Title: Tokyo 3 Imperial Creed
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: None.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion or Warhammer 40K.
Summary: Thanks to a strange twist of fate, the fight for Tokyo 3 is no longer just to save Earth, but to Serve the Immortal Emperor.
The litanies of Faith echoed through the room, chanted by praying Sisters, as they fingered their rosaries, kneeling wherever they had been when they had 'arrived', their blood red robes brushing the floor. A few Brothers were spaced around the room, watching the exits and windows while the Sister prayed. Only one Sister was not praying, and she stood in the centre of the room with one of the Brothers.
"Do you have any intelligence on the current situation?" The Brother asked, resiting one hand on his Power-sword while holding his deep blue helmet in the other.
"Nothing, Captain. We had just finished a purge of Mutants on Cadia, with the assistance of the Cadian 8th, when we suddenly appeared here. The Emperor's light still shines on us." The Sister said, her voice quiet but authoritative.
"The Same. We were on patrol of the Ultramar."
A distant explosion cut off the litanies as all the Space Marines and Battle Sisters instinctively raised their weapons, mostly the Holy Bolter, in the direction of the explosion.
~North Entrance secured~ came a voice over the Space Marine Captain's radio.
~South Entrance secured~ another voice reported.
A short nod from the Battle Sister indicated she had heard the report on the frequency he had provided her a minute ago.
"I have four Scouts and their Sergeant with Sniper Rifles covering the roof."
"Canoness, we have movement." One of the Battle Sisters by a window warned.
A second later a crack was heard from above. The spotting Battle Sister gave thumbs up to indicate the Scout Sniper on the roof had made a kill. After a quick conference, the Captain and the Canoness sent five Battle Sisters to each of the entrances to bolster the five man Space Marine Combat Squad at each location. The third Space Marine Combat Squad, with only three members, stayed in the room which was now designated as the HQ, along with another six Battle sisters. The Seven Assault Marines and five Seraphim, specialist close combat troops equipped with jump packs were sent up to the roof, under a Veteran Sister Superior with orders to jump down at the sight of any breach or major assault.
There were two other members of the group, who stayed with the Canoness and the Captain. One was a medical sister from the Orders Hospitaller, a non combat arm of the Battle Sisters, and the other was a tall Marine from a heavy weapons Devastator squad, carrying bulky and belt fed heavy bolter.
The decision had been made to defend the building, which appeared to be an educational facility until dawn, though no particular reason for dawn was put forward; both the Canoness and the Captain knew it was the deadline. The big Devastator Marine rolled his shoulders on his six foot frame and checked the feed for his heavy bolter. That had been the clue. While six foot was tall for a human, it was pitifully short for the normally nine foot plus Space Marines. They were not in their own bodies.
The Next Morning, November 1st, 2015.
Misato sat at the kitchen table about to have her morning beer when the doors to both of her charge's rooms opened and Shinji and Asuka emerged. Both were dressed in simple robes, Shinji's of a deep blue and Asuak's an almost blood red. Both also had a sword attached to the sash at their waist.
"Captain Ikari." Asuka acknowledged.
"Sister Soyru. Assault Brother Maru was impressed with your command last night, and with the discipline of you Seraphim."
"As is our duty to the Emperor." Asuka replied.
"As is our duty." Shinji affirmed.
Misato stared in shock at her two wards, as much for the change in attitude as their unusual dress.
The two warriors of the emperor were making their way to the kitchen when they both stopped and put their hand to the voxbud in their ear.
"… By The Emperor, they are still attacking. Repeat. This is Lieutenant Ibuki, Third Platoon, Echo Company of the Caidan 8th. I have the remains of three platoons and we are under attack by xenos. Tau by the weapons. Requesting assistance from any Imperial Forces at following coordinates." A rapid set of grid coordinates followed.
Shinji glanced at Asuka who gave him a quick nod as she quietly but rapidly spoke into her vox unit. He raised his hand to his own and responded on the distress frequency.
"This is Captain Ikari, Ultramarines Third Company. A mixed strike force of Ultramarines and Soritas of the Order of Our Martyred Lady will converge on your position. Hold tight, Guardsman. For the Emperor."
"For the Emperor, Captain. We will hold." Maya Ibuki's voice replied.
"Canoness Ayanami has ordered us to gather at grid square G19 and attack from the West." Asuka said, before disappearing into her room.
"Let her know we'll attack from the east." He replied, disappearing into his own room.
Misato still sat in shock, almost catatonic, at the kitchen table. Two minutes later her two charges re-emerged.
"Sergeant Aida. I want eyes on the enemy position by your scouts while we muster. Hold once you are there unless you get eyes on an Ethereal. If you do, take the shot." Shinji said as he entered the main room.
Shinji was now dressed in a deep blue set of armour. The armour gave about an extra half of foot of height and was bulky but still mauverable. A large, golden Aquila emblazed on the chest and the large shoulder pads trimmed in a deep red. One of the left one showed the inverted Omega symbol that was the sign of the Ultramarines, and the other showed a white skull. The wide but relatively slim backpack showed over the shoulders of his armour.
At one hip was sheathed a long sword, while the other contained both a chunky bolt pistol and a large combat knife. In one hand was his blue helmet and the other the stocky form of an Astartes Boltgun.
Asuka had also emerged from her room and was also dressed in armour. Her armour, black in colour, was much more streamlined, and was obviously designed for a woman, with the breastplate appropriately modified. Her armour had no shoulder pads that seemed to bulk up Shinji's, instead she had almost tongue like shoulder peaces which supported the sleaves of her blood red robes. The lower part of her robes emerged at the waist and fell like a flap at the front and back of her armour. Her rosary fell from her waist and ended in a large gold marker like an I with a double crossbar across the middle, the symbol of the Inquisition. On her left shoulder, partially obscured by an armoured tube for her life support system was, in white, the winged I of the inquisition while on her right shoulder, again partially obscured was, again in white, the Fleur-de-Lis of the Sisters of Battle. The Fleur-de-Lis was repeated in several other places on her armour but in gold not white.
Her backpack was also significantly different both from the regular Space Marine backpack and the Assault Marine jump pack. Unlike the two massive jet engines that propelled Assault Marines, the Seraphim jump packs were made up of a number of smaller engines and the exhaust housings were made to slightly resemble feathers.
Holstered at each thigh was a smaller and slightly less chunky bolt pistol and at her left waist was sheathed her sword. As she emerged from her room, Asuka was donning her helmet, it was black at the back and lower half of the face, the upper half of the face was a white plate and it was topped at the front by a small, golden Fleur-de-Lis.
"See you out there." Asuka said, her voice hollow from the helmet's speakers, as she moved to the balcony.
She jumped off the balcony, using her jet pack to control her decent to the ground and then ran off down the street.
"Be back when we can." Shinji said to Misato before donning his helmet.
When the helmet was sealed, all the interfaces were connected and the optical sensor glowed an ominous red in the blue helmet.
Then he was gone and Misato was alone.
Lieutenant Maya Ibuki looked around the shattered remains of her command. What had started last night as three full strength platoons and a squad of veterans, over three hundred guardsmen, was now reduced to a mere fifty troops. The force had relocated from the large open shopping centre to a more defendable building a few hundred meters away. Almost as soon as they had 'arrived' they had been under fire. They had lost almost an entire platoon's worth of troops just getting out of the shopping centre, including one of the other lieutenant's.
The other Lieutenant, along with seven consecutive banner bearers had been picked off by enemy snipers throughout the night. Eventually Maya had switched her peaked officers hat for a fallen trooper's helmet and had ordered the platoon banners to be lowered. Right now she had the only two trained marksmen in the remaining force on the upper floors of the building trying to pick off enemy snipers. Eight infantry troopers had been pressed into crewing two Heavy Bolters and two Autocannons on the middle levels. The remaining heavy weapons, along with the lasguns of the fallen troopers, were stored in an unused room.
Maya had deployed the three remaining squads of troopers around the perimeter of the building and had kept the veteran squad, the only squad to make it through so far without a casualty thanks to their vast experience and superior Carapace armour, as a flying reserve.
A red robed figure emerged from the shadows and approached Maya.
"Lieutenant. I have reinforced this building as much as I can. It is now up to The Machine Spirit and the Emperor." The mechanically flat voice said.
"Thank you Techpriest." She replied.
"CONTACT!" a guardsman called.
The sharp whisk of firing lasguns sounded for a second before it was drowned by the rapid stacarto of a Heavy Bolter and the slow and steady thump of an Autocannon. Maya and the Veterans rushed to the call of contact. Almost twenty Tau Fire Warriors had been spotted moving into a firing position in some rubble across the road. The fire of the Guardsmen was slowing the Tau but was not stopping them from setting up. The fire fight want on for ten minutes, Maya being forced to strip the other walls of the building down to being guarded by skeleton crews as injuries mounted and troopers were taken off the line.
"For the Emperor. Ultramarines Attack." A male voice came over the vox.
"Sisters. Purge the Xenos." A soft yet firm female voice.
From the East came two groups of Ultramarines and from the West two groups of Sisters of Battle. The main group of each, a full squad of ten, one lead by Captain Ikari and the other by Canoness Ayanami, made a firing advance towards the flanks of the Tau line. The smaller squads made their way to the Imperial Guard lines. The squad of Ultramarines was led by the Devastator marine with four boltgun armed marines. The Sisters squad was five boltgun armed sisters with another figure in robes but no armour.
The two groups rushed into the building. The Marines and Battle Sisters set up along the line, reinforcing the Guardsmen.
"Sister Hospitaller Horaki. Where are the wounded?" the sister without armour demanded.
Maya pointed to the other room and the sister disappeared.
"Feisty, isn't she." The Devistator marine said, firing a last burst of Heavy Bolter fire at Tau before the two main forces assaulted them and they could not fire into the mêlée. The combined Marine and Sister assault quickly dealt with the remaining Fire Warriors. Once the close combat was done the two squads returned to the building housing the Guard.
"Alright everyone. This is not a secured sector. We need to get packed up and get back to an imperial zone." The Ultramarine Captain said.
"Everyone is to grab as much equipment as they can." The Canoness added.
"Why are we pulling out?" Maya asked.
"Because there are more Tau on the way. And my scouts inform me that the Orcs have sent a patrol in this direction." Captain Ikari.
"Won't we get ambushed?" the Veteran Squad's Sergeant asked
"We have Assault Marines and Seraphim keeping them off us." Rei replied.
"Touji. Go get Sister Horaki. Tell her we're moving out." Shinji ordered the large Devastator.
"Rodger, Captain."
November 3rd, 2015.
Shinji, Rei, Asuka and Maya entered Central Dogma in their full armour, accompanied by their personal guard. Misato was also with the group, her normally ever-present red jacket had been replaced by a dark green Imperial Guard Flack Jacket, and so was the still red cloaked and hooded Techpriest. Shinji was escorted by two Space Marines, Rei by two Sisters of Battle, Asuka by two of her Seraphim and now Colonel Maya Ibuki by two of the Veteran squad that had been by her side through the worst of the fighting over the last few days.
The group walked up the command pulpit and saw Gendo sitting behind his desk. Rei approached the Commander with her two flanking Sisters.
"Gendo Rokubungi Ikari." She announced before he could say a word. "For failing to provide military aid, you are hereby found guilty of Heresy against the Immortal Emperor. The sentence is death."
The two flanking Sisters raised their boltguns and each put a round through Gendo's head, the mass reactive shells detonating inside his cranium causing the former Commander's head to literally explode.
"Attention all Nerv personnel. This is Colonel Maya Ibuki." The PA boomed. "Effective immediately, all Nerv personnel are hereby transferred to the authority of the Imperial Guard. Commander Ikari has been executed for Heresy. All Section Three Security forces report immediately to briefing room Echo for deployment to the surface. All other personnel stand by for further instructions."
"Huga. Bring up a map of the city." Misato ordered.
Huga sat stunned for a second, then shook himself and pulled the map up on the main screen. Shinji indicated that Huga should move and took over the terminal, not using the chair. He softly chanted the rights of activation for the machine spirit as he entered the data. After a few minutes he finished and the screen reset. The map now was colour coded in five different colours. the Western, South Western and part of the Southern sectors were a tan colour marked with the symbol of a two headed Eagle to represent the Imperial forces. Most of the rest of the Southern sector and all of the south Western sector were orange and marked with an oblong above a vertical line contained on a circle to mark the Tau occupied territories. The northern sectors were a dark green and marked with a crude skull with a jagged jaw to mark the Orc area. The rest of the eastern sectors were a pail bluey grey and marked with a vaguely Egyptian looking stylised eye to show the Eldar controlled zones. Small corridors between the different controlled zones and the central sector were a simple grey, showing that they were not controlled by any faction or were active conflict zones.
"What are we looking at?" Lieutenant Aoba asked.
"The tan area is what we held. All the other areas are held by Xenos. We need to purge them." Asuka said.
"For the Emperor." Colonel Ibuki said.
"For the Emperor." The Imperial troops echoed.
"And the Machine Spirit." The red robed Techpriest added.
TBC…