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"When I was a kid, whenever I'd feel small or lonely I'd look up at the stars, wondered if there was life up there. Turns out I was looking in the wrong direction, when alien life entered our world it was from deep beneath the Pacific Ocean."
Raleigh Becket

The Kaiju War was the first conflict between mankind and a race of alien creatures known as Precursors, fought between the Pan Pacific Defense Corps and the Kaiju from August 10, 2013[1] to January 12, 2025.[2] The war concluded when the last two Jaegers, Gipsy Danger and Striker Eureka, assaulted the Breach and were able to seal it by passing through the portal and detonating Gipsy Danger's nuclear reactor on the other side, destroying the connection between Earth and the Anteverse.

History[]

Main article: K-DAY

On the morning of August 10, 2013[3][4][note 1], the city of San Francisco experienced a 7.1 earthquake prior to the emergence of Trespasser, the first Kaiju to attack humanity. The creature rose from the San Francisco Bay and attacked the Golden Gate Bridge. Following the partial collapse of the bridge, the United States Military and the Royal Air Force joined forces in an attempt to kill the creature.

Their weapons proved completely ineffective against Trespasser, who marched straight through San Francisco and moved on to attack the neighboring cities of Sacramento and Oakland. Over the span of six days, ten of thousands were killed in the conflict as the Kaiju gained further ground into Oakland. With no other options left, the military eventually resorted to using nuclear missiles to kill Trespasser; it ultimately took three before the Kaiju finally went down for good.[4][2][5]

2014 - 2015[]

Cabo San Lucas Kaiju

The second Kaiju attack in Manila.

The devastation caused by Trespasser in California, initially thought to be an anomaly, was later visited in the Philippines six months later when a second Kaiju, codenamed Hundun, emerged from the ocean and attacked Manila.[3] A third attack occurred four months later in Cabo San Lucas and was then followed by a fourth attack in Sydney. Realizing that these attacks were not going to stop, the United Nations held a conference in Seoul, South Korea on September 15, 2014 to find a way to effectively combat the Kaiju without resorting to nuclear weapons.[4] A question posed by Stacker Pentecost, a mere liaison at the time of the conference, on what to do about the Kaiju encouraged Dr. Jasper Schoenfeld to propose his idea of the Jaegers, massive humanoid mechs controlled by a human pilot and designed for the sole purpose of killing the Kaiju.[4]

Trespasser Aftermath[]

As Trespasser’s attack occurred prior to the creation of the Pan Pacific Defense Corps, the organization was unable to determine its category class from its corpse.[6][note 2] As their attacks continued with increasing frequency, the creatures were given the name "Kaiju" and an emergency system alerting the populace to incoming Kaiju attacks was set up within various cities located on the Pacific Rim.

As humanity lacked a way to combat the Kaiju without nuclear weapons at the time, their attacks proved to have a profound economic effect. Coastal property value plummeted and most shipping lanes were closed, consequently devastating trade and the economies of numerous countries around the globe. Riots broke out around the world, calling for action against these monsters.

Jaeger Program[]

Main article: Jaeger Program
Jaeger Program Pons Test

A test pilot using a prototype of the Pons system.

Setting aside their differences for a time, the United Nations created the Pan Pacific Defense Corps[3] and decided to pool their financial resources into funding what would become known as the Jaeger Program. However, they were still skeptical of the program’s success and the expenses required to build the first prototype Jaeger proved costly enough that they weren't willing to give Schoenfeld and his partner, Dr. Caitlin Lightcap, the funds to build any more than the prototype’s arm.[4]

It would take Stacker Pentecost’s willingness to test Lightcap’s Pons system to prove to the United Nations that the Jaegers would be a viable risk to take financially. On December 1, 2014, the PPDC Proving Ground was established and the construction of the prototype Jaeger Brawler Yukon began. Two months later, on January 30, 2015, Brawler Yukon was ready to be tested with a human pilot using the Pons system.[4]

The first demo with Brawler Yukon proved that controlling the Jaeger through the Pons system would be too much for a single person to handle, leading Lightcap and Schoenfeld to fear that the next demo would end the program. However, on February 18, 2015, the next demo proved to be successful when Lightcap successfully managed to bridge her mind with the mind of test pilot Sergio D'onofrio, creating the first Drift.[4]

Convinced by the results of the test, the Pan Pacific Defense Corps. began production on the first series of Jaegers, later known as the Mark-1s. Six Mark-1 Jaegers were ultimately produced in 2015 in the span of fourteen months [3]and assigned to over nine locations across the Pacific Rim, all of them the nearest to the coastline of their respective countries. Brawler Yukon, piloted by Lightcap and D'onofrio, would also prove to the world that the Jaegers were an effective defense against the Kaiju when it killed the Kaiju Karloff during the latter's attack on Vancouver in April 2015.[4]

After the launch of Tacit Ronin[7], the Defense Corps. began hiring pilots on July 24, 2015.[8][9] Concurrently, the Jaeger Academy was established, allowing all whom wanted to join the Defense Corps to train for the various positions required, including the position of a Ranger. The first Shatterdome, the headquarters of the Defense Corps, was also constructed in Hong Kong, China on the southern end of Tsing Yi Island.[4]

2016[]

As the Jaeger Program began to gain momentum, three more Shatterdomes were constructed in Lima, Anchorage, and Vladivostok. The Defense Corps also began working on the development of the Mark-2 Jaegers, which included Diablo Intercept, Puma Real, Solar Prophet and Eden Assassin. In 2016, the Category II Kaiju Onibaba emerged from the Breach and attacked Tokyo, killing millions of people in the process, including the parents of Mako Mori.[3] Coyote Tango, piloted by Tamsin Sevier and Stacker Pentecost, was deployed into Tokyo against Onibaba and successfully killed the Kaiju, saving Mako's life.[4] Onibaba's attack was followed by the construction of a Shatterdome in Tokyo on December 15, 2016. At another point in time, the Kaiju Reckoner attacked Hong Kong and was presumably killed by a Jaeger.[10]

Following their battle with Onibaba, Pentecost and Sevier were both diagnosed with terminal cancer as a result of their prolonged exposure to Coyote Tango's nuclear reactor and subsequently retired from active duty. This lead their commanding officer, PPDC Secretary-General Dustin Kreiger, to promote Pentecost to the rank of PPDC Marshal.[2]

Breach Assault[]

The Pan Pacific Defense Corps made several attempts to attack the Breach, the origin point of all Kaiju. However, despite their best efforts, all of their attacks simply "bounced off" the Breach and never made contact with the actual portal itself.[3]

2017[]

In 2017, the production of the Mark-3 Jaegers began with Gipsy Danger[11] and Matador Fury[12] in the span of three months. Three more Shatterdomes were built in Sydney, Los Angeles and Panama City. Several months after the Los Angeles Shatterdome was established, the Category III Kaiju Yamarashi attacked the city. In response, the Defense Corps deployed Gipsy Danger, piloted by brothers Yancy and Raleigh Becket, into the city to intercept the Kaiju. Yamarashi was ultimately killed when Gipsy Danger overpowered the Kaiju and decapitated it with a cargo crane wire.[2]

2018 - 2019: Success[]

By 2018, the Jaeger Program had reached the peak of its success; Jaeger pilots were famed across the world and revered as "rock stars," with some making public appearances on television.[3] The frequency of Kaiju attacks fell into common place with the likes of natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes. Merchandising of both Jaegers and Kaiju lent to the financial support of the Jaeger Program and the overall trivialization of the situation.[3] On May 20, 2018, the city of Puerto San José, Guatemala was attacked by a unnamed Kaiju, where it was killed by Gipsy Danger.[2]

Three months later, the Mark-4 Jaeger Crimson Typhoon was constructed in Changzhou, China and stationed at the Hong Kong Shatterdome.[13] On July, 22, 2019, Gipsy Danger was deployed into San Diego to fight the Kaiju Clawhook. Four months later, the Mark-5 Jaeger Striker Eureka was constructed in Sydney.[14]

Towards the end of 2019, a Category IV Kaiju with a barbed tail emerged from the Breach and attacked Manila. The Kaiju's strength would necessitate the need for three Jaegers in order to kill it.[2] It was the belief that the steady record of defeats against the Kaiju would eventually win the Defense Corps their war against the underwater invaders. The Defense Corps, however, is unaware of the pattern formed with the fights against the Kaiju. The last six years of combat was simply the Precursors' means of testing and weakening the defenses of mankind so that they could eventually create Kaiju capable of overcoming their enemies.

2020 - 2024: Retaliation[]

Dyf11

Gipsy Danger battles Knifehead.

The turn of the tide began on February 29, 2020 when the Category III Kaiju Knifehead emerged from the Breach to attack the city of Anchorage.[3] Gipsy Danger is deployed to fight Knifehead, but its pilots underestimate the Kaiju's strength and intelligence. The creature blindsides Gipsy Danger by playing dead and kills Yancy by tearing away at the Jaeger's Conn-Pod, leaving Raleigh to kill Knifehead on his own. Although he succeeds, Gipsy Danger suffers critical damage from Knifehead's attacks and the experience of losing his brother while still connected to him through the Drift leaves Raleigh severely traumatized, leading him to quit the Jaeger Program altogether.

A year later, Oblivion Bay, a graveyard for damaged and destroyed Jaegers, is established in Oakland, California and Gipsy Danger is taken there to solidify its retirement from combat. The Kaiju also begin to best the Jaegers in battle, having adapted to their strategies and strengths over the past six years. Over the next four years following Knifehead's attack, twenty six of the thirty Jaegers produced are destroyed in combat and retired to Oblivion Bay.[3]

In 2023, Pentecost has Gipsy Danger removed from Oblivion Bay and returned to the Anchorage Shatterdome for repairs. As part of the Mark III Restoration Program supervised by Mako Mori and Tendo Choi, the Jaeger receives major reconstruction and refurbishment. Gipsy Danger is also upgraded with retractable chain swords on both wrists and new cockpit updates to its control interfaces to match the standards of modern Jaeger technology.[3]

The cost of the Jaeger Program is considered too much for the United Nations to continue supporting and the organization closes down seven Shatterdomes over the course of the year 2024. With the Jaeger Program seemingly no longer a sound strategy, the United Nations invests their funds in fortifying the Anti-Kaiju Wall in an ignorant, last-ditch effort to defend the Pacific Rim and the rest of the world from the Kaiju threat.[3]

2025[]

By January 2025, the Hong Kong Shatterdome is the only one still active. Despite Pentecost's arguments to maintain the Jaeger Program and attack the Breach with all the military power at their disposal, the United Nations refuse to listen and give him eight months' worth of funding to keep the Shatterdome open while construction continues on the coastal wall. Two of the four remaining Jaegers, Cherno Alpha and Gipsy Danger, are also relocated to the Hong Kong Shatterdome. While there, Gipsy Danger's repairs are finally completed, prompting Pentecost to recruit Raleigh to return as one of the Jaeger's pilots.[15][3]

January 1, 2025[]

The Anti-Kaiju Wall is finally proven to be a complete failure when the Category IV Kaiju Mutavore easily smashes through the section of the wall built around Sydney.[3] The city's residents are given no time to evacuate as Striker Eureka engages Mutavore in close combat and kills the Kaiju with little trouble.[3]

Mutavore is Striker Eureka's tenth kill. The Kaiju's death at the hands of a Jaeger incites worldwide riots in regards to wisdom of shutting down the Jaeger Program when the wall turned out to be absolutely useless against the Kaiju.[3]

January 2, 2025[]

Following Mutavore's attack on Sydney, Striker Eureka is relocated to Hong Kong to join the three other remaining Jaegers. Disregarding the UN's decision to abandon the Jaeger Program, Pentecost moves to destroy the Breach in order to end the Kaiju threat once and for all. The final four Jaegers would attack the portal itself. Three of them would act as backup while the fourth, Striker Eureka, would carry a thermonuclear bomb into the Breach and finally destroy it.[3]

January 8, 2025[]

Cherno Alpha attacked by Leatherback

Cherno Alpha is attacked by Otachi and Leatherback.

Complications for Pentecost's mission arise when K-Science Officer Newton Geiszler drifts with the remains of Mutavore's brain, leading two Category IV Kaiju, Otachi and Leatherback, to attack Hong Kong.[3]

In the battle against the two Kaiju, Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon are destroyed, and Striker Eureka and the Shatterdome are both disabled by Leatherback's EMP blast. Gipsy Danger, piloted by Raleigh Becket and Mako Mori, is deployed into Victoria Harbour and takes on both Leatherback and Otachi in separate engagements. The Mark-3 Jaeger is successful in defeating both after a grueling battle.[3]

January 12, 2025[]

Main article: Operation Pitfall

Two Category IV Kaiju, Scunner and Raiju, emerge from the Breach and move to defend it from Gipsy Danger and Striker Eureka when the two Jaegers are deployed into the Pacific Ocean to destroy the portal as planned.

Although Otachi's death reveals that she was pregnant, the newborn Kaiju dies only minutes after escaping the womb by accidentally strangling itself with its own umbilical cord.[3]Newton and fellow K-Science Officer Hermann Gottlieb use a makeshift Pons System to drift with the newborn's brain and discover that Operation Pitfall cannot succeed without the use of Kaiju DNA, which is the only way to enter the Breach to destroy it. On the bottom of the ocean floor, Raiju is killed by Gipsy Danger after it manages to successfully tear off the Jaeger's right arm.[3]

Pacific Rim Themo Bomb

Striker Eureka's self-destruction

Despite their best efforts, Striker Eureka and Gipsy Danger are both severely damaged in their battle with Scunner, Raiju, and Slattern. Unable to manually deploy the payload directly into the portal, Striker Eureka's pilots, Chuck Hansen and Stacker Pentecost, deliberately detonate the thermonuclear bomb in a last-ditch effort to kill the two remaining Kaiju and give Gipsy Danger the chance to pass through the Breach using Raiju's corpse.[3]

Although Striker Eureka and Scunner are both vaporized in the explosion, Slattern somehow survives with severe wounds. With no way around the Category V Kaiju, Gipsy Danger ditches Raiju's carcass and tackles Slattern into the Breach. When Slattern blindly slashes at Gipsy Danger's backside with its tails and manages to cut the oxygen supply to Mako's drivesuit, Raleigh retaliates by firing the Jaeger's nuclear turbine at point-blank range, burning through Slattern's internal organs and finally killing the Kaiju for good.

Upon arriving in the Anteverse, Mako's life support systems begin to fail due to battle damage, prompting Raleigh to eject her to safety before manually arming Gipsy Danger's nuclear reactor to self-destruct and escaping in his own pod. The resulting explosion destroys the breach and obliterates the Kaiju creation facility, finally winning the Kaiju War in humanity's favor. Herc Hansen, now a PPDC Marshal in the aftermath of Pentecost's death, relays the news to the Hong Kong Shatterdome and orders the War Clock to be stopped.[3]

Gallery[]

Notes[]

  1. According to Tales From Year Zero the attack on San Francisco takes place August 10th, 2013
  2. Travis Beacham: @Tekk999 They aren't sure about Trespasser. It was before the category system, and the nuke that killed it badly damaged its remains.

References[]

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