A/N: First of all, Elite Commander Dostya is just fine in this timeline. Given you can take as long as you want to actually spring the Seraphim trap on Hades, she'd have more than enough time to have mobs of Monkeylords and Soul Rippers sitting about to take care of anything inbound by then, and have enough strategic missile defences too to counter any practical number of missiles… or bodily intercept them with Soul Rippers if need be.

Chapter 1: At the Speed of Plot

"Debris", 3865 AD, SupCom Universe

"Eighteen years since the end of the Seraphim War, a hundred years since this archipelago was torn to bits, and only now have you figured out that this is where most of the blast that formed the region called 'The Great Void' went?" Dostya looked around with her ACU's sensors once she gated into the research base on one of the islands of "Debris".

Oh how Elite Commander Dostya hated the particular training map based on that locality for its cramped nature… though the extra space around the outside to sneak fleets of sea or air units around was nice and realistic, and now that artificial island frameworks were part of any ACU pilot's arsenal it meant whole floating bases could be constructed easily enough, with the full active camouflage and active stealth suites standard to all Coalition of Species units. Thanks to enough Seraphim rebels showing up in time to help beat back the main Seraphim faction at a crucial turning point of the War, the name had been changed from the Coalition of Humanity, though there was still plenty of paranoia against the Seraphim Separatists.

She continued with "I'm surprised it took this long to analyze the energy signature and such, but… I guess I really shouldn't be shocked given you've also linked it to the Alpha-7 Quarantine Zone and Roanoke Abyss. So, what's so interesting about the Abyss?"

"According to our best Psionics analysts, working with the Princess herself, both locations should lead to another universe, similar to how the Rift was linked to the universe the Seraphim came from. The Abyss is an area where objects can be sent here, while the Quarantine Zone allows sending objects away. Most of the energy of the blast from the Great Void was actually vented through Alpha-7 after they corrected the mistake of sending it, well, here." Avatar of War Rhiza answered. It had been almost too convenient how the Separatists had the means to close the rift. A few hundred Soul Rippers had hovered around the rift continuously pounding every unit that came through it, and the dust was such that they'd had to use drastic terraforming measures to prevent another Ice Age on Earth. However, once the Coalition's counter to the destroyed Quantum Arch was complete, they'd managed to seal it shut without burning out any Psionic users, such as Princess Rhianne Burke, who'd originally volunteered for such a task.

"Great, so, who's going to go over there and explore?" Dostya asked.

Rhiza shook her head "On the contrary, we believe that people from over there… have already come here. Do you remember the 803rd Battle of Roanoke Abyss?" Let it never be said that the Infinite War had not been a ridiculously tedious grind. The numbering system had simply continued counting into the Seraphim War.

Dostya thought for a moment, and consulted the Cybran Network very quickly by uploading a data request and downloading to her personal computer, where it projected a holographic hard-light screen in front of her "The battle over those biomechanical things that randomly showed up in that area, back before the Seraphim War ended? Those things came from another universe?"

"Indeed."

Then a message arrived for both. "I sense a great disturbance!" Princess Rhianne was atypically snappish as she said this "I fear something terrible is happening at Roanoke Abyss!"

"…I suppose this is why the Abyss is as quarantined as Alpha-7 nowadays?" Dostya groused, as she watched the local garrison commander ordering the manufacture of more automated rescue drones, and sending groups if newly assembled Silver-class (Tier 1) submarines, basically cheap swarming naval superiority units, to dive under the quickly sinking structure that had appeared suddenly over the middle of the unnatural sunken region of ocean that was the Abyss, and had splashed down and began quickly sinking. "To avoid giant building complexes, along with a whole lot of dirt, falling on people?"

Local garrisons were basically not done during the Infinite War due to lack of flexibility and of enough people who had the aptitude and psychology to be effective ACU pilots. It was also impractical because of how good stealth systems were and how cyber-attack could take out sensors too distant from a commander's base, and by the time any units arrived they would face a newly assembled army anyhow. On the other hand, important research stations like this often had some units and a Control Node or two, or an SCU on-site. SCUs were stronger than ACUs that were not refitted, but could not gate through to enemy worlds through the jamming typical in faction-controlled Quantum Gates.

"If these people came from the same universe as those… uh, Evangelions I believe they were called… came from, it could provide a useful reference point on how time passes between the two sides." One of the scientists said excitably too close to the comms… having leaned against the button to switch it on by accident.

Dostya sent a message to Rhiza "Hallelujah?"

"…Is that an Aeon stereotype joke?" Rhiza was touchy about such jokes. Just because the Aeon all believed in the Way did not exclude accepting the basics of other religions.

"No."

"Then yes, Hallelujah. I just hope that the time ratio is not, as some of the scientists' messaging chat says, 'at the speed of plot'." Rhiza said, reading the intercepted scientist chatter while keeping an eye on the strategic map and at the same time constructing her own base.

"Even Cybrans believe in not trolling fate to that degree, Avatar of War. You're doing quite enough by wandering about personally like this."

"Ah, my student will be fine dealing with the paperwork for a while." Rhiza waved her off, wondering just how loudly her student was probably cursing as she sifted through the virtual mountains of forms.

Dostya nodded "…I suddenly feel very sorry for Gustav." Leaving the paperwork to Brackman did get it done, but there was usually an inordinate amount of "oh yes" mixed in as his verbal tic…

Both chattering women, and General Arnold (former defector to the Aeon) once he arrived representing the UEF, felt sorrier for these humans once it was understood that they had been trying to install a Quantum Tech energy source into a cyborg, one with a mind. It had not exactly taken many experiments by the Aeon to understand exactly why such a thing was a Bad Idea. In fact, the Cybrans had learnt it too, such as retrieval of certain Seraphim artefacts from Aeon temples which had gone horribly wrong for one Commander Mach.

A/N: Please vote on my profile poll about which factions handled which Children for a while during the Seraphim War. I decided to do it then instead of the Infinite War because the kids would HATE each other… not to mention never be trusted to pilot, during the Infinite War. During the Seraphim War things would have been… different, at the very least.

Also please excuse Rhiza's extreme lampshading of the time ratio, and yes, that is NERV US.