Rogue Wanderer is a Mark-3 third-generation Jaeger originating from the American base in Alaska. It stands 79 meters tall, weighs 7,100 tons, is nuclear-powered, and requires two pilots.

Before Crimson Typhoon and Striker Eureka entered service, Rogue Wanderer held the record for the most kills.

Its pilots, the brothers Yancy Beckett and Raleigh Beckett, were undeniably human heroes.

Five years prior, Anchorage, Alaska, was attacked by a deep-sea creature. Rogue Wanderer was deployed and engaged in a fierce battle with a Kaiju known as Knifehead.

Although Knifehead was ultimately defeated, one of Rogue Wanderer's pilots, Yancy Beckett, was killed in action.

Rogue Wanderer was also severely damaged and difficult to repair.

Yancy Beckett's death was unbearable for his brother, Raleigh.

Raleigh refused PPDC's offer to stay and chose to leave. For the past five years, he has wandered the continents, working as a common laborer building anti-monster walls.

Recently, the deep-sea Kaiju attacks have become more frequent and intense.

The PPDC is building more heavy Jaegers

while also cutting costs by repairing the damaged Jaegers in storage and putting them back into service.

The Shatterdome repaired Rogue Wanderer, but encountered problems when selecting pilots.

All reserve pilots were unable to adapt to Rogue Wanderer's drift system settings and could not maximize the A.T. field.

According to Kaiju scientist Professor Newton Geiszler, the pineal gland organ used by Rogue Wanderer had formed a link with its former pilots, Yancy Beckett and Raleigh Beckett.

Only they could fully unleash Rogue Wanderer's A.T. field potential.

General Stacker Pentecost personally retrieved Raleigh Beckett from an anti-monster wall construction site and chose another pilot partner for him.

That partner was General Stacker Pentecost's adopted daughter, Mako Mori.

Unfortunately, the two pilots had an accident during their first synchronization.

Standing in the cockpit, Raleigh Beckett was overcome with emotion, thinking of his deceased brother.

This grief was transmitted through the drift system to Mako Mori's mind, causing her to recall her parents' death under the feet of a Kaiju.

Mako Mori lost control and became dazed.

The intense emotion generated a red A.T. field through Rogue Wanderer, which destroyed all the maintenance supports in the hangar.

Fortunately, Raleigh Beckett's persuasion and General Stacker Pentecost's comfort brought Mako Mori back to her senses.

Rogue Wanderer returned to a calm state from its "berserk" mode,

without causing any casualties or further damage.

However, this incident caused strong distrust among everyone at the PPDC, especially the other pilot teams,

towards Raleigh Beckett, Mako Mori, and Rogue Wanderer, and they were unwilling to entrust their backs to such unreliable teammates.

Therefore,

during this battle,

Shatterdome command kept Raleigh Beckett and Mako Mori on standby until now.

"This is the only way."

The Hansens took a deep breath, maneuvering the Jaeger half a step back to avoid Leatherback's charge.

At the same time, taking advantage of Leatherback's passing, they wrapped their arms around Leatherback's ribs,

and spun their feet heavily on the seabed.

Using Leatherback's own momentum, they flung it away.

Splash!

Leatherback's broad back flattened the sea surface like a wall, creating tsunami waves.

The Hansens were overjoyed, maneuvering Striker Eureka to pursue.

Before Leatherback could shake its head and stand up,

they opened the chest armor, revealing the six-barreled Akm anti-Kaiju 2x90 missile launcher hidden in the chest.

Due to the existence of A.T. fields,

both humans and deep-sea Kaiju must engage in close combat. Even with ranged firepower, it must be launched at a mid-to-close range where the A.T. fields cancel each other out.

The six missiles on Striker Eureka's chest were designed for this specific situation.

They are incredibly powerful and can even kill a Category IV Kaiju with a single hit to a vital spot.

Correspondingly, launching the missiles requires some preparation time and is vulnerable to attack during this time, and only one volley can be fired in a battle.

"Fire!"

The Hansens roared in unison, and the missiles launched from the chest-mounted six-barreled cannons struck Leatherback's relatively soft abdomen.

Boom boom boom boom boom boom!

Explosions and flames soared into the sky.

The Hansens retracted the chest armor, assumed a defensive posture, and nervously watched the smoke billowing on the sea surface.

Was it killed?

Buzz--

A strange noise broke the Hansens' thoughts.

Leatherback emerged from the rolling smoke.

Its body displayed an even brighter A.T. field than before, its abdomen was unharmed.

The two armor plates on its head opened to the left and right,

revealing the blue nerves hidden beneath the armor plates, resembling seaweed.

The blue nerves swayed and danced like seaweed,

concentrating the bioelectricity in Leatherback's body to form a visible ball of lightning.

Then, the ball of lightning exploded.

Buzz buzz--

A ring-shaped electromagnetic pulse rapidly spread across the sea surface for a kilometer,

wherever it went,

undersea drones were scrapped, and large numbers of fish died, floating to the surface.

Several helicopters flying slightly too low in the sky had their flight systems completely disabled, and the crew members were forced to parachute to safety.

"Aaaaaah!"

The Hansens, who had never imagined that a deep-sea Kaiju would release an electromagnetic pulse, were shocked and screamed as the dense currents surging through the cockpit electrocuted them.

Striker Eureka stopped moving as if its soul had been taken away, all the lights on its body went out, and the A.T. field stopped generating due to the pineal gland organ losing power.

"Damn it!"

In the Shatterdome command center, chief technical advisor Tendo Choi was sweating profusely. "Striker Eureka has no design to defend against electromagnetic pulses.

The transient voltage is too strong, shortwave communication is interrupted, the fuse is blown, I need two hours to remotely reset the auxiliary system."

"Two hours?"

Despair arose in everyone's hearts. Two hours would be enough for the deep-sea Kaiju to tear Striker Eureka into pieces too small to sell for scrap.

General Stacker Pentecost urgently asked, "What about Rogue Wanderer? How much longer?"

"We're on our way!"

Raleigh Beckett's voice sounded on the radio. "Rogue Wanderer uses analog circuits and is nuclear-powered, so it is not affected by electromagnetic pulses.

But it may be too late. Can you contact the Hansens? Tell them to eject. Abandon Striker Eureka."

No, leaving aside whether the ejection system can still be used after being hit by an electromagnetic pulse,

with the Hansens' character, they would definitely believe that the Jaeger's life is their life, and they would never abandon the Jaeger they see as their life.

General Stacker Pentecost felt bitter, and his eyes glanced over the command center.

He saw the young man who called himself Black Trojan Horse tightly pursing his lips, taking out a primitive mortar from the void, and crawling into the mortar's barrel. "I'm going to fix Striker Eureka."