15-08-2797

4:52 

"This is evacuation transport 167, can anybody out there hear us? Our wheels are shot, our last wagon is scrap, there's four.. five Kaiju coming at us! Is there anyone there?" Desperation distorted the voice crackling out of the comms headset. 

Clamps ready for drop-off. Current height two-triple-o. 

"Transport 167, this is Echidna of European Vanguard One. Brace for air drop, we're coming in hot." 

Fangs hit the release. 

In the night sky around him, several hundred kilotons of steel started free fall as the three MAKs of EV One separated from their transport choppers' magnetic holding claws. Fangs' system got hit with a shot of fresh adrenaline that suppressed the exhaustion of weeks of nonstop deployment.

When  Echidna broke through the clouds, the scanners picked up a pack of category five Kaiju circling in on the convoy. On the HUD, they were already being marked for threat priority by Terry. 

"Impact in fifteen, guys. Give it your all, there's just shy of a thousand metas on that transport."

"Copy, Echidna. Let's fuck 'em up."

The wolves had come to hunt. 

5:59

Helen Ceres opened her eyes and punched her alarm clock before it went off. Four hours? Enough for tonight. 

"Good morning, Helen." Clemens' voice was pleasant as ever. She hated him. "Fuck off, Clemens. Pull up my itinerary for today." 

"Yes, Helen. You are slightly malnourished, so I took the liberty to have Thea prepare a full breakfast." 

While Helen showered, Clemens read her daily appointments to her. She grabbed her oat meal and tungsten bars off the kitchen table while passing by, not slowing down on the way to her car. Her hair left a trail of water and shampoo residue on the stairs.

"How about tonight's deployments? Corhen, Jovic? Also, what did Australia say? Can we borrow Leroux?" 

Clemens spoke directly in her ear as bleeding edge implants transferred the sound from her skull to her inner ear. "The ARD politely declined. They are, and I quote, 'stretched thin as is.' Corhen lost the convoy but defeated all Kaiju on the western flank, including a category nine. Jovic took severe damage to his own MAK and another of his troop, but salvaged the transport. They're expected back in under an hour, but damage is extensive. They won't be able to ship out again until the day after tomorrow."

Ivan was sitting at the wheel of her personal limousine when she ripped the door open. The hovercar tilted significantly when Helen dropped onto her seat, but the stabilizers promptly corrected for the weight. "Good morning, Commander Ceres."

Ignoring her assistant, Helen instructed Clemens to reassign one of the backup maintenance crews to Jovic's troop. Fangs wasn't gonna like it, but that was life. The drive to her office was short, but long enough for her to dig through the refugee camps' food requirements and shift some resources around. She made sure to not use her command override so the local coordinators could make adjustments if they needed to be made; they were the ones with eyes on the ground, not her. All she could do was provide them with what they needed. 

The elevator took them up to floor 152 in a matter of seconds. 

"There's a thirty minute gap on your schedule, would you like to take the time to rest or should I open the slot for booking, Helen?"

"Neither. That's my most important meeting of the day."

Let him wonder why I haven't logged it with him. Not like he's a real person.

"Yes, Helen."

8:21

The carbon-silicate lace plate clicked into place. The frame hissed as the shock absorbers connected factory new armor to giant killer machine. 

"And that, folks, is the last one. We're officially finished. Go home, get some sleep, buy yourselves a muffin, fuck your spouses. You get three free shifts, then it's back to maintenance duty for you guys. Thank you. We really accomplished something here, and we couldn't have done it without you. And don't forget, if you talk to anyone about this Commander Ceres herself will stick her metal hands so far up your asses she'll play banjo on your vocal cords. Dismissed."

In the thundering applause of the tech crew, Valkyrie slid down three storeys on a rope next to the scaffolding. Vahl was already waiting for her on the ground. He left the climbing to colleagues under 120, as he used to say. Like he had ever climbed anything but his chair to change a light bulb. 

Valkyrie hit the ground harder than she'd wanted to, staggering past Vahl before steadying herself.

"Valkyrie-friend. You should sleep. Coffee is no substitute for proper rest. I can provide some studies on the matter if you like." 

"Friedrich, the day you shut the fuck up I'll suck off Martín from reception." 

The scientists started the long walk toward the elevator in silence, occasionally being passed by the tech crew's carts. It would have been humbling to walk past row after row of next generation MAKs if they hadn't done it every day for the last five years. That was over now. All that was left was to kit them out with cores, and that couldn't be done if there weren't any.

"I have tried calculating Chrysalis' cost. I failed." Valkyrie's brain was so clouded by fatigue toxins that it took her a while to process what Friedrich had just said. "Don't think I've ever heard you admit the incapability to calculate something."

"Do not get used to it, Valkyrie-friend. I do not plan to make it a habit." Valkyrie snorted. "Two jokes in one day on top? Is that your way of celebrating?" They walked for another minute.

"But I get your point. It's gotta be billions in the triple digits. Unimaginable that she managed to siphon off so much money elsewhere and still kept it under wraps." 

"Indeed."

"But you know what, Friedrich? I don't give a flying fuck how she did it. We got it done. And if there's no Kaiju in my bathtub by next week, we might even get to take some days off as a little reward."

 

10:07

The sun snuck its way through designer curtains and onto Damien's face. "Traitor.." He slurred, still half-asleep. Next to him another body rolled over with a small, questioning sound. Right.

He snapped his fingers. "Out with you, sweet thing. Told you, no breakfast." While the, admittedly gorgeous, meta next to him got dressed, Damien reached for his datapad before the omnipresent sense of dread could dissuade him.

Thirteen missed calls, 99+ new messages. He sifted through, forwarded those looking for a fix to his boys with the contacts attached, apologised to his regulars where he deemed it necessary. Better times, I would already finish my first round right now. Ah, whatever. Lily and Taka got it covered. 

"You know, maybe you wouldn't have to resort to booty calls after three if you spared others more than the time it takes to get business done." There was vitriol in the voice, and disdain in the look that went along with it. 

"Don't pretend you didn't cum like ten times. There's the door, and see you next week if we're still alive by then." By the time the door slammed, Damien was already reading through his inbox again. Ceres had relocated some supplies, and his people were ready to grab them before inventory was taken. He greenlit them. They were running dangerously low on medical reserves anyway.

There were good news, too. Mostly bad, but some good. Transport 167 had resurfaced, mostly intact. The Balakov family down at the market would see their loved ones again. He sent them a quick text, congratulating them and letting them know 167's eta so they could hurry down to the outer ring. 

Damien quickly touched up his hair, threw on a coat and grabbed a chewing gum and some bananas on the way out. Three phone calls in the stair well, five on the tram. He was running out of favors. By the time he'd arrived at the Yunak, most of the night's business was done. He exchanged a nod with Kabuto, the Takoyaki chef, and sat down at his usual place. Another day in New Endurance.

Author's Note: I really wanted to both present y'all with slices of my NPC's lives and write something without clunky exposition for once. This one is fast paced with a bunch of implications since I'm not really explaining anything, but I hope it fits just right if you're already familiar with the world.