"Look at this shit," Wren Bowen sighed. "How long until those pilots watch where they drop stuff?" Daisy Green, his fellow firefighter, looked at him. "You realise that they're the ones saving us on a daily basis, right?" She moved to join another conversation. "That doesn't mean they can't watch where they drop stuff," Wren grumbled.
Unit 02's prog knife had fallen onto the battleship, and had cut through three decks before the failsafe had kicked in, causing electrical fires, which, combined with flammable materials in the crew's mess, had resulted in an inferno. It had taken the firefighters several hours to quell the blaze.
"Alright people," the chief said, coming up behind them. "All the fires have been dealt with, so get some rest. You'll need it, we have to be ready at a moment's notice." Wren gave a slight nod. "Yes sir."
"Where the hell are those replacements?" Wren asked as he walked along the deck of the Arleigh Burke class destroyer he called home. He looked back at his friends, David Myers and Bob Lee. "It's been six months since we needed them!" "Well," David replied, "after the Nevada, who'd want to join us?" Wren sighed. "Yeah, you have a point," he admitted, as he remembered the day when 20 firefighters went aboard the ballistic missile submarine Nevada to fight a blaze, only to be trapped and dragged screaming into the abyss as she sank.
He turned to enter his cabin. "Alright, see you guys next time we have a fire." Bob grinned. "So in a few minutes?" "Ah, fuck you."
Asuka lay awake in her bed. Every part of her body was desperate for sleep, but she preferred not to. It was easier that way. She didn't have to revisit the past. "But," she thought in resignation, "it's not like I'll ever forget it." She reached a hand to her face, and felt around the void where her left eye should have been, sighing in resignation.
There was a knock on her door. "Piss off, Mari," she groaned. Crude jokes were the last thing she needed. "In the hall? I'll consider it," came the reply, "but not just now. Misato wants us." Asuka swore. "That's just great." She dragged herself off the bed and grabbed her eyepatch. No need to get dressed. She always wore her plugsuit these days.
"Active sonar started picking them up a few minutes ago." Misato motioned to the screen. In the far right corner was a cluster of green dots. "They've bundled up together. Makes assessing their numbers difficult, but we're guessing a couple of hundred. No idea what type they are yet, but we do know they're headed for us. Contact is expected at 0950 hours." "So, what's the plan?" asked Mari, her face serious for once. "We'll keep tracking them, and, keeping 02 and 08 together, instruct you on what position to move to as needed. If their formation splits, we'll split you. You'll be given assault rifles, so you can even things up before they get close." Asuka nodded as Ritsuko moved forwards. "We've managed to repair 02 and 08 after the previous engagement, but spares are getting dangerously low. Try to conserve the Evas as much as possible... even if it costs the lives of the others."
"Roger that," Asuka and Mari replied, before turning to leave. As she reached the bulkhead, Asuka looked back at the faces on the bridge. Misato's determined anger. Ritsuko's obviously forced calm. The haggard bridge crew. Business as usual.
Wren and the other firefighters had been hurriedly woken up and told to head to the Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate that served as the emergency response HQ. They sat in the crew's mess, waiting for a briefing. Wren had his face on a table, trying to get back to sleep. David was listening to music. Bob kept looking for an opportunity to make a joke.
Everyone looked up as the chief entered the room. "Well everyone, I have some bad news." "Is there any other kind?" Wren whispered. "A large enemy force is going to attack us at 0950 hours. We'll have to be ready to move before then. It's expected that they'll attack from the north-west, so we'll move up there, as close as we can without being in the combat zone, and deal with fires as they come. We're also to aid medical teams in the area if we can. Alright, get ready."
They stood in a changing room, getting ready for the chaos they knew was coming. "I'll tell you what's nice about the lack of replacements," Bob laughed. "We don't have to clean up as much piss and shit afterwards." Wren chuckled. "As I recall, you were crapping yourself for the first few weeks. We could smell you a mile away." "I was faking that," Bob retorted. "I wanted to make the rest of you feel better."
Wren grinned, and looked over at David. He was just blankly staring at a helmet. "Hey, Wren put his hand on David's shoulder. "You alright, mate?" David looked at him. "What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine, just thinking." "Let me guess," Wren smirked, "you're thinking about Daisy again?" "What? No -" "You should ask her out some time, mate, that sort of stuff doesn't just happen by itself." "I know, but..." David looked down at the floor. "I'm just... nervous."
Wren thought about what David had said as he marched off with everyone to their positions. "Funny how after everything that's happened, it's stuff like that make us nervous," he thought. He looked up to see the Evangelions moving into their positions atop two of the outermost ships. Even he could see that they were patched together. "Looks like we aren't the only ones missing replacements."