"Raleigh."

The voice of Mako had the new Marshall turning his head around and stop his staring out towards the empty air field. He had been waiting for the helicopters that would bring him the Rangers that were perviously stationed at the other Shatterdomes across the world. His blue eyes focused on her dark brown ones. Having been in her head recently, he already knew what that look of concern meant.

"Mako... It's too late to change my mind." he said, turning fully to face her.

"I know. I am not here for that." she said as she approached him. Her hand outstretched and in it was a black scarf and an umbrella. "It's snowing." she said as he reached out to take the scarf first. His eyes looked up to the sky as he only did begin to realize it was snowing. Dropping his head down to look at his feet, the light dusting of snowflakes showed him he had only been out of it for a short while.

"Thank you, Mako." he said, taking the umbrella next and leaning down to kiss her cheek. He turned away from her then. "You should--"

"There is something else." she said, stepping over and standing next to him. "You are afraid. Uncertain. Even though you told me I cannot change your mind... you still have doubts."

Sighing, he would lift the umbrella and cover them both. "No. It's not that. I'm taking a risk here. I'm leaving most of the world vulnerable by bringing these Rangers here, but at the same time, having one or two Jaeger pilots in one Shatterdome is not a good idea. We've been spreading them too thin, and now look at where we are. We have only twelve Rangers left, not including You and Me."

Mako was quiet for a long moment. "And Jade. she said eventually, looking up at him. "She has been searching for you all day. You cannot possibly avoid her forever. She want's her Jaeger back."

"She's not ready." he said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"We both know, that is not true. It has been a year since the accident--"

"Mako, we lost four Jaeger pilots in that deployment. Had she followed my orders, they would still be here. She's too reckless."

"You cannot put the blame all on her. She had the Bridge located, and she--"

Turning to Mako, Raleigh placed his hand on her shoulder. "We don't know that for sure. Her memories are all messed up from that day, and on top of that, we have no way to confirm. We couldn't track her position and she still can't remember anything. All we know for sure is she's messed up in the head and we're four Rangers short."

Mako shrugged the hand off. "And what kind of affect do you think that has on her? You took her Jaeger, blamed her for the deaths of her comrades, all the while she cannot remember anything from that day. She's been working hard to get back what she lost and--." The sound of approaching helicopters turned both of their heads towards the air field. Sure enough there were three copters, each holding one or more of the Jaeger pilots that were now to be stationed here and placed under Raleigh's command. Mako gripped the clipboard that held the names of the pilots that would be arriving today, with more expected to come over the next few days.

"For now, she's to test how good these pilots are. See which one's are drift compatible or not. No doubt some will be upset they will be given different Jaegers and partners. But that's the way we need to do things now. Maybe... maybe after everyone is settled here, I can see if she's ready." he said, sounding unsure. Reaching out to take the umbrella, Mako looked up at her partner. "You need to tell her that. Not me."

Stepping away from him as the helicopters landed, she looked back at him once before preparing to greet the new arrivals. Meanwhile, Raleigh's head was left uncovered against the cold and heavy snowflakes that began to fall. Watching Mako's retreating back for a moment, he wondered if all these decisions he was making now were really the best. Sighing, he turned and made his way inside to find Yanmei. He would dwell on those things later, in the seclusion of his office.

---

"Come on. Get up, get up, get up."

Reaching down to where her current sparring partner lay winded from a blow to the abdomen, Yanmei would wait impatiently as the teen boy swatted her hand away and struggled to his feet. "That was a foul blow." he complained.

"Kaiju dont follow the rules. Neither do I. Again." she said, raising her sparring stick again.

"Look where not following the rules has gotten you now." the boy sneered and rolled his eyes at her. Pouting as his three friends in the back started to laugh, Yanmei would place a hand on her hip, a thumb slipping comfortably into the hem of her yoga pants. "Yeah that's very funny. Shut up, else I'll make sure none of you become Rangers." she said to them, though she smiled afterwards. The boys were all no older than 15, so she didn't take what they said to heart. Regardless, whatever rumors or thoughts anyone had about her, she had apparently brought them upon herself.

"Miss Long." the voice of the Marshall brought her head around fast, her long hair whipped around as well before settling at her hips. "Marshall! I was looking for you!" she said dropping her stick and grabbing a towel to wipe at her head. Looking breifly at the boys who gretted the Marshall as well, she said to them. "Go get something to eat and rest up. Meet me back here same tomorrow." They all nodded eagerly and left to go get some breakfast. When the two were alone, Yanmei cleared her throat as she let the towel hang on her left shoulder. "Marshall, I uhh--"

"Yanmei, save it. he said, crossing his arms at his chest.

"Please, call me Jade." she said as he continued right on speaking.

"I have a task for you to do right now. Some of the other Rangers are arriving now, and I need you to bring them in here and observe how they fight. We need to see which Jaeger will be a good fit for them as soon as possible. We don't know how much time we have until a Kaiju attacks, and with only one Jaeger to use, it could be dang--"

"I actually wanted to talk to you about that." she said, stepping over to him. She kept her distance just in case she smelled sweaty. She didn't want to offend. "I wanted to ask you if I could--"

"Jade. We talked about this. I dont think you're ready yet." he said, sighing afterwards as he saw the hurt look on her face. It took her a long moment to find her voice. "I... its been a year, Marshall, since I've been in my Jaeger. I've been doing more simulations and training... I'm not like I was a year ago. I'm 20 now, not even a teen or anything anymore. Like, i'm fully mature and everything! At least give me a chance to--"

"It's been over a year now, and do you remember anything. Do you remember exactly what you did? Because I don't want you to rely on me to tell you just how badly you screwed up." His voice began to raise as he spoke and Yanmei clenched her hands into fists. She said nothing. "Well? Do you remember?" he prodded.

Shaking her head, Yanmei looked away from him. "No. I don't remember all of it. Just pieces and images that I cant place together. But I still think, maybe if I just get back out there, I'll remember something more." she said, her voice clearly desperate.

"No. Until you regain your memory, I wont allow you to..." he trailed off and started walking towards her. He kept going until he walked past her and she didn't turn even when his steps stopped. "Also. You should know, I put Slayer on the list of Jaegers the other Rangers could be assigned to." he said. That caused her eyes to widen and she turned to him. "You- you cant do that!"

"I'm the Marshall. I can do whatever I want, technically." he said with a sigh, leaving his back to her.

"No! That Jaeger is mine! I named him, I chose his new paint job, I was there when he was still in construction. I know all there is about him. Every weapon, every dent and chip in his paint.I am the only Ranger who should be allowed to pilot him and you know it!" she said stepping over to stand in front of him. "Please Marshall, don't do this to me. This... being a Ranger is all I have. It's all I know how to do."

"It's been done, Jade. You need to get ready and go out to greet the others with Mako. Now." he said in a dismissive manner. A long silence passed between them, neither of them moving an inch, their eyes stared into the souls of the other. "Are you ever going to forgive me?" Yanmei asked, a single tear slipping down her cheek and her voice barely a whisper. "I need someone to forgive me... else I wont be able to forgive myself."

"I've already forgiven you. But right now, I cant trust you to follow orders out there. I'm sorry." he turned and started walking away. "Mako will likely be bringing them down the elevator to this level once she's shown them their rooms. Either go and meet them or wait for them to get here. Either way, this discussion will be continued later."

With that, Yanmei watched as her Marshall turned the corner and she heaved a heavy sigh. A hand rose comb through her long black hair and she began to put away the supplies she had used to train the others. She wasn't sure if she could go out and greet the other Rangers, knowing that one of them could take Slayer away from her. Instead she sat on the floor and sipped her water bottle and waited for Mako to bring them here.

Angelo grinned as he was flown to the shatter dome in Hong Kong and in all honesty the one thing Angelo was worried about was that people would talk behind his back in a language he couldn't understand but thankfully if none of them knew Spanish Angelo could do the same. Angelo's leg was jittering like crazy and Angelo was really excited this would be his first run to find someone compatible with him to fight in a jager and he knew that this would be important but Angelo had ADHD and as a result was having a hard time staying completely still, it was one of the reasons he was such a good engineer. Angelo would do the job right and he could do it fast even when he had times when he was angry back in Spain they were lacks in the simulation area and Angelo was always able to get a few times a month in the simulator to blow off steam and practice he lost track of how many times he actually got in and killed since he lost track at around 30 drops and 29 kills only missing once because it was his first time but the one time he got caught he was actually told he had a talent for it and was going to be sent to Hong Kong to find someone to go into the drift with.

Angelo smiled grabbing his backpack and his tool box that his father gave him a long time ago when they finally landed Angelo simply followed behind the legend Mako herself Angelo was a little star struck at first but knowing that she was just going to be their tour guide for the moment really helped him calm down. Angelo then followed her to the elevator as she explained what they would be doing and Angelo had wondered how he would fair against his opponent....

Jack had mostly slept on his trip from Anchorage to Hong Kong. He guessed that he would be the youngest member there when they finally arrived. Even though he was rather young, Jack had been stationed in the Anchorage Shatterdome as an engineer like his father had been. He had enjoyed the job but had definitely wanted to take the fight a bit closer than his father had wanted him to. So he had to go behind the other man's back to start training on the simulator and begin combat training from a former Marine. In his 20 drops he had managed to get 18 kills. The first one was because he was new to the whole thing and the second one was because he was distracted. It was that drop that his father had finally learned why Jack was always late for his shifts. It took a good deal of negotiation but the old man decided to allow his son to keep training. Eventually Jack got tapped to go to the Hong Kong Shatterdome to get a drift partner. Jack liked to think he was a decent fighter. He could handle himself in a fight with people or Kaiju.


Jack got off the chopper and stood there waiting to be acknowledged. He had been trained to basically be a soldier even though he had never been in an army. He stood as still as a statue even as the snow landed on his head. He was born and raised in Alaska. He was use to running barefoot in the snow to toughen him up. So a snowstorm in Hong Kong did not phase him at all. He waited until he was told that they were going inside.

There was something about helicopter travel that simply didn't agree with Cameron's stomach. Three times now since he had stepped on this infernal machine, he had chucked his guts up... and they had only provided two paper bags. The pilot's annoyed expression notwithstanding, Cameron actually thought it was a good run; his few combat drops from choppers had always ended badly, even when fighting other humans rather than a fucking Kaiju. He felt it rather auspicious that he had done so well. Perhaps it was a sign that Jaegers really were his thing after all. Hell, after failing ten sim runs in a row, anyone would have thought he would be signed off as a potential pilot but here he was, being shuttled halfway across the damn world to the front line of all things giant-monster-related. Sufficed to say, it wasn't really his choice. Cameron was an infantryman, through and through; he had always held a preference for the old fashioned yomp over an AFV, even when in the Rifles, so God only knew how he was expected to handle a giant fucking robot. Pay was good though, so he kept the bitching to himself.

After what felt like hours the pitch of the engine changed, signifying their arrival at the Hong Kong dome. Not his first time here, but his previous visit had been under very different circumstances. When they were finally down, he slung his duffle bag and gave the pilot a grin that managed to be both grateful and apologetic, and hopped out before he got a finger in reply. At the edge of the helipad a few others had gathered, most of them looking like lost lambs with their bags and young too... Or maybe it was just that he was old; Jaeger pilots tended to be kids for some God-awful reason. There was one face that he recognised though, both from his warning orders and a couple of years TV coverage. He saluted crisply, unsure of how military protocol was received nowadays. 'Ma'am. Cameron Arkwright, reporting. I assume you're our chaperone?'

Tommie's foot bobbed to the steady beat of her iPod as the tunes filled her ears. She'd been at the Shatterdome for a few days, ever since arriving on their doorstep with an almost factory new NA-07 Deep Sea Dragon, which she'd managed to get built from spare parts by her black market contacts, and she'd finally found the perfect spot to listen to her sounds in peace.

Looking down from her perch high over the central hangar she spotted a flurry of unusual behaviour, something which her made her 'recon ops' reflexes tingle. She had a gift for noticing the small details others sometimes overlooked and the arrival of a helicopter full of unfamiliar faces was something that practically anyone would notice. With a quick sigh she pulled off her headphones and quickly stowed them on her belt before unclipping an ascender which had been stored beside her little noise maker.

Attaching the grapple carefully Tommie hooked her foot into the device and stepped off the gantry. It took a second of freefall before the line snapped tight, catching her in midair before gently slowing her pace as the ground glided up to meet her. With a quick snap she retracted the line, ignoring the cries of one of the dockworkers who was almost hit by the grapple as it reeled back into the small device.

With a bounce in her step Tommie quickly crossed over to the newcomers, a warm smile on her face and eyes quickly scanning over each of them, checking for signs of concealed weapons and unusual body language which could signify a threat.

"Hello boys," She called out with a laugh, waving her hand at the group to signal to them where she was as she approached over the deck. "I'm PPDC Ranger Tomiko Fraser, callsign Razor, but you can just call me Tommie."

A soft, breathy sigh escaped Syberus as he stepped carefully out of the helicopter. His boots made little noise as he lifted his head to look around, gazing up somewhat tiredly towards the grey sky that dropped heavy flakes of snow. After a couple of moments, he gave his head a small shake before quickly lifting a hand to tug off his sunglasses, sliding them into the large pocket of his hooded sweater. It didn't take him long to locate the group of other people that he quickly assumed had arrived recently as well. He made his way over though did not speak up or announce that he was part of the group, instead choosing to stand silently a few steps away from the group.

Though, despite his silence and distance, a woman who stood before all of them met his eyes and gave him a small nod before looking elsewhere. A new voice caught his attention, one with a bit of a laugh, causing him to turn his head a bit stiffly to see another woman waving towards them. A bit awkwardly he raised a hand to give her a small wave back before shifting the small backpack on his back a bit. It was just a bit rude to not wave back.

Syberus hadn't been all too thrilled to be re-assigned, at least not at first. Not only had he been forced to leave behind his younger sister and his step mother, but he had been forced to leave behind all of the extensive research work he had been assisting with. Some of it had been crazy and a bit insane, but somehow he was able to make some sense of it all. If only he could have brought it all with him, he wouldn't have minded this move nearly as much. Not that he did not love adoptive family, but, when it came down to it, he had more hopes in researching and the Kaiju.

The advantages to all of this though? Many. Far too many for him to list out at the moment.

Valeriya's eyelids fluttered open when the helicopter began to descend. She gazed out the window for a brief second in awe. She was finally at Shatterdome. The tall woman shifted in her seat, crossing her arms together in thought. Although her face was a picture of serenity, her heart was twisting in nervousness. Half of it was because she was excited to know that she could be chosen as a pilot and the other half? Pure fear. Her jaw tightened as she clenched the sleeves of the light black jacket she was wearing. Kaijus...

From the corner of her eye, she saw the pilot giving her the okay sign to leave. Nodding her thanks, Valeriya stepped out of the helicopter. The cold weather was relaxing, almost numbing the fiery inferno of emotions she felt just a few seconds ago. Just a few feet away, there was already a small group forming near legendary Mako. She exhaled, watching the clouds from her breath float away before walking towards them. Four men and one other woman. She studied each of them for a few seconds, reminding herself not to make any judgments without actually knowing them first. Other than that, they all looked fairly pleasant and easy to get along with.

"Hello," she greeted in a faint French accent. "Valeriya Castus, but you can call me Valentine instead," she said, smiling. She then turned to Mako, a faint blush on her face. "It's an honor to meet you ma'm!"

"Hello, Valeriya Castus, but you can call me Valentine instead, It's an honor to meet you ma'm!"

As she let her eyes wander over the incoming recruits Tommie spotted a beautiful young redhead amongst. She had always found redheads to be so alluring, in fact her late-wife had had hair the exact same fiery shade as Valentine's and Tommie couldn't stop herself from stepping towards the young woman. "Hi there.. Valentine," She said, momentarily taken aback by Valeriya's piercing blue eyes as the Jaeger pilot turned towards her.

"From what I hear we'll be working together in Communications. Je comprends la météo à Paris est magnifique cette période de l'année."¹ Tommie commented with a laugh as she waved her hand up at the overhead clouds and the flurry of snowflakes falling around them. "Whyever did you choose to leave?"

With a growl and a cough Bruiser rolled over in his bunk and reached up to rub his face with his hand. The jetlag was still punishing him after the long flight halfway round the world and now all he wanted to do was sleep for at least a week, but the alarm clock beside his bed had different ideas and its incessant ringing kept him from falling back asleep until he finally pushed himself up and out from under the sheets.

"Alright, I'm up, I'm up!" He said to the antique clockwork menace, quickly flicking the catch to stop the hammer before lifting the mechanism up and carefully winding the key in the back to ensure the coil was tight. The little ritual helped his lagging mind focus, a little reminder of home even all the way out here in the Heathen Lands.

Gently placing the clock back down on the nightstand, tilting it to the side slightly so the face could easily be seen from the bed, Bruiser pushed himself up onto his feet and headed for the can. It wasn't his fault he'd arrived early, the orders he'd been given had been specific about the time and date for arrival but hadn't mentioned anything about the International Date Line, leaving the muscular recruit a day ahead of his plans.

Once he was done with his business Bruiser pulled the chain to flush away his sins and moved to the sink, splashing cold water up into his bleary eyes and taking a moment to examine himself in the mirror. There was some stubble forming there already, but not enough to warrant his attention, so instead Bruiser gave himself a quick rinse off before climbing into his standard-issue flight suit and heading down to the mess hall.


He was still a little rough on his feet, the exhaustion not yet cleared from his system, and as he staggered over to the kitchen to fetch himself some coffee he almost stumbled over a couple of the techs making their way out into the hall. With a grunting apology he pushed himself away from them before taking his seat at the counter and reaching for what he hoped was a fresh pot of mud.

Shouldn't be too long now, he thought to himself, wondering when the training would start and he'd find himself a partner and a Jaeger to match his unique fighting style. Wonder if they'll try to fit me in one of those fancy Strikers, or perhaps an old Cataclysm? As he let his mind wander Bruiser took a long deep suck on his mug, and felt the thick black coffee warming his belly.

Henry sat in the chopper, a cap lowered over his face, legs stretched out (The most he could in confined space) and more or less let himself drift in and out of sleep on the way to the shatterdome. Though this did little to help his excitement as the chopper touched dirt (Metaphorically). Straight on his feet he moved into line, the indoctrinated part of him immediately had him standing at attention - Minus the salute. He was back in the program. Everything he had done brought him here, since the first Kaiju attack helping him to decide to join the military, all the recon runs. The fighting, pain, joys and thrills all brought him to this moment. Where he'd be tested and hopefully be put in a Jaeger.

One of the oldest in the group, he reckoned his chances were good. Yes like most of them he had no real experience in a Jaegar but he had been fighting longer than most of them. He'd been in the trenches, on the rooftops and behind "enemy" lines. He didn't doubt there were some fighters amongst them. Most of them had probably spent a lot of time in the simulators (Something he had only been in once) but he just hoped when it came down to a real fight, when lives were on the line that they could hold their own. The snow itself, didn't phase him. Scotland wasn't the most tropical of climates in existence, and he was too busy holding back his inner child. "Alright, so we've met the guard dog. We ready to get started?"

((*Note: I am actually Scottish. However I will not be changing EVERY word to the way I would say it. That shit just makes it confusing to read for people, and I'm used to typing without slang (However the occasional tidbit of how I say things will sneak in e.g. instead of now most scots say "The now" for some odd reason.)))

Mako watched with kind eyes as the helicopters brought everyone to the now bustling airfield. Though the area was small, people seemed to be able to move their carts and small cars around with ease, without worry of smashing into one another as they transported materials of all kinds. From early morning until late at night, the workers were transporting materials, food, weapons, and even people. Speaking of people, the new faces of the Rangers all had a mix of excitement and anxiety written on them. Stepping forwards as they all filed out, she would nod in greeting to those who spoke to her and introduced themselves. She already knew the names of everyone there, but didn't feel the need to acknowledge each of them seperately. She was about to speak when a lively woman came up to them, announcing herself as Tomiko Fraser. This caused Mako to hesitate for a moment as Tomiko spoke to the red haired woman.

When did this one arrive? Mako thought to herself before furiously flipping through the profiles she had on the clipboard in her hand. Stopping on Tomiko's sheet, Mako would let out a frustrated sigh when she read that the woman had arrived days ago along with her Jaeger. It had been signed off by someone in communications. Wasn't a big deal really, but Mako was ticked that no one had told her of the woman's arrival. Casually she flipped through, slower this time, and sure enough she found one more person who had already arrived. The day before to be exact. Jack Gerald Murdock's profile had also been signed off that the man had arrived and been excorted to his room. Mako sighed again. For communications, one would think they actually had told her these two came early. Else who knows how long she would have waited for them.

Still saying nothing for a moment, she would count the number of those who had arrived. There were three who had not made it here yet. Tapping her chin to the top of the clipboard, Mako would ponder wether she wanted to continue waiting or not.

I suppose I can send Jade to get the late ones... she thought.

The silence stretched on as Mako would stare at the group for a few more moments.

"OK. Since it's cold out here, I can show you around a bit." she said, turning and gesturing with her hand for everyone to follow her. Then she would stop after a few steps. "Oh! Where are my manners?" she said turning, her pale face turning slightly pink as she bowed to them. "It is an honor that you all have agreed to be transferred here during this time. I know it must not have been easy. I assume you all know, my name is Mako Mori, but please call me by my surname. Welcome to the Hong Kong Shatterdome." One hand gestured around her. "Where we are now is the Airfield. This is the only way in and out of here. We typically travel by helicopters to get us places, though occasionally we have big jets here if we need to transport a large amount of supplies.

Pausing and then gesturing behind the group, she would speak again. "Directly beneath us is where we keep all of our Jaegers. They are deployed and returned in that entrance. You can see the roof of it from the edge of the airfield, though I do not recommend getting that close to the edge. The engineers and workers all do their best to keep them in working order. I know some of you here will be tasked to help with that sometime soon." Turning after flashing a smile, she would again gesture for them to follow her. "Now, we will go and I'll show you some other important places."

Walking inside after standing out in the cold for, who knows how long, Mako closed her umbrella and shrugged off her long trench coat. She would hand both to a security guard who stood near the entrance, and continue walking until she reached an elevator. She pressed a button and pointed to a large number 1 painted above it. "As you can see, this is the first floor. Like I said, this floor is mainly used for transporting supplies from outside and such. Often you will see a lot of people moving things around up here." When the elevator came up and the door opened, she gestured for everyone to step inside before her. When the group all packed in, she would press the number four button.

"Floor number two is where the Research Division conducts their studies. We used to have such a small division, that we didn't need the whole floor. However, once we began to get more Kaijus appearing, many scientists came forward and expressed an intrest in helping us study them and learn more about why our first attempt to end this war....failed. Now the entire floor is dedicated to that." she would stop speaking as she thought back to that day. That day had been filled with such joy, and also pain for losing the former Marshall... Only to find out that his death had been in vain. It made Mako sick to her stomach.

Clearing her throat, she turned to the group. "Anyway. Floor three is where all training takes place. Not only hand to hand combat, but simulations as well. It is where all of our divisions come together and edit the simulations, as they try to replicate Kaiju attacks as best as they can get to the real thing. In addition to the simulation rooms, there is a fitness room with weights and cardio machines that are open to anyone who wants to stay in shape. There is a dedicated training room where we have our instructors train the younger ones we have here. Oh! And the yoga room, for those individuals who like to handle stress in a calmer enviornment. I personally spend a lot of time there. If you are looking for me, chances are that is where I am."

The sound of the elevator door opening brought her head around and she led the way out. "Ah, we are here. This is the fourth floor." she said, stepping aside and waiting for everyone to follow her. She began to walk down the halls that were lined with doors with numbers next to them. "This floor is dedicated to the sleeping quarters. Luckily for us Rangers, we get a room to ourselves. Many others have to share." She continued to walk and she paused halfway down one hall. Pointing to the left, she would speak. "That is the Marshall's room." She pointed then with her thumb to the right. "That is my room."

Continuing on down the hall, she would make a left turn and pause. "Okay I will assign you're rooms so please pay attention." Looking down at her clipboard, she would read the name out loud and then point to the door of the assigned room. "Henry McTier you are in room 432, Jack Logan you are in room 433, Cameron Arkwright, 434." She would check her paper and turn to Tomiko. "I assume you know this is your room: 435. Valeriya Castus you are in room 436. Syberus Fuchs you are in... 438? Oh, Mr. Murdock is in room 437. Eric Banner is in room 439, and Angelo Ortega is in 440." she finished. Mako would then double check to make sure she didn't miss anyone and then she turned to the group.

"The last floor is floor five... Is it odd that the floors go down instead of up?" she suddenly wondered aloud, laughing lightheartedly afterwards. "Anyways, floor five is where you will find the cafeteria as well as the entrance to the Jaeger hanger. The Marshall's office is also down there. I encourage all of you to rest up and get some food into your systems, feel free to sneak a peek at he Jaegers if you like. The Marshall wants you all to report to floor three, the training room, in three hours. There you will be briefed on why exactly you all were chosen to come here."

Smiling to the group, Mako would hug her clipboard to her chest. "It has been nice to show all of you around a little, but I am needed elsewhere now. Oh, and Tomiko. Since I assume you know your way around a bit better than the others, would you mind keeping an eye out for Mr. Murdock?" she stepped forward and showed the woman a picture of the man that was attached to his file on the clipboard. "If you see him, please tell him we have a meeting in three hours." Looking at everyone, she would bow. "I will see you all soon."

Turning, Mako would make her way back the way she came.

Henry sighed. He had already slept on the chopper, on the bright side he did get his own room. That was a novelty. Being ex-force recon he was used to putting down just wherever possible. He moved to his room and threw in his duffel bag: After retrieving a smaller bag. After that he walked off in the direction of the mess hall. Walking in he immediately walked over and grabbed a tray. Looking at the trays of, probably cold, food he wasn't impressed. Then again, the Jaeger program was technically military. What was he suspect? And it made the whole thing seem more homely anyway. He grabbed a plate, throwing some cold bacon and beans onto it before moving over to an empty table. Once down he took a can of Irn Bru out of his bag and smirked. As far as he knew he was one of the few scotsmen here, he had to represent.

He closed his eyes as he took a drink. He had done a lot to get back here, last time he had barely started training before they canned the project in favour of the wall (Which was a completely and utter stupid idea from it's inception). At least they realized their mistake, though how long would it take them to get the funding behind the Jaeger program that it needed? Yes there was a lot of collateral damage but it was the only way. And even then a lot of the time Kaiju were taken out at sea, it was typically the higher classifications or more unique ones that managed to wreak havoc and if he got in a Jaeger, nothing was going to get past him. He'd see to that.

Hurrying up the stairs, a slice of toast still clenched between his teeth, Bruiser was just in time to see the tour group breaking apart, each heading off in a different direction. Quickly stepping up beside a dark-skinned girl^@Genni he vaguely remembered as having help him to his bunk the night before, who now seemed to be paying unduly close attention to another, red-haired girl's backside, he pulled the toast from his mouth and asked, "Did I miss anything?" before quickly munching his toast down in a couple of bites.

"Did I miss anything?"

Tommie shook her head, tearing her eyes away from Valentine's perfectly formed posterior for a moment to look back at the face of the muscular man she'd practically carried from the helipad the night before. "Just the usual ten-cent tour. Hangar, bunks, play room," she replied with with a sigh, jerking her thumb around to indicate the different base sections.

"We're to report to the training room in three hours, that'll be about..." Reaching over Tommie twisted Bruiser's arm around to get a quick look at his watch, before barking out a laugh, "By your watch that'll be about 23:00. You might want to reset that thing for local time."

Stepping away from the boxer Tommie headed off after Valentine, before her pretty little ass got too far out of view. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some rather pressing business to attend to." At least I hope there'll be pressing involved, she added to herself with a grin.

@RainbowReindeer

Moving up behind Valentine, Tommie gently rested her hand on the younger woman's arm to get her attention. "Have you been assigned your Jaeger yet?" Tommie asked with a light, friendly tone, "I'm set with one of the single-pilot models, but I'm sure I could make room in there for you too."

Mako Mori... The name was well know to anyone versed in Jaeger history. Whether or not she still piloted in combat, Cameron didn't know, but the media had credited Mori and Becket with almost single-handedly closing the first Breach. A pretty high standard to live up to. Truth be told, Cameron was already dubious about becoming a Jaeger pilot; long hours in the sim had shown him that damn near everything he had learnt in the Rifles was useless against the Kaiju. You couldn't bring a rifle to a fist-fight and despite the occasional gun mount, most Jaeger combat was essentially giant robot wrestling. Granted, he could hold his own in close combat, but still... He shook it off, trying to convince himself that he wouldn't be here if the PDC didn't think him capable.

As they toured the base, he took the time to gauge his fellow recruits and was a little taken aback by what he saw. Half of them were kids, barely out of their teens and only a few looked like they'd seen combat. Two caught his eye, both clearly military; the Scotch lad had all the bearing of a battlefield officer, something Cameron could sympathise with and respect, though there was a certain hardness there too. The woman, Razor or perhaps Tommie, seemed like a laugh, but he found it hard to see past her outer cheerfulness. She clearly had some specialist experience judging from the way she gave everyone a subtle once-over; military police perhaps, or counter terrorist? Didn't particularly matter though, he conceded. She looked more than competent. As for the kids, well... The lads seemed to be playing silent so no joy there and the French girl hadn't said much either; either they were all understandably nervous or just psyching themselves up for the tests ahead. Which in hindsight, I ought to be doing as well...

As he was observing the others, the tour had come to an end. Cameron gave Mori's retreating back a crisp salute and turned to the others. A few had peeled off already, off to do whatever potential pilots did in their free time, leaving Cameron to muse over how to spend his. Three hours was a lot of time to burn on a military base and even though he had been stationed here once before, the layout had changed over the last decade. Deciding that being social was his best bet, he tried to get to know his new comrades. 'Well then... Since we're all going to be sleeping and dying together, how's about we toss out some names?' With Razor flirting her way into Frenchie's knickers, he tried the young lads instead, extending one hand companionably. 'Cameron Arkwright, ex-British Army. You boys done much Jaegering before?'

@Lennon79 'Well then... Since we're all going to be sleeping and dying together, how's about we toss out some names? Cameron Arkwright, ex-British Army. You boys done much Jaegering before?'

"Hi there Cam, mind if I call you Cam?" Bruiser said stepping forwards and reaching his hand out for his new colleague to shake, but not wanting to make the first move. People had told him in the past that his grip could break fingers, so these days he just let others do the gripping instead. "Name's Jack Murdock, but most just call me Bruiser. Used to be with the Met but turned my hand to Jaeger about a year back. Not seen any real action though, just riding an old can out near Australia." As he spoke Bruiser quickly brushed his hand over the front of his jumpsuit, cleaning away the crumbs from his quick breakfast.

"Any idea which machines they be assigning us to? I was hoping for something not to tricky, like a Scarlet Knight done up for punching." He'd found in the testing during his recruitment that while his simple mind had the advantage of being able to drift with pretty much anyone, he also struggled when it came to some of the fancy tech the new models were sporting. He much preferred keeping things straightforward, and nothing said straightforward like a punch in the face.

Angelo grinned once he was assigned his room, he felt that he could get to know the others later on when they wanted to talk but for now Angelo was going to set up shop in his room. Anything that needed to be fixed could be brought over to him. Angelo went into his room and considered it pretty bland but what was one to expect they were basically a military force so their wasn't exactly a good reason to have a design decorator. Angelo went to his bed and put his tool box on top of the dresser nearby and he put his cloths away. They would need to go and get their training in at least 3 hours so that left Angelo with two hours to prepare and a half hour to get their early. Angelo always was the early bird so he wouldn't mind waiting a little while, after all he was just to excited to stay around doing nothing.

When Angelo put his cloths away he went up to the training room to go and lift some weights the most he could do was bench 200 and to squat 250 but considering his size it wasn't that uncommon but Angelo as nothing if not energetic to do things whenever he had the chance. Although once Angelo settles in he might go and talk with the research division and see about helping them with building equipment or anything of that sort...

Xiao tu zi guai guai
(Well behaved little rabbit),
Ba men er kai kai
(Open the door),
Kuai dian er kai kai
(Open fast),
Wo yao jin lai
(I want to come in).

Bu kai bu kai, Wo bu kai
(I will not open it),
Mama mei hui lai
(Mom has not come home),
Shui lai ye bu kai
(Will not open the door for anyone else).

Xiao tu zi guai guai,
Ba men er kai kai,
Kuai dian er kai kai,
Wo yao jin lai.

Jiu kai jiu kai, Wo Jiu Kai
(I will open the door right away),
Mama hui lai liao
(Mom comes home),
Zhe jiu ba men kai
(I open the door).

Singing softly an old tune to herself, Yanmei lay down in the middle of the training room floor, arms out at her sides with her eyes closed. She had a peaceful expression on her face, but in her head there waged a war. Desperately she tried to remember anything she could about that day. That day that caused everyone here to look at her with contempt rather than admiration like before. She hated that. Feeling like a hero was the greatest thing in the world... and now look at where she was. Slaving away in the hotter than hell training room, teaching little brats how to fight so they could replace her and the other Rangers when they were 'out of commission' so to speak. The worst part was that everyone in the Dome knew what had happened. The rumor spread through the people like a wildfire, but when it came down to it, no one spoke a word to her about what happened. All she knew was somehow it was her mistake that caused four Ranger pilots and 2 Jaegers to be lost that day. It was over a year now, and all she could remember were the names and faces of the ones she had apparently, led to their deaths.

Cursing aloud, she would turn over lazily, rolling onto her stomach and pressing her cheek into the cool floor. Her palms would ball into fists and then relax as she struggled with herself not to get too worked up. Whenever she racked her brain about what had happened, anger and fear would surge over her with such force, she had to stop trying to remember so she would retain some of her composure. I am going mad... She concluded in her head.

She would repeat the song again aloud to herself before trying to think more about what happened.

Names, faces, Jaegers... the flashes in her mind resembled that of an old photo album. Seperate images that couldn't possibly go together because they were taken at different times. The view of the sea from above. A flash of red in the water and then a face. A woman, early thirties. Her name was Constance Hill, aka Siren. The image changed to the back of her head. Brown hair that was cut sharply at the shoulders. Again to the front, her green eyes looked dull as she smiled. As if the woman had lost so much and was smiling because that was all she knew how to do anymore. Again the flash of red in the water. Then the pain in her head would come.

"...targets coming from all sides! There's no way out of here!"

"Dammit, why wont you let me try!?"

"No, your Jaeger is useless down here, you'll get yourself killed!"

Dammit... what happened next?

One of the last things she could remember before she came up with blackness, was the voice of the previous Marshall. She couldn't make out what he said, but the thick Australian accent was unmistakeable as it barked an order to her that didn't register at all. They were his last words. The last words of Herc--

"What are you doing, Jade?"

The amused voice of Mako tore Yanmei out of her thoughts, and suddenly a sharp pain would shoot through her hand as the woman's size nine boot crushed her hand. Letting out an angry curse, Yanmei would pull her hand back and sit up, glaring at the woman as she cradled her palm to her chest. "Biǎo zi! What the hell was that for?" she said cursing at the woman. Mako simply let out a light laugh and went to crouch in front of Yanmei. "Sorry. I thought you were sleeping so I decided to wake you." Mako said as she held out a clipboard towards her.

"These are the individuals who are going to report here in about two and a half hours. Raleigh- I mean, the Marshall, wants you to assess how they fight and then assign them to the Jaegers. No one knows them better than you of course."

Yanmei took the clipboard and started reading through the short files. They were void of any personal information such as family history, mostly just summaries of their specialties and any past military expirences. She wondered why the Marshall would want her to do such a thing as assigning Jaegers to theese folks. The half assed compliment from Mako was certainly not the reason why. "Gāisǐ... Does he realize that many of these people are well expirenced individuals. Half of these guys don't even need to be assessed by me. What is this all for?"

Mako just smiled and stood, walking away from her then. "Consider this a test for yourself just as much as it is for them." she would say before rounding the corner and leaving Yanmei alone again.

"Aw, hell." she mumbled as she flipped through the pages again. Her eyes stopped on a brown fellow who looked like he ate people like her for dinner. Groaning, she would toss the clipboard a few feet away and lay down on her back. With her arms spread out wide, and her brown eyes closed, Yanmei decided to take the next few hours preparing herself in the best way possible. Letting sleep take over.

Xiao tu zi guai guai,
Ba men er kai kai,
Kuai dian er kai kai,
Wo yao jin lai....

Angelo sighed a little as he finished his reps with the bench and squats making sure he wiped down the bench before he left and took a quick shower. Angelo was ready to just head back to his room before he heard some woman's cursing nearby he looked over to see Mako talk to a woman and she apparently went back to sleep but Angelo was curious and that may end up being his downfall but Angelo was curious and if she was a ranger like him then he would want to get to know her some how.

He walked over and gently tapped her shoulder "hello? im Angelo alias Archangel who are you?" Angelo asked thinking an introduction was in order even if she was starting to sleep but she did look kind of cute in a way. Angelo actually thought her long black hair was very attractive and it wasn't hard to tell that she was from the area. Angelo wanted to talk to her and possibly get to know her just in case Angelo gets put in a jager with her...