NEON GENESIS EVANGLION: TO THE VICTOR
Vol: 1 Dark Messenger
Chapter One
Thrust and Parry
Eastern NORTHCOM Base just out side of Alberta, Virginia
3:58PM EST
A cloud of dust was kicked up around the landing pad by the twin oversized propellers of the modified UV-38C tilt-rotored transport that was touching down outside the Eastern North American Command base bearing on it's sides and top of it's left wing the blood red logo of it's operators, the words NERV partly covered by half a fig leaf with the cryptic motto "GOD'S IN HIS HEAVEN; ALL'S RIGHT WITH THE WORLD" in a half circle beneath it. The rear hatch of the aircraft lowered accompanied by a hydraulic whine and a small explosion of personal clad in tanish gray long sleeved uniforms poured out each holding folders, document books or large banks of data tapes who where greeted by the signal and information corps men of the various military branches stationed here.
The last to step out was a man wearing a black command version of the uniform whose presence radiated a sense of command and power. He held a hawkish, almost predatory face that show strong traces of his Slavic descent, his jaw outlined by a neatly kept donegal style beard with a thin auburn brown cesar cut to top off his head, his sharp-dark bister brown raptor-like eyes where shaped into a piercing scrawl and any of the few emotions that may betray his demeanor were masked by the dark orange tint of his glasses.
He stopped just after walking off from the hatch, adjusted his glasses back into place and then proceeded to glance over at the base with both disbane and humor; it was an ugly collection of office buildings that used to be owned by a major telecommunications company until it was bought out by the federal government do to it's built in facilities making it an ideal temporary replacement site to house it's military command after the Pentagon was lost to the terrorist event that claimed the capital.
From his right he heard a voice call, "Commander! This way please!"
Glancing over he saw it was an army signal corps private dressed in an urban cameo uniform who was trying to make sure he got his attention by waving him over, he nodded and followed him into the large main building passing by the entrance check point bypassing the metal detectors and body scanners letting a slight smile briefly cross his face as the men guarding the entrance stood at attention and saluted him as he passed down a hallway that stank of sterileness in spite of the fact the paint on its walls were already fading and it's galvanized floor with it's tacky patterns was in heavy need of proper buffing. A tang of disgust now filled that place that a few seconds ago was housed by humor, he would never let any facility under his command fall to such a level of disrepair but such was all to familiar in government buildings-the symptoms of the parasites that dwelled within.
The private finally lead him to an elevator which took them down two levels opening into a short slightly better maintained corridor that ended with a set of double doors guarded by two more marines, they saluted and opened the doors for him and his guide led him into the bases darkened main command center where he was greeted by the Secretary of Defense Gen. Robert Adams who offered his hand out for a quick handshake while blurting out in a tone that tried too hard to sound like one taken with an old friend, "Gregory Ikari! Good to see you made it!"
He took the Secretary of Defense's hand with a firm handshake doing his best to cover up his annoyance at the mans obvious attempt at an insult by to failing to addressee him by his proper rank and replied simply with, "Indeed."
The Secretary of Defense then patted Commander Ikari on the shoulder and waved for him to follow him saying, "Come on this way." and Ikari followed him across the room to the center table which provided an excellent view of the three main "flat" 3D screens and main holographic projector whose three color vector graphics recreated an abstracted version of the Delawarean coast line where different colored shapes representing the various military units that where gathering there while a large red "I" encased in a circular outline was approaching the cost form the sea.
Seated at the table were three of the joint cheifs of staff: Fleet Adm. David Fletcher, Gen. Joseph Fairchild of the Airforce and Gen. Leroy Adams of the US Marine Corps., they all turned back to look at him each mumbling out a half hearted greeting and with out being asked Ikari reached into his open jacket and pulled out a set of blank cased data disks and handed them over to the Secretary of Defense who took them with an, "Oh!" being mildly surprised to see the disks being produced without having to ask for them.
The Secretary of Defense held them in his hand for a second almost as if he was testing their weight while asking mostly rhetorically, "Is this all the data on the target?"
Commander Ikari gave him a slight nod while answering, "Oh course, they contain all the data you asked for."
The Secretary of Defense nodded back then handed the disk off to a passing orderly and then offered him a seat which Ikari refused opting to stand.
A second later a female voice called out over the intercom, "The Intruder will reach the coastline in five minutes."and the collection of brass seated before Ikari took on the certain tension of excitement like that of a group of highschool kids on a football team eagerly awaiting to be put into play as the Secretary of Defense stood up and ordered, "Tell all units to go weapons free as soon as they make contact with the Intruder!" while Commander Ikari took a glance across the various data streams coming over the screens and projector. From what he could see their battle plan was based around having a ring of probing units who would open up fire on the target to learn the "Intruders" tactics and weaknesses followed by further rings of ever increasingly specialized units which would then be directed depending on what it seemed most susceptible to.
It was a well thought out plan he admitted to himself, it was simple, direct and efficient and he even let visible smirk graze his face but despite his admiration for their plan he already knew full well what the outcome of this battle would be.
Coastal Hyw Sussex County, Delaware
4:07PM EST
2nd Lt. Arnold Jackson, commander of the 32nd tank platoon, held up his range finder and increased it's magnification while mentally blocking out the near oppressive wine of the ever present cicadas and through it he saw the rippling rooster tail being kicked up on the surface of the bay by the still submerged inbound Intruder as it pass by some of the taller buildings that still broke the surface in the sunken area taken when the floods came and claimed most of the old coast as lighting cackled out of the near cloudless sky around it.
He then looked up at the even stranger aurora in the sky that seemed to be following it.
It would be any minute now he thought to himself as he lowered his finder and sifted around in the hatch of his M1A2 Abrams main battle tank so he could look back at the rows of his tank that lined Coastal Highway not liking the set up one bit. Not only was this do to the pit in his stomach that was growing proportionally to the shorting distance between him and the Intruder which in turn was added to the fact that nobody was bothering to tell them just WHAT the hell this "Intruder" thing was…. though given what he was seeing he had more then enough suspicions to that end; it was just he didn't quite ready to accept where THAT line of thought would take him and to top all this off his orders where to set up a "blanket of firepower" which meant he need to pack his tanks in nearly end to end making them nothing more then fancy artillery pieces there by making any type of retreat a bad joke at best.
The rumbling of a near by jet shook him from his morbid line of thinking and he scanned the area noting the various other military pieces set up along the coast ranging from multiple missile launchers to lighter tanks, to his left he glanced at the lines of battle frames, a new generation of bipedal IFVs, still in their "wheeler" mode and thought to himself, "Lucky bastards, they might have half the armor and fire power I do but at lest they'll be able to maneuver their way out of here if things go bad."
Suddenly the cicadas stopped and for a whole second the world turned eerily silent.
Then with an explosion of sound his ears were filled with the caws of a thousand birds as a mass flock of avians of every kind rose up from the surrounding area in a mass migration fleeing the coastline ominously highlighted by the now constant flash of lighting.
He looked back across the beach, the aurora was almost over the it and with a massive upheaval a patch of the water exploded into the air as something unearthly rose from beneath it…