Chapter One: The Pilot
Roman Petrov sat alone in his fathers' office. Leaning back in the swivel chair, he put his feet up on the desk, staring up into space. It wasn't the first time he had come with his dad to work when he was off school, pretty much every other Saturday he had to be dragged out of the house. Sitting up straight again, he examined the desk around him, setting his gaze upon a small plastic VTOL; one of the handful of toys he had brought with him. Plucking it from the desk, Roman began to play with the miniature aircraft, bobbing and weaving it through imaginary canyons as he spun around in the chair, which squeaked loudly. He had always wanted to fly; to become a pilot. The freedom of lifting off the ground and gliding through the air had always fascinated him. That was why no matter where Roman went, he would almost always bring the toy VTOL with him.

Stopping, he spun back round to face the desk as he examined the tiny aircraft in his hands. It was about the size of a pencil case; based on the newly introduced EAGL-1B Vertical Takeoff Jet, painted in the standard UN colours; Silver and Blue. He had gotten it two years ago, passing it in a toy store; the VTOL came with a pair of miniature pilots, who could be but into the cockpit of the aircraft, though Roman had left them at home as they were quite small and he didn't want to lose them. Suddenly, he heard voices from down the corridor along with the sound of footsteps. After a couple of seconds as the voices got closer, the door gently swung open. "Hi Dad." Roman smiled as his father entered the office followed by three of his colleagues.
"Hullo, Roman." Dr Vitalik Petrov replied, grinning as he crossed the room over to the desk where his son sat. "Sorry, we'll just be a few minutes." He said apologetically.
"Your Dad's just discovered something really important." One of the other scientists smiled. It was Dr Naoko Akagi, one of his fathers' close friends. She was nice.

Vitalik picked up a remote from the desk, pressing a button on the little device, causing a large projector screen to slide down the far wall before he rolled out a projector into the centre of the room.
"This find could give us more insight into the Second Impact." He began after Roman quietly went back to his toys, disinterested, while the three scientists eagerly listened in. "We've scanned the object a hundred times and it definitely isn't an anomaly on behalf of our equipment." He took out a large piece of paper, sliding it under the projector as a larger image appeared on the screen. In the centre of the page was a rough shape formed from scanning detections. It was an odd shape, resembling a rough spearhead with a large depression in either side. "If it is connected to what we found in Antarctica three years ago, we believe it is more like an object or tool than an actual being."

Roman sat up, interested again when he heard Vitalik say 'Second Impact'. He knew what that was. Three years ago, a meteor hit the Earth in Antarctica, causing a global disaster as earthquakes appeared all of the world. How is it connected? He thought. Is it part of the Meteor? Listening in as best as he could, Roman couldn't take his eyes of the blade-shaped object on the screen.
"We'll begin excavating it as soon as we can." Vitalik continued, "I'll start making preparations to move our assets to Wake Island. We've been given a request from higher up saying to consider this our priority project."

Test Unit Alpha
Neon Genesis Chronicles

-Twelve Years Later-

"What have we got this time?" Roman asked, walking out of the locker room towards the hangar.
"A fishing vessel's gone down out in Okhotsk. We just got the SOS a few minutes ago." Replied his best friend and co-pilot, Aleksey Fyodorov. The two worked as a Search and Rescue team based in Sakhalin, a large island on the South East coast of Russia, not far north of Japan. It was a relatively quiet job as few ships passed close to the island and even fewer experienced emergencies. However, as members of the Coast Guard, they were exceptionally trained and always on alert.

"There she is. Haven't seen her all week!" Aleksey beamed as they approached the aircraft in the centre of the hangar. It was a Kamov-82F, a Russian-built clone of the YAGR-3B VTOL, stripped of its' armament and adorned in the blue and white of the Russian Coast Guard.
"All good, Boss?" he asked the Flight Deck Chief, who stood watching the technicians finishing up on the vehicle.
"Pretty much. Hop in." Nodding, Roman strode past the Chief as Aleksey followed. One of the technicians stepped aside, allowing access to the step ladder leading up to the rear door. Climbing inside the craft, Roman immediately felt at home. It was quite cramped inside but still enough room to move around easily. Moving up the main crew and cargo compartment, he opened a hatch at the far end, looking on at the ladder inside.

Climbing up, Roman entered the cockpit, sitting down in the pilots' chair while Aleksey went the opposite way; down the ladder to the co-pilot viewport on the underside of the aircraft. Picking his helmet up off the back of the seat, Roman pulled it on, flipping down the visor as he sat back in his chair. He began flicking switches on the controls around him with one hand as the other adjusted his mic. "Tower, this is VTOL Nine requesting takeoff, over." He said as he worked. The headset in the helmet crackled,
"Copy that, VTOL Nine. Opening the Birdcage."

Looking up, Roman saw the roof of the hangar split down the centre, slowly peeling open to reveal the icy blue sky beyond. The heavy metal groaned as the roof plates slid apart to either of the furthest walls until there was a loud CLANK and they stopped. "VTOL Nine, the Birdcage is open; you are go for launch." Roman smiled as he gripped the throttle. "Rog. Spinning up engines now." The large thrusters on either side of the aircraft began to rumble, sending rough vibrations through the cockpit. Raising the throttle, the rumble transformed into a roar as the VTOL shakily lifted off of the ground. Slowly turning the craft as it rose, they cleared the top of the hangar and climbed high into the sky. Pressing another few buttons, he leaned forward on the stick, flying the VTOL forward as its engines switched into flight mode.

The VTOL shot through the sky over the rest of the Coast Guard base, passing overhead of several ships and boats docked in the port. "Have a good flight, VTOL Nine." The voice over the comms spoke.
"Much obliged, Tower. We're away." Roman answered as they finally passes the last of the island, heading off out to sea. "Still got it?" Aleksey spoke. Roman grinned.
"Hah. Piece of cake."

Hello reader! I'm back again with a new story. This is my attempt at a prequel to Neon Genesis Evangelion, setting up its' own isolated plot but leading into the events of episode 1 of NGE, done in a style like Rogue One, Halo Reach and Infinite Warfare while also TRYING to remain as faithful to canon as possible. Rough sketches of character and vehicle concepts for the story are on my DeviantArt page HERE: gallery/

Hope u enjoy and have an excellent day! :)