carried a note of suspicion, which immediately set Analia on high alert. "I'm getting some weird readings."

Analia's breath hitched, her eyes darting to the monitor. The signal spiked suddenly—violent, erratic. "Incoming!" she yelled, her heart slamming into her chest.