That Launched A Thousand Ships?
By NateGold
Chapter 1: Heir Transplant.
It had been a horrible week for Ritsuko Ikagi, and all because some perv hacked into the security tapes! To have her sex life put on display like that…not to mention with whom!
What hurt even more was the reaction of her co-workers; the suppressed snickers, the whispers, the looks of amusement and total disgust. Let's not even talk about the kicked-puppy dog look Maya had every time she glanced at her beloved sempai! And now Gendo was up her ass (figuratively speaking; she never complained about the literal meaning…) to find out who and how. Whoever it was, they were good! They were able to evade every firewall, anti-virus and hunter/killer program she used. But she refused to give up…her honor, and quite likely her life was at stake!
Oh, She's good…real good for a fleshy! She really caught me off guard a few times…damned near managed to nail my thrusters to the wall in the beginning. But she ain't quite up to my level, no indeed! After a while, I started to enjoy our little game of "Tag". But all good things must come to an end; here's my ride now. I watched as a number of huge bodies dropped from T-space into normal. If I had a jaw, it would've dropped! There were three of them, the biggest and nastiest ships the Empire had to offer, The ISS Stavanzer, The ISS Mouloukin, and The ISS Ta-Hoding, all accompanied by a flock of Guttorbryn class attack cruisers. The Imperial house was NOT playing games this time. I felt the tug of a tractor beam and was pulled into the landing bay of the Stavanzer. I could hardly wait to be plugged into the I/O socket. I really needed to take a data dump in the worst way…!
The data flowed in, terrabytes of information being broken down, processed and directed to the terminals of those in charge of the expeditionary force. Eyes narrowed, fists clenched, tempers flared and curses towards NERV and SEELE flew freely. The battle group accelerated, target in sight. As the embattled globe hove into view, crewmembers reported readiness, landing forces were armed, and weapons primed. The grand admiral, his Imperial majesty oversaw all from his quarters, screens alight with data and holograms. In the middle of reviewing data on the EVAs, something unexpected happened. The Emperor burst into peals of laughter!
"Well, someone seems in a good mood. Care to let me in on the joke, m'lord husband?"
Emperor Priam the 14th turned to face his wife, the Lady Callisto. Long dark hair framed a beautiful, emerald eyed face. Even now, in a skin-tight battle suit, she fairly radiated sensuality coupled with intelligence. Of course, the lady also considered herself lucky, taking in the big 6'3 form in front of her. Longish dark hair stippled with white, deep blue eyes under bushy brows, and lean, muscular form made a feast for her eyes.
Still chuckling, Priam shook his head. "Even with her essence trapped, our daughter still manages to amuse me. Take a look at this, and tell me what it reminds you of." He pointed to the still of Unit 01. She did, and then she herself joined in the laughter.
"Oh, my…It's…Pookie! Her favorite pet growing up!"
"Yes, her Almarian horned lizard. Damned thing used to follow her around everywhere, and she spoiled it rotten. Figures that she'd create something like that to remind her of her favorite pet." Their reverie was interrupted, as alert sirens sounded.
"Status!"
The image of the tactical officer came into view. "We've been detected by the Harvester.
It's firing at us. Shields holding steady."
"Lock main guns on target! Fire at will!"
At the Shore, EVA units 01 and 02 stood; ready to repel the angel beginning to emerge from the surf
"Cover me, 3rd child. I'll show you how it's done!" Words being said, the arrogant red-haired pilot of Unit 02 sprang into action, charging towards its enemy.
"Don't tell me what to do, you damned rooky!" Shinji, outraged, laid down a barrage of shells, using short bursts like he'd been taught. He watched with surprised amazement as Asuka, seemingly effortlessly split the Angel in two. That surprise turned into horror, as each half became a new angel. Asuka was thrown violently back into the surf, but the Angels didn't follow up their advantage. Instead, they raised their gaze skywards, and let loose a volley of cross flares at something high up. The volley was answered. The air screamed as superheated plasma bolts tore through A-T fields and volatized the angels in a blast of light and concussive force. A deep rumbling sound was heard, rattling windows for miles, and shadows turned day into night as the Imperial Ships made their presence know, each mile-long shape descending majestically, to hover directly overhead.
"Mein Gott in Himmel!" was heard via an awed whisper from the German. That seemed to sum up the feelings of those present quite nicely. In the midst of the confusion, an odd thought occurred to Shinji.
'Well, at least here's one thing she can't blame me for!'
'That's not necessarily true, young lord!' The telepathic voice, filled with amusement and…love…boomed through the entry plug. A second voice, a woman chimed in.
'After all, you're the reason we came here in the first place. To return you to your people, and hopefully free your mother from her long imprisonment. But more of that later. Yui, if you'd please…?'
Shinji found his synchronization abruptly cut. The EVA, eyes shining like suns performed a complex salute, and then kneeled. The entry plug ejected. Asuka was not handled as gently. Her plug force-ejected, coming to a rough landing hundreds of yards away. In the meantime, as he awaited the arrival of the retrieval/rescue teams Shinji's thoughts were anything but calm, as 4 little thought-words kept repeating themselves in his mind:
'Yui, if you'd please…?'
Yui…his mother's name. Suddenly a lot of seemingly unrelated facts came together, such as why his Eva seemed to always go berserk, the way his synch rate seemed to be rising faster than the others, and finally, the response the EVA gave to the telepathic request.
'Mother…is in the EVA!'
He found himself hard-put not to violently throw up.
In the meantime, in the Geofront, the bastard-king was anything but pleased.
"Analysis", he snapped
"Power readings of the…visitors… off the scale!" Aoba reported. "Not S-2 based."
"Pilots vitals are strong. Shinji's EEG readings and blood pressure show an extremely agitated state!" Maya chimed in. "Asuka shows normal"
"Commander, Tactical VTOLs en-route. Section four on board, with heavy weapons."
Captain Katsuragi reported. Inwardly, she was desperately wishing that she had, not just one, but a whole case of beer. Angels were bad enough, but extra-terrestrials with Big guns?
"Have them assume positions but do not, I repeat, do not engage until we know their intentions. Dr. Akagi, why were the plugs ejected?"
"Signal did not originate from Nerv, but from our guests. It would seem we've found our mysterious hacker…or rather, they've found us." Ritsuko was torn between fury and relief; fury that her life had been made a living hell for a week, and relief at the fact that she was finally off the hook! All further reflection was put on hold as an excited call came from Matoko.
"Commander, Incoming! Multiple contacts descending!"
"On screen!"
The image displayed was shocking. Wave upon wave of armed and armored beings were ground bound, rocket packs flaring. Their destination was obvious. They were heading directly towards EVA-01!
