Disclaimer: I don't own anything appearing in this fic.
~Vengeance is our name, Despair is our herald, Lords of Death, the Damned Hunters, God slayers, and we are coming to kick some ass ~
a quote attributed a T'Yari Commander
It was a cold day. It was a bitterly cold morning. It was such a cold morning that the roaring inferno that was a large bonfire was overcome. And for one Shinji Ikari, the morning was like any other he had experienced over the last four weeks.
Four weeks had passed since they had arrived in frozen hell of the Russian wilderness. Five weeks ago they had sent out from Japan bound for Russia and a secret objective. NERV had mobilized all their strength. Men, equipment, supplies, guns, tanks, temporary housing and two of mankind's greatest war machines were loaded onto a massive fleet and ferried into hell.
The wilderness was empty of all life and snow. Second Impact, the awaking of their enemy had blasted the ice, snow, and wildlife away. The planet was cast into an eternal summer, but certain regions were still insufferably cold. One such region was the part of Russia they were in.
"I've said it once and I'll say it again, why the hell are we out here with all this equipment? Are we fighting a war or something?"
Shinji barely turned his head to look at his companion. He adjusted his gloves before speaking. "I hope not."
"Liar," his companion snapped. "You enjoy it just as much as I do. The heat, the power, the wrath, the joy of watching the enemy bleeding over the ground…" She passionate words trailed off.
Shinji sighed. Eight years she had been at her task, trying to get him to admit he loved piloting and war. She had started just after she recovered from her coma shortly after the Angel War ended. But she had changed. The proud, sometimes violent girl was replaced by bloodthirsty lady of war who lived for fighting. Some had speculated that a portion of her mind had been merged with that of the Angels, but it was mere speculation.
"Asuka, I said it once and I'll say it again, I don't love war or violence or death." He was keenly aware of his own hypocrisy. In the darkest part of mind he relished in the feeling of domination, of pure power, of precious blood flowing over his hands. But he reused to acknowledge it, save in the heat of battle.
~All personal report to battle stations! All personal report to battle stations!~ The alarms sounded as message repeated over the loudspeakers.
The two pilots ran for their shared cabin. Inside they quickly stripped off the heavy winter gear. Asuka tossed a pair of skin tight plug suits on the bed as she stripped down. Without shame, Shinji ripped off his under garments. Beside him Asuka was in a similar state of undress. Years ago they would have never dreamed of doing this near each other. Years ago they would never even considered it, but times had changed. Going through hell with another person did that to people.
Shinji pulled on the suit and hit the compression button. It gave a slight hiss as it conformed to his body, but he was already moving. The plug suit was a second generation, bulkier and armor plated, it was meant for more than just Evangelion pilots. Built in systems released stimulants, and various medicines at the bodies need. Various militaries had come to favor the plug suit as the next generation of body armor. He slid a pistol into the hip holster and grabbed his winter coat as the warming system in the suit kicked in.
Asuka was already out the door and for a moment he was able to enjoy the sight of womanly curves and long, red hair whipping around her face. Like all pleasure it ended when she slipped her coat on and he hastened after her.
Their cabin was near the center of the camp. As they made their way towards the temporary Evangelion cages they were forced to dodge around tanks and APCs. Soldiers of every nationality ran with them and then broke off, heading for the perimeter fence.
Shinji had to dodge a heavy tank by throwing himself against on of the loudspeaker poles, whacking his knee fairly hard. Soon they reached the cages, massive, boxlike structures that housed the greatest fighting machine know to man. No less than six massive generators were attached to each of the cages. Most of the gear was relatively new, recently deployed after being unloaded by the super carrier Over the Rainbow. The pair stopped before the door marked 01.
"Take care of yourself Asuka." Shinji gave her a quick hug, savoring her clean scent. "If you die I WILL drag you back. Got it?" he whispered in her ear.
She gladly returned the embrace. "Same goes for you. Not that it really matters to us anyway… It's the thought that counts though." She pulled away, giving him a devilish smile. "When this is over don't plan on sleeping. I'll need to work off the excitement."
Shinji merely nodded and gave a tight smile. "Count on it." He watched her strip off her jacket and vanished into the other cage. Such a tease he thought as he entered the cage.
After tossing his jacket in his locker he headed deeper into the base. Technicians scurried about, engineers swore loudly as they tried to finish their repairs and above it all, the Evangelion watched. The main hangar was the hub of the confusion. Tubes of coolant hissed as sparks fro a dozen terminals travel every which way. Men and women dodged around each other, laptops and datapads in hand. In the heart of the chaos stood the only clam figures in the building, his machine, Evangleion Unit 01, and his half-sister.
The horned giant waited and watched as sentinel guards the camp at night. His half-sister was less composed, but ever bit at ease. Mizore Ikari, the bastard daughter of Ritsuko Akagi and Gendo Ikari, thrived in this environment much like her mother. At the age of twenty-two she was a slim woman with bleached blonde hair and dark blue eyes. Anger was evident on her face as she lashed about with her clipboard, a relic from her mother.
Mizore had been born after the Third Impact, the result of many nights of rough sex between his father and the Head of the Evangelion project. Dr. Akagi's pregnancy split the recently reborn Yui Ikari and Gendo Ikari apart forever. It was in a changed world that Mizore grew up in with her mother, as yet another child of the man who sought to screw with mankind.
"What's the situation, Mizore?" Shinji asked after pulling the ear piece from his suit and putting it on.
"I'm not sure. We were told to mobilize both Evas for combat action, but who would attack us out here? The Russkies or those damn Chinese?"
"Neither. The Russians are too weak, they lost two-thirds of their population after Second Impact and the starvation after the Third Impact killed of most of those left. The Chinese would dare try another stunt like they did in Mongolia. They fear us now," Shinji said as he climbed the ladders and catwalks to the entry plug.
An annoyed huff caused him to snicker. "Fine, get your lazy butt in your Eva. By the way to core was successfully synchronized with the onboard weapons last night. We're not quiet sure if all the connections are perfect yet so don't over do it."
"Got it. What about the paint job?" The purple from the days of the Angel War had been stripped off the Evangelion and painted dark blue and the green and been replaced with silver. Years had taken their toll on the paint. Chunks of gray could be seen on the torso were the paint had blasted away by stray missiles from the numerous battles he fought in.
"No luck, the top brass doesn't care about that. They care about whatever the hell those diggers are looking for," she said disdainfully. "We neglect the greatest technological advancement of man in favor of digging in dirt! If father were alive, he'd have them all shot!"
Shinji smiled has she ranted, but couldn't help but agree. With the death of Gendo Ikari nearly seven years before support for the Evangelion was cut, NERV was forced to reduce its size and quickly became a paramilitary organization with the backing of only a few governments.
In the chaos after Third Impact, NERV and the Evangelions were deployed to Congo. They were officially tasked with hunting down the rebels, but their mission was to lay waste to both the rebels and the government, who were supporting numerous dictators in other African nations.
With the might of three Evangelions, a better equipped and trained ground force they had laid waste to the nation. It was then Shinji had realized what they had become. Without the Angels, NERV was armed and dangerous, a potential threat to any country. NERV was quickly chained by those who feared the raw destructive power of the Evangelions. They became the tools that took the fall and did the dirty work for the world leaders who held their chain tightly.
There was no way out of the chain.
The public feared them for their actions on behalf of the world leaders. The leaders feared that NERV would turn on them and tightened the chain. Yet in their fear both sides loved NERV. More Evangelions were built, new pilots were trained, new weapons developed by their engineers.
Shinji finally reached the top of the scaffolding. The entry plug was already open as the final technician discounted her computer from the plug. "Everything is ready to go. The power levels are steady, but I'm not sure the Fenir System is fully uplinked. The Ifirt Missiles are fully integrated along with the Dragon Blade," the young technician told him as he climbed in. "Run a systems check after the undocking procedure, would you?"
"Got it, after this is over I'll put in a request for you to transferred to Unit One's support crew." He watched her eyes go big and smiled as he pulled the hatch shut.
The automated insertion process took over and he felt the sudden rush of vertigo. LCL, the fluid taken from the corpse of the Second Angel Lillith, filled the plug. The blood scent that it carried no longer bothered him as it once had. He vaguely heard various techs began to start the unclamping procedures as he mechanically went though his own system uplink.
"Primary language: Japanese. Audio, visual, external sensors online. S2 engine output at 57% and rising. Minor fluxes in the left shoulder, both arms at 90% efficiency. Preparing to begin synchronization process," he said for Mizore's benefit.
"Take your time with the synchronization and get use to the integrated weapons," she needlessly warned him.
"Fine, synchronization initiation in three, two, one…" He let go of himself and let himself meld with the machine. He became Unit 01, the horned titan that tower over the humans below. He felt the raging, untamed will of Unit 01 draw closer to him and the calming force of the residual soul connect the untamed Eva with his mind. He could feel the S2 engine pulse rhythmically pulse within his chest and the cold metal bonds that restrained the Evangelion's arms and legs.
"All systems normal, synchronization rate at 97%. We are ready to walk on your command Dr. Ikari," an unknown female voice said.
"Very well, remove clamps 1 though 6, and locks 2 though 18, retract the catwalks. Shinji, how are the weapons?" Mizore asked.
"Normal for now, I wished somebody had thought of this during the early days of the Angel War. They would have saved us pilots a lot of trouble."
"Lessons learned, now get out of here. They want you down in the excavation site ASAP. Open the hangar doors!"
The hangar doors slowly slid open as the final restraining blots released their grip. The crews scurried away from the Evangelion as he walked forward. Outside he saw Unit 02, in its brilliant red and orange with gold and black trim. Asuka's unit was equipped for close quarters combat. A progressive axe hung off her back, a progressive short sword and a shield made from spare amour plates for the EVAs. The shoulder pylons contained dozens of deadly spikes and spare knives, the last ditch weapon.
"Took you long enough idiot!" she said, her video feed connecting with his. "Let's get to were the action is!"
He didn't bother to respond and mentally called up the map of the base. Guided by the self updating, real time map he led the way towards the excavation site that lay nearly two miles away.
The two warmachines quickly reached the site with their long strides. The excavation site was a hole in the mountain with many large ramps running into it. The largest of the tanks, a pair of the Crusader M-3s, were only just pulling into position with their main guns pointed towards the bottom of the pit. Men, smaller tanks, and other weapons were already in their assigned places.
"Now let's get a bead on what the hell we're dealing with," Shinji muttered as he walked Unit 01 towards dig site, a pit were the mountain had been blasted away. In the bottom of the pit he could make out men running form the large digging machines. In front of the machines he saw what had caused all the fuss. Where the rock face should have been was a perfectly black sphere, like a pond on a dark night it rippled slightly. It was a good deal taller than Unit 01 and stretched into the rock on either side.
He felt something…like a half forgotten dream…a memory of a warm place…of a safe, warm home. "The hell… What is that?"
"Hey Shinji… doesn't that look familiar?"
He froze when Asuka fell silent. The memories of a similar circle and the fear, the overwhelming loneliness he felt when he had fallen into shadow of the Angel. "…Liliel…is it trap? A sleeping Angel or a parting shot at us?" He thumbed the butterfly controls and the target lock appeared over the center of the portal. With a thought he started the Fenir assault rifle warm up sequence. He felt the rifle cool in the Evangelion's hand and raised it at the hole. "Mizore please tell me I'm not looking at what I think I'm looking at?"
"Yes, that is exactly what you think it is; a Sea of Dirac leading somewhere, placed by somebody with an intimate knowledge of AT fields. And no, Soryu, I don't know who placed it here or why or where it leads." Mizore cut off Asuka before she could speak.
"Damn scientist…" Asuka muttered. "If nothing is coming out then why the hell are we out here?"
"Two hours ago we sent in a UAV and confirmed this Sea leads to a location not just a space."
"Space as in it doesn't lead to that blackness I was trapped in, right?" Shinji asked, he forced the horrific memories of the loneliness from the battle with the 12th Angel down.
"Correct, as I was saying this Sea leads to a stone chamber, probably under a mountain or so the geologists tell us," Mizore stated as she entered their field of vision, having exited her mobile command vehicle. "Anyway, the Americans lent a one of their old Predator drones for the recon mission. I still can't believe they're retiring those things. The fifth tier drones aren't that much different…"
"For the record, a lot of people were against the DOD actions, me included." A new voice came on over the radio.
"Commander, is it time already?" Mizore asked.
"Commander Lacwood, what's going on here sir?" Asuka asked with surprising politeness. She was polite to those that gained her respect and Alexander Lacwood had done just that.
"That drone nabbed us interesting footage about the other side. The room where the portal connects to is taller than your Evas and nearly twice as long. The other chambers are equally massive, but there was a snag. The drone crashed, but the finally image it sent was a heat signature of a massive object that used some kind of spit against the drone."
"So you're sending the only thing big enough to tackle that thing, namely us." Shinji guessed at the Commander's intentions.
"Got it in one, Ikari. Orders from the brass are to send you two in to scope out this thing and destroy it. Apparently some in the Federation think we could use it as a new homeland, so please don't bring down the whole mountain Soryu," Alexander said, Asuka was known for going overboard in combat and wrecking far more than her target.
"Hey, I'm not that bad. That ruined temple happened to be in way and how was I suppose to know a bunch of crazy monks lived there?" She snapped indignantly.
"What about that time in Cambodia or in Australia? How about the Bolivia campaign?" Shinji listed off the other battles were she left a trail of destruction.
"Shut up! You right there beside me Third! Every time, hell you did that much damage and more. I haven't killed the entire human race because of my own-"
"SHUT UP!" Shinji thundered. "Please, shut up…" In the background he heard his sister and Alexander mutter 'lowblow' and 'below the belt'.
"Well, well, well, the idiotic, fallen god does have a back bone after all," she purred. "At least you gave me a chance to live…"
"Ahem! If this lovers spat is over can we please move on?" Alexander asked.
"Family, can't with 'em can't live without 'em," Mizore muttered loudly. "By the way Shinji, I took the liberty of installing an EIGS module to your left shoulder pylon."
"So that's what it is, I was wondering way that was attached," he said, with the touch of button he called up the data screen for the Environmental Intelligence Gathering System. The EIGS was originally designed for deep sea probes to take measurements, but after the Pacification War* it was used to detect locations of high radioactive fallout by Allied forces.
"Why didn't you mention that early idiot? It could have been a bomb or something!" Asuka snapped, but he knew it was out of concern, not anger.
"I didn't want to bother anyone. I figured it was something Mizore or her staff had installed," he offered to placate her fears.
"Idiot…"
She left the rest unspoken, but he knew what she was going to say. For the last hundred and fifty years they had walked together, slept together, fought together, comforted each other because they had no one else. Fifty years they had to wander the world, alone save each other, for the rest of mankind had yet to awake from the Sea of LCL. With no, but each other they had survived the strange new world they had awoken to and the changes they had undergone. No longer were their bodies human for death passed them by, their souls had changed while in the Sea. Knowledge taken the Sea filled their minds, thoughts that were not their own swirled around and all the while they tried and failed to come to terms with Third Impact.
The reliance that grew out of those hard years never faded. Even after a hundred years they were still the pillar of strength and stability for each other. They might not be able to die, but there was always the possibility they might not recover from the injury. The fear of spending an eternity as a vegetable scared them more than anything else.
"All right people, lets gear up," the UCA** Commander ordered over the official channel all the military units were patched into. "Move the digging equipment away from the portal. Evangelion unit 01 and 02 prepare for insertion. All other units are to remand on alert, I don't want anything coming out of the portal without being met by fire."
A chorus of yes sirs flooded the channel as Shinji walked his Eva towards the portal. Behind him, Asuka followed in silence. He halted at the bottom of the pit were the digging machines had recently vacated. Off to the sides he saw the machines and their crews giving enthusiast thumbs up.
The fear, mistrust and hatred for the strange warmachines that had been so prevalent during the Angel War had vanished after the New Genesis***. The Evangelion became a symbol of rebirth like the phoenix, for the newly reborn people. Respect, trust and hope were placed on the machine and their pilots.
"On my mark,"
Shinji was torn from his thoughts by Alexander's voice. He quickly pulled himself together. A momentary lack of focus could cost him his life. Even if nothing he had encounter thus had been able to kill that didn't mean there wasn't something out there that could.
"3…2…1, mark!"
He threw the bio-mechanical warmachine into the blackness. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the red form of Unit 02 half a pace behind him. He had expected darkness and the endless void from his first trip, but he stepped out into the stone chamber the Commander had mentioned. Instinctively he knelt and raised his rifle. Seconds later Unit 02 stepped out beside him.
The room was far taller than his Evangelion. The stone was a strange dark gray that reached off to the right and the left. He activated the night vision and peered into the dark. The cave stretched far beyond the enhanced vision of the Eva, but he could make out what appeared to be massive pillars. The path in front of them was a gentle slope leading to the drone's crash site.
"Let's move, Third!" Asuka barked as she took point.
The pair moved up the slope with great care. The path peeled off to the right slightly and they found themselves in another massive chamber. Ahead of him, near edge of his night vision he could the still warm wreck of the drone.
"Switch to thermal and take look to the left!" Asuka ordered.
He moved the Eva's head as he called up the thermal view. The chamber wall he could see was cold, but a faint trail of heat showed up on the floor. He followed the trail as it grew brighter and brighter.
"What the hell is that?" He trained the rifle scope on the mass of heat. The thing was a long blob of heat, no where nearly as big as the Evas the thing appeared to be coiled up like a snake. He could make out nothing on the thermal that was shaped like a head or other extremities.
The thing began to move. Slowly it began to uncoil and what he presumed to be the head rose up. The head was lacking a visible mouth and was shaped like a plunger. It turned away from them and went to the ground. He saw thousands of leg like objects unfold from the body and lift the creature's bulk. The creature's head vanished into the darkness beyond the scope of his thermal imager. The rest of the body followed after giving him a good idea of its size.
"Do we kill it?" Asuka asked, raising her axe.
"Its already gone, unless you want to charge into unfamiliar terrain in a strange place were you can barely see what lays beyond your hand and hunt a beat that could easily wrap our Eva's up with room to spare. Still interested?" he finished dryly as he walked the Eva towards the ruined drone which had been hidden by the creature's bulk.
"Nah, I'll get it later. Did you get the black box?"
"Got it, now what? Do we go back or explore a little?' he asked her.
Unit 02 turned and started down right side of the chamber. "I'll go this way, you go the other way. Try to track that thing so I can fight it later, `k?"
"Why do I have to go after it? If you want to fight it so bad then you go after it!" He had little wish to hunt a creature that could probably wrap his Eva up like a toy.
"Fine, you take the box to the portal thing and then come after me," Asuka declared angrily as she loped after the worm creature.
"Damn woman is going to get herself killed one of these days…guess I've got to back her up…again."
2118 AD
Alpha Base
Luna Prime
Four years had passed since mankind had found the portal buried in the mountain. Four years since two Evangelions had passed though it into a strange, new world. What had once been dark was now illuminated by thousands of lights as the inhabitants of Alpha Base went about their business.
The mountain had become a fortress for their kind. Every day more people passed though the portal to the base. Humankind was slowly leaving their red seas and skies to start a new life under the mountain. The earth was still their lifeline and every day thousands of tons of food, tools, weapons, and materials were transported though the portal. The military base formed the center of the base, but the fringes saw the most growth as new shops, restaurants, and clubs opened up. Land was plentiful and the soldiers had money to burn.
The caverns were many and massive extended for many thousands of miles. Several archeologist and geologist were theorizing that it had once been the home of a long dead, highly advance race, but they had found little evidence. They knew the caverns led to the surface in several points and they knew about the surface of this new world.
Once the Rangers**** had left the caverns they found themselves in a vast mountain range covered in a thick forest. With months a large area had been cleared and a landing strip had been built. Reconnaissance drones had revealed that the world was largely mountainous with several large seas and two large plains. The sun was hotter than their sun, but the world was very earth like with a single moon and tides. Thermal scans revealed no humanoids and only what they could only assume were small animal, alien animals.
The new world gave scientist and every field more material than they could process in a thousand years. The worm-like thing that the two Evas had encountered upon first contact had been seen several times afterwards borrowing into the earth with acidic saliva. The massive worm the two Evas had reported had not seen since and the ones seen by the Rangers had been much smaller, much to the chagrin of Unit 02's pilot.
The rapid expansion of their underground city had prompted the proposal that the world be named. After much debate the name Luna Prime was settled on and ratified by the allied nations. So it was that Luna Prime became the first world to join the Earth Alliance. Evangelion 01 and 02 were deployed to Luna Prime as a special corp. Free from the restraints of the general military, the remnants of NERV and the Evangelions did what they did best, hunt Angels.
It was during once such hunt deep in the unexplored regions of the caves that they found a treasure, a jewel of knowledge both beautiful and damning…
The cavern was like any other is the cave system, dark, dry and very tall. The darkness was only broken by the massive spotlights of two Evangeiolns and the Grizzly APCs escorting their temporary mobile command headquarters, a refitted semi truck.
Several groups of NERV security contractors were dismounting and fanning out to search the cavern on foot. Soldiers by any other name they were war forged men left without work by the sudden peace that had settled across their worlds. So they sought work with various companies operating on Luna Prime and were eagerly received.
"Attention all units, Alpha Base has picked up unknown signals on the surface. Set all channels to scrabble line Delta-5-6-1. Keep in regular contact. Over and out."
Shinji, irritated by the seventh channel change in the past hour, flipped his communications gear to the prescribed channel. The endless routine had worn his patience thin. Wake up, dress, eat, pilot Eva, explore empty caverns, lunch, explore more empty caverns, watch for the shadows to attack, explore more caverns, dinner, screw Asuka, sleep. Rinse and repeat. I hate this…hell I'd settle for a battle against anything…have I really changed that much?
"This sucks! How much longer are they going to keep us in this place? I need some action." Asuka complained over the live video feed as she tugged at her braided hair, a recent change.
"We're the damn trump cards remember?" He let the sarcasm flow. "Can't let a non existent threat see our giant fucking machines of carnage and death too soon. So lets just shove 'em in the deepest, darkest cave possible and leave them to rot, why don't we."
"Sounds like you want to see some real action. Is my little Shinji joining the, what did you call it? Oh yeah, the dark side."
"… … … yes," he finally gave up his last once of resistance. He longed for the rush of battle, the strain of steel, muscle and bone, the grating and racket of guns, the sight of his enemies bleeding, the feeling of invincibility as he rampaged across the fields safe behind tons of armor and flesh. The power the Evangelion brought him, the respect, the fear; all the emotions he never felt as a child and had repressed for the last hundred years were set loose. He could feel the shadow of the berserker howling in joy and he felt that shadow he dreaded for so long, demand release.
"Yahoo! Finally he gave! He gave in! I win, I win, I-" Asuka's celebration was abruptly cut off.
"Cut the chatter pilot!" a women's voice snapped in anger. "We get that you're bored and I'll request we get a surface assignment next, but until then focus your searchlights on point eight-four-seven."
"Yes sir," Shinji said already tracking his light to the location. The light illuminated one of the foot teams two hundred feet from the APC's. The three men were keeping a short ways away from a pyramidal shaped object in the ground. "Major Letom, what is that?"
"Don't ask stupid questions! If we knew what it was would be treating like we are?" Asuka snapped, still smarting over being cut off.
"Major! The thing is moving!" A man's voice broke over the channel.
"Sergeant Grant, report. What's the status?" the Major asked.
"No idea, but the cone just opened, er, unfolded would be the better term. There appears to be some kind of round thing on the bottom, very reflective too. Not sentient either, must be some kind of device or another"
"Sergeant, get your men away from that thing! It could-" Even as the words left her mouth something changed.
Shinji used the viewfinder to zoom in on the device. The thing in the center rose up slightly and a crystal like tube rose up. In a flash of blue light a man was hovering above the device. The image was blue and occasionally broken like a poor satellite signal. The man appeared to wearing some kind of jumpsuit and cloaks. He couldn't tell what color the clothing or the man's short hair was. He had a soldier's face, hard eyes, sharp cheekbones, unshaven fuzz on his jaw and numerous brutal scars.
"Greetings, my children. If you have reached this holocron then all is going I have foreseen. You will be confused and I suspect that is only natural. To have reached this point you must have endured the trails we set before you and overcome them. You have defeated the guardian beasts we placed to guard the gate, and found this portal which means you have mastered the power inside yourselves. My congratulations for taking this first step, but I regret to inform you it was only a first step." The man paused and looked off to the sides for a moment.
"Ah, it seems I forget something rather important. My name is Xeric Se'han, commander of the 12th T'yari army. My mission is to cover the retreat of our people though the gate, even as we speak this place is being besieged. Anyway that is ancient history to you. According to my visions you when you reach this point you will have no knowledge of your history or even the real name our race. You are the T'yari. The history of our race is hidden in various holocrons I scattered across the planet.
By the time you view this holocron, I have estimated that nearly 8,000 years have passed since we entered the pocket space. This would be nearly 12,000 years or so in the pocket dimension you are familiar with. Anyway the next step of your journey is find all the hidden holocrons and relearn our…your past.
Before I leave you I must tell you of the enemy who forced us to flee. They are a group of powerful warrior monks now as the Jedi Order. These Jedi use a power they call the Force, in other words a type of energy found in most lifeforms. For a long time we were at peace, but when they discover our mastery over the Light of our Souls and the Temple of Souls they declared us evil. They are intolerant, bigoted, and blind fools who cannot look past their noses. They gave us the title, the True Sith and our friends, the Sith, and waged a long bloody campaign against us, but their biggest mistake is not recognizing that our power is different from their Force. The fools believe the Light of our Soul is the darkside of their Force.
If you feel any loyalty to your own ancestors, annihilate these fools and set the galaxy to right again. Please succeed in what we could not, but that is a plea I sincerely hope you will fulfill." Xeric looked to the side and grimaced. "Time is short, find the holocrons, and learn what you need to succeed. I wish you luck, my children, we place our hope in your hands."
The blue figure vanished and silence filled the caverns. The creaking of the Eva's armor seemed a million times louder. The breath of the men and women seemed almost too loud for what could easy be hallowed ground. The group tried to digest the information and for a moment Shinji could feel the berserker go into a stunned silence.
"Woah!" somebody murmured quietly.
"…Were the black boxes running?" Major Letom asked quietly. There was a chorus of quiet ayes from the drivers and the two Evangelions. "Unit 02, pick up that…holocron thing."
Asuka carefully knelt beside the holocron and plunged the Eva's fingers into the ground. With a great tug the earth released it hold and fell away in a shower. The holocron was no longer than half a meter top to bottom and less than a foot across. It was a solid black and seemed to be all one piece of flawless material, without seam or rivet.
"What does this mean?' Asuka voiced the question they were all thinking. This holocron changed everything they thought they knew. If it were true then their entire history would have to be rewritten and all they thought they knew about the universe would be turned on its head. Where would they go on the contents of the holocron were public knowledge? Would the human race accept the information or would they deny it as false? Thousands of questions were left unanswered as the NERV column trudged towards Alpha Base.
A single thought dominated Shinji's thoughts as they marched towards the base. This will, has changed everything…can they deal with a revelation like this?
The damage was not as great as he thought. The general populace accepted the words of the first holocron after four more holocrons were found on Luna Prime. Many of in the academia world acknowledge that is changed everything and as they pieced together the history of the T'yari, their fury was kindled.
The holocrons told the story of a people who suffered because they were different, a tribe of star wanderers seeking a home were they could avoid those who misunderstood them. The tales of these wanderers gathering out of need to repel those who hounded them, the tales of how the normally peaceful T'yari were forced to use their power in battle to survive for the first time, the genocides the tribes suffered as they fought for their place in the universe. The misunderstanding between the fledging Republic and Jedi Order that some historians had theorized would led to the war that forced the T'yari to flee to Earth. The Temple of Souls still eluded them; its location and purpose were still unknown.
A year had passed since Asuka had plucked the first holocorn from the earth and the signs of change were everywhere.
Alpha Base was joined by a three large settlements and a dozen smaller bases scattered across the planet's surface and tunnels. Every day more and more people came to Luna Prime. New factories sprung up and Alpha base was more of a metropolitan city of old than a military base. The various nations began to shift more and more of their industrial base to Luna Prime, but Earth was never forgotten.
Earth was a relic and a bitter icon of what they had done. The painful memories still stung when they looked on their homeworld. Yet every day many made journeys back to be reminded of the cost and the hell they had suffered.
It had become almost a rite of passage for the few youth among them. They would return to Earth for a week and be made to drink of the sea of LCL. The LCL retained traces of those who hadn't returned after Third Impact. Traces of their memories and thoughts still floated in those seas that none dared to swim in.
The youth would then spend the rest of the week camping. They would try to survive as the post Third Impact generation had. Yet it was not the same. Life was slowly returning to Earth. The inland lakes and rivers had been purified of LCL and know ran clean. More bushes and plants took root, but the slightest tear could rip them from the ground.
It was nothing like when Shinji and Asuka had wandered the lands. Then there had been no clean water, only LCL. They had to deal with far more traces of memories than any other humans that drank of LCL. Food was scare and far between. More often than not they had starved, yet did not die no matter how they wished for it. Animals were all but gone and plants were barren in those days.
Shinji pushed away the thoughts of the recent past and focused on the present.
He and Unit 01 were on the mountain side high above the underground cites. In front of Shinji stretched a vast, dark and thick forest, but his attention as not on the forest. It was on the machines fighting above the forest.
Each was roughly the shape of an Evangelion, but much smaller. They stood a mere hundred feet in height, but carried the similar armament his warmachine. Spears and rifles were favored by this generation of pilots, but here and there an odd weapon flashed in the sunlight. Great white wings like the accursed mass production series bore them aloft.
The Evangelion MKIV Zephyrs were the newest generation of fighting machine and was undergoing its final combat trial. They would be watched by pilots from the first generation, Shinji, Asuka, and Rei, the second generation and third generation. Then the observers would met and give the fourth generation units and their pilots a score.
Shinji watched a burst of flames from one unit and engulf the practice drone. Then the flames fell to the forest below, but the trees didn't catch. It had been a wet and cold year on the surface. The flamethrower unit moved on and cremated another drone before passing out of his sight.
He watched three units in formation blast a number of drones in a missile barrage then be taken down by a close combat drone. The rightmost unit fell and within moments the other two, stunned by the loss of their comrade, were taken out. Shinji made sure the recorder was running and leaned back on the large rock he had set up on.
White clouds rolled by in a blue sky, bringing back memories of old times. He marveled at how closely Luna Prime resembled Earth. Perhaps it was the other way around. They knew too much and not enough to answer any question. White clouds rolled by and he wished Asuka and Rei were beside him again.
His oldest friends, and then some… The three of them stood alone, even among the people they had fought to save. The regular T'yari, it was hard to think of them as a race sometimes, were long lived. How long none could say, but the doctors and chemist said five hundred years was a low ball estimate. But he and the original pilots were not bound by such numbers. Then had already lived long and would continue to exist, even when all they knew was dust. When even the dust was gone they would walk as ageless and untouched by death or time as they always had. They, three beings, were a race apart from a race of nigh-immortals, yet they were a part of the nigh-immortals.
"When the sun dies…will we die? Or will we drift in the vacuum of space forever? Silently…never being able to cry out… Is there a worse fate than that?" he wondered to the sky and winds.
Neither responded; no whisper on the winds or sign in the sky came to him. Only the sound of guns, flames, and screeching metal from the distance came to his ears.
"Why…why me? Why us? Why were we given this…this ability?" he let some of his bitterness reach the sky. "Why… For…for…for war? To fight until all things pass away, is that why? Maybe this is punishment everything we've done wrong. Perhaps some god or someone saw fit to punish us this way?" He wanted to cry in rage and anger, hurt and fear, but his tears had dried up long ago.
And yet the wind was silent. Only the sounds of violence reached him.
Glossary
*Pacification War- After Second Impact several rouge nations in the Middle East and Africa gained nuclear weapons stolen from the Russian and the Americans in the chaos. Using the stolen warheads the rouges began numerous nuclear holocausts to settle old grudges. The Middle East was scoured of life and the oil reserves were lost in nuclear fire Africa became a radioactive hellhole and was sealed off. The rest of the world was unable to respond in time and very few people in those regions survived to see Allied forces put down the rouge governments.
**UCA – United Confederacy of America. After Second Impact a radical faction attempted a coup d'etat and succeeded. The western and southern United States rebelled against the illegitimate government and formed the UCA. The USA was renamed the American Federation and launched a series of campaigns against the UCA. After Third Impact the American Federation (AF) was defeated and the radicals executed. AF lands were added to UCA as territories.
***New Genesis – This is the term given to the rebirth of mankind after Third Impact. Circa 2075 AD to 2100 AD.
****Rangers- A special NERV division created in the aftermath of Third Impact. These men and woman are the snipers and scouts of NERV, but sell their services to many nations.
The Federation- A organization created in the wake of Third Impact by riding a wave of unity that came from the fact that all humans are one race. Every country is represented by several ambassadors, but the no authority is given to it unlike the UN in the wake of Second Impact. It offers a platform for nations to openly speak to each other. Any citizen of any country may address the assembly at any time. Currently it is based in Switzerland, but travels around to most of the remaining cities in the world.
A/N: I've had this thing floating on my computer for a while now. Originally, I wanted to do a fic with showing the stupidity and plot holes in Star Wars the Clone wars series, but it never manifested. I still hate that series and would love to write about Jedi being smashed by Unit 01's foot and clones being slaughtered by 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation Evas, of Mizore pointing out the moral flaws in the haughty Republic in their cloning programs, of the AT-Field meeting the power of the Force, of NERV commandos assassinating Jedi and senators, of the use of WMD's against Republic planets, and of the Separatist winning for once with the help of Evangelions. None of this will every be, this chapter will be it. Perhaps in distant future I may return and flesh this world out, but not for now.