Author's note: Neon Genesis Evangelion and its characters belong to Hideki Anno and Studio Gainax. The Alien franchise belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Dan O'Bannon, and Ronald Shusett, with creature design by H.R. Giger. They are not the property of the author.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

OK, I should probably admit now that the first couple of chapters will be pretty damn shaky. Hopefully and probably after that I'll be in my normal good form, so sit back and hold on and bear with me:

The boy had fallen asleep at the table, the sheer boredom of space having gotten to him once again. It was an empty sleep, one devoid of any dreams whatsoever-

"Shinji?"

He did not respond.

"Shinji? Are you all right?"

It was the voice of Misato Katsuragi. Slowly, Shinji Ikari began to awaken, lifting his head to look at his friend, guardian, and superior. "I'm fine," he mumbled. "I was just asleep."

"We were wondering where you were," she told him. "Your father is on standby on the screen in the briefing room. Let's go."

She walked off as he dragged himself out of his chair and trudged after her.

"Sorry about that, Commander," Misato apologized to the giant monitor as she walked in, Shinji a fair distance behind her as he approached the others. He stumbled forward in a tired slump until he was next to Asuka Langley Soryu.

"You're late," the redhead remarked dryly.

"Ah, good," said Commander Gendo Ikari, hands clasped in front of him as usual, glasses holding an eerie glow. "As you may or may not have already been informed, the eight of you (and, much to my eternal dismay, the penguin) have been sent on a classified mission, one which carries the very real risk that you will not survive it. However, up to this point, I have not revealed the true nature of this mission. Which is why I called you all here."

Shinji glanced down the row. As soon as his eye caught the sight of Rei Ayanami, her pale face illuminated by the light from the screen, he felt somewhat better about things even though he still had no idea what was going on.

"Shinji, are you paying attention?"

His father's voice snapped him back to reality. "Sorry, Father."

"Anyway, as I was saying, the reason you are on this mission is as follows: several years ago, there was an explosion on a United Nations spacecraft. Parts of it were recovered and brought back to Earth. What we discovered was non-human DNA. As it turns out, the DNA belonged to a xenomorph."

"A what?" asked Ritsuko Akagi. The blond was standing not far from Misato.

"A xenomorph, sometimes simply called an alien." An image appeared on the screen as he spoke: it was a strange creature, with a elongated, smooth head. It had no eyes, none that could be detected, at least. It had almost fang-like jaws. Much of the body was very different looking, skeletal, almost, with a bony tail that ended in what seemed to be a blade of sorts. Shinji took one look at the thing and felt a chill run through him.

"Now, as I was saying, we at NERV feel that the explosion was caused by these xenomorphs. What we fear is that another U.N. vessel near that explosion may have been invaded by these creatures. This may explain why we have been unable to contact the crew."

"What does this have to do with us?" queried Misato.

"Your mission is to go to that U.N. craft and ensure that these xenomorphs are not on board. Should any be present, you are to destroy them all and rescue any human survivors. If there are no human survivors, I want that ship destroyed by any means necessary. In fact, I want that ship destroyed if there is even a single xenomorph on board."

"But why are ALL of us here?" asked Ryoji Kaji. His brown hair was down in a shabby ponytail as usual, and he looked like he needed a shave.

"You, Kaji, are here for intelligence purposes. And by that I mean your position in the intelligence community."

"What kind of intelligence does he have, really?" Misato snickered.

"Y'know, you COULD ask and maybe I'll-" her ex-lover began.

"That won't be necessary, Kaji," Gendo warned him. "Moving on, Dr. Akagi is here for her technical and scientific knowledge. Major Katsuragi is on board because of her military capabilities. The penguin is only here because she didn't want to leave him behind. Rei Ayanami and Kaworu Nagisa are present because they have both human and xenomorph DNA as a result of a lengthy hybridization experiment."

Shinji leaned forward again. Rei remained emotionless, her light blue hair taking on an even brighter hue from the light on the screen. Kaworu, on the other hand, looked almost bleached out in both his white hair and his skin, pale as Rei's was. At least he was smiling. Then again, he often was.

"As you may also know, we have sent another hybrid on board. I believe you have all met Mr. Hartnell Walker."

Shinji and the others glanced at the man in question, if you could even call him that. His head had the elongated look similar to the alien that had just seen, but his face was distinctly human except for the equally elognated jaw. His gaunt, six-six frame made his thin t-shirt hang loosely on his shoulders. His hands were as bony as the alien's, with each finger ending in an ugly claw. His legs had a sickled bend to them, causing him to lean forward.

"Mr. Walker," Shinji's father continued, "was also part of the experiment that created Rei and Kaworu. However, he was created before the process was, uh, perfected."

"So why would you mix human DNA with DNA from those ugly freaks anyway?" Asuka asked.

"As it turns out, Pilot Soryu, we have a very good reason. It has been discovered that these hybrids are significantly superior to their human counterparts in strength, agility, and speed. This makes them an asset should we have to deal with any real xenomorphs."

"And why is HE here?" she replied, jerking her thumb towards Shinji.

"That, unfortunately, was not my call. Were it up to me, he would have stayed here. However, I was asked by higher-ups to include him. I only wish I knew why."

Thanks a lot, Father, Shinji thought ruefully.

"I expect regular reports until this mission is concluded. Please execute your mission with caution. I would hate to lose anyone on this mission for any reason. Dismissed." The screen went black.