I, a ship girl, am the savior of civilization.

Walking down the street, Laura looked up at the darkening sky, patted her belly, and muttered to herself, "Otherwise, I really would have to sleep on the streets."

I'm Laura, and I'm online begging to be robbed!

3. This script seems a bit different from what I expected.

There's a saying that goes something like this: Free America, gunfights every day.

An overly lenient social environment makes the United States more prone to serious crimes. Even in a cosmopolitan city like San Francisco, a hidden side emerges after nightfall.

Laura's original idea was good: to double-cross someone, get some initial funding, and then live a decent life for a couple of days with her own abilities.

But as it turns out, reality is often quite different from what we imagine.

As darkness fell, Laura consciously moved towards the alleyways. After removing her ship armor, Laura appeared to be nothing more than a harmless and cute girl; combined with the somewhat dirty and messy environment, one could almost imagine the dark events that were about to unfold.

Footsteps approached from behind, and Laura's body tensed slightly. If the newcomer made any inappropriate move, Laura would not hesitate to punch him twice, then happily earn her first pot of gold in the Pacific Rim.

Then, a large hand touched Laura's head.

"Child, what are you doing here?"

A steady voice reached her ears, and a tall figure appeared before Laura. By the light of the roadside lamp, Laura gazed at the middle-aged man scratching his head, and immediately fell into deep thought.

That outfit definitely belongs to a police officer.

Something seems off about this script.

Laura knew perfectly well why she was there, but her role didn't allow her to tell the truth. Faced with the policeman's questions, Laura simply shook her head, shook off his large hand, and remained silent.

Across from Laura, the police officer was also scrutinizing the child.

She wore low-heeled boots and a white mini-skirt adorned with small accessories. Her clothes weren't extravagant, but they seemed tailor-made, likely a custom-made piece of considerable value. Her long, smooth, golden hair cascaded down naturally, her skin was flawless, and her features were delicate; she was probably the young lady of a wealthy family.

Looking into Laura's light blue eyes, the uncle saw a hint of confusion and naturally guessed: Could this child have been separated from her family?

His silent actions were misinterpreted as acquiescence, and a sliver of hope rose within the man. San Francisco's crime rate wasn't high, but there were bound to be some scum with unusual fetishes. For a lovely child like Laura, being targeted by those people would be a disaster.

The policeman crouched down, looked Laura in the eye, and said in a gentle tone, "My name is Jefferson. It's dangerous for a child to be alone in a place like this at night. Let me take you to your parents."

Jefferson then took Laura's hand and led her in a certain direction. Laura did not resist and followed Jefferson to the police station.

Well, at least this is a long-term meal ticket. In 2013, before facial recognition technology was widely used, it would have taken the San Francisco Police Department quite a while to verify Laura's identity.

After the destruction of San Francisco, it wasn't difficult for Laura to obtain legal status amidst the chaos.

For the time being, Laura can only stay in the police station.

“Jefferson, this child is…”

Seeing that Jefferson had temporarily suspended his night patrol and brought back a girl, one of the officers stepped forward and asked him a question.

"Found during patrol, they may have been separated from their parents."

After finding someone to settle Laura in, Jefferson explained to his colleague, "Besides, the child has hardly spoken the whole way, so finding her parents might be a bit of a hassle."

“I see.” The police officer nodded. Jefferson hadn’t found any identification documents on Laura, and Laura herself was uncooperative, making it quite difficult to find a guardian.

In fact, during the subsequent routine questioning, Laura revealed nothing more than her name. Or perhaps, Laura simply had no more information to share.

As Laura ate the bread the policewoman offered her, she planned her next move.

"Uncle Jefferson seems like a nice guy, and there doesn't seem to be anyone at his house. If possible, I might be able to stay with him for a while."

It's unrealistic for someone who's clearly a minor to want to stay in hotels and bars on her own. Even if she could forge the relevant documents, her small size would only bring trouble upon herself.

Heaven knows why she, whose actual size is larger than an aircraft carrier, is in the form of a destroyer ship girl.

However, considering the massive interstellar ships that would stretch for kilometers or even hundreds of kilometers once they entered space, Laura fell silent.

Indeed, I still have a long way to go.

Two days later...

Before her personal information could be successfully retrieved, Laura was temporarily placed in the home of the single Jefferson. Don't ask how this was done; in short, at Laura's insistence, Jefferson had no choice but to temporarily take her in.

Before leaving the police station, Laura waved goodbye to several female officers with whom she had just formed friendships. Thanks to them, Laura's meals were better than many of the male officers'.

Therefore, being cute can really bring a lot of benefits.

This situation continued until August 10th. On this day, the first Kaiju, "Axehead," dispatched by the Pioneers, landed in San Francisco for the first time.

--split line--

August 10, 2013

The sun was shining brightly in San Francisco, rising as usual. It was Saturday, and Jefferson wasn't scheduled to work. Considering Laura had been going back and forth between the police station and home for the past few days, Jefferson decided to take her sightseeing in San Francisco.

After walking through Lombard Street and Golden Gate Park, Jefferson finally led Laura to the crimson Golden Gate Bridge, under her complex gaze.

Laura glanced sideways at Jefferson, her mind a jumble of thoughts. Today was the day of the Axehead Landing, and the landing site was the Golden Gate Bridge.

Looking at the countdown on the mission panel, Laura sighed deeply—00:47:39, time is running out.

After a moment's thought, Laura tugged at Jefferson's sleeve, about to find an excuse to leave, when Jefferson's phone suddenly rang. Giving Laura an apologetic look, Jefferson answered the phone, his expression gradually turning serious.

After hanging up the phone, Jefferson bent down and patted Laura's head: "It was a friend on the phone. They said they detected shallow sea ripples. Just to be safe, let's go back first."

San Francisco is located on the San Andreas Fault, so it's normal to feel the tremors. Over the phone, Jefferson learned that the earthquake was magnitude 3.2, not particularly strong; he hadn't even felt a noticeable tremor near the Golden Gate Bridge.

However, after careful consideration, Jefferson decided to take Laura home.

Laura shook Jefferson's hand away, then silently nodded in agreement. Jefferson was unsure, but Laura had a guess. Considering the countdown, this tremor was likely caused by the opening of the wormhole.

The subsequent Axehead invasion marks the official start of the Pacific Rim storyline.

Meanwhile, the Dawn mothership, located 250 kilometers off the coast of San Francisco, also began moving toward the Golden Gate Bridge.

Laura was determined to get the axe-wielding man's head.

4. Invading San Francisco

Upon returning home, Jefferson didn't linger for long. On his way back, he received another call from the police department, forcing him to cut his vacation short.

Although Jefferson didn't tell Laura, she overheard the conversation on the other end of the phone. It seemed Jefferson's superiors were unaware of the Kaiju invasion and had simply instructed him to prepare to maintain order. As for what might happen, they had no idea.

It's probably because coastal defense surveillance detected the Kaiju swimming in shallow waters, but the information was blocked to avoid causing a disturbance.

Watching Jefferson's figure disappear through the doorway, Laura ultimately chose silence. The Kaiju invasion would cause unimaginable casualties. Laura wasn't a saint, but if possible, she could still minimize the losses.

However, even Jefferson couldn't dissuade Laura. In other people's eyes, she was still just a 13-year-old child.

Moreover, Jefferson was a good policeman, and even if he knew the truth, he might not have wanted to stay in a safe place; he was more likely to choose to fulfill his duty.

All Laura could do was stay home and silently hope that Jefferson would be alright.

Laura closed her eyes, and with a thought, when she opened them again, her consciousness had returned to the Dawn.

I checked the countdown on the task panel; there are still ten minutes until I log in.

"It's almost time."

Laura thought to herself, maneuvering the mothership with perfect ease: "Dawn, enter Level Two Alert, full weapons loading and preparation, Altius-600 tactical drones take off, ready to observe the situation in San Francisco."

At the speed of the Altius-600 drone, it could reach San Francisco airspace within an hour. Given its altitude and the chaotic situation in San Francisco at the time, NORAD would have had a difficult time detecting this large reconnaissance aircraft from 2020.

Unfortunately, the mothership suffered from severe intelligence deficiencies. The loss of its satellite network rendered many of its precision-guided weapons ineffective, and the current operational mode of the Dawn is actually closer to that of naval warfare in World War II.

However, considering that the Kaiju has a high resistance to thermal weapons, the entire ship will still need the invincible 460 to kill the Axehead.

"Once we get the Civilization Command, we need to activate the shipborne satellite system first, otherwise we'll be at a huge disadvantage in terms of intelligence."

With a sigh, Laura had to admit that the Dawn had a fatal weakness. The inadequacy of its satellite intelligence network rendered the ship's missile systems ineffective, and even its carrier-based aircraft were subject to various limitations.

All the Kaiju in the Rim of the Pacific originate from the ocean, and kinetic weapons are more likely to cause fatal damage. Considering all this, it truly seems like the perfect world for the Dawn.

Meanwhile, the Axehead had already landed in San Francisco.

After the Golden Gate Bridge was completely destroyed, air raid sirens wailed across the city, plunging the prosperous city of San Francisco into chaos.

Even if the air force squadron from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base departs early, it will still take nearly half an hour. The San Francisco Police Department is doing its utmost to maintain order while quietly awaiting backup.

Even so, by the time the first F-22A air force arrived in San Francisco, the buildings within a two-kilometer radius of the Golden Gate Bridge had been reduced to ruins.

"Command center, this is Eagle 1, target detected, requesting attack, over."

An unnamed pilot, flying his fighter jet beside the axe-headed creature, gazed at the colossal structure nearly a hundred meters tall and the collapsed buildings, his heart filled with a mixture of shock and anger.

"Eagle One, this is the command center. To reiterate, your mission is to stop the unknown monster from continuing to destroy the city and lure it to the target combat location. Otherwise, you are free to fire."

"receive."

Communications were shut down, the pilot turned the aircraft around, and tentatively fired at the Axe-Shot. The 20mm M61A2 Vulcan cannon began to unleash a barrage of fire, and under the drive of the electric motors, all the ammunition was fired at the Axe-Shot in less than 15 seconds.

Well, it doesn't seem to be of much use. In fact, a fighter jet got too close to the axe while flying overhead and was slapped into a valuable firework.

In the ensuing battle, neither Sidewinder missiles nor Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) could deliver lethal damage. Standing outside the thirteen streets, Laura watched the US air force's attack and shook her head.

The weapons carried by the fighter jets were clearly insufficient to kill Axeman, and even containing him would be somewhat difficult. Furthermore, the battle took place in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay area, making it unlikely that the Air Force would arbitrarily deploy a large-scale bomber formation.

At least until the upper echelons reach a conclusion, San Francisco is actually the Axehead's home ground.

It would take nearly five hours for the Dawn to enter effective operational range, and once the Axehead moved out of the Oakland Bay area, the US military's patience would reach its limit. At that point, unconventional weapons would be deployed in San Francisco.

What the Dawn needed to do was to destroy Axehead before the US military used nuclear weapons and find a way to escape from everyone's sight.

In particular, escaping was even more important to Laura than stealing Axehead's head. In the original storyline, the US government initially thought Axehead was just an isolated case, a monster born from special circumstances like Godzilla, and that it would cease to exist once destroyed.

Therefore, if the Dawn appears in San Francisco and is targeted, it means that Laura will have to endure the pressure of being hunted by the US military until the second Kaiju appears.

But as time goes on, both humans and monsters will grow stronger. Laura currently holds the greatest advantage, and if she doesn't capitalize on it, defeating the Kaiju will become increasingly difficult in the future.

Even in the later stages, humanity will eventually develop designs on the Dawn.

While advanced technology and the ship girls' complete control over their bodies are powerful, they are absolutely no match for a superpower. If a war were to break out, there would only be two possible outcomes.

They could be captured for research or sunk to the bottom of the sea on the spot. The ship girl's body is closely related to her original body; if the original mothership is captured, Laura herself will not have a good ending.

The thought of her external armor being penetrated, her engine being dismantled, and the control panel in the central command room being occupied by a group of officers who were stroking her body with greedy eyes... made Laura shudder.

As she pondered, Laura caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye amidst the panicked flow of people fleeing the street.