NERVous Breakdown 4: I think I'm getting better at this!
Looking out over the rosters of NERV staff that had been absorbed into the new XCOM base, The Commander sighed and looked down at the lowly Captain in front of him.
"So, Captain Misato, I've read your forms, and I'd like to talk to you about the request to move Ensign Ikari to a surface apartment with you. I'll warn you, I'm tempted to dismiss this out of hand- having our pilots in unsecured quarters seems like an accident waiting for a place to happen, and I can't agree with him attending high school here very well either. Response time saves lives, and he's the only thing we've got aside from a very dubious prototype and pilot I have no biometrics on to stop another Angel attack."
Nodding stiffly, Misato replied. This new commander might have been a hard-ass in the office, but he'd managed to get Shinji in the EVA yesterday without bulling him over to do it.
"Well, sir," she began, putting her thoughts in order for this hat-trick of diplomacy "The first thing I'd like to mention is that a solid home environment has been a constant in the NERV program to develop our pilots before now. If you've looked at the files for the Second Child-"
A single raised eyebrow met this. "Excuse me?" the Commander politely asked. "Second Child? I'm afraid we don't have one of those on our files."
"Asuka Soryu, the other proven EVA pilot? She's currently stationed in NERV Berlin, pilots EVA unit 0-2, currently age fourteen, flaming red hair?"
Putting his head in his hand, the Commander made an assenting noise. "Ok, duly noted. Gonna have to bring her here at some point and upgrade the EVA, which means either an airlift or asking the Ruskies if we can use the Trans-Siberian, which means…" the Commander said, muttering off as he started scrawling on a memo pad in Dari.
Clearing her throat, Miato continued. "As I was saying, a fairly stable household environment has reliably proven to help keep the EVA pilots stable and increase their proficiency at using their weapons systems."
Looking up, the Commander muttered a few words of gibberish, briefly shook his head, and went back to Japanese. "Apoligies, ma'am; a gift of languages can bite you in the back easily. As I meant to say, I'm not against Ensign Ikari living with you as a guardian, per say. What concerns me is the location- your apartment is too far away, and we need to be able to sorte an EVA unit within five minutes of positive confirmed contact. Even with maximum parallel work, your cage crews need the pilot mounted in the machine to do several parts of the launch procedure and the current maximum speed to get from your current apartment to the launch pad is seven minutes."
Weighing her options, Misato flipped through the property listings in her head. As much as she liked her apartment, this was what most textbooks (as written by lance corporals) called an opportunity.
"A compromise, then." She said cautiously. "There happens to be several empty apartment buildings in the area- if I could move into one, then would that help?"
Nodding, the Commander smiled. "I do believe that can help. Seeing as you're on my payroll now, I'll call up some of the bluehats to pull the move off."
"What?"
"Bluehats- in more polite terms, rookie aspirants. They serve as general tech staff and our skilled labor pool. Your address is in the system, so I'll have Bradford call you with the new address. On a more serious note, though, I have a question."
Misato shrugged, happy her biggest concern was handled. "Yes, Commander?"
"As you accidentally pointed out with your remarks on the Second Child, I have no idea what NERV has, who they have, and where they've got it all stashed. I've got my adjunct working on it double time, but with as much materiel I've got to handle I need him to do his real job and not dig through records. So, I want you to have a new job instead of trying to be a one-person battle leader. I need a second adjunct, one who's specialized in handling all these new, shiny, poison-covered toys my boys are slavering over."
Thinking about it, Misato tried to find a way to refuse. On one hand, if she formally acquiesced to joining XCOM instead of getting subsumed in the merge then she'd be in a tricky spot to dig through NERV. On the other, though, it would offer her a very strong wall at her back: something told her that an intruder to the camaraderie and spirit of this odd organization would be unwelcome at best and encounter an accident at worst.
Considering how much she knew about Second Impact, and more importantly what stopped Second Impact from turning the global climate into a horrendous mess, Misato was willing to take the chance.
"Deal." She said, shaking the Commander's hand.
Down below in a spare medical alcove, Shinji tried to get himself up, looking into the unfamiliar ceiling like it held the answers to Life, the Universe, and Everything.
"Morning, sleepyhead." A joking voice came from next to him, and Shinji's head slowly came to bear. His first thought was that the person talking to him had to be some sort of guard- who else wore body armor and left a rifle leaning on the wall?
"What time is it?" Shinji asked the stranger, slowly sitting up.
"Quarter to ten, buddy. You've been out like a light all day."
"Oh. My apologies."
The guard laughed, and stuck out his hand. "Not a problem, kid. You got a name, other than Giant Robot Driver?"
Nodding, the afformentioned Giant Robot Driver replied. "Shinji Ikari."
The guard just chuckled, and stuck out a hand. "Lance Corpral Jay Vessening, at your service. Quite literally- I'm your current adjunct."
"Excuse me, but I don't know what that means." Shinji said, backpedaling instinctively.
"I'm your go-to guy, translator, driver, paper pusher, and general flunky at large. More importantly, my job is to stick to you like glue so that way you don't get lost."
"Oh." Was all Shinji could squeak out. Vessening just chuckled.
"Relax, Ensign. Just think of me as the little fairy that reminds you to tie your shoes in the morning and sign your pay stubs. Which reminds me, we need to get you over to Payroll and Logistics today so that you get payed and get your uniforms."
"I get payed? And get uniforms? I'm sorry, but that doesn't make sense!"
Vessening just put his head in his hands and sighed. "Ok, let me start from the top. When you said 'yes' to playing slap-n-tickle with Godzilla in a religious paintjob, you joined XCOM, full stop. Right?"
"Yes…"
"Well, as an organization, XCOM has a responsibility to make sure you can do your job- read, go stick your neck on the line and keep the bigass shields down- so as such they give you money so you can eat and a little card so that you can get through doors. I've been told it's easier than expecting officers to know how doorknobs work, but eh. They also give you clothes so you look snazzy and don't run around naked or anything, plus an apartment. That said, I'm pretty sure you're moving in with someone- Ensigns, even giant robot ensigns, don't get their own apartments."
Realing for a grasp on anything resembling logic in the exposition he heard, Shinji just muttered an ok.
"Good to hear you're up to speed, m'boy!" Vessening said smiling, ignoring the confusion present. "Now, let's get to work!"