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The blaring alarm startled the young man awake. He turned his head to view the holoscreen terminal on the wall near his bed. The screen displayed information sent in from scans.

KAIJU ALERT

CATEGORY: III

DESIGNATION: ACIDQUILL

PROJECTED COURSE: 21.3099° N, 157.8581° W (HONOLULU, HAWAII, UNITED STATES)

"Kind of a shame. Honolulu's such a beautiful place." A feminine voice came from the speaker beside the screen, before an avatar of a woman in a fox mask appeared on the holoscreen.

"It'll stay a nice vacation destination if we intercept this Kaiju early enough," Halsey said. He rolled out of bed and went to his closet, slipping out of his clothes and into the inner circuitry suit of his Drivesuit. Thanks to advances in technology since the Breach had been closed, the circuitry suit could be prepared without a team of technicians. "Besides, what does it matter to you, R.E.I.? You don't need vacations."

"Preservation of human life is one of the core concepts programmed into me," the AI replied dryly. "You, of all people, should know that."

"Yeah, I s'pose. Nobody else has been in my head more." Halsey felt a prickling sensation all over his body as the suit connected to his nervous system. "Well, you and that thing."

"Well, without 'that thing' Titan Sierra wouldn't be functional. Then you'd be stuck dealing with another human, and I know how much you love that." Drake retrieved the datachip from the computer as he started towards the elevator to the Drivesuit Room.

Keera took a long, slow breath before turning to the side, pressing the button the the terminal to link her voice in.

"What?" She simply asked glaring at the screen for a few moments before a small sound of the other person on the line clearing his throat echoed out. She let out a sigh before correcting herself.

"What, sir?"

"Better. Now, we have a cat. 3 closing in on Honolulu, Hawaii, and you're in range to hopefully intercept. Air force is already gearing up to get you moving, be ready in your Jeager in 5. Details will be sent on transit." The voice on the other end ordered before disconnecting. Keera let out another sigh before turning around, heading down the halls as alarms went on overhead. She had practically just walked into the base, and this is what was greeting her on the first day? She hadn't even managed to find her bunk yet. She headed towards the hangers, entering just as Azure Storm was being moved to the hookup position for the chinooks. She slowed her pace for a moment, looking at the massive piece of machinery, a small shiver running down her back at the though of what else was in there. She shook the feeling, refocusing before taking off to get into her Jeager

Halsey felt his body preparing itself as the elevator whirred to life. He wasn't nervous. "Eager" wasn't the right word, either. His pondering of the correct term came to a stop as the elevator doors opened. A small crew of technicians were ready to go. Drake didn't recognize any of them, save for one young woman. He smiled.

"First Cat-Three we've seen in a while, Rika," said Drake. "Think Sierra's up to it?"

Rika smiled back, nodding. "How should I know? I just get you plugged into your Drivesuit. I'm not in your head or in the con-pod." Halsey stepped up onto the platform, and the technicians began fastening the outer armor to the inner suit. "Just be careful, though. Category Three Kaiju are known to be smarter than Cat-Ones and Cat-Twos."

"Right. Gipsy Danger found that out the hard way." Halsey fastened his helmet in place and plugged R.E.I.'s chip into the socket at the base of the neck.

"Seems you'll have a spot of company for this outing," the AI informed him. "Keera Travic, piloting Azure Storm."

"Two of the new models in one place? Wonder if the brass have something in mind."

Keera didn't take long to reach her destination, getting her suite fitted and sent on her merry way in short order. By the time she reached her Jeager, the team of choppers were beginning to latch themselves to Azure. Keera slowed a little as she watched, but quickly shook it off as she approached and made her way up to the conn-pod. Once she was in, she felt the entire Jeager shift as the choppers took to the air, Azure swinging below as they went underway.

"Alright, what are we looking at..." She muttered to herself as she got into position, trying to keep herself steady during transit. A quick minute later and she had herself fully hooked in and ready to rift, but she didn't, not yet at least. Connecting herself to that... thing... was unsettling enough, and she didn't really feel like linking herself to it more than she needed to. To keep herself preoccupied, she took a look at what data they had managed to get on the incoming Kaiju. It wasn't much, mostly it's class, a name they threw together for it and it's destination, but she did notice something else.

"Another Jeager on route? Didn't think they had very many this far from the mainland. Another Mark-6 too. Titan Sierra, hmm?" She said to herself, giving it a glance over. Top of the line, well armed, but lighter armored, much like her own. Apparently command is really pushing for rapid response over raw power. Given the track record of Jeagers trying to go head on in a test of strength and losing, she couldn't really blame them. She let out a sigh as she turned her eyes to a small map, noting that she was approaching the target landing area soon. It wouldn't be long now, and she couldn't tell if she was impatient to get this it started, or over with.