April, 2015. Kodiak Island. PPDC proving grounds.
In the colossal base that was once a military establishment, now converted into a lab, Caitlin Lightcap worked at her station, looking at the data she gained from her previous tests, and frowned.
"Jasper? Are you seeing this?"
Jasper Schoenfeld, the man who created the Jaeger program, nodded as he too saw the same anomaly that his partner saw.
"It's them again. The Ghost. This time, they interfered with the Pons system. However, based on what we are seeing..."
"They interfered when the test pilots were in imminent danger."
Caitlin completed his words.
Ever since the Jaeger program moved on from the proof of concept stage, where they only had a single Jaeger arm and neural interface ready, to now having the first full-scale Jaeger ever built ready to deploy on a test run, the scientists working on the program, including Caitlin and Jasper, observed anomalies originating from the outside.
The first time they observed this interference was when the security systems picked up an unknown entry point into their network, routed through several virtual networks across the globe, making it impossible to trace the origin.
Whoever had accessed their system only used the cameras and audio systems to listen in on their conversations and other stuff. They did not breach into their secure data or tamper with anything.
Then, the second incident came where the intruder sifted through the entirety of the Jaeger program, but, once again, did not make any changes or tamper with anything. They did not even copy any data from their servers.
Then came the next incident, and then the next, and so on.
When these incidents were reported to the PPDC and Stacker Pentecost, they spared no expense in trying to locate whoever it was that was intruding on their network, fearing that they had ill intentions and might possibly be connected to forces that do not want humanity to unite under a single banner.
Unfortunatley, despite deploying the best hackers and information technology professionals that money could buy, they never found the intruder.
In fact, as if to make fun of them, the intruder blatantly blasted through PPDC's firewalls when several ethical hackers under PPDC's employment tried to triangulate their location. As if trying to say that they had no fear of the PPDC and only ever used subtlety because they did not want to harm them directly.
Ever since that incident, Pentecost kept up the heat on the intruder, now nicknamed 'The Ghost'. Trying to find this person or group at all costs. Meanwhile, the Ghost saw this as a game and poked at PPDC's systems rather blatantly occasionally, as if it were all a game to them.
Yet, this pattern has now changed.
The latest intrusion from The Ghost was no longer just a prank or an attempt to keep them on their toes.
It was a blatant intrusion into the Jaeger's systems and directly interfered with their Pons system, making it non-functional during the last test.
Something that Caitlin and Jasper had not pieced together until they looked at the data and saw the clear signs of outside interference in the code.
Caitlin kept a careful eye on the logs made by the primitive AI systems that they were developing for the Jaegers. Watching as the system recreated the intrusion and the entire timeline, showing just what was changed and what was stopped in their code during the test.
And soon enough, both scientists saw the pattern.
"They were simply watching the test and did not interfere. However, the moment the neural load proved too much for the test pilot, they immediately interfered."
"That is not all, Jasper. Look at the vitals and neural link data."
At Caitlin's excited and worried words, Jasper looked at the data readout and felt a chill go down his spine.
"Those readings, they are like...?"
"A Pons system, right? The Ghost, they have a neural bridge of their own!! Somehow, someway, they recreated it on their end even without a full set of data since we did not store its blueprints in the database!"
Caitlin spoke excitedly as she pointed at the logs.
"When the neural load became too much for the test pilot, they redirected the load to their own system while simultaneously shutting down our own work remotely. Putting aside the terrifying implications of that, can you see the genius in this idea? Taking the load away from the pilot before they are overwhelmed! This opens up so many doors-"
"Caitlin. No."
Jasper firmly refused his partner/lover's budding idea, knowing how dangerous it was.
"DARPA created the neural interface, the same one that you improved upon, for a single pilot. It was never meant to be used with two people or more. We simply don't know what will happen if you try something like that."
"....Then, do we tell the Marshal about this?"
Jasper nodded.
"We do. And maybe, if we got the chance, get in touch with Hoenn's people as well. They might know what is happening and who our Ghost might be."
Caitling snorted at those words.
"Yeah, right. Making them give up their secrets is nearly impossible. Remember what happened two years ago when the CIA tried to investigate what that country was doing in its isolation for all these years?"
Jasper winced at the reminder, especially since he had worked as a consultant for the construction of the spy satellite that the CIA commissioned NASA to build.
It is common knowledge that Hoenn had isolated itself and banned any form of immigration since 1999. Not even tourism from the outside was allowed. The only thing that was not restricted was trade, and even then, cargo ships would not be allowed to dock at Hoenn.
Instead, they would be directed to a floating platform hundreds of miles away from Hoenn's mainland, which has now evolved into a city of its own. From there, Hoenn's own ships would carry the cargo to and from the mainland for trade.
These actions made nearly every other country on the planet curious as to what they were hiding, and several agencies tried every way possible to try and glean the truth through various means.
That was one of the reasons why the CIA commissioned that satellite to try and get orbital images of Hoenn.
Unfortunately, it was clear that Hoenn thought of this as well and built orbital defences in the form of military satellites armed with EMP weapons, designed specifically to destroy any satellite that intruded on Hoenn's skies without causing a cascade effect that would cause untold destruction to humanity's space infrastructure.
Shaking his head to get rid of those thoughts, Jasper turned towards the door and started walking away.
"I'll handle the matter with Marshal and the Hoenn delegation. You should continue with the project. I recall we have another test pilot ready to begin while Captain Adam Casey recovers?"
Caitlin nodded and brought out the file on the display.
"Lieutenant Sergio D'Onofrio. He was recommended by the higher-ups."
Jasper nodded.
"Call him in for preliminary neural scans and other tests. We should start our next live test as soon as possible before those idiots upstairs start losing their patience and pull our funding."
Caitlin said nothing and continued staring at the data while Jasper left. Her mind was still coming up with ideas upon ideas based on the guess she made about the Ghost.
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Hoenn. Sky Pillar.
'....I retract my statement about you two being idiots. I have been enlightened and realized that humans are far more idiotic than you two could ever be.'
Groudon and Kyogre roared in laughter at their brother's words as the dragon continued sipping from the lake of wine, trying to nurse an imaginary headache after dealing with the humans' attempt at mind-melding with a machine in the PPDC.
Rayquaza knew that if he had not interfered when he did and taken the neural load from the pilot before it was too late, the poor guy would have died from ruptured veins in his brain.
As a being that has lived for millions of years and having studied his own biology as well as that of other titans for such a long time, Rayquaza knew where the problem lay with the PPDC's plans.
To move their body, a Titan has a brain that is capable of computational power that humans can't even begin to fathom, let alone recreate with their computing systems.
This is the reason why, more often than not, the truly colossal titans of Earth are fully sapient.
However, the human mind, while unnaturally powerful for its size, was still not strong enough to pilot the colossal body of a Jaeger. The raw computational power required to power the artificial instincts, sensory input, spatial awareness, locomotion, weapon systems that would feel like a part of the pilot's own body, and so many other things was too much for the human brain to handle.
That was why they were failing so much. An obvious point that they were somehow missing even after so many months of Rayquaza subtly trying to guide them to said answer by hacking into their systems and leaving behind breadcrumbs for them to follow.
That is why the giant dragon decided that humans of PPDC were the biggest idiots of the planet, even more so than his brothers.
Groudon spoke through their mental link with amusement while he continued working on expanding the mine network he was creating for the people of Hoenn to power their economy and technology.
'I guess we should be honored that we finally shed that accursed title after so many eons, eh?'
'Not the time to gloat, Groudon. I really am very frustrated with those fools not realizing what I am trying to tell them. What should I do next? Leave behind a blatant note saying that they are knocking down the wrong door and should try to share the neural load between two or more pilots?'
'Maybe you should do that, brother. As we have seen so far, humans are prone to misunderstanding and misinterpreting the most obvious of ideas that you try to guide them towards without holding their hand.'
Those words from his brother made Rayquaza pause and think before nodding and going back onto the internet by placing the cable back in his mouth.
'What are you doing this time?'
'Gaming. I want to relax for a bit before I have to deal with those idiots in PPDC again. I have a ranked match going today, and I am tired of carrying the team.'
Rayquaza growled at the reminder of his last match in a certain online game.
'If I am paired with useless fools once again, I really will throw a meteor at their home to teach them a lesson.'
Watching their brother lose his cool over a mere game, the two primal brothers shared a single thought.
'Good thing we are not able to access the internet as he can.'
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Author Notes:
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