Deep Beneath the Pacific (Pacific Rim)

Chapter Eight: Deep-Breathing Exercises

February 29th, 2020 - Thursday - 10:15 AM.


There. Done. I had finally finished unpacking my things, falling onto the bed that was provided in my room. Well, now I can call it my bed.

I took a moment to relax. So many things had happened today - all very life-changing. I still wasn't entirely sure if I should be here... I was still having my doubts - cold feet, as they say.

I stared up at the ceiling, my eyes tracing the patterns of the concrete. I was thinking again, lost in my head as I usually was. I must have been in very deep thought because I suddenly heard loud knocking on my metal door, startling me.

"Coming!" I scrambled to my feet, nearly tripping over myself as I rushed to the door. I fiddled with the handle, starting to panic. I could only imagine whoever outside looking confused as I cursed while trying to open the door. I finally managed to fling it open, trying to look all casual with a smile as I pushed a few loose strands of hair behind my ear.

To my surprise, LOCCENT Gabe stood there, a pencil behind his ear and a clipboard in hand. He was frowning at me, craning his neck as he tried to look past me. "I knocked like five times... What were you doing?"

I looked down at my feet, embarrassed. "Sorry... I was just...sorry, uh, I was thinking and didn't hear you. Sorry." Wow, three sorry's in one sentence - that sounded like a record, but it wasn't. But that's a story for another time...

Gabe looked irritated, or at least he was trying to. Then he dropped the "angry" expression in a blink and put on a grin. "Nah, don't worry about it! It's all good!" He was really an easygoing fellow, I could tell. "I just came by to let you know that your duties start now." He smiled at me. "You can start on whichever Jaeger-"

"Glacier Hijack." I blurted out. Then I gave him an apologetic glance. "Sorry... But ever since I saw the Mark-3 earlier today, I immediately wanted to work on her - her armor especially. I already have some ideas in mind." I began running through calculations in my mind.

Gabe seemed to understand, nodding enthusiastically. "Of course! And just to make everything official, and so that everyone listens to you..." He proudly handed me a badge and dogtags.

I took them both, looking down at the badge. Juliana Whitehorse, J-Tech. Weapons Specialist, Jaeger Engineer, Battle Programmer. Head Commanding J-Tech. Permitted at all Shatterdomes. Fancy. The dogtags were basically the same thing. Fancy. I smiled at Gabe. "Wow... Thanks."

Gabe just grinned, seeming more excited than I was. Like a five-year old boy - make that a very happy five-year old boy. "No problem! And remember, there are uniforms already in your room!" He glanced down at his clipboard, his hazel eyes lighting up as he remembered something. "Have to go! See you around!"

I watched Gabe walk away. Actually, he kind of pranced away. He was so happy-go-lucky that it bothered me a little. I tried to remember the last time I was like that - smiling all the time, just stress-free.

That was when I had all of my family, of course. And way before we even knew the Kaiju existed.

~~~

10:21 PM.



I made my way back to the Jaeger bay, dressed in a J-Tech uniform. It felt like the "old days" - back when I lived at the Anchorage Shatterdome with my dad, and when I traveled around the world with Uncle Jasper. I was starting to feel a little excited as I walked down the pathway. Okay, so maybe this was a good idea. Yeah, this was a good thing! I could finally move on - my mind preoccupied on something else. Finally...

"Are you Miss Whitehorse?"

I stopped abruptly in my tracks, startled at the sudden voice. I turned to see a gritty-looking man standing as he held out some papers. "Uh... yes..." I looked the man up and down, not reaching out to take the papers though. Judging by his uniform and the oil smudges on his face, I assumed that he must be a Jaeger Engineer. Oh, and the words "J-Tech" sewn into his uniform kind of helped.

I watched the bearded man glance down at my badge, obviously double-checking to make sure that I was telling the truth. He was expressionless, looking bored as he met my eyes. "I was told to give these to you: they are Glacier Hijack's blueprints for repair work and for upgrades." He held them out to me.

I took the blueprints, holding them out in front of me so I could take a look. I furrowed my brow as I went into deep-concentration mode. Jaeger-mode - that's what Uncle Jasper and I used to call it.

I was pretty familiar with the Glacier already, my brain refreshing as I soaked in the information. Ah, yes. That's right. She has that option where spikes come out of her fists...super cool. "Yes... I see... And who might you be? A Jaeger Engineer, right?"

"Yes. I'm Walter." The man said in a plain tone.

I glanced over the blueprints. The oil-smudged, bearded man before me looked nothing like a "Walter". Like, "Walter" was the last name I would have guessed for him.

The man seemed to have read my expression. "But everyone calls me "Welder"..."

I remained silent.

"...because I'm good at welding." He finished, dully.

I stared at him.

The man stared back at me, no expression whatsoever on his face.

I blinked. I didn't know how to react to this. Was he joking? No, he has to be serious - he's completely deadpan! I didn't know whether to burst out laughing or hit my head against a wall. I swallowed. "Nice to meet you... Welder." I managed to keep a straight face as well as a slightly even tone. I looked down at the blueprints, blocking my vision of him with them so that I could collect myself and practice some deep-breathing exercises.

I tried to read some random words on the blueprints to keep myself from bursting out in laughter. Keep it together... Keep it together... I managed to hold a straight face as I talked, though my voice did sound a little strained. "And...and are you in charge of, um... Glacier's repairs and upgrades or... or something?"

"No." Welder replied, completely monotone.

I had to keep looking down. If I looked up at his deadpan face again, I'd laugh right in his face. I would.

"I am the manager of the external keeping of Glacier - her armor, basically." Welder said casually with a shrug. "More of a supervisor, really." There was no pride in his voice - none that I could tell. I couldn't tell if he adored his job, or if he downright hated it.

This was frustrating. I thought I was good at reading people, but now I was completely doubting my abilities after meeting several new people today - all of whom who were difficult for me to read. Maybe I was just unlucky. Yeah.

"I see." I said steadily. My eyes locked onto the measurements of Glacier's armor. I frowned. "Well, Welder... I am going to have to adjust a lot of Glacier Hijack's armor. This-" I glanced up at the J-Tech, gesturing at the blueprints with one hand. "-this is just unacceptable. There is a much more efficient way to do this."

Welder blinked. "Okay-"

I normally would have politely let him state his opinion or whatever, but this was my realm: my territory. I was on a roll. "I want this area of the chest armor over here to be thicker. One, it looks better. Two, it's protecting a major network of gears here that needs to be more protected than that. Otherwise, who knows what could happen." I pointed at the blueprints, standing next to Welder so he could see. "And this over here will definitely need to be changed - I want these panels moved over here. It's too... too bulky right were it is now." If I was boring Welder to death, I couldn't tell. But I really wanted to talk about this right now. If he was manager of the external part of the Glacier Hijack, we would have to talk about this sooner or later. So why not now? "The area around her hands right here needs to have more support. Spikes come out there. So when she lands a punch, I don't want her fist to crumble from the impact. That'd be just stupid and embarrassing. It needs more reinforcement. So really, I has big plans for Glacier-"

"Hey!" A familiar-sounding voice yelled.

Welder and I both turned around to see two men striding up to us. Judging by their angry, arrogant expressions and their synchronized walking, my guess was that they were the Jackson cousins - the Canadian pilots of Glacier Hijack. And because I recognized their faces.

"Hello, Jackson boys." I said, rather uninterested. I really wanted to discuss Glacier's plans with Welder. I didn't want to deal with the Jackson cousins' attitudes. The stereotype of "friendly Canadians" did not apply to these two. "What can I do for you two?" I said merely out of politeness, hoping that they would leave. But that wasn't how the Jacksons rolled.

The Jackson boy on the right looked furious. "Who the hell are you?"

I raised my eyebrows, slightly surprised that he didn't recognize me. Then again, the Jackson cousins didn't remember anyone unless they had too. Which was once in a blue moon.

"I heard you talking about changing the looks of our Jaeger." The same pilot accused me. "No one, I repeat, no one makes any changes without our permission!"

I just looked at them, mainly the Ranger who was yelling at me. Loud and as rude as ever - that certainly hasn't changed. "Oh, I'm not really changing her looks - if anything, I'm going to improve her defense and maybe some offense."

The left one stepped forward, pointing a finger at me. He sounded equally angry, but more curious than furious. He must be the older one... I think. If I remembered correctly, he was usually less hot-blooded. "And who gives you the right to do so? Who are you?"

I sighed, briefly closing my eyes. I had to practice patience with these two annoying cousins. Breath in, breath out. I used the same techniques of deep-breathing like I had done earlier to stop myself from laughing in front of Welder. "I'm Juliana Whitehorse." I said flatly. "The Marshals of all the Shatterdomes have assigned me to go around and make repairs as well as upgrade Jaegers. Also to help build new ones and restore old ones. Since Dr. Schoenfeld is unavailable for the moment, I am taking his place." At this point, both boys had lost their snarky expressions. "If you have any requests concerning upgrades to your Jaeger, I might consider them. I can't guarantee that I can make it happen, but I can consider them." I met the cousins' eyes, watching for their reactions.

At first, neither of them said a word. They just stared.

Then the Jackson on the left stepped forward, an awkward hand stretched out. "I'm, um...Henry Jackson... And this is my cousin, Theo." He sounded like he was in a daze, like he wasn't quite sure what to say.

I shook his hand and nodded, trying not to smile. Yeah, making the Jackson cousins speechless for once was going on my list of accomplishments.

Theo avoided my gaze, the anger in his eyes dimmed down, but not gone. "Sorry about-"

"Don't worry about it." I rolled my eyes. "I've learned to be patient with you two." I gave them both a small smile, letting them know that there was no hard feelings.

Henry managed a weak smile, obviously very uncomfortable now.

Theo turned to Henry, facing away from me. Though, I could tell that he was grumbling about something.

I merely raised my eyebrows, watching the two.

Henry jabbed Theo in the side, seeming to whisper a few threatening words. Probably telling him to shut up and listen to me since I was the daughter of someone highly respected in the PPDC, and because I was the one who would be upgrading/doing repair work on their Jaeger.

Theo looked up at me, eyes cold, but said nothing.

I looked back down at the blueprints. "Well, Glacier is the first Jaeger that I'll be working on." I glanced at Welder who had been silent the whole time and was still as expressionless as ever. I wonder if he welded his face permanently like that, I joked to myself. But honestly, at this point, it was a high possibility. "Welder and I have a lot of discussing to do concerning Glacier's armor... So..." I spun on my heel, beginning to walk away with Welder silently following my lead like a loyal dog. Silent, and apparently, easygoing.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Henry spoke up.

I stopped and turned around, slightly amused. Yeah, Henry was usually the friendlier one. But I had to remember that he was equally as arrogant and rude as Theo. However, there were those rare times when he was a nice person. Keyword: rare.

"The fist spikes..." Henry slowly began, hesitant. Then he stopped, unsure if he should continue.

I tilted my head. "You want an upgrade?"

Theo looked up, his ears perked. Now I got his attention, I thought to myself.

A smile tugged at my lips. "We'll see."

-----

[ A short one. At least, compared to the previous chapter that was literally twice this size...

What do you all think of the Jackson cousins and Welder? xD Welder was so random - I'm not going to say anything else (/dies). And I wanted some Canadian pilots in this - two cousins who were different, and arrogant idiots. And the only other CAN Jaeger was the Chrome Brutus which was in the Anchorage Shatterdome... So, yeah. I wanted one for Los Angeles. And because "Canada" immediately popped in my head when I made the name "Glacier Hijack". :D

I think that this story is moving along nicely so far. :3 I'll be getting into the richer part of the story soon - towards the part where the Jaeger Program is being shut down. (I assume you all have seen the movie/read the book. So, this isn't really a spoiler then... I think.)

Gosh dang it at all the muse I have right now. I'm not getting anything (other than writing) done.

-- phen ]