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The Conn-Pod was silent. Gaidin was slashing left and right, the Chain Sword opening gashes and severing limbs in the Category 4 Kaiju that was trying to get to the harbour, but neither Moiraine nor Lan uttered a single word while the world around them echoed with the inhuman snarls of the thing and the crashing booms of thunder.
“Gaidin, I would remind you that this Kaiju has poison spores. If it gets too close to the city there won’t be anyone left to save.” Elaida’s voice came crackling through the comms, her exasperation even more noticeable than usual. She prided herself on always wanting to know everything, and being met with silence was the surest way to get on her nerves. Not that she could have said anything to the Ghosts, anyway.
“Copy that. Trying to cut the poison sack out, but the bastard’s good at protecti…” the line fell flat for a moment while Gaidin ducked, narrowly avoiding a claw that sliced through the optic fibre of its mantle, but picked up right away. “…At protecting it. Let’s see if it likes fire less.” In a moment the blade of the sword flashed white hot, a thousand drops of rain hissing and sizzling in a steam cloud.
The Kaiju screamed, a strange, chilling noise that was partially drowned out by the thunder, and charged. Gaidin pivoted to the left but the beast was fast, faster than it had seemed before, and tore out a chunk of the Jaeger's right shoulder. For a moment Gaidin seemed to falter and rock back on its feet and the Kaiju, screaming again in triumph, tried to wrap its claws around the Conn-Pod. But Lan and Moiraine were ready. Gaidin took two, three quick steps back and while the beast tried desperately to regain its footing struck, lightning quick, with its elbow, and knocked down the Kaiju.
Raising the sword right above the beast’s neck, for the first time people back in the control room in the base heard the pilots’ voice, almost terrifyingly in sync, saying “Tai’shar zhoub, Ghar’ghael.” just before stabbing downwards, penetrating clean through the throat and killing it in one stroke.
Almost immediately the air above Gaidin was split by the noise of the aircrafts and by the whirring of the cables, coiling around limbs and rock hard scales, lifting the body out of the ocean and into the air.
“What the hell was that?” The comms sprang back to life in full vigour, Elaida’s voice resonating in the cockpit. “Have you any idea of the pollution that poison could have caused had it come into contact with the water?”
“Why do you think we used the thermoblade, Elaida?” Moiraine’s voice was always low, always controlled, but this time she sounded on the verge of losing her temper. “No blood was spilled, and he was carried away right after. If you really think that after fifty kills you still need to treat us like two novices right off the training ground, we…” she stopped, abruptly, and after a moment continued, her voice even more strained than before. Some could even think she was gritting her teeth. “We’ve started the flight procedures and we’ll arrive on base at 0830. Gaidin over.” And with a click the comms shut down, leaving the cockpit in absolute silence.
“You do know that if you keep snapping at her she’s going to hate you even more, yes?”
“You’re one to talk. I’m in your head, I can hear what you’re thinking. The only reason you weren’t speaking is because you’d rather talk to Mr Poison over there than to Elaida.”
A chuckle resounded in the cockpit, and Moiraine showed a tired smile.
“Best get going, Lan. If we’re late she’ll just have more complaining to do, and I’d rather use that time for something useful.”
He didn’t answer, but then again, he didn’t need to. After drifting together for fifteen years they could understand each other with a glance.
The rockets blazed red and Gaidin took off, flying into the rain.
At exactly 0834 Gaidin landed on base, a flock of mechanics fussing over the exposed wiring on the shoulder and occasionally shooting them murderous looks, as if they’d stepped in front of that claw on purpose. As soon as their feet touched the ground, though, they saw Elaida walking stiffly towards them, a gleam of fury in her eyes.
As soon as she was close enough she made to grab Moiraine’s arm, but Lan’s hand caught her wrist in time. They stayed frozen like that for a moment, incredulity written all over Elaida’s face, but the snicker of a mechanic broke the illusion of stillness.
“How dare you!” Elaida was trying not to shout but her voice was definitely higher than normal, and her cheeks were far too flushed for the freezing wind sweeping the platform. “If you think your legend” and the venom in her voice when she spat that word would have made even the Kaiju quiver, “will protect you from me you’re mistaken, Ghosts. I will make your life a living hell, I swe…”
“You can do whatever you want, Madame Avriny. But rest assured that if a category V didn’t manage to bring us down, I highly doubt you can.”
The glacial silence that followed Lan’s word was proof that even if he’d spoken with a low voice, as usual, everyone around them had heard him.
He loosened his hold on her arm and, after a glance to his right, sidestepped around Elaida while Moiraine did the same on the opposite side and they both headed towards the barracks. The walk wasn’t long, but in the unnatural silence that appeared to have swallowed the whole deck it seemed to take ages. When the door finally bolted behind them Moiraine’s shoulders sagged lightly, but Lan was already there, a hand on her back and another on her forearm, his stone faced expression melting just for a moment.
“To mine, yes? Siuan is not back until tomorrow at least.” He must have talked with Nynaeve then, she thinks, because it seemed like no one in this light-forsaken base had any idea where the delegation was.
“I did, called her before drifting. They’re alright, Nyn wants to punch the Spanish delegates through a wall and Siuan is slowly warming up to the idea of helping her.”
“Did you not promise to Nynaeve that you’d stay out of my head when we’re not in Gaidin?” The words were scolding but her tone was anything but, and if someone had listened properly they could have heard an almost teasing tone.
“You know perfectly well that I can’t, not right after. And I told her that just because otherwise she’d have flipped, and we both now that a pissed off Nynaeve in the base is not something anyone wants.” His mouth curled into a small smile, so fleeting it was barely there, almost as if he was afraid of being watched, but it was merely a reflex. He knew as well as her that she could still feel his emotions in the back of her head, like an echo that grew ever more distant with every passing minute.
“So, to yours, a bath and some junk food?”
“I comm’d Daise when we were on the way down, pizza will be in front of my door in half an hour. And yes, before you ask,” he said, holding his card to the door of his room, “yours has veggies on it.”
The door closed behind them to the sound of Moiraine’s laughter.