All Hands On Deck

Bright TV lights shone down on a long curved anchor's desk as various techs and operators muttered quietly behind the black. A Japanese woman dressed in a well fitted black dress was busy muttering to a tech while gesturing at him with a script paper, the tech whispering back a few clarifications. On the other side of the table sat a tough, gnarled-looking man with thin grayed hair, looking at the scene blankly with his hands folded in his lap. He was dressed in a dark blue naval dress uniform and a white cap, a GDF officer's badge hanging over his left breast. Finally everything hushed as the director gave the signal to the anchor and a digital countdown showed on the teleprompter. She counted with it until it hit zero and sat up proud and straight in her chair.

"Hello everyone and welcome to tonight's show here on the Global News Network. My name is Anna Otonashi and today we are speaking Admiral William Stenz, representing the GDF. Tell me Admiral, how exactly is the Security Council planning to pursue this 'End War' goal of theirs with the Defenders, as well as deal with the increased presence of the extremist terrorist group known as the Red Dawn?"

Stenz nodded politely at the anchorwoman. "Of course Miss Otonashi."

The anchor gave a small smile and said, "Anna, if you please Admiral."

"Very well. As to your questions, I'll begin with our progress with the Defenders. As many already know, the Defenders have agreed to work directly with GDF units to pursue many of the remaining Mutants and either convince them to cease fighting or eliminate them as needed. What most may not know is how we are managing to work with them, as prior engagements involving military units and monsters tended to go… poorly."

"Such as the Battle of New Guinea?" Anna asked.

Stenz suppressed an obvious shudder and nodded. "Yes Miss. Exactly like that. So, to ensure neither side gets in the other's way, we have integrated telepaths into jaeger crews, mech pilot teams, and the command and control groups for any conventional units which are assigned to work with them. We are stretching the limits of our telepathic units numbers-wise, but so far the results have been well worth the effort."

"I see. It's good to hear that we have improved our ability to communicate with the kaiju. Has there been any discussion with the Defenders' leadership about what to do with the Mutants who surrender? And what about the Neutrals who don't necessarily follow the Defenders. Is there any risk that these left over kaiju might try to attack us again in the future after the war is over?"

"A complicated question that doesn't have any unified answer," Stenz said. "It's hard to say because every kaiju is different. What motivates them, what their personalities are, whether or not they respect or hate humanity. There's no real way to know for sure who will do what in the coming years. Not to mention many of the monsters who aren't sentient and are basically just wild animals at a gargantuan size. The best defence against the unknown is simply to have faith in the Defenders to keep the other kaiju in line, as well as keep a close eye on our former enemies and the uncontrollable. As President Reagan once said, 'Trust but verify'."

"Actually that's a Russian idiom if I'm not mistaken," Anna said.

"Really?" Stenz blinked. "I guess that doesn't surprise me."

"Getting back to the war itself, how can we guarantee that we will be successful in the face of the sheer size of the Mutant faction. Many of the core members are indeed gone, including the faction leadership, but there are many more monsters that were left behind. The fact that they were able to attack cities around the globe within only a few hours of the Battle of Solgell shows that a threat could show up at any time with very little warning. How does the GDF plan to counter this?"

For the first time since entering the room Stenz sported a smile. "I am very glad you asked. It's true that over the last few years Jaeger and Mech transportation has been a bit slow to respond to the changing locations and directions of Mutant attacks. More than one city has suffered severe damage before either a GDF unit or Defender could arrive, and expenditure of military assets and… personnel haven't always been able to delay or distract the mutants from their path. But that will soon change."

The Admiral pulled out a tablet from his lap and placed it on the desk, tapping its screen a few times until a hologram sprouted up. The image displayed a massive-looking vessel, long sharp lines angling forward like a sword. The sides bristled with guns situated between thick plates of armor, while the end showed huge engines roaring at full burn.

"This is one of our new line of Battle Platforms, the Gungnir. It is equipped with a multitude of heavy kinetic and maser weaponry, with a main armament consisting of a super sized electrolaser designed to launch powerful lightning bolts that strike like the fist of an angry god. 50 Gigajoules of power per charged shot, as much as the most powerful lightning bolts ever seen in nature. More than enough to scorch even Pulgasari's armored hide if it hits properly."

Stenz swiped the tablet's screen showing a selection of blinding jets of light, cobalt blue streaks spraying down to the ground. "These are some still images of the initial tests of its main gun. As you can see, the origin point is surprisingly small, and we've managed to control it using a nearly invisible ionising laser to 'guide' the bolt. However, there's so much power it scatters near the end. Not enough to be a problem, but there's a reason some of the dev team refer to it as a 'Lightning Shotgun'."

Anna looked like she wanted to comment but her eyes couldn't look away from the long snake of blue lightning. "It's almost… beautiful."

"Dangerous things often are," Stenz agreed, "at least in nature. But spectacle isn't what we're looking for. Power is. And each of the 6 Battle Platforms has more than enough to comfortably take on a Cat 4 monster without significant threat to the ship or crew. Each BP will be capable of traversing a hemisphere within 2-3 hours, utilizing the latest advancements in both energy production and gravity generation to reach speeds thought impossible just a few years ago. The ships are also all armed with a squadron of support drones and GDF Ranger Infantry in platoon strength, along with a myriad of multi-caliber weapons."

Anna blinked and tilted her head in confusion. "But why would an anti-kaiju platform need infantry and fighter planes?"

Stenz face grew hard. "Because they aren't just meant to take on kaiju. The Battle Platforms were designed from the ground up to be Humanity's first line of defense against the Coalition and any other unexpected threat. When the alien fleets first came down to Earth in 2007, we were completely helpless to stop them, being forced to fight on the ground with nary any air support. Anything that tried to attack the ships directly was immediately destroyed. Well that's not happening again."

The tablet was taken up again and Stenz shifted through it. "The Jaegers were the GDF's first truly effective anti-kaiju units, able to go toe to toe with the Mutants on the battlefield and beat them at their own game. Monster fights monster. Like beats like. But the Coalition's military has units and technology that we have no match for, which is why we decided to take the Jaegers as a superweapon and make a version built for human scale conflict."

He placed the tablet back on the desk with a new holo-image displayed, this time an almost-humanoid form. The armored figure resembled a bipedal dragon of european design, but multiple clearly mechanical traits standing out. The head was long and narrow and the body looked almost muscular. On its back sprouted a pair of wings, one large, broad bat-like wing, but the other looked like some kind of massive shoulder-mounted cannon with attached aerodynamic fins. Two pistols rested at its hips, and crossing its back, above the tail, were a wickedly curved sword and a large assault rifle with a jagged bayonet. A long tail dragged behind the machine-dragon, resting along its broad feet.

Anna stared open-mouthed at the image, her audience forgotten. "What… what is that?"

"This is one of several work-in-progress designs for a new style of combat mech, the Dragoon." Stenz smiled, tapping the tablet again, causing the three-dimensional blueprint to rotate around. "They're an ultralight mech, about half the size or less of a normal Jaeger, but are capable of indefinite flight and speeds that boggle the mind, and an agility and reaction time surpassing our best Jaeger teams. While they would be significantly less effective against kaiju of Cat 3 and up, they would be perfect rapid deployment units for anything from Cat 1 monster attacks to annihilation of more conventional military units that the Coalition fields. The prototype, Aschendaele, saw active service in an emergency field test yesterday. I believe you have someone on the field in the aftermath, correct?"

Anna looked to the teleprompter, which rapidly spat out a name and info. "Yes we do. A senior field reporter named Audrey Timmons. She actually just sent in her report summary, which states that the smaller mech… Aschendate was it?"

"Aschendaele," Stenz corrected.

"Right. Well, she says that the mech was destroyed trying to take on the Cat 4 kaiju Vishnu. If that is the case, should we be worried about the effectiveness of the rest of this class of mech?"

"Not at all. As I said, Aschendaele's deployment was an emergency measure that was done as a reaction to a completely unexpected situation. In normal circumstances Dragoons would never be sent out alone against full sized Kaiju. Development protocol would dictate that they would work in teams of four, or be sent in as support and harassment units alongside Jaegers or Defenders. Along with that, most are being designed with intent to fight Coalition military, rather than kaiju. The fact that Aschendaele lasted half an hour without any assistance, managed to distract Vishnu the whole time, did a considerable amount of damage, all while the two pilots survived? No one was expecting that going in. Most of us thought it was a suicide run, and everyone was happy that we didn't need to dig two more graves for a pair of brave youngsters."

"I see." Anna frowned and her eyebrows narrowed. "Still, isn't it a bit early to be designing weapons that aren't meant to fight kaiju? There are still plenty around after all."

Stenz shook his head in reply. "Concern over current threats should not stop planning for future problems. The Mutants are the immediate threat, yes. But they are one that we have the firepower and manpower to handle with current forces. Compared to them, if the Coalition came back now, or even in the next few months…" Stenz fell back against his chair, shoulders failing slightly. "I don't think we would stand much of a chance. Not if they had the same force they did before."

An empty moment passed between the two before Anna's eyes flicked to the prompter and she started a new topic. "Coming back to my second question earlier, what exactly is the situation with this Red Dawn terrorist group? Many world leaders have declared open intent to hunt them down and eliminate them, in many cases temporarily suspending due process and warrants in relation to investigations to pursue them more quickly. What have they done to merit this kind of treatment?"

Stenz clasped his hands to together as he leaned forward again, a dark glint in his eye as he spoke. "The Dawn have been considered a minor nuisance by the Security Council ever since their start under the name 'Red Bamboo' back in the 80's. There were many such 'super villain' groups back then, all attempting to take Mysterian technologies and use them to either take control of large regions or ransom huge amounts of money. Most of them died out in the 90's once our understanding of the technologies allowed us to more easily turn off or counter their so called 'super weapons'. We had assumed the Bamboo disappeared just like the rest, but a couple years ago several small terror attacks took place in out of the way corners of the planet, all of them with seemingly no goal other than to wipe out all of the inhabitants of the area attacked."

Stenz swiped at his tablet again, bringing up a long list of names and dates, along with numbers. Numbers Anna swiftly realized were casualty lists. "The Dawn has been linked to a number of mass murders and demolition attacks, mostly centered around smaller locales. There is also conflicting evidence they have been responsible for several Cat 1 monster invasions, though the sources aren't exactly clear on that front. However, lately their attacks have grown more severe, bloody, and bold. The recent rampage by Vishnu? That occurred because they somehow managed to replicate a technology that was banned by the GDF. The same technology that caused Titanosaurus to hate humans so badly. A machine that can control the minds of kaiju."

Anna's eye widened as the connection was made. "Wait, are you meaning to tell me..."

"Yes. Vishnu's attack on Brisbane was not some random act of aggression by a former Neutral. He wasn't even able to fully control himself at all. He was working for the Red Dawn against his will." Stenz sat up and placed his hands on the desk forcefully. "And that is not something the GDF will tolerate. To tear away the will of an innocent, to cause so much death and destruction, with clear intent to inflict even more. That...That is a level of evil that no human should tolerate. Yes. Evil. Not some subjective religious thing or complicated question of morality. Real, tangible evil."

"I… I don't understand. What's the goal behind any of this? Why cause this kind of devastation?"

"None of us know yet. They've made no demands, left no survivors, and stated no clear ethos. For all intents and purposes, they have no reason for this save pure malice."

Anna stared back at Stenz and asked, not in the voice of a reporter, but that of one person begging the other for clarity, "What are we doing to stop them?"

"Whatever is necessary, miss. Currently the GDF is trying to track down the locations of Dawn cells in preparation to assault and destroy them. The Dawn has shown that they have remarkably large amounts of resources for a terrorist group, including a high number of telepaths and hybrids in their ranks, along with military grade armaments. In light of that the Council has authorized the use of prototype weapons and armor reverse engineered from captured Coalition technology."

"Does that include these Exosuits that the UN announced are being delivered to member nations?"

Stenz nodded. "Correct. The Exos are the GDF's attempt to replicate the advanced powered armor systems used by the Xillian warrior caste, built to supplement the strength and agility of the user while still maintaining ease of use and function on the battlefield. Alongside the armors we are sending out batches of electromagnetic kinetic guns and plasma casters, most of which are too heavy to be used by normal infantry but can be easily wielded by a soldier in an Exosuit. I've been told there are other, more advanced armors in the pipeline but these are the ones that are ready to be used now. We hope that these upgrades will be enough to overcome the well-equipped Dawn forces, as well as allow our forces to fight on a more even keel with the Xillians, if it comes to that."

"It seems the GDF has the situation well in hand then," Anna said. "Are there any other outstanding issues that the Council sees could become problematic in the near future?"

"Aside from ensuring that management of the war goes well and no more surprise kaiju try to attack unguarded areas, not so far as I know ma'am. There is a good chance that there will be casualties during the fights to come, from Mechs or Kaiju, but the risk must be taken to ensure the safety of both humanity and the Defenders. We're in this together, and thus we will finish it together."

The anchor smiled and was about to end the program when there was a subtle beep from her prompter and a picture shown behind it. "Speaking of surprise kaiju, Admiral, it seems we've just gotten a very interesting report from one of our people in Hong Kong near the Shatterdome. He says that a trio of kaiju recently visited the Shatterdome, one of which was a kaiju he had never seen before. Do you know who it might be?"

Stenz frowned and shrugged, saying, "I'm not aware of any new Defender members, nor of any visits to the SD."

A tech signaled Anna from behind the camera, giving her the hand gesture that said to turn to the widescreen behind the desk. "Well perhaps we can guess who it is together then. We've just received a video from on site, which we'll display here."

The Admiral hesitated for a moment before saying, "I'm not sure that's the best…"

His words fell away as the TV behind them lit up, dragging the attention of the camera and everyone in the room.

The footage showed a trio of kaiju, two immediately recognizable as Zilla and Titanosaurus, while the third had never been seen before. It resembled Titanosaurus, but with a longer snout and thinner build, hunched over much like Zilla's stance. The creature growled and grumbled, shaking water off of its red and gold scales as it climbed up to join the other two kaiju. For several minutes the trio sat there looking down at the helipad below them, Stenz trying to figure out who the mysterious monster was from his mental list, only to draw a blank.

Then something truly shocking occurred. At some unseen signal the creature marched forward off the slope and slid down towards the pad, shrinking down smaller and smaller as it slid. The far off camera view rapidly zoomed in to try and track the shrinking kaiju as it reached the pad, now standing only a few feet over the few humans still in the frame. Its shape, too, had changed, becoming far less monstrous in many ways.

Stenz and Anna both watched in bewilderment as the formerly kaiju sized being casually walked over to a set of figures, whom Stenz belatedly realized was the Security Council itself. A woman in black clothing stepped up and wrapped the kaiju in a pink garment. As the creature twisted and twirled, as if displaying itself, the camera stopped and three camera flashes rang out, each timed with the image getting closer and clearer, until the creature filled the screen.

Anna smiled without thinking, looking over the image. Her eyes were drawn to the creature's big, happy blue eyes, and its almost cat-like face, like a fusion of human and feline features. Human enough to be recognizable, but animal enough to have an inhuman sort of 'cuteness' to it. The eyes were big, almost unusually large, but expressive, half-lidded as if giving the bedroom eyes to the audience, and her mouth was curved into a playful, friendly smile. A pair of antennae sprouted from the creature's head, casting twin dim lights across her face, granting a halo-like aura. Casting her gaze across the rest of the form, Anna took in a slim but fit shape, wide curves shrouded by the fluffy pink bathrobe, hiding a clearly feminine hourglass figure, tail caught in mid-sway. The slick sheen of water gave her scales a metallic look, almost twinkling in the dim light.

But while Anna saw the creature as adorable, even endearing, Admiral Stenz was having a very different reaction. His eyes locked onto recurved, serrated teeth sticking out like daggers, claw-tipped fingers and toes, thin webbing stretched between them. The hands had four fingers, and her feet four toes, looking like a dinosaur's foot. Her arms and legs were far too long for her, muscles stretched taut across them, giving them a slender but powerful look. A long and powerful tree trunk-like tail dragged through the air, with a broad maple-leaf-like fin splayed at the tip, the fin stretching as long and wide as her torso. He saw her neck, stretching nearly three feet long, leading to a head that was too large, too human-like, for such an inhumanly proportioned body.

Where Anna saw her plumpness as cute, maybe even 'sexy', Stenz only saw it as a warning. A creature… No. A predator like this was dangerous. Combined with a human, monstrous. Terrifying. His mind reeling as he watched the beast follow the Council inside the Shatterdome as if it were no different from any other visitor. Where Anna saw something adorable and endearing, Stenz saw something as if from a nightmare.

"What in God's name was that?" the Admiral said to himself.

"I don't know, but it seemed really cute," Anna said, oblivious to the Admiral's panic. "I didn't know there was a Jet Jaguar type among the Defenders. I wonder if it's another one of those Guardian monsters like Gamera and Yonggary?" Abruptly she remembered that she was in the middle of a show and turned back to the camera, displaying a broad smile. "Well whatever the case, more Defenders can only be a good thing for the war effort, so more help is always appreciated. Even if they do look strangely human, hmm. For the Global News Network, this has been Anna Otonashi with my guest Admiral William Stenz. Have a good night, and let us pray that this conflict will be over soon."

Stenz barely nodded back to her before leaving his chair even as the cameras stopped recording. He felt a distinct need to make a phone call to his superiors, then make a quick trip to the bathroom that he hoped had nothing to do with the dark empty pit that had appeared in his stomach.

---

A digitized theme tune chimed for a few seconds before the television was muted, the images flying by unnoticed by the watcher. The only sound in the darkened room was a muted clack as the TV's remote was placed onto a low to the ground table sitting across from it. The light from the TV flittered around the room, shining on the dark wood walls below paper panels set in the traditional style of the Meiji period of Japan.

The room's only occupant was sitting in a legless chair behind the table, his gaze fixed dead on the television as he repeatedly went over the image of the unknown creature.

It cannot be. It is impossible. How could another exist? The research should have been a dead end, all copies of it destroyed with the loss of CCI. And yet…

Takaki Aso, former Commander of G-force and founder of the GDF, sat back, placing his hands on his criss-crossed legs and sighing aloud. If what he saw on that news report was representative of what he thought, then it was clear that things had changed far more vastly than he had thought viable.

Elsewhere in the house he heard a door opening, followed by stamping feet as someone cleared off their shoes. "Otou-san? Are you here?"

"Yes," Aso called out. "In here. There's something you need to see." He took up the remote again and set it to rewind the still playing news channel, moving it back to the report as the door to the room slid open.

The shadows played over the darkened figure, who was covered in a long black robe that trailed on the ground behind it. "What did you want to show me?" it asked in a deep baritone.

"A most interesting piece of news. One that I think is related to your… situation."

The figure stiffened but remained silent, turning its hidden gaze to the screen as the end of the report appeared. Idly it noted the horrified look on the military man's face before it spotted the image showing behind the anchor's table. Recoiling as if stuck it stared at the sight, unable to comprehend the sight before its eyes. "That… that can't… Is it?"

"I believe so," Aso answered. "And if that is the case, then perhaps it is time we had a talk with Pentecost and whoever that blonde haired woman is."

"Father, are you sure that…" The figure turned its face away, arms folding of its wide chest. "Are you sure the time is right for this? Now, in the midst of all this chaos around the world?"

Takaki rose to his feet. "Yes, Ryujin. The time has come to cease hiding in the shadows. I know you do not feel ready, but in truth we may never be truly ready to both our hearts' content. If that creature is what I think it is, then this may be our best chance. We can't let the opportunity slip through our fingers."

The taller figure held still for a time, appearing to be conflicting with itself, before finally nodding in accent. "What do you plan to do Otou-san?"

Aso smiled and patted the other lightly on the shoulder. "I'll make a phone call."

---

The Shatterdome was a surprisingly average place to work at most of the time, in the opinion of the various dock workers, engineers and techs that kept the place active. Once the novelty of seeing giant mechanical humanoid robots and cyborg kaiju everyday wore off it was little different from any other military port. There was a schedule to keep, pallets to move, broken tools to repair. All the usual day to day rigor that kept them all busy for 50 or so hours each week. Even seeing the occasional kaiju hanging out on the mountainside wasn't an unknown sight for the people of Shatterdome, if still a bit unnerving.

So none of the workers on duty on the outer launch pad batted an eye at the distant bulge of water approaching the mountain base in the distance. Another kaiju they thought. Big deal, a couple of them had just been there earlier that week, although most of the crews were still talking about that one that went and shrunk like some old cheesy Fifties movie. Instead they paid attention to their work, making sure the SD was supplied with all the materials it needed, that the pad was ready for immediate launch if needed, and a dozen other myriad tasks.

Eventually the tidal bulge drew close enough for some of the workers to realize it was a fair bit bigger than what most kaiju made. A lot bigger in fact. Some paused in their jobs where possible and settled down to watch, the rest continuing their work and ignoring it. They'd seen everything there was to see as far as crazy went, they thought. Whatever this was wasn't a threat since they hadn't been ordered to evacuate, so they could care less. The less jaded members of the crews sat back and traded bets on what they thought it'd be. Another new kaiju, a super submarine, or some other strange unknown thing. The world had become so strange none of them discounted anything anymore.

The minutes passed as the underwater disturbance finished its approach, gradually slowing to prevent large waves from crashing too hard into the lower bay doors. Just as the one of the senior techs finished organizing the pool, the water below the pad erupted as a massive island of metal rose up from beneath the surface. The vessel was huge, easily twice as big as pre-invasion carriers. For all its size though it didn't look at all like any ship they had seen before. Instead, it seemed to resemble a humongous whale made of shining steel, large flippers shaped like swords flapping once to stabilize it on the surface.

The crews all gaped at the vessel for several seconds unlike a senior chief whooped and said, "I called it! It's a sub!"

"Does that thing look like a sub to you?" someone else argued.

"It swims underwater and is made of metal," she responded reasonably. "That's good enough for me!"

"Attention all work crews," the loudspeaker barked. "Prepare for shipping and offloading. Also, everything you are about to see is classified. As far as anyone outside the SD is concerned, this ship and its contents do not exist."

"Neither do we most of the time!" one loader joked, causing everyone near him to laugh.

A chuckle came over the speaker before it said, "And keep it that way. Now get back to work!"

Down below the vessel aligned itself with the pad and opened various panels and hatches across its top, cranes moving forward on the pad to reach down and pluck already prepared packages. And so the work continued much the same as it usually did. Crazy their world may be, but crazy or not they still had jobs to do. A giant robo-whale was just another bit of weird to add to the pile.

---

Far above from out of a rare windowed room Lauren looked down in awe at the giant ship. The concept that people had build such a huge thing was beyond baffling for her. It just seemed so impossible, so unbelievable that humans could do all the things she'd seen over the last week. Everything she saw in this place just astonished her more and more. Eventually she drew back from the window and fell back onto her bed, wanting to look at something more mundane so she could calm down somewhat. Remind herself that not everything around here was insane.

She looked around the room, a 'suite' according to Pentecost. Then again, she shouldn't be surprised at the spartan nature of the two-person one-room apartment given it was in a military base. The bunk beds were nice and soft, that much she could praise. But the blue and grey decor left her feeling like a sailor, rather than an animator, and the completely bare walls left her very little to look at during her long hours of waiting for someone to call on them. Even now she wondered why she and Craig hadn't been sent home already.

"Why are we here Craig?"

Her husband looked up from his newspaper and tilted his head at her. "What?"

Lauren sighed and strode over to him, plopping down in the plain wooden chair across from him. "I mean why are we, a pair of animation directors, hanging out in this place? You can't walk around a corner around here without seeing psychics, hybrids, technology that looks straight out of Star Wars, and other crazy stuff that makes my head spin."

"That's progress for you honey," Craig said with surprising calm. "This place is at the forefront of human engineering and science. Of course there's gonna be stuff here that the public isn't really familiar with."

"Okay fine. I get that. But then why do they still need us to be here? We've already told them everything we could about Equestria. What more do they need us for?"

Craig shrugged. "Maybe they just want to keep us close by in case something comes up. It's not like we're trapped here against our will. We're still getting messages from the studio after all."

Lauren rubbed her temples and leaned against the table. "I don't want to try and make our show over Skype, dear. More than that I just… I want to go and do something, not stay cooped up in here for days on end."

"Boredom or inactivity?"

"Either." She sighed. "Both. I don't know."

Craig reached across the table and rubbed her shoulder, causing her to hum quietly. "I get you honey. I'm kinda bored too, but I'm not gonna let it bother me. Think of this as unofficial vacation time." His phone buzzed and he pulled it out of his pocket, Lauren leaning away and resting her hand over her eyes. His eyes scanned over the message for a moment before he blinked and muttered, "Oh you're not gonna like this Laur."

"Whaaaat?" she said blearily.

"Well… you know how the team wanted to have Cadence be pregnant this next season?"

"I vaguely remember something to that effect. Something about Pinkie and secrets, it's been a while."

Craig winced and took a steadying breath. "Yeah, see, they were talking it over and they're thinking that the kid should be an… alicorn."

There was a slow creak of Lauren's chair as she moved forward to stare at her husband with burning intensity. "What?" she asked in a glacial tone.

"Now Laur, I know you weren't exactly thrilled about the whole 'Alicorn Twilight' thing but-"

"It went completely against the point I was trying to make!" Lauren erupted out of her chair and started stalking back and forth. Craig recognized what was about to happen and responded by covering his face with his palm and deciding to just ride it out.

"The Alicorns were supposed to be the ultimate ideals, lofty goals that others are meant to aspire to and respect! Making Twilight become one sends an impossible message of 'just work hard enough and you too can become a god'! That's not what I wanted people to take away from the show. I don't want people to try and become perfect. I want them to recognize that everyone has faults and that that's okay. It's fine to make mistakes sometimes so long as you are trying to become better. Going all the way and becoming that ideal removes the sense of accomplishment."

Craig knew that trying was pointless but he felt the need to speak up anyway. "We haven't shown Twilight become perfect Laur. She's still the same neurotic bookworm she always was, just with a new position."

"A position she never asked for!" she shouted back. "I wouldn't have minded this whole thing happening if Twilight had been told ahead of time and been given the choice to become a princess or not."

A rapid set of knocks on the door caught the pair's attention. "Um, excuse me, is everything alright in there?" a feminine voice called through the door.

Thanking his lucky stars that Lauren's rant had been interrupted, Craig cleared his throat and said, "Yeah, it's fine. Just having a… personal discussion."

A faint chuckle could be heard. "Yeah, I often have those kinds of discussions with my family as well. If I may ask, is this the residence of Lauren Faust and Craig McCracken?"

The two animators sent each a glance and both sighed. Since first arriving at the Shatterdome both of them had been fairly inundated by adult fans of the show begging for autographs, a handshake, or just to met them. Both were used to that sort of attention at cons and other fan-meet ups they did in the show's off seasons, but to have the same sort of reception at a military base was… off putting for them. Still, fans were fans, regardless of age, so they treated them with the same respect as they did any other person who looked up to them. "Yes, that's us. Did you want anything in particular or…"

"Well for one thing I'd like to actually talk to you rather than this door."

"Of course," Lauren chuckled weakly before moving to open the door, while the woman outside continued to talk.

"I mean, not to say that this isn't a nice door. The wood quality is quite excellent, and the design is, while simplistic, very elegant considering-"

The door sung open, revealing a rather short young woman. Had Lauren not taken a second glance she may have mistaken her for a teenager due to her very short stature. The woman had blonde hair that flowed in a long waterfall over her shoulders. She wore almost comically large coke bottle glasses and had pale skin that looked like it rarely saw the sun. She was clad in a thick, yet snug sweater and a knee-length knitted skirt, covered over by a lab coat that looked several sizes too large. A closer look showed the lines and contours of a corset worn beneath the sweater, the silk threads poking out between the sweater and skirt confirming it. The woman looked up, having been silenced by the opening door, looking into Lauren's eyes with two big blue eyes full of wonder.

"Hello," Lauren said.

"Hi," was the breathless response. "I was talking about the door but I kinda forgot what I was saying." She shook herself and took a steadying breath. "Sorry. Little overexcited at the moment. But, ok, where was I? Oh! My name's Joanne! Doctor Joanne Johnson!"

"Nice to meet you, Doctor Johnson. My name's Lauren Faust and this is my husband, Craig McCracken." Lauren smiled and added, "So, is it time for my check up?"

"Huh? OH! Oh nononononono! I'm not that kind of doctor. I do genetic engineering. Though if you wanted wings or extra arms or some other 'enhancements', I'm the girl to call!" She giggled, rubbing her hair and blushing. "But um… do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Certainly," Craig said.

The doctor smiled and wrung her hands through each other. "Do you happen to know where the cafeteria is? I've been trying to find it for a while now and I'm completely turned around."

The couple blinked at each other is bemusement before Lauren said, "That's like five floors down from here. And all the elevators have signs on them saying which level has what." She shrugged her shoulders and added, "Publicly at least."

"And the elevators are… where exactly?"

Lauren was about to say they were right down the hall when her brain started to twist around the impossible idea that this woman had somehow missed them when they were the only other thing up here aside from the suites. "Why… why don't you just follow us?" she asked. "It's about time for lunch anyway."

The doctor gave a weak smile and wrung her hands together. "That might be for the best." Joanne waved her arms towards the door with a creaking smile on her face. "After you?"

Craig and Lauren traded a look with each other before they trotted off to the elevators, Joanne following in between them staring straight forward and looking like she was twitching with concentration. A long and boring ride later they emerged in the common area of the SD and made their way through the busy hallways towards the smell of food. Along the way multiple people waved to the couple, with Lauren and Craig both smiling back and trading pleasantries. Lauren felt some of her dull mood lift as they went, especially when they entered the cafeteria and several nearby tables cheered when they spotted them.

"Guess you guys are popular everywhere," Joanne remarked.

Lauren smiled and shrugged. "Way more than we had expected."

"So Joanne, what is it that you do here?" Craig asked as they stepped into the food line.

Joanne cheerily smirked and said, "I'm the head of genetic engineering for a deep black top secret mobile research and development team of mad scientists secretly on the GDF payroll."

The couple halted in line and stared at her blankly. "OK, seriously, what do you do here?" Craig countered. "Because that sounds like the setup for a very dark cartoon or something..."

"Oh, you'll see." She winked back at the pair, piling on meaty foods. "Oh this looks so gooood. First time in months I've eaten any kind of meat besides fish and snails..."

"Dare we ask?" Lauren said as she filled her own plate.

"Our head engineer brought his mom and sisters with him on our research vessel." She hauled the heavy tray away, struggling to balance it. "Miss Wylder's an amazing cook, and skilled at making food last. But the only real meat we can sustainably grow on the ship right now is snails. Escargot is fine for a fancy meal once in awhile, but try subsisting on nearly a hundred different recipes composed mostly of snail for half a year. You'll be begging for bacon and sirloin, too."

"You've been on a ship for half a year? What were you on, an aircraft carrier?"

"A carrier? Ha, hardly. Hon, y'all are gonna freak when you see the Langoud." She chuckled, semi-snorting as she did. "It's no ordinary ship. Not by a long shot." She managed to make her way to a nearby table, dropping the plate down with a heavy thud, setting her drink, a massive milkshake, off to the side. "C'mon, plop down and join me!"

The two animators sat down across from the doctor more calmly and started eating. While Lauren and Craig opted for a more normal method of eating, Joanne had foregone any sense of decorum and began devouring her meal as fast as she could, stopping only to clear her throat with a sip from her shake. Utensils were ignored in favor of simply licking her fingers clean of sauces and juices and any semblance of manners was outright impossible to see.

"Urp, sorry." Joanne blushed, finally calming down. "Just feels like I hadn't eaten in days so..."

"No worries," Lauren cut the doctor off gently. "I can guess living off of snails on a boat for half a year wouldn't exactly be conducive to a good diet."

Joanne shrugged. "I'm not the cleanest of eaters normally anyway. My son always gets annoyed at me whenever I force him to actually sit down at the table with me, though that may have to do with the fact that he's the one who does the dishes. Despite the fact that we have a whole cook team on board. I guess he just likes doing dishes for some reason. No idea why."

"What is the Langoud exactly?" Craig asked. "Briefing packet didn't include the name."

"Well it wouldn't, since we are, you know, top secret and everything." The doctor blinked and quickly said, "Don't tell anyone I told you about this stuff. I just figured since you were up in the Council residences you guys were in the know…"

Lauren put on a reassuring smile. "I wouldn't worry too much. Stacker told us when we got here that we were basically cleared for everything so long as we promised not to blab to anyone. After all, no one would suspect a pair of animation directors to have a bunch of top secret knowledge."

"Well, who knows, maybe you'll get more." She wiped her mouth, finishing off the last piece of bacon-wrapped sirloin. Suddenly, her phone let out a beep. The doctor whipped it out of her purse and took a peek, almost squeaking as she read the message. "Speak of the devil, Serizawa's wondering where I am. I'm supposed to head to the lower hangar where our ship is off loading. So you'll get to see it anyway!"

Lauren and Craig both blinked at her and said in unison, "Wait what?"

Joanne waved them up and started hopping in place. "Come on, it'll be fun! We've got so much cool stuff and those stuffy Council guys don't react right. They're worse than New York cab drivers. I wanna see someone actually freak for once."

Lauren twitched. "I don't like to freak."

"Well, not 'freak' as in panic but… They reacted to my daughter basically by blinking. That's… Just some kind of reaction like, I don't know. 'That's interesting' or something? I was kinda hoping for more than that."

"And what about your daughter was it they were supposed to be… reacting to exactly?" Craig asked.

Joanne sported a massively smug grin and said, "You know the kaiju that showed up yesterday? The one that shrank?"

"Yeah, spotted them out the window yesterday. What does that-" Craig stopped to think as the connection hit. "Oh no. There's no way. You're joking, right?"

"Nope! That's my baby girl, Tytanna!" She smiled brightly. "And, well, she's literally and figuratively your biggest fan."

Husband and wife looked at each other, once again stuck at the point of complete disbelief they had felt multiple times since their arrival here and shard one thought. Where's the limit to this insanity?

"Well…" Lauren began in a shaky tone. "I… wouldn't want to disappoint one of our fans by not being there. Just so long as she doesn't try to eat us or anything."

"Eat you?" Joanne frowned, "She doesn't eat people, she prefers pizza. She might try to glomp you but, well… Let's just say she has no sense of personal space. Worst case scenario is you get some lipstick on your face and the smell of breakfast pizza in the air. She knows not to be too rough with humans. She learned that the hard way with her boyfriend."

"She… has a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, our head engineer. Sweet guy, bit of a dork. They're really good for each other, I think, even if it's a bit awkward sometimes."

"Um… how exactly does a kaiju fall in love with a human if they're… you know..."

"Know what?" Joanne asked, blinking owlishly. "Oh, you mean animalistic. Don't worry, Tya's fully sentient and can speak with human tongues, so she's sort of more human than kaiju. Just a person who happens to have scales instead of skin."

"How exactly did that happen?" Lauren asked. "I've never heard of a kaiju being able to speak human language before."

Joanne looked as if she was about to respond but her phone chimed again, "Oh sweet relish." She sighed. "We're gonna have to rush. Stacker wants us in the lower hangar ASAP." "I'll explain on the way. Hope you two are ready to have your minds blown. Figuratively of course, not literally. Let's go." With that the doctor began hopping over to the entrance, only to stop and turn back to the still sitting couple. "Um, which way is it to the lower loading docks?"

---

As it turned out, finding the docks was a simple as just asking one of the techs at the table next to them for directions and not letting Joanne try to lead them. As soon as they passed through the doors the couple were floored by the gigantic area they entered. Huge multi-story bays lined the walls of the vast space, all empty save for one at the far end of the hall. Lauren recognized the well televised form of Jet Jaguar, his sleek lines and smooth armor marred in several spots by heavy welds across his joints. Humans riding on slung gondolas or just hanging from wires crawled all across him, sparks flying here and there as they drew plasma torches across cracks or opened hatches.

"Wow," Lauren muttered unconsciously, Craig standing next to her with his hands at his hips, taking in the sight.

"You know, I never could figure out old JJ there," Joanne said as she continued on past them. "Somehow he manages to size-shift using a piece of technology nobody knows how to use, something that should be impossible to do except with very powerful magic. And he flatly refuses to let us examine it so we can try to understand it. He was a smart artificial intelligence years before we ever came up something similar and has never once shown any need for an update or anything beyond basic maintenance. A riddle trapped in a black box all wrapped up in an enigma. It'd be fascinating if it weren't so frustrating."

"So he's a mysterious giant robot that fights for good and changes sizes?" Craig observed. "Are we sure he's not a transformer?"

Both women turned to look at him, one in confusion the other is disbelief.

"You know, 'cause Transformers are owned by Hasbro, and so is MLP. It's funny because they're related. Sort of." All he received in response were further blank stares. "Nothing at all? Really?"

"We understand Craig," Lauren said. "We just think it's stupid."

Joanne coughed and waved her arms of in the direction of the end of the hall. "Maybe we should just keep going."

With that Lauren, Joanne, and a severely chagrined Craig continued on their way, while a loud blaring started up from horns high above them. "Attention, preparing to open bay 12 doors. Repeat, opening bay 12 doors. All personnel clear out of bay 12 entryway."

Lauren and Craig both came to a halt and watched the doors slowly creak open, an ungodly loud clanging starting up from the other side. Rolling through into the hanger was Mogeura, the massive mole-like mech looking spick, span, and shiny as new. Having heard of the intense battle in Brisbane, as well as its grisly climax, Lauren would have thought the mech would need at least a thorough washing. But it appeared to have been completely cleaned and shone like it had just rolled off the production line.

What really sent the shock in, however, was where Moguera seemed to have come from. The mech was slowly rolling out of a massive gaping maw of some kind of mechanical seabeast that put most kaiju to shame in sheer size. Grey metal plates highlighted by glowing blue strips of light gave the massive vessel an alien, almost mosasauroid visage.

"Lauren? Craig?" Joanne grinned and held out her hands wide out to her sides. "THAT is the Langoud."

"That's your ship?" Lauren said. "What… what even is it?

Joanne giggled. "I've practically memorized Theo's little sale's pitch about it. This ship is the recovered hulk of an ancient atlantean warship, repaired and upgraded with human technology. The ultimate expression of modern genius and ancient technology in the shape of a big badass robot shark-monster. Still the best description of it I've ever heard. Now come on, we have to get to the meeting!"

Joanne fairly pranced off in the direction of the still moving Moguera, leaving Lauren and Craig to follow after still looking up in awe at the giants towering far above them. "Still think all of this stuff is explainable Craig?"

"Um, I'd say 70-30 at this point, hun. But hey, it's still pretty neat huh?"

Lauren looked around the corner as they passed by Jaguar's bay, watching the crews shuffle around huge missile pods and pallets of explosives while armed and armored guards stood against the walls watching everything with hawk's eyes. "Yeah… neat."

They arrived at the edge of bay 12 along with a tide of engineers who started clamoring back and forth around Mog's tread feet. Off to the side Lauren saw Pentecost speaking with the other members of the Council. He looked up from their chat and spotted Joanne walking over to them, then his eyes glazed over to Lauren and Craig and he blinked in surprise. "Miss Johnson, when I sent the message for you to come down here, I did not expect you to bring guests along. Lauren, Craig, may I ask why you have decided to join us today?"

Lauren shrugged in response. "I don't really know. I guess we just… want to know more about what's going on. Feel like we are actually contributing something rather than sitting around just twiddling our thumbs."

Pentecost mulled this over for a moment. "I suppose it has been some time since our last talk about Equestria. My apologies if you have been feeling ignored."

Craig waved him off and said, "It's fine Marshall. We understand you've been busy. That said, it would be nice if we could have something to do to help. Anything at all, even just offering our opinions on… whatever it is you guys have locked up in the behemoth."

Serizawa coughed to call attention to himself and said, "Marshall, are we sure that we should let these two be aware of all this? Many of the Langoud's projects are highly classified for a reason."

"We already have their word that everything they see and experience here will be kept secret until such time as it can be safely revealed to the public. I have faith that they will keep their promises. Besides, perhaps having an outside opinion from the uninformed will help us to guess what the public's reactions will be to the many new technologies we have in store." He turned to Joanne and waved towards the still open central hold of the Langoud. "If the good doctor would lead us inside, we can start seeing what it is we can expect to add to our ranks."

Lauren and Craig traded a glance. "Um, Marshall, I'm not sure Joanne should be leading us-"

"Oh don't worry about it guys," the doctor jumped in. "We've got a hologram navigation system that's installed on all the walls in the halls that can direct you wherever you need to go. It's literally impossible to get lost if you follow the directions, even for me!" She ended off with a brilliant smile and dramatically walked off towards the path Mog had just rolled over. "Alright, gentlemen, ladies, and Serizawa. It's time for you to see the mysteries of the GDFRS Langoud!"

---

(Checks time) 1 hour before midnight on the last night of the month. Talk about last minute huh guys? Anyway, sorry this took so long to put out. I had a whole bunch of ideas but wasn't sure where or when I wanted them to be, and the time flew by so quick next thing I knew I only had a few days left to finish before my deadline. If anything seems rushed or the like then you know the reason why. Anyway, this is just more or less another in-between chapter to fill in some gaps and get things ready for next time. Again attempts at world-building will hopefully keep you guys interested until the action packed bits next chapter. I did spend some time this month trying to formulate a more solid overall plan for the story as a whole rather than continuing to write by the seat of my pants and pray it all comes together well. I've made it work so far but I can only push my luck for so long. Ah well, whatever the case, I hope you guys continue to enjoy, and as always, if you spot anything that might be wrong or have an idea you want to share, don't be afraid to hit me up with a PM.
Also, please review. Every review I see on this thing is like ten shots of super-heroin straight into my brain. I'm jonesing for a fix guiz. Please halp! I need my reviews!