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Lunch time.
Tendo wanders into the mess hall, grabs his food, and scans the room. The beauty of knowing everyone is always having a seat saved, and today he’s got three options - a group of techs who he’s pretty damn sure are considering some kind of orgy; Stacker, Herc and Chuck, with what looks like a tense conversation between father and son; or Newt, Hermann, Mako, and a few other techs with Newt gesticulating wildly about something.
He picks the latter when Newt catches his eye and gestures him over.
Good thing he does too.
“Hey, man,” Newt says and budges over so Tendo can sit down. Hermann nods at him from across the table, and Tendo returns it. “Did you hear? They salvaged the secondary brain from Fiend and they’re sending it over next week.”
“Of course I heard, moron. Who do you think demanded it? Consider it an early Christmas gift.”
“Dude, you’re the best.”
“Yeah, I know.” Tendo smirks, then looks around at the others. “Hey, Mako - any luck convincing the old man to let you pilot Gipsy yet?”
She shakes her head. “She isn’t ready yet, and he said something about Raleigh Becket last week anyway.”
Tendo grins. “Aw, wicked! The Becket brothers were the best -“
“Don’t say that too loud,” Mako says, looking over his shoulder. “Hansen at ten o’clock.”
“Stern or grumpy?”
She just raises an eyebrow, and Tendo knows exactly what that means.
A moment later, Chuck sits down next to him. “Fucking asshole," he mutters, and Tendo sees the whole table collectively bite back a sigh.
Because everybody knows what that means. It’s time for another everything that’s wrong with Herc Hansen session.
Nobody asks. Chuck doesn’t need them to. “Apparently my sparring wasn’t up to par, today,” he says, stabbing his fork into the meatloaf moodily. “As if he’d know anything about good sparring - and it takes two to fucking tango, doesn’t it? Maybe it was him at fault. But no, of course not, nothing could ever be Herc Hansen’s fault. The only person Stacker loves more around here is you.”
Chuck stares at Tendo, who shrugs. “It takes a lot of paperwork to get to that level of love,” he says, attempting a joke. Not that jokes really ever work on Chuck.
“Ha. As if dad does any paperwork. He just sits in Stacker’s office and probably wanks him off to get his way."
Tendo winces. “Not an image anybody wanted, Chuck.”
“Yeah, well thank god I haven’t seen it in the Drift.”
“Probably because it didn’t happen?” Newt points out.
Chuck rolls his eyes. "The old Geiszler wisdom at it again. Thanks, mate, I think I knew that one already though. Nah, the old man just gets through on his charm, just like always. Sweet talks himself into positions of power and lords it over everybody - especially me. Thinks he’s all high and mighty because he’s my father; well, fuck that. It’s not like blood matters around here, Drift compatibility is all we need to rely on.”
“And the two of you have that,” Tendo says, trying not to snap - because Herc’s his friend and he gets real sick of Chuck shitting all over him all the time. “So you’ve got that connection.”
Chuck snorts. “Yeah, real great connection. I get to see what a disappointment of a son I am to him, how he wishes I’d turned out differently, how he gets sick of me mouthing off to other people like I am now - whoops. Sorry dad, for when you see this one.” He shakes his head. “He’s an asshole, Tendo. He’s conceited and thinks he's all that just because he's the dominant pilot. Well, he’s not. He’s nothing special, certainly nothing important, and, apart from compatibility and the unfortunate event of my being born, not even close to being useful in my life.”
“Yes, but do you know what your father is, Ranger Hansen?” comes a voice in a tone that Tendo has never heard before - and the whole table falls silent in response.
Chuck raises an eyebrow. “Enlighten me,” he drawls.
“He’s here,” Hermann says, and stares him straight down.
And Chuck at least has the decency to shut his mouth.
“Your father, for all your differences and quibbles, is here,” Hermann continues, and for all the times Tendo’s heard Newt and Hermann arguing at their worst, it’s nothing on this quiet but twisted way that Hermann is speaking now. Tendo’s pretty sure he’s not the only one feeling a cold shudder run up their spine. “He fights with you, on your side, because he knows that family is important. He knows that when a war takes everything from you, when a war divides the world and kills so many, that no matter how difficult things are you must stick together.”
“Well, he’s a ranger,” Chuck says, and Tendo silently groans. Even he can tell that arguing with Hermann right now is the biggest mistake ever. “He knows that the Jaegers are the right way to go, he’s not stupid.”
“Believe me, Ranger Hansen, the Coastal Wall program has taken many of the brightest men available. Your father doesn’t stay here out of intelligence. He stays out of loyalty - to the Marshal, to the team, and to you. Loyalty is a quality that you seem to overlook.”
“What do you know about it?” Chuck says with a sneer.
Tendo - and the whole table - winces.
Bad move. Real bad move.
Hermann slowly stands, still keeping that eerie stare. “What do I know of loyalty, you ask? I know of having it broken, of it meaning nothing, of family being torn apart over how best to save the world. I know of having funds drained from one of the few viable methods that might win this war out of spite. I know what a bad father is, Chuck Hansen, and yours is far from it. You have your problems, certainly, and whatever the cause, they are there and they are real. But we are in a war and I have seen what acting like a petulant child because things don’t go your way leads to - it leads to destroying a chance of survival, and tearing your family apart. It leads to letting the world suffer because you cannot get over yourself and understand that there are greater things at stake here than your issues. Whine and complain about your father all you like, but do not ever forget that he stands beside you no matter what foul things you say - and think - about him. No matter his own struggles, he has never left your side, and that is much more than can be said for others.”
Chuck doesn’t reply.
Nobody speaks. In fact, half the dining hall has gone quiet, and are now looking their way - including Herc and Stacker.
Hermann blinks a few times, looks around, then immediately flushes crimson. “Excuse me,” he says, before turning and leaving - hurried and clearly embarrassed, but still dignified in retreat.
The clicking of his cane is the only thing that can be heard for a few moments, until it fades out. Then Newt clears his throat and jumps up out of his seat. “Um. I’m just gonna…”
He bolts after Hermann, not even trying to make it subtle.
As he does, quiet chatter slowly begins around the room again, gradually building up to normal volume. There's another short silence when Chuck, after staring at nothing for a few seconds, gets up and storms out in the opposite direction, but within a few minutes the room is buzzing with conversation again.
Tendo suspects most of it is based around what they all just witnessed.
He stands up, giving the others a look. “Well then,” he says, “if you’ll excuse me, too - but I promise I won’t do a storming out act.”
Mako rolls her eyes and Tendo smiles before turning and heading over to the other side of the hall. Stacker and Herc are deep in conversation, but break off when Tendo sits down with them, turning to look at them. “Well,” Stacker says after a moment.
“Exactly,” Tendo says.
Herc looks rattled, and keeps glancing at the direction that Hermann left. “I think I should speak to Doctor Gottlieb,” he says.
Tendo shakes his head. “Better not. He’ll be mortified right now, you know how private he is - best thing we can all do is pretend it didn’t happen. It’s not like any of us believe that’s gonna change an iota of Chuck’s behaviour.”
“Oh, god no. He’ll be seething with resentment that someone tried to relate to him.” Herc sighs, this time looking in the direction of Chuck’s storming out. “I know we’re never gonna repair things,” he says. “We’re too deep in one another’s mind to ever reconcile.”
“You know I’ll find you another ranger if you can’t handle it,” Stacker says. “Chuck’s here at your word alone.”
Herc nods. “And he’ll stay here. Because he’s my son and, as Hermann said, you don’t tear your family apart and threaten your chances of beating this war because you can’t get over yourself. Maybe I have some thinking to do about all this too.” He looks around, as if gauging the room. “If I leave now, I hope it won’t be with a dramatic flair.”
“I think you’re fine,” Tendo says. “Go on; we’ll glare at anybody who stares.”
So Herc goes and people stare and Tendo glares, and then it’s just him and Stacker. “Tendo,” Stacker says wearily, “if I ever try to recruit another parent-and-child team again, you can have my job.”
Tendo would laugh if he didn’t suspect Stacker was serious.